WalkingStalking in the same direction as the others, Jennifer stops suddenly when the cat jumps up on her pack. She glares at it for a long, uncomfortable moment before turning her gaze forward and continuing on.
Gathering your things, the party headed to the North as the portal the Twilight doesn't seem too odd, until you notice somethings that simply don't mesh. Passing by the small town you stayed the night reveals it to now be some kind of burial mound with hundred of rusting swords and spears buried in the ground. A sign nearby warns in several languages not to touch them.
From this position, you should also be able to see the sea, but all you can spot on the horizon is overgrown grasslands and small forests. What might be some kind of town is to the North West.
Kaelic checks his geiger counter for guidance, but also eyes the town with some curiosity. "If there's someone living there, they might be able to help us find what we're looking for."
He remains hovering in the air to keep his heightened perspective and keeps a watchful eye.
"How confident are you that they'll be willing to help us?"
Izami 'looked' towards the burial mound as she passed and seriously debated doing some wide-scale purification. It was kind of amazing how many people forgot that the proper solution to a haunted area was a religious rite. They thought about exorcisms for people and houses, but not for larger regions. "Maybe don't show me if you're talking to normal folks. Displaying weapons and all that." she suggested.
Kaelic's geiger counter continued to suggest solidly north.
"There's no reason to visit the town. His Geiger counter keeps pointing north, so it's not like some village-folk are going to be hiding the ship or its contents somewhere else. If I'm wrong, we can come back."
Kaelic shrugs. "I usually try to be on good terms with the locals, but in this dimension the locals don't always want to be on good terms with you. So fair enough."
"I wonder."
Morgan emerges from Jennifer's backpack, yawning. "Maybe the survivors of the Blackwing settled here. They might know something."
"Hopefully we won't be around enough to need terms and they could know something or have an up to date map. If we don't see anything when we get closer, it could be worth a look to see if they're among the inhospitable groups - which happens in any dimension...not sure if peeking on them from above is much better than brandishing a sword though may be safer for you..."
Izami made a noise suggesting a shrug - she didn't actually have a body to do that with at the moment. "As you prefer." she said, seeming quite content with either path.
"We could send the cat in to scout it out. Hope they don't eat it." Kaelic said as he touched down and let his wings relax against his back. He glanced around to see if this offended the cat.
On the other hand, you definitely feel something in the mound is watching you all.
"How about I turn the pixie into a cat for a while instead? So he can scout at his leisure and nobody will eat anyone I care about."
"I could summon something that can't be eaten once we're closer..." Nurai chuckled a bit at the banter but her thoughts were pulled back to the concerning edge to their surrounding, the village...and the mound she had previously done her best to give a wide berth too. She didn't like the feel of being watched that came from it, but also didn't like how it felt like poking a hornet's nest to investigate anything in this place too much.
Staring at it for a long moment, she cast detect magic towards the mound to see if it would give her any clues...
If Kaelic knew the cat was talking to him, he didn't show it. Instead his attention was on Nurai as she seemed concerned about the mound.
"We're not interested in the town. The ship isn't in the town, and until we start looking for anything from it, going there is just going to waste our time and ruin any surprise we may have left."
She glanced at the mound entrance warily, then back to others, "Thankfully only a few of the swords are vaguely magical and not spectacularly...and not like like Izami - I don't think so at least - but that entrance seems..." she gave a vaguely unsure but uncomfortable noise, clearly unsure whether to explore further and continued north as they were at a slightly slower pace as she considered.
Someone listening or watching from there could stab them in back or could prefer to be ignored and turn into an angry wasp once disturbed...it seemed to be more for the dead than the living so directions or information seemed only remotely possible. Nurai was starting to feel like oddly nice scenery just made the uneasy feeling more frustrating.
"Is this paranoia typically human, or are you a peculiar specimen?" asked idly Morgan from the backpack. "Let's avoid the town if you are so inclined, but if you are going to discuss it further I'm going back to sleep."
"We're here for a mission. No need to get distracted." Izami said calmly, content to be carried to the destination. "We can always return to the town if there's a problem with the ship."
Kaelic nods along. "Right. Let's keep moving then."
Ignoring the village for now and heading North led you up a small hill, allowing you to see the village some five or six miles to the East as you passed by. It was difficult to make out, even with binoculars, but it seemed reasonably normal to you - perhaps a little archaic by the standards of the modern world. It certainly didn't look like a recently built refuge, and it seemed inhabited from the smoke, but that was all you could tell.
Time passed slowly as you travelled. There was no obvious road and few paths beyond short game trails, which didn't make for speedy travel, but a relative lack of overgrown areas made it easier. Several times you spotted what might be a dear or something similar, but the wildlife avoided you.
