That can certainly be arranged. Also, the light conditions may be favorable.
Will we be lighting a fire? Warmth and light might be appreciated. But, then it's sort of a beacon in these... bleak lands.
Valeska looks around.
Let's find the most defensible position.
Kain smirks at the question of a fire.
Lady Valeska, It is likely whatever watches us could find us in the dark as easily as the light. I see no reason to try and fight on its terms. Besides, if the light draws it to us, all the better. A copse of trees, or thick brush would do well, our sight will be limited at night in either case.
"The roots would keep the ground solid enough for the wagon to come up nearby. I concur about the fire; anything hunting us will likely have the advantage at night. A flame may keep us safe." Nikolai offers. He knew of what regions to use, what a safe location could look like, but had no such skill himself.
Perhaps owing to her background as a wine merchant, Countess Valeska's geographic knowledge includes insight about soil fertility and drainage. Thus, she is able to identify the most likely location for old farmsteads. She directs the party to the southeast, just off the trail you've been traveling.
In about a quarter hour, you spot the remains of an old farm or ranch come into view from around a knoll.
However, General Kain abruptly halts your progress. He notices a natural hazard in your path. The ground looks unstable, and he suspects that some manner of sinkhole lies between you and potential sanctuary, just waiting to collapse beneath unwary feet.
Sasha pads forward, sniffing at the hole.
Kain dismounts from Silver and looks around.
I could send Silver forward to find a path, if you wish. He can fly when not weighed down by a rider, so should be fine if the ground starts to give way.
"Can we go around it?" Igniting flames in her hands, Bashuk ignores the road ahead and instead scans the area to the side or behind the group, in case of an ambush.
Taking a quick visual survey of the area, you observe that rather than being a single, centralized area of weakened ground, this potential sinkhole comprises a long, extended tract of land. It seems akin to a poorly engineered tunnel or mine shaft running north to south in a twisting path just beneath the surface between you and the old farmhouse.
You aren't sure how long it runs, and you aren't sure how much of the waning light it would cost to discover a way around.
One thing is certain: trying to cross this expanse of ground with wagons or even just horses could spell disaster.
We do not have the luxury of skirting the issue, unfortunately. Leaving the wagon behind is something I'd rather avoid. And, wending our way through this surface maze leaves us on uncertain and restrictive ground.
If the current... resident is intelligent or non-violent, we can parley some form of co-habitation. We'll need to see where that leaves us.
Sasha, please run along but beside the tunnels... see if you can't entice the dirt dweller to show themselves.
The cat-beast looks from Valeska to the open ground and lopes off.
"How very strange, this predicament. Is this what is causing the disappearances perhaps?" Nikolai ponders to himself after he gets down from the cart and onto his feet once more. The investigation was starting far sooner than he imagined.
Valeska considers Nikolai's question, Yes, Nikolai... perhaps indeed. Kain may have said it best, "For nothing... that lives upon the ground ...seems to survive here."
"Something's still in the hole, moving away though. Still, I wouldn't fall in if I could help it."
Silverwing takes a running start and leaps into the air before taking flight. The young griffin sails over the sinkhole and tunnel to scout out the farmhouse.
Meanwhile, Sasha stalks off to skirt around the winding tunnel running just beneath your feet. The eidolon keeps its nose to the ground and moves cautiously on its own scouting run.
Meanwhile, Sasha can also hear whatever Bashuk detected. It follows Sasha underground, at a distance, as though stalking the eidolon but unwilling to attack outright. Sasha's nose also picks up the pungent smell of gore and offal from whatever it may be.
Silverwing circles above the farmhouse, as something inside seems to catch the griffin's attention.
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Valeska's eyes flash then she gags, nearly retching.
Human sense aren't meant to be so... powerful. She shakes her head, dismissing the nausea. And focusing on some indeterminate point in space.
Foul stench, strongest there... she points. Where the tunnel branches. See, one towards the farmhouse, the other reaches South.
It's stalking Sasha at a distance, he can hear it... I can hear it. It's waiting... hesitant... maybe afraid? Can't tell. But, it itself reeks of gore and offal, rotten flesh... it's own or some victim's I cannot tell.
She comes out of the tance-like state.
Perhaps it is a youngster, immature. Perhaps this isn't the work of one.
Sasha looks up from his investigation and turns towards Valeska, wordlessly asking whether he should continue onwards towards the farmhouse.
You are certain that it is some manner of undead.
Valeska indicates Sasha should wait.
Thank you, Valda... seems there is an area Southward where many bodies were buried long ago. Cemetery?
At any rate, I can't let Sasha range to far from me. So, it seems we make our way to the farmhouse slowly. She smiles.
Let's see what fortune brings us. Evets, you can stay here with the wagon... alone. Or come along.
"Stay with the wagon?" Evets exclaims, quite scared by the prospect. Of course, as his eyes dart between the abandoned farmstead and the vast, rolling nothing all around, it becomes clear that either prospect is frightening to him.
"Be safe, old girl," he says, patting his mule upon the neck after dismounting from the seat of his wagon. "I can do nothing for you right now. I need to stick close to our friends."
