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Post by MP on Oct 8, 2022 23:22:07 GMT -6
[Kazan]
Dust hisses behind Kazan, and sand stings at his feet. The bird is busy kicking up sand, and it does not notice his passing. He crosses the open field in safety, several more insects dropping off and crawling back to their hives. A few linger on his legs, still gamely attempting to bite through the layer of mud.
Kazan stands alone in the shadow of the stone. Its surface is smooth, unmarked, save for a hole that bores deep into its face. This hole is perfectly round, large enough for one to reach head and shoulders inside. No light reaches the inner depths, and even the moonlight seems to stop unnaturally short of the mouth. It yawns in wait. The soil pulses beneath your feet. The closer you are to the hole, the louder this pulse becomes. It separates from the sound of your own heartbeat, mirroring it, then overwhelming it. The pulse booms from somewhere deep within the stone, exhilarating. Dreadful. Something of great power waits inside the stone, but something about the stone's expectant silence raises the hairs along your neck.
[Bruse and Jed]
The footsteps do not resume as Jed and Bruse sneak out the door. Behind them, they hear the cheerful sound of pouring liquid and the first creak of the floorboards. Then they are out in the dark and the long path back. The cabin is quiet behind them. Nothing follows them out. Not the footsteps, nor their two companions.
[Kail and Edge]
Kail and Edge hear the last drops of liquid pouring as they creep under the table and out to the other side. The little soup pot, now emptied of its contents, falls back to the stove top. Then the floorboards groan. The footsteps clomp to the waiting chair. The wooden seat groans as an unseen weight eases down on it.
The presence has not noticed them yet, crouched in the shadow of the table as they are. But the slightest movement will move them out of the table's shelter and into its field of view. They are on the south side of the table. The dining place, set on the east side of the table and only feet from the door, clinks merrily as the spoon dips into the stew. Soon, they hear the sound of the spoon scrape bottom.
There is a sigh, somehow wistful. Not yet satisfied. The chair pushes out, and then back in. The footsteps resume, floor shivering, heavy boots crossing to the door. The latch clicks. The door opens. The night air rushes in. And just like that, the door creaks closed. They are alone in the cabin once more.
A full pot of stew sits bubbling on the wood stove top. A clean bowl and spoon are set out on the east side of the dining table. Five animal heads lie beneath five empty plaques, the jaws of the crow and the tines of the stag bloodstained. The clock thumps away the time, still with the same syncopated beat. Still with the hand, trembling, straining to turn, always falling short.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 9, 2022 7:11:13 GMT -6
[Kail gives up on the puzzle and begins to search for the herb outside in the forest.]
Kail crawled out from under the table the moment the door swung shut, exhaling sharply and rolling the tension from his shoulders. The doctor and the ghost were gone. Good riddance. He looked at the soup, full once more, at the broken clock, and finally at the bloodstained heads on the floor, and felt another wave of pain radiate through his skull.
“The hell was that?” He spoke dismissively, hoping Edge hadn’t been able to sense his dread when they’d been pressed side by side. “I ain’t touching those dumbass heads again, or waiting for that thing to come back.”
He sullenly snatched the cookbook from where it had been left, staring hard at the illustrated diagram of the herb and the description of its pungent scent.
“I’m gonna go look for this. Gimme one of ya fingers, would ya? Might need it. As bait. Ya know, how that note talked about the rat and all.”
Kail requested the severed body-part as casually as ever, extending a clawed hand. Whether or not it was handed over, the super turned on his heel and unlatched the door to the cabin, stepping cautiously over the threshold. His ears were pricked, his one eye straining to cut through the gloom. He scented the air, sifting through the foreign smells of the forest to try and locate the herb. The lizard still sat on his shoulder, gleaming gold against the white of the gown.
