Nick listened to the conversation. Donovan revealed the details of the village's peril, something about Dawn and the surrounding forest going under the waves because of the God Of Knowledge looking for what was buried beneath the sea, courtesy of Delpithi and Rifelshka, Goddesses of the Oceans and the Underworld respectively. The deities apparently hid some pretty nasty stuff taken from monsters that once plagued the land. Oh man, this was larger than Nick expected.

Someone named Lazhira had taken a group to investigate the dangerous old temple while 'the pair from Chagawa' were interested in helping. Nick guessed that the pair would be the two outsiders that Haruno pointed out to them earlier. Him and Donovan should probably go see them then. Lady Mie, the trader Haruno was working for, appeared to be just that, a trader although she might have stuff that Nick and Donovan could use.

The last gesture from Lord Enli was handing the duo a small leather pouch of gold coins. Likely to purchase equipment from someone named Bolcha who made armaments. "Alright, then. Thanks, Lord Enli. And uhhh, pray for us, will ya?"

After Nick and Donovan left the longhouse, the former was quick to speak. "Alright, Don. I'll go look for the 'Chagawan pair'..." Nick made air quotes. "...and see what they know while you go buy us some armor or something. Maybe also see what this Bolcha guy knows about the situation, yeah?"

If there were no objections to Nick's plan, he would go look for the pair in the village. Should he find Haruno again, he would ask her where they went.

Novak was a little worried about jumping into the hole, even if the cat girl had told him it was safe. After all, being part cat, being able to survive long falls might just be second nature to her. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about- the layer of goop safely absorbed the force of his fall, causing him to gently bounce. As he struggled to get back onto his feet, a doorway down the hallway slammed shut, startling Novak and causing him to lose his footing.

"Leannah? Is that you?" Novak asked, once again endeavoring to try and stand up. Had she triggered another mechanism? Novak looked around, noticing the glowing crystals that his companion had mentioned, as well as a curious trail of luminous shards leading into the hallway. Did Leannah make that? Or was it already there?

Novak pocketed the mask and broke off a piece of crystal for light. It'd lessen the light in the room even further, but being the only one of his group who could didn't know how to use light magic, Novak needed a source of illumination. Perhaps the mask could pierce darkness with its strange sight, but he'd rather not over-rely on it. According to Lazhira, the Illuminator was a fickle being who took away as readily as he gave, and Novak couldn't be sure if the mask might suddenly stop working.

Now with a light source, Novak was ready to explore and find his feline companion. It was at this point that he realized that Narkissa and Lazhira had not followed him into the hole. Were they really choosing to fight those slime monsters? At this point there was nothing he could do for them, so he opted to proceed down the hallway and hope that his companions on the upper levels would make it out in one piece. It wasn't like he'd be any help up there, since those things didn't look like they could be killed with a sword.

"Leannah? Can you hear me?"

To his left, and where the trail of crystals ended, was what used to be an entrance, but now, Novak didn't see any way of opening it. The doorway to his right led to what looked like an old kitchen. Novak briefly pondered as to whether anything in there might be of any use. There might be some cutlery in there but I already have my sword. The next room down appeared to be a dormitory. Clearly this sublevel used to be a living area.

Novak proceeded further down to the end of the hallway. Leannah was probably in the sealed room behind him, but he felt it'd be wise to look around first before attempting to deal with that dilemma. Or perhaps he simply didn't want to be caught off-guard by anything in this eerie sublevel. At the end of the hall there were two paths. The path to the right led to a room with a pedestal. The path to the left...he wasn't sure where it led.

Just what is this place hiding, I wonder...

Novak could feel his heart pounding as a feeling of trepidation rose within him. He carefully down the crystal, and with his now freed hand, pulled out the mask and placed it upon his face. With the mask on, he glanced at the pedestal room, then back at the sealed doorway of the hallway behind him, then at the passage leading away, hoping to discern clues to open the sealed room. It might have been easier to simply hold the mask with his other hand, but this place gave Novak the willies and he wanted to keep his sword arm unoccupied.

@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

Malphas entered the cave curiously, expecting some trouble. What he didn't expect, however, was a knife for his throat so early on. Were the followers of this Illuminator that untrustworthy? Or perhaps they were cutthroats who lead new travelers to this death trap to collect what little belongings they have. No matter what they were, Malphas could not help but grin. It's as if he found his own people!

"Cease! I come under the will of the Illuminator!" Malphas hollered, so that whoever else is in this decrepit cave would hear him. He then raised both his hands to his head, ensuring not to touch himself with his poison-tainted mitts.

"Search me, if you wish." Malphas told the one who had a knife to his throat. "You'll find the stone the old crone had given me. That should be enough for my entry? yes?

"Ah, but I wouldn't touch my dagger with your bare hands if I were you. Lets say I was experimenting a bit with the local flora and fauna on my way here. It's only by the Illuminator's will that I learn everything about this world, no?"

---

In hindsight she should have seen that one coming from a mile away. Well, seen that a trap was very much possible given the nature of this capricious deity and their pushing of people to see what they'd do for knowledge. Especially when such a being was the one whom designed this place (probably). What was this place, designed to trap her or dump her down a deep dank hole the whole way through?! She wanted to learn about that ancient past, about this deity, and frankly get enough skills and knowledge to go kill some elder beast to please the goddess she'd managed to contact. Hopefully none of the others had made such a stupidly rash decision to contact a new deity in the heat of the moment. She had a holy quest to go on, then again said goddess had admittedly good taste in catgirls as well. Hard to argue that.

Then again, perhaps Leannah herself was simply too curious about all of this and was digging her claws too deep into things. As the old saying back home went, "curiosity killed the ca-"...n-never mind. She had walked right into that one as well, pun intended, but speaking of traps she seemed to be simply trapped in the room itself. Indeed, if this deity was a puzzle-loving trap-making sort then there might be a solution to this! Or at least that was her assumptions about all of this. Either way, looking for the clues was something she needed to do...and as she observed the room she took note of the following:

Notably, upon first inspection
- There's a statue of what seems to be a woman in a flowing robe. She is holding a vase in her hands, and is sitting upon some sort of pillar. Water flows from the vase into a cistern below. The statue smirks knowingly. Its centered at the back of the room against the wall. Bookshelves flank either side of it.

- A robed statue is kneeling at the other end. Their face is covered by a hood, arms outstretched towards a carving in the wall. The carving is of a crescent moon, a star situated in the empty part of it. Tears seem to flow down its face into a basin below, where the water collects and flows away under the front wall. Upon their neck is a carved necklace that seems to detach from the statue.

- Another statue is tucked away on the wall opposite to the door you had walked in. A rather macabre thing this one is. A two faced bust statue that seems somewhat to resemble a pair of theater masks, split down the middle of an old man angrily shouting and a woman laughing manically. Atop the head, some sort of claw is reaching up, many tentacles and appendages reaching for the ceiling as though its trying to grab something.

-A final statue, this time on the same wall as the one you walked in on. Rather than a person, it seems to be some sort of carving. Of a tower. You might vaguely recall the same tower you saw off in the distance in the prison you woke up in. Seems as though it might be hollow.

Ok, other than the whole "can't read the books and such still" thing, these were what stood out the most in the room. A hollow carving, a detach-able necklace, a statue that wanted to hold something, and water flowing into a cistern. That was a good start. Since this was a god's temple, these statues and things were were likely tied to something about the lore and myths behind the god. At least that was her natural assumption. Lazhira had almost mentioned some things earlier, maybe yesterday? Yeah! She'd heard some things today and yesterday.

First there was the wall that had closed behind her, with the hollow-seeming carving on it that resembled that damned tower back in the "magic prison we can't go back to anymore" (not that she wanted to anyways). Last she remembered was Lazhira mentioning that...ah...

“Like I’m sure you guys know the pretty basic stuff about the Delpithi, the Goddess of the Moon. How her Oceans birthed all life right after humans left the tower?” Lazhira shifted on her feet uncomfortably. “A lot of things say something about the ocean, the goddess tears and sealing a path.”

Yes! Humans left the tower and the tears of a goddess sealing the path. So naturally this led her to another statue: The Hooded Figure.

The hooded figure matched this type of role well enough. Crescent moon, the moon being tied to the ocean literally and symbolically, and water or 'tears' flowing down its face and into a basin below and collecting there before flowing away underneath the front wall, aka the tears of a goddess and potentially the whole 'sealing a path' part. So this was likely the 'path' that was sealed, literally speaking potentially her way out of here that had to be opened up. That was what she supposed at this point in time anyways. It was worth a 'first educated guess' at the very least.

So...what then about the other two? That would be its down deduction and a half to try to make.

The macabre, two-faced bust statue was easily a depiction of the God of Knowledge himself based on what Lazhira had told them about him. It reminded her of the picture book, even, which was a potential source to turn to for more information in this peculiar room. It was reaching for something, however, something that it could not grasp. Knowledge? Maybe. The Sun Crown? Not sure if that legend applied here, actually. Hmm. Maybe that necklace on The Hooded Figure?

Wait. Wait wait wait. Maybe she was onto something here.

Ok, so The Hooded Figure could probably be representative of Delphiti (who may or may not be the one that pulled them over here). She had a detachable necklace. The two-faced bust statue was wanting to reach something, as if to grab it. So those two things made sense together on first glance. But what did it mean? If Delphiti was basically the "goddess who created life" due to the whole "life was birthed from the oceans" thing, then maybe the necklace symbolized her power or some knowledge she possessed or something? In such a case, if that bust of the God of Knowledge was reaching for something Delphiti had but he didn't...but what could a God of Knowledge desire that he-...oh. Did he desire the knowledge of how to create life? The one thing Delphiti was known best for doing, her oceans creating life after humans left the tower. It was a damn crazy theory, but her mind was racing and the analogues were coming to mind. It was a possible interpretation, though, if naught else. Yes. Such a thirst for knowledge, like a thirst for water, one that could only be had by a deity that wanted to maybe acquire the knowledge of the one thing he didn't have knowledge of. It read like an old book of ancient Egyptian legends, or a divine twist of the tales about the Book of Thoth.

