Realistic or Modern W I N T E R L I G H T (Closed)

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, Great Hall, Talking, 11:35


"Hmmm." Jessica said biting her lip, "Let's weigh the options." she held up both hands like a scale, "Be nice to the Nazi, or bribe you into keeping him busy for me. Hmmm, Decisions decisions."

 

[Aevum]

Hayden - Great Hall


Hayden nodded at Emmanuel solemnly. At least he wasn't the only one who was put off by the barrier. He set his unfinished drink on a table.


"And with that, ladies and gents, I think I'm off to bed. Big day tomorrow."


Hayden lifted his bag off the ground, and retreated to his quarters.

 

[admiral9]

"I agree, I think its time to call it a night, come duster I'll bring you to your room." He stood up from his couch and grabbed his stuff after which he offered duster a hand.


"sleep well dudes, see you later Jessica."

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, Great Hall, Talking, 11:36


"Uh huh." Jessica said with a wink. With the conversations over with and midnight fast approaching she decided to head up to bed and get settled in, trudging her belongings and an armful of wood up the stairs.

 

[Diminium]

Duster- Great Hall- 11:38


Duster drunkenly took his entire arm instead, trying to stand up straight. He managed to get to the base of the stairs, where he leaned heavily on the handrail. "S'many stairs..." he grunted, as- with plenty of help from Emmanuel, he somehow managed to get all the way to the large wooden door. "Thangs man... Jeffz in 'ere, so 'm cool. Have a gudnught." He waved, knocking on the door.


Jeff figured Duster was only a bit drunk, but when he opened the door that he was leaning on, he tripped and fell on top of Jeff, who-


"Aw. Duster. Are you really that hammered?" He asked, helping him up. Jeff was disappointed in him to say the least as he went back to his bed, ready to sleep.


Duster placed Licorice in his small glass habitat, and grabbed his pajama pants, fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. A few minutes later, Jeff, who had been only laying down figured that Duster was finally asleep, and he sighed, placing his glasses on the small oak night table.

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, 2nd Story Bedroom, 11:40





Jessica pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered her bedroom, taking a cursory glance around at the red carpet, small table, a small collection of old books which, strangely, was lacking a Bible. Though she was not overly religious she found it a rather strange omission. She admired the stuffed deer head mounted above the bed for a moment before setting her stuff against the wall next to a large tapestry which form what she could tell, seemed to be a rendition of the tale of Saint George and the Dragon. Shutting the door she noticed a simple pine tree motif on the back of the door, "How quaint." She said aloud. Finally she turned to the fireplace and set to work starting a small fire to keep the room at a reasonable temperature overnight.

 

[admiral9]

"Well then, that's that I guess" He sighed as he went to his own room, his bags had become pretty heavy to carry in combination with the drunk duster, he opened the door to his room and noticed Willem had already hit the sack, thank god he had at least lit the fire though.


He dropped his stuff in a corner next to a window, the window was made of wood and appeared to be manually bolted, nothing odd was spotted there, after this he turned around and noticed a certain symbol being carved into the door, it took him a couple of minutes of staring until he remembered, he had once seen this symbol described in the Chronicle of the Prussian Crusade and recognized it as the Romuva symbol for the world tree, it kinda reminded him of a Christmas tree, now what this was doing in a polish, catholic, keep was more than confusing.


After this he took a seat at the table where he saw another couple of things lying on the table, first he saw a picture of a man with a very impressive mustache, flanked by a pair of hunting dogs and wielding a hunting rifle, the back of the picture was titled "Baron Bronimir"


Aside from this he also saw a book with a picture, the book was titled "Occult Obsesje Trzeciej Rzeszy" but he did not speak polish so he would have to investigate this tomorrow, at the library. He picked it up and turned it over, and a picture fell out.


He picked up the disturbing image and saw a very low res picture of a kneeling man in front of a pit, he was wearing what appeared to be a uniform but it was terribly messed up, with a man dressed in rags holding a gun to his head, now what was odd about this was that both of them appeared to be completely terrified, he looked for more details which was when he saw the third man, he was wearing a uniform, probably military but he was not sure as most of his shape was obscured, he was holding a pistol to the head of the rag clad gunmen and contrary to the other two's facial expressions his face was completely stoic but the rest of his face was covered by a cap.


