OOC: I'm investigating the
Whispering Wall-- anyone's allowed to join! Given that the hole is half-hidden and Verdant is severely limited in awareness, it may take a few rolls before they notice anything, but other gembound may help them out!
Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:
Parasite squick!
VERDANT
and then the universe screamed
It was a calm day. A gentle breeze flitted through the tunnel, rustling leaves and baubles as it went. Twigs crunched under the feet of glassy-eyed Lessers as they came and went. Nothing seemed amiss-- save for the faint whispers coming from a mysterious dark hole, and the lopsided slithering of a fleasnake passing by.
This little snake was compelled (Compelled) by the voice in its mind to come here. Well, not here in particular-- Verdant had no sense of space, and simply cast out random spells that caused the poor victim to slither in a random direction, as if running away could cure its fatal affliction. A lot of running into walls later, and the duo ended up here, both blind to the mysteries held in this place.
'Good warm food safe good,' Verdant thought as they squirmed through layers of brain matter, content with life. The fleasnake hissed. But of course, there was always danger around. Asteroids, stray comets, Other Stars-- they always had to keep vigilant watch. So, just in case, the parasite cast out a net of magic, scanning their surroundings for any heartbeats nearby.
Little did they know they were stopped right outside that mysterious hole.
Faint red shapes, here and there, flickered up in the worm's vision. A cluster of Echoing Grays yet remained within the hole, but they were barely moving; only eight of them, now, and these were near motionless. Some had red shimmering shapes that were giving off near no heartbeat; these were sprawled out on their sides, by looks.
Were the serpentine host to further explore, it would find the scent, with its flicking tiny tongue, of acrid rodent odor and of rot.
What that meant, without delving further into the dark--that was anyone's guess.
@Verdant
To the average eye, there would have been nothing but pitch darkness. The Fleasnake, tiny as it was, would indeed see nearly nothing--but Catalpa's cats' eyes, shining in the faintest reflection?
To her, she would see spooky indeed. Spooky, ranging into horrific, really.
Here, in the low dark--for this was some sort of very narrow, low-ceilinged space, bit and clawed from the very rock--there was a strong stench of death, and of decay. Deeper in, a faint susurrus of unintelligible whispers barely touched the ears.
The first thing one might notice, visibly, were the lumps of large, gray bodies strewn here and there. One or two were hunched upright, rocking softly and barely breathing; the rest were lying on sides, or flanks, some draped across one another as if someone had set them down and simply forgotten them there. Judging by the odor, some were very distinctly dead, and had been for a day or two at least. None of the surviving Grays seemed to take notice of the incursion; probably none were in any condition to.
The second thing was the slick, black stone. This rock--gleaming with rainbow hues, but noticeably lacking in that typical chaotic feel that true Oilstone held--had twisted and curved through this space, shattering stone like some strange vine. Offshoots, spikes of the stuff, jutted from the main vein, and the black stone had formed much of one wall and the ceiling of this place in a large tube-like shape, a tube that looked as though it were heading for, reaching for, Tunnel F's open expanse.
The Grays held bits of this stone in their bodies: jutting in clusters from heads or eyes, flanks and backs, haphazardly and in violent-looking eruptions.
There was nothing but quiet breathing in the dark, at first, and then the whispers coalesced into a quiet, distant, tentative murmur:
"DØиᛌT LEA᳒VϜ ME ALØNe..."
@Catalpa @Verdant