Liliana Vess Defiant Necromancer

Liliana had thought the storm would be the worst thing they would run into in their flight from her invaded home, but she had been wrong. The storm had eventually subsided, but the countryside of Stensia had become a twisted zoo. Liliana noted that every passerby had something reshaped about them. The bodies of roving vampires had the wrong silhouettes, always with too few of something, or too many. Anatomically improbable travelers raved prophecies of stone and sea at them as they staggered in diagonals.

Their trek had been long, lasting deep into the night - the werewolves had torn through her horses and zombies both, leaving them to walk. But now, finally, Liliana, Gared, and (haltingly) Dierk, had arrived at the monumental door.

Lurenbraum Fortress soared above them, a stark cliff with a citadel that protruded directly from the rock face. Higher up, the utilitarian architecture softened and elongated into tiers of ornate leaded windows, each one with its own floating chandelier of twinkling candles. In many of the windows, vampires peered down at them, wearing gleaming ancestral armor.

Liliana gestured for Gared to knock.

Gared gawked at the door's height. "You really know the lady of the house?" he asked.

Dierk, for his part, made a gurgling noise. The man's neck was broken, so his head rested at a weird angle and his throat looked lumpy. But at least his legs had gotten him here, and at least his arms had been capable of carrying the spent witchbane orb. Gared's long coat was strapped tight around Dierk's midsection, doing its best to hold the remainder of the dead man's insides in. Liliana raised her hand slightly, and Dierk squared his shoulders, but his head still dangled to one side. The desiccated tongue wouldn't stay completely inside his mouth, contributing to the gurgle. Liliana shrugged.

"I make it my business to know those who wield power," Liliana said. "As does she."

( Gared banged on the door and stood back. )

[Taken and only minimally adapted from "Innistrad's Last Hope" by Doug Beyer. Follows this. NFB, NFI, OOC is wonderful!]

The world erupted into black smoke, tendrils wrapping around her until all that remained was an inky curtain of shimmering darkness. With a single hand, she brushed the curtain aside and took a step into the Blind Eternities. The tides of creation washed over her, tugging at her gown, trying to drag her under. With the experience of centuries under her belt she did not fall, but leaned without apprehension into the winds that blew from nothingness, spreading tiny particles of probability in their wake. She trod upon the surface of memory, climbed the slopes of tomorrows that had already passed. Toxic colors circled hungrily about her, winging their way through clouds of song, but they did not disturb her trek. Before her arrival and after her passing, they knew nothing but hue and hunger, wind and want, but for the endless moments she trod above them, they knew fear.

( And so begins a totally normal day wherein everything is fine and no I told you so's will be warranted )

"I think the time has come for me to take my leave," Liliana said, tossing the flowers away. "Enjoy the company of your celebrants, hero. I have other matters to attend to." A flicker of magic - really almost all she had left, she was perilously close to the end of her stamina - and several zombies appeared from the Blind Eternities behind her. They started gathering the large chunk of stones with the runes still engraved on them and then began stumbling after her. "My agendas lie elsewhere."

Like in a creepy, slowly being refurbished mansion in the woods where someone was likely impatiently waiting for her. A lesser woman would already be shying away from the...commentary...he would almost certainly have for her when she returned. She was not doing that, of course. Her internal wincing was for something else.

"You're taking fragments of the spires. Hoping to uncover more secrets?" Sorin asked. "More mysteries?"

"And why not?" she tossed over her shoulder. "Do I not deserve a few souvenirs?" She continued on her way out of town, leaving Sorin without another word, her phone in her hand as she dialed up a portal back to the island. She did glance back once and then quickly away. She didn't like the look in his eye. He looked...hungry.

Once the necromancer was out of sight, Sorin grabbed one of the dwarves by the collar and lifted him up. A moment later, his teeth sinking deep into the exposed throat, ignoring the thrashing, and drinking until the dwarf was empty. He tossed the body down to the ground and snorted. "Liliana Vess. Sorin Markov. 'Heroes'." He scrubbed the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Pitiful."

And then he was gone.

[Description of the trek through the Blind Eternities adapted from Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell and the rest from "Grave Secrets" in Planeswalkers: Notorious #1, written by Cullen Bunn and art by French Carlomagno. Very long, as they tend be! NFI and NFB for off-island shenanigans, but OOC welcome!]