A Walk in the Dark

The windows were securely boarded, the door had been safely barred. Snow moss had been used to plug the little holes and cracks in the house and two men and two dogs had settled in for a week of quiet tension and mending all the little things that needed fixing, to keep hands busy and minds distracted from the horrors outside.

But as much as Jigano wanted to stay safe and warm inside, he had other promises to keep. None that would make him unbar that door and risk his mate, however. No, the banked fire proved his choice of exit, with a little bit of assistance and a lot of scrambling, he had made it up the chimney in his raven shape, covered in soot and coughing as he reached the roof and shook out his singed feathers ruefully. The Night was dark as pitch and he had flapped gingerly to the ground before taking off in his fox form, nose low and following the scent trails he knew well, orienting himself and striking towards the fields.

Once he was at the edge of the property he had shifted back to his human form, raising Soulkeeper up to shed the ghostly light across the grasses, a beacon in the dark. A touch of Healing cleared the smoke from his lungs and he began to sing, calling those souls that had been kept from Mort's halls and Ludo's guidance.

[say]What a lovely song...why don't you stay and sing it a while longer for us?[/say]

The voice is like electrically-charged blood. It sizzles and darkens in the air. Around the perimeter of light cast by the lantern bodies hovered and crouched. Though they weren't bodies at all, but shapes and scarred bits of shadow. A wayward soul pulsing in time with the bard's song floats closer...and is snapped up by a wall of black teeth before Jigano might have coaxed it nearer.

[say]Delicious. Please, keep singing..[/say]

He wished he had Ronin with him now, but the demigoad hadn't come, all through the Longest Night. Perhaps he had forgotten their deal, or perhaps something had happened to him - something that had worried the bard as the Night had stretched on and no luxere had come pawing at the door. Now it was just him, alone in the dark, as he paced over the snow and towards the Spire that stood, darkness hidden within deeper darkness, across the fields.

But he wasn't alone. No, even here the monsters came prowling, and Jigano narrowed his eyes and held the lantern tighter. He tried moving towards the soul but was not swift enough, and he felt a pang of guilt and sorrow as it was snapped away. Just as Ru'in's soul had been, the year before.

Still he sang, light raised high, defiant. And there was something different about this song, something more resonant and fey than Ludo's gift alone could account for. The next two souls that came close, if they came within fifteen feet, would find themselves buoyed by Sage Inspiration, to give them a second chance at evasion to make it to the lantern.

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Sage Inspiration | Can target up to two allies who are within 15ft with a song, giving them either advantage on their next attack or evasion rolls.

Now, now, let's not blame others. The demigod has been outside all of LongNight while you've been wrapped up in the arms of the one you love, stealing away only as the week draws to a close.

As for the souls, the change in tune makes little difference.

Thrust from the darkening shadows comes a blade of sharpened obsidian as if carved from the darkness and made solid. It flies true towards the bard, plunging through his shoulder just below his collar bone. Instantly the injury aches bone-deep, as blood begins to stain the Sage's cloak.

Perhaps due to a soul so recently being devoured, but no other lights come forth from the darkness.

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Sage Inspiration is not applicable here.

HP: 323/456

The song faltered, the bard gasping in pain as his shoulder was pierced, and he stumbled in the dark. The monsters were growing bolder, stronger, of that he was now certain, but it was too late to warn the others now. It was all he could do to keep walking and singing, reaching back to mold the obsidian smooth with Mastered Fire and Earth combined so he could pull it free without doing more damage.

Lantern in one hand and black blade in the other he continued grimly on, song rising in the dark. He was warier now, and ready to try and dodge further attacks that might come at him. Furred ears rose through pale hair, senses extended as he faced the night.

The monsters follow, prowling with silent resilience after the Sage.

In the dark a lone soul bobs, hovering low in the snow. Its light flashes weekly, no more than thirty or so paces ahead.

His shoulder ached with the lingering cold, and Jigano struggled to sing through the pain. The lantern cast its glow out into the dark, though, and he took strength from it, forging ahead. The glow of the soul was the only other light he could see, pale and weakened in the Night. His heart thudded, fear and anxiety for lost spirit sending a surge of protectiveness through him as he picked up his pace, hurrying towards it.

He suspected it was a trap. The monsters weren't stupid, and he was on his guard, but he couldn't just leave the soul, either. Not if there was a chance he could protect it until Ludo could lead it home. His song turned coaxing as he tried to get close enough fast enough for the lantern to shield the little spirit.

The monsters clamber around the ring of light. They throw sticks and stones clearly wanting to break the Sage's bones, but all attempts either go wide, or bounce harmlessly off of him.

Luck and speed are on the bard's side as he moves for the soul, it in turn embued by his confidence, floats steadily towards him. Though massive jaws lunge from the shadows, the soul is able to evade the snap of second-death and scatters itself into the lantern.

One soul lost, one soul found. As much as he hoped to continue and match the lost spirits that had sheltered in the lantern last year, he didn't want to risk the one he had been able to save. The monsters seemed particularly fierce this time around, he thought with a wince as he moved his shoulder. He sent a touch of Mastered Healing into the wound and turned to begin looping back the way he'd come.

The song still rose, pained and weary, but he didn't intend to press his luck further as he retreated from the Night and back towards home once more.

Though the monsters trail in the darkness, the Sage makes it back to the farm without incident.