Ralir stepped back as Viltalta handled the alien object, impressed with how democratically she actually was approaching this. Ralir wasn't certain he'd have done the same, in her position - but then again, perhaps there was a point in herd wisdom.
He hadn't been standing close enough to watch each of Viltalta's actions closely, so when she called him by name he was surprised. It really had been just a guess. He nodded to Adahy as the other buck approached, and he tucked the new crystal into a different bag. What could it be for? The Grandfather Tree's magic was warm and familiar, and he felt a shudder running through him at the thought that the Others, too, had been harvesting this for their own purposes.
He'd have time to study this later, with Father's careful advice, though. He followed after Viltalta sedately, knowing quite well that the bridge was secure - and that with the bridge arranged like this, anyone could well follow. It didn't matter much, though. They were a large group.
At first the trees were blocked by the bodies of the other nouls here, but as Ralir drew near they became more obvious. They were...well, he didn't want to say they were alien. They seemed native, more so because of the old language carved into every trunk. Ralir felt himself inhaling, shutting his eyes briefly as Viltalta read the words aloud for the benefit of everyone. Who could have carved such words here, and why? Did it look like Wanderlust's hand, now that Ralir could recognize it?
He didn't want to stare too long, but he thought it was important to know what Wanderlust had been frightened by, too. Perhaps they'd traveled this far, scouting, before turning back to fetch their party. Why hadn't he thought to ask Isra about these dangers? He'd been aware...but he'd forgotten, and other things had seemed more immediate.
Well, they'd all been tired. He'd try to be more vigilant from now on, Ralir thought.
[future +1 banked, power still not used]
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:20 pm
The trees clustered thick together, making movement difficult. Viltalta had to keep her wings pinned tight against her body just to squeeze between the gnarled trunks. Branches cut and jabbed at her, and she suspected the rest of her group were faring no better. Worse, the trees cut out the light and their shadows played strange shapes on the dead ground. They criss crossed over each other, pointing in every direction.
She didn’t know what direction she faced. How could she lead her party like this?
“This place is unnatural,” she muttered. Then, louder, “I think we’re lost.”
An uncomfortable feeling sapped at her bones, too. The humming magic beneath her skin dwindled away and when she attempted to draw on it, she was faced with an empty nothing, like before she’d earned her gift.
Moon Mist, Draven, Ysalone, and Ralir scrutinize the trees and notice something strange.
The trees have faces! Animal faces, some vaguely resemble noulicorns and others are obviously reptilian, with horns made from branches.
On closer inspection, there appears to be a pattern.
The horse-like faces are smiling and their horns point → The reptile-like faces are frowning and their horns point ←
Maybe this is a clue to help navigate the forest?
Adahy and Tsarine spot something bright glittering between the exposed roots of some trees.
More of those strange blue crystals!
_______________________________________________
Quote:
The trees have a strange power.
Roll 1d20. 1-5: You can’t feel your magic anymore! You won’t be able to use any abilities until you’re clear of this oddity. 6-15: Nothing happens. You’re fine. 16-20: You feel strangely energized by the woods. You can use your abilities multiple times, regardless of your rank!
You may only roll once for this.
_____________
Viltalta and the group are lost! Help her determine the right direction to travel.
Some noulicorns have found some clues to solve this riddle.
It made no sense at all that trees existed out here.
Ralir breathed carefully, looking from tree to tree anxiously. "I see - " he began, and then paused. He couldn't be certain what was going on here. Still, those were certainly very emotive faces, and the angles of their antlered horns seemed more and more obvious as he walked. He thought back, carefully, to what the party had found in Wanderlust's den. Could those lizards match up to that stone Aldwyn had found...? No, there were more important things to consider right now. "If I may," he said, looking askance at Viltalta.