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Post by MP on Oct 9, 2022 16:18:34 GMT -6
[Kail]
The ground outside is barren for as far as Kail can see. No underbrush, pebbles, or even roots disrupt the hard packed soil. The only distinguishing feature of the area, aside from the cabin itself, is the road toward the camp site, which stretches away into the dark and out of sight.
The lizard on Kail's shoulder licks one of its eyeballs, staring flatly up at him.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 9, 2022 17:01:45 GMT -6
(Edge gives Kail one of his severed fingies and goes with him to look for the herb.)
Edge waited a brief moment after the door closed, before he crawled out, the action almost comical considering his tall frame. The Darai had grown visibly paler, his shoulders tense and normally vibrant purple eyes had dulled. To say he seemed out of sorts was an understatement. “Fuck this place…”, the Darai muttered softly under his breath.
Kail seemed shaken by the situation too, in his own way. The Darai did not yet know if that was a small comfort or something that should worry him. “I don’t know what that was, and I do not want to find out”, he said, grimacing. That thing, had it been invisible? And if that was the case, what would even stop it from just pounching on them at any point? Unconsciously, his hands balled into fists, open wounds protesting the motion.
The Darai blinked as the other requsted one of his severed fingers, a sour taste rising in his throat. The logic made sense and all that, but by Eda, it just made the entire situation seem all the more absurd. “Oh uh, yeah, sure, not like I can really use it anymore”, Edge awkwardly dropped one of the severed digits in Kail’s open palm, the chipped black nail polish on the nail making it look more morbid. “I’ll go with you”, Edge said after a moments pause, “no way am I sticking around here waiting for that thing to come back.”
With that decided, Edge followed the young man out the cabin, still gripping the antler turned makeshift weapon in his good hand.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 9, 2022 17:28:48 GMT -6
[Kail begins to hurry back down the path. Asks the woodsman if he’s seen this herb or knows where it is. If the answer isn’t clear he chooses the western road as a place to search]
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Post by Vaitris on Oct 9, 2022 19:33:08 GMT -6
[OOC: Kazan reaches into the hole looking for whatever object of power might be inside.]
Kazan trotted towards the stone, totally unhurried in his demeanor. The pulsing increased with each step he took, stronger and stronger, almost speaking to him so great was the sensation behind each hair-raising throb. Power. Danger. Power. Danger.
This was something different, something special. It felt unnatural in its strength. He imagined this was what it felt like to approach the Heart of Heten. He'd never been granted such a privilege but he had long pondered what an encounter with such a deeply magical artifact might be like. A dark hole gaped in the side of the tower before him, its depths totally untouched by moonlight. This was the source of the call, there could be no doubt.
Power was an undeniable draw for the centaur. He stepped up to the stone and reached into the dark opening with no hesitation. It was like reaching into the mouth of a beast. Ordinarily he wouldn't do anything so utterly foolish, but he could only think of what was inside. Strength? Magic? The potential to regain his shikigami? Replace it? There were so many possibilities. Kazan stretched his fingers and tried to find what lay within.
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 9, 2022 19:54:20 GMT -6
[Once outside, Bruse stops to look back after moving a short distance away from the cabin. Sees the door open and expects invisible guy, but sees Kail instead who seems to be looking for something. He is soon followed by the other winged man. He wonders if the invisible man is still inside, but otherwise sticks with Jedidiah.]
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Post by okami1reeka333 on Oct 9, 2022 22:01:33 GMT -6
[OOC: Jedidiah watches the cabin after making a bit of a distance away, using trees as cover for a moment. Sees Edge and Kail head out. He pauses and wants to see if he can see or hear where the invisaguy wandered off to.]
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Post by MP on Oct 10, 2022 1:18:09 GMT -6
[Edge and Kail]
The woods remain quiet as Edge and Kail retreat, and there are no footprints to suggest which way the unseen entity may have gone. In fact, the moment the footsteps passed the threshold of the cabin, it was as if the unseen weight simply ceased to exist. The two explorers are able to make their way to the campsite without incident.
