54 Leaving the Crypt
From just the first impressions of the crypt, Astur's first thought is that it's kind of empty. Despite the large hall, other than the well-decorated coffin lifted on a small pedestal at the end of the hall, the place is barren. A near-complete empty room.
"You know, I was expecting something a bit more… extravagant," Astur says.
"This is actually pretty close to my expectations. Saint Heleste was now to have sold away all her possessions and donated the money to orphanages before her death. So it's no surprise she doesn't have anything buried with her," Kretea says.
"How Saint like. If anything, the Church isn't terribly corrupt to my knowledge and wouldn't be so bad if not for their bigoted views," Astur says, moving up to the coffin.
"So how long is this going to take? We probably only have a few minutes before we get swarmed by the Church goons," Elizabeth says.
"Not long," Astur says, pushing aside the cover of the coffin.
A pure white ball of light emerges from the coffin as its cover hits the ground. Within a matter of seconds, the ball of light begins to form into a similar shape to the decayed body beneath it, creating the pure soul of Saint Heleste
"You people, you aren't members of the Church. How can intruder's such--"
Cutting the pure soul off, Astur quickly grabs hold of it and opens her mouth wide as compresses the soul and swallows it.
"Didn't you have to do something to her soul for the Soul Essence or whatever it was called?" Kretea asks.
"For most people that would be the case, but Infinity Wolves are soul eaters. Consuming a pure soul or another strong lingering soul, we can produce and store the Soul Essence within our bodies," Astur explains.
"And I take it we leave the way we came with brute force, right?" Elizabeth asks.
"Huh, what do you take me for? A barbarian? I'm a cultured person, why would I use something as barbaric as brute force. We're grave robbing here, that means were thieves, and thieves are supposed to be sneaky," Astur says, lighting up one of her special blunts.
"I'm not even gonna try and argue. So what's your plan?" Elizabeth asks.
"Blow up the walls and dip," Astur says with a straight face.
"And what part of that is supposed to be sneaky!?" Elizabeth yells.
"Everyone up the stairs! We'll take down the wall once we're up!" Astur shouts as she runs back the way they came.
Leaving the crypt is without problem, but as Astur approaches the stairwell she sees a large group of guards coming down the stairs.
"Fools! If you think running down a long narrow stairwell will do you any good against someone who carries bombs around, then think again!" Astur yells as she throws three dozen Big Blast Bombs into the stairwell.
*BOOM!*
Under the force of the explosion, the stairwell collapses and caves in, burying many of the guards beneath the rubble. Seeing the pile of stones blocking the stairwell, Astur nods, admiring her handiwork.
"Why do you look so satisfied!? Now we're trapped in here!" Elizabeth shouts, grabbing hold of Astur and shaking her.
Compared to the panicking Elizabeth, Kretea is much more composed, "I take it you have a plan?" she asks.
"Of course I have a plan, I, Astur the genius, always has a plan. And that plan is… we wait for some good luck."
With a deadpan expression, Kretea simply stares at Astur, remaining silent.
"No, wait, let me explain. As I've mentioned before, a large majority of my abilities are sealed. But I can access them so long as I'm high, drunk, or whatever. But what I have access to is random and switches every couple of hours. I have a couple of ways to get us out, we just have to wait until I can do it. Now how about some blackjack?" Astur explains as she pulls out a deck of cards.
After waiting around for an hour and a half, Astur lights a cigarette as she checks her status.
"Nope, this one isn't gonna help," Astur says shaking her head, "How about a game of Fish?" she asks, shuffling her deck of cards.
After several rounds of card games, almost two hours pass.
"Isn't it about time you check again?" Kretea asks.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," Astur says, lighting up another cigarette. "This one could be quite useful."
"So we can leave now!?" Elizabeth says, jumping up off the ground.
"Useful if we had been in combat," Astur continues, causing Elizabeth's mood to sour once more. "Now sit down and give me the jack of clubs, I know you have one."
And just like before, two more hours pass.
"Don't you think it's strange the guys from the Church haven't tried to clear the rubble?" Elizabeth asks, having gotten used to the situation.
"Not really, I would assume they are trying to keep us here and let us starve to death or something. Perhaps they're waiting for reinforcements to arrive, who knows? But it's probably some kind of stall tactic," Kretea says.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm getting kinda hungry too," Astur says, lighting up another cigarette as she checks her status again. "Oh, we can leave now," Astur says plainly.
"Yeah, figured that was the case, your luck has been pretty bad… wait, we can leave now!?" Elizabeth asks.
"Yep, it's not the best way out, but it works," Astur says, as she explains their next step.
[Authority - Touch of Mystery (Active)]: When making physical contact, Astur can transform anything from a physical state to an astral state and vice versa.
"Basically just hold on to my hands and we are gonna walkout. They probably won't even notice us since we'll be moving through the Astral Plane," Astur says.
Lighting up one of her special shroom blunts, Astur takes a few minutes to smoke before extending her hands towards Elizabeth and Kretea.
"Grab on and make sure not to let go, especially if we're passing through a wall. Now let's get to the rendezvous point so we can meet up with the others and get something to eat, I'm starving," Astur says.
Activating her ability, the group walks right through the collapsed stairwell, and right out the front door of the cathedral without anyone noticing. But before leaving the cathedral, Astur made sure to leave behind a nice gift in the crypt.