The back of the photo had a weird symbol of a sword with a kind of ribbon around it, with the words "Ahnenerbe Deutsches" written in a stylized fashion, he identified them as simply being english letters but stylized to look like germanic runes, he would have to talk with his buddy Willem tomorrow as the uniforms looked modern so he might know more...


But for now, he would be having a rendezvous with Jessica.


He put everything back where he found it and left his room again, after which he proceeded to knock on Jessica's door


"It's me Emmanuel, its a bit cold out here so open up already." He inquired, he had not taken much with him but he should be just about on time, tomorrow would be a busy day so he needed to get some nice rest.

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, room, 11:50


"About damn time." Jessica said as she yanked the door open, she reached out and grabbed the taller Brazilian by the front of his shirt, revealing a surprising amount of strength from the small girl as she yanked him inside. Casually shoving him backwards onto the bed as she shut the door. "Now then," She said as she turned around and approached him, "Shut the hell up."

 

[lazee]

Giovanna Gaspari


Stairwell to the Third Floor


Heading for her room


11:41 PM


With the little bout of alcohol coming to an end, Gio disappointedly headed back to her room. Once there, the first thing on her to-do list was finding a perfect book to lull her asleep. Rummaging her suitcase filled with books, she eventually settled on a simple manga, 'BLEACH'. Then, she all but crashed onto the sizeable bed and adjusted into sleeping position before beginning to read. With her fatigue, she would be asleep in only a few minutes and, sure enough, that was exactly what happened. She fell into sleep after only a few chapters.

 

[admiral9]

Emmanuel, Hallway, Getting kicked out by Jessica. 00:20


"Get the fuck out!" Jessica yelled as she kicked him out, she gave him a sarcastic wave and shut the door in his face.


Emmanuel had been lucky enough to get dressed in time so when he was kicked out he at least looked presentable, while walking towards his room he was rubbing his neck where some clear bite marks were present, he also felt the burn of the scratch marks on his back.


He quietly opened his rooms door and entered, he changed into some sports clothes he liked to use for pajamas and went to bed, he needed some rest after this trip.

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, room, going to bed, 00:21


Jessica laughed loudly as she lit a cigarette, she always enjoyed doing that, drag him in, fuck him, kick him out, simple, easy and straightforward, without any threat of attachment, just the way she liked it. Though, admittedly, it was taking her longer than usual to get rid of this one. Emmanuel was a fun guy, good in the sack too, it was almost a shame it was about time to replace him. She casually pitched her remaining half a cigarette into the fireplace and crawled into her sheets without bothering to get dressed, she was already nice and warm. The last thought eliciting another laugh from the redhead.

 

[The Glass Ninja]

Thomas McMillan - going to his room


11:20


Snubbed! He'd been snubbed! The Italian girl hadn't said a word to him - he would fuckin' remember that- and he'd not even managed to get buzzed. Thomas grumbled as he walked back to his room, sipping on the last of the third beer he'd managed to snag. He near guzzled it, hardly tasting - it was pointless anyway; he'd not get drunk. Before he'd left the main hall, he'd made sure to grab his and Quisley's stuff - and soon enough he was getting himself set up in their room. He slid his backpack and books to the bottom of his bed, noticing that Quisley was already snoring away in the other.


"Better take a glance around. Make sure no weirdo left anything for us as a surprise" Thomas muttered, his eyes fluttering over the room. He glanced under the beds, and frowned - a scrap of paper, scribbled on in what he assumed to be Polish, was under his bed. Glaring at it for a moment in frustration - mostly at himself for not learning more Polish before coming on the trip. He knew for a fact Quisley didn't know anything about it either. Next, he glanced around the floor and the trap door that led up into the room. He paused, twice. Grabbing a pad and pen from his bags, he quickly sketched out the symbol he found.


A tree, with six branches - three to each side. Symmetrical other than for a tapering at the top of the 'trunk' and then a sort of flame. He tilted his head as he sketched, his tongue sticking half out of his mouth; he'd never been good at drawing, but he wanted to ask around his fellow students tomorrow - and maybe get Quisley to talk to Wilkas about it.


The sketching done, he stoked the fire - which Quiz had set up himself - and then stripped his boots and well worn clothes off. Even after sleeping for most of the trip here, the Scotsman easily fell into sleep once under his blankets..

