The Shattered City: Chapter Three

[DocBeard]

"Do you know how far down it is?" Tomas asks, not questioning Katja's hearing. Instead, he tips his hat to the Reniers and hangers on, "If the Chamber of Commerce will excuse me, peril awaits!"

And with a single smooth motion, Tomas eases his silvery shield onto his arm and draws the cobalt and steel colored Ivorsen, rushing in the direction Katja's pointed. "Any idea how to keep something from burrowing? I don't much sport our chances against the whatever it is until we crack that chestnut, see!"

[Nathan of the FoS]

Darius doesn't bother to take his leave of the Reniers and whoever that other fellow is; he just follows Tomas, doing his best to move both quickly and quietly enough to give himself (and the others who will undoubtedly follow) some chance of detecting their quarry's subterranean passage.

[Nerit]

"And if mademoiselle Nerit would be so kind as to provide the blessings of the Guardian in the Mist to the endeavour, it might be more nearly acceptable to the townsfolk. Yes? We simply invert the physical aspect from external nodes into one internal node, which requires an application of Wormschild's Second Law, and tweak the field expression so it becomes like my own ward, and it just might work."

Nerit watched Lia pointedly as she spoke, and smirked. There was no affirmation or denial of such a request, but the situation was obvious in itself. She was a representative of Ezra and had come to a town cursed with blight and undeath.

She nodded vaguely with Thierri, then said, "I suppose the running water doesn't hinder such creatures from one side of town to the other?" She perked a brow toward the magician.

[yalenusveler]

Kerrian allowed himself to be guided by the disturbances in the wind, and more pragmatically by the trail of blighted and dying plants. Though he could not tell for certain without much more walking and examining of the entire town, he felt that the field and the banks of the stream were much stronger than the other patches he encountered, and formed a kind of crossroads for various areas of blight.

The other pattern he detected lay across the fields, in the direction Thierri was pointing - the graveyard.

"There's a series of paths it's taken." Kerrian said, making his way back over, and gesturing outwards. "It crisscrosses the field and the banks of the stream especially, branching off into other paths. But the strongest concentration seems to be the field and the stream bank. So unfortunately, running water serving as a barrier is probably right out. After all, it can probably just go under it if it pulled Thierri's brother underground." Kerrian said, turning to Nerit with the sort of look that suggested it WAS a good idea, unfortunately eldrich monstrosities have a tendency of invalidating good ideas along with bad.

Kerrian then pointed in much the same direction that Thierri was "The other big concentration is that way. Graveyard makes sense...if the elemental was earth, use grave soil,and it has a strong deathly resonance. Death, sorrow and regret, all things that probably taste delicious to this thing."

[The Whistler]

Instead, he tips his hat to the Reniers and hangers on, "If the Chamber of Commerce will excuse me, peril awaits!"

Celeste, likewise, effects a Speed Curtsey (TM). "Yes, please pardon our hasty departure--the siren call of Duty beckons!"

With that, she hitches up her skirts and sets off at full speed behind the others. Celeste being an enthusiasm-based lifeform, full speed is fast--especially considering that it's unclear what she is planning to do once she gets there. As it stands, the only way she'll be the first to warn the people at the farmhouse is if the rest of the group stops for refreshments along the way.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Ah, well," Lia sighs, and shrugs. "Back to the drawing board. Perhaps this could be something to work on later, after our current problems have passed."

[lostboy]

"Well then shall we begin with the field and river bank or the undoubtably creepy graveyard?" Nicholas asks, "or would you prefer to await our armed escort, before venturing to either?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Personally, I would prefer to wait for the others," Lia replies. "Weirds make for exceedingly nasty opponents. We will need all the strength we can bring to bear."

[NeoTiamat]

Center of Troischamps, a few miles outside of Port-a-Lucine; Mid-afternoon of April 21st, 770
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"Good luck!" Christophe called as the group sped off, glancing back at Bertriz. His cousin gave a firmly negative shake of the head, so it seemed as though Christophe would not be running off after you.

