Korrin, being an oscuri, was very much immune to the negative effects your average holy magi would be feeling at such overwhelming corruption and depravity. That being said, it had probably ruined his appetite for the day, which was something previously only possible during the plague. It was all in all impressive.

When they reached the room, he marvelled at the sight of the creations ambling around. Even the thing from Kudlak's return was here! And he'd upgraded it! Interest and excitement played at Korrin's mind, this sort of research resonated heavily with some of the things he had tried to look into as a youth. It almost made him want to say stuff it all and return to his roots. Almost.

He half turned to Kudlak once the noise had died down, eyes still transfixed on the massive undead. "Leonardo's a good man but yes; You did good in relocating. Bit of a goody two-shoes, to use a rather common term. Still, as good a cousin as I could ask for." Another cousin. It seemed easier at this point to list who wasn't related to Korrin Sakete.

"So for the muscles on this thing, did you cultivate them yourself, patch them together from existing muscle mass, what? It's rare to see them sized for something like this, unless you harvested a dragon or a more powerful variety of yokai." This was not out of the question, and he was not being hyperbolic.

Starting slightly he turned back. "Oh. We should probably do what we came down here to do, huh?" A bit crestfallen, he looked about the place like a child who came to a toy store looking to buy someone else's birthday gift. "Any ideas as to where he might be?"

(Korrin Sakete)The room displayed before them was an unsettling thing; though the Necromancer's bookshelves and research had been largely destroyed in the fight over Rein's fate, much of his creations remained intact. Yet still monstrous ghouls prowled the grounds... they looked to the pair with feral eyes, before a display of the mutated arm and a black shockwave of gentle but depraved mana brought them to heel. They halted, then slowly resumed to shifting about the chamber...

It was lit by violet flames, kept alit in basins atop mounds of skeletons strewn about the room. It seemed the Warlock had gathered many, many dead... he looked about and then at the gate behind them as it shut, it's layer of Hellstorm fading as it dropped. "This is where the new research is done. I've left Antegria since another moved in where Ed once stood..." He explained, turning to Korrin. He walked over to an enormous mass of bones and kicked a few at it's surface: the ground began to rumble, with forceful, sudden tremors.

Rising from the mass was an enormous, crustacean-like war ghoul; this was a fiend not unlike the one Korrin had seen with Kudlak as he'd left Byson, an experimental design of cruel flesh now modified extensively to perfect the thing. "Of course I can't bring it through the stairs... there's another way out." He spoke loudly, over the sound of the twenty foot tall thing shifting up atop it's six legs. Parts of it looked
(Kudlak Malpercius)

Magister flew slowly behind Kudlak, seemingly keeping closer to him than anyone else, his trust for people was low, but Kudlak had something about him. Magister was not sure why, but he 'trusted' him, this Korrin man was another odd figure, seemingly oddly familiar like he'd met him before, but he knew he'd never seen the man before. Others in the room were odd, the 'king' and the two females, but Magister took not real interest into them, so he prepared to follow Kudlak.

Making his way down to the gate, sacrifice was revealed again, a long stare and observation off it as he made the door open, something he wanted. Making there way down the stairs, the purple flames lit the way for them, Kudlak was a very powerful magi.. it was going to be good to learn some things from him. But as they got down into the basement as he called it, ghouls crawling across the floor and groaning, it was quite odd and.. sent shivers down his spine. Kudlak soon brung them all to a halt as he used his influence, they seemed to look at him as a leader? impressive.

Magister felt the depravity radiate from Kudlak, all this negative energy was not so bad, but it made Magister skin crawl, he was not use to this much negative energy. With that Kudlak kicked some bones away, Magister watched curiously as the massive beast came into view, a bit of a scared look for a moment.. Magister kept behind Kudlak but rather close, this creature was nothing like he'd ever seen before!

Magister just kept quiet, he'd have nothing on the subject and nothing to say, Korrin and Kudlak probably had some important things to discuss anyway. But this place was amazing, it had so much to it and it was hidden away, maybe he'd get more access to this area now he was with Kudlak, this would be a fun place to explore, but they also mentioned 'boss' whoever that was.. it did not sound interesting to the Malpercius boy.
(Magister Malpercius)

Kudlak was quite flattered by the Oscuri's interest. He pulled away his facial wrappings with his left hand, revealing his ashen-white visage, eyes alight with excitement. "I grow it in the ghouls, actually; you'll see some emaciated ones about. Yokai and beasts serve as their nourishment; over a span of weeks with steady feeding they'll regenerature what was taken, allowing for a new harvest." Kudlak detailed with pleasure. He nodded at the male's next comment; moving forward, the enormous crustacean ghoul followed closely.