The first issue you reached was a canyon of some kind several hours away from the starting point. The opposite side was nearly 50ft away, and water could be heard below - however, as it was getting dark, the bottom couldn't be seen.
"Where's Aurora and her flying death horse," Jennifer grumbles to Nurai before addressing the entire group.
"How many of you can fly?"
Morgan grumbles and jumps down from the backpack, gauging the distance to the other side. "I can carry you one at a time, but not so far. Pixie, can you- ah, nevermind."
The cat closes his eyes and dreams of a bridge, meowing and purring musically. From the side of a cliff, shadowy bramble growths sprout forward, twisting and weaving with each other until a wooden bridge spans the chasm. Opening back his eyes, Morgan starts crossing his creation.
Kaelic catches on to what Morgan is calling him, but then it creates a bridge across the canyon. Kaelic nods and tries the bridge, walking halfway across and dropping a stone, a magical glow flaring out from it as it falls.
Eyes peeled for anything waiting for them on the other side of the bridge or for any threats rising up out of the chasm below them, Jennifer crosses over in silence.
Nurai nodded to Jennifer, a flying horse would be useful as she considered the canyon. She answered, "Only for a few moments...and nothing like that..." she said as she admired the plant-shadowy bridge created by Morgan. Approaching cautiously, Nurai and her shadows followed...
Kaelic's light revealed a...mass, below. It's not clear what it is but the intrusion of the light causes the mass to ripple in an a alarmed fashion. The sound of water seems to be coming from below that.
"A moment." Izami said as the group passed over the mass of... stuff.
"Great work, go disturb the things that dwell in the darkness, you big Peregrin Took."
Morgan hurries to the other end.
Morgan hurries to the other end.
Likewise.
There was...something...akin to blood in the mass below. It apparently didn't take well to being prodded though, as the mas shuddered as a whole - and began to move up the walls.
Nurai sped up as she saw Kaelic's light affect the creature, chuckling slightly at Morgan's remarks. That quickly died as she started to run.
"Things in the dark, usually fine, whatever-from-the-burning is now climbing up the canyon, not so much..." she said as she continued to try to get even more space between her, her shadows, and the unhappy mass...
...barely looking as she tried to head north.
Izami watched as the group continued moving, not seeming terribly concerned about having prodded whatever it was. "No sense letting nasty stuff linger forever." she said cheerfully. "Maybe I'll throw some fire at it later."
Nurai (and anyone else who glances down) sees that the black mass seems to be some kind of...eels. Hundreds upon thousands of the creatures, so many that they have clogged the canyon and were now, somehow as one mass, climbing the walls.
Given the pure numbers, setting any individual on fire would be futile, and would take a lot of time to work. Area attacks would be more effective...and running was also an option, as it would be 15 or so seconds before the rolling wave reached the lip now that you were all across.
"Maybe you'll do no such thing! There's a difference 'tween curiosity and bothering things that are just chillin' in [i]the freaking Twilight!" meows Morgan from the other side. "Move, 'fore I collapse the illusion and drop you to meet those eels!"
Of the four walkers in this group, Jennifer makes sure she is fourth-to-last as she hustles away from the chasm and the ensuing eel swarm.
Kaelic flies like a fey out of... the Twilight? Except still in the Twilight. "Izami, you can't just go poking everything you find here!" He says somewhat hypocritically.
Well, it was certainly possible to poke and prod everything. At least until it ended up killing you all.
The slithering mass of elongated forms reached the lip of the ground...and began to flow over the edge. It certainly begged questions about just how they were overflowing the chasm like this, but it also begged questions like 'how fast can they move?' and 'just how big is this, anyway?'
"So the plan was, what, have it coming straight at us when we're trying to leave?" Izami asked. "Nah. Trust me, better to address stuff right away. They have something like blood, so lemme just try this....."
Morgan quickly hurries away from the demonic eels. "Who's the one who said there was no need to get distracted?! Can someone throw the scrap metal at the monster and then run? Please?"
It was hard to see, due to the pure numbers, but the eels did start bleeding...and went into a frenzy as the healthy members ate those that were affected. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much of a change in the numbers, only the level of blood-mad frenzy.
I think the plan was to hope hungry tentacley eels didn't notice us and/or we outrun any blighters who did... Nurai shouted back over her shoulder as she looked around for anything useful, like a boulder to push over it or route out or something better than going claw to whatever with those things...
...with a growl of frustration.
"Can you all outrun it? I can certainly outfly it... I hope." Kaelic said with wavering confidence. "At least I can get this troublesome sword away from it!"
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Rather than wondering whether they should fight or flee, and secretly hoping that the monsters will devour the fairy and the sword, Morgan sprints away from the eels.