eswareinmal | [Log] West Haven

Entry tags:

[Log] West Haven

Characters: All on the road to West Haven
Open? Yep
Where: Starting at the gate of Schwanheim, on the way to and in West Haven
When: The 5th of Rebirth's Height

It was a clear morning, a touch warmer than the previous days, a sign that Rebirth was progressing along. For the more superstitious of Schwanheim's residents, it seemed a good omen for the heroes' journey to the unfortunate town of West Haven. Of course with how the weather of Rebirth ran, it might be pouring rain by the time they left the gates but that was Rebirth for ya.

[[OoC: this log will be split into 3 parts/sub threads. You don't have to tag the preparations or travel threads to arrive at West Haven.]]

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There doesn't seem to be much that could be called a source, the feeling of wrongness, like the scentless smoke, seemed to permeate the entire village. The smoke seems most concentrated around the base of the well, however, as if gathering there.

He can take a hint, and follows the smoke to the well to see what he can find. Mentally he's sending out feelers, trying to identify that wrong feeling and give it a name, an identity.

If there was any name to be attached to the feeling, it would be a lack. The unnatural silence and the scentless smoke only heightened the feeling that something was being overlooked.

The water in the well is clear, reflecting Dark's face near perfectly back up at him if he chooses to look in. There's not even a stray leaf of bit of debris in it. Around the base of the well itself are stray weeds, brown grey as the smoke winds around them without causing them to so much as sway.

Obscured by the fallen bucket that it's half underneath it is a small, pitch black gemstone, roughly cut, yet still sparkling even in the shadows.

Dark is tempted to delve further into the oddly clear well, as this place is clearly important, but the gem catches his eye.

He picks it up and takes a feather out of his pocket he had been saving for just such an occasion. Setting the feather against the gemstone, he activates the magic asking the gem to identify itself and waits to see what happens.

Seemingly? Absolutely nothing. No response, no reaction, no answer. Just that same empty feeling the rest of the village was soaked in.

With no response, what can Dark do but assume that it's simply what it appears to be? Another piece of the emptiness of this place, sapped of all consciousness. He flips it once in the air and holds it up to the light, examining the gem's purity and trying to judge whether it's worth stealing.

There is a single flaw, a smokey band that sits in the center of it, almost as if the flaw itself was showcased by the clear parts of the gem.

It'll never sell like that, and if it won't sell then it isn't worth stealing. Dark sets the thing down on the rim of the well and goes back to staring into the water, wondering if there's something down there.

After a moment he cups his hands in the water to see if it's even clear.

Almost impossibly so, and very cold. Yet with how clear it is, there's also no visible bottom.

And Loki flutters on the opposite side of the well, caws sharply at Dark. A gemstone, a well, and all he does is touch, without thought or study.

He's found all he can, flying above, so he wrings out his form and hops into the air, settling again as a sorcerer.

"Have you no sense?" Loki snaps. "Did you think to test the well's substance before you touched it? A well, one of the few places in a town frequented by all, used by all."

Dark ignored him, closing his eyes and gripping the feather once more. This time he aimed his search for the bottom of the well.

Again, no answer, just more emptiness, almost as if there wasn't even anything there.

And Loki stares at Dark expectantly.

"Well?" he asks. If he's going to be foolish enough to test it, then they may as well find something from his results.

"Well what?" Dark snapped back, finally turning an annoyed glare at Loki. 'Teamwork' wasn't really Dark's thing unless it involved his loyal pet With.

He shoved the feather back in his pocket and grabbed the gemstone for the sake of territoriality.

Loki curled his fingers and sent out a sting of ice, intending that it crystalize on the gem, cold enough for Dark to drop it.

"That is most likely an object of power," said Loki, "and not for a thief." This is an accusation without true warrant, he knows, but he makes it anyway, knowing that it would sting an honorable man and that it would make little difference one way or the other to a dishonorable one.

He bounces it in the air a few times rather than drop the gem, glowering at Loki the whole time.

"It probably was. It's drained now, like everything else in this town. Not even worth stealing."

His point made, he tossed the gem at Loki.

Meanwhile, Bakura had finally caught up. The trouble with trying to follow a bird was that a bird can fly over buildings, while a teenager in a seriously impractical set of robes and hat to match attempting to scramble around an abandoned cart winds up nearly falling flat on his face when the edge of his robe catches on it and then has to spend a moment trying to pull it away with out ruining it.

Trying to be silent as if he'd been there all along, he awkwardly approached the group at the well, trying to figure out what was going on with out having to ask.

"I would not be so sure."

He stepped aside and let the gem thud to the ground. And then took a bag from his cloak and scooped it up, careful not to touch. Closed the drawstring tight.

"Bakura," he said, "keep this close, and do not touch it. I fear we have all stepped into a trap. This place is not abandoned; none have ever lived here. You," at Dark, "you found this gem at the well?"

The town had provided him no answers. Each building was empty and just as predicted there was no sign of life. As Eagle exited one of the small homes he had been investigating he happened to notice several of the other ‘heroes’ gathered near the well. With so many in one place… maybe they had found something? Anyway it certainly couldn’t hurt to touch base with them.
Eagle made his way over to the little group, arriving just in time to see the bag wrapped jewel handed over to Bakura.

“You found something?”

Dark walked away from the quickly forming group, choosing instead to watch from a distance. He waved behind him as he walked, nonchalantly.

"You're such a smart guy, you figure it out," he shouted back at Loki. To Eagle he simply said "all yours."

Bakura nodded, carefully and gingerly taking the bag by the strings. So it hadn't just been him thinking that... it was like being in a diorama, the homes had furniture and props, but no real signs of habitation. Built to look lived in, but not at all lived in... But to make something at this scale! Not even the Egypt game had been this large!

"You think this has something to do with it?" he asked, looking at the bag. "Or just something left behind to trigger the trap?"

Or the start of a riddle. Something strange found that would unlock an area later in the game.

...it was really hard not to think of this all as an RPG....

"I don't know." Loki gave another glance to the well, weighing his options. Should he? Would it be too dangerous?

He sighed. They wouldn't learn any more if they left now.

And this could easily be the work of the same sorcerer who created the thorns.

"The gem was found by the well," said Loki, "and so the well may be worth seeing." He focuses on Eagle, on Bakura. "If anything goes wrong, anything, run and take that back to the king. Perhaps one of his advisors will prove more useful than he, and will recognize it."

He stepped up on the rim of the well, and crouched. This would be difficult, given the transformation he had already undertaken, but he saw no other option. He took a breath, and forced.

For a moment, his form would not go, and then it snapped into tentacles and gills.

The undersize octopus weakly lowered himself into the water, unwrapped a steadying tentacle from the well's top, and swam for the bottom.

The feeling of something wrong hit the moment that Loki slid under the water. There was no visible change as he descended, no feeling of motion, almost as if he were swimming in place.

In it's place was a feeling of something suffocating that grew stronger every moment, like someone trying to hold their breath for a long as they could.

Or rather, that there was nothing for the octopus to breathe...

Loki paused, stilling the reflexive panic, analyzing the feeling. Was there 'water' passing through his gills? Was it simply not oxygenated?

Or was it not water at all?

There was the feel of water, certainly, but nothing could be pulled from it, as if it were made up of something else entirely, or nothing at all.

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