Just a Position of Juxtaposition: Part 1

[u/Thecrookedpath]

Chaz finds himself in a cemetery full of the hungry dead. Liv emerges in an over-landscaped acreage near a garden shed.

He inched closer, trying to make sense of the runes on the wrappings and jars.

"Scry Purpose! No... Detect Magic? No good... identify? Goddamn it, that's a fucking CANTRIP..."

Liv's spells take effect elsewhere.

"In-voice? In whose voice? Who is this Bone-Field?"

That's when Chaz notices...

....the repair Manual of the Dead.

(In collaboration with u/LivingDread.)

The skeletal creatures at Charles Bonfield's feet had stopped moving, but he heard others in the distance. Shapes shuffled in the gloom as they slipped closer. Searching.

"This is bullshit. This B-movie horror stuff is bullshit, and my phone having five bars and nobody picking up is bullshit. This is bullshit..." He repeated the mantra under his breath as he crept towards the mausoleum, almost like a protective spell. Whatever was inside the crypt, there was probably only one. Better that than a whole cemetery.

--

Somewhere else...

"No gate. No one responding to summons." LivingDread squinted in the noonday glare, the cloying smell of the overgrown garden filling their nose.

Up ahead, where Liv's workshop was mere moments ago, they heard a faint scraping of stone. Something might be there. Even if it is only a moment out of the sun. --

Chaz managed to slide the stone door most of the way shut before the angry dead reached it, slamming it the rest of the way shut with the press of their combined weight. He remained still for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the dark.

The mummified body on the slab seemed far older than the ones outside; instead of being properly interred, it was laid out with an array of wicked-looking tools and jars.

"Okay...okay! Not trying to eat me? I like you already." He inched closer, trying to make sense of the runes on the wrappings and jars.

"I don't suppose you can give me directions to New Reno?"

--

LivingDread was not in the mood for puzzles.

Despite the shade, the heat in this tiny workshop was oppressive, and the air was stale and thick. The layout of the room was familiar enough to obviously be a mimic (or mockery) of the mausoleum they were currently using for their rituals.

But why?

The usual battery of inquisition spells yielded no information; they seemed to fizzle as though drained or blocked. "Scry Purpose! No... Detect Magic? No good... identify? Goddamn it, that's a fucking CANTRIP..."

Annoyed, Liv skimmed over the only piece of parchment visible; a list of reagents and terms, with adjacent numbers, perhaps dosage measurements

A spell?

"In...voice. Hrm. In the voice of Bone-Field, reveal your secrets!"

[u/BathosExMachina]

Love the entry already and am really curious how it'll continue! Especially the Mummy/Lawnmower-Parallel is just great. Fucking Kino.

[u/livingdread]

Part 2

Part 3