Strange darkness in Pash

Teeh

Sensing someone dying to a vampire in Pash Valley, Teeh decided to check things out. Maybe there was some new little nook there she had yet to explore! When reaching the valley, she sensed a group of people in a house in the northeastern section and went to investigate. As she stood outside, a shadowy ghast decided to attack her.

Having slain a ravenous, shadowy ghast, you retrieve the corpse.
Fresh downfalls of pure-white snow blanket the area in a frozen drift.

Benedicto enters from the in, followed by Aloli and Xenaden.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit, a fervent arqeshi recruit, and an adorable aureate dog.

Teeh wrinkles her nose at a corpse of a shadowy ghast. "These generally don't appear around here, do they?"

The noisome filth of the umbral stars makes Xenaden's skin crawl, the agony of enduring the darkness palpable.
The noisome filth of the umbral stars makes Benedicto's skin crawl, the agony of enduring the darkness palpable.
The heavy darkness causes Xenaden to stagger as dizziness overcomes it.
Black flames kindle across Xenaden's flesh, the ire of the umbral stars repugnant and foul.
<< These messages kept repeating>>

Xenaden peers at you suspiciously.

Aloli shakes her head.

The air stands thick about your neck, the valley protected from wind by the mountains around it.



You incline your head politely to Kalena.

Kalena nods her head at you.

You say, "Is something the matter?"

Kalena says, "Just dealing with a vampire problem."

You say, "I just stumbled on a ghast out in the open."

Kalena nods her head emphatically.
Kalena says, "The one that keeps shouting sends them here and to Jaru."

Benedicto enters from the north, followed by Aloli and Xenaden.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit, a fervent arqeshi recruit, and an adorable aureate dog.

You say, "Anything I can help with, or would you rather deal with it on your own?"

Kalena says, "We've handled it."

Comprehension flashes across your face.
You say, "Good."

With an effort of will you banish your aura of insatiable shadow, the darkness retreating at last with a displeased hiss to whence it came.
You relax your grasp upon the surroundings, the edges of your domain fraying to naught as the temperature thaws.

You tilt your head curiously.

Kalena says to Benedicto, "All clear?"

Benedicto says to you, "Your very being is anathema to us. I suggest you leave now."

Xenaden urges you onward.

You say, "Anathema? I thought that were the undead, and the Vampires."

Aloli frowns and says, "I can't conjure any light at the moment."

You say, "Of which I am neither."

Aloli nods her head at you.

Kalena says to Aloli, "I cannot either."

You crease your brow in a frown.

Kalena says to you, "Your darkness."

Benedicto nods towards you. "It is her doing."

You say, "I wonder if I can remove any of the darkness."

You shake your head.

You say, "I have let go of my presence, and my twilight."

Aloli says, "Can you step outside for a moment?"
Aloli says, "Just out of curiosity."

You say, "Of course."

Aloli urges you onward.

You say, "Let me know what to do to quiet the darkness. I am still learning."



Kalena arrives from the northwest.
She is followed by a bespectacled ancestral simulacrum.

Kalena looks about herself, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

Benedicto enters from the northwest, followed by Aloli and Xenaden.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit, a fervent arqeshi recruit, and an adorable aureate dog.

You say, "Did that quiet things?"

Kalena says, "It remains there, but not here."

Aloli shakes her head in disagreement.

You crease your brow in a frown.
You say, "Then it was not me."

Aloli says, "Indeed."

Kalena leaves to the northwest.
She is followed by a bespectacled ancestral simulacrum.

You say, "I wonder if I can help in some way, to remove it?"
You look about, rubbing your chin thoughtfully.

Pash valley by a bend in the Pachacacha
Magical darkness enshrouds this area. The sun shines down warmly from the cloudless
sky, standing at the apex of its arc through the heavens. Standing vigilant, a
bespectacled ancestral simulacrum waits here. Kalena is here, shrouded. She wields a
flame-carved ironwood cudgel in her hands. A reflective prism of light shimmers in
the air.

Aloli arrives from the southeast.
She is followed by an adorable aureate dog.

You purse your lips pensively, gazing off into the distance as you carefully gather
your thoughts.

Aloli asks, "Can you absorb it somehow?"

Kalena purses her lips pensively, gazing thoughtfully at some distant point.
Kalena says to Aloli, "This wasn't always here."

Aloli nods her head at Kalena.
Aloli says, "I'm aware."
Aloli ponders the situation.

Benedicto enters from the southeast, followed by Xenaden.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit and a fervent arqeshi recruit.

Aloli starts to wield a luminous orb in her left hand.
Aloli uses Artifact Luminous Orb.
Sudden intense light illuminates the area as a luminous orb is thrown into the sky.

Kalena creases her brow in a frown.

Aloli says, "Is this where the vampire was hiding?"

Kalena says, "They were all spread out."

Teeh holds out a hand, trying to sense the nature of the darkness around her. "Definitely not the commonly conjured kind of darkness," she notes, closing her eyes to focus.

Aloli chews thoughtfully on her lip.

Kalena looks about herself, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
Kalena says to Aloli, "I'm going to go help the Commander."

Aloli nods her head emphatically.

Kalena says to you, "Lovely to see you, Teeh."

Aloli thanks you sincerely.



(Tells): In a frosty, blade-edged voice, you tell Kalena, "I'll sense around the place, see if I can find something of help."

(Tells): Her voice laden with crackling fire, Kalena whispers warmly to you, "Thank you."



