[Quest] A Whisper on the Wind - Printable Version

In the quiet, still air of Cetus, a breeze begins to pick up, waving through the trees and pushing some of the mist briefly away from the ground. Deep in the forest, under the cover of trees, a large gray rat skitters out of the undergrowth, black lines like veins spilling from its eyes. A trickle of blood runs from its nose and dribbles onto the ground.

At first, it chokes, perhaps it won't last long after all, will it die before its task is complete? But then its head raises and from it comes a whisper that echoes through the trees, barely louder then the breeze whistling through the cave.

"Children of Rot? Children of Rot...come here, secretkeepers....follow me, Children of Rot..." The rat shudders but stays still, echoing its message until the breeze dies down. And then it waits. Patiently awaits, away from the Heart and far from the Divine. Who has heard its call?

It had been a very long time since the last mysterious summons, monstrous appearance, enemy infiltration, spy claiming sanctuary and so on. Dragon had been content to gradually dig out hidden dens and nooks along the edges of Cetus over time, but mostly he'd just... rested. As alligators do. He'd lay mostly sleeping at the surface of the swamp for hours, or lounge in the shallows of the groves. Sometimes, he travelled to the Divine's enclave.

So when the whisper came, he had both a spark of excitement and an internal groan of what is it now? because rarely were magic and mysteries harmless. No, the rewards his Children were so often offered usually came at a cost, or a risk.

He swam as close as he could, swift enough but not rushing, wary of what this might be. And he didn't see the rat, at first. The swamp was dark, the foliage thick, the rat small. All he could do was follow the sound.

After he'd reached dry land, he grimaced. His old leg injury still left him somewhat lame; it was hard to just trudge over dirt, which was part of the reason he rarely left Cetus. Cetus, at least, gave him water to traverse just about everywhere. But Dragon did have alternatives.

When he reached the place he'd heard the voice, he was flying: wispy red dragon wings spread and flapping, ghostly horns twisting back from his skull. He'd have looked menacing if it hadn't been for his heavy body hanging awkwardly straight down. Only at speed did he gain anything resembling horizontal grace; as it was he sort of hover-dragged himself after the voice, warily wondering what it wanted.

"Hello?" he bellowed, and then grumbled to himself. He just knew this would be a trap.

"HI!?"

This far less cautious cry came from Wyrm, who rather than sedately swim and then hover-copter over, was bounding like a giant, leathery ferret.

"HELLO! ...HELLOOOO?"

Unsubtle, unafraid, probably foolish, despite her experiences in brutal combat, Wyrm went scrambling after the voice. Partway through the thick swamp she even lit herself up like a torch, hissing and wincing but also serving as a beacon for any potential enemies who were trying to lure her out.

Also, a flashlight, because it was dark here.

But there was no attacker, and Wyrm just scrambled to follow, bright-eyed and intent.

The mysterious whisper in the air had their attention immediately. Children of Rot? What's that? While they might not be a part of this group, Larkspur was immensely interested in whatever this secret was. And they could keep it, too, they supposed. Mostly they just wanted to be involved in the fun! (At least, it sounded like it might be fun.)

As they swooped after the rat, it occurred to Larkspur that they seemed a bit out of place here. Cetus was mysterious, the whispers were mysterious, the other approaching Gembound seemed very spooky and fitting for the atmosphere, and Larkspur... well, they didn't have an air of mystery about them. They fidgeted with their wings, but... surely whoever it was wouldn't just kick them out, right? Right?

The Echoing Gray did not delay. As soon as the first gembound noticed it, it turned and began to hobble off into the trees. Closer to the edge of the cave it went, unsteadily. Something was quite wrong with it.

It led them a ways deeper, if they continued to follow, before it suddenly stopped. The veins from its eyes had nearly covered its entire face in pitch. A choking sound came from it and blood gushed from its jaws. It shivered violently and then keeled over and died.

"Damn..." A voice whispered softly from up ahead. "Fragile things." Ah, well, it may not have brought the gembound to its final location, but it had brought them far enough away from the heart. From behind a tree up ahead, she emerged, two-legged, dark skinned, and clad in furs, hand gripping a gnarled wooden staff, Oilstone crowning her brow.

She looked nervous, eyes darting left and right. She looked over each of them, lingering on the glow of Soh-ling suspiciously. "I can see you there, Valkhound." She hissed quietly, but did not make any further actions towards it. Not all were her enemy.

Her eyes moved back towards the alligator - that was the one she'd been looking for. She took a step forward so she was a few feet away and crouched, closer to his level. "Greetings, Dragon. My name is Lilith. I've heard of you and your group...secretkeepers, searchers. You know things, yes?" She tapped a finger on her staff. "I seek knowledge. And opinions, if you have the time and desire to share them." Her eyes moved from Dragon to the other gathered gembound. She had not intended to draw a big crowd, but she would make use of it. "From any of you, if anyone would like to share."

Now that they'd caught up with the rat, Larkspur could see that there was definitely something wrong with it. There was some kind of horrifying black infection creeping from its eyes, and blood dripping from its face. Any curiosity they had was replaced with concern for the clearly-sick animal.

Larkspur followed it closely, trying to get a better look at what was going on—although he wasn't sure that he could've figured out even if he could get a good long look at it. He'd never seen something like this before. Suddenly it stopped moving, and Larkspur pulled upward in a braking motion before landing and hopping toward it—only for the rat to suddenly seize and throw up so much blood and then fall over and—die. Larkspur made a soft gasp of horror, but his eyes were transfixed on its blood-soaked corpse, and he even leaned in, as if to confirm it was really dead.

At first the new Gembound's voice did not move his eyes from the rat, but as she spoke directly to them he finally looked up at her. He did not answer her questions, but one that was eating at his own chest wandered out: "What happened to that rat?" he asked softly, the slightest tremble in his voice.