With Margaret disappearing into thin air, as if she'd never truly been there, the party had little to no direction. They couldn't really turn back, there was nothing left back there anyway. Instead, they continued to press on until they came to a divergence in the path. A little game trail, evidently recently used given the small child-like footprints embedded into the dirt, broke away and went for maybe a mile before making a sharp turn and getting lost in the foliage. After quick deliberation, the group quickly turned to continue on their journey instead of venturing into the woods. That is, they were sure of it until Throom caught a faint whiff of cooking fish. Having lived by the water his whole life, the smell was very distinct and reminded him of home for but a moment before another delicious scent snuck its way into his perception. Baked bread. Now the group fell back into deliberation with Throom and Bendeg curiosities' being peaked and wanting to see what was cooking the fish but Zym stepped in to take the lead, being a soldier, and pointed out that the bread would be more filling. Given how the past few days had gone, that sounded enticing enough for the group to continue without seeing who- or what- could have made those footprints.
Soon, the others began to smell what Throom had managed to from a distance. Then it began to be joined with the sounds of.. are those carriages? Around the party, the woods started opening up and becoming more like a meadow and the mountain range they had been by was very suddenly gone. The village came into view not a moment later. Colonial cottages made of stone, crops planted around the village like a wall, and people milling about, working or just relaxing. There even was a few kids talking amongst themselves, paying no mind to the others around them. Almost immediately the group was spotted and one of the kids took off down the street faster than one would think possible. A tall, human man approached with a pitchfork in hand and leveled it at Mort, who had stepped out in front of the group.
"Why are you here?" He growled and spat into the dirt next to his feet.
"Why are you here?" Mort countered, none of the group making any moves. The stared each other down for a moment.
"I asked first."
"We haven't seen a town yet, so why are you here?" Someone piped up from behind Mort, the pitchfork man was unsure of who but sent a glare in the general direction.
"Just stay back," He mumbled, backing into the village and keeping a close eye on everyone. Then he was gone. And so was the village. A light popping sound and once more the group was in the forest, mountains present to their east, and only the path leading forward. With great hesitance, the group continued onward for about a day.
Then the cloud came. It felt as if it was chasing them, with them getting spat out and now here it was bearing down on them once more. Just as the group was starting to set up camp, Zym noticed in the distance a storm cloud. Then it began dropping down to beneath the tops of the trees and he realized what it truly was.
"Quickly, lean-to." He commanded the group and began setting one up himself. Unfortunately, only Zym was a soldier and everyone else began to panic in addition to not knowing how to construct a lean-to. This lead to Throom accidentally knocking down the tree that had Zym's almost completed shelter and nearly crushing Mort but instead the group got hit with the cloud at full force. It was freezing. Each of them felt like frost was forming on their skin- except for Bendeg. He was as warm as ever, his mark burning into his hand again even as he dragged Quinn next to him. The searing pain only subsided a little once the cloud had dissipated. Quinn and Bendeg noticed immediately that the others were nowhere to be found.
Throom, Zym, and Mort woke up next to each other in a cave. There was no light before Zym lit up a torch and revealed that the walls, despite being crude, were deliberately shaped into that of a room. The straight-ish walls and doorway gave it away. Zym took the lead, Mort being distracted by his faces and Throom on the verge of panic. They exited their room through an iron barred door to a room with a centerpiece cave drawing of their group entering an open door but Throom was missing. Every time one of them touched the cave painting, it altered who was there. At least, they think that it is changed whenever someone touches it.. Outside of that, there was an exit to the left and to the right. The one on the left seemed to be on an incline whilst the other went deeper. For the three, it wasn't much of a choice between the two. They went up.
Meanwhile, Quinn noticed Bendeg hunched over in pain. The mark on the dwarf's hand flared up when they went in one direction and subsided when he they went in any other. Soon, Quinn and Bendeg began making their way off the path and into the woods itself. After about half an hour, they come across the mouth of a cave and Bendeg's mark suddenly stops hurting. Quinn is the first to step in, only to find everything to be made out of flesh. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. Everything. It looked like it was practically dripping instead of drooping and tendrils hung from the ceiling connecting top to bottom. Quinn wanted to leave right away but Bendeg insisted they push onward and see if they could make it across.
