SepticGentleman

Undiscovery

@luclovers
It just did.

@Doc Doctor

"AH, ANOTHAH JUNGLE BEAST."

Undiscovery

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

Theresa fired a bolt at the Vigil. It merely darted out of the way with a fluid left dodge. From within its winding shell-head, a waving tentacle stretched outward. As Theresa reared back, the tentacle reached forward and swiped it from her hand, its end making contact with her forearm, uncovered by her glove.

Theresa grunted, clutching her arm as the accursed mark slowly appeared.

Ben wasted no time. He charged forth the moment Theresa was attacked, connecting with the Vigil and pinning it to the ground with his massive hand wrapped around its scrawny neck. He raised his fist to bring it down on its shell-head, not bothering to react as the Vigil's tentacle crept up under his coat, placing the mark upon his chest.

Ben slammed the whole of his arm on the Vigil's shell-head, cracking it wide open. Inside, a slimy mess of tentacles suddenly began scrambling, and screeching. It leapt out of the shell head, and attempted to slither away from Ben, surprisingly fast for its size.

Ben stood back up and opened his mouth. A stream of fire chased the weakened Vigil, enveloping it. Its screeching filled the cavern atrium, and it thrashed about madly.

Soon, it stopped moving entirely, and the flames continued to burn it into ashes.

Ben paused, then turned back towards the humanoid body the tentacled creature was latched onto. He peered inside the shell-head, to see what appeared to be the face of a man, melted away to show nothing but the skull underneath. Suction marks littered the surface, and the interior was nothing but slimy, organic material.

Theresa wandered over, holding her now-broken crossbow. She looked over at the still-burning tentacled creature, and then down at the Vigil's body, and its true face.

"What the fuck was..." She muttered.

"I don't know." Ben replied, turning towards Theresa and asking, "You alright?"

"I'm fine." She said, holding up her crossbow, almost snapped in two and ready to come apart at any moment. "Fucker broke my crossbow. Got my arm, too." She held out her arm, revealing the festering mark on her skin.

Ben reached his hand underneath his fur coat, feeling the writhing mass that'd sprung up on his chest. "Got me too." He said, "Doesn't hurt, though."

"Yeah, at least there's that." Theresa replied, a bit distressed.

"This the mark that old man told you about?"

"Must be."

There was a pause between them.

"Now we can't leave..." Theresa said, a little quieter.

"We knew it was gonna happen." Ben replied, "We knew, and we still went. Because we both know we don't care. If we ever want to get off the Continent, some... squishy bruise isn't gonna stop us."

Theresa didn't reply. She looked away.

"Theresa. Trust me. It's fine."

Theresa glanced back up at Ben, then at the surrounding celebrators. They'd stopped. There was no drinking, no fighting, no music... no happiness.

One of the mole-people looked right at her, and said the strangest thing.

"We're sorry."

Theresa didn't reply. She simply paused for a moment, looked back up at Ben, and said to him...

"Let's go. I don't want to be here anymore."

Ben nodded. And the duo left silently, with the crowd watching them.

All still. None happy.

Undiscovery

@Doc Doctor Yeah sure why not put him in with the rest of the Charlie Chaplains.

Undiscovery

It's like a lemming standing next to a slightly larger lemming.

Undiscovery

Gerald Pithers

---

"AH, FAIRY-RICHARD." Gerald called out after Cia, "YEH CANNY GAH 'ROUND ASKIN' FOLKS SAH MANY RAPID QUESTIONS. IT'S BLOODY RUDE, IT IS."

Gerald continued as he began taking off his circlet and makeshift bandana. "MUCH AS OI WOULD LOIKE TEH LEARN THE SINISTAH TRUTH BEHOIND THIS BLEMISH, OI KNOW WHEN'S THE TOIME AN' WHEN'S NOT."

He set his headgear down, revealing the Vigil's mark. He began running his hand over it, pushing down on the writhing mass within, making some soft squishing noises. "EHHHH..." Gerald commented, "ROIGHT NASTY, THIS BLEMISH BE."

