![Senior [500]](https://i.imgur.com/Nmfn8cD.png)
by ☠ Guild Hall ☠
(Guild Hall itself not depicted. Just some living quarters)
http://martanael.deviantart.com/art/Lava-Fields-346661090
The Temple of the Undying
The main guild hall located deep within Sin itself centered in the harshest landscape available established many centuries ago, perhaps even before the Great Wall of Sin was built by Pergrande.
Exterior:
The grounds: The Temple is set in a hellish landscape of molten rock and burned bones. The volcanic terrain has been heavily accentuated with countless skeletons strewn about adding a layer of bone to the scene. A lone mountain towers relatively near by, not on the horizon but in the distance, constantly spewing black smoke that hides the sun and rains ash down on the land. At the top of that volcano enduring the heat and flames is a great obsidian platform over the peak suspended over the overflowing lava. Black narrow stairways being the only access and ward away the smoke and partially negate the heat while walking on them. This platform is used for major rituals. Often, the Dark Tower will land here, over the platform and not on it, using it's large spider-leg like claws to anchor itself over the lake of lava itself.
These onyx paths require a Pact Mark to benefit from, otherwise the intense heat is enough to melt the flesh from one's bones before getting close to the source of the mentioned platform. Lava, in case no one realized, is very hot. Hot things tend to radiate heat.
To witness the Temple itself, the "Guild Hall" of Grim Heresy, one must have a Pact Mark or be "called", feeling the pull of Eris and a subtle guidance that allows them to find the Grim Gate. As depicted in the picture above. Passing through this Grim Gate will allow one to enter a the area where the temple is located, which does not physically exist on the same dimensional frequency until the gate appears and one passes through it.
The Temple itself is set within a valley, a old caldera where an ancient volcano once was, presumably the same volcano that towers nearby having migrated over the ages. Lava still flows through surrounding the temple, as a river from the main mountain feeds it. It is kept level by cracks and flows that run down the opposite side where there is a slope, revealing the caldera and the entire landscape beyond it towards the mountain to all be raised terrain like a shelf. A singular massive highland plateau with sheer cliffs to one side forming the end of the massive volcanic 'shelf', similar to Olympus Mons on mars, but with great chutes of stone looking somewhat like ribs or arches towering out from the ground and into the air.
Set into large stoney arches and spires are other buildings built by and for various attendees of the Temple and honored cultists. Members can order the construction of their own homes in a similar fashion.
The Building:
The building itself is a testament to traditional evil overlord engineering. Spikey protrusions, elongated features, and lots of glowing red channels make up the Temple. Set over a lake of molten lava with a long stoney pathway leading up towards it the building is ominous and imposing. One is sure to hear the crunch of bone underfoot as they make their approach from the many remains like that which pave the ground here.
The picture is deceptive due to some weirdness in the scale of the pathway depicted, but the Temple is gargantuan. The center entrance, seen glowing red between two smaller similar glows, is large enough that a dragon could walk through into the center with a smaller door built into one larger gate so the massive door doesn't have to be opened for smaller individuals. When locked, all these external doors fuse shut and crust over with a black shell of bone sealing the building off entirely.
Interior:
• Ground Level (The Chorus): The ground level of the Temple is largely all wide open chambers with a central entrance room that splits off into a Left and Right wing. This entrance room tends to have a set up similar to a lobby.
• The Right wing is The Hall of Attainment- Serving as the primary meeting place of guild business the Hall of Attainment is where guild members will meet with leading officials to acquire assignments within the offices of the Augurs- Prophetic undead bound to ritual rooms. The Augurs foretell danger and are the source of Jobs. Any Job the guild might perform comes through the Augurs, regardless of what the job says, where the Augurs point the way to what must be done. The Augurs then themselves are able to use the action itself as a Pact to reward the mage when they return. (Unless the player wishes to do the job normally). Outside of the various chambers dedicated to different Augurs are the usual meeting rooms and armories.
• The left wing is The Hall of Respite- Serving as a secure place for downtime. The main block you enter is a large commons area full of circular tables with stools and benches of various sizes on one end with quicker access to the Kitchens, skeleton servants carrying orders and food to the tables here.