Kudlak angled his gaze over his shoulder, speaking again to the Oscuri. "This is actually a different War Ghoul. The one you saw first was as complete as I could make it, and placed ahead in the cave's waters. They can survive without air and are excellent for ambushes..." He went on to say, quite happy with his creation. "I intend to turn this one over to you as soon as you have a suitable Necromancer it can be bound to, of course he'll need to be removed from here in pieces; my ghouls will provide the labor." He said as they reached a set of gates.

Kudlak paused... he reached up to to run a hand over the metal bars, seeing signs they'd not been disturbed by anything other than fetid talons and ghoulish claws for quite some time. Humming, he looked to Korrin with a bit of disappointment about him. "Actually, I don't think he's down here..." He reflected with some displeasure. He had hoped to move onto the binding quickly; he then recalled Magister, and looked to him. "Ah, I'll be teaching you here later Magister. I should sort out some business first though." He explained as he began to move for the way they had come from.
(Kudlak Malpercius)

Korrin clapped his hands together. Brilliant! Growing the muscles INSIDE the hulking ghouls and then harvesting it? "That's amazing. My own research was on a... Smaller scale. The intent was to assist those maimed with relatively cheap and accessible alternatives to magical prosthetics. Your average person can't really utilize them, and even amongst magi the most efficient and cheapest run on electricity. I was playing with the idea of attaching a limb partially animated with... I don't know, perhaps a filter in place to prevent the encroachment of necrosis onto the living flesh. After all, this was more for the people, and they tend to not take too kindly to things like gradual ghoulification."

He grinned. "It's all about perception, you see. That's my entire goal, to change the way people see these things and perhaps open their minds to His divine art. Better Living through Necromancy, sort of thing." This was perhaps the most animated anyone had seen Korrin in years, and even then only the Necromancer. This was a passion of his, after all, and one he'd sublimated for his own plans.

"Plus there's the option for upgrading! I believe I mentioned when we first met the idea that it would be a mixture of necromancy and technology? Well imagine the attachments! A modular prosthesis!" He went on about various ideas and the means he was researching to implement them, the concept of attaching new organic and artificial additions onto a mana circuit, the whole shebang.

"My only hurdle so far has been getting a mana circuit to take an artificial piece without willful manipulation. Rieka is fine and dandy for that, my last piece was an arm based on the enchantments surrounding Godslayer and I had made significant progress, but oscuri are far more capable of manipulating their energy than the other aspects of humanity." He sighed. "Ah well."
(Korrin Sakete)


Magister continued to look around this place, purposely looking away from the massive ghoul, it was weird and he did not know if it would react if he looked at it, but Kudlak seemed to have quite the control over these beasts, his immense affinity in the magical arts and necromancy was impressive and even the nine year old Malpercius boy knew this.

But he was not sure what to think of Korrin, the man seemed a bit odd but friendly in a way? maybe that was just his personality, something Magister was still working on. But then his eyes turned back to the room, ghouls.. weird.. he wondered how painful it was to be like that, did they still have their minds? probably not, Kudlak was there mind now, they did what he said, he was the boss of them and they could not do anything about it. With hearing Kudlaks words he nodded his head and spoke out, clear.

''Okay Kudlak.. I look forward to your teachings.''

Magister was not sure what he wanted to be called, so he stuck with the name Kudlak for now, not sure If he wanted the title of master or anything like that, Magister recalled some others back In the mountains did that, odd. But then he heard Korrin say Oscuri, yes.. he met an Oscuri before, Tulise Sakete, he wondered if Oscuri were common, he met two now so they must be, right? either way he kept his mouth shut for now.
(Magister Malpercius)

Korrin's thoughts were very impressive; Kudlak paused and listened, hearing his brilliant designs. He almost smirked at the male's term of 'ghoulification'; indeed, any creation of Kudlak's would slowly spread to the rest of it's host, though he had deemed that a plus... it established control, something he had hoped to assert over the King of Byson above the basement. Kudlak nodded and commented on each conveyed scheme, though even he failed to keep up at some point.