 

[Nepty]

(If you have posts in the works set last night, make sure to indicate that they happened in the past. Then you can add a bit of a ‘current time’ perspective, and imply that the post was a reminiscence)


Morning dawned bright and chill over the Zima Valley. The storm had let up sometime in the night and, though clouds were piling up over the valley, sunlight pierced their moody eaves and descended into the valley below.


@Diminium


Duster, Jeff, their room.


Duster groaned as Jeff opened the wooden shutters, letting in an ungodly bright shaft of sunlight that of course fell right across Duster’s face. “Close that!” he grumbled, siting up, sheets falling around him.


“Oh calm down, it’s just sunlight.” Jeff grinned. “Come on, there’s breakfast downstairs. Wilkas made us a traditional meal, apparently. Lots of sausage and some dumpling things.”


“Oh, nice.” Duster pulled on his shirt and stood up. “Alright, let’s go.” He rubbed his head. “I think I had way too much to drink last night…”


@Pretzel Heart


Melanie: Trophy Room


Melanie blinked, and sat up in her sleeping bag. Sunlight was streaming in through a few cracks in the shutters, and the fire had died down to mere embers. She wrinkled her nose. The odor of cooking food was wafting up from someplace in the castle. Her stomach growled.


Everyone


Great Hall, Dining Table


6:45 AM. Just after Sunrise


Halfway through breakfast Wilkas stomped in. “Welcome to the Zima Valley.” His mood seemed to have increased considerably since last night. “Feel free to get to work. If you need to visit someplace else in the valley, I’d advise asking some of the locals for a guide. Some of them can speak English.” He sat down at the head of the table. “Oh yes, and you’re all invited to the village for mindvinterblot. The first day of the festival starts tomorrow.” He paused… “I’d advise you to be respectful. The people here are rather set in their ways.”


He speared a length of blood sausage with a fork, and spread it over his toast. “Chariowalda has invited anyone who wishes to visit his hall to come for…” he paused. “Well, in his words, ‘drink and swineflesh’” Wilkas took a bite, and continued to speak with his mouth full, spraying no small amount of crumbs and bits of meat over a mortified Giovanna. “Chariowalda is the head of the village…the chieftain, as you would put it.” He took another herculean bite. “The locals have been very insular with you students before. You’re the first westerners who’re being permitted extended entry into Stary Miasto."


With that, he shrugged and pushed away from the table. “I have to drive to Sneizka Miasto, so I'll be gone for the rest of the day. You’ve got the run of the castle, and the valley as well. Enjoy. Try not to break anything.” He paused. "Any questions before I go?"


-Everyone is currently in the dining room

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica


"Yeah, any place a girl might find some tools? Like, say, a hatchet or an axe?" Jessica asked, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Her devilish smile and coy manners seemingly unaffected by the activities of the previous night.

 

[The Glass Ninja]

Quisley Hart


"I've got a question" Quisley drank from his glass of water, looking at the caretaker. He wiped his hands off on the table cloth, then smiled "That sword - in the armoury; the one in the display case. Would I be able to practice with it? Its the finest blade in the castle; the rest will take some work to get back to...acceptable condition" The minnesotan winced at that. He was imagining all the work he'd have to go to to get even one of the swords back to fighting condition.


Thomas McMillan


"Aye, and if we're on questions - I've got one too" The Scot had sat near to Wilkas for a reason - curiosity was a powerful thing for him. He reached into his pocket and took out the quick sketch he'd made of the symbols in his room, and spread it out in front of the caretaker "What's this? I found two of them in our room - I've no idea what they are or mean"

 

[Nepty]

@Cashdash.


Wilkas scraped some fried keilbasa onto his plate as he answered her. "Ask for Suaixtix, the village blacksmith. He goes by Tancred to foreigners."


@The Glass Ninja


He turned to quisley next, as he hoarded several slices of toast. "That was the old baron's sword, but he never used it. Always told me he was keeping it for someone." He shrugged. "I don't know who. Never managed to get the case open." He pondered for a moment as he chewed. "Tell you what. Get the case open without breaking the glass, and you can keep it. Might want to find the key for that."