On the other side, a vertical slice with the tables on the curve side of a shallow C shaped division between the tabled area and an area with two steps leading down into an inset area with further sunken areas lined with cushions and other tables as well as areas just lined with benches with a focus towards a stage raised up again where succubi perform song and dance.
This area is typically the busiest of the main areas a Grim would find themselves. It's the central location within the Temple / "Guild Hall".
From this main chamber fans out 3 separate corridors all as part of the Hall of Respite.
- One leads to a steamy great public bath the size of an olympic swimming pool, because of course there has to be one, surrounded by lockers and benches.
Rocky steam vents visible in the bottom of the pool heat it, and similar vents like cracks in the ground one steps over seem to easily dry off those who wish it in the corners and entrance, which also serve to regulate the overall temperature in the room.
Two smaller similar areas break off from this:
- One leads to a room that seems hollowed out from one colossal onyx gemstone with an obsidian pool full of blood that slowly spirals around and is fed from five statues of what appear to be a blend of succubi and traditional fairy tail princesses carved in the ceiling, with the princesses having slit wrists and crying tears of blood that fall to the pool in consistent streams that meet in the middle and fall into the center of the pool like a fountain. Bathing in this pool will end any enchantments, curses, and heal one of all injuries. If living when entering the pool, one will be undead when they emerge but develop a hunger for blood. If already undead, it will not alter any tastes they have and just offer the benefits.
- The other is rocky stairwell leading out away from the temple closer to the lake outside into a room formed with blackened bones that pave the ground and line the room itself, with a band of skulls that form a line around the room. In the ceiling above the pool of lava is what appears to be a he skull of a gigantic demon, and from its maw spills the lava that fills the pool and the pool itself drains into the lake surrounding the temple. It is in this room that Eris or a Monarch, and Primarches, can bring the dead to life by taking a skull from the wall and submerging it, or lowering a specific dead body into the pool.
Notice: Either of these two special pools have special uses, but can still be used casually as well for those who wish to take a dip in a pool of blood or lava.
- Separate from that previous corridor, A second corridor leads to a large area of kitchens staffed by skeletons that bring food out to the tables in the main area on demand. Though most the Cult of Sin and Grim Heresy are undead, some are not and those that are can still, depending on the undead, enjoy food or have peculiar needs that can be met here. It has a direct line in the back to lower levels where they can retrieve... cattle, and supplies. There are many bloody counters back here with the remains of the butchered being skinned and taken apart. Others yet to be used but on standby remain hanging on meat hooks in cold rooms. From these kitchens there are servers that carry the food out to the main area with tables, or throughout the temple.
- A third corridor leads to a long hallway lined with many separate rooms. Within the doors are bedchambers that can provide a quick rest break, with or without succubi cuddle buddies. There are many rooms throughout this area separate from these bedchambers where succubi stay in residence and have their own dining areas and prep rooms where they can dress to suit different roles and tastes before entertaining anyone. They have access to all the servant walkways as the only way in or out of these backroom chambers. Servant walkways are completely hidden and entrances appear solid even to the touch, but servants including these succubi are capable of walking and seeing through them.
-A third corridor leads to The Hall of Doors. This busy corridor is filled with doors that when opened show only wall. When activated properly though, the doors can lead almost anywhere known to the activator. Cultists and Guild members alike utilize these doors to come and go to and from the guild from anywhere in Earthland. The Doors do not work for those without the Pact Mark, even if opened in front of someone else.
• Both wings meet in a central grand council-meeting chamber that dominates the middle of the ground level in a much larger room full of pews facing a raised area with sixteen individual thrones. A huge throne is at the highest and central spot built into the back wall itself, it almost looks more ornamental than practical as though when constructed it was only a dream that their goddess would ever be among them. Three large but normal sized thrones are set below the larger one, and lastly twelve thrones in the fore row. The entire area is designed in a subtle crescent shape facing out to the pews. Before the thrones and in front of the pews is a central altar on a raised dais surrounded by emplacements for various additional effects or objects.
• Sublevel 1 (The Host): The levels below the ground floor. There are two distinct divisions here. Taking its name as this level accommodates needs of the guild as a whole, on a deeper level than the basic needs met above. Storage, supplies, areas to work in, cages/cells, ect. The levels are open and can be quite mazelike, with many separated areas divided up with multiple levels visible and bridges crossing gaps here and there, further isolating cells and storages and making the area difficult to navigate.