Further inside the cave, the three lost within find themselves on the opposite end of what looks to be an inky black lake made out of whatever was in the ocean at Paciview. Having no other choice, they begin to analyze the situation and try to assess the safest way to go about this. Throom, trying to see how deep it was, stuck his quarterstaff into the substance and pushed. Bendeg, who had just started to make his way across the flesh, gets nailed in between the legs. He silently prayed thanks, his armor having spared him from pain. However, he does grab Throom's quarterstaff and tugs it out of not only the elephant's grasp but also the flesh as well. Quinn pulls Bendeg out and backs towards the entrance to the cave, shaking his head. Now without his quarterstaff, Throom loses his composure and dives headfirst into the gunk. Temporarily, his mind is altered but he manages to break through to the other side and get pulled out by Bendeg. Not long after that, Mort tries to go after Throom but his mind is also altered and he sees the others as zombies and dives back to where Zym is. The remaing two in the deeper portion of the cave swim across instead of dive after that, which has Zym go through something temporarily but he manages just fine. Mort, however, feels a permanent shift in his mentality.
Upon reaching the other side Zym and Mort find themselves on the opposite side of the flesh from Bendeg, Throom, and Quinn (who now waits just outside of the cave but is peeking in from the side). Zym and Mort begin making their way across, swimming through the meat as if it was water despite it feeling more like the solid flesh of a womb. about halfway through, tendrils from the ceiling begin wrapping themselves around the pair and trying to keep them inside or drag them down. Luckily, after many shenagins with ropes and blades, Zym and Mort make it through. Exhausted, the group leaves and begins to try to find their way back to the path.
About half a week later, the group is camping at the crossroads, finally able to at least choose their doom. It was a relatively peaceful few days, which was a relief given how the first two went. The hairs on the back of Quinn's neck stood up. He felt it, similarly to how he feels the darkness creeping on his arms after those monsters attacked before.
"It's coming," Zym said, nodding at the cloud approaching fast, before tucking himself underneath a blanket and letting everyone else fend for themselves. Mort and Bendeg found themselves cowering inside of a log, Quinn tied himself to a tree, and Throom.. well, Throom froze. Quinn, who could see in between the wisps of the dark cloud, Throom reaching for someone. Then they were gone. And Steve wasn't a lone. Two hands, looking to be that of a woman's, began reaching for him but once he struggled against his own bonds they were gone. They had looked so familiar.
Once the smoke cleared, they found there was no trace of Throom. Instead, where he stood, a dwarf lay. Bendeg's mark didn't throb. They had no idea where he went. The only thing of Throom's left behind was his quarterstaff, which he had dropped when grabbing the cloud hands. Mort picked it up and began to question the dwarf, who had no idea of who, where, or how he was. Being in a vaguely similar situation themselves, the group allowed this new dwarf to tag along. It didn't take long before they arrived at Ilexia, the town that they had been told of and decided to head towards. Surrounding it were the stumps of trees that were bleeding instead of producing sap. The cabins themselves, the group realized as they got closer, were also dripping from blood as if the trees had been freshly cut down. Some of them were older and they have seemed to stop bleeding. Must've either run out or clotted.
The entire town was gathered in the center playing instruments and being conducted by one man. A very familiar man. Stevik, a large and muscular elf, who Bendeg studied underneath to learn the blacksmith trade! After some tense talk and a confirmation that everyone was who they said they were, the group was allowed into the town this time. They quickly realized this town worshiped music and had legitimate shops. They've also discovered there is limited trade amongst towns and were informed that the most recent expedition would be leaving in a month. Once it was decided they stay, the party was given two empty cabins.
Now that the tour was over, the group parted into their cabins. Bendeg, Mort, and the dwarf's cabin was filled with dust. As if it hadn't been lived in or even touched for years. It took them but a moment to settle and Mort began cleaning the dust so he could exist in peace with his amphibian skin not being a fan of the thick clouds of filth. However, Zym and Quinn's cabin was completely clean. The only abnormal thing about this one was the smashed mirrors on the wall, which they took down and put back together... then proceeded to cover up with a cloth once they found that their reflections would not stop smiling. And the smiles themselves were stretched out, too wide for their real lips. After exiting. Bendeg notices someone licking the blood that was dripping off one of the cabins. This causes a brief panic but is relaxed when Stevik explains its what they have for water here.
After following him back to his cabin, they also find out about mysterious rumbling happening where they cut the trees down and buried their dead- oh, and that there is a monster chained to the wall. *insert mentor* explains that it was the person who used to live in Quinn and Zym's cabin and he transformed inot this thing only a little bit ago. Bendeg lights the thing on fire from the inside out and is about to be reprimanded by *insert mentor's name* but then the body dissolves partially and forms a piece of the flesh map. Zym allows it to stitch together and now
Ilexia is on the map... and so is Darkwater.
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