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(( Tset's HP: 25 ))

Tsetsiliya had been marginally pleased with the wrapping job she had done on Ren's hand, despite hurrying along on the bumpy road. The white fabric of the underskirt worked nicely for bandages, and appraising Alessa's wrappings on the other side, she felt the ghoul had done a very satisfactory job. The foursome emerged from the corn, and casting a glance back over her shoulders, she saw some of the shadows linger behind. A few kept on doggedly though, but this time she felt a little more confident. There were others with her, and they were her friends.. at least she thought (and hoped) so.

The area they emerged into had everything was grayed out. The ghoul shuddered and gripped at her skirt; while the cornfield was unnerving enough, the lack of natural light caused the butterflies in her stomach to whirl at rapid pace. It was cold here, colorless.. she did not like it one bit.

The sight of the open grave was strange enough, and the poludnica stalled a little when she noticed the congregation around it. Unable to discern their shapes, she wondered if she were walking straight into the shadows that had followed her. They were no longer behind her, as another glance told her. But with a wary approach, their forms became clearer, and she recognized them as fellow students, thank Jack. A few of them she recognized from around campus, and one of them had fallen into a grave. A flash of red hair and purple told her who it was.

She smiled wide at LW as Gabrian called to her, and Ren awoke on his back, calling for Alessa. Again the pangs of loneliness hit, as two seemed to go with two, but she swallowed it for the moment.

"Please be watching of your hand.. it is clean for now, but please, not to strain." She spoke calmly and gave the gryphon a smile before turning away and allowing him and the nagual their sought-after time together. It was how things are, and she would not stand between that. A scan of the crowd brought her a treat in the sight of her old friend and Krumm Car team member, Belladonna. The witch ghoul was one of the first friends she had made while at the school, and it brought her much relief to see her among the others. "B-Belladonna!" she called, this time unable to contain her relief. She felt there was no need to.

"I...I heard the boil." LW said, glancing at the black oblivion. "He...he's the reason I lost my footing. I never saw him though." Now that the kelpie mentioned it, she never heard the boil hit ground either. Only his scream. Where the kelpie got closer, LW crawled away from the hole, putting her fellow canine between herself and that Jack begotten thing.

"Yes. Someone else fell. I-I think...I mean, we didn't hear..." That boil was alright, wasn't he? Should...maybe they needed to see if he needed help? But...

"I think the only way is to go down..."

No. There was no way in all of Halloween she was going down there! Granted, yes, she'd already taken a small little trip part way down. LW did not care to repeat this. Or finish the fall. It was dark down there! And she couldn't see anything. Like the ground. Tybalt was still talking, saying he would go down first. The she-wolf's heart started to pound and her tail wouldn't sit still. Nononono! Wait, HOLY JACK! Was someone speaking from down there?! And...how, did they...know her name? But if they were down there...and the rest of them were up here...that meant they'd have to go down. NOOOO!

"PUPPY!"

Her head whipped around like someone had yanked back a yo-yo. LW knew that voice. Knew that face. By Jack she had wanted to see that face ever since getting seperated from her group. Violet eyes only focused on him, not even noticing the others were there until Tybalt commented on Ren. REN! He was alive! And breathing! Still in bad shape. But breathing and conscious.

"GABRIAN! REN!" And a glance to the sides. "ALESSA! LIYA!"

Wait, why was Tybalt grinning? LW had turned to thank him again for helping her, as well as the kelpie. But that grin...LW leaned forward and smacked her canine counterpart in the arm. "Thanks...again, by the way." Her gaze turned to the kelpie as well, including him in her thanks.

Then, the she-wolf wasn't able to contain herself anymore and scrambled to her feet. She rushed over to the demon and through her arms around him as best she could, since her best friend was being carried piggyback style. The she-wolf buried her face against Gabe's chest and let the comforting scent of the demon (and the gryphon) soothe some of the fears that were aching to tear her apart.

Out of the corn, and Israfel was shivering. He didn't like it here. He didn't like the fog. he didn't like the mud, and he didn't like being attacked. Okay, so he'd not gotten hurt, but he certainly didn't like the fact others had. He could be next. In fact he was sure he would be. Maybe that was just paranoia talking. Or was it his cousin Pandoria? Maybe it was her. She always hated him.

