Go check out the left first. Whats the harm in that?

We should inform the elder of what we feel, because it's likely that either what we're looking for has changed places or there's a problem down the lower branch we need to take care of. She knows this area better than us, and may have an idea of what we might be feeling if we tell her where it is.

>>689497
I say you should tell her you feel something coming from the left. Maybe it's not just a dead end, anymore.

Pariah: Darkness TheGrayAngel 2015/12/18(Fri)21:16 No. 689533 ID: 8cc774
File 145050221277.jpg - (121.48KB , 3264x2176 , cavern.jpg )

I call out to the elder.

“Wait.”
“I think there’s something down the left path, are you sure there’s nothing that way?”

The elder stops and turns back towards me.

“The left path?”
“I’m sure there’s nothing that way.”
“I was told by my mother; the elder before me.”
“Though I must say I have never been there myself.”

“I feel like there’s…….something, down there.”
“I think we should check.”
“Just to make sure.”

The elder follows me down the left path, deeper underground.
The walls begin to change, becoming oddly neat and smooth.
The air becomes colder and the feeling grows, as if crawling across my skin.

Eventually I reach a dead-end, the path widening at a cavern before ending with a wall.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything here.”

I walk up the opposite wall, and place my hand against it.
My hand tingles, a prickly feelings spreading across my hand.

“I think this is it.”

I press my ear to the wall and concentrate.

Whispers.

“I hear whispers in the wall.”

I place my whole body against the wall and feel into the wall as deep as I can.
I push deep into the stone until I find something.
Whatever it is, it feels like it’s asleep.

Suddenly it wakes.
I pull back in surprise.

The stone slowly collapses in like a door.

A rush of wind blows through the passage, blowing out the torch.
The room is pitch black.

I hear something fall to the ground.

There are whispers all around me and a voice behind me.

Break the earth, craft pillars to hold the ground. Right now, the most dangerous thing nearby is the earth itself. Don't let it squash you.

>>689533
Hold your hand out, palm up, and create a ball of flame above it. Let's see what we're dealing with.

Listen to the voice. See what it has to tell you. When it's done use you're fire power to look around.

Find the torch and re-light it. Where's the elder, we need to find her and make sure she's safe so we can figure out this voice and what fell

Pariah: Shadows TheGrayAngel 2015/12/19(Sat)01:09 No. 689551 ID: 8cc774
File 145051617963.jpg - (31.01KB , 640x297 , shadow_people.jpg )

“I can’t just make fire, I need something to burn.”

I drop to the floor, feeling around for the torch.

“The whispers are all blending together, I can’t understand what their saying.”

My hand brushes against something on the ground; I think it’s the torch.
I grab it and stand up.
As I light it the room fills with light.

People

Everywhere

Shadows dance along the cavern walls.

But no one is there to cast them.

I’m surrounded by silhouettes, pushing in on all sides.

I see the elder.
She’s standing in the corner shaking.
Her eyes are pointed at the ground and she’s chanting something I can’t understand.
“I think she was the voice I could hear.”

“What’s going on? Are you alright?”

She doesn’t respond.

The shadows don’t seem to be doing anything.
They just shuffle around the room, whispering to themselves.

“Who are you?”
“What are you doing?”

The shadows all stop in unison.
The room falls into deafly silence.

Suddenly they all turn at the same time and point to the new opening.
I walk to the opening to see what’s inside.
The room is roughly circular but the far end dips into a pool of water.
The feeling is incredibly strong now, almost like its pulling me towards the water.

“Should I go in?”
“If I do, should I bring the elder or tell her to leave?”

Anasazi.

It's luring you in, don't go in just yet. However, try to use your powers to make the pool come to you.

>should I go in?
I think you should, but we should check on the elder, first. Gotta be responsible in how we look after people around us.

Hold up a finger and tell the shadows to wait a moment, and then walk over to her. Are you okay? Do you need to go back outside?

Lets make sure the elders okay and see how shes doing. If she can handle it have her come in with you, but be gentle she has had a pretty traumatic day so far. We should go into the opening but for the love of god don't go into the mystery water until we know what it is

Pariah: Pool TheGrayAngel 2015/12/19(Sat)18:11 No. 689595 ID: 8cc774
File 145057750384.jpg - (369.18KB , 1600x1200 , pool.jpg )

I pull myself away from the opening and go back to the elder.
The shadows don’t move; still pointing at the opening.

