Ekkehardt Gehring (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spelleton) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
daybreakacademy2020-05-17 12:20 pm
spelleton) wrote in daybreakacademy2020-05-17 12:20 pm
At Death's Doorstep
Who: Ekkehardt and whoever signed up to go on this fun trip right here.
What: Ekkehardt takes a group of people back to his family's base in the Outlands, and then takes an even smaller group of people into the underworld.
Where: Outlands.
When: Mid-May
Warnings: Death, potential backstory trauma. Will be updated if anything comes up.
Notes: Doing your own toplevels is absolutely fine! Let me know if you need NPC involvement for your threads.
Passage to House Gehring's territory is ultimately a simple matter, and while it involves some transit time, it's smooth overall. The living quarters for patients and guests have been refurbished and built out to accommodate extra people since Ekkehardt's last extended visit; an addition made especially for Héctor's undead family. House Gehring's base of operations looks and feels far more like an especially large, cosy house than a protective bastion.
The supposed passage to the underworld is much less hospitable. It's a yawning cavern far beneath the house; water from some vast lake or river in the world below laps near-silently at a shore decorated with silent statues, all facing out towards the darkness. An ancient-looking longboat with a lit lamp at the prow, moored to nothing at all, floats there. Their passage is expected, it seems.
And as for the underworld itself...
Eventually, the boat cuts into an impossibly still lake, and Ekkehardt steps out, leaving the boat behind. It's possible to walk on the water, though it takes concentration not to sink, at least at first. With every step you take, flowers bloom, leaving a trail.
And all around, above and below, are stars. And if you walk long enough, you might encounter ghosts, of a sort - of the people you used to be, predominantly. Fragments of your past selves that no longer exist. But if their own feelings were strong enough, you might even meet the ghosts of those who were once important to you - or still are.
[ More content in toplevels below! ]
What: Ekkehardt takes a group of people back to his family's base in the Outlands, and then takes an even smaller group of people into the underworld.
Where: Outlands.
When: Mid-May
Warnings: Death, potential backstory trauma. Will be updated if anything comes up.
Notes: Doing your own toplevels is absolutely fine! Let me know if you need NPC involvement for your threads.
Passage to House Gehring's territory is ultimately a simple matter, and while it involves some transit time, it's smooth overall. The living quarters for patients and guests have been refurbished and built out to accommodate extra people since Ekkehardt's last extended visit; an addition made especially for Héctor's undead family. House Gehring's base of operations looks and feels far more like an especially large, cosy house than a protective bastion.
The supposed passage to the underworld is much less hospitable. It's a yawning cavern far beneath the house; water from some vast lake or river in the world below laps near-silently at a shore decorated with silent statues, all facing out towards the darkness. An ancient-looking longboat with a lit lamp at the prow, moored to nothing at all, floats there. Their passage is expected, it seems.
And as for the underworld itself...
Eventually, the boat cuts into an impossibly still lake, and Ekkehardt steps out, leaving the boat behind. It's possible to walk on the water, though it takes concentration not to sink, at least at first. With every step you take, flowers bloom, leaving a trail.
And all around, above and below, are stars. And if you walk long enough, you might encounter ghosts, of a sort - of the people you used to be, predominantly. Fragments of your past selves that no longer exist. But if their own feelings were strong enough, you might even meet the ghosts of those who were once important to you - or still are.
[ More content in toplevels below! ]
no subject
Are all the arrangements to your liking? [ Mechthild seems to have simply appeared out of nowhere, once Héctor has a quiet moment to himself. Ekkehardt's other sister is just as good at walking quietly as he is, apparently. ]
no subject
Of the two sisters, this one reminds him the most of Ekkehardt. At least initially.]
They're wonderful. I can't thank you all enough. Truly.
no subject
And are you, yourself, doing well? I hear you've had quite a harrowing time recently.
no subject
He falters then, a different laugh coming out this time.]
Wha- me? Hah, I'm fine! I'm fine. Just, you know, messing up spells and making trouble, it's fine. I've got it aaall settled.
[More or less.]
Though, you guys. You guys have been okay here? I know the, uh, disappearing thing my family can do might be a touch unnerving. Though I've heard it's happening less!
no subject
[ If she thinks it's unnerving, she doesn't indicate it. She simply talks about it like they're any other patient. ]
The ones who have already passed on have been interred in the garden. [ What's left of them, anyway. ] I thought they might like that better than being buried underground or elsewhere.
no subject
The garden... Ay... that means so much. We could never stop out there, you know? It was hard to think about making graves sometimes, even stopping to mourn...
[ She knows. She already knows, he's sure. At least one of their family would say something. ]
I really owe you guys. Is there anything I can do for you?