Arriving at the site of the students, the tiny siren shook his feathers, trying to gather them in order. It was a rather fruitless attempt. But as he scanned the crowd he noticed the grave. And the note. And the grave. And the rope ladder. And the grave devoid of the fog. Devoid.
Of
FOG.

"Oh thank the pumpkin king." Sniffling a bit he scooted closer. Pausing as the others in front of him. "Um-" He bounced foot to foot. "Excuse me." A bit of a nudge at the group. "I want out." He looked at the rope ladder. "I want out of this fog. I want to go down." He wiggled over to the rope ladder. "I don't care where it goes, I just don't like it here. I'm getting out of the fog."

((HP: 25))

[Hp: 25]

Everyone seemed to have disappeared once more, but at least this time she could half a** follow them. The shadow she had seen led to a small clearing in the fog. With in the clearing there was a hole with a rope to climb down. She was slightly hesitant to descend, but she didn't want to fall too far behind. So down the hole she went.

When she emerged she could could see others there. Thank Jack. Tybalt was there, as was Ren, LW, and Calder. Then she saw Belladonna. Her body shuddered with a sigh of relief. Whisper was quite worried about the ghoul, as she rather enjoyed her company on the long boat ride to the island. She couldn't help but run up to the girl and hug her tightly. "Oh BD, I'm so happy you're ok. I didn't see you on the beach or at the supply tent, so I was getting worried!"

More and more students were going down, and more often, Calder noticed no one else was coming. He was alone. True, he had people here, but not the ones he wanted. It was just him and some students from class and one really shaky ladder.

Frowning, he watched as someone he knew, Israfel, did arrive and without even looking back, go down the ladder. "Wait." Calder whined, but the siren was already heading down, determined to leave the fog. What he spoke reflected some of Calder's own thoughts. He didn't want to be here, and thinking of the boil alone in the hole bothered him. Why not cling to the few people he knew? Pathetic, sure, but it beat being alone up here. It seemed everyone else was in agreement anyways or would be.

It was the ladder that bothered him, and crawling over to look down the edge, he watched as Israfel's colorful form vanished in the darkness. "Israfel?"He called out weakly, whimpering to himself. It was then that the wolves howled from the fog. How long now before they came?

Turning to the group, Calder swallowed hard and turned himself about, testing out the rope ladder with one hoof as he clung for dear life the edge of the grave. His hooves weren't made for this and he shivered as he stepped down, then took his other hoof and tried for the next rung. Giving one last look to everyone there, he breathed out. "I'll......see you all down. Good luck." He said, wishing they would go down too.

Again, he looked around one last time for his friends and felt his heart break at the idea of them truly being gone.

Alone.

Shaking and clinging to the ropes, Calder slowly went down the hole.

Everyone was gone by the time the hunchback had carried the Sloth to the ominous open grave. Where had everyone gone? Where was that Kelpie? He would ahve called down into the hole if he had been capable, but setting Barth down, he gave a quick perusal of the dirt around it.... paw prints, shoe tracks and.... AH! Hooves! He MUST have gone this way! Alive! Relief bubbled up in him and he glanced to the ladder and then over his hunch to the rolling, smothering fog around them.

Well.

There was only one way to hurry a Sloth along, and Barth would take far too long to get down the ladder on his own.

His Igor was only happy to help him out. He grabbed Barth's jacket, hefting him up onto his shoulder before anxiously climbing down the ladder. It was an extra effort to carry his Master, but... he owed him that much for nearly breaking his horns.

The gloom around them took a few moments for his eyes to adjust... and though he heard echoed voices, it seemed the other students had gone ahead without them... He would have called out, but he couldn't.

Christof sighed, glancing to the disheveled Demon, forcefully helping him to his feet. No one had waited for him. He was just the servant. Who waits for the servant?

((Christof HP: 25. And Barth got tossed down too because TOSHI IS A SLOTH.))