He wouldn't have noticed it in anyone else, but the magic running through her, usually intimidatingly powerful, had quieted to a barely noticeable hum. What was going on? Ralir couldn't tell: he felt fine, though obviously these trees felt a bit more cramped than the ones in the Homewood, accustomed to nouls stepping between them. "I think there may be faces on the bark here," he said quickly. "Those - they look like noulicorns, see, and these - they look...reptilian?" Though still horned. Ralir didn't know anything about old predators, but something was menacing about them. Probably just the frowns, admittedly, but it also unnerved him, to see Viltalta looking for an answer because she didn't know where they were, rather than because she wanted to be a just, democratic leader. "I notice all the noulicorn faces are turned so that their horns are facing the same way, and they're smiling, whereas the others are all pointing the other way."
He paused, and then, figuring he might as well brave it: "I think we should head rightward." There was the brief notion that he shouldn't trust the trees' advice - someone had cautioned that they didn't want him here, after all. On the other hand, if they wanted him gone, probably that meant he'd just be led out of the forest, should he choose wrongly...right?
Or there was the other thought Ralir was having, which he couldn't just ignore. What if Wanderlust had taken the other path, and was being held up there somehow?
And did Isra know about all of this? He'd known about the bridge, and this had lain immediately afterward. Surely he could've mentioned it, if he'd known they were headed this way.
Ralir had a lot of questions - for Isra, about all of this (what was wrong with trying to form a safe group to attempt this sort of stuff together?), and for Viltalta, who seemed, well, old. Had she encountered those reptiles before everything had happened with the Others?
[tbc. power not used, +1 to a future roll not used.]
As Adahy walked through the dark lifeless forest a shiver ran up his spin. Furry Tail pressed closer to Adahy and became even more quite the his normal well behaved self. The farther the moved into this dead think forest the more unsettled Adahy became.
In an instant a horable pulling sensation fills Adahy's body. With not warning Adahy fells the magic he cared within drained from his body. "Oh no!" he said out loud. "My gift it is...it is gone." looking around wide eyed he searched the group lost and wondering if anyone else felt the same thing. "Viltalta my gift is gone what does this mean?" He question their leader hoping she might have an answer. The felling was not anything like before he had made the long trip to the Great Tree, this feeling was much more empty and purposeless. "What am I going to do now? what if it does not come back?"Adahy's mind raced with question but he stamped them down. this was neither the time or the place for such panic.
The further Tsarine stepped in the deep woods the wearier he felt leaving him edgy. This foreboding place was much creepier then the ruins even in those dark buildings where creatures scurried leaving a feeling of being watched.
Ayala prickled all over her tail lashing back and forth in torment. Something wasn't right for Tsarine, she could instantly feel it. It seemed others were feeling this sensation as well while others weren't. Hissing she grew concerned, "Big Boy. Are you doing alright?"
The more he walked with the others he felt drained like his gift was snuffing out -locked behind a barrier.
"I feel strange, Ayala" he stammered closing his eyes tightly, "My gift.... its... gone".
Ayala hissed, her tail flailing back and forth worried for her companion, "I knew this place was a bad omen. Soon as we neared here I could feel something seeping inward".
Tsarine shook his head his body feeling gift-less and numb. Ayala's worriment was making him insecure but, the draining sensation was even more taxing then anything he had ever felt before. Stamping a hoof he shouted, "No. we need to keep moving till we're away from this place". Suddenly the young buck wondered if this was a trap - a web they all got themselves weaved into.
In the back of his head he really started pondering if this was indeed a set up leading them astray on purpose. For the largest question of lies on who was watching them from the beginning? This coincided with the other thought if Wanderlust wasn't lost but, taken somewhere.
Facing back to the tress leaving his thoughts still rambling he wondered what these symbols meant. One set smiled while the other frowned leaving him to ponder the secret message lying withing this tangled web ensnaring them. Either way could result in death yet he wondered looking downward at that strange crystal. Still he made his decision even if Ayala was protesting his safety, "I vote we go to the right. Both ways seem uncertain so we'll take a gamble either way".