@luclovers
@Cuccoruler

Undiscovery

Gerald Pithers

---

Gerald eyed (for lack of a better word) Saaria as she did the same to him. She looked somehow confident that the robed figure was being sincere. That this was the best course of action to take.

"AHH..." Gerald said, shrugging, "'OW CAN OI SAY NO TO THE FACE A SOMEONE WHO REMOINDS SAH MUCH OF ME OLD MATE RICHARD?"

Gerald turned his head towards the robed figure and called out, "ALROIGHT, HOIGHWAYMAN, GAH 'HEAD AND LEAD US TEH THIS PLACE SAH MYSTERIOUS. MAYBE OI CAN LEARN A BIT MORE ABOUT THIS, EHHH... UNSOIGHTLY BLEMISH ON ME NOGGIN."

@luclovers

---

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

"You're not seeing this?"

"Seeing what Theresa?"

"The people!" Theresa replied, shouting over the chatter of the festivities taking place. "The mole-people, drinking, fighting, playing music! They're everywhere!"

"Theresa-"

"Ben, I SWEAR I'm not making this up!"

Theresa turned her head and grabbed a gourd full of the strange brew from a nearby counter. "See this?" She said aloud. Ben merely replied, "Yeah, and it's empty."

"No it's not!" Theresa retorted, shaking the gourd a bit, and the brew inside. "Hear the sloshing?"

"Emp. Ty." Ben replied.

Theresa set the gourd back down, growing somewhat frustrated. She looked around the bustling room again, seeing now that it wasn't just filled with mole-people. There was... quite the colorful bunch sitting over in the further side of the cavern, enjoying themselves.

"There!" Theresa called out, "There's a man, and an elf, and a fucking- a blue dragon, just curled up, over there!" She pointed at the trio and said aloud, "Tell me you see them, please!"

"Dust and rocks, that's literally all I see over there Theresa!" Ben said, "What the hell is going on?"

"No, just-" She looked around again, spotting another figure standing up on a ledge overlooking the partygoers. Theresa pointed at it and called out, "How about that? The tall blue thing with the- seashell head?"

"Th-..." Ben said, looking a little surprised. "That I see. And it's coming for us."

"What?"

Theresa turned her head. The Vigil had jumped down, and the celebrating crowd parted away from it as it menacingly approached the duo.

"Shit!" Theresa called out, drawing her crossbow, and fire rising up in Ben's gullet.

At least there was something they could both see here, however hostile it was.

Undiscovery

@SepticGentleman @UrbanEvolution

Mind if I have Piper drop in on top of Ben and Theresa? She probably won't stay long, but I'd like to have some interaction with characters that aren't mine.

@Empour

Well a Vigil's going to come for them pretty soon. Maybe after they leave the two-aspect cave, they can happen upon each other.

Undiscovery

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

"Yeah, I see it!" Theresa said, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

She wasn't seeing what Ben was seeing. She wasn't seeing an abandoned hovel.

She was seeing life.

The cave was well-lit by the crystals. Nothing was covered in any sort of dust. Everywhere, there were these tall, scaly... mole-people, dancing about, eating assorted bugs from jars with their long tongues, drinking from carved out gourds. Some were playing drums and string instruments, others even engaging in fisticuffs for fun.

Everywhere, it seemed like... these people were happy. Alive.

"It's a pretty lively festival of all I've seen!" Theresa called out, over the chatter. Ben simply looked down at her and replied, "Wait... what?"

"What is it?" Theresa called out in reply. A brief pause happened before Ben continued, "Theresa, I don't see anyone else here, this place is..."

Her smile dropped a bit.

"This place is dead. Abandoned."

No. She was seeing it, all of it, right in front of her. This was no hallucination.

The two of them were seeing two different versions of this cave.

How?

Undiscovery

@SepticGentleman

East or West?

@luclovers

Let me put it this way - directions and proportional geography on the Continent are difficult to pinpoint at any given time.

That being said, let's go with east because it sounds easier than the above bullshit.

Undiscovery

@SepticGentleman are we on the west or eastern coast of the Continent?

@luclovers

Yes.