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Stepping into the Blackwood, only the hunters would be truly familiar with the grey-black labyrinth of skeletal branches that clawed upward towards the cold sky. Others would, for the most part, have seen it only from the fields or walls. If not for this excursion, many of this crew would likely have spent their whole lives safe within the city walls -- but a city had needs, and now, it needed the brave. Or, one might argue, the foolish, those who give up their own safety to become hunters’.

That of course brought this ramshackle crew to their present situation, likely with a bubbling of fear in the pits of their stomachs, uncertainty, and more questions than they had answers. But who else would hunt for the hunters? Who else would search for the men and women who helped put the better portion of the meat on the tables and the furs on their backs? What if they couldn’t find them? Would they join the ranks of the outcasts who were, more often than not, brushed by the strange ‘things’ that lived in the deep black wood?

Would they ever return, or would they join the ranks of those lost to the forest’s dangers?

Or worse, would they return – but changed, no longer truly themselves, with a spirit in possession of their bodies?

There were strange sounds to be heard even here, at the outskirts, soft whispers that they could only just make out, too indistinct for speech but strangely human enough to raise the hairs on the backs of their necks. There were growls that issued from deeper in, yet whose echoes seemed to reverberate off the city walls as though they were surrounded before they even set foot into the woods. Only those who entered the woods on a fairly regular basis could find this even close to ‘normal’.

Everyone knew the stories. Almost everyone knew someone who had a family member or a friend lost to the ‘things’ that existed deep in the woods. It was time to brave entrance, and they knew that they’d only be going in as far as would be considered ‘safe’, but accidents happen.

How are you feeling? What will you do?

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OOC:







The event starts with each group taking over a carefully-marked and bounded section of the forest, to thoroughly comb and hunt down. The idea is that this take no more than a week, and those who know anything about maps will be heartened, suspect it to be even less. After all, the areas marked out shouldn’t take more than two or three days to carefully criss-cross, four at most if they feel a need to turn over every stone, to climb some of the trees.

For now, you will RP in this thread -- the Swords organizing the efforts, and the Civilians helping as they can. This is open prompt RP, so you can play whatever you’d like, whether it be arguing or learning more about each other, exercising skills, or quivering in balls of fear, depending on your characters’ personality.

Whatever you play, activity will be rewarded -- for the more you post, the more likely it is that a clue will crop up in the forest, or something strange will wander its way into your path, dropped in by the Speaker of Stone account...

Bodie, who found himself 'in charge' by virtue of being older than his nineteen year old companion, stroked his beard as though he were quietly determined to rub his chin clean of hair, clearly a bit fussed again as he studied the map, and hoped he sounded wiser than he felt as he gestured at it in invitation adding.

"Well, I'm no Hunter, but if there's anyplace one might be more likely to camp or put down for a while, the best locations would be the best place to start, then we can cycle out from there."

Of course people's idea of where might be the best place to camp might just vary, but there might be enough common traits between hunters to pick out some places to give them something to go on. A little like trying to figure out where someone had gone, starting at their front door.

Technically he wasn't even sure he was invited to the conversation, but he was supposed to be 'in charge', and that did seem like the sort of thing that one did to prove it.

He just hoped he sounded braver than he felt, what trying to fight the urge to turn and strain his ears to catch every faint whisper and hiss that might have been speech, and the urge to draw on every quiet growl. This place didn't want them here.

(( Just so you all arent left hanging, just a heads up Ill be posting tomorrow <3 Sorry weekdays are hard for me with work >< ))

Bodie raised a slightly grizzled eyebrow at the young hunter, digesting what she had to say about the camping sites that hunters might pick. It ran counter to what he'd expected, since it seemed that, say, a small clearing might be easier to defend, and easier to see what was trying to come at you than other locations, but then maybe there were reasons she was the hunter and he wasn't.

"I'm a bit less worried about spirits and a but more worried about a great big grump of a Vharcet or a Marwyn having a nice nibble on my feet." Not to mention the rest of him, but he was fairly sure that didn't need to be said. "But if that's where you think these hunters might have put down, that's where we should probably start."

He flicked the map with a finger and shrugged, adding. "So what's the best looking spot near us? We'll head there and circle out from there."

Gridding was another likely tactic, but he sort of thought his had sufficient merit to be given a shot.

Kita was looking over the map as the sword asked her for more of her thoughts. The sounds around her of a storm picking up made her shudder and cuddle closer to her fur-lined cloak. The map being upside down, caused her a little difficulty and when she lifted her head, she noticed things were eerily calm despite what she felt and heard just seconds previous. Her voice and actions ceased as she shifted her hood down, letting her colorless hair fall free. Her green eyes focused on a singular point so she could concentrate on the sounds more than what her eyes showed her.

Bodie might be less worried about the spirits, but to her, they were something to be feared as much as any Marwyn, if not flat out respected. For a moment she closed her eyes and whispered a faint prayer to the spirits, something that wasnt very common at all or likely even heard of. In fact, she made a point to do it as she was faced away from the others lest she look like a lunatic. "I know we are intruding... please allow us safe passage..." was all she could think of quickly.

She had seen and heard many unnerving things while along the forests edge, but like anyone, she knew the real dangers of one day never coming back. She would be a fool to not be struck with some sort of fear when dealing with the forest.