Finally, he addressed Thomas. "Hand it here." He held out a grubby hand, and the scot pressed the piece of paper into his palm. He stared at it. "Just a bit of text. The baron was always fussing over some old books about these people." He pointed to a pair of words. "Karl and Franz. Their names come up whenever you go back too far into the valley's history. They had something to do with the old monastery, I think. This bit of paper here says how they helped rebuild the town, when some great issue occurred. They're sort of local heroes." He stood up far more abruptly than was natural and tromped to the exit.


Thomas called after him. "Is that all it says? You sure?"


Wilkas grunted, and lurched away faster.

 

[Cashdash25]

"Well that wasn't suspicious at all." Jessica said sarcastically as she dug in to her food.

 

[Klimino Zepehphor]

Joseph, 6:55 AM, Castle


Joseph sat and listened in silence as the others talking, slowly eating his strange, foreign but not bad breakfast, thinking up what he had planned for the day.


As Wilka left the room, he too quietly and silently got up, and headed to the lab to check on his 'friends'.


After some small talk with his microscopic companions, he made sure everything was working in the heated storage container, he made sure he had everything he needed was on him, which it always was, and without a word to anyone, stepped out into the cold morning and headed for the river.

 

[Diminium]

Duster and Jeff


Great Hall, Dining Table


7:00 AM


Duster knew he had to eat something, but the only thing he truly wanted was a Tylenol.


"Ughh... Why did I ever even consider drinking anything...?"





Awful was an understatement, but he managed to eat a piece of toast and an egg. He didn't even see Jeff eat anything, but when he turned his way to complain some more, he was dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "That was quite delicious." He commented, complimenting the food.

 

[lazee]

Giovanna Gaspari


Great Hall, Dining Room


Eating breakfast


7:01 AM


The Italian took to eating her breakfast in silence. She was never in the mood to talk in the early hours. One would have to wait a while for her to open up. Her meal was simple; toast and sausages, very breakfast-y, but it had been disturbed by their monster of a guide's....sloppy table manners. Oh, well. Not to sound pretentious, but she never expected such from that man, Wilkas. Next, she was going to take a look around the village, but no way she was doing it alone. Who could be a proper companion, she wondered?

 

[admiral9]

Emmanuel and Willem, Dining room, Eating food. 7:05 AM





"Man, I must say this is some great food." Willem said in between his mouth being full with kielbasa and toast with scrambled eggs.


He had had a nice waking up and he felt like it would all be all right, the birds were chirping, he even saw some sunlight through the window, that was, until Emmanuel shared what he learned with him.


It didn't take long for Willem to realize what that insignia that he had found on the photo last night meant, it was the Ahnenerbe, the SS's occult research division, now what they were doing in a village in the middle of nowhere was worrying to say the least.


Next to him Emmanuel was eating too, they had already made plans to spend most of this day in the library to study the town's history before venturing out, that would be way too risky.


Upon the duo finishing up they both stood up.


"Well then, that was tasty. Now the two of us will be spending most of the day in the library, we'll make sure to inform you guys of our findings when we are more sure of what they mean, if you need us you will find us there." Emmanuel announced after which the two moved towards their objective.

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica


Jessica polished off her food before taking a good look around at her assorted classmates, she was going to need a companion if she was going to find out anything about that bunker. The big guy, Vick? He could work. Slowly she stood up and stretched, her tight plaid shirt and jeans showing off her figure, which was only slightly disguised by the thick pair of long johns she wore underneath them. "Hey muscleman, you wanna give me a hand today?" She asked, smiling mischievously.

 

[Klimino Zepehphor]

Joseph,Woods, Heading for the River, 7:00 AM-7:25 AM


it was quite in the woods, aside from the snow crunching under his boots as he strolled along on his way to the river, simply enjoying the walk and the lack of any bickering, due the the fact he was, well, alone.


Joseph only stopped a few times, inspecting this lichen or that moss, taking a sample and moving on. Always fascinated him, how some micro organisms simply didn't care about about things like heat or cold, existing in places other animals could never survive.


He found it odd, the lack of any real sign of animal life, though he supposed with a winter like this most had up and left or gone into hibernation, probably for the best for his health he supposed.


Finally, after around 15 minutes, Joseph exited the woods, a bit further north of the bridge then he had expected,but it was still in view so it was good enough for him.


“well,” he said to the cold stream and chilly air, “lets get started.”

