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Alucard Loung Witsun
lvl 2 Hp: 16, Cp: 16, MHp: 22

"Think someone un-rig door, let more light in, or someone has candle?" Alucard asked softly to Kina as he was having trouble looking around and was wanting more light in the room so he could see the weapons better. Also Alucard thought he might find something useful to help defend himself. Thinking of what might happen on this trip Alucard let it pass as he was assuming the whole village is probably rigged up with traps of some form. Thinking on what Kina said Alucard had a curious look on his face as he was curious what explosive tag was. Also curious on what it possibly could do. The question was written on his face well as he stood there thinking on it. Waiting to see if someone had a candle or they could get door open more to let more light in, Alucard stood there being quiet in the room.

Urza scrolled through the contents of the books and pages. A lot of numbers and words she didn't understand. However, it looked rather important, maybe Kina or Miayko or one of the elite shinobi would be able to make out what it said. Urza piled the papers into a neat pile and prepared them for transport. She stuffed them neatly into her armor, she really needed to invest in some sort of baggage. Urza ran a hand over the Journal. It looked nothing like the papers that she had looked at. She wondered what sort of things lay inside for her to learn. She would have to inform the other of this room as soon as they were done in the shed.

❦━━━━━━━━━❧
Lvl. 3
Hp: 36
Cp: 27
MHp: 30
❧━━━━━━━━━❦

I'm going to make an INT check on the papers and read through them if I succeed, and read through the journal if I don't.

Lawls, okay pretty sure a 3 isn't going to get me through the papers.

The Elder's journal.

Much of the journal seems to be rather mundane, going over the various details of his life in the village, and going into detail about several of the villages activities, however where it seems to become interesting is an entry dated approximately one month before your arrival.

"Today we found...something odd. Mino found it while he was fishing by the southern stream. It was the carcass of an animal, but so heavily mutilated that it couldn't have been done by anything but a human. I understand how strange this may sound, to compare beastial behavior with a human, when there are plenty of strange creatures in the world, but this... I have trouble putting it down on paper. The animals bones were laid out in a fine line according to size, and the uneatable part of the creature had been savagely ripped apart, and yet so neatly piled beside the bones... I have never seen anything like it. Surely no human could rip an animal apart like that...but only a human could think to arrange it's spoils in such a manner. I find myself at a lost. My only theory is that it was a Ninja of some variety...but they hardly are ever seen in out country...I do not lie...this has me unsettled."

and another...

"Today has been a long day... I am not quite sure what to make of this. They were just...gone. It sounds much like the stories of the village of ghosts from our neighboring country of Rice. Shinzen had just been at the village meeting the night before, and his house is surrounded by good neighbors on both sides...he was a strong hunter... but... this morning when Yin went to check on his family after their daughter didn't show up for morning lessons...they were just...gone. As though they had vanished into thin air. There's no signs of a struggle...not even so much as a spoon in the cupboard out of place... and yet they've vanished. I am not the only one troubled by this. Yakao has suggested that it may be bandits but...what sort of bandit kidnaps a family...and leaves their home perfectly intact? This gives me an ill feeling.... an ill feeling..."


And another...

"Another family gone...another house empty, but it's worse this time... it was Yazan's home...he had twelve children, two of which were good strong lads worth their salt in a fight... and...gone. And again not even a single item in the home seems disturbed. Their no signs of conflict or even that they might have been leaving to go on a trip... it's as though they sat down to their meal one moment...and the next...gone. The is one thing that seems to strike my attention... the sowing needles...the one's his wife always used to patch their children's cloths....they're gone."

And... another...

" This is...is more than merely troubling now. This is the fifth family to go missing in five days...I feel fear clutch my chest as the sun starts to sink in the sky thinking that tomorrow yet another will vanish. What could possibly be the cause of this? Why would anything want to do this to us? We are a quiet village who have never hurt anyone! I have sent our villages second fastest lad, our fastest having...been taken, to try and get a message to the village hidden in the sound... Kohnoha would be ideal, but it with the civil war that isn't an option. Though something in the depths of me fears that he won't make it. I...see things. Figures in the corners of my eye when I look out into the woods...figures that when I look again have vanished. I fear that we are surrounded by some sinister force. I have arranged for a town watch to keep guard on our boarders this night...they won't steal away with another of us...not again!"

"Impossible...it just isn't possible!! We were on guard all night and still another house hold has fallen silent. Poor Yuhi...he was on guard all night to protect his family, and they were stolen right from under us... more troubling still is that these...figures...whoever they are, seem to be coming from inside the village somehow...or else... I dare not think it...but they are spirits of somekind...wicked spirits... I would think ninja but ninja this skilled would have no need for us would they? I cannot stand this! I...." the entry stalls out for a moment, as though the writer was interupted. "Oh gods. Oh gods above it has happened again...but in the day time now...we were ever truly safe?! How long has it been able to simply stride in and make off with us... we are so few in number now...can we even stand against it...whatever it is? Gods above....save us..."

The writing of this last entry is hurried and scribbled, as though the man writing it was half mad.