As you probe the surrounding darkness, you feel a strangeness dwelling amidst its sphere of influence...
The sensation is fleeting as you wander further and further away.

(Tells): In a frosty, blade-edged voice, you tell Kalena, "I can sense... something in the darkness."

(Tells): Her voice laden with crackling fire, Kalena whispers warmly to you, "What do you mean?"

After wandering around some, Teeh returns to the darkness, standing still and simply letting it envelop her. She keeps her eyes closed, trying to sense once again that feeling she hand before.

(Tells): In a frosty, blade-edged voice, you tell Kalena, "It's something... I don't know. It's strange."

(Tells): In a frosty, blade-edged voice, you tell Kalena, "I wandered away and it faded, so I returned to it to see if I could identify something about it."

Kalena arrives from the southwest.
She is followed by a bespectacled ancestral simulacrum.

Kalena tilts her head curiously at you.

Kalena leaves to the north.
She is followed by a bespectacled ancestral simulacrum.

It takes some time for your senses to adjust but the strangeness soon returns to you as you are enveloped in the sunless dark.
Your senses begin to sharpen and you feel the hairs across your body begin to stand on end... Almost as if responding to an unseen caress. It chokes the atmosphere around you as the faintest waft of something metallic prickles your senses.

Teeh sends a tendril of her own shadow out, testing to see if it might mingle with the surrounding darkness. The act causes the air around her to chill slightly, snow falling from her outstretched hands.

(Tells): In a frosty, blade-edged voice, you tell Kalena, "You should get back here."

(Tells): Her voice laden with crackling fire, Kalena whispers warmly to you, "Please let me know what you sense, if you can make it out."

(Tells): Her voice laden with crackling fire, Kalena whispers warmly to you, "On my way."

Kalena arrives from the southwest.
She is followed by a bespectacled ancestral simulacrum.
Kalena tilts her head curiously.

Teeh stands with her arm outstretched, a tendril of shadow attempting to mingle with the surrounding darkness. "I felt..." She begins, frowning. "Is it just me or is the air thick here?"

Kalena tilts her head slightly, squinting through the darkness. "I am not accustomed to the darkness, so it's stifling to me in general."

"Metal," Teeh mumbles, then opens her eyes. They stare out into nothingness. "Something is definitely here. Unseen."

Kalena purses her lips togther, "A portal or something?"
Kalena ponders the situation.

Your shadow slides with ease away from you and intertwines with the sunless dark.
You are jolted but the sudden image of the surrounding landscape bathed in blood. A surreal and visceral bath of carnage wrought from extreme violence.

Kalena peers about herself suspiciously.
Kalena says, "Is...that normal?"

Teeh begins to shake her head, then lets out an abrupt scream.

You say, "Blood. Blood everywhere. Slaughter and carnage."

Benedicto arrives from the southeast.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit.

As the scream reverberates across the valley, the darkness begins to gradually recede until it is no more... Whatever has transpired here, its time as passed. For the time being.

Kalena blinks.

Teeh trembles slightly, slumping down a little.

"That seems to have done it." Benedicto breathes easier, the tension across his features dissipating.

Kalena gives a glance towards Benedicto, "Whatever Teeh was sensing in that darkness, it is not good."

Teeh shakes her head, blinking as if trying to remove a vision from her eyes. "It's not over. Whatever it was will return," she says quietly.

Kalena says to Benedicto, "She sensed blood, slaughter, and carnage."

"I saw this place covered in blood," Teeh says, letting her eyes drift across the landscape. "Something extremely violent had taken place."

Benedicto turns his radiant gaze upon you. "I see." He weighs you for a moment. "Was there anything else you sensed? Any clues you might give us?"

Wrapped within a swirling tempest of ice and water, Emhyra enters from the north.

You say to Benedicto, "Only that it was a strange kind of darkness."

Benedicto just thought:
"I am loathe to have to rely upon this...creature of Shadow for information but if the threat is so close to home and not even the light of the Host could dispel it..." [He does not enjoy contemplating the potential consequences].

Kalena folds armor-clad hands behind her, giving a nod towards Emhyra, "It was not the type of darkness you harness, Teeh? It was different?"

Benedicto just thought:
"Our first test and already we are not enough."

Emhyra falls in to line behind Kalena settling into an attentive stance as she listens with ears perked.

Teeh immediately shakes her head at Kalena. "Not the same, but when I attempted to merge my own with it, they intertwined," she explains. "That was when I saw the carnage. It startled me."

Kalena purses her lips together for a moment, "Do you think you might be able to transcribe a memory of it for me?"

My thought:
"I wonder what that strangeness I felt was." Her mind seems to be attempting to recreate the sensation of being enveloped by a sunless dark. A caress.

Teeh gestures with a hand towards the surroundings. "The image was of this," she begins. "I saw it almost as it was overlapped by what we see now, only it was bathed in blood. A surreal and visceral bath of carnage wrought by extreme violence."

Kalena seems to think for a moment before nodding slowly at you.

"I see," Kalena murmurs, green eyes drifting towards Benedicto. After a moment of thought, she nods her head, "Thank you, Teeh. For all of your help with this. It is greatly appreciated."

Benedicto says in oceanic clicks and babbles, "Duanathar."
Benedicto is swiftly carried into the skies and out of sight by a pair of wings.
He is followed by a fervent Minotaur recruit.

Kalena says to you, "I will be in touch."

Teeh nods her head and makes to leave, but then pauses. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

Kalena nods her head affirmatively at you.

Kalena says, "Thank you again."