In such a case, she could imagine a goddess who was sad the people she'd made back at her 'tower' had left. Like a loving creator depicted weeping that their creation left them alone or went astray or abandoned their original home. Like if Adam and Eve had abandoned the Garden of Eden and God had wept over it. Likewise if the God of Knowledge desired the knowledge to create life, maybe the one thing out of their reach, maybe the weeping Delphiti sealed the path to said tower, sealed the path to that-...to the prison. The damn prison. She and the others had awoken in an odd tube type of thing, they all had. It was like waking up in some alien test tube or pod on a scifi show, or a clone waking up in some scifi lab with odd goo or liquid having been used as something to grow the body in. Hell it was like she'd been drowning in the ocean before she woke up in that tube, and symbolically it could be said she was 'born from the sea' ala Aphrodite in some vague manner of speaking. The goddess that sent herself and the others here had even literally made them bodies to be reincarnated into this world, basically. Hell even that guardian thing-...

Ok, she needed to organize her thoughts.

Whoever, Delphiti or not, had brought them to this world using what remained of that old magic, that ancient technology that had been used to create people by Delphiti. However, she did not control the Guardian, she could not promise them safety beyond their initial arrival. So she didn't own nor control the place, which had frankly fallen into some kind of immense ruin and looked like people had been looting the place on their way out. It all made sense. Maybe. Yet she knew of it, she had access to it.

This led into the catgirl's newest working theory, that the Stone Guardian Magic Golem Thing was a jailer made perhaps by Delphiti to keep humans in the tower so they wouldn't leave her. But humans, trying to loot and leave with what they could from that place, escaped anyways. That was why it was like a prison, as it was made to try to contain the goddess' beloved humans who left. Albeit they didn't take their full haul of gear and such things with them as perhaps they were being confronted mid-escape, as evidenced by the weapons and such all over the floor of the building she'd awoken in, but that was beside the point. But why keep others from going back to the place? Wouldn't some want to go there if they found life in the world hard?

That was where the God of Knowledge came into the picture. Desiring the secrets of creating life that Delphiti had, or perhaps specifically humans or sentient beings like them in general for all she knew, and the grieving Delphiti sealed off the path to her lab (now made an abandoned magic prison) to keep that knowledge from The Illuminator. She hid her secrets like the darkest depths of the ocean hide from all light.

That much made the most sense so far. But what of the goddess that brought them there then? How was she tied to this? On one hand, she could be the spurned or 'broken' goddess Delphiti that watched as the world moved on and grew and then stagnated...then got bored and/or worried and snagged some souls from another world entirely to stick in custom bodies to go save it? Hell of a stretch, but maybe. On the other hand, the white-eyed child from the picture book was suspicious and yet didn't match the blue eyes and black hair of the 'goddess' during her first meeting with her after dying back on Earth. Of course being changed by ocean magic or something was possible, or for all she knew the white-eyed child was Lazhira or the God of Knowledge himself. Maybe a kid he had with Delphiti? Ok, too much theorizing beyond the focus of her working theory. Focus. She had to focus.

Regardless, her new current theory of a God of Knowledge wanting something 'precious' from the goddess who created life meant that guessing he wanted the 'knowledge of how to create life' was something. Whether it was right or not it was fascinating to think of, and perhaps gave her clues to get out of this room.

Leannah would first walk over to the carving of the tower, tapping on it and trying to see if she could break it to get inside. If she could she'd see if anything was inside, praying she didn't release some ancient death curse on herself in the process, and if anything was inside she'd grab it up. After these efforts ,she'd go over to the statue of the Hooded Figure, and would try to get the necklace off of her neck. If she could get it off intact, she would take it (and if she found anything inside of the hollow tower carving) and walk over to the Two-Faced Bust statue with the hand reaching up.

From there her plan would diverge depending on what the Tower carving yielded. If she managed to get INTO and also FIND anything inside that hollow tower carving, she'd put it on the reaching hand. If that did not work, she'd try to put the necklace on the hand.

It was a peculiar first attempt at something, but she had all the time in the world at the moment...not that she really wanted to given the others could or could not be in danger and so forth when it came to this blasted temple.

---

@Rune_Alchemist@PaulHaynek

Don's brow furrowed in thought as Enli spoke, carefully considering the man's words... From what he could tell, the man that stood before him was both knowledgeable and wise, but the years had clearly not been kind to Enli-- and even the most stalwart souls would slowly erode under the countless stresses of leadership. As Enli sat and waved to dismiss the two men, Don stepped forward placing a large hand firmly upon Enli's shoulder. His burly frame towered over that of the other man, the incandescent rays of midday sun reflecting off the top of the emblem that peeked out Donovan's shirt. For a moment, it seemed almost as if the silver star had ignited to life; casting stripes of silver and white across the surrounding room, its luster illuminating Don's expression of unshakable determination.

His words in that moment; though quiet, almost seemed to carry a rumble in their wake, "Stay strong Enleh. By Suthain-- aye swear to yah that we'll see to et that yer people are safe... An' that whatever shite Iva’Krorh es plannin'll be dead in et's tracks."

Giving the man a grateful nod, Don followed Nick out the door and into the town. Upon hearing Nick's plan, Don would shake his head in disagreement. "Runnin' outtah daylight lad, no time tah track em down... As fer armor-- aye seen what they got ere, an aye think we'd ave better luck with tha' trader... But, if yah can make et quick, you go find em an see what they can tell yah. Aye'll get us some armah."

Regardless of Nick's decision, Don would make his way to the trader's tent and approach one of the masked employees, "Oi." he spoke firmly, "How much'd two gambehsons run meh?"

"It's just as likely it's the smoke from attempting to burn it whilst it is fresh that is part of the ritual," Nobunaga commented, as she picked up the flute. It wasn't an exact match for any instrument she had handled before, but prior to her time as a warlord(and even during it) she was known as the Fool of Owari for various light-hearted escapades.

This included music.

"It's simply a matter of igniting the reed then... I shall play this flute once it is burning."

Nobunaga approached the bowl, and took a deep breath. Recalling what Lazhira had stated prior, she attempted to focus on setting just enough of a spark that the reed would start to burn. She was hardly attempting a roaring inferno, nothing of the sort. Rather, her intent was to cause it to simply smolder, letting off plenty of smoke. That was what made the most sense to her in terms of sacrificing the plant by burning it, as she didn't recall any mention of it being dried for the purpose of the ritual.

If others were capable of such things, then she would grasp this idea of magic and conquer it for her own use just as anyone else had.

@PKMNB0Y@Rune_Alchemist

A Heroic Trial
@Click This

---

And so the battle ensued. Lazhira ran off to the creature's side, skirting just outside of its effective attack range and kiting the smaller slime creatures to her.

“Hey you dirty blobs, over here!” Narkissa could see Lazhira using more of that strange ‘light’ magic to fight with. It was difficult to make out what exactly she was doing, but it seemed like she was able to handle herself, using the odd light magic to seemingly deflect blows whilst at the same time harming the blobs that attacked her, rarely directly attacking herself.

Narkissa had to focus on the blob in front of her, however.

Its body had already mostly reformed. The blue light within seemingly to shimmer tauntingly as its body roiled. The black slime began to shape itself at one end, creating an almost fist shaped blob. At the same time though, Narkissa’s own spell would fire off. The stream of pressurized water this time taking a somewhat different shape. Rather than a stream, it was just a fast moving ‘bullet’ of water. It would peirce its flesh, burying itself within.

As much as she hoped, it then violently reacted as it superheated itself. Encapsulated by the slimes body, the steam had nowhere else to go as it expanded. Its body bubbled and began to deform as the bubble of steam expanded until it could no longer contain itself within the weak prison.

The slimes body exploded on one side, sending a rain of black slime, bones, and whatever other viscera made up its body all over the area. Its own attack seemed to fall short of Narkissa, slamming into the ground just next to her as a gaping hole in its side threw off its aim..

Within the center of its body, a blue stone shimmered weakly. The slime however was still not down for the count. She could see its body attempting to still reform. She’d need to act fast to put it down for the count.

Dungeon Diving ho~!
@Crusader Lord@Crimson Paladin

---

Leannah would wander about the library, bookshelves full of old tomes that seemed to be mostly foreign to her. Perhaps is she dedicated some time to going through each in a painstaking manner, she could find something but time was probably something she didn’t exactly have much of, here. The fact that there was potentially someone else down here and potentially something else probably meant staying in one spot for a long amount of time unwise unless she was extremely confident in her abilities.

The tower carving she checked, was indeed hollow. Seemingly fragile, too. As though it was made to be broken. The contents of the carving was...well, something to be sure. A necklace made of smooth, carved stones strung together. The centerpiece was an ultramarine colored teardrop shaped gem. A star shape had been carved into it. She would also take the necklace from the other statue in hand. It was heavy, much heavier than it should have potentially been for its size.

She would then walk over to the bust of what she assumed was the God of Knowledge...and would place the necklace retrieved from the tower on it.

…
…

Nothing happened.

Even using the stone necklace would achieve nothing.

It was clear that the necklaces were important though. One of stone, one carved gem. One came from the tower, one from the carving of what she assumed was the Goddess Delphiti...then, perhaps, what was the statue of the woman in the back with the vase? It couldn’t be just for decoration, could it?

Perhaps she was recreating some legend symbolically here as she assumed.

Clearly the hand was reaching for something, but if it wasn’t this necklace, then what, perhaps was it? She took something from the tower...but then what was taken, and who took it? If it wasn’t the god of knowledge, that took whatever this necklace was supposed to represent...more clearly looking at the statue in the back, there was something carved at the base of the pillar.



Her eyes would also find the vase hollow, with something resting inside of the vase. A small, crystal sphere.

---

Novak continued, concerned for his partners safety but knowing that he at least, should make sure there was nothing immediately life threatening in the area. Checking the paths, he saw the same rooms Leannah would have. A room with a pedestal, and a hallway that would curve so he couldn’t see around it. The darkness of this area did indeed feel rather oppressive...its use as a living area once quite apparent. The kitchen had not been used in a long time, and the bunks were full of beds that had been haphazardly made, remnants of robes and what was once perhaps a lively area left behind. As he donned the mask, darkness would envelop his vision again...but soon, the greyed out world would return. Motes of light floated in the air around him as he would look at his surroundings.

The room that Leannah had fallen trapped in, showed little. Bright white light filtered in from the cracks in the door that had separated them, but also curiously a single line of light would trace between the bricks which made the walls, curving all the way around the wall towards the unknown path. It seemed as if he wanted answers to what was in that room now, he may need to travel that way.

