Re: [Quest] Into the Deeps (4/4)
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 3:06 pm
GUEST MOD
Light filtered through the trees as the caravan pressed into the woods, warning be damned. As soon as they crossed the threshold, only a few yards in, there came a deep and oppressing fog. One could see a few yards ahead of them, and the sounds of tittering birds and a gentle breeze through the leaves did not fade. The deer were difficult to see if visible at all, and for any who took to the air, the fog would come with them. It would cling to their wings. The trees seemed bigger within the Fairlady's Bower than it did without, but still so early into the forest it was not an unusual height.
The fruiting trees and bushes did not waver. Not every tree or bush was fruiting, but they seemed to be inside a haphazard apple grove. Many apple varietals surrounded them on either side, and rotting fruits covered in wasps lay on the ground at their bases. The trees held plenty, and no one came to stop them if it was picked. Wild blackberries came a bit further in, and as they pressed onward there was less fruit and more game. Flashes of rabbits, foxes, and deer came through the fog.
After half an hour of walking, it seemed to clear up a bit. The clearing of the air revealed a startlingly large dire stag at the edge of a cliff bordering them on their left side, ghostly pale, almost incorporeal. It stared at them for a moment and ran off. The trees surrounding them seemed to match the stag in size, massive compared to anything in Wildking's Forge and reaching endlessly into the sky above. The fog only receded for a smattering of minutes, however, when it returned twice as thick.
With the fog came laughter and horns, hooting and howling, and the sound of panting beasts and paws. These sounds came from all directions, and faces and animal shapes could be seen inside the fog for split-seconds at a time. A man shouted from the rear of the caravan and was cut short by the baying of a stag — another shout was replaced by the yip of a fox.
The world morphed around them. Trees where trees had not been seemed to appear out of nothing. The ground was suddenly uneven, and the loudest horn of them all sounded. A stately man atop a massive wolf appeared in sight of Talon, the horn to his lips. He was Hytori in appearance, but in all tones of grey, and not in the way one might perceive a Siltori. The Phantom and the Phantom wolf made eye contact with the demigod and quickly faded back into the fog.
As soon as he disappeared, the visions at the edges of their sight came down upon them, attempting to wreak havoc. Some men were turned to beasts by these ghostly phantoms, weapons were drawn by these apparitions, and the caravan was ambushed.
The fruiting trees and bushes did not waver. Not every tree or bush was fruiting, but they seemed to be inside a haphazard apple grove. Many apple varietals surrounded them on either side, and rotting fruits covered in wasps lay on the ground at their bases. The trees held plenty, and no one came to stop them if it was picked. Wild blackberries came a bit further in, and as they pressed onward there was less fruit and more game. Flashes of rabbits, foxes, and deer came through the fog.
After half an hour of walking, it seemed to clear up a bit. The clearing of the air revealed a startlingly large dire stag at the edge of a cliff bordering them on their left side, ghostly pale, almost incorporeal. It stared at them for a moment and ran off. The trees surrounding them seemed to match the stag in size, massive compared to anything in Wildking's Forge and reaching endlessly into the sky above. The fog only receded for a smattering of minutes, however, when it returned twice as thick.
With the fog came laughter and horns, hooting and howling, and the sound of panting beasts and paws. These sounds came from all directions, and faces and animal shapes could be seen inside the fog for split-seconds at a time. A man shouted from the rear of the caravan and was cut short by the baying of a stag — another shout was replaced by the yip of a fox.
The world morphed around them. Trees where trees had not been seemed to appear out of nothing. The ground was suddenly uneven, and the loudest horn of them all sounded. A stately man atop a massive wolf appeared in sight of Talon, the horn to his lips. He was Hytori in appearance, but in all tones of grey, and not in the way one might perceive a Siltori. The Phantom and the Phantom wolf made eye contact with the demigod and quickly faded back into the fog.
As soon as he disappeared, the visions at the edges of their sight came down upon them, attempting to wreak havoc. Some men were turned to beasts by these ghostly phantoms, weapons were drawn by these apparitions, and the caravan was ambushed.