The Weald [Acro/Town]

[Ashen Lilies]

Ah. The deep, dark woods. Located deep within the distant wilderness, wedged in between several mountain ranges, is a relatively unsettled section of forest known only as the Weald. A mini-nexus of sorts, connected to both the Town and Acronymia by way of various forests and glades, it is a lush and fertile place of half-forgotten dreams and enticing visions. The trees grow tall and thick, their lush green leaves bathing the forest below in an eternally emerald twilight during the day, and blanketing the ground during the night. The air is dripping with wet, and heavy fog often sets in during the wee hours of the morning, descending from the bordering mountains, where afternoon rains feed the many rivers and brooks of the Weald. Birds chirp and sing, and even the occasional deer or rabbit can be found, grazing peacefully among the various colorful shrubs and berry-bushes. Fruit is lush and plentiful, in the form of berries of all sorts, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, snozzberries...

But anyway, a visit to the Weald isn't all just fun and games. Magic flows strongly here, and there are always the dangers of visiting any forest, wild animal attacks, bears, getting torn to shreds by faeries, getting seduced by faeries, and getting subsequently devoured by said faeries, getting kidnapped by faeries, getting trapped into an illusory loop by faeries, getting your baby kidnapped by faeries, being devoured by a ravenous blood-oak, getting sucked dry by Vampire Reed, sinking into fast acting quicksand, getting mercilessly taunted by tiny faeries with annoyingly high pitched voices while sinking into said quicksand, having your relevant genitalia being assaulted by an angry faery while you were peeing unsuspectingly into a bush, unintentionally angering the various nature spirits that frequent these woods, getting crushed by a falling tree, getting crushed by a falling treant, getting crushed by a falling faery with a weight problem, tripping over a loose pebble and breaking your neck, and so on.

But these dangers aside, it is a generally nice place to visit, as long as you take care where you step, don't eat anything, don't pee anywhere, don't cast any spells, don't walk under any trees, don't walk under any faeries, don't bring any babies with you, and generally do stupid things.
...
Now, where was I? Oh yes, the faeries. Naturally, these being deep, dark woods with a touch of magic about them, the Weald is rife with all manner of fey-creatures, some nice, some weird, and some downright nasty. While usually accommodating to visitors, they can be extremely territorial, which, when combined with their talent for mischief and a vengeful streak a mile wide, contributes to the sparse human population. Nevertheless, the odd human outpost can be found scattered throughout the Weald, eking out a living through trade with the wood elves and more the more civilized faeries.

As well as the more normal denizens of the forest are the forest guardians, immortal spirits and lesser gods that wander throughout the forest, conversing with mortals and righting various wrongs, they are the most feared of the Wealden denizens, and certainly the most powerful, some able to reshape reality on a whim.

Places of note include the human outposts of Brookwood and Brownings, the elven towns of Ashdale and Greentree, as well as the capital city of Silverleaf, and several pixie and sprite communes.

Denizens of note include The God of Mischief who is rumored to dwell in these woods, forest guardians Dendridon, Sagittaron and Varindarion, as well as various other wanderers and spirits.

OOC Notes

Spoiler

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• The Weald is a dangerous place. While the fringes and several sections (especially near the towns) are pretty safe to traverse, most of it is uncharted and wild. The deeper you go, the greater the chance of something... strange... happening.
• Magic, especially those with Arcane or Druidic sources are amplified due to the presence of a ley-line nexus. Use of these magics may result in comical (or dramatic) malfunction.
• Normal Forum and FFRP rules still apply here.
• The faeries here aren't of the silly, happy, shoe mending kind. They will eat you alive if you so much as look sharply in their general direction. Okay, no, not really. Some will, but those ones are little better than animals.
• A note on spelling and grammar. You may encounter either a faery, or multiple faeries. These collectively are known as fae, which is one type of several fey-beings.
  Basically, individuals are faery or faeries, the race in general are known as fae, and fey is the adjective to be used in connection to them. Not important in the slightest, but hey, consistency is nice. *hugs consistency*

Warning: Original Post may update randomly.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt heads here, carrying Vera strapped to his back and some grenades, as well as a small map indicating the known settlement areas. Presumably followed by Yaza, he stops at the fringes. "Alright. We're going to stay pretty much on the outside or very edge of it until we can get to the nearby outpost, ok?"

Reinholdt does just that. Leading the way and following the edges and safe zones until he can get to the closest settlement.

[AmberVael]

"A reasonable plan."
States Yaza, following after Reinholdt. Her appearance, oddly, fails to be marred in any way as they begin to travel through the forest- no mud, sweat, bugs, or anything seems to cling to her at all.

[Ashen Lilies]

Stuff happens. A few diseased looking eyes peer after Reinholdt from within the shadows. They reach a human settlement. There are friendly, albeit slightly wary people. They are like, totally god-moddable. Yay.

((Lunchbreak Kris is Lunchbreaking. It'll be over in... oh... 2 minutes. And then I'm working again. Or supposed to be working at any rate.))

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt does the only sensible thing to do. And that's ask around for information on Snozzbery Bushes and Love-In-Idleness plants.

Also hires a guide willing to take them into the forest to find said plants.

If necessary, uses his newfound Life abilities to cure some of those diseases in order to get said guide and information if there are any elves in the human settlement that could use it. I believe he can handle all except the zombie-ism in terms of curing the recent afflictions. At least I believe he can do that anyways.

