The Planewalkers' Other Journies

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn sat quietly for a minute, before responding with a whisper.

"I'm going to find that thing and I'm going to rip it's damn heart out."

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Shawn

After a brief moment of silence, Florence nods. "Let's see about hunting it down. I don't know what it is, but do you think you can track it? It doesn't seem like it'd go far." She glances back to the square before adding, "I'd say it's been here for a while, whatever it is."

---

Rosalyn & Theller

Finding the desk to be empty, they continue their search, heading to the nearby general store. Its shelves are still full of product - dry goods, traveling supplies, clothing, and other things of that nature - but its back room, after Theller manages to open it up, is similar to that of the town hall. Completely empty, seemingly just there for appearances. There's no sign that there ever was anything there, in fact. No scuff marks from moved furniture, no wear on the floorboards, nothing but a thin layer of dust.

[Spleen]

"It seems like some work was put in here to fool the uncurious and those without lockpicks," Theller observed. "Why else would you lock an empty, unused room? The question is: Who, and why, and what does it have to do with the missing people? Assuming even they ever existed."

[Seethe]

"Never existed to begin with?" Rosalyn mused, struck by the idea. "Yeah... it does look a lot like this whole village was just made for show. But... if there wasn't a village here to begin with, I don't know what the point of that would be. It's not like a village that never existed would be missed, but the only other reason I can think of would be to lure people in here, and we haven't seen any human bodies around here."

She stared into the room for a few more moments, trying to think this through.

"I feel like we're on a wild goose chase here... The only clear lead we have so far is that creature we saw. Maybe we should try to catch that thing."

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn nods, sniffling a little bit. "...We..We have to d-do something. We can't just leave him...He's all alone now, because....S-Something just...Decided...He's..."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand/paw.

"...He's just like me..."

[Spleen]

Theller unhooked the larger of his two crossbows from his belt and began to wind the winch to cock it. "Yes, let's." He slid a bolt into it and locked the winch in place.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Shawn

Kneeling down next to Shawn, Florence wraps an arm around her and squeezes her tight, resting her head on Shawn's. "We won't leave him, and he won't be alone. We'll find that thing that did this and kill it, so it can't do it again to anyone else. Right?"

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

With more experience in outdoors matters, Rosalyn takes the lead. The ground here doesn't take tracks well, but she still manages to pick up signs of its travel, and soon determines a few facts: there's only one creature here, though it's been coming and going for days, and it tends to come from a certain direction. Its prints are distinctly as strange as the creature itself, of course; only two toes, straight forward, with fixed claws at least three inches long, almost like a sloth's.

Leading Theller along its direction, Rosalyn keeps a close eye on the ground while sparing the occasional glance up to move around buildings. After a few minutes, she's the first to spot its hazy figure, peeking from behind a squat house, though before she can speak up, Theller catches notice himself. Though its eyes aren't visible through the milky film still covering its body, they both get the distinct impression of being watched, even appraised.

Rosalyn passes a Survival check (15+7=22), and manages to get a general idea of the creature's travels through the town. While tracking it, she (14+7=21) and Theller (10+9=19) both pass a Perception check to spot it.

[Idran1701]

I got into Notre Dame, so 600 XP for everyone :D

[Spleen]

As soon as he caught sight of the creature, Theller pointed in its direction. "THERE!" he shouted, leveling his crossbow and firing a bolt. Without even caring about whether it struck, he dropped the crossbow and began running toward the creature, drawing his spear.

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn nods, quietly. No more, no less.

[Seethe]

Rosalyn had her bow ready when Theller called out. Having seen it as well at the same time, she also loosed her arrow at it. Rather than charge in, though, she held back a bit and began to reach for another arrow. She did move forward to close the distance a bit, though, so that she could get to Theller's side quickly if need be.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

Theller lets a bolt fly; it vanishes as it passes through the creature's translucent shell, and he can't tell if he scored a hit or not. Rosalyn's arrow suffers the same fate, yet as Theller charges at it with spear ready, the creature darts off, away from the village and into the surrounding landscape. Leaving the cover of its surroundings behind, and with little brush and short grass, it's easy to track now as it tries to escape in the open grasslands. It's a speedy thing, though, and it's not making it too easy for them.