The Pedestal room however, was perhaps, far more lively.

As he gazed inside, he could see humanoid figures. Whispers began filling his ears, but they were too distant, and too numerous to make out. If he decided to enter, the figures made of light would disperse, and a series of images would light up on the pedestal. In descending order

A crown.

A sphere.

A trident.

A single, vertical eye.

And lastly a chain link.

What these meant, he certainly had no idea as of yet. Looking around the room would show what seemed to be claw marks carved into the wall creating what seemed to be tally marks in various places. If he took the mask off, the figures of light would disappear entirely. A closer inspection would indeed, though, reveal images carved into the pedestal carved into the wall, but no tally marks. ‘I’ was carved by the Eye, a II was carved by the sphere. III by the Crown, IIII by the Trident, and a IIIII by the chain link.

---

Nobbu and the Fox
@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y

---

The duo approached the grove, the unsettling peacefulness of the area doing little to dissuade them from walking towards the small shrine. Nobbu would then take a bit of the reed, remembering Lazhiras’ words. Focus inward...and then attempt ‘igniting’ it. It certainly wasn’t something that seemed to come as easy to her as others. She could certainly feel something, but it was...distant. Almost somewhat strained, like she was trying to feel for something in pitch darkness.

A few more moments of trying, though, she would achieve something. Between her fingers a small flame would form. It would first shoot upwards, and nearly threaten to engulf the reed entirely in flame, but after a quick flash of heat it would die down, only causing it to smolder and the edges of it start to burn. A scent similar to what Misaki might know as ‘weed’ would fill the area. It seemed like she could easily practice with this more, and eventually get better with it given time.

Placing it on the Altar would let it still burn, as Nobunaga took the old wooden flute and would start to play. It took a few tries to get the notes right, the old flute didn’t seem to be doing its job very well, but soon enough the warlord would start.

An upbeat airy tune would fill the area. It would even overcome the quiet feeling of the forest, as the feeling of being watched would turn from unease to something feeling of approval. The deer within the grove would lift their heads, turn them to the pair with seeming interest. Even the small fawn which had followed them would approach, at least realizing that these two didn’t pose a threat to it now.

It would be when Nobunaga eventually finished whatever performance she gave, did something finally happen. The wind gently began to blow, a relaxing and calming breeze, reminding one of perhaps a spring day. From the edge of the grove, a tall deer whose antlers reached the branches of the trees above began walking towards the pair, its long legs gracefully stepping across the ground.

“...the scent of the reed and the melody of the wind...” It would say in its airy voice. “It has been a while since the village has visited...yet you are not of the village. Another pair of outsiders, seeking an audience...and you too, carry the scent of the moon.” It would say. “...hm. Regardless of my thoughts on that, allow me to say that was a pleasant tune, human. If only others could perform such instead of making such racket with their words and instruments.” It would raise its head proudly. “You stand before the Kyrnith. The Elder Beast of skies and wind. Upon my rest rest the skies, keeping them from the unworthy. My breath is the gentle breeze. What brings thee to my domain?”

It tilted its head to the small fawn.

“...I do believe that one desired a reed you were carrying on you.”

---

Wayward builder
@Guy0fV4lor@PaulHaynek

---

The older gentleman looked up at Donovan, unable to say anything as the construction worker placed a firm, but gentle hand on his shoulder. He was nothing but a washed up old man, doing his best to simply keep the village running and going in the face of a slew of problems. Bounty from the forest drying up due to the danger. Lack of children...lady Mie even saying this was going to be her final trip here.

He would still say nothing as they left.

He watched them leave, slowly taking a seat, watching the back of that man as he left the house.

...perhaps he had been too passive in how he was handling things. He had his suspicions, but had been cautious to take action for fear of upsetting the fragile peace they had. But...perhaps. Perhaps something else could be done.

Donovan would then make his way to Mie. The midday sun slowly starting its descent, now, as he would ask one fo the guards for a ‘Gambeson’. The masked Oni would simply stare at Donovan. For a moment, awkward silence.

“...well I don’t know what that is.” The owner of the establishment would pipe up, making her presence known by walking into view. She’d wave off the Oni that Donovan attempted to speak too. “But I like the name of it...also don’t bother the Oni. They’re not supposed to speak with anyone but me or Haruno.” The diminutive, fox tailed merchant would lean over a nearby table, smiling at Donovan cheekily. “Two of those eh...hmhm.”

At least it did seems he had something comparable. Perhaps not exactly a ‘gambeson’, but from what he could tell it seemed like it might be a decent equivalent, for now at least. Rather than a single shirt, it would be something of a few pieces of cloth armor covering his upper chest, shoulders, with a thick cloth armor covering the rest of his stomach and midsection.

After seeing how much money he had, Mie would click her tongue.

“Tsk, just barely not enough here.” She’d nod with a frown. “But since I’m so nice, I’ll tell you what. One of our Kamaitachi’s ran off after one of our workers left it untied. Don’t worry, these are docile and don’t usually hurt people as long as they stay fed and happy.” She said, passing a small bag of what seemed to be a few fruits to Donovan. “They love these, and will probably find you if you hold it long enough. Should follow you once it does, so bring it back and you can have the armor.”

Nicholas, meanwhile would have split off to find this pair from Chagawa. Asking around the town, he’d learn that they left and headed into the forest. He’d also run into Haruno would would say she thought she saw them head into the forest and head towards the ‘Kyrniths Grove’. She would also tell Nicholas where it was and the easiest way to get there.

It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to simply head there without much issue if he wished it.

---

Send Feet Pics
@Cu Chulainn

---

“...hmph, you were supposed to find your way here yourself.” The voice would gruffly reply. “One learns nothing by being led by the nose.”

“Let him go.” Soyala said, turning quickly and hand going to a dagger of her own. “The Illuminator also teaches that we should consider opportunities when we see it.” The dagger would press harder against Malphas’ neck briefly, before it would withdraw. The one that had accosted him would move back to where he had assumedly been before. Just out of sight. One wouldn’t be able to see him if they entered normally without looking back.

Malphas would recognize him as a hunter from the village that he had seen previously.

“Fine. I’d likely end up on the receiving end of his experiments if I did.” He’d grunt, folding his arms. “Go on, but the Illuminator has left to watch the show elsewhere.”

“As expected. I’ll make sure Malphas here understands what is happening.” Soyala would relax, as the stone behind them cracked and would return to its seemingly solid state. If Malphas followed, Soyala would lead him further into the cavern, where it would open up into what was some sort of temple.

Plush white and gold colored carpet led from the entryway to an idol against a far wall, and upon the walls themselves...hung paintings of...well, it was difficult to tell some of them. Some were of a man ripping his own face off. One was of an odd contraption. Some sort of...plane? It was difficult to tell. Some were of more abstract sort. It was difficult to take them in, and looking at them made Malphas’ head hurt slightly. The entire room felt vastly different than the rest of the more primitive lodgings and outlook of the village of Dawn. The emptiness of the room felt oddly oppressive.

“Right, here we are. The actual temple.” Soyala said with a nod. “We...moved here to use the old one as a decoy.” She’d say with a nod. “His lordship will return shortly, but I will relay to you what he likely would ask of you.” Soyala would smirk. “Someone stole something from him. A...key and a memory if you will. We want outside help in returning it. Someone in the village is likely the culprit, and that...girl known as Lazhira is the most obvious one. And also the one currently in the decoy. She’s probably looking to steal something else with the help of those other outsiders.”

Malphas could make out a few more hunters he saw in the village here. Seemed like most of them were on the the Illuminators payroll, so to speak.

"Doubtful she died from that fire. Seems those allies of hers have some divine help themselves."

A secret cult within the small, seaside village? How scandalous! Malphas couldn't help but feel as if he was truly among kindred spirits after all. As for the hunter's protests...

"Oh, but I beg to differ. I've learned quite a bit on my way here with the help provided, while still making it here on a timely matter!"

Seeing Soyala vouch for him, Malphas blew her a quick kiss before they proceeded forward into the temple. As they entered, Malphas could not help but feel impressed at the finery of this secret temple. While it was a little drab and empty, Malphas was particularly interested in the paintings. He didn't look at them too long, however, for fear of his sanity.

"Ah, a thief among us, huh?" Malphas asked with interest as Soyala explained why he was brought here. "Well, if that's the case, I must ask how much time we have to scheme and surmise. Does the Illuninator wish for the burglar's head before they leave the temple, or do we have some time afterwards? It could be best to plan some sort of attack while they are exhausted, tapped of resources..."

Malphas began to think of the lessons learned during his brief time in this new world. Malphas thought of the communal gatherings the village had, serving dinner to everyone. Malphas also thought of the poisonous flower, and its effects it had on the deer. Finally, Malphas thought back to the beginning, to those who he had awoken with... To have the same divinity as he does, Malphas thought of them as powerful allies. At the same time, however, he could not ignore how they could potentially be his worst enemies in his further plans. To succeed in the task given to him, as well as further aide in establishing himself in this strange new world, Malphas would have to align these goals together when thinking of a solution...

... Luckily, Malphas did not have to think too hard as his eyes found themselves wandering to the painting of the man ripping his face off.

"I may have an idea, granted we have enough time." Malphas professed, turning towards the rest of the group. "First off, I must ask... How much of those corpse flowers bloom in this temple? Two or three will suffice, so long as I can keep one intact and untouched for myself. I've got an obligation to meet back at the village. Secondly, how long will it take for you hunters to find a large enough beast to prepare for a feast? It doesn't have to feed the entire village, just a small group of adventurers."

Malphas took off his mitts for a moment, stroking his chin with some thought.

"You said this girl, Lazhira, was an outcast? And she is traveling with others who possess similar blessings to myself, strangers wishing to establish themselves in this strange world... If that much is true, then perhaps we should give them what they yearn for: Acceptance, to belong, to contribute, and to find a new home.

"Instead of going through the trouble of meddling in that death trap ourselves, we prepare a hero's feast in their honor! Except, the main course shall have a... special ingredient. You wish to see what I have learned on my own, don't you?" Malphas grinned to the hunter who held a knife to his throat. "Killing the lot of them is unnecessary, and perhaps impossible with the flower alone as one of the blessings we were given was physical endowment, but I saw the effects of that poison first hand on an animal much larger than you and I. Between the flower's effects and their tiredness from traversing that dungeon, they shall be incapacitated at the very least, which should give us more than enough time to take what we need, what is rightfully the Illuminator's."