"Yes, the ones that look like nouls point to the right," Ysalone said in agreement. "I think it's best to follow those. The other ones... they don't look inviting." Once again, she heard in her head what Viltalta had read earlier, about the trees not wanting them there. Surely, the smiling the trees were the way to go.
As she said it, she felt an odd sapping as well, rippling through her body. It ran down her spine and was gone, and with it her connection to her ability. The doe's ears drooped. "I think my abilities are gone too."
Draven really didn't like these trees. Just the ever looming pressure that exuded from them was enough to choke a noul. The thin places that they squeezed through were tight enough that he had to suck it in to get his cargo through. Bluebell had come out from her cover and started helping bend branches away that jabbed too close to Draven's sides. As they pressed on and came to what looked like a fork in their path. it was clear that they were indeed lost. The branches over head blocked the light of the sun and made things even darker.
There was even the feel of icy fingers raking over his core. As he looked around and some had voiced concerns of their gifts being taken by these strange trees. He could only snort as he had yet to get his magic unlocked by the tree. The fingers only raked over nothing like trying to pull water from an empty pond. Joining those that noticed the faces in the trees. Some were voicing that they followed the Noul like ones. If Draven didn't know any better, he would think that the most obvious direction was often the one you didn't want to travel.
"As corrupt as this place is, I wouldn't put it past this place to want to lure us in the wrong direction. As nice as the Noul like faces are, how do we know its not a false sense of security. A black horn can put on a smile and cover his horn to act nice. But you never know the true intentions of that being. I say we follow the Reptile faces." he voiced his opinion while he was sure none would like it. He had been around too long to fall for a smiling, friendly face. If he were wrong, then he was wrong, but his gut was saying not to trust the Noul faces...
'They were just trees,' Aldwyn tried to tell himself as he scrambled through the dark and winding wood alongside the rest of the party. 'They were just trees and surely they recognized when someone meant them no harm.' So how was it that this forest felt so different than Homewood? These were made of dark, sun-baked wood, with spindly branches that twisted at reached and clawed at the sky. How could a forest like this exist in the Barrens? And how could it smother the light from the land, as it did?
Aldwyn's gray gaze roved about careful, scouring first the forest floor (he needed to watch where he stepped), and then to the faces of those traveling with him (worried, there was something strange in the air, here), and then to the 'faces' on the tress that some of the others had pointed out.
Smiling noulicorns on some. The faces were oddly drawn, but the creatures did at least resemble happy nouls. Maybe it meant there were others of their kind if they followed the trail? Maybe it would lead them somewhere to make them smile too? Aldwyn's ears flicked warily. His tail twitched. Even smiling faces were hard to trust in this dark and looming place. He just wish someone were around who knew which path to take... Isra would have been an asset.
But the alternative was faces drawn in the image of some creature he didn't recognize. And these faces did not seem as pleased.
He swallowed thickly, looking between the others as they seemed to all agree to go the way the noulicorn's horns pointed. "That... seems like the right idea to me, as well," he agreed quietly. If they were lucky, perhaps they were etchings from Wanderlust's party who'd come before them.
If Aldwyn had spent more time honing and practicing his gift, perhaps he would have been able to decipher more of what these trees knew... As it stood, though, he did not have that power, and nothing struck him as particularly odd concerning the function of his magic as they progressed deeper into the tangle of wood.
Tempest followed behind the group as she had been distracted by her own thoughts. Noticing that everyone was slipping deeper into the thick trees, she dove in to catch up. Wouldn’t be a good idea to get caught out here all alone that’s for sure. A nervous energy hummed through her body, another form of the wild energy that normally flowed through it unchecked. As they moved through the trees, some had issues, but Tempest was so dang lithe and willowy that she didn’t seem too put off by the closeness. She listened to the others converse, especially Ralir, Draven and Aldwyn. They seemed to be paying close attention to faces carved into the trees.