Reinholdt then hires a second guide because if one dies horribly he wants a backup. Cause they're Red Shirts.

[AmberVael]

Yaza follows impassively, allowing Reinholdt to do the leading. As of yet, he does not seem to need her assistance.

[Ashen Lilies]

The snozzberry bush is found quite easily (they're like, everywhere man, you passed about 80 billion of them walking to the settlement), but at the mention of love-in-idleness, the guide just laughs and chides you for chasing legends. It seems this puny mortal is not properly enlightened on the facts of life. Or maybe he's just the only person in the entire gorram universe with a lick of sense. Your choice.

[Ashen Lilies]

Dubble Post-its!

A diseased pall hangs over the Weald like some sort of... diseased... pall... thing. Laughter can no longer be heard by the faerie circles, and the bathing pools are conspicuously absent of Nymphs. The pixie villages are silent, their inhabitants bedridden, and the sprite communes similarly ill. The wood-elves, for the most part, have managed to keep going for now, due to their heartier constitutions and mastery of OMG HAX MAGICKS, as have the Dryads, sheltered from the supernatural illnesses by their union with the trees. The Druids and superior Denizens of the Weald wander from grove to grove, healing where best they can, but fae are not the most hardy of species, and whatever magical afflictions can hit them (ie, not leprosy or anthrax), hit them hard. Expect zombies to arise in the next few days or so.

Also, first post edited.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt snatches some Snozzberry bush of adequate size and tries to spirit it away to his magical holding spot with magics. This could unexpected results.

He then slaps the guide upside the head and explains that the two of them are pretty much legend seekers. That he's read about the herb and believes it's existence is well founded, if not well finded. And then just explains he needs someone to simply guide them in and make sure they can find their way back out again. Something guides do. Like the one that isn't going to get paid if he doesn't do the job.

Also, *flips coin*, I believe the guide to be the only person with a lick of sense.

[AmberVael]

The robotic woman reaches out to pluck a few herbs here and there as they move along, storing them in a small pouch at her side. She doesn't take much of any particular one, but just takes a sampling of everything she comes across, just in case it might prove useful.

[Boo]

An explosion far away sounds. Small, but loud, and very flashy. Fire erupts, but quickly vanishes into the atmosphere. In the distance, the howls of a dead man can be heard. A coo is soon to follow, made by the very same voice.
(Don't worry, it's nobody. )

[Ashen Lilies]

No strange effects yet.

The guide is slapped upside the head and leads them deeper into the forest, grumbling and mumbling nothings about 'better be payed extra for this' and 'hope a faery eats you'. But he does his job well, and they are led deeper into the Weald. Deeper. And deeper. And deeper. Yay.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt keeps searching. And makes sure the guides and Yaza know what to be searching for as well. Following the guide in the front, and occasionally checking to make sure the red shirt guide in the back is still there, since he's one of the warning signals of bad stuff. The guy in the back always goes first.

[AmberVael]

"Do you have a specific course in mind for our search?"
Queries Yaza as they keep walking through the Weald.

[Ashen Lilies]

Nothing like what they are looking for is found.
"How should I know? Your friend was the one who wanted me to do this in the first place, and for all I know, it could be one of those things that appears at midnight during the summer so-"
Aiieeeeeeeee- *snap*
The guide in the front whirls around, crossbow in hand, to see the guide in the back getting flung limply in the air and pulled off by a long green tentacle, thick as a person, strong as steel. He fires, and the bolt sticks uselessly into the tentacle.
"Monstera tendriculous! Land Kraken! Run!"

Wait... Land Kraken? Is this all I could think of? How the hell does a giant land octopus move around in a dense forest anyway? All very good questions. The answer? Kris is totally stoned right now (not really).

[Reinholdt]

Nah. I think the answer is to not ask those questions and just start running like the guide suggests. Fortunately Reinholdt has a rather great deal of practice in running due to being pretty much constantly hunted throughout his various misadventures. Skilled running now occurs, though generally staying near the guide that's left.

He knew he should have hired two or three more red shirts.

Screaming has not yet been deemed appropriate.

[Ashen Lilies]

And the one remaining guide, Reinholdt and (presumably?) Yaza flee like the little sissy girl cowards they are from the poorly thought out and somewhat trite giant terrestrial cephalopod. Yay.

[AmberVael]

Yaza runs with the others, but follows them a little more slowly as she is continually looking behind them, attempting to determine a little more about this monster as she goes. She normally wouldn't run, but she has no idea what she is being attacked by and would rather be safe than sorry. Her eventual plan, however, is to investigate and possibly kill it and scavenge for its valuable parts.

"What is a land kraken?"
She inquires, her voice raised to be heard over their panicked flight. What is notable is that she sounds neither frightened nor even curious.

[Ashen Lilies]

"Giant Land Octopus. Very dangerous. They can raze whole villages. A bunch of them found their way here when a mage set up his tower here. He didn't last long, but his experiments took to this place like ducks to water. I didn't know that there would be some still alive."

The guide begins to slow down, having deemed them to be a safe distance away from the Land Kraken. A faint scent, rancid and decaying seems to drift their way. The guide doesn't detect it, but maybe the cat-boy and construct will.

[AmberVael]

Yaza quite regularly works with chemicals, and as such she's actually upgraded her olfactory senses significantly; sometimes eyesight isn't quite as reliable for