Malphas turned to the image of the man ripping off his visage once more, a curious thought planted to his head.

"The Illuminator is known to have many faces, many guises, yes? Would they be willing to bestow that gift temporarily to those who wish to enact their will? I'm afraid of being... recognized by the others, you see. But if they see me as a friendly stranger, rather than myself, then perhaps they may believe in me more, for just a moment."

---

...Ok, she needed to revamp that working theory a bit.

Even so the ancient knowledge she was getting a chance to learn here was astoundingly interesting! Plus if the inscription was any more of a clue, then that thing she killed back there might have been one of many...at least if they were what remained of those 'heretics' mentioned in the thing. In which case, was the Guardian there to keep those things in and not people? Perhaps. Maybe the journey that was made from the place, an exodus of people/humanity leaving, were right to leave for some reason. Perhaps those that lingered there were cursed, or otherwise altered by the conditions there due to long-term exposure? Maybe there was a plague, or they tried to tap into untold or meddle with frankly dangerous powers as was common of humans in ancient myth.

Still it was more important to get this puzzle solved and maybe get out of there. But at least it seemed to God of Knowledge wasn't involved with the Tower and prison itself...actually seemed more like he was born after the whole event potentially. The way the inscription was worded, it seemed like "knowledge" had been born after humanity left the Tower where she still assumed they were created in by Delphiti (at least at this point in time).

So a potential timeline was:

-One, you get humanity made back in the Tower and what was now a prison, but over time there seemed to be a division among them. For now, she would have to assume that 'division' was wanting to stay in that place or leave it. Clearly those who left made the 'right' decision by far, whilst those who remained were 'heretics' and also very much 'cursed' for wanting to stay. So perhaps humanity was made there, then was meant to leave the place to go into the world and learn and populate it, but ala a "Garden of Eden"-esque situation some didn't want to leave when they needed to.

-Two, Delphiti the Moon Goddess wept due to the event (at least potentially), and it was her grief over the event that led to an 'overflowing of the cistern' and life springing up. Otherwise something had to make the moon goddess herself weep, leading to the Oceans springing up with 'all life' as Lazhira had mentioned prior.

-Three, humans settling in the world would lead to civilization. That much she felt she could try to read into it. Naturally with civilization and learning about the world came Knowledge. If this was when the God of Knowledge was 'born' or 'created' or however, that would potentially make sense in a mythological (if not magically literal one in this world) context. A deity born of something new arising in the world, in this case 'knowledge'. Again her new working theory, but it felt simpler this time at least.

-Four, what is a God of Knowledge but one who seeks new knowledge? It seemed a natural thing to do, and according to the inscription 'n turn gave birth to the desire for the secrets of the Oceans' and 'Desire turned into actuality'. So, if she was reading into this right, The Illuminator desired the secrets of the Oceans...the only 'secret' of which Leannah could assume was how to create life. Then the God of Knowledge managed to actually acquire the 'secrets of the Oceans', potentially being (in the current theory) the secrets to creating life. In fact, as an addendum to this theory there was one other thing that could be tied to this. If other deities had created other races (like a certain sun goddess making the Bastelian race perhaps) then this knowledge has spread and been used to create more life....again which would make sense within a mythological context potentially at the very least.

-Five, 'thus a seal was made by their accord' seemed to make sense with the 'sealed path' bit Lazhira mentioned earlier. The God of Knowledge, desiring the knowledge of how to make life, made a deal with Delphiti to gain that knowledge in return for helping seal away the complex she and the other Earthers had woken up in and had their bodies eventually 'created' in. Seal away that accursed place and its denizens, and keep others from entering and potentially making the same mistakes or accessing forbidden knowledge or secrets or so forth inside. Or perhaps Delphiti simply didn't want anything to do with that place anymore, so she gave the info simply to have her 'problem' locked away by making a deal with The Illuminator. Still, the "Oceans" made her suspicious of that goddess who had brought them all here, whom she suspected was somehow tied to the oceans naturally but somehow the moon as well? Hmm. Perhaps Delphiti's actions birthed another deity from the Oceans themselves? Was the white child dumped overboard into the seas 'that' goddess, The Illuminator, someone else, or even Lazhira of all people for all she knew?

Regardless, she had her new working theory for now. Likewise with this came a new plan of action for her to take! Hopefully it got the puzzle right this time.

With this in mind, Leannah would reach into the one knowing-looking statue's vase to grab the crystal sphere. She would also study the knowing statue's face and such, seeing if there were any 'recognizable features' akin to the goddess that had brought them all here. If the necklaces weren't doing it, though then this likely would for that bust's reaching hand! The catgirl would then go place the crystal sphere into the hand of the two-faced bust statue. If this represented the 'secrets of the Oceans', then this would be what the Illuminator had wanted! (hopefully) and correctly recreate the myth! That seemed to be the main goal here anyways.

Then what of the necklaces, though? Well, they had to represent something. So once she was done placing the crystal sphere, she went to place the necklace from the tower onto The Hooded Figure (maybe Delphiti?) statue and try to see if it would click it into the space where the other necklace had been before. The teardrop-shaped gem meant that it fit with 'tears', and a star-shape carved into it fit with the star-mark situated within the crescent moon. If that did nothing, she'd then place the necklace into the statue's outstretched hands (or hang it on them otherwise of that didn't work). If all those prior things didn't work, she would see if the gem popped out, albeit not to where she'd break the necklace if it didn't easily come out, and see if she could slot the gem into the carving on the wall The Hooded Figure looked upon.

Hmm. In hindsight of her last theory and this new one, did Delphiti have a child? Wait. White eyes, stars being white in the sky, maybe she had a child who was of the stars? Were they sacrificed to seal the path to the prison or something, and were they actually in fact the goddess who'd brought them all here? Was she some 'guardian' placed to watch over the place as well? After all, there'd been a pillar after leaving the 'prison' and this statue woman was sitting on the pillar itself. Eh, she was theorizing again. Ugh. She had to continue to focus on this first, then she could maybe toss in some more for her theory unless she needed to fight or something.

Still, once she was done there she would turn about and go over to the statue with the vase she'd taken the crystal sphere from. Here she would try to put the heavy stone necklace onto the vase-holding statue's neck. If that did nothing, she go with her gut feeling and put the heavy stone necklace into the vase. If that did nothing, she would resort to trying to put it into the cistern. Something about 'overflowing a cistern' and that action tied to Delphiti, and that picture book had Delphiti dropping some white-eyed child into the ocean, so maybe a heavy necklace might block up the cistern or cause the water to 'overflow' in such a case. If that did nothing she'd grab it back up and hold the stone necklace once more and put it on herself.

Come to think about it on the side, however, the crystal sphere reminded her of the one back on that statue, sitting where maybe some incandescent eldritch deity's head might sit-...hmmm. That was actually something to think on after all of this actually. Maybe not right but it was a fun thought to toss around within the bounds of her theory.

Hopefully, though, her revised but still working theory was better. More so she hoped her actions would generate the right 'combination' to get her out of here.

Augusta raised her eyebrow at Octavia digging at the ground. “Did you find something?” She asked as she looked down. It was then that she noticed the ground was moving! That could be nothing good. She jumped back towards Isidore as best she could in this snow, which was more than enough to evade the insectine mandibles that now appeared where she was a few seconds ago. She frowned and pointed her hand at where she was and shot off a continued blast of flame to melt the snow around this creature and hopefully burn it to death.

Violence seemed to follow him no matter what path he took, hm? Isidore’s brow furrowed as he lowered his own stance. Another three apostles missing, but he hadn’t heard the commander mention anything like that during their brief encounter. Sucking in the mountain air to fuel the forge building up within, the man hefted up his dwarvish polearm and swung it down forcefully on the same spot that Augusta aimed her flames.

It was a kindness, to have such a heavy weapon; swords were certainly less useful against a carapace-armored creature.

“Leuca, stay between us.” Isidore said, eyes flickering from the other shapes burrowing out of the snow. “You know how to use a sword?”

The creature beneath Augusta’s feet shrieked as the fire burned its body, melting the snow around it. It would be silenced moments later by Isidore’s axe, the sound of something breaking as he met its target. It wouldn’t get a chance to get out of the grave it had dug itself. The others around them, however, were less than pacified by the display of strength.

Out of the snow burrowed what seemed to be large, dog sized insects resembling something like short centipedes. About four feet in total length, with powerful looking mandibles, and numerous eyes upon the front of their ‘head’. Their bodies were covered in what appeared to be tough, segmented plates of some sort of material with the hardness and consistency of stone. Small crystalline growths grew from various spots on their bodies.

“A-ah...” Leuca did as she was told, staying between Augusta and Isidore. “Y-yes...but I don’t think I’m very good at a direct fight...” Octavia was barking at the creatures, staying near Leuca.

Looking at the creatures gathered, there was around five of them that had dug themselves out of their hiding places.



Augusta soaked in the information quickly. Offspring and kin of an Elder beast, Stieneter in particular. She pushed this information to the back of her head. “Crystal Eaters, tough hide, undersides are the weakness.” Augusta quickly informed her party. “They can quickly tunnel so give care for your feet. There may be more of them.”

She frowned. Regardless of whether or not it cared, the Stieneter was definitely aware of them now possibly, depending on how it’s awareness of its offspring worked. The elf aimed her hand at the five Eaters since the one that she assumed was dead didn’t seem to like the flame. Perhaps in a worst case scenario she could attempt the lightning magic she had thought about. But had yet to put into practice. Regardless, she ignited the flames from her hand and jet a flame at the centipede creatures. She focused on the closest one to them, hoping that it’d just burn to death.

“Keep your feet moving then. Leuca, stay centered; we’re breaking out.”

Drawing out the longsword, Isidore thrust it into the ground for the younger sirithen to pick up, and coiled his legs. He envisioned it in that moment, the energy that surged within his stomach now pushing into his legs, and the axe-wielder charged down the way they came. Tempered steel sliced a flurry of snow out of the ground as it swung upwards into a cleaving uppercut for the first creature to approach. He would serve as vanguard, and Augusta as rearguard.