Gabrian felt Ren stir behind him, and as such, turned his attention away from LW in order to better accommodate or shift the gryphon as need be. A smirk graced his slips, though it was probable the other boil only saw part of it; looking at him when he was leaning on his shoulder and hugging him from behind was difficult at best, "Hey, sleeping beauty," there was a teasing tone to his voice, but it wasn't meant to be hurtful, "The good news is that you're out of the blasted fog and mostly away from the Jack awful cornfield," a he paused and then motioned towards the grave in front of them, "The bad news is that the only way forward is... basically to go down. Into that grave over there."

It was as far as he got before LW rushed over and latched her arms around his waist as best as she could, burying her head into his chest, "There, there..." he was sad that his hands were currently occupied, and instead had to settle for patting the she-wolf with his tail, which he'd uncurled from around Alessa's waist as soon as they'd emerged from the fog, "We're fine, don't worry. Ren'll be fine," he did however, take the time to tsk loudly at her, "I need to teach you the meaning of 'stay', LW... you ran off. By the time Alessa and I got back, you were gone and we were all horribly worried," but then again... maybe it was a good thing she hadn't witnessed his mental breakdown. His gaze went to Tybalt, and he found himself tilting his head at the grin. LW's words and thanks however, made him bite down on whatever comment he'd been pondering on, "What will probably happen to all of unless we keep on moving. I'm not keen on waiting for... that think that ran away from us in the cornfields to catch up."

That said, he offered Alessa a small nod in the grave's direction and then used his tail to tug on LW's form, leaning down to grant her a fast kiss, "You can can tell us what happened on the way down, yes? We'll reciprocate," his gaze was on Calder as he advanced on the grave and peered down into it, a small grimace upon his features. Going down that grave was the last thing he wanted to do, "There was a lot we saw," a pause, "Whose Emily?" alas, Tsetliya seemed to have the right idea when she began to climb down the roped ladder, and he nodded towards her, "We'll be there in just a few. He readjusted Ren on his back and then looked at him over his shoulder, "You're either going to have to hang on around my neck.... or climb down yourself. I need my hands for this," he waited for Ren to chose his poison and then followed Tsetliya down the ladder.

((Exit post into PRP - linking in case anyone wants to join in))

Ren managed a wan smile at Alessa, his tail snaking around to tug her wrist and tugging her back towards him as she looked away, her expression stubborn and upset simultaneously.

"I was kidding earlier, you know," he said gently, wings fluttering. "About the whole heroic thing, I mean. I won't get myself messed up."

He had a feeling he knew what she had wanted to stay in place of that, but he didn't press it. Instead, Ren just reached his splinted hand out (he was using the other to keep ahold of Gabrian) to lightly brush bruised and bloodied fingers over her cheek.

"I promise," he said, emphasizing the word, though his voice was still gentle (albeit a little hoarse).

Everyone had started going downwards now. Ren eyed the hole in the ground with apprehension, his fingers tightening unconsciously on Gabrian's shoulder. "That...doesn't look very appealing..." he murmured. LW was standing with her face buried against the nix's chest, which made it easier for him to speak to her. He wanted to hug her; reach out and tell her he was all right, but for some reason the words died in his throat and he swallowed hard. Why does my head hurt so much..? It felt like a private moment between his two best friends and he felt awkward, like he was intruding in on it.

A flash of movement to the side caught his eye and Ren caught sight of a familiar little witch with red hair. So he had been right - that was Belladonna over there, looking just as dismayed about going down the ladder as the rest. He studiously ignored Tybalt's jibe; the only response he gave was a look of exasperation and a raised eyebrow before he turned back, hearing Gabrian's words.

"I, er...can stand," Ren answered him, somewhat hesitantly. He slipped down from the nix's bag, swaying unsteadily for a moment before he took a step forward. He staggered, but a hand on Alessa's shoulder kept him propped up as he looked over at Belladonna.

"Fancy meeting you here, little miss witch," he said lightly, lifting his hand in greeting. "Shall you be joining us on this lovely adventure, then?"

With a nod to Alessa to show he was all right (along with a hug and a kiss), Ren looked down at the hole again. Then, letting out a reluctant sigh, he tugged on his ghoulfriend's hand and followed Alessa down the ladder.

[ exit post to PRP! ]