He never considered mixing technology with Necromancy; this sounded like rune-writing and prosthesis combined, and a fine pull to the nexus of knowledge he had freely given here in Alteros. Knowledge was distributed elsewhere in the black crates ghouls had dropped across East Valmasia, but, this land would be the seat of it - perhaps one day outshining Byson, for this was a land free of limitation almost and ripe for pioneers of their respective profression.

Kudlak opened the gate once more in a scarlet flicker of dancing charges, coalescing into the smooth covering that permissed the otherwise weighty and immobile gate to move as it did in the days of it's prime. Kudlak stepped through with the others, though the enormous War Ghoul was left behind in the basement. In a way it was fortunate few others could go below... there were absolute horrors down there, though it pleased Kudlak to see that Korrin saw the value in them. He'd nodded to the boy before they proceeded through, ascending the stairs and returning to the upper room.

The gate would clang noisily behind the last of them, as Kudlak took a seat at the table.


(Kudlak Malpercius)

[Whitetext omitted, many events concealed]

Kudlak exited the confines of the chamber, looking over his shoulder to ensure Magister had followed. His luminant lavender hues were heavy on the boy. He paused, outside then gates from the main chamber to the "dungeon", which was little more than an expanse of cages, chains and shackles where the moans and whimpers of bound humans could be heard... fat ghouls with long, fetid talons hobbled around with monstrous shapes, their shadow of humanity corrupt and distorted.

The sound of rattling chains was heard as whispers from the mutant arm flooded the air; as a natural arm-bearer himself of great Occult potential, Magister would hear the dark voice of this Kudlak's Sacrificial limb. 'Assemble the Sacrifices before me; blood will follow in our wake, children...' Echoed it's distorted, telepathic speech carried by mana... the ghouls chuckled absolutely wickedly in nefarious agreement, their bodies animated by a malevolent and instinctive presence just sharp enough to perceive the odious evil their corrupt bodies indulged in.

A pile of bound humans was presented before Kudlak, who had -not- heard the speech of his own mutant arm. The truth was that it did have a mind of it's own; Kudlak had never seen through the gaze of his corrupted limb, it's countless eyes serving their own accord, and this one was oblivious to the sinister hunger in the every serrated maw of his own insectoid limb. He extended his right arm before the pile of emaciated, bruised and bound humans, before looking down at Magister.

His cloak was pulled behind his back, revealing his black-clad form and paled visage. The true Kudlak would not have condoned the Sacrifice of so many innocents - but this one, he would do anything, no matter how monstrous... all for the sake of acquiring the very thing he would so greivously consume. "Magister, watch and learn. This is the fate of our Bloodline; to consume, and grow for it. Each victim you see here will become one with this arm!" He bellowed in a furor, as nine black spines jutted from his wrist in a bloody splatter!

The dark, pitch black blood glowed odiously, before it was sucked into the arm; it's surface took on fluidity, becoming a shifting, swelling dark mass. It's head hardened and creaked into a geometric, jagged leonine head complete with a distended lion's maw, the nine spires jutting around it like a mane. Glowing yellow eyes surfaced across the arm - identical to those of lesser mimics in their truest form, connected by ravines of glowing red essence. This was a Mutated Arm that had exceeded all natural limitations...

The next scene to unfold was horrific. It roared, the ground shaking around them as the mutated limb exuded a sickening dark aura of black smoke and red light over the humans, who shrieked in fear at the monstrous transformation. Their flesh melted, their bodies and bones dissolving into an enormous mass of black fluid filled with fleshy pulp, all sucked into the maw of the Mutated Arm while Kudlak's eyes changed; their scleras faded to black, dark streaks running through his now brightly glowing purple irises as each and every human was devoured, leaving only stained black ground and a cluster of madly jittering ghouls quivering with evil pleasure at the spectacle.

The Undead voyeurs shifted closely to their master as he lowered the arm; expression twisted, he was on the fringe of his powers, yet found surprisingly that he could now bear this Sacrifice; the mass of souls were joined with a greater, smudged out populace within, suffocated in the darkness just as he was. He had lost himself; the arm creaked, shook and gurgled as it morphed back into it's original form, chains hanging from it's surface. "This, Magister, is the power of Sacrifice..." Kudlak spoke... darkness rippled around him, perceptible black waves reverberating from his body as if the man before him was the Avatar of Darkness himself, chosen to lead these monstrous Undead and devour mankind.

He stepped for the gates, whether Magister would follow or not.
(Kudlak Malpercius)