Evets sidles up to the party, keeping close for protection.
"Have you found a safe way across the sinkhole, or are we going around?" he asks, glancing furtively at the darkening sky.
Something in the house has caught Silver's attention. we should be wary. Also, you can bring the mule along Evets, no reason to leave it out here tethered to the cart.
He whistles for Silver to return them before looking to the others.
A good question indeed. He awaits Valeska's decision.
We are not sight-seers, Dr. Evets... whatever this is, it needs to be dealt with or at least fully identified.
Who is to say it wouldn't burrow its way to Ravenrgo, and truly... what stop would this be called on any future trade route?
She pauses.
If we fall into a tunnel, we fall together. Let's not waste time. No heroes, everyone comes out alive.
With a quiet grunt of acquiescence, Bashuk falls in with the others as they loop wide around the sinkhole. "Lady Valda, did you get a sense for how big it is?" The half-orc's eyes flash with delight at the prospect of getting to use her powers.
Sasha leads the way to the farmhouse, on the ground. The cat-beast seems to avoid walking over the tunnels when it's easy enough to do so.
Valeska is always 30-40 feet behind.
We move as one, we defend and attack as a team... mindful of our teammates' strength and playing to them while shoring up known weaknesses.
For instance, I'm not particularly tough... but, I'm fast and I work really well with a flanking partner.
Sasha is one such partner, but it's always good to have options and therefore opportunities.
Seems we have a choice to make.
We could each try to jump the span of the would be tunnels, risky with the possibility of falling in... and it splits us up.
Or... we could use planks from the wagon to create a bridge of sorts.
Could probably get everyone and everything across, staying together, moving as one. She looks to Evets and then the others.
Time is of the essence, we do not want to lose the light... Come.
When Valeska reaches the first obstacle, she is ready to jump.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Doctor Evets calls out, his hand raised plaintively. He shuffles over from his wagon, his other arm burdened by shelves pulled down from within. He offers those to the effort, rather than disassembling the whole vehicle.
One by one, General Kain demonstrates his horsemanship by coaxing each of your steeds into a running jump across the unstable ground. Only Lady, Valda's own gray mare, gives him any trouble, clearly preferring her own master to the general. After each time, the general carefully walks across the wooden planks laid across the soil.
The rest of the party escorts the wagon on foot, skirting around the tunnels and sinkholes. You find the end of the unstable ground, culminating in one big swathe of loose soil, dozens of yards removed from the farmstead's old well and grazing lands.
After a quick examination, Valda immediately knows the answer to her own question.
This loose soil marks the remains of an old burial cairn, almost certainly constructed by the Kellid tribesfolk who once inhabited Ustalav. It was presumably torn down by the settlers who built this farmstead before it was left abandoned. Valda recognizes that the stones used for the farmhouse foundation were taken from the cairn.
She also suspects that more of the cairn lies below the surface, plowed over when the Ustalavic homesteaders demolished the surface ruins. It is not hard to imagine that they funded their farm with plundered grave goods.
Valeska stands very still, it's easy to see she's listening... Grinding of some sort, beneath... down there. She points down, beneath the soil.
Hellz if I know from what.
Perhaps there is a way to appease the restless souls that were disturbed by thoughtless and greedy settlers? Or maybe I'm too hopeful.
A peaceful resolution is always best, I find. Valeska looks to Nikolai.
"Brave farmers, to destroy a cairn. Foolish too, maybe." Bashuk follows Valda's gaze towards the sinkhole as flames begin to wind up her arms. "The dead often aren't 'all there,' they remember anger and hunger and hate but forget who and what they were. Maybe we can talk to it though." The half-orc's expression makes clear her doubt, but she seems willing to let the Countess try.
"Are you saying that there's restless dead down there?" Evets asks, his voice cracking. "What...what do we do? It's so dark, I can scarcely see my hand in front of my face, and now there might be old Kellid bones digging their way out of the ground to throttle us?"
Though the air is rather mild, you can hear the man's teeth chatter in fright.
If this is a relic of the original Kellid inhabitants of this land, who would resettle in Numeria and Sarkoris after being driven out by Soividia Ustav, then it predates the Age of Enthronement and is at least 23 centuries old.
Of course, some of your academic peers have speculated that pockets of native Kellid holdouts may still dwell in the deeper forests and most secluded hills of Ustalav. If this is true, then the cairn may be much more recent, albeit still a few centuries old.
Its age may dictate what sort of undead your allies have detected just under the surface.
Your procession curves around the desecrated cairn and turns towards the farmhouse ahead when you hear a shriek from Silverwing, still circling overhead. A pair of black clouds rise up from the farmhouse and take to the sky, reaching out towards the young griffin.
"Draw them to me," Bashuk says softly, the twisting fire wreathing her arms stretching thin tendrils into the air. "Birds aren't my favorite, but at least they cook quickly."
Kain, call him back... please.
Sasha roars, whether it's a challenge to the swarms or a warning to Silverwing is difficult to say.
Sasha believes he sees that they are... dead birds?