This snowfall was not natural. As soon as she realized that, Ariadne tensed more than she'd thought possible. "Everyone together! Now!" she barked; there was no telling how bad this blizzard would get, and the last thing they needed was to be searching for one of their own in this mess. Her hand drifted instinctively to her sword, but she willed herself to pull it away, and lay it less threateningly across her chest.

She was torn between anger and admiration for Bodie, what with his frankness and boldness when speaking to spirits. She thought she heard Kita say something, too, but she wasn't sure.

"Begging your pardon," Ariadne lifted her voice just enough to be heard over the wind, "We come here to look for some humans who have been recently lost. We have brought our own food, and mean to stay here no more than a week." She felt herself blush, and hoped no one else noticed; she realized she must sound queer at best, childish and overly-superstitious at worst. But looking the fool (as much as she loathed it) was not her biggest concern right now. Honestly, she hoped the spirits understood that she was sincere, and not making hollow promises. "For your mercy, I would add honey to my family's offerings of milk for three moons upon our safe return."

The oncoming storm turned rapidly into the real thing — into a sudden fall of rain like the sky opening, a summer rain, cold but unfreezing, pelting hard against their faces and saturating their clothing. It darkened the sky and dimmed the world around them, made it hard to see even the trees on all sides around them. Startling, it would knock the breath out of them and, in all likelihood, freeze them in place for a moment.

And while they were, the lightning would strike.

The world was light with a bright light for a long moment, every detail outlined, every raindrop lit from within. A glance upward, in this moment, would show a fat black cloud sitting over them in almost a perfect circle, wicked and threatening.

When it faded, the storm would go with it, the woods fading back to its usual chilling calm. Worse, for there were no sounds of animals, no rustle of wind, everything was flat and dead and still.

And Ariadne was gone. Apparently the Spirits [if that was indeed who caused this] didn't take well to being addressed directly. Or perhaps this was, in its way, kindness, for as the world returned to its usual state, no longer dark and dimmed, the group would slowly come to realize that this wasn't where they'd been. Rope hung slack where once there had been trees, the forest rearranged around them. And the stars above were completely wrong.

((OOC: Sorry, Quiet_Wolf! The first of our Sword eliminations. We'll let you know what happened to your character -- but not until the end of the event!))

In one moment they were in the middle of a storm, their voices yelling, shouting orders, ideas and direction. She was working on getting the rope wrapped around the others and when she had turned to help Ariadne, sure that she would bump into her as quickly as she turned. It was when she started to turn, rope in hand, that time suddenly seemed to slow. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the thickening darkness before being practically blinded the next by the lightning. It was as if someone had opened a door to the heavens themselves before slamming them back shut again, and with it the sword was gone. The silence that followed was all the more deafening than the events just prior. Her ears searched for sound, and for a moment, she cursed herself for not being better equipped. It was often something she had wished for while hunting, ears that were movable like a feline or canid. Instead, she had trained herself to move her head, her ear facing the direction in which she sought sound. It was hardly as efficient, but it was better than trying to hear ahead or behind ones self with ears to the side.

In an instant, her demeanor changed, at least to her. Her alertness struck high and her face hardened. Was her heart pounding, and was she scared almost beyond all reason? Yes, of course, but she couldnt allow herself to fall into a panic or even spare a thought to anything other than their survival now. Without moving much other than her head she took in the changes of their surroundings and the missing sword in a matter of a few seconds. She was already shifting her head to look up for the moon when the remaining sword started to bellow out. His demanding words and accusations grated her through and through, but right now, she couldnt be bothered. His voice echoed in the still world around them and instantly a gloved hand flew up as she tried to focus more on hearing around them.

"Quiet!" she hissed sharply, though her voice never raised. Once she was sure she couldnt hear a thing, she lifted her head a bit to smell the air for any distinction. Burning wood perhaps, animal droppings or even the scent of death if it was what they had close. Her actions were likely odd to the others, a little animalistic perhaps, but she had learned to rely on such things as second nature and could care less, right now, what they thought about her techniques on gathering information around them.

Once a few moments had passed she finally started to shift again, her body so tense that it felt as if she had been asleep, unmoving, for days. The weight of her cold, wet clothing only added to the feeling. She exhaled, a soft sound escaped her lips and she swallowed hard, gritting her teeth as she finally looked at the others. The other hand was still holding tightly to the rope. She finally let it fall to the ground, and if it wasnt apparent to the others yet, it would be soon that it was no longer tied to the tree, or anything for that matter.

"We need to watch the moon to get our direction, and if there is none tonight, then the sun.." her voice was firm, but still quiet. She looked at Bodie but didnt address his questions and demands, there was no point. She didnt have the answer, and she didnt have time to give into his fear. "We need to set up a camp, now. Again, the closer the quarters the better. We will be harder to attack if we are close and have cover of the trees and foliage," she explained more than before, hoping to put some ease in the situation as some had given her odd looks previously when she had mentioned such. There was no such thing as 'out in the open' in the forest. She had learned too early on that the smallest tree could be used as camouflage, and it was best to give whatever would be hunting them a tangle of a mess rather than a clear, open meal.