Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20160807152142/@comment-5583506-20160810035217

Catryn opened her eyes. It was here...

"Sh-shouldn't be..." echoed an icy voice. "Why am I still here?"

She slowly got up, yet made no effort to announce her presence. The air was pierced with spectral energies and her blood pounded like crazy within her veins upon reaction.

"Wh-Why is it so c-cold?"

She turned around only to be faced with the floating form of a shrouded, transparent figure; icy whirls circulating around it. A part of her pitied the being. It was driven by justice. It wanted vengeance against whomever had wrongfully taken its life. While she was no investigator or anyone involved with law enforcement, she always felt the need to question sentient creatures before felling the final blow.

"Do you know what you are?" she asked with not a single sign of fear on her voice.

The wraith seemed to acknowledge the Witcher's presence and came floating towards her. It didn't seem hostile, but she knew better than anyone that looks could deceive. Some wraiths were treacherous in nature, yet this one seemed oddly calm.

''"Who... is speaking?" ''a disembodied voice asked.

"Catryn, the Witcher", she replied.

''"Witcher..." ''said the wraith and tasted on the word as if it was familiar. "Have you come to destroy me, Witcher?"

"I am here to stop the haunting of this building", she replied. "The ultimate result may vary." There was a moment of silence before she decided to speak again. "Tell me, wraith. Why is it that you still haunt this house? Why have you not found peace?"

"Because my killer is still at large, Witcher", said the wraith with its icy voice. Catryn could even feel the cold grip around her heart. "He is close, very close... Yet my blood was spilled here, and thus here I must remain... Unable to exact my vengeance... Unable to get the peace I deserve... I did not a single soul wrong while I lived... and if I did, it was not my intention, and you can thus consider my death as atonement for those wrongs."

Catryn remained silent and listened. She was well aware that wraiths could be horrific liars, able to fill one's ears with any deception in order to save their own undead existence. Yet her senses told her that this wraith was being sincere. It wanted peace.

"Once there was a man", said the wraith. "Clavius was his name. A local mage. Well-liked among the community of Bruma. Loved by Frida, the beautiful servant girl at the inn. He loved her back. Yet there was another man who loved her as well."

Catryn could already see the story shaping up to the point where she didn't need to hear the ending in order to understand the haunting.

"The captain of the guard", lamented the wraith. "A jealous man with little love for spellcasters. An engagement to the lovely Frida, and later, a dagger in the dark of the night became the end of Clavius. And now he is what you see before you, Witcher. Neither alive nor dead."

"I am sorry this happened to you", said Catryn truthfully, though the emotionless tone of her voice seemed to state otherwise. "Would you like me to grant you your permanent rest?"

"I want justice, Witcher... The blood stains on the floor... the blood stains on his blade prevents me from achieving my final purpose."

"What sort of purpose would that be?"

"I want the captain to confess his crimes..." said the wraith. "His crimes for killing Clavius... for killing me... I will haunt him... Day and night... Haunt him until the brink of insanity. Whatever it takes for him to atone for his sins and face justice."

Catryn raised an eyebrow. Seems reasonable...

"Would removing the dagger seize the haunting of this house?" she asked.

"As long as my blood is elsewhere, I will be able to remove my presence from this place to another, Witcher. Please..." pleaded the creature. "Bring my blood out of this place... Let me be granted my final rest by my own hand, by making my killer confess. Do this, and I shall trouble this world no more and instead progress to the next."

Catryn reflected upon her decision, though she had already made it. "I will do it", she said.

"I... I thank you, Witcher. For your humanity. My killer left the tool of the deed beneath the floorboards where my bed used to be. Take it with you. Present it to the captain. The bounds that hold me to this place will be unbroken, and I will instead be able to move elsewhere."

"You have my word", replied Catryn and approached the floorboards behind the floating figure, cracking them open with the hilt of her steel sword. Just as the wraith had said, she found a dagger underneath the floorboards. Dry blood still coated its blade. The insignia on the hilt was that of the City Watch of Bruma.

Humanity at its finest...

''"Another thing, Witcher..." ''the wraith continued.

"Yes?"

"In my nightstand... Clavius' nightstand... Within you will find a locket... Please... Do me this final favor... and present it to Frida at the Barking Dog Inn. Tell her that Clavius is... sorry. Sorry that he couldn't make it. Tell her that he... he will always think of her. And that he will be waiting for her until they can be together once again."

Catryn would have found the request touching, but sadly she had experienced similar stories from other creatures of the night, just as tragic and full of sadness as this one. She approached the nightstand and found a dusty silver locket with a sapphire embedded in its middle.

"I will", she confirmed as she pocketed the jewelry. "What will become of you now? When I exit the house that is?"

"As soon as my blood finds its way out of this area, I shall be free of my restraints and able to haunt the captain into submission. You won't find me here again, Witcher. You have my word."

Catryn nodded followed by a short grunt and stuck the dagger in the back of her belt before exiting the building. The wraith gasped out loudly as it seemed to disapparate into nothing. But she knew it was just temporary. He would be back... and with a little haunting justice would be done when the captain would find himself at the tight end of a rope...