The southern area is dubbed the Halls of Song. This entire side is dedicated to many different rooms set up for different rituals, ceremonies, and simple torture. There are many cells scattered throughout the "Hall" for separate groups of captives. It is a labyrinth of pain here, as it gets its name from the screams that never seem to end, always nearby or in the distance. Within the Halls of Song you may find suitable practice for performing said rituals. Training is done here in these halls, where rituals open portals to areas within hell set aside for these things or prepare mental dreamstates and similar effects.
The northern area is dubbed the Halls of Plenty. This entire side is made up for storage space of various accommodations and includes cells similar to the Halls of Song. If you're held here however your fate is similar to that of a cow or a frog in a highschool science lab. If you're lucky you're just there for, well, reproduction purposes. You may be kept alive and bled. Or you may be hacked apart bit by bit or all at once like an animal at the butcher's block, though kept alive if only parts are needed at the time.
The storage here holds many various supplies needed for the performing of rituals, creation of chemical concoctions, tools for whatever tasks, and lots of paperwork regarding the history of the Cult of Sin and past dealings. Much of the paperwork is backed up in Archival stones but may have physical copies as well. Some rooms, with notably more sturdy doors and walls, would contain basic armaments. Weapons, armor, devices, and even less important artifacts or relics. Anything of particularly significant value however would not be locked away in the Halls of Plenty.
Almost all rooms here are well locked and secured and require granted access and you may need a special guide, as just like the halls of Song these Halls of Plenty are maze-like.
• Sublevel 2(The Veins): The Veins aren't an official part of the Temple itself, but are a series of old lava flows that form a chaotic expanse of tunnels going any which way and branching out. Entrances to the Veins dot the Halls of Song. Those who enter the Veins are unlikely to ever find their way out without aid, as the "Veins" aren't simple tunnels, but a deep sense of unease fills the place that slowly drives one to madness and the more you are inside, the more the walls start to seem composed of flesh and blood. The more they seem to writhe and move, even defying sane logic with tunnels closing and opening on their own revealing entirely new features or chambers previously unheard of. Perhaps you aren't mad afterall. It is said that these Veins can take you almost anywhere on Earthland. You may find yourself surfacing not back in the Halls of Song, but appearing in the Raging Volcanos in Fiore, the mountains of Seven, or an old geyser in Minstrel and so on. Try not to get lost.
The Veins main purpose is in its elusiveness. Many things are hidden down here. An old archive. Ancient treasures, important artifacts and relics. Long forgotten prisoners. Secret chambers.
Even the Twelve Liches of the Cult of Sin who have reigned for centuries would have their own individual understandings of how The Veins work, their own sort of "Filter" that allows them to navigate the Veins a certain way that the others cannot replicate. The couldn't share this "Filter" even if they tried, and would lead others if their specific "Filter" was needed. "Filters" are simply a sort of influence over the Veins, where their presence alters the way the Veins behave.
The Veins can be populated by mind-numbing horrors and unspeakable monsters the deeper you get AND the longer you spend within.
• Sublevel 3(The Pit): The Pit is an area presumably far below the Veins. Only accessible long after the Veins have gone from stone to flesh, the Pit is a singular massive cavern like a hidden valley one might say it is like a gigantic heart long since stilled. It's made of flesh and within is a whole landscape of bone, blood, and meat comparable to a thick jungle. Blood flows freely down and up the walls, dripping from the ceiling or up from the ground alike. There is no Up or Down here, being completely relative to the surface you are standing on. Randomly things will be seen to break from their surface's relativity and fall to the other side. It isn't common, but explains the dripping of blood, which is considerably more likely to 'fall'.
In this "The Pit" are many breeding grounds where demonic entities seem to thrive.
The Pit is similar to Fairy Tail's Tenrou Island. Monsters can be found here that were designed not to respect the Pact Mark of Grim Heresy, in order to serve as an area of trial. Creatures here vary from A-rank to H-rank, perhaps even beyond. Bound the this area like a prison sentence.
