The Himuro Mansion Adventure

[Night Kuchiki]

Night had checked her guild hall and had found a request that had been made a few years ago. She had found a small number of the Niflhiem butterflies alive and had gotten them into an enclosure with food. Hopefully they would keep breeding and shore up the numbers. Till then though they wouldn't be able to bring anymore request though she still had her personal one at least. With how old the request was she chose to ignore it figuring the requestee had either moved on or found someone else to do it. She entered the Eighth wonder and headed towards the Job board, which was set up as a wall of atms. She slid the plastic card she had been given after completing the app the other night. A list of Jobs was pulled up, most for the spiritually aware. A small number a bit suspicious as they requested spiritually aware guards for like cargo transport, and similar. She guessed even the human underworld was moving into the power games in the world of the living as more and more people became spiritually aware. However one in particular caught her eye, that also made her heart sink a bit. It was the same job her guild had received while she had been away. The listing date was much more recent and the description read: "Please, I am, or was looking for my old college professor, a man named Junsei Takamine. He was professor on Occultism, Urban Legends and Myth. He has been missing now for several years after embarking on a research trip for a novel. I first tried contacting a guild that dealt with odd situations and supposedly full of the spiritually aware. After not hearing from them for a year I hired some Paranormal investigators to try and find him. The only information they sent me before vanishing was they had tracked down Takamine's research location. The Himuro manor in the mountains. After that they never made contact again and have been missing as well now. I do not have hope that Takamine is still alive, but I would like to know what happened to him. So I am requesting any spiritually aware person to investigate the situation please.

Night read over the request a few times and frowned. She couldnt help but feel somewhat responsible for the requestee not having an answer sooner. The worst part though was the fact one of the teams this person had hired had gone missing. Likely she suspected that they were dead. This Himuro mansion was likely a very dangerous place, at least for an average human. Attached to the job request was a file containing a map that had a theoretical place were the Himuro mansion was, but she noticed it said "Unconfirmed information." She wasnt to surprise with the details being so sparse that no one had taken it with the hint of danger due to a failed attempt already being recorded.  She hit accept on the job and and a small receipt printed out with the confirmation along with another receipt that had the map file printed onto it. She took both and exited the club. Hopefully this job would be the warm up she needed to shake off what rust she had.

[Night Kuchiki]

After having reached the mountains that supposedly housed the mansion, she had spent a good bit of time searching already for the mansion. She stopped for a moment and let out a sigh. She wished it would be easier, honestly was kind of hoping that feeling out the spiritual power, if it had any, would be the best way to locate it. However she had hit a wall as the entire area had a heavy cloying spiritual pressure that felt almost woven into the very atmosphere. Never the best sign, hopefully it wouldnt take to much longer to find. She it a pipe taking a drag and then exhaled and started walking down another trail. As she walked she finally came upon a clue, though it was a foreboding one. There in the middle of this forest trail was a corpse, though it was missing its head, arms, and legs. "That is not good." She mumbled as she took another hit. There was also a trail of blood leading off the path and into the woods. Night followed the blood trail through the woods, the overgrowth of the path spoke how little it was traveled. Eventually it ended before a large dilapidated mansion, there a was stream with a bridge going over it as the mansion was a bit uphill. The bridge was old with holes in parts of it and part of the handrail had broken off. There was a stone privacy fence all around the mansion, while the mansion itself was a two floor building and had seen better days. The biggest concern though that Night sensed wasnt a visual but a spiritual. Upon cross the bridge she felt as if she had just walked into a lake of heavy stagnant and cloying water. It felt almost oily on top of that while pulling at her at the same time.  Whatever was wrong with this mansion, it wasnt a small issue, haunting or curse. It was almost as if the Abyss itself had slid a finger through the veil staining everything it touched. She did not have any hope she would find this professor alive, let alone that group of paranormal investigators that had been hired before the request had made its way to the Eighth Wonder. To be honest this wasnt a place she would drag anyone inexperienced to. Maybe a fifth seat or above but anything below that, might likely struggle to handle the atmosphere. She could feel it tugging at Skeith and made a mental note to not push her hollow to much if she could help it. She walked up the steps to the manor and opened the double sliding doors that was the front door. As soon as she entered they slid shut of their own accord. "That is not good." She muttered and tried to open the door. They did not budge an inch, and she stepped back aiming two fingers at the door handles. "Hado 4 Byakuri." She said as a bolt of lighting blasted the door handles. The bent and warped from the damage the wood around them blackening and even caving inward, but it only lasted for a second. Within the blink of an eye the door had returned to the state it had been before the kido had struck it. No wonder no one had returned from this place. That was not promising, as the mansion itself seemed to be alive with that test. Meaning if she wanted out she would have to deal with whatever the heart of the problem was. The entrance room was a mess, part of the ceiling rafters had broke and collapsed about five feet from the front door, breaking the floor making a large hole that no light seemed to penetrate. There was an old paper screen that had decayed greatly, there was a door in the left wall and on the right a mask that looked like an angry face hung. A strange thing Night made note of though was the lack of dust, the walls were weathered, but no dust layed upon anything in the room.

