Ford the Path [Quest]

Of all the places to go on a trek, Rodyn had to choose the area that was the most difficult to traverse. However, mountains always seemed to impose that 'you better climb me or else' trigger within a person when talking about treks. It had been the first time in a couple of months since he had gone journeying anywhere - he was getting too comfortable with life within Adilet. He needed a change of scenery, or else he'd start to get that claustrophobic feeling he always got when stuck in one place.

However, he didn't want to stray too far from his new.. home. It was strange for him to think of such a crowded place as such, but Adilet had truly become his home. He had made a few friends there, and even acquired a place to live in. Of course, now that he was on a journey, he had to make sure to be back within a month or two. The landlord wasn't about to let Rodyn slip on paying his rent, just because he was out of town.

He wanted to visit, from what he had heard, a mining town. It was to be a quaint little place, busy with activity, but also with opportunity for short time work. Manual labor was more of Rodyn's style, so he figured he could work there a few weeks, and return back to his home to pay off his rent. Finding job opportunities within the large city was actually rather hard for someone who had no trade skills to speak of.

Traveling down a road, he noticed two things that already placed his mind in a worrisome state. One, smoke. Lots of smoke. It may have been cause by a cave collapsing, or even cooking fire, but from what he could tell, it was a far way off, and there was way too much smoke for it to be a simple cooking fire.

The next thing he noticed was that he was stopped - by the Royal Soldiers, of all people. In the middle of the road. Rodyn figured it was a toll or something, so he was prepared to pull out some coin to pay the men off, but they, instead, kind of just stood there, not saying a word.

"Uuh.. Heh. I'm trying to head to Temir, looking for some work? You guys mind uh.. stepping aside? Please?"

He was feeling a bit impatient, wondering exactly what these people were doing here. It wouldn't be the first the the Royal Soldiers got in the way of him and a job. The outpost even seemed to be a makeshift, or something. He noticed a lot of different kinds of people walking about.

Eruraina stood at the crest of a notably taller hill, hugging her cloak around her with one hand, and holding the lead rope to her pony Lady in the other. She gazed across the scene infront of her with grey eyes, a grim line on her face. She wasn't happy with the site infront of her. It was not friendly or welcome. In fact it was quite the opposite. The outposts and smoke made one want to turn around and go the other way.

The huntress had been following a herd of elk out this way, knowing that they were moving as they always did this time of year, and knew she could stop at Temir and sell her kills. But something had caused the herds to move further and further away from Temir, causing them to arc around the city notably more than usual. Thats when she had noticed the dark clouds in the sky from that direction. Upon going closer to Temir she spotted the smoke.

Now she still couldn't see the source of the smoke, but could tell it deffinantly coming from Temir. She also knew it was very unusual for that city, as was also the outposts set up around the city keeping everyone from going in. But she noted with a chill that no one was coming out or coming away from the city.

With a deep breath, she continued forward, pulling Lady along until they reached the outpost with the soldiers.
"Whats happening in Temir?" she asked them as soon as she was near enough. She looked around to find she wasn't the only one waiting for answers from the soldiers...

The guards tell each of them the same story. "Everyone we send in, doesn't come back. We're quarantining the city. Unless your volunteering to go in? Otherwise. Move along. We don't have time for you, we have a city to save."

Rodyn tilted his head to the side, a Questioning look appearing on his face as the guards explained the unusual situation to him. These men were obviously not in the mood to explain anything to a stranger. Nodding, Rodyn felt the need to poke his nose into the matter. He wasn't about to let some seemingly dangerous situation make this trip of his a waste of time. Besides, this is what he was used to doing; helping those out that were in need.

"Okay, then let me in so I can try to see what's happening. Is there some sort of leader I should talk to? I'd like to get some sort of information as to what's been going on around here."

His mind suddenly flashed back to an event after the autumn prom, where he had experienced another quarantined town. The magnitude hardly seemed the same this time around, however.

Eruraina frowned at the news. She didn't like the sound of this, and felt that it would be wrong to just walk away. Especially when Temir was usually a good place to sell her goods when she was out in the area. She tied up Lady to a post and wentback over to the guards and a man that was talking to them, hearing what he said.

"I would like to see as well," the she-elf said, messing with the clasp of her cloak. She hoped the guards wouldn't stop her from entering if she so wished...