 

[Aevum]

Hayden Vick - Great Hall - Breakfast


Hayden stayed quiet during breakfast for the most part. The breakfast was foreign and probably will give everyone heart attacks three times over before the day was over, but a little cardiac arrest builds character. It wasn't until Thomas questioned Wilkas about the strange symbol. It appeared that Hayden hadn't been the only one to find some items of interest in the sleeping quarters.


Barons Room - 11:40 P.M. The night before.


Hayden was delighted to find the fireplace already fully stacked. A mini bar would had been nice, but the assurance he wasn't going to freeze to death in the middle of the night would suffice. After fiddling with the fire starting kit for a few moments, he backed away from the warm, orange glow from the fire, which set a gentle, albeit flickering light around the quarters. Hayden took the band out of his hair and removed the beanie, letting loose the wild mane of his. Hands on his hips, he stared up at the two bear heads flanking the large rifle above the fire place, face contorting into an expression of approval and a small nod. He always respected hunters, it being a long time hobby of his family. There were black bears in Florida, but typically ran on the small side, especially compared to the behemoth heads that were going to be accompanying him tonight.


With a leisurely stroll, he made his way around the room, running his fingers over the various stones, woods, and pictures. By accident, Hayden knocked over a photo, and upon returning it to its original position, his fingers brushed against an envelope that had been behind it. Never to be the type to take a look in other peoples medicine cabinets, he felt slightly guilty, whether the Baron had passed or not, finding himself opening it up, and taking out the piece of paper inside. It read as follows:


"When you come back, I will be gone. Don't bother looking for me. You might already have found me by the time you read this note. I knew you'd look in the old lockbox, that's why I hid it here. The SS is outside, banging on the door. They found out we were harboring partisans. I think they might know about other things. Things I haven't told you about. I have to go. Goodbye."


The letter was indeed addressed or Bronimir, and dated 1943. Not quite knowing what it was referring to, nor knowing if it had any historical significance, but feeling like it may be important, he slipped the letter back into the envelope, and then the envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket, eyeing a strange tapestry that seemed to be staring at him with two red eyes as he did. He damned himself for not familiarizing himself with the language more, unable to read the caption below the image.


Hayden turned and ran towards the bed. Luxurious was an understatement. Hayden leaped up and belly flopped on the king sized super-bed. Laying there for a moment, he crawled, farther than he expected, across the large mattress, to the beds night stand. Nothing on its surface impressed him. Just a few more photos and a few trinkets, but opening the drawer, he canted his head a bit. The first thing his mind processed was something that looked like a cancer awareness banner, with a sword placed through it. "Deutsche Ahnenerbe" bordering it, in an unnecessarily hard-to-read script.


He wouldn't have been a good archaeological student if he hadn't known what that was, and Hayden found himself once more cursing to himself for not sooner recognizing the symbol, but to be fair, the Nazis weren't his strong suit. Hayden picked up the small badge like object, inspecting it more closely. This was another trinket he may had to hold on to. If anything, his professor may enjoy it.


He didn't know too much about the Ahnenerbe. Just the bare basics. At first an archaeological division founded back in the 30's to find evidence of an ancient Aryan race. Himmler had turned it into a occultist shit show, using ridiculous parodies of science, even by Nazi standards. It wasn't surprising to find this here in Poland, considering the presence of the Ahnenerbe during the looting and cultural genocide of the country in the late 30's. Poland still hadn't recovered all the pieces of art and artifacts that were looted from them.


Setting the Ahnenerbe trinket on the surface of the night stand, he ran his fingers over the cover of a book named "Romuva." Now we were getting to a little bit more his speed. He knew this was a religious text, albeit in a language he couldn't read. It was the very religion the Teutonic Knights waged a holy war on during the 13th century. It was no wonder Wilkas told them to be nice to the villagers, practitioners of the faith taking strong cultural pride in their roots.


It'd be something for him to explore more the next day.


Hayden - Great Hall - Breakfast


Jessica had jolted him from his haze. He looked up at her and smiled. He had his beanie back on, but his hair was still untamed, claiming his shoulders for their own.


"I'd love to help, but actually, I have a few things I need to do myself. Maybe we could help each other?"

 

[Cashdash25]

Jessica, 7:07 AM


"Sounds like a good time." Jessica said toying with her hair again. "Meet me outside in, twenty minutes?"