I wrap my hands around the elders.
“Are you ok?”
“Can you talk?”

The elder stops shaking and looks up slowly.
“Spirits…….”
“All around us…….”
“I’ve never seen so many…….”

“Do you know what’s going on?”

She looks around the room, fear in her eyes.
“No”
“I must confess that I have nearly no experience with spirits.”
“After the first time, when I became an elder; I only journeyed here once on my own.”
“But when I came, the spirits were already silent.”
“I am so sorry, but I do not know if I can help you.”

“Do you need to leave?”

She thinks for a moment, staring at the ground.

“No”
“I cannot leave you.”
“If I cannot help one child, I am not fit to lead my people.”
“I do not know how, but I will help.

“She seems a little conflicted, but I think she’ll be ok.”

We both walk forward, past the shadows and into the room.

I walk up to the very edge of the water and look into it.

The water is calm and crystal clear.
I can feel the pool trying to pull me in.
I almost have to fight against the urge.

“Do you know what this is?”

There is no response.

I turn around and see the elder staring at the ground again, this time making no sound.
Standing perfectly still; torch in hand.

She looks up slowly again, expressionless and pale.
She points to the water, like the shadows behind her.

This is the life-blood of this land. Drink deeply and you shall see truth.

She sounds like a hundred tiny voices are speaking at once, echoing across the room.

“What do I do?”

>>689595
Inform the spirits it's very rude to make the elder talk for them, especially since you're pretty sure they didn't bother to ask permission first!

Then drink the water anyways. Let's see this truth vision. Rude or not, they have something to show us.

Ask the spirits if they're willing to accept a test run.

Water. Old lady's mouth. Make it happen.

>>689601
Um, that sounds like a bad idea. Ix-nay on forcing our mortal companion to drink the dangerous magic water.

Drink some of that trippy ass blood water.

I kinda wish you had better health, drinking this makes me nervous, but it seems like our best bet to figure out whats going on right now

Ask why we need to concentrate the life-blood of the land in ourself instead of putting it back in the land where it belongs: There had better be a good damn reason for this.

Pariah: Water TheGrayAngel 2015/12/19(Sat)20:54 No. 689631 ID: 8cc774
File 145058724929.jpg - (166.43KB , 1280x720 , forest.jpg )

“What are you doing to her?”
“Are you hurting her?”

The elder will be fine. She is speaking for her people.

“But why do I have to drink it?”
“Isn’t it important to the land?”

The land is dying; it matters not what you do. Drink, while it still lives.

I turn back to the water.
It shimmers in the torch light.

I kneel down and dip my hand in the water.
It’s cold, and tingles across my hand.
I bring a handful of water to my mouth and drink.
It’s cold but somehow burns as it goes down.

It suddenly hits me.
Pain shoots through my body.
I fall forward into the water.

The water is deeper than it should be.
I’m falling deeper and deeper; the burning spreading across my body.

“I can’t breathe.”
“Everything’s going dark.”

The water presses in on all sides.
The world fades to black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A cool breeze blows across your face; the sun shines through the treetops.
It is the early evening.
You are lying on the forest floor.

You sit up and look around you.
You are in a forest clearing.

Past the trees before you a procession of people are walking, one after the other, heading west through the forest.
They look like Saukiogs.
At the front of the procession four people carry a body wrapped in cloth.

What will you do?

Begin panicking.

You may be dead.

>>689632
Yeah you might be or maybe it's a warning.
Either way join in the procession and figure out what is happening.

Looks like we're watching some kind of funeral procession?

Follow, and watch. Get close enough to listen, if they say something.

Pariah: Funeral TheGrayAngel 2015/12/20(Sun)22:16 No. 689757 ID: 8cc774
File 145067861133.jpg - (127.71KB , 800x500 , rise.jpg )

You stand up and join the procession.
The line of people continues on, without reacting to your appearance.
Eventually you arrive at a forest clearing, where more people are waiting in silence.

There is a shallow hole in the ground directly in the middle of the crowd.

The procession joins the crowd as the four carrying the body approach the hole.
They come to a stop, standing two on each side; holding the body above the hole.

An old man steps forward from the crowd and stands in front of the body.
He raises his hands above his head and begins talking.
You cannot understand what he is saying.