(Short post is short and sucks, sorry. I'm on my cousin's laptop and her keyboard is weird...)

(Erm... I don't mean to double post. But... Bump?)

(SORRY TOTALLY DIDN' NOTICE)

The guards parted. "Go ahead. Signing your own death warrants." And they allowed them through.

(It's cool! It happens)

Eruraina frowned, not liking how the guards said that. Before going through she found a hitching post and tied her pony, Lady, to it, giving enough slack so she could nibble at the little bit of grass that managed to peak up through the snow around the post.
"Keep an eye on her for me," she told one of the guards. "But don't touch her before I get back." But she had a weird feeling by the look in the soldier's eyes that he doubted whether or not she would come back. And so with a hand casually on her hunting knife, the huntress stepped through towards the smoke in the distance...

(Lol, oops?!)

Huh. Easy enough.

Rodyn had just noticed that there was a young looking woman who had stepped up to the guards as well, wondering what was hindering her. He motioned for her to go in first, and then followed suit right after her.

Slipping past the gates, Rodyn placed his hands on his sides as he surveyed what was before him. It appeared to be a makeshift outpost of the sorts, mostly military personnel standing around and doing nothing but guarding doors to tents.

"Doesn't seem to be anyone in charge.. Hey, miss. I'm Rodyn. Have you heard of anything going on around here? Saw some smoke in the distance, was wondering if it was a forest fire. Doesn't seem to be that way though, huh?"

There didn't seem to be anyone who could tell them anything, so the best choice right now was to walk ahead, and inspect things, seeing if anything stood out to him. Nothing really seemed to catch his eyes, however.

The outpost was exactly what she had thought it to be. A small camp of guards. But they seemed more intent to keep something in, than to keep people out. Especially considering how easily the guards had let them pass. Eruraina thought them, because she noted another person, a man, had been allowed in as well. She turned her eyes to him when he spoke to her, though her main attention was on what lay ahead.

"I'm Eruraina, but friends often just call me Raina or Rain. And I know just about as much as you. I wasn't sure what I thought it was when I saw the smoke. No, it doesn't seem to be a forest fire. At least... not from what the guards said," she replied to Robyn, turning back to the smoke. On her way here she had used to technique that caused her vision to become better and see farther, but she hadn't been able to see anything different than black smoke billowing from where the town of Temir should be...

( no post from me is needed, continue )

"Yeah, the whole thing seems a bit suspect, if ya ask me. Wait... is the fire coming from the town?"

Nodding at Eruraina, he started running ahead, going through the outpost and ignoring everyone within it. He did take note that a lot of villagers where in it, as well as guards just lofting about. The heck is that about? Ignoring the guards who seemed to be just fine with doing nothing, Rodyn made his way out of the outpost, coming upon an interesting scene.

The town appeared in shambles. The smoke was thick, causing him to bring his clothing over his face, covering his mouth and nose. He also kept his head low, as to avoid getting any smoke into his eyes. The village had been burned, but by what exactly? He recalled that it was a mining town, so maybe there had been some accident in some mines, causing something to happen.

He waited a moment for Eruraina to show up, then turned to her as she got her own view of the town. "Somethings not right here.. why hasn't anyone put out these fires? And why is everything still burning?"

Inching his way deeper into the town, Rodyn kept his wits and caution about him, taking his time to look for anyone or anything that could explain just what the heck was happening here.

"None of this is normal, and I've got a bad feeling about it all," Eruraina replied, and watched as Robyn ran ahead. She was in no hurry to get to the town as she passed out of the outpost. Upon coming closing to the town, she lifted her scarf up over and mouth and nose so as to protect herself from the black smoke that was billowing from all the buildings. Eventually she caught up with Robyn, and took in the scene of the town, her hand straying to her bow.

"This fire isn't right. There's something different about it, that's for sure," her voice was muffled behind her scarf. "The few villagers in the outpost... did you see any that were wounded?"

As the two patrol the streets they can see through the smoke two warriors running in full flight from something. Screaming at the top of their lungs as they do so. However their voices seem to echo inside the town. Something is captivating them and holding the noise inside the town, so no one can hear what is going on inside. If they were to turn around and attempt to leave, they would recognize the same fact. They were now, stuck inside the burning city.