And once they were out, it would be easier to face the monsters from only one direction, rather than all directions.

Augusta’s flames, if nothing else seemed to keep the creature at bay either from the flames themselves or the light they produced. They would skitter around, attempting to circumvent the flames, but Augusta could easily keep them pinned away from them. Leuca took the sword, somewhat hesitantly picking it up at Isidore’s request. It was heavy in her hands.

...she just had to remember the training Sorcha gave her, right?

The small elf would stay between her two protectors, following Isidore. Being surrounded would be no good indeed.

Isidore focused that fiery energy within his core, directing it to his legs. A powerful upward swing towards the nearest creature as he dashed in that direction. The axe hit a creature right in its side, sending it tumbling into the air, landing in the snow some distance away, but it hadn’t been done in quite yet, it was slowly scrambling back to its feet. The rest of the creatures now were only coming from one side.

They would finally not be deterred by Augusta’s flames, and one would leap towards her. Thankfully Octavia would intercept, slamming her own body into it and pinning it to the ground where the two creatures would tussle for a few moments before the centipede was able to toss the pup off. They had definitely been singed somewhat, but the flames didn’t seem to have seriously injured them.

“Thank you, Octavia.” Augusta mentioned. These things didn’t seem to be effected by her fire too much. She supposed it had something to do with their tough hide? Regardless, she needed to do something about this. Otherwise, she would be mostly useless. She had considered using Lightning Magic before but she hadn’t put it into practice. She frowned and considered what she would cause lightning magic. Electric charges… The body produced electricity on its own so it shouldn’t be too hard. Right?

She thought of tesla coils, magnetism, positively charged atoms and… She thought she was starting to understand it. Hopefully. She thought that, maybe, she could feel electricity under her fingers. With the thoughts of electricity escaping a tesla coil in her head, she aimed at the creature Octavia slammed out of the air and attempted to shock it with concentrated electricity. Supposing that failed, she’d quickly switch to the element she was more familiar with and concentrate a stream of flame on it.

She seemed to have the right idea, but the effect was lackluster in practice. The hairs on her arm stood on end as she ‘felt’ a mild shock of energy run through her body. She aimed towards the downed creature...and a small arc of energy ran from her finger tip to the creature. Perhaps a bit of a less showing than she was hoping for. She would quickly return to her fire, blasting it in the face with another stream of fire.

The creature hissed, rearing up on its hind legs as its body was burned...there was a ‘chnk’ noise as its ‘throat’ bulged as it launched a fist sized rock at Augusta from its maw, sending it crashing into Augusta’s chest, and at least temporarily saving it from the fire but not from Octavia. The pup quickly pounced on it, pinning it to the ground and attempting to rip its throat out.

The other four started to attempt circling the group again, making a move to attack Isidore.

Augusta staggers back a step or two. She made a loud “geh!” noise. She looked back at the beast that had shot the rock at her angrily as blood trickled slightly from her mouth. She made one of those magic arrows she had first created back in the prison but made it flaming. It hovered in front of her in the air for a second before, by looks alone, it got brighter and brighter. She packed more energy inside it, increasing its potency. She focused more and more energy into it as the point of it looked as sharp as an arrowhead. The arrow quickly shifted from aiming straight ahead at nothing to aiming straight at the creature, at least, at the part of it that Octavia wasn’t covering.

Settling her anger slightly, she realized just how dangerous misaiming this could be, so instead, she looked out of the corner of her eye and thought to aim it at one of the other creatures that were encircling them. She turned to it, and so did the arrow, quickly, before suddenly launching at a high speed at the creature. This attack pierced the creature and quite obviously did a lot of damage, though, perhaps not enough to kill it. Augusta raised her shield, expecting these things to attack en masse soon. “Octavia, finish that thing off. Leuca, you might need to help fight. Can you feel the ‘Flow’?” It felt like a stupid question to ask, but that’s what the goddess’ eye told her.

The meaty thunk of an impact caused Isidore to turn back, watching Augusta stagger and a fist-sized stone drop into the snow. His eyes widened, and he readjusted his plans. If they couldn’t all make it out, then he’d create two separate ‘threats’ for the centipedes to adjust to. Feeling still for the surging of energy in his legs, willing them to propel him at ever greater speeds, the dark-haired man charged straight for the insect that he had sent flying. The dwarvish halberd hissed out its killing cry as it arced through the air, smashing the monster down a second time.

Drawing heat into his heart next, Isidore kicked the halberd up with his feet and hefted it up to one side. Ranged attacks were dangerous, but so long as he kept mobile, it was fine. He would always be fine. He forced the flames of his internal forge to ignite his heart, to accelerate his blood. Faster and faster, granting the strength and speed he needed to crush these bugs. Waves of heat exuded from Isidore’s body, slowly melting the snow around him.

Time to kill them all.

Isidore drew in a sharp breath and rushed for the nearest of the monsters while Augusta’s flaming arrow struck for the one that his back now faced. If the four would surround the three ladies, he’ll run right around their encirclement, cutting them down one by one.

“T-the flow? W-well yes…! B-but I don’t think I should use it…!” She would reply, tightly gripping the blade. Augusta’s ‘Fire Arrow’ would have a bit more effectiveness as she condensed the flow of magic into a single point. It felt slightly dangerous, as though it might in fact explode if she would have done it any more, but she then launched it towards the centipede like creature. It attempted to evade, but it moved to fast for it, striking it right in its ‘neck’ area. The more solid ‘mass’ of fire pierced its flesh, causing it to shriek in pain and roll around in the snow briefly, before quickly being finished off by Octavia.

Isidore would focus on the ones that were attempting to encircle them. The first he met would lash out with its mandibles. It would keep its body low and attempt to go for his ankles. A second would swerve to attempt attacking him from the other side, standing up as straight as it could - a bulge in its throat as it was clearly getting ready for another ‘ranged’ attack. The last one would make a beeline for Augusta, attempting to get close before she could use another one of those flaming arrow spells.

“M-maybe I should...but...” Leuca looked like she was considering helping in some fashion, but she was clearly conflicted.

Isidore didn’t hesitate as the first creature lunged for him. The melting of the snow had created a depression around him no matter where he was, meaning that the centipede had to actually go down the shallow depression if it wanted to aim for his ankles. Utilitizing the momentum of his own charge, the man swung upwards with his halberd, catching the creature right in its mouth. The steel bit deep into the monster’s face, and he carried through with the swing, arresting the movement of his weapon to launch it towards the one that had stood up to shoot. They may have been as strong as he was, but that didn’t mean a thing; reach and mass were qualities that set two fighters apart, even if they could lift the same amount.

With his upward swing conveniently setting the hefty axe up to his shoulder once more, Isidore leapt forward and cleaved down with vicious intent. One kill would be expected, but two would be wonderful. In the absence of being able to predict their movements, he would settle for making every attack a killing blow.

Augusta aimed her free hand at the air and above and just ahead of her, another of her Fire Arrows appeared. It gathered power more quickly this time since she knew just about what she could handle. She was glad to be able to pierce the tough shell of this creature with this spell and since it was going in a straight line… She could predict easily where it’d be in the second or so it took for it’s weapon to launch. And she took the shot at the centipede creature rushing at her. “Leuca, help me finish this one off, Octavia, assist Isidore.” She was ready to either dodge or block the centipede creature if it somehow dodged her shot and continued on to retaliate.

“...A-alright.” Leuca replied hesitantly. She would hold the blade in front of her, exhaling and closing her eyes. “Ancestors, though this blade is unbaptised...please!” Augusta and Isidore both would feel what could only be described as a surge of power from the young elf. The snow around her feet would scatter lightly away. The next instant would be a display of surprising swordsmanship skill and speed.

The creature, sensing danger would attempt weaving to the side. Augusta’s arrow slamming into its lower half only mildly slowing it down. It however, did not account for Leuca. Augusta would be able to watch, but it would be difficult to see what exactly happened and to keep up. In fact, the only indication that Leuca had somehow walked from where she had been standing to the front of the creature was small footprints in the snow.

The centipede, the moment it had noticed Leuca was upon it, reared back in an attempt to defend itself...but Leuca had already seemingly accounted for that. A graceful, elegant movement as the creatures mandibles coming centimeters from tearing into her flesh...but indeed, they would miss by just as much, and in the same movement Leuca’s blade would bury itself deep within the underside of the creature's failed strike.

This all happened, within barely a handful of seconds. Quite literally blink, and Augusta would have missed it.

This same surge of power, however, would also noticeably cause Octavia to whimper, causing her to take a few steps away from Leuca, but would quickly focus on the task she had been given...though it was questionable if Isidore really needed it. The one that had lunged for his ankles was quickly subdued. The upward swing of the heavy weapon would crack and split the creature. Though it wouldn’t quite be dead, its legs would squirm and shriek as it was lifted into the air, impaled on Isidore’s halberd.

The next downward strike would see a brutal end to these creatures.The impaled one would slam down on the other one. It would barely get off its projectile as it made an attempt to escape, scurrying to the side, but it wouldn’t get far. It was nearly cleaved in half, shrieking and making a few more attempts to swipe at Isidore but Octavia would come in and finish it off.

Only the sound of wind and thunder rumbling overhead followed.

They had fended off the threat, for now.

…

A thud as something hit the snow. Leuca had lost her footing and was panting heavily as she fell to her knees.

Augusta loosed a sigh of relief as she saw the last of the bugs felled. Wonderful. They were safe for now at least. “Octavia, Isidore, good work.” The woman mentioned taking a peak. “Leuca, that wa--” As she spoke, she heard a thudding in the snow to her side. A quick turn of her head showed that it was in fact, an exhausted Leuca. “Ah! Leuca!” She exclaimed, rushing to the girl’s side. “Are you alright?” She asked, setting her hand on the girl’s shoulder. Truthfully, Augusta felt guilty. She asked Leuca to help. “I-I’m sorry.” She said, looking somewhat sadly at the girl.

Quickly enough, she had a look of resolve on her face. “You can take a rest.” Augusta added before scooping the smaller elven girl into her arms. A bridal carry, one might call it though it was used since she didn’t quite want to carry the girl around like a potato sack. Her body was much stronger than her original one on earth considering she could carry Leuca fairly easy. “You’re pretty light.” The woman added, “Good job. Thanks for the help.” She gave Leuca a smile before turning to Isidore. “Think it’d be worth trying to get anything off these guys?” The elf mentioned, nodding her head towards the insects they had slain. “Or should we get moving?”