A crow wings overhead as they walk, its muffled voice drifting down to them.
"The bonelapper comes to finish its game," it croaks. "Are they prepared for its attack?"
It comes to rest in the branches as they reach the end of the road.
The clearing is dark. The scent of smoke hangs in the air, but the coals have long since gone cold. A cooling roast has been left on the spit. At the edge of the trees, something crunches and cracks, wet sounds drifting to your ears through the dark.
"Welcome back, dears." The old woman's voice comes from the direction of the sounds. Her tone is warm. Welcoming. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
[Kazan]
Reaching into the dark, Kazan's fingers encounter a softness, warm and slick. As he takes hold of it, the pulsing stops.
Pain.
Something clamps onto his arm, a crushing weight. A grip like dozens of knives, burrowing deep. There is a tug on his arm, so fierce that the centaur is pulled in up to his shoulder. His cheek meets the stone, a terrible chill seeping into his skin. A terrible warmth trickling down his arm.
And then he is free. His arm is a ruin, torn as if with massive teeth, exposing oddly bloodless muscle. But in his hand is a flawless heart, no longer pulsing, but charged with a quiet strength. Even through the pain, the weight of it in his hand gives Kazan an odd thrill of victory. He senses that the heart has not yet reached its intended destination. It waits for some final step, as a hound for its master.
In addition to the heart, slick with blood, a small bone whistle rests in Kazan's palm. The end is cut in the image of a cruel beak, and a fine impression of feathers have been carved into its sides.
A crow watches this all from the treeline.
"The bonelapper comes to finish its game," it calls. "Are they prepared for its attack?"
[Jed and Bruse]
Jed and Bruse hear nothing to indicate that the footsteps are returning. Nor do they find any prints around the cabin. With the forest floor comprised of nothing but hard packed earth, such a weighty entity should have left some kind of trace. But it seems that any trace of it vanished when it crossed the cabin threshold.
But as Jed stops to look back at the cabin, he hears a softer set of footsteps that stop a half second after his own. Once out of the well-lit cabin, the unnatural shadow has reappeared beneath his feet, stretching away into the woods. It is from the direction of this shadow that Jed hears the footsteps, and as he stops and turns to examine the cabin, he glimpses something at the end of it. It is too distant to make out the figure's features. The thing is tall - tall enough to rival Jed himself. Its silhouette is vaguely human, but there is something unnatural in its stillness. Something that raises the hairs along your neck as it watches you.
Strangely, though Bruse is staring in the same direction, he doesn't seem to notice. From the spirit's perspective, the only thing of note in the forest is a crow, which alights in the branches above. It looks at you, clever eyes mirroring the stare of the trees.
"The bonelapper comes to finish its game," it croaks. "Are they prepared for its attack?"
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Post by Vaitris on Oct 10, 2022 12:41:08 GMT -6
[OOC: Kazan tests the bone whistle then heads back along the center path as long as it's safe to do so.] [Holding: heart, bone whistle]
Something soft and moist met his questing fingertips and Kazan wrapped his hand around whatever he had found. Then the imaginary beast's jaws sprang shut on his arm and pain exploded across his nerves. He cried out but immediately bit down on the sound, grinding his teeth together as he tried and failed to resist being yanked further into the hole.
Then as suddenly as it started, it was over. He stumbled back, his arm slipping free from the stone. Clutched in his fingers was a literal heart and a shred of bone carved into a small flute. Was the heart still warm? It was hard to tell through the echoes of pain that ricocheted from his hand to his elbow. Both skin and muscle had been rent open, though it was not bleeding as badly as it should have been.
Nevertheless, the centaur felt pleased, victorious. This was a thing of power, though not his sadly. It pined for someone else. The whistle was his to claim however. Kazan lifted it to his lips, blowing gently into the end.
His gaze flickered towards the crow when it spoke, now faintly amused. "Tell them to run, little bird. If this is a game for one, it will be death for the others."