Tempest paused and inspected on the trees. It was a happy noul face but the one next to it was a mean lizard face. Huh. She suddenly shook herself as it felt like her energy levels were trying to spill over, like someone was trying to add more. A couple more shakes and the energy wasn’t dispelling. A few had mentioned their magic gone and seemed rather lack luster, Vitalta too. However, Tempest felt alive, like she was on fire or something. Energy hummed, snapped and crackled along her body. She began to dart through the trees, her legs needing to keep moving to try and burn off the excess energy. Tempest pinged off the sides of tree trunks to change direction, like a wild charge darting from point to point. Any noul that ended in her path, she cleared effortlessly and continued her mad dash. She didn’t know how large this wood was but she desperately tried to stay near the group so not to get lost.
“Some one make it stooooooooop,” she shouted, zooming by the group. If she had magic, she was sure it would have been easier for her to dispel the excess energy.
Moon Mist was scrutinizing the strange trees when a terrible feeling hit her. She felt ... empty. Like she was grasping for something just out of reach. Her gift was gone. Her mouth fell open. "My gift!" Her voice was shrill.
As she whipped around, eyes searching for the rest of the group she heard other calls. Others were suffering the same plight. She took a deep breath. "We need to get out of here ..." This she said quietly, sure it was obvious.
Other adventurers had also noticed the pattern in the tree faces. She piped up again. "I agree, we should follow the Noul faces. And get out of here as quickly as possible."
A terse sound slid from Keirin's throat as his gaze darted between the blackened, twisting, gnarled trunks of the trees with the etched faces. He kept his head low, posture stiff and wary as his ears angled back. To be fair, the whole prospect of traveling through this unwelcoming treescape seemed daunting to him, and if he could choose what the group did, he would really prefer they try and find a way around it, rather than risk the uncertainty of going through it... Particularly if the forest was capable of sapping away a noul's gift!
He kept close at Ysalone's side, and at her confirmation that she no longer felt her magic, he leaned in to whisper a soft, "Is it-? Are you uncomfortable? Does it hurt? Are you alright?"
Even though he'd only had his own magic for a short time, he could still feel the perpetual thrum of it, like a warm buzz that set his heart beating and kept his spirit strong. It was difficult to imagine what it might be like to suddenly not feel that, no matter how long he'd gone without it before. Keirin didn't think he felt anything off with his own gift... But even hearing that others were suffering made him uncertain.
"Shouldn't we try and get out of here?" He asked Ysalone quietly. "We can't really consider still trying to get through here when half of us can't even use gifts, anymore..." And the faces on the trees... Though he was sure there was some kind of pattern, Keirin didn't feel confident in risking it. Who knew what kind of creature had put these here! It could be anything out to get them...
MoonRazor
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:47 am
So many worried voices. Viltalta barely had room to crane her neck and address the noulicorns behind her. “There is something wrong with this forest.”
Nothing had ever been able to take her gift away before this. Only Grandfather tree had the power to give gifts, or bar those blackhorns from ever receiving one. What was this? What had Wanderlust found? The further they travelled, the more Viltalta thought this had to be a trap from Isra.
“Panicking will only make this worse. We’ll follow the noulicorn faces and hopefully that will lead us out of here…” one way or another. She couldn’t be certain they weren’t just heading back to the start. She couldn’t deny that Draven had a point, the faces could be a trick, but she hoped - optimistically, maybe - that this was the right way.
The further they travelled, the tighter the trees became, until the group faced a veritable wall of black branches. The smiling faces carved in the trees pointed onward, through the brambles. Was this the only way to reach Wanderlust?
“We have to force our way through this!” Viltalta shouted. “Come on!”
_______________________________________________
Quote:
Fight through the trees!
Roll 2d6 2-5 - travel 2 feet through the trees, but the branches cut you as you try to push through, take 1 damage (-1 to all future rolls until healed) 6-9 - travel 2 feet through the trees, unharmed 10-12 - travel 4 feet through the trees, unharmed
The group needs to travel a collective 20 feet to get through the branches!