Isidore let a breath hiss out of his body, extinguishing the furnace within his core. He recalled somewhere, that a Canadian survivalist made “you sweat, you die” his adage, and this could certainly be the case there. Wrenching his axe from the bisected remains of the two centipedes, he turned to see the state that Leuca was in. The Sirithen child had done something, and judging by the killing blow upon the centipede that had rushed for those three, it had been an augmented sword swing.

Something that Isidore had been seeking to attain himself, all this time.

“Your eyes tell you if they’re edible?” the man responded, kicking one of the corpses onto its back before cracking open its stomach contents. Fresh meat would help Leuca recover some of her energy, and that survivalist had certainly said something about how bugs were superfoods high in protein, but more than that, he needed to confirm. These monsters had likely killed those humans they stumbled upon, but were they also the ones that so neatly devoured their belongings, without touching the actual meat?

Augusta’s eyes wouldn’t be able to tell her much of the deceased insects, but it was safe to at least assume they were edible. It seemed similar to the one the Apostles had been dissecting earlier. Judging from the fact they ate metal and ore mostly too, they may also have indeed eaten some useful ore or other objects if they cut open their stomachs.

“Nnhn...y-yes I’m fine.” She sighed, frowning and groaning lightly. “U-using the flow just...exhausts me.” She would take a few moments to catch her breath while she was being carried by Augusta. “The Ancestors...don’t like me frivolously using it..unless its too...” She glanced over to Octavia. “...w-well...its a Geas of sorts. If I don’t follow it to the letter It just hurts a bit...” She looked up to the woman. “But, uhm, I’ll be fine. I just need a bit of rest.”

Isidore would find within one of the creature's stomach, the shattered and partially digested remains of a sword. Some silver and gold coins. Nothing inherently seemingly useful, but he would also find...ah, what was that? A raw chunk of some sort of metal it seemed. Though whether they did kill these men was still a mystery.



Lecua’s eye would inform her that Leuca seemed nervous and evasive about that, but the group would be interrupted by the ground beneath their feet rumbling once more.

…

…

A few seconds would pass. Nothing further would happen as the ground settled.

“...Uhm...those might be the apostles that chased after Sorcha…” Leuca would suggest.

“Those might be.” Augusta thought for a few seconds after the words left her mouth. “Hmmmm." The tremors… they probably didn't want to stay here for long. What if it were the parent of these small things. They'd want to stay somewhere a bit more safe. Not that any place would be safe from something that can dig through the ground like that.

"Those things are probably edible. We should probably grab what we can and get moving. Tremors don't bode well in this kind of situation." She continued to carry Leuca and walked forward to look at the corpses of the Apostles. Perhaps there were some tracks they could follow if they were the ones that pursued Sorcha. And perished in pursuit.

Silver was silver, and Isidore didn’t hesitate to wipe the digestive juices off on the snow before jamming it into his backpack. It was getting full in there, but that was good. Without it, he’d have much less in terms of gear. He strung three of the centipedes together into a bundle and tied it to the pack as well after Augusta confirmed their edibility. Wouldn’t be the greatest meal he’s had, but a world like this didn’t promise anything amazing.

Perhaps the Urutha would have something more pleasant.

While Augusta carried Leuca, Isidore crouched down in front of Octavia instead. Looking into the demonic puppy’s eyes, he spoke slowly, surely. “There are many scents here. The men buried in the snow. The centipedes we’ve cut down. The four of us. Octavia, there is another human scent here. Find it.”

Despite the blizzard, the dead Apostles’ bodies were only partially buried. Perhaps there was a clue for Octavia to pick up. And if there wasn’t? Isidore stood up, listening for any other movement that the wind may whisper into his ears. There were still opportunities to seize come nightfall.

@Rune_Alchemist

For all of Lazhira’s cute behavior and strange quirks, she wasn’t half bad at fighting. Whatever she was doing with that odd magic of hers, she was getting the smaller blobs’ attention and keeping them away from Narkissa, letting her focus on the big bad blob that remained the primary threat… and if the goddess was to be believed, her own little personal trial after praying to her. Either way, once she dealt with it, she could help out her villager friend.

Thankfully, her magical creativity seemed to be working. However, she wanted to shape her magic, nature and her spells seemed to bend to her will effortlessly. Doing her best to barrage the beast to prevent it from properly reforming, her bullet of water acted like an exploding shell once it entered its body, rupturing its blob structure as the superheated steam forced itself away from its body. It created a surprisingly gory mess, but it was one heck of a timely attack, as its counter lashed out but fell short of Narkissa, prompting her to jump back regardless.

With such a huge eruption of slime, she thought the fight was over, but despite all the damage, the bloody thing still seemed to be trying to recover!

“Damn! Why won't you die already!” Yelling out in frustration, she could see its blue stone core still active within the constituted parts of its clear body. It was almost dead, but still trying to claw itself to life, but not if Narkissa had anything to say about it.

Feeling emboldened by her new abilities and apparent martial skill, she charged the oversized gelatinous stain and blasted it again with another destructive water spell, just to keep it from regenerating. Then, sword in one hand, and the other outstretched, she slashed at the beast’s remaining jelly flesh, and then with the other hand, grasped for its crystalline core to rip it out of its worthless, evil body.

Nobunaga had never embraced the supernatural. If it existed or not, it mattered little to her, there was no need to kowtow to some divine being that had no true proof in its existence.

But this was a world where such beings provably existed, and once again she had come face to face with one. That did not mean that she felt it necessary to engage in worship, however. She sought an audience, and the ritual was merely fulfilling the conditions to gain one.

The petite black-haired girl lowered the flute.

Indeed, Nobunaga did not believe in the worship of deities as it were, though she supposed religion could be a uniting force.

That being said, this was the Kyrnith's domain. Its territory. It would be foolish not to treat it politely and with respect, just as any guest should treat their host, or any two negotiators should treat one another.

Nobunaga bowed, politely.

"We are here to seek an audience, o Kyrnith," she began as she straightened, "As you mentioned, it has been some time since the villagers came here to offer you tribute."

In a world where the gods existed, it was a matter of negotiation. Of diplomacy.

"Their failure to uphold their end of the bargain has lead to the suffering of the village, and left you without tribute. So I shall not hide my intentions."

She spread her arms.

"I believe the potential of a new deal that benefits both yourself and the people of the village equally remains."

@Rune_Alchemist@PKMNB0Y

Misaki crinkled her nose in slight distaste once the smell of the burning reed hit her nostrils. She had encountered something similar once in the past—on a brief trip overseas to America—but even with this little, the stench was almost enough to warrant her backing away entirely. Even so, there was still a job she had to do, even if it meant putting up with... This.

Maybe it was her sensitive nose speaking, but the intensity of the burning smoke felt so much stronger than it should have been; given Nobunaga's reaction, though, that was likely the case. As her companion played the flute, though, the foxgirl placed her attention elsewhere—mainly towards the deer who, at this point, had focused their attention towards them instead. It was expected, yes, but no less unnerving to experience.

As the song reached its end, a massive deer broke through the woods, causing the foxgirl to immediately snap to attention. Its appearance was certainly awe-inspiring—like something out of a proper fantasy story—and the way that it spoke so easily to them only served to further cement that mental image within her mind. At the very least, introducing itself as the Kyrinth made everything a lot easier to digest. She wasn't any more religious than her Japanese peers, but it was a different matter when seeing a divinity in the flesh.

Of course, Misaki was promptly snapped out of her awestruck stupoqr as it addressed her. As Nobunaga spoke to the Kyrinth, the foxgirl nodded and slowly walked up to the fawn that had been following them and, after a brief pause, left the untouched reeds in front of it.

She wasn't in any position to negotiate, nor did she know how to do so with someone of this stature anyhow, which meant leaving the matter to Nobunaga seemed to be the best option anyhow.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

The line of light leading to the unexplored path was definitely worth investigating, but the pedestal room was of far more interest to Novak. There were figures of light, figures that had not been visible without the mask, whispering indiscernibly. A chill ran down his spine as the realization dawned upon him- whether these were spirits, phantoms, or vestiges, he and Leannah were not alone down here. A small part of him wondered if it had been a mistake to use the mask, before the rest of him banished the notion- the truth may be scary, but with knowledge came power.

Novak picked up the glowing crystal and slowly approached the pedestal room and the invisible beings within. As he entered the room, however, the figures dispersed. Had they fled from his presence? Was there a consciousness within them? Or was it merely magic taking the form of humanoid figures? The phantoms were not the only thing to respond to his arrival; several images lit up upon the pedestal. These appeared to be a crown, sphere, trident, eye, and...a chain link.

Curious. Novak wasn't sure what it meant, not yet. Still holding the mask to his face, he looked around the room, hoping to find clues. Upon the walls there were several strange markings carved. Each was a set of what looked like tally marks, or an equivalent simple numbering system, ranging from one through five. It wasn't clear, however, what they were referencing or alluding to.

Novak removed the mask, curious as to what was visible without it, and what he saw was quite curious. Under the light of the glowing crystal, the tally marks were gone, but next to where they had been, he could now see previously unseen carvings identical to those on the pedestal. Where the "1" tally had been, there was now a carving of the eye. The sphere was with 2, the crown with 3, the trident with 4, and the chain link with 5.

If it's assigning them an order, it's "eye, sphere, crown, trident, chain link", he observed. It was fortunate he had taken the mask, because even if he had opted to explore the pedestal room without it, he would have not been able to discern the tally marks. Now the challenge would be how to correctly apply this knowledge. Perhaps if I were to select the glowing pedestal images in order...

Novak carefully touched the luminous images on the pedestal in the order corresponding to the tally marks. First was the eye, then the sphere, then the crown, next the trident, and finally the chain link. He hoped that this world work, and that if it didn't, that it at least wouldn't make things worse.

@Rune_Alchemist

"They went where?"