Task complete, he now turned and headed back down the central path, looking to make sure the kankai was still safely occupied by the ants.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 10, 2022 14:06:05 GMT -6
(OOC: Edge is weirdly enough not keen on talking with the old lady(?) standing by the gross crunching sounds. Suggests to Kail that they get out of there fast and down the western road, as that is the one they haven’t explored yet. Begins moving down the western road if Kail follows.)
The walk through the forest was almost peaceful, so long as the Darai didn’t look up at the strange figures above, ignored the pain in his hand and didn’t think about where the invisible creature from the cabin might be lurking. For some reason, the eerie silence of the forest, the deadness of it all, was the last thing that bothered him now.
His heart squeezed painfully tight in his chest when a crow came to them, talking of strange creatures and attacks. That was the last thing they needed. Without thinking, his wing pressed harder against his back and shoulder, a small, physical comfort.
The clearing was dark. Everything left as if all life had suddenly disappeared from the area. Normally, he had no problem with the dark, but here, it was unnatrual, a disadvantage. Edge held his breath as they approached, treading lightly. The old woman’s voice and the wet crunches that accompanied it was an entirely unwelcome addition to the whole scene. The warmth of her tone failed to resonate with everything around her, becoming grating and out of touch. Dread settled low in the Darai’s stomach, like creeping nausea.
“Kail, we need to go”, Edge spoke quietly, keeping the words between them, “I don’t think we want to stick around her… it- for too long. There’s a path to the west, that’s as good as anything, right?” Purple eyes flicked from the direction of the voice to Kail and then to a path to the west, making sure not to move his head too much, just in case.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 10, 2022 16:31:46 GMT -6
[Kail agrees to gtfo and attempts to hurry down the western path with Edge
Kails ears flattened at the sounds coming from the dark. The sweetness of the old woman’s tone reminded him of his mimicry. Of all the voices he’d use to coax his prey closer.
He thought back on their conversations with the inhabitants of the abandoned camp. There had been talk of tokens - of favouring the strong and the smart. They did not currently fall into either category, and each wet snap from the dark was an omen of what was to come.
“Let’s get the hell outta here - now.” Kail had already begun to back away and towards the western path when Edge spoke, and he did not slow his pace now. He did not want to find out what a bonelapper was. The ghost and the doctor still had to pass the camp - he’d seen them skulking in the treeline, watching Edge and himself leave. That could be for them to discover.
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 10, 2022 19:01:39 GMT -6
[Bruse is once again confused if Jedidiah is acting out of sorts. He asks Jed what is bothering him. He also doesn't like the crow's words, and begins to wonder if the entity from earlier is still stomping around the cabin. He slowly approaches a window to look inside, and see if there is any sign of it.]
With the other two gone, Bruse and Jedidiah are left near the cabin but otherwise uncertain on the whereabouts of the invisible entity, or what to do next. Bruse looks to Jedidiah, eyes lowering to the giant as he once again had assumed his own normal height while outside. The large man seemed once more bothered by something. Bruse's eyes narrowed.
"What is the matter?" He asked, voice rumbling with concern. He followed the doctor's own gaze but was only able to spot another unassuming crow. They seemed common here. Its voice cawed to them, and Bruse heard it speak of something called a bonelapper and preparation for attack. The spirit bristled slightly. Did the crow mean them? Or the other two?
His eyes trailed back to the cabin, and one of its windows. He wondered if the entity was still inside. With slow, lumbering movements, Bruse made to approach the cabin and peer through a window. It could have left with the others.