"Do you know how far down it is?" Tomas asks, not questioning Katja's hearing... "Any idea how to keep something from burrowing? I don't much sport our chances against the whatever it is until we crack that chestnut, see!"

"I do not know... not too far, I think." Katja said, loping after Tomas. She moved surprisingly fast, or perhaps not so surprisingly, eating up the pace with long strides. "And we wait for it to surface. I do not have other ideas, Herr Eisenwald."

Boucher Farmstead, a few miles outside of Port-a-Lucine; Early Evening of April 21st, 770
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"Personally, I would prefer to wait for the others," Lia replies. "Weirds make for exceedingly nasty opponents. We will need all the strength we can bring to bear."

Lia did not have long to wait, as it was not too much later that the other group came racing back to the fields belonging to the Boucher family. Katja was the first to speak, asking the question that was likely on many minds, her clipped, Lamordian accent coming across with inordinate clarity.

"Is everyone safe?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Why, exactly, would we not be safe?" Lia asks, her tone of voice very careful. But regardless what she sounds like, she grasps her staff in a very definite manner. The crystal at its top starts to glow with a harsh, red radiance ...

[lostboy]

Nicholas raises an eyebrow then glibly replies "from ourselves...., probabley not, otherwise just dandy. We were discussing the releative merits of graveyard or farmland exploration." He adds with a shrug, then nodding towards Lia continues, "Exactly! What pray tell brings you here in such a state?"

[Kaitou Kage]

"There is something under the ground," Cyrus explained. He looked at Thierri (or anyone else local if there is another). "Are there tunnels under this village or is it just burrowing?"

He pointed his sword at the ground and tilted his head to listen.

Attempting to detect if the "thing" is still nearby. Perception 30.

[DocBeard]

"Monster." Tomas wheezes, perhaps breathing a little shallowly, grabbing Lia's shoulder as if he were leaning on her. Hey, running in armor's hard! "Katja heard it." Tomas is in fact rather shamelessly getting ready to shove Lia out of the way, just in case his instincts are right and the thing's going to go after the most obvious magic user, mistaking that for Boucher. "Really need to jog more."

[lostboy]

Nicholas' second eyebrow joins the first at Cyrus' and Tomas' pronouncement. "Monster...." He tails off looking around anxiously at the ground surrounding them, takes a swig on his flask to gather this nerves and then pipes up.

"In that case might I suggest we congregate in the tool shed, behind its ward of iron? Perhaps we had better bring your brother and father along as well Therri" he adds looking back at the cottage.

[NeoTiamat]

Boucher Farmstead, a few miles outside of Port-a-Lucine; Early Evening of April 21st, 770
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"Are there tunnels under this village or is it just burrowing?"

"If there are any tunnels beneath this town, they are not known to anyone above it," Thierri replied, looking warily at the ground.

"In that case might I suggest we congregate in the tool shed, behind its ward of iron? Perhaps we had better bring your brother and father along as well Therri" he adds looking back at the cottage.

Thierri gave a small noise, a cross between clearing his throat and a cough, as if he'd accidentally swallowed the smoke from his cigarette. It looked as though he was running a few more calculations in his head. To the point, it looked as though he was calculating the area of a five-foot diameter circle and the average size of the fourteen people Nicolas had suggested to fit into it - not to mention his other brother, who was still out plowing the field.

"It would be possible, if we all held our breath, and stood extremely close to one another," he began, subtly edging towards the more attractive members of the group.

"It is gone." Katja interrupted the mage. The northern soldier's clipped tones brought a momentary end to conversation. She took a few steps forward and kneeled, her one eye scanning the ground. "It was here, and circled once or twice, before departing."

"It has no reason to surface." Katja said quietly. "As long as it remains underground, we can do nothing to it. And it knows this."