---

Shawn

Florence pulls Shawn tighter, brushing any tears Shawn might have with her sleeve. She keeps hugging her, hoping to comfort her, while the tiger cub sleeps soundly in her lap. Lightly squeezing Shawn's left hand in her own, she begins humming a tuneless song, keeping Shawn close.

[Spleen]

Theller thought nothing of chasing after the creature, and wrapped his wings tightly around him so he could run all-out. He cast about with his eyes as he did, but did not expect to see anything he could use to gain height to glide with.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

Theller breaks into a run, chasing after the creature. Unfortunately for him, the ground is indeed too flat for him to leap off anything, but it doesn't seem necessary as he slowly gains on the unidentifiable thing. It breaks left into a curve, apparently trying to escape, but Theller moves to cut if off, ready to gain even more ground.

Without warning, as he runs his foot finds no purchase ahead. The ground crumbles beneath him as he falls, and to Rosalyn, he drops out of sight so fast that he might as well have vanished. The sinkhole spreads out, not quite 10 feet wide when the ground finishes falling apart, and the creature seems to give Rosalyn a knowing look before it darts off again.

Theller tumbles through the air for long seconds. His wings unfurl instinctively, catching him and keeping him from hurting himself too badly, but he still hits the rock floor beneath him hard, and he can feel a bruise raise along his side. He finds himself in a wide tunnel twenty-five feet across and about as high, daylight streaming in from the newly-formed hole in the ceiling and lighting up the crumbled earth and rock around him. Scores show in the ceiling around the hole, suggesting something's weakened it recently.

As for the tunnel itself, it stretches off at least a hundred feet in either direction before curving away, both towards the same direction. Outside the natural spotlight shining around him, the cavern's lit up by a dull purple glow emanating from a thin vein that stretches on either side of the tunnel wall. Just below this vein, a long string of four irregularly broken lines etched into the rock. The air is surprisingly fresh, with just the barest hint of earthiness, and in the distance he can hear the dripping of water onto a hard surface.

---

Shawn

While Shawn's mood worsens, Florence shifts, sitting on the ground. She takes up Shawn, carefully setting the tiger cub onto the ground and pulling Shawn into her lap, hugging her even tighter. "Shh. Shh, it's okay, Shawn. You're okay now. It's all right. I'm here, and everything's going to be all right."

Florence keeps her close, letting her cry into her shoulder. They sit silent for a few minutes, before they both hear the distant crash of Theller's fall. She glances in the distance before looking back to Shawn, doing her best to dry her tear-matted fur with her sleeve. Brushing some hair out of her face, she gives Shawn a small smile. "Feel better? I think you had a lot to let out."

[Seethe]

Rosalyn changed her mind about chasing the creature the moment Theller disappeared into the ground. Checking on him became the priority at that point. At first she thought it might have been a pit trap, but that was a rather wide hole for that kind of thing. Once she ran to the edge, though, she saw that a tunnel was leading away underground in both directions...

"Thel, are you okay?" she called down into the hole as she looked around the edges for any signs of a surface she could perhaps climb down.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

Rosalyn heads to the edge of the hole, but it's dead-center in the roof, too far from the walls to climb. Thankfully, though, the edges seem fairly solid, and she doesn't see any risk of further collapse.

Forgot to add this in the last post: Theller takes 3 points of falling damage.

[Spleen]

"Yes!" Theller shouted up, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. "My wings are not for decoration, as much as flight still eludes me."

He looked around himself and called back up. "I hear dripping water, I'll follow the sound to its source. Your torch would be appreciated down here."