Nick just saw them a while ago! How could they have already gone? They sure were fast. Nick was told they went into the forest and towards 'Kyrnith's Grove'. He could hazard a guess as to what they would be doing there. Nick wondered if he should go get Donovan for this, but decided to head off on his own. He just needed to find those two girls, right? Surely he would not encounter anything untoward in the forest so long as he didn't go looking for it, right?

He thanked Haruno, especially for telling him the easiest path there, before quickly making his way to the forest. Hold on, if those two were meeting with Kyrnith, then this could be his chance to meet the deer god himself. The thought made him hesitate. Oh man, what was he gonna say? Does he ask the deity his questions first? Will it even entertain him? Or flat-out just smite him on the spot? Oof, that one sent shivers down the spine.

No, no, Nick told himself to stop worrying about it. He should meet with this Kyrnith before deciding what to do next. Nick approached the forest line and took a gulp of air. He was no trekker of woods, but he did escape from that prison-ruins place and had some success against those evil gooey creatures. He also had directions, so what was he really worried about? A lot, in fact, but Nick put those thoughts down and entered the domain of Kyrnith to search for the grove as well as those two 'Chagawan' girls.

---

@Rune_Alchemist

Don nodded to Lady Mie as she offered him the small sack of fruit, "Yer a generous soul lass-" he responded with a smile, giving the 'gambesons' a steady lookover as he spoke; though they weren't a single shirt like Don would've preferred the material seemed sturdy enough. "Consider et done." Even though the thought the merchant may have possibly upcharged him; taking advantage of the fact he was clearly in a rush, and clearly was unfamiliar with the market-- Don pushed it from his mind. He could worry about being swindled later... The village's safety came first.

He headed east, towards and into the forest; the creature's less than subtle tracks making his job rather easy. Before long, he would come across a giant weasel-looking thing; which appeared to be the source of the rather obvious trail. Reaching into the sack he was given, Don tore a small chunk off one of the fruits tossed it before the Kamaitachi, slowly approaching the creature with another chunk extended in his hand.

This task was easy. Too damn easy....

"Aye wonder why she ain't sent nobodeh else tah get cha..."

A Heroic Trial
@Click This

---

Another blast of explosive water. The creature would shriek again.

As Narkissa reached for its core, the slimy creature would attempt to grab her instead. Its gelatinous body reaching out to grab her arm, more tendrils being formed. One tried grabbing her wrist, coiling up her outstretched arm in an attempt to stop its ‘core’ from being messed with. Bony protrusions would dig into the flesh of her arm. More tendrils would attempt making jabs at the rest of her body, but she could easily at least cut them with her sword.

It was for naught, however.

She would pull, the creature would try to pull back, but it was clear at least who was the physically stronger of the two. The core would start to rip, slipping from the center mass of the creature. Its defense would get more frantic until there was a final, pained gurgling shriek as it was ripped entirely free. Narkissa would find herself stumbling backwards as the creature’s entire body would start shuddering.

It would lash out a few, final times, but ultimately it would start collapsing. A single tendril reaching towards Narkissa. And it would fall, body hitting the floor and its mass losing all cohesion.

“My...well, you’ve certainly done it.” A familiar, if somewhat perhaps now irritating voice would be heard. “Congratulations, you’ve managed to survive this little tutorial of sorts. I expect much greater things in the future. Here’s a little reward for the entertainment,”

Something fell from the heavens, landing nearly in front of Narkissa before hovering just above the ground.

A small, raindrop shaped gem.



“What is it, you ask? Fufu, well, maybe ask the one that temple belongs too if you get a chance. I’ll be watching, Narkissa. If you seek greater power and fame, ask any time~” The voice would fade with a light chuckle, perhaps leaving Narkissa somewhat questioning what she was doing now. Lazhira would finish bonking the last of the lesser slimes not seconds later.

“Whew...ugh, now I’m all sweaty~” Lazhira pouted a bit. “But hey, at least the fire seems to be out..so uh...hey what’cha got there?” She’d ask curiously.

Dungeon Diving ho~!
@Crusader Lord@Crimson Paladin

---

Regardless if her theories on certain things were correct, Leannah would once more attempt this ‘puzzle’. The stone necklace upon the vase holding the statue.The crystal sphere on the outstretched hand. The Crystal necklace on the hooded figure's neck. Immediately upon placing the last object upon where it last rested, there was an audible click.

Two things happened.

A low rumble. A bookcase against the far wall swung open like a door, before coming to a rest as it sat slightly ajar. A secret room hidden behind a bookcase? How cliche. What perhaps, was slightly less cliche, was the cistern below the statue to suddenly drain of water. A rush of water could be heard as it drained somewhere, revealing a room below, and stairs.

The room behind the bookcase seemed to be a small, private study tucked away in the wall. A desk, a few pieces of parchment scattered on the floor. A candelabra with a candle completey burned out. A few books. Notably, upon the desk however, was a sheet of paper she could definitely read.

“Infiltrating the Illuminators faithful was surprisingly easy. As long as I hide my true self, that fool is none the wiser. It's easy, after all, making them just forget I even exist if any of them start to get wise too. All I’ll need to do is find the orb and make off with it, wait a bit...and then return to finish the job. I wonder how he would react? Me, doing what he couldn’t? I bet he doesn’t even remember I exist...well. He’ll have no choice but to remember once finish.” Perhaps this had been someone's hiding hole? But then why was it locked behind such a complex mechanism…? Or did someone leave it here intentionally for her to find? Regardless, if she took it with her it would fit neatly with the book she pilfered earlier.

The only place left to explore, was the now drained cistern. A brief look would show it was rather spacious, despite the small opening she could fairly easily squeeze into it, the size of her butt only being a small inconvenience as she would drop below. The room smelled old. Like salt water and brine. Moldy and surprisingly humid, too. There was a small path forward at the far end of the cistern, a gate seemingly opened to let out the water. It was a wonder why anyone would even build a temple like this, but being built like this it would be. Thankfully more crystals would light the way.

So Leannah would continue forward, following the slow flowing water until she reached what seemed to be a large pool. A simple, rectangular area made of bricks and large chunks of those Illumicrystal. Light was coming from the bottom of the pool, and Leannah could see objects moving under the water. More tar seemed to hang from the edges of the pool...at least the exit seemed easy enough to reach, on the opposite end.

Something moved in the corridor ahead, but it only seemed to be a shadow. Maybe this area had secrets, if she cared to look around, or would she keep moving?

---

Taking what seemed to be the correct choice, Novak would ‘press’ them as they were buttons on some code, or a keypad. As he would finally press the chainlink, he perhaps would wait with a bit of trepidation as the images would briefly flash...before dimming entirely. A few seconds passed before there was the sound of a click.

Rather disappointingly, after a few moments, nothing seemed to happen. If he were to don the mask, however, he would see a bright white light hovering in place over the pedestal. A few more figures would also be shown, though it would seem as though they would grab the sphere before a series of flashing, intermittent images of them would quietly run down the hallway he had come from, and heading around the bend to the area that was of yet explored.

Rather disconcertingly, he would see small humanoids seemingly peeping at him from around the corner, before a quiet giggle would be heard and they vanished. A few unintelligible whispers followed.

Really, just what was this mask?

...he might notice what appeared to be a human skull now resting off to the side of the room. Had...had that always been there?

---

Nobbu, the Fox, and a Traveler
@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y@PaulHaynek

---

“...I see.” It would state airly at Nobunaga’s intention. “You seek the same perhaps as that other traveler that appeared before me not too long ago. Well, no matter. You wish to know what the deal was that they broke.” It would exhale, a gentle if somehow tired seeming wind sweeping gently through the grove. “It is not a failure, but rather negligence and somes desire for that which they should not. I am not the source of their problems, but rather the thing that is sealed beneath the land here is.”

It would reply, a bird landing upon its antler.

“You know they once worshipped one by the name of ‘The Illuminator’. The God of knowledge, and the one named Iva’Krorh.” The deer would paw lightly at the ground, as if in a mildly irritated manner. “He seeks something of the old world. Something that frivolous storyteller calling herself a Goddess sealed here in the Moonless Era. I know not the details nor the past before the earth woke from its slumber.” He would fix Nobunaga with a surprisingly stern gaze. “The accord they broke was simple. They are to protect this land and forest. In doing so, they had to forsake their previous deity some years ago, and now I can only surmise that since whatever experiments he was using this village for has failed, he is simply sating his curiosity somewhere else by attempting to unseal the past, and there are those in the village which seek to aid him.”

He would turn his head to Misaki, observing her quietly while still speaking to Nobunaga. The fawn cautiously sniffed the reeds, before hesitantly taking the reeds and happily eating them. It would start following Misaki now, content that the fox girl wouldn’t have harmed it.

“Truthfully, I care not for what happens. Should he succeed, I will move, and the forest with I. The Goddess will flood this land once more, and they will have brought it upon themselves.” His attention would suddenly be drawn towards the edge of the forest.

“...it seems we have another visitor.” It would say just as Nicholas would walk into its range of sight. “Speak the reason you have come here, or leave.”

---

The Roma Mob
@ERode@Pyromania99

---

Octavia would tilt her head quizzically towards Isidore, listening intently. Seeming to understand she would sniff and paw at Isidore’s feet, before running over to one of the deceased apostles sniffing and getting a scent of some sort from their body. After a few seconds of rummaging around, she would bark and start trotting off towards the western peaks of the mountains.

It would be a rather long trek. Thankfully it seemed as though Octavia’s nose was far better than that of hounds on earth, apparently being able to track things even days old with ease. Leuca would stick close to Augusta, desiring to walk herself after a while. There would be a few more dead bodies along the way. Most had been picked clean, or there would be nothing immediately useful to the party.

Eventually, the sun would start to sink below the horizon. They had come quite a distance, traveling ever so steadily up the mountain taking a relatively safe path whenever possible. The snow hindering their progress only a little, with the storm thankfully holding itself from simply opening on them out in the open again. Just when they would think it’d be a good time to perhaps make camp, the sounds of clanging steel on steel would catch their ears. A few muffled grunts before it sounded like words were exchanged, but they were too far away to be heard.

The sounds came from over a crest in a hill, where the ground would slope sharply downwards to a small valley below under a rocky outcropping that would slowly curve upwards. Two humans stood there, one a woman who looked to be fairly young. She was glaring at the older male, a sword grasped firmly in her hands, lightly armored. Long blond hair flowed gently in the wind, a tattered cloak would hang from her shoulders. The male, white haired but still giving the impression of someone full of youthful vigor and health. A large sword was grasped in one hand, a sword in the other, dressed in full armor and eye patch.

