[PQ+] Roads That Never Saw Sun Nor Sky

RANDOM EVENT

Phew! You’ve all made it. Everyone crosses, Hotaru makes it by the skin of her teeth.

And it seems you all decide to charge on. Continuing on the path will have you all go further and further into the ice mine, deeper until the cold begins to catch up. You can see your breath easily, and the slightest of chattering teeth might occur despite the layers.

Maea does not notice any of it thanks to Ludo’s Rags.

Soon enough there’s a slight curve in the path as it forks once more. Down one side of it you can see the flickering of a light against the ice walls of the cave and if you listen closely you can hear the mumbling of voices beyond it. The second path is incredibly dark, and it is unknown what sits in the darkness.

------

Do you investigate the noises? Or take the darker path?

You have 48 hours to respond. Please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post.

Post order and HP:
1. Jigano: 340/340
2. Hotaru: 28/28
3. Maea: 54/54
4. Evie: 30/32

Though he rarely partial-shifts in mixed company, his layers provided enough protection that he felt safe shifting beneath them to a covering of fox fur over his too-thin human skin, as Remi had once shifted a lion's pelt to warm him in an ice nymph's cave - a lifetime ago, it felt like now. He walked as silently as he could manage, trying not to set off another icicle-rain, but when the sounds of voices reached him he paused and held up a hand, looking back to see if the others heard them too.

He motioned the little group back up the tunnel a ways until he could no longer hear the voices, even with fox-shifted ears, and then he spoke as softly as he could to his friends. "Given the neighbors are cannibals, I'm not too eager to meet them face-to-face," he admitted, a faint grimace creasing the corners of his eyes. "...Or, given how cold it is, a couple of those man-eating ice giants Ingrid warned me about." The one that Wessex had somehow summoned had been bad enough. He wouldn't ask his friends to fight one - or more! - of those. "If we're looking for something that hasn't been found, my vote is to go the way that doesn't people."

He looked around, waiting to see what the others would say before nodding and leading the way stealthily back to the split in the tunnel. Once protected by the fork, he raised Soulkeeper high to peer into the shadows, cautiously leading the way.

---

Jigano suggests avoiding the possibility of cannibals or ice giants, and takes the darker path, attempting to use Ludo's lantern to light the way.

She makes it across just barely, which only further exasperated her, but at least she's not impaled. Priorities.

With a grateful nod towards Jigano for his help, she follows along with the rest of their little party, disgruntled. It's only all the more frustrating to be made aware of how underdeveloped her magic is, how useless she is as an individual. But the cold that increases as they descend is distracting enough to chase those thoughts from her head for the moment. Gripping herself tighter and scowling. Jigano has them pause, and she goes still and quiet until he herds them away and speaks low and quiet."Sounds fine by me," Hotaru murmurs with a shrug, following down the darkened path and wondering if she should light her torch soon.

---

Hotaru follows after Jigano down the darkened path.

she knows the restless press of moths
mistaking her presence for candlelight

_{Table Code by Sky!}

You're so cold

but you feel alive

It was a quiet of grim determination that settled over the group as they pressed on, deeper down into the depths of the mine. Maea was spared the intense cold, but could see the breath rise in thick clouds from her traveling companions, see them huddle down in their layers, and realized the temperature must be plummeting. It was a fortunate thing indeed that she had the enchanted shawl, because without it she would be in trouble, in her inadequate clothes. Touching the strange material with a hand that did not suffer from the chill, she made sure it was safely secured around her shoulders and head, unable to slip off on its own.

Upon reaching the new fork, she kept well back so as not to risk causing noise. Part of her found it uneasy to leave a potential threat at their backs, in case the darkness of the other path held some secret they would have to run from. But she agreed with a nod that it would be better to avoid confrontations if it could be avoided, and followed without complaint as Jigano and Hotaru pressed on.

The quiet was unnerving. All her senses were on edge as she walked into the dark passage; ready for anything. Expecting something to jump out at them at any second.

---------

Maea fastens Ludo's Rags tighter about herself to prevent it from slipping. She agrees on the dark path, but is steeling herself, ready for something to happen.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

Evie

Everyone makes it safely across, and for that Evie breathes a soft sigh of relief. She has never been one to chase adventure, and this just further resolves her against it. Too many chances to injury, for loss. But there's no turning back, not when they've barely just started.