You may add +1 to your rolls with the creative use of an ability… if you still have magic to use.
ll Flourish ll Captain
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Kesmi rolled 2 6-sided dice:
1, 3Total: 4 (2-12)
Kesmi
Shapeshifter
Offline
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:01 am
A groan came from the grey and dappled buck as it seemed they all were going to be following the noul faced trees. glancing over his shoulder down the other trail, he was more inclined to just follow that path himself. But he had committed to following everyone else to keep things off their tail. Turning quick towards the doe whom was bouncing off the trees like a foal who had gotten into the sugar stalks. He stepped into her path in an attempt to slow her down, not really caring of he staggered to one side a little.
"Careful, keep going like that and we might be dragging out on a stretcher." he cautioned gruffly before turning to follow everyone else.
As the forest grew even darker then before, he glanced upwards as no light now seeped through the branches. To this he stopped glaring upwards then towards the wall that was before them. Brambles everywhere, frowning even more, he again looked back the way they had come that was now blocked by many trees that they wove through to get this far. Every step that they were taking was making his skin itch even worse then it had at the start.
Shaking his head, Draven pushed forward with the rest, the branches reached out and grabbed for him. Some scratched at his sides, Bluebell had come from her hiding spot to try and help keep the branches from the sides and from catching their gear. Mostly the shelter bundle as the canvas wasn't the most thorn proof. To one point, Draven caught a branch in his mouth, the thorns cut into the sides causing him to taste the copper of his own blood.
Tearing the branch from its holding, he spat it out before licking at the wound on the edge of his mouth. That was going to sting for a bit, he hated thorns on good days and this was not a good day...
Seeing the wall of tangled and twisted dark tree branches, Adahy knows there is only one way to go, forward. It was not going to be easy though. The branches had had many years of growth and intertwining which had created a very strong and solid wall. "Ok Furry Tail I am going to try and kick this wall down. We have to keep moving forward." Furry Tail gripped to Adahy tighter and was ready for any movement Adahy would make. Adahy secretly hoped that he would not get hurt or anyone in his charge for that matter.
Rearing up Adahy kicked hard with his front hoofs. It did not move much, only a couple of feet but it was forward progress. Adahy could see that the branches had thrones. Adahy luckily managed to avoid getting cut of scrapped. "You ok Furry? These branches have thorns." "Ya Ada I am ok let me check Brownie." Furry Tail moved to the pack and checked the baby who was still sleeping and just fine. Once back in his place Furry Tail said "We are all good." Satisficed with that Adahy waited for the group to see how they would get before he tried again.
"I don't know that we have another option," Ysalone whispered back to Keirin as the group began to move forward. She didn't like it much and felt like she was missing an integral part of herself, but kept the panic at bay by telling herself repeatedly that it was only temporary. It was just this forest. The doe took a breath. "At this point, I think we just have to get ourselves through this forest no matter what. Don't worry, Keirin, we'll be alright!" She managed a smile.
At least, they came to the end of the trail, and there was nothing but a wall of brambles in front of them. Ysalone frowned. There wasn't... Surely not... But Viltalta seemed adamant, and the others started to push their way forward into the dark thicket.
"It looks like that's the way..." she said, nudging Keirin. They would have to try. At the very least, she hoped, the fact that they had a group and could put on a show of strength to get through should help. Going through alone would have been quite the feat.
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Draven really didn't like these trees. Just the ever looming pressure that exuded from them was enough to choke a noul. The thin places that they squeezed through were tight enough that he had to suck it in to get his cargo through. Bluebell had come out from her cover and started helping bend branches away that jabbed too close to Draven's sides. As they pressed on and came to what looked like a fork in their path. it was clear that they were indeed lost. The branches over head blocked the light of the sun and made things even darker. 