[Seethe]

Rosalyn searched through her pack until she found the Everburning Torch Theller had asked for.

"Alright, I'm tossing it down," Rosalyn called, then tossed the thing into the hole.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like she could follow.

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn nods, hiccuping. She looks down at the cub, trying to determine if it's doing any better.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Shawn

Shawn checks over the cub, and though it's still sleeping, it seems to be doing much better. Though there's still some thin scars, its wounds have otherwise healed entirely, and its breathing is much steadier now.

Florence takes out her waterskin, handing it to Shawn while keeping an arm around her. "Here, drink something. Once you feel ready, let's go see what's going on, okay? You can take as much time as you need. I'll carry the cub for you."

[Spleen]

Holding the eternal brand aloft, Theller took another look at his surroundings to see if anything new cropped up now that he had a light source.

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn drinks, more because she's being told to than because she wants to. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if he wakes up?"

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Shawn

"...Hmm. Well...maybe you're right. Why don't you stay with him for now? I'm going to go see if they need any help, but I'll be back as soon as I can. Rosalyn and Theller are chasing that...thing down, so you should be safe. But if anything happens, I want you to bring the cub and run to me, okay, Shawn?" Setting her back on the ground, Florence shifts to stand, and gives her another hug. "Be safe, okay?"

She gets up and heads off in the direction of the sound, soon spotting Rosalyn and the gaping hole in the ground, just as Theller's looking around the tunnel. The extra light doesn't seem to give him any better of an impression of his surroundings; indeed, it's about as bright as the purple glow, though it may be helpful if that glow doesn't extend throughout the tunnels.

"What happened here?" Pulling her pack off, she pulls out a rope and piton, kneeling on the ground and checking its firmness. "Theller, are you all right?"

[Spleen]

"Of course," he called up. "Once again, my wings are not just for show. I'm glad that I fell and not any of you three."

He noticed what Florence was doing with the rope. "Is that for me to use to climb out of here, or are you coming down? There are tunnels leading away, and I'd like to explore them. Did Rosalyn bring you up to speed on what we didn't find in town?"

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

"Well...either, if you're all right, I suppose. And no, she didn't." Florence looks to Rosalyn curiously, as she begins hammering the piton into the ground. "What didn't you find?"

[Spleen]

"Any lock I picked, behind it was a clear, empty room. No matter how bustling the rest of the building looked like it was, behind any locked door was an empty space. Even the meeting hall in town: Large, open, utterly bare. Unsettling to discover."

[Seethe]

"Yeah," Rosalyn confirmed. "We think there might not have been anyone in that town to begin with."

As she spoke, though, she looked off in the direction the creature they had been chasing had run off. She was a bit distracted, worrying what it was going to be up to while everyone was down in the tunnels. But she didn't think continuing to chase it would be such a good idea, considering that there might be more of these sinkholes about. Her mind was more set on getting down into that tunnel at the moment, really.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village

Glancing up to Rosalyn as she puts away the hammer, she furrows her brow in a mixture of curiosity and disappointment. "Oh...huh. That is strange. I wonder what this place really was, then. And what those stories about it were about, about the healing powers here." She ties the rope around it, making sure that it's secure, before tossing the free end down the hole. "All right. Now, I don't want to leave Shawn alone for too long, but I should be back soon. I'm wondering what's down there myself." Looking down the hole at Theller and his surroundings, she contemplates for a bit before heading off, back the way she came.

Back in town, Shawn's had a few minutes to wait, without much going on. Before Florence returns, though, the cub blinks, slowly coming awake. It rolls back onto its stomach and yawns, looking around before spotting Shawn. With a squeaky mewl, it stretches, looking around in confusion.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Rosalyn & Theller

With everburning torch in hand, Theller takes the lead, moving forward with Rosalyn close behind. The dripping continues to echo in the distance, but long before they reach it, they find a branch in the path. Ahead, the tunnel continues, but to their left, it curves inwards. It turns away too soon to spot what might be down it, but near the entrance, they find something they've been dreading since discovering the emptiness of the village.