Strangely enough, the fires seemed to go without actually doing harm to the buildings. They simply burned without causing damage. The only damage were random spots where it looked like battle took place. Other then the two soldiers however, nothing was inside the city. Nothing at all.

An ominous feeling looms over the two. They are being watched now.

Rodyn shook his head, as he tightened the cloth around his face.

"No, no one seemed harmed at all.. this fire is serious. It's going to take more than just to two of us to take it out. We should head back, maybe we can tell the guards what's what, and they'll get up off their lazy asses."

Turning around and keeping his head low, he nodded at Eururaina and started to head back towards the outpost. However, as he reached a few feet behind her, he stopped, getting an odd feeling. Reaching his hand out, he noticed that he couldn't pass his hand through the air. Some sort of barrier.. We might be trapped in here.

Bringing his hand down, he turned back to Eururaina for a moment before looking around. He noticed two people running in the distance, and also the fact that the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise, giving him a chilling feeling in this hot place.

"Looks like we're trapped.. also, seems like there's some other people here. Let's move quietly.. we definitely aren't alone in this village."

Noting the fact that the screaming voices below seemed to echo around him, he raised his hands up, securing the bandages to his hands, preparing himself for a fight. Something was going to go down before this day ended, and he aimed to be prepared for it, at the very least. Moving quickly between burning buildings, Rodyn took point, leading the way to where he had seen the warriors before.

Eruraina was watching the flames, and how they didn't devour the buildings, but didn't stop burning. But how could there be ash if nothing was burning? Or maybe it was just smoke. But the site sent shivers up her spine. It was some kind of magic. It had to be.

"I don't think even if we got all of the guards to help we would be able to put any of the flames out. It's not eating the buildings. It's not burning anything... she started to say as she turned to Robyn. She watched him put his hand in the air like he was touching a glass wall, and a moment of panic went through her stomach, but she pressed it down. She had to keep her mind level.

"This would explain the guard's reports of no one returning."

From the corner of her eye she spotted the two running figures through the flames. She wheeled around to face them, pulling out her bow and knocking an arrow in one smooth movement. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she heard the echoing voices around them.

"You saw those running figures too, right? We should find them and find out who -or what- they were."

The town seems normal besides the fires. And the fact that nothing is stirring in the streets. Strange multicolored lights illuminate from some windows of houses, but not all of the houses. Only a few. The houses they illuminate from seem to be of higher standard then the others.

As Rodyn ran through his own path towards the two individuals, he took note that, for some odd reason, the houses just weren't burning down at all. He had thought the flames to have been magically enhanced somehow, to slow the burning in order to instill more fear into people, but now he thought the flames were nothing more than an illusion, or perhaps a distraction for some other greater evil that was going on within the town.

Turning himself around a couple of times, he noticed that certain houses also illuminated a bit, as if a rainbow were inside these houses, trying to force its way out through the window. Realizing that he wouldn't be catching up to the two individuals anytime soon, he slowed his run and began taking note of the lights.

His eyes caught onto the fact that the houses these lights were coming out of were of a higher standard than should be in a mining town. Perhaps there were some nobles living here? Or maybe it was something else altogether. Going up to one such house, he avoided the flames as he got closer to a window to look inside.

"Hey Eururaina, check out these lights from these houses... What do you think they are?"

His eyes seemed to be almost captivated by the lights.

(I'm so sorry about not posting for so long. Things get hectic around holiday time.)

Eruraina had been keeping her eyes on the roads, looking for more figures. She sprinted ahead a few steps to see if she could catch one, but they were gone and out of sight before she got much further than a few yards. She swore she saw many more, but it was hard to tell through all the flames. And then there was that feeling of being watched, like something ominous was waiting to pounce on them at the right time.

She was completely distracted by these thoughts and the flames when Robyn pointed out the lights. She glanced about, noticing them for the first time, and realized right away it came from just the higher end houses. It almost was like some expensive gift inside was illuminating the buildings.

"I can't say, but... I've heard of a fish, not sure if it's real or not, that lives in the dark depths of the sea and has a light on it's head. It uses the light to draw in victims, hypnotizing other fish, drawing them closer to it. And then at just the right moment, strikes and kills it's dinner," Eruraina said, feeling like all this was just a distraction for the real danger. She didn't get closer to any of the buildings, but instead kept her eyes open on the things around them. "If you want to go inside and find out what it is, be my guest."

-No post from me required-