They didn’t seem to notice you, or if they did neither cared. Whenever Augusta tried observing them...well, she’d find she couldn’t really. Especially the woman. Whenever she tried to look to long, she’d start getting a headache.





It seemed as though Augusta’s eye was less helpful here for some reason. Perhaps they had some protection or something she couldn’t see? As well, the human had far more special attributes and abilities, but the exact amount was unknown to her.

“S-sorcha…!” Leuca would quietly exclaim.

Seemed the two were have an intense stare off. Would they get involved? Or simply watch how things played out?

---

Wayward builder
@Guy0fV4lor

---

She might have very well swindled him into doing her dirty work for her. Mie would show him one of the other ones, making sure he at least knew what he was looking for - a giant weasel sort of animal with greyish fur. Apparently they were used as pack animals by the group to haul their cargo and such. Thankfully it seemed like it might not be too hard to track - it left very obvious and clear tracks in the snow.

So Donovan would decide to follow them. It would take him fairly deep into the forest before he would see signs of it. A few pieces of fur caught on some shrubs here and there. Some scratching in the snow, until finally he’d be able to see the beast itself. It was aggressively clawing at the ground, attempting to...ah. It would take him a moment to realize what exactly it was doing - it was trying to maul someone.

“Oi! I can see ya over there! A little help here? You friends with this beastie!?” The one being attacked A...child? With blue hair was currently being accosted by the beast he was hunting. Not quite a child perhaps - they seemed to come up to about half of Donovan’s height, and they were clearly dressed for travel. Armor, sword, shield and all. The shield of which was currently being used to try and keep the animal from completely crushing them.

It would take a moment to glance to Donovan, growling threateningly, but the short humanoid would take this moment to quite literally, punch the thing right in the face and cause it to recoil giving them enough time to roll over and get back to their feet.

“Just cos I’m a dwarf doesn’t make me a chewtoy you oversized rat!”

---

Send Feet Pics
@Cu Chulainn

---

Soyala listened to this ploy, and all the sordid details Malphas spoke of. It would certainly make sense. None of the faithful would object, she was sure. There was however, a small problem with that.

“Hm...yes, that should work. If we cook the flowers into the food it should reduce the effects at least somewhat, too. We could at least take the girl, then and figure out what exactly she’s up to.” The one that had accosted Malphas wouldn’t say a word, keeping himself quiet and merely observing the entrance to the closed off temple. “...the only problem would be having Enli agree to it. Holding it here would defeat the purpose of hiding this place.”

She would remove the small mask she wore over her eyes.

“I am unsure if the Illuminator would be willing to bestow such a feat upon you, however. He’s never done such a thing before as far as I recall...but it likely is not out of the realm of possibility. But you’d have to ask him yourself once he returns. Normally to emulate it, the priests simply wear eyeless masks in order to see what he does in the world...but if he finds amusement in it, I am sure he would agree. Regardless, we can find more of those plants as well as hunt enough to make this a possibility.” Seemed like his task was set then. She didn’t say why he would have to convince Enli, but perhaps the village chief was just a bit suspicious of the hunters asking such a thing.

“Alternatively...there’s a good chance she’ll be alone at some point. She always seems to manage to evade us, but perhaps you could have more luck in that regard should the temple not take care of her for us. A far less elegant solution, but still one nonetheless. I’ll pass the plan on to lordship while you are off convincing Enli and taking care of that business the fox wanted.”

For a moment, as Octavia made that dumb animal look, Isidore wondered if he was truly losing his mind. Talking to animals and giving them complex instructions like this may seriously be a sign as to just how much his sense of reality had been disturbed over the past few days. But the demon dog took it in stride, and soon after, Ocavia was off, scampering towards the western peaks. He turned briefly to Augusta and Leuca, their bodies still entwinned with each other, and then said flatly, “It’ll be a hike. Let her walk on her own.”

It turned out he was right on both counts. The sun dipped dangerously close to the horizon, and Octavia had indeed lead them to the ones they were searching for. The situation though, was unfortunate. There was logic, of course, in the occurrences before him. Sorcha had been pursued by Apostles, who she evidently had a hand in killing. Railey had been out scouting for the Stieneter, meaning he was likely in the area when one or more of those killings happened. It was a miracle, really, that neither of them had continued to fight beyond that first clash Isidore heard.

And as for identity, Leuca confirmed Sorcha, and Railey’s armor confirmed his own standing.

His eyes examined them briefly, lingering on the exposed upper thighs of Sorcha’s own outfit. Strange girl, to be sporting such wear in these parts, but it was certainly eye-catching. Undoubtedly, the great ugliness present in the world was counteracted by equal beauty. What a boon it must be, to be a man. What pressure too, to ever be considered a fitting match for these women.

Isidore glanced over at Augusta, silencing the question that was about to seep out of his open mouth. He settled for pulling her hood over her head instead, before giving her a pat on the shoulder. “Hoods up, heads down,” the man murmured as he stood up. He wouldn’t die, so he would approach first.

And a ‘ladies first’ mentality didn’t make sense when walking into a battlefield anyhow.

With a nonchalance that did not betray the primal apprehension building in his spine, Isidore crested the hill, and allowed his body to be fully illuminated by the setting sun. He looked down at the two below, his gaze sweeping from Sorcha to Railey, before he called out, “Railey! Morgan requests your return immediately.”

All convenient truths. Sorcha would, if Leuca wasn’t lying, be on their side so long as the Sirithen child was safe, so all he had to do was rid her of Railey. By words, because even without blessed eyes, Isidore could tell that the best he could hope for was an exchange of lives if it came to a fight.

“It’s a matter of urgency, if he’s even asking strangers to relay such a message.”

No sign of the massive centipede Railey had been pursuing. Who had ran away first, man or monster?

Augusta had found no real tracks and considered they were probably covered by the snowfall. Isidore had already beat her to telling Octavia to try sniffing for any signs of people. The elf merely followed along, eventually letting Leuca down when she was sure she wouldn't collapse, though the two both had the same thoughts in following close to each other just in case. Soon enough, they came to a spot to set up camp and Augusta started to look around for some supplies to set up... Then they all heard clanging steel against steel. "What?" She questioned as they all made haste to the location.

What they came upon was a rather beautiful woman, only slightly ill-dressed for where they were. Not that she was one to talk, but having the upper thighs exposed in weather like this was odd. Then there was the man. He seemed a bit older by hair color and some facial details, though he didn't seem to lack for it otherwise. "Who do we have here?" Railey. That was the captain that was missing from the camp right? It would seem they've found him fighting another person. Leuca's word's identified her as Sorcha, so... This was the that THEY had been searching for? She made a quick note in her head of Railey's skills and abilities. "What a power house. Don't even need the eye to see that."

Then she turned to Sorcha. Augusta knew that... Either of these two would probably turn her to mincemeat if they fought... She needed to learn more about Sorcha then. Perhaps there was something to complime... "What!?" Augusta exclaimed as she looked at the woman's status. "Bu- What!?" She stared at the oddest thing since they had come here. So much missing information! It was like the missing demon clan name back in the prison but... This? This was something absolutely different!

She took a step back. From what? Fear? She had spent twenty and some years living without seeing specifics about people but she felt a small amount of fear just looking at this woman. Sorcha, a human. Holder of a Dying Wish and.... Human... Sympathy? How peculiar to have "Human Sympathy" as a human. Leuca didn't have a "Elven Sympathy" nor did any of those cult members, nor Railey for that matter, have a "Human Sympathy" Attribute...

She was shaking a small bit, though she wasn't sure if this was from the cold or the fear that was slowly creeping through her system at the moment. She muttered, "Why can't I read hers..." Loud enough for her small party to hear, though not the other two if they were even listening. Her head started to hurt as she continued to try to decipher the nonsense before she lowered herself closer to Leuca's height, "Sorcha... Is a human, right?" If she was a human, perhaps she was blessed by a goddess like she, Isidore, Nick and Donovan had been? Or was she... Something else? She stopped using her eyes power and instead glared at Sorcha more to keep an eye on her movements. Something was incredibly wrong.

It seemed at first that Novak's symbol-pressing had no effect. But when he viewed the pedestal with the mask's sight again, he was greeted by the sight of a light floating over the pedestal, and figures surrounding it. He beheld as the phantoms grabbed the light and a series of flashing images depicted them fleeing down the hallway into the unexplored section. Beyond the darkness, Novak beheld what looked like...something humanoid peeping at him from behind the corner. A disconcerting giggle sounded and the figures vanished, followed by a few strange whispers.

Perhaps it was simply a primal fear that would spook almost anybody, or perhaps it was the vestige of a fear from his past life. Whatever the case, it was too much for Novak, who let out a short, quiet scream from beneath his mask. He put the glowing crystal down and moved his hand to the hilt of his sword, fearful at the prospect that something was down here watching him. He stood there, frozen in fear, heart pounding, waiting to see if those...things would emerge from the darkness. Would he be able to defend himself against them? Would he even be able to hurt them? Or were they just more memories of this place, perceptible only through the mask?

As Novak pondered on this, the latter possibility- that they were harmless phantoms that the mask was showing him- seemed to become more and more plausible as nothing happened, and with it his fight-or-flight instinct subsided slightly. The place was almost certainly empty, and the figures he saw were nothing more than memories that the mask was recounting to him. At least that's what he told himself. He pocketed the mask, bent down to pick up the crystal, and it was only then he noticed the skull in the room, which once again caused him to let out a short, relatively soft scream.

How did that skull get here? Was that always here? I don't remember it being here before. The presence of human remains, even if it was just a skull, was of some concern to Novak. Just what happened here, he wondered.

With one hand holding the crystal and the other tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, Novak tentatively walked down the unexplored hallway, as his alarmed mind tried to make sense of what he had seen. Those figures had taken the light from the pedestal and run off- it almost looked like they were stealing something, some sort of object that had once been stationed on the pedestal? What would happen, he wondered, if someone were to return that stolen object here? Further speculation could wait; first he needed to explore here and prove to himself that it what he saw was just the mask's images. At least that's what he hoped he'd prove.

@Rune_Alchemist