You turn to a man standing on your right.
“What is this?”
“Who are they carrying?”

The man does not respond, staring forward.

After speaking for awhile the old man lowers his hand and the body is lowered into the hole.

Suddenly the crowd disappears, the sun streaks through the sky again and again.
The grave becomes overgrown with vegetation.
Time flows by like a river.

Eventually time slows again, but the forest has changed.
The sky is dark, and the trees are gnarled.
The air is cold and still.

There are whispers; coming from the grave.

The whispers go silent.

“Something is here.”

The earth begins churning and cracking.

Black liquid bubbles up from the cracks, as if the earth itself is bleeding.
A dark fog spreads across the ground.

A hand breaks through the ground, followed by a warped body.
Its flesh is twisted and black; it stands twice as tall as a man.

The fog wraps around its body like a cloak

rrrrrraaaaaaaaagGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A scream rises from its throat, growing louder and louder, echoing throughout your mind.
It steps forwards, slowly moving towards you.
The sound continues to grow; you can hear nothing else.
The world distorts and shakes around you.
You feel as if a knife is carving through your mind.

You fall to the ground.

Everything is dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I burst through the water, gasping for air.
Its feels like my chest was being crushed.

I crawl out of the water and lay on the cave floor.
It’s dark; the torch is nearly dead.
Only the dying embers are making light.

I see a body lying on the ground a few feet away.

Eat its leg.

There was a pronoun change. I think we just saw the host of the Enemy presence. Doesn't seem like a mere avatar.

See if that's the elder. If not, decapitate and burn.

So... that vision suggests the bad things (or at least one of them) comes from the Saukiogs' own dead?

>I see a body lying on the ground a few feet away.
That's probably the elder. Go check on her.

Examine surroundings, note any changes from what was here before, examine body. If that's the elder it's time to get worried. If she's dead as well it's time to do more than get annoyed.

Light to torch again and check on the body. It's probably the elder, let's make sure she's alright.

Pariah: Air TheGrayAngel 2015/12/22(Tue)11:52 No. 689929 ID: 8cc774
File 145081395946.jpg - (54.72KB , 550x412 , cave-walls.jpg )

After gasping on the floor for awhile I get up and crawl over to the body.
I grab the torch on the way and light it just before I get there.

“It’s the elder.”
“She’s breathing, and it doesn’t look like she’s hurt.”
“She probably just fainted.”

Something around me has changed.
The shadows are all gone.
The torch is lit but only our shadows remain.

“The whispers are still here, but their so quite I can barely hear them.”
“I wonder where they went.”

I look back behind me.
The water looks the same.
It still feels like it’s still calling out to me, but it’s not so strong of a pull anymore.

I turn back to the elder and try to wake her up.
But she doesn’t wake up, no matter how much I shake her.

“Hopefully she’s just really tired.”

“I can carry her out of here; at least out of the cave.”
“Should we go back outside or should I take her to that other room she talked about?”

“Oh, Wait.”

I pull the water skin off and hold it in my hands.

“Should I take any water with me?”

YES. DUH.

You'll want to get that analyzed for tiny, tiny water bugs and curses and stuff.

Is that her water skin? If you empty it and fill it with the hallucinogenic water, then she's not gonna have anything to drink. Which could be bad, depending on how far you are from a good water source.

If the skin is already empty, or we have another, I suppose it couldn't hurt to take some for later.

>what do with elder
I think we should move her to the other chamber where it's ostensibly safer.

Then go outside yourself and check what hour it is, and if it's safe outside.

Drink any water that's in the waterskin and then fill it with spooky water. Take her to the other room, there might be something useful in there to wake her up.

Pariah: Ceremony Room TheGrayAngel 2016/01/08(Fri)00:05 No. 692156 ID: 8cc774
File 145224033216.jpg - (66.37KB , 500x375 , ceremony room.jpg )

“This is my water skin. The captain gave it to me before I left the fort.”
“And I already drank all the water in it.”
“I guess I forgot to fill it back up.”

I stand back up and walk over to the water.
I make sure not to let the water touch me while I fill the water skin.

“Don’t want anything to happen again.”

With the water skin full I put the top back on and sling it on my shoulder.

I pick the elder up with my power and make my way back up the cave.
After a few minutes I get back to the split in the cave, this time turning left towards the ceremony room.

