The Deeper it Goes! [Group Mission]

Mission Details:

WC: 360

"We cannot simply do nothing, Thaddeus. These people could use our help." Tad understood what Sojiro was saying, though Tad didn't feel as obligated to help these strangers. There were other mages, some probably better equipped than they were, that could stop this curse, but Tad wasn't surprised when those words came out of Sojiro's mouth. He does have a heroic heart, the lanky mage mused inwardly. The idea of sticking his neck out for a town that may or may not already be entirely cursed didn't really appeal to Tad.

"I don't want you to risk your life, but I am going to find this place to see if I can help." Sojiro said before turning away from Tad to grab a map from the table. "If you're coming, we should move now. I don't want to get caught in the forest once the sun is down."

"Ah, so you do want me to tag along, huh, Hero?" Hero was a new nickname that Tad was trying out, as it seemed to be very applicable at this moment in time. Tad looked out the open door, into the sky gauging the sun's location and how much time they had before it went down. "Ok, I'm in." In truth, Tad had a couple ulterior motives: one, he had some new spells that he wanted to try out and rotting flesh was just as good a target as any and, second, dead people had no need for their belongings or riches. This wasn't a job that someone had hired them for, but Tad intended to get paid regardless, assuming the situation arose. He wasn't so cold hearted as to knock a pregnant lady over and take her change purse, but if said pregnant lady was mostly composed of rotting flesh and trying to eat Tad's brains... then the change purse seemed like fair compensation.

"And you're right, I don't want to experience that forest in the dark either and to that end, if you slow me down, I'll leave your ass behind." Tad joked, knowing full well that Sojiro would have no trouble keeping pace and they, obstacles notwithstanding, shouldn't have any issue making it to the town before the sun set. Of course, Tad was worried about what kind of situation the town would be in. Normally, jobs were ranked on difficulty and gave mages a fair bit of information about what the job takers would be getting into and what types of impediments they would have to overcome... but this was a-whole-nother type of thing altogether. They had no information about the town except where it was and if the curse had come through that town before descending onto the cabin that Tad and Sojiro were now standing in... the town could be in really bad shape. The forest wasn't a fun place to be at night, but an entire town of those undead things wasn't going to be much better.

"Let's skedaddle, Hero!" Tad mocked as he jumped through the doorway and into the forest which surrounded the cabin. Tad had a bit of excitement and some worry, though he tried to act like he wasn't worried.

WC: 529
Thread total: 889

WC: 319
TWC: 1,208

Tad was only a little sweaty from their late afternoon jog through the cursed forest. Luckily, they encountered nothing nearly as scary as by the cabin, so there had been some time to recuperate their magic power while they jogged. Tad was still terribly uncertain of what to expect from the city they were heading towards, his mind still reeling from the zombie that he'd blown a hole through only to have it still nearly take a bite out of his neck. Luckily, Sojiro had been there to help him out. If a decently ranked mage like himself could fall prey to these things... what were citizens supposed to do?

The town finally came into view and it definitely didn't look like the bustling town it was supposed to be. Even though it wasn't a full blown city, you'd still expect some sounds and see people coming and going, but instead, the town looked like it had been attacked by some sort of army. From their vantage point, the town looked like nothing more than a ghost town.

"There has to be someone left, they can't all be dead."

Tad glanced at Sojiro quickly, before turning back to the footings in front of them as the two continued moving towards the town. It had been a bit of an instinctual response to Sojiro's comment. He'd glanced to see if he was trying to convince Tad or himself, but came to the realization before he'd even seen Sojiro's face that he wasn't the type of man to need convincing to do the right thing: he was a hero at heart after all. Tad, however, wasn't nearly as heroic and didn't want to lie to his teammate. Tad was much more a glass half empty sort and if the town's walls and dilapidated buildings were any indication, he feared there was no one worth saving. For that reason, Tad didn't respond at all; instead, he continued into the town with Sojiro.

The building near the entrance clearly had something inside, the sounds coming from there made that clear to both mages. Tad, ever the skeptic, flowed lightning into both of his hands, ready to defend himself if the need arose.

"Ok, Hero, back me up?" Fearing the worst, Tad's body began to be covered in white lightning, forming an armor around himself. His hope was that if a zombie were to jump out and get a hold of him, the lightning armor would slow it down enough for Tad to get a head shot in to down the creature. On one hand, he hoped that Sojiro was right and there would just be some children wailing in there. He moved in front of Sojiro, his speed also boosted from the effects of the lightning armor spell that he'd cast. Tad's right foot went forward with force, kicking the door in. Right there in front of Tad's face was a light purple energy that seemed to be totally unrestrained by the walls. Tad backed up a couple steps, careful not to run into Sojiro and shock him and the creature began moving towards the two mages.

It's body was quite big, but it traveled through the walls as if they didn't exist. Tad's hands instinctively went into a 'finger pistol' position as he leapt to his right, avoiding the Frightful Spirit's over sized fist coming at him. He turned and aimed at the creature's head, letting off two identical bolts of white lightning. Both bolts traveled through the energy somewhat before seemingly hitting something. The energy of the spirit flickered a couple times before dissipating altogether.

Tad stood, the lightning armor and lightning in his palms still present as he spoke "That was different." Tad wasn't sure what to say, but also didn't want to squash Sojiro's hope to find survivors... it was the only hope the two mages had left at this point.

WC: 651
TWC: 1859