A trio of human bodies, a middle-aged man and a teenaged man and woman, lie on the ground, faces contorted in grimaces of pain. They're still and pale, with a small group of rats (rats missing the tops of their skulls, at that) nibbling at them. Long-congealed pools of blood can be seen having dripped from their ears, but the rest of the floor looks clean. In the still air, it's hard to tell from scent without getting closer, but they don't seem to have begun to rot either; they can't have died too long ago.

---

Shawn

The cub's the first to hear Florence's approach, but Shawn picks up the sound soon enough, as she returns from the sinkhole. "Well, I see he's woken up, hmm?," she says with a smile, before squatting next to Shawn. "Good, because I think we should get moving. Theller and Rosalyn've found something. They say that the village is more than empty; while they were exploring, they found locked rooms in each building they checked that were completely empty and bare. No sign of people, but they've also found a big tunnel under the village. Something's going on here, and I want to find out what. Maybe there's still a way we could get you cured here. Do you think you're ready to go?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Yeah." Shawn says, standing and moving around a bit, as if to make sure she's still used to it. "I'm good to go whenever..."

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Empty Village
Shawn

Nodding to her, she scoops up the tiger cub, and leads Shawn back to the rope. Taking a seat at the edge, she looks back to the catgirl. "Do you think you can climb down? If you can't, hold onto my back."

[Seethe]

She wasn't surprised to find the bodies, but Rosalyn was still fairly disturbed by the sight. Her first reaction was to try to chase the rats away, drawing her sword and waving it at them aggressively. It was bad enough to see how they had died, seeing them being picked at by those scavengers was a bit too much.

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Tunnels

Though they start to back away, the rats refuse to disperse, instead hissing in perfect unison at Rosalyn. Though hard to tell in the light in this tunnel, it almost appears as if their exposed brains pulse with a subtle blue light as they stare at Rosalyn, slowly putting distance between themselves and the archer.

Rosalyn:

Spoiler:

Now that you have a better look, you recognize the creatures as cranium rats, a hive mind race that infests the Outlands and the Lower Planes. They become more intelligent and gain mental powers as they gather in larger groups, but they usually aren't a threat until a few dozen are in one place; there's only 11 here right now.

[Spleen]

"What...are they?" Theller asked. He'd seen rats, but not ones with exposed brains like this. He brandished his spear and stood by Rosalyn's side.

[Seethe]

Upon realizing what the rats were, Rosalyn jumped back abruptly, then fell into an actual fighting stance, now taking the creatures seriously.

"Cranium rats," she said. "Hivemind creatures. They'll get some mental powers in bigger groups, but they may not be too big of a threat with only this number."

[Spleen]

"Hivemind...so others can't be far. Is there anything specific I'll need to know to begin to kill them, or will my spear do the trick well enough?"

[Seethe]

"That's all I know," Rosalyn said. "I'd think that we had best not let any of them get away, though, once we start this."

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn, managing to somehow scramble down the rope without thumbs to speak of, got to the floor, and immediately smelled the rats. Slinking low, she caught up with the other two, grinning wildly. "The heads don't look like much, but the bodies...Dinner is served."

[Idran1701]

Outlands - Tunnels

Florence follows close behind Shawn, hauling herself down one-handed with the tiger cub held close. The rats start to look increasingly wary as the number present grows, and as Florence approaches, they turn. Shawn manages to snatch one, while Rosalyn and Theller each strike one dead, but the rest bolt down the hallway behind them as a single mass, not paying even a glimpse behind them.

She sets the cub on the ground, staring after them with muscles tensed. "Were those cranium rats?"

I'm going to assume people are chasing if they don't post to the contrary for this one; if you're staying back, post such, otherwise I'll GM again late tonight.