"OH Gods! Oh spirits, oh hell below, what IS it?! I saw the flames from Yokon's house from my window...he seems the first to have had some warning, some chance to give the thing pause but...but I fear it was for naught. I saw it heading out of his home...with a...a sack. as though we were mere cargo to it... but... I SAW it. SAW IT. Gods if there was a time it was ever human it has long since passed. What evil has found us?! What curse is upon us?! I have no choice... I fear that my missive to Oto never made it, and I fear for my messenger, but I will not surrender. I am in my shed. I have booby trapped the door with an simple device, but I have also planted an exploding tag once it get's passed that. The thing seems to have a fear of fire, as fire was what gave it pause outside Yokon's home. The candle his wife always left in the window perhaps the reason he and his was last to be taken. I here it's footsteps now... I here it coming for me...that it should save an old man like me for last is a cruel thing...that I should know my failure to protect my village... but I have weapons... I will defend myself as much as I....the window...it comes through the window...it looks at me with such...indifference in what passes for it's eyes. It's just...looking...at me. It..."

The entry stops there. With some alarm...you realize that if indeed this last entry was made in the shack out back...that something actually went through the trouble of putting this back in it's proper place... and the date was the current day...

Miyako
((Reaction: Upon a closer look you can tell that the smell that's assaulting your nose that of something burned. Like a charred log or some manner of thing, yet when you examine the black patches in front of the house it's a bit too dark for you to make out much. It does at least not appear wet enough to be a blood stain, which is what might be feared in this case.

You don't see anything too ominous inside the window at first. Within seems to be a humble farmer's cottage everything inside nice and tidied up, as though it's occupants were expecting proper company. You can't see much from this window, but then it's not hard to spot the large human shaped shadow on the opposite wall cast by the light of the candle in the opposing window. Oh my. That's a bit of note. It appears as though there may be someone standing in front of the candle on the other side of the small home, just out of sight of the opposite window, their shadow cast by the candle. The room just fed into by the window is empty and dark, but the hallway just beyond is flooded by the light of the candle, and may be well in the sight of the figure in question...it might be a good idea to approach this matter with some discretion...))

*You may enter the window, and choose to roll a secondary *stealth roll* if you wish...*

Kina hopped down from the window, landing below and looking back up at Alucard. "I'll go find the others, see if you can find anything useful in there... the girl fished around in her pocket for a moment. "Here, use this to see if you can get a better look around." she tossed the boy up a box of matches, before giving him a nod, and heading around the side of the house at a walk. Besides the trap that got Miyako, there didn't seem to be anything too dangerous in the area... but... Kina frowned. The weapons in the shed... why had they been there in the first place...? And, even more oddly, was the way that they had been lined up. What sort of person lined up a collection of seemingly roughshod tools in such...pristine, manner? The closest thing that she could come up with was someone with OCD. But such a severe case of it...

It was then as she was rounding the house that she saw Urza rush out, looking as though she had seen a ghost. "Urza, what's the matter? What's wrong?" her new friend generally seemed to keep a cool head most of the time, much like herself, seeing her this flustered could not be a good sign...

Check: ?????

Check: ?????

Miyako ???Pass???
((Reaction: You appear to be unnoticed. As you move further into the house, you note that the shadow, contary to how it appeared at first, doesn't in fact belong to something big at all, it appears to belong to a what appears to be a rather frightened little girl. She's huddling close to the candle just out of sight of the window, and the light from the candle is casting her shadow upon the wall, giving the illusion of great size.

You notice with some alarm however, that this part of the house, unlike the many others, is not tidied up. There was a great struggle in this room, as if some great thing thrashing about, and though there doesn't appear to be any blood, it's very apparent that some manner of conflict went on here. By the light of the candle, it's apparent that one of the forces in this conflict was attempting to use a torch, now distinguished on a charred spot on the floor over in the corner, to fend off the other. You are keen enough to note that if indeed this was the large thing, then the many damages to the house that were clearly done by it would likely show some signs...meaning it was the underdog in this fight attempting it. The many burns and charred area's around this main living area were definitely made in the struggle, and it's probable since there's no blood and no signs of a body that the loser was taken alive by the large thing...

You also notice, though you think nothing of it, that the sowing station on the other side of the room, covered in needles, is completely untouched by any signs of the large things thrashing, one of the few things to be so.

The little girl is huddled up shivering, staring at the candle with a traumatized look in place, judging from the open door in the cupboard under the sowing station, you'd guess that she may have hid there during the struggle...))

Kina looked bewildered for a moment, but immediately fell serious as the gist of the situation fell upon her, accepting the journal from Urza as she perused it's contents quickly, her eyes proving her to be a rather fast reader. Her face remained still and analytical the whole while, her eyes narrowing slightly, before widening as she reached the end. "You say you found this inside...?" she fell stern once more. "Then whatever it is...it's still likely around here somewhere...but..." she narrowed her gaze. "Why couldn't the Otobe hear it...? If it was still in the village when we arrived...then why..." she looked back to rhe journal. "Urza." he looked up all business. "That's a good idea, you go see if you can make some torches, I'll go take a look at these...records..." she looked in the direction of the interior of the elder's home. "I want to check something... the elder mentions figures...but this thing, whatever it is, doesn't sound like there's more than one... that means that..." she seemed to go off into her own thoughts. "Alucard is searching the shed around back, I left him with some matches so he might be safe, but Miyako doesn't know, when you manage to get the torches ready see if you can find her, then come find me." she took a step inside the elder's home. "And...I know this may sound strange but if you run into that thing...try knocking something over..." she then vanished inside the elder's house.




The little girl continued to shiver, hugging her knees and watching the candle as though she was hoping this would all turn out to be a bad dream...