A few more minutes of walking and we reach an enormous room in the cave.
Weird lights dance across the walls; the sound of running water is coming from the other side of the room.
The air feels different here, but I can’t tell why.

The whispers are here as well, but they sound different.
They sound farther away and calmer.

At the far end of the room is some kind of stone slab, directly in front of what looks like a small water fall.
Water gushes from a crack near the ceiling and runs down the walls before disappearing into another crack in the slab.

I carry the elder over to the slab and sit her against it.

“She should be fine here, I think we’re alone.”

I head back out the way we came until I arrive at the entrance to the cave.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything else in the cave or the area outside of it.”
“It looks like it’s about evening; another hour or two and it’ll be sunset.”
“How long was I in the water?”

I enter the cave again and make my way back to the ceremony room.
When I get there I see that the elder is leaning against the slab, holding her head.

“Are you alright?”

She tenses up suddenly before relaxing after she turns to see me.

“Oh, child. It’s you.”
“I believe so, though my head does hurt.”
“What happened?”
“How did we get here?”

>>692156
Be honest.

The spirits talked through you and told me to drink the water. Which is probably why your head hurts, I *told* them that was rude.

When I drank from the water, I had a vision. (Describe it).

I woke up later and brought us here. It's evening outside. I kept some of the vision water, in case I need it later.

Are you okay?

Options- rest here, travel (bad idea after dark, probably), try to do the normal spirit stuff they used to do in this chamber?

Let her know what happened and what you saw. Tell her what time it is, she was worried about being here after dark and it's getting near that time. Ask her more about this room and it's significance. Would she be up for telling us about what kind of ceremonies they did here?

Just explain everything that happen

This is our chance to tell if either this elder or the spirits have been lying to us, give full details progressively. If you think you can do it well it'd be nice if we could tease out what this elder knows and expects about what happened and who/what we've seen here, but we probably don't have the crafty guile to do that without making a mistake.

Pariah: Recap TheGrayAngel 2016/02/03(Wed)15:44 No. 698787 ID: 36681b
File 145454309080.jpg - (271.15KB , 900x1350 , waterfall.jpg )

I walk over, and help her sit on the slab.

“When we were in that other room the torch went out and by the time I relit it the spirits had taken over you.”
“They told me that they weren’t hurting you and that I needed to drink the water, so I did.”
“But it did something to me and I fell in the water.”
“When I woke up I was in a forest and there was a group of people walking by with a body.”
“It looked like some kind of funeral for a Saukiog so I followed them.”
“But something bad happened after they buried the body.”
“One of the bad things crawled out of the grave, but it was different from the others.”
“It looked like a person, like the one in my nightmare.”
“Then I woke up and you were asleep; so I brought you here.”
“I also brought some of the water with me, just in case we need it.”
“I checked outside and it looks like it’ll be evening soon.”

She listens to all I say; a look of confusion on her face.
Until I talk about the bad thing from the grave.
Her face turns pale, she looks afraid.

“One of us, became one of those things?”
“This is…… very bad.”
“When we get back I’ll talk to the other elders about this.”
“Maybe they can help us understand what this means.”

“Should we leave now then? Will you even be able to make it back?”
“It won’t be much longer until it’s sunset.”

“I don’t know if I can leave yet.”
“I don’t want to be here after dark, but it can’t get much worse than it already has.”

She rubs here head. Her skin is pale and her hands shake slightly.
I walk around the slab and over to the waterfall.

“What about this room? What happens in here?”

She turns her head towards me.
“This is our most sacred place. Where the elders drink the blessed water and speak the will of the earth and the spirits.”
“It is said that the water gives us guidance, revealing knowledge that is important for the people to know.”

“So the water in the other room; is that the same water here?”

“Perhaps; though I’ve never heard of such a powerful vision from the water.”
“Maybe the water you drank was different somehow.”

I look around the room, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else in here.

What should we do now?
We can leave now, but we would be very slow because the elder is still weak.
We could wait for her to feel better, but then it’ll probably be dark when we’re traveling.
Or should one of us drink some of the water from the waterfall?

>Her skin is pale and her hands shake slightly.
Is she cold? You could help with that. (Unfortunate that your powers haven't leaned towards healing others yet, at this moment).

>We can leave now, but we would be very slow because the elder is still weak.
Well, we could work around that if you carried her back with your power. Assuming you can keep it up that long without tiring yourself out, and that she'd be okay with that.