As they descend it grows colder, her breath misting out in little vapor clouds before her eyes. She wraps herself tighter, trying to combat the chill as best she can, and when they come upon light flickering against rough walls she bites her tongue with the desire to go hunting down whatever they're using for heat and light. Jigano is right, there's too much risk. So she doesn't mind agreeing to go down the darker path, though her shoulders are tense and her hand slips into her hip pouch to wrap around the hilt of one of her daggers.

---

Evie bundles up and follows the group, one hand on one of her throwing daggers.

reckless at heart but never unkind
in a perfect world we could've been fine

_{Table Code by Sky!}

RANDOM EVENT

The darker path is just that, dark. It’s far enough within the mines that it only seems to add to the darkness and the pressure of the tunnel the further you go. And once you reach a small opening, you find a few boxes scattered about the sides as though it’s keeping something cold.

The path continues, however, veering a sharp right toward the end that you cannot see beyond.

------

Attempt to open the boxes or continue down the path?

You have 48 hours to respond. Please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post.

Post order and HP:
1. Jigano: 340/340
2. Hotaru: 28/28
3. Maea: 54/54
4. Evie: 30/32

This wasn't a place for the claustrophobic, that was abundantly clear. Jigano had always done better in places like this in his fox form - and more recently, his snake form - than on two legs. Self-conscious though it made him as they descended into the darkness, lit primarily by the white lantern, he shifted his eyes and ears to those of a fox, stretching his senses to listen both ahead and behind them.

It was not his ears that found something first, but his vulpine eyes. He raised a cautionary hand to the friends behind him to alert them to what he saw, then paused by the small opening. "I'll stand guard, if you want to investigate," he whispered softly. So saying, he stood by alertly with the lantern, ready to place himself between his fellow spelunkers and any danger that might approach from the tunnels.

---

Jigano pauses for investigation, and readies his action to put himself between the others and physical harm that might come from the tunnels or opening.

The pressure increases the further they go, her ears popping uncomfortably. But the light cast by Jigano's lantern is enough to keep her eyes focused on each new crevice and crack they pass by. And, inevitably, the outlines of boxes as they arrive in a small opening. Hotaru eyes them curiously, and with Jigano keeping guard slips her sword from it's sheath and uses it to try and lever the top off one of the boxes from a distance. No point in getting any closer if it's a dangerous material, but she's certainly intrigued by what the crates may hold.

---

Hotaru attempts to open a box with her sword at a slight distance.

she knows the restless press of moths
mistaking her presence for candlelight

_{Table Code by Sky!}

You're so cold

but you feel alive

The darkness closes in on her like a too-tight embrace, and Maea is not comfortable. It reminds her far too much of the darkness in the Spire, a nightmare she has yet to entirely leave behind herself. She tried to recall other kinds of shadow, other shades of black that were more comforting. While thoughts the night sky or the comfort under a heavy blanket does nothing to soothe her, she did recall that moment when Ludo gave her the shawl she now wore about her. The close, suffocating absoluteness of its darkness as she for one short instant had been engulfed within it. It had been terrifying, yet also strangely comforting...

Clinging to the memory, she paused when Jigano gave indication, and stepped aside so that Evie too could take a look. Nodding assent, Maea stepped up alongside Hotaru, using her telekinesis to pry at the lid of a second box; taking the same precautions of staying slightly away from the unknown contents of the crate.

--------

Maea uses base telekinesis to try and open a second box.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

Evie

The oppressive darkness reminds her of many years of LongNight, which does nothing to soothe her nerves. Claustrophobia has never been a problem in the past, and yet she finds herself shuddering when the cavern walls creep too close as they delve deeper into the bowels of the earth. Whatever awaits for them, boxes aren't what she was expecting. Jigano takes point, and the other two women go about prying open the boxes with various talents. Evie doesn't have such things, so she steels her bravery and - with a dagger in hand and withdrawn readily - places her gloved hand on the top of the third box to try and rip it open quickly.