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Post by okami1reeka333 on Oct 10, 2022 19:22:49 GMT -6
[OOC: Jedidiah tells Bruse about the thing watching them. Suggests they head back to camp. DOES NOT LIKE Bruse is just casually floating back to cabin. Considers setting the forest on fire just to make a barrier of fire between himself and scary thing. ]
Jedidiah:
There was a cold sweat running down his back when he noticed the figure watching him. . .He could not see any distinct features yet it was perhaps around his height give or take. Uncanny in its almost human like shape, and unblinking, unmoving like a corpse, staring him down. "theres someone there watching us. " he quietly told Bruse. "Around my height, I dont think its friendly. . . we should head back to- wait, Bruse, stop!" he replied before yelping quietly at Bruse as he floated back towards the cabin.
Like a scared child he held onto the torch the woodsman handed him, he did not let it go the entire time. . . .perhaps he could set the forest on fire? Something? Though this was not the surgical room nor hospital. . . this was the wilderness. . . of a forest he was not familiar with. Man if his mom knew, she would kill him and drag him back to relearn 'what he lost'. . . .
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Post by MP on Oct 10, 2022 22:19:09 GMT -6
[Kazan]
The crow repeats Kazan's words, clacking its beak. With a sudden caw, it takes flight into the woods. A second pair of wings darkens the clearing as Kazan's whistle, a harsh, unearthly shrill, pierces the air.
The bird alights on the stone above Kazan, the wind off its wings sending fine grains of sand stinging past his haunches. White eyes follow his retreat down the path. The moon darkens as the bird spreads its wings behind him. Yet it doesn't dive upon the centaur as it did before. Instead it glides above him, white eyes turning over the field like a hunting hawk. As the last tones of the whistle fade, it turns in its flight and wings away.
Kazan encounters no trouble on the road back. But as he nears the clearing, other sounds drift to his ears. Soft, wet noises, and something crunching nearby. The camp is dark. The fire is dead, and the rabbit is abandoned on its spit. From where Kazan stands, he can just make out the shape of the old woman crouched at the edge of the clearing. Her rags are more tattered, more heavily wrapped last you saw. She is preoccupied with something on the ground, but the sound of Kazan's hooves turns her head.
"Another one?" she says. Her lips - shadowed? Stained? - curve into a fond smile. "Oh. Hello again, love. And what about you? Did you find what you were looking for?"
[Edge and Kail]
The sounds of crunching fade into the dark. The woman hasn't followed, and the westward path cuts as direct a path through the forest as the first. You are soon out of sight of the clearing.
At the end of the eastward path, the forest ends. In its place, a deep fissure scars the earth, circling back on itself to form a circular canyon track.
From your vantage point, you can see three points where the canyon opens up into broader pits. In the nearest pit, three sickly trees eke out a living beside a narrow river. This river continues northeast and connects to a second pit. This pit holds a lake, its waters deep and still, with only a narrow bank at the east side to stand on. The bank leads west to a third and final pit, which is graveled and unremarkable save for a small ledge protruding midway up the canyon wall.
The road ends at a vantage point overlooking this canyon. From where you stand, a rocky path provides easy access down to the southernmost pit. Once at the bottom, the canyon should be accessible; however, your current vantage point offers a clear view of the entire canyon. Only the narrow connecting parts of the canyon cannot be seen. Kail hears a crunch under his hoof as he sets it down. He has stepped on a small crumpled note, scrawled with the familiar dark handwriting. Even before reading it, he feels a faint ache start in his temples.
[Bruse and Jed]
Creeping back to the cabin window, Bruse sees no sign of movement within. The floorboards are undisturbed The interior is quiet save for the hollow, irregular boom of the clock. Its trembling hand seems to beckon you through the window, pushing clockwise, never quite managing to move. There is no other sign of life, either within or in the surrounding woods. In such a quiet place, the heaviness of the earlier footsteps could not possibly be missed.
The figure hasn't stirred from the end of Jed's shadow. It has certainly seen him. Its featureless face is fixed on his own, and though it has no eyes, Jed senses a gaze upon his skin, prickling as goosebumps down the back of his neck. But the thing stands utterly still. It does not shift its weight, does not slouch or glance around in the manner of any living creature. Its entire being is focused on the caster of the shadow.
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