something wild

[necrocabbage]

Characters: Trahearne, Valdis, Bastien, Jacen, The Fool
Date: November 12th
Location: Near the midpoint of the archipelago
Situation: Trahearne has brought their small group together to investigate strange rumors that may be related to one of the Fool's prophecies.
Warnings/Rating: None yet


Trahearne has their trip outside of the city planned and ready, passage already bought for the group on a railway line to one of the small towns further inland. From there, they're met with a kirin-drawn coach that's driven by a friendly muin named Aatha. The coach is a simple one, but it's well-made and comfortable enough otherwise, the kirin managing the terrain well as the hour-long ride brings them to the base of one of the mountains in the range that splits the archipelago in half.

Though the kirin keep the ride relatively smooth, the closer they come to the mouth of the nearby valley, the more Aatha has to work to keep them moving at a steady speed. When they do stop, the two kirin seem to want to keep moving, and Aatha has her hands full with soothing them. "I'm sorry," she tells the group as they disembark, "These two are usually much more docile."

"That's all the better reason not to wait for us here," Trahearne tells her, starting to look worried. "I can contact you when we're ready to be picked up."

The valley ahead of them is lush, and looked pristine from a distance... but now that they're on the thin path leading down into it, it's easy to see that the foliage around them hasn't fared well. Bushes have been trampled, and soil left softened from the recent rains show at least a half dozen animal tracks, if not more.

Comments

[soloflight]

Jacen crouches by the bushes, frowning. While he’s familiarized himself with the known species of wildlife in Aifaran, he’s still quite new and unable to tell the animal tracks apart at a glance. The rains have also washed away the details that would’ve helped him identify the exact type of animal — or animals — that caused the scene.

So he reaches down with a hand, placing his fingertips on the soil, and closes his eyes. He can feel the valley’s buzz of activity in the Force almost as clearly as he can hear the sounds around them, and his brows furrow in concentration as he searches for some clue of what happened here.

[afoolsgold]

Nearby, the Fool steps as lightly through the foliage as a doe--though it's difficult to tell, through looking at his face, whether this is due to caution of his surroundings, or distaste for dirt. He's no stranger to trekking through the wilderness when the situation calls for it--he'd made the long, rugged trek through the Six Duchies to the Mountain Kingdom with hardly a creature comfort to speak of--but that doesn't mean he has to like it.

The young man kneeling in the dirt has his attention, however, and the Fool comes to stand near him, pensive. He doesn't interrupt; just bears attentive witness, curious to see what comes of Jacen's strange investigations.

[shivvymetimbers]

Bastien has a true love for adventure, no matter how dangerous but even he's a little nonplussed about this journey. Something about this entire adventure feels wrong? How? Well, the way the kirins just came to an abrupt halt like that set off some alarms. That and the fact his ferny-beau told him earlier than the wildlife as of late seem uneasy. So cue in everything about that damn premonition and then some, and you'll get a very nervous pirate.

"What's that bloke doin'?" He asks suddenly once Jacen starts feeling the ground. "The hells is this? Animal tracks, right? Nothin' special, no? Just all sheep, I say." Bastien let's out a sigh as he wanders past the two.

"Trae-luv! What exactly are we lookin' for?" The pirate asks while rummaging about within the shrubbery nearby. "Certainly not gold and certainly not a beastie, right?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis remained quiet the majority of the journey, not engaging, nor even paying attention to anyone while she deliberated. They were far enough away from the city that she could shift without giving herself away, except to those with her. It might be worth the risk though, so when the others disembarked and headed out, she hung back, slipping into the bushes.

She emerged a few moments later, shaking herself from head to tail before moving in the direction of the voices. Jacen was reading prints on the ground and she could scent several animals, even feel a lingering sense of agitation, which was unusual to say the least. She snorted, temporarily forgetting that only one person in the group knew who she really was.

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne holds a hand up to shade his eyes, peering at the valley before he turns to Bastien, giving him a small smile. "We're looking for anything out of the ordinary. I fear our problem may be that we find too many beasts and not enough answers, but if there is something here from my world, I'll know it."

What Jacen can feel from the Force is the beat of life in the valley, but it's too much life to be comfortable, like a cup threatening to overflow. It'd be possible to find a center, though from this distance it's harder to pinpoint. So too can Valdis smell the many animals that have passed through here, but there's more of interest - four other people passed through here recently, and from not far ahead of them, there's the stench of a castian's blood.

[soloflight]

When Jacen stands back up, he's still frowning, his lips pursed together into a thin line as he thinks about how to articulate what he's sensed. "This valley is... too alive," he says, absently wiping his hands on his jeans. He looks around uneasily. "I'm really not sure how to describe it, but it all feels very—"

He blinks at the sight of the familiar creature approaching their group. The wolf goddess, the one he'd met that night, among the parading ghosts. He can still recall her words, more so because Anakin had disappeared a few days after they'd spoken: Enjoy your life while you can, boy. You never know when death will find you.

"—very unbalanced," he finishes, catching himself.