>what do
I'd think you should either use your power to compensate for her weakness so we can leave quickly, or we should stay the night. Attempt to beat the darkness, or wait it out. Traveling at night seems like a bad idea. It's practically inviting the dark things, and we'd have a hard time fighting and keeping her safe simultaneously.

I don't think either of you is ready for another hit of that water / the spirits right now.

We should leave now, we need answers from the other elders asap. We could definitely use our powers to lift her and hurry back. We already have a sample of the other water, so I don't we need to bother with any of this water.

Pariah: Path Home TheGrayAngel 2016/02/18(Thu)10:55 No. 703051 ID: 36681b
File 145582173931.jpg - (11.65KB , 236x354 , birds.jpg )

I walk back to the elder and grasp her hands.

“Are you cold?”
“You’re shaking.”

“I’m … fine. It should stop soon.”

“I think we should leave now; that way we won’t be stuck here at night.”
“I’ll help you move, so we should make it back alright.”

“If you think that’s for the best.”

She takes a deep breath and gets off of the slab.
She’s still a little shaky but it looks like she can at least stand on her own.

I help the elder as she climbs onto my back.
Thankfully she’s short, so she can fit.
After she climbs on, I concentrate and lift her slightly so I don’t have to carry all of her weight.

It takes a while but we make our way out of the cave and back up the hill.
It doesn’t take too much out of me and I think I can keep it up the whole way.
But it is a little distracting since I have to concentrate on keeping part of her up.

“Now we just need to decide on which way we should take back.”

“We could go back down the wood path on the cliff face.”
“I’m pretty sure I can handle it but I’m a little worried about carrying the elder as well.

“Or we could go around and through the woods this time. It’ll take longer but it’s probably safer.”

While we’re standing on the top of the hill thinking, I notice a group of large birds in the distance.
They’re flying this way from the direction of the cliff path.
I can’t tell why, but for some reason I don’t think I like those birds.

Let's go longer and safer. Trust your feelings, we don't want to deal with hostile birds on a cliff.

Lets go the safer route, as long as we're out of the sacred grounds before night comes it doesn't matter how long it takes us to get home

Pariah: Vulture TheGrayAngel 2016/02/20(Sat)15:51 No. 703916 ID: cd886c
File 145601229456.jpg - (97.53KB , 1167x720 , vulture.jpg )

I turn back to the elder.
“I think we should go through the forest this time.”

“I agree”
“I don’t know if I could handle another trip down the cliff.”

She climbs back on and we make our way towards the forest.
It’s slow going but we eventually get to the tree line.

“I think we’ll make it back by nightfall.”

I look back and notice that the birds have gotten a lot closer.
“It looks like they’re still heading right for us.”

Finally, we enter the forest.

The trees here are much closer together than in the other parts of the forest.
It’s much darker in here and it feels like the trees are pushing in on all sides.
Unexplained noises come from just out of sight.

We walk for a while, going deeper and deeper into the woods, getting more anxious as we go.
“I think there’s something else in here.”

Suddenly, something flies through the air; landing on a branch just up ahead with a thud.
The branch creaks under its weight.
It scans the area, looking for something.

I quickly dash behind a tree, staying out of the creature’s sight.

I peek out from behind the tree to a get a good look at it.

It looks like a twisted, rotting vulture.
Where its head should be sits a skull, stripped of flesh.
With only two sunken, red eyes deep in its skull.
Muscles and wood twist together across the body, the chests creaking and heaving with effort.
Most of the feathers are missing; those remaining are fused with leathery flesh.
It twitches and jerks around as it searches, occasionally letting out a pained groan.

I hear a quiet whimper behind me.
“That’s what they look like?

“What should I do?”
“Do I try to fight?”
“Should I run?”
“Can I hide?”

Fighting seems like a bad idea, just because there's a whole flock of them. Even if it turns out each one is weak enough to defeat easily, you might have a hard time making sure you're not overwhelmed, or that they don't get to the elder.

I would favor stealth / hiding.

We try to hide and take this one out quietly from our cover using your power

>>703916
fight the twisted vulture the other birds are closing in anyways. Better to clear a path forward than to be cornered.

Is this still going?

>>753495
If it was, someone would have posted more recently than seven months ago. Don't be a thread necromancer.