Spoiler

The Himuro Mansion

 

[Night Kuchiki]

She supposed at least the one positive on the damage resistant structure, that then repaired. She paused mid thought, maybe it was a loop? She couldnt be sure in all honesty, nor could she actually conduct proper research on it without equipment. All she could do was come up with theories, in the meantime she had a people to look for. Though to be honest she was rather sure they were dead at this point. There was honestly no hope for anyone without spiritual power. Actually judging by how dense the spirit pressure was, anyone weaker than a vice captain might struggle to survive. She hoped maybe she could find the bodies of the Professor and his group, recordings, or research notes or something. She opened the door to the left and came into a Hallway full of hanging ropes? It, just what was this place? At the end of the it had mirror and turned left and right. Both ends had doors, the one t the left had a number of talismans covering it, and the one on the right did not. She tried the one on the left and it didnt move, sealed likely. So instead she opened the one on the right. It lead to a room with a fireplace in the center of the room an old kettle hanging over it. Against the wall there was three sets of drawers, the wall with the door she had come from had a folding paper screen against it. There were also some stairs leading up to both a balcony overlooking the room and another door. Night walked over to drawers and found nothing of use beyond a old fashion wooden medicine bottle labeled 'Herbal Medicine.' She then felt a spiritual pressure. It wasnt strong but it did stand out against the taint of the background spiritual energy. Night scanned the room looking for an enemy when she noticed a a haze in the air, like one could see rising from the street on an very hot day. The haze moved towards her taking on a form as it approached. The spirit looked like a male in his late twenties with short hair, shirt jeans and shoes. The spirit looked like it had been bleached as its form held no color and the taint in the spiritual energy of the mansion was soaked into this spirit. It tried grabbing Night but she dodged easily enough, its over all spiritual power not really a threat to her. So the spirit was hostile. The spirit vanished and Night felt it appear from behind her. She drew her zanpakuto swiveling on her heel and slashed the spirit. It cried out in agony a burst of blue light appearing across were Night had slashed. It reeled back and passed through the wall. Night tracked its movement from the spiritual presence it had. Then when it charged she lunged impaling it. The whole spirit glowed and turned into an orb. Almost by instinct Night took the hilt of her zan and pressed it to the orb. The orb seemed to burn up but she could feel the spirit vanishing as the konso took effect ad the spirit passed on. Just what was going on here?

[Night Kuchiki]

Night took a minute to assess the situation as she knew of it thus far. The place was filled with some kind of tainted spiritual power and it was likely that both the group that had been here before, and the professor the requestee wanted found were likely dead. The place seemed to have spirits that hadnt passed over either, but they hadnt gone Hollow but were corrupted. She figured it was likely whatever had suffused the entire manor with its corrupted spiritual power. The danger was very real, but she wasnt worried about herself. Well minus some rust but she was sure long enough here would fix that. However she was honestly curious more than anything. She was thinking about going back to the Guild and then mansion. The guild to leave a note were she was at and why. The Cell 2 Mansion to pick up some instruments from her labs and drop off potential research material. Though all she had at the moment was the herbal medicine she had found earlier. She was wishing she had some test-tubes or something like that. Even the soot from the fireplace could potentially hold information. Actually that wasnt a bad idea. She took out a small plastic bag and pinched some of soot into it. She tried to open a senkaimon but couldnt. It felt like this place might be jamming it? She then focused her energy pulling on skeiths power to open a garganta instead. A line appeared in the fabric of reality in mid air but Night could once more feel resistance. She stopped trying as she could feel the spiritual power in the manor fluctuating. Had trying to open an exit annoyed it? She figured if she poured more power into it she could probably tear open a gargata but in doing so she was sure the mansion would retaliate in turn. So she could try and leave to come back with research equipment such as a spirit phial to sample whatever this spiritual power was, get her Niflhiem butterfly synced up with the lab computers. Or keep going with her job only able to bring back the bare minimum from the venture. Hmm Which to choose?

[Night Kuchiki]

The scientist in her couldnt help it. She made her choice, she would force open a Garganta and return with proper supplies. There was no reason to rush this job after all. Time had already taken it's toll here any longer wouldnt harm the mission. Her sclera turned black and her irises turned pink as Skeith leant a hand and with a forceful snap reality had a hole torn in it as she opened the garganta. In response however the mansion became suffocating and what bit of color there was, was bleached out the manor becoming black and white. She waisted no time and stepped through the garganta closing it behind her. She did not want to give the mansion a chance to tail her after all. She would also make a mental note as she was heading back to the Cell 2 mansion that it would probably be a good idea to enter from beyond the bridge as before instead of opening a garganta back into it. Her curiosity though had been sparked and she couldnt help but look forward to collecting a few more samples from the mansion. She would not however forget her reason for being there in the first place though, she still had a job to do after all. She still took that seriously, especially as the guild had been requested and she had failed to answer the request till now.

 

(OOC to be continued)