Guild Defenses:
- Spoiler:
Rift Ward: The Temple of the Undying is in a strange phase of reality where it cannot be seen or entered by those who are not permitted. They will instead see a plain area with no structures, and no bones. It is simply normal, as far as Sin goes. This prevents teleportation, teleportation-like effects, speeds in excess of 500mph (But only in or out, not within), or portal magic from functioning into and out of the area, except for that used by those with a pact mark / "guild tattoo".
Lazarus Ward: Nothing can die within the influence of the guild. Even if mashed to a pulp one will still feel every little thing and be aware of their surroundings to whatever extent they are able. If a living creature would be killed here, they instead become undead. This goes for Friend and Foe alike.
Death's Domain: The area is incredibly inhospitable to the living. If any living creature nears the Guild Hall or the surrounding lands (extending out past the Rift Ward in fact, in the volcanic landscape throughout) they will die in a matter of minutes from toxic fumes, heat exhaustion, unstable ground, ground so hot it burns through shoes, and smoke inhalation. Poisonous vapors in the air released by the volcano regularly cling in the air, and once inhaled after 30 minutes IC one will begin to feel weakness and pains, become more susceptible to other hazards, before dizziness and coughing sets in and they start bleeding from their pores. Within the area of the Rift Ward itself, there is a thick blanket of raw death power concentrated and fueled by negative energy that sickens the living, making them 2x vulnerable to harm and accelerates any diseases, curses, or other ailments by x2 in the first 30 minutes (Or 3 posts) of exposure, and x4 after that. This same energy invigorates the undead, making them 50% resistant to harm and doubles all healing received.
Additionally, there is no oxygen at all within the Rift Ward. Undead who for one reason or another may still require oxygen are sustained by the death field.
The Undying: Guild grounds are heavily populated with the undead. Inside you'd find undead still as statues standing guard here and there, along with the undead servants and members of the guild itself. In the guild grounds you'd find many more undead creations and outright monsters, as well as in The Veins and The Pit. These are both a traditional defense of the guild and a result of the Guild Master and guild member's abilities to craft the dead.
The Shrieking: This is just a specific function of The Undying but is very notable. Skulls embedded in the walls apparently as decoration are actually undead capable of emitting a terrible ear drum breaking soul-tearing scream that can be heard for miles (Up to the maximum limits of the area in question, where the sound cuts off suddenly). This scream will not harm Guild Members or affiliates. It causes 100 points of sonic and soul damage (Both are a combined 100 blended, not 200). If one skull shrieks, all the skulls start shreiking making it unavoidable as the shriek is present throughout the entire area from all the different skulls singing in unison. with the benefit of alerting all guild forces... to intruders.
The Skulls detect whether or not any individual has a Pact mark (Whether a guild member or not so long as they are marked by the guild master). They perceive things with all five senses: They see the room. They feel the air in the room. They smell everything in the room. They taste everything in the room. They hear everything in the room. If not within a room (But are out in the grounds for example), they sense things within a sphere 40 meters in radius.
If a skull gets broken, the shrieking still occurs from all other skulls which detect the loss of one of their own. Skulls automatically break when exposed to magic that comes from a source that does not have a pact mark, but resist all magic that does.
They can, optionally, be silent. Heard only by those with the pact mark and dealing no damage to intruders. Individual Shriekings may be commanded to look out for specific things.
The Guides: The Guides are floating skulls that look similar to The Shrieking skulls. They are capable of Shrieking themselves, but are not set into walls but rather float around freely and make rounds. The Guides are capable of delivering messages from one Guide to another, allowing one individual to talk through a Guide to communicate with someone else elsewhere (With another guide finding the other individual in a few moments). They get their name by their main purpose however, which is to guide Grims and members of the Cult of Sin through the many may halls of the Temple, to give them safe passage through the Host, and are able to always find the way OUT of the Veins, though are unable to navigate through the veins themselves, only the way out, due to the Veins nature.
Abyssial Ivory: A lesser version of Celestial Ivory (Bones of slain gods). The construction of the Temple of the Undying is handled using the bones of tormented high-demons. Giving the Guild Hall the ability to shrug off magical or high-energy attacks, giving it 5,000 HP to break through a wall. Interior walls have 1,000. It recovers 2% HP per post.