---

Evie tries to quickly open a third box with her hand, dagger at the ready for an attack of any sort

reckless at heart but never unkind
in a perfect world we could've been fine

_{Table Code by Sky!}

RANDOM EVENT

Jigano will hear nothing when it comes to keeping guard. You've all garnered no attention so far. Soon enough, however, as the rest of you begin to pry open the boxes, you soon find out why they’re near the walls.

Once the lid is off of the one that Hotaru opens, it begins to break at the sides with a quiet snap of the rusted metal holding the sides together. What comes spilling out is rather gruesome, bloody, and smells rather terrible. Pieces of human bodies begin to slide out of the box, coated and slathered in coatings of icy blood that come spilling out along the floor before you.

Sure enough if Maea and Evie look inside their own respective boxes as well, they’ll find much of the same.

------

Now what?

You have 48 hours to respond. Please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post.

Post order and HP:
1. Jigano: 340/340
2. Hotaru: 28/28
3. Maea: 54/54
4. Evie: 30/32

Human body parts in the mine that bordered the cannibal village? Jigano would have sighed, if it weren't so cold. "Don't worry about the other boxes," he said softly to Maea and Evie, though he doubted they would continue to open them after that. Hotaru really did have the worst luck today, and he sent her a pained smile of encouragement. "This might not be a working mine anymore, but it's not nearly as abandoned as Warder Neron thought." He paused, grimacing. That, or Neron was doing his sociopathic cousin a favor by sending the bard into a literal dead end.

The body parts probably should have bothered him more, but he'd walked through a kyton's abattoir before. Still, Maea and Evie likely weren't used to such brutality, nor even necessarily Hotaru. "Let's not linger," he said, voice still barely a whisper as he tried to keep the sound from traveling. "Hopefully they don't have much reason to go deeper into the mines if they're just using this area for... ah. Storage." He grimaced, but as he raised the lantern again to light the way he began to hum softly under his breath, Ludo's song for gathering lost souls. These people had likely been killed elsewhere and brought here after... probably rendered in that room they had decided to avoid earlier, with the light and voices. Still, if Ludo didn't come down here very often perhaps he could save the masked god a trip.

---

Jigano leads the way further down towards the curve in the tunnel, humming Ludo's Song softly to call any lost spirits of those poor body parts into the lantern for safekeeping.

Hotaru hums softly as half-dissolved limbs, muscle, fat, and blood come spilling from the box in a tidal wave of smell and sound. She idly cleans the residue on the tip of her sword and pulls her undershirt over her nose, more bothered by the smell than the sight. Turning towards Jigano as he speaks, still quiet in the dark, she too wonders what Neron had to hide. Is he that unaware of his territory that these could be squatters? Seeking protection from the elements below ground? Or is this little egg hunt intentional, deceitful?

It holds her attention as she follows silently after Jigano, the sharp corner plunging them further into darkness. No point in speaking really, she's content to continue digging around in these strange mines. So long as the cannibals don't expect her to share their meal.

---

Hotaru follows after Jigano silently, blade still unsheathed and ready.

she knows the restless press of moths
mistaking her presence for candlelight

_{Table Code by Sky!}

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Maea was not nearly as blazé about the gruesome discovery as Jigano or Hotaru. For all that she was a farmgirl and helped slaughter sheep from an early age, this was different. This... was pieces of human flesh. People, cut to pieces and stashed away like so much Magna Vermis in Flowerbirth.

She only just registered the contents of Hotaru's box before her own was open, and the horrors came sloshing out at her feet. Clasping a hand over her mouth as the reek made her stomach turn, the pale girl stumbled back and lurched a few steps away, back into the darkness they had come from. There, blessedly shielded from sight, she threw up. Over and over she heaved, until there was nothing left in her stomach but bile and emtpy horror. Jigano's voice was a quiet murmur, words not quite getting through... but the song did.

Like the first Leafchange rains after LongHeat, it washed over her. Haunting, soothing, beckoning her to straighten up and follow. Maea wiped her mouth with the back of a sleeve and rose, shaky and carefully avoiding to step on - or indeed look at - the pitiful remnants of what once had been life. Hurrying along to catch up with the others, she reached a hand back to search for Evie's. She had a notion that they might be similar in this... not so exposed to the brutality of men. Not quite so jaded as the others...

In truth, she hoped she never would be. Even if it meant turning her stomach over every once in a while.

----------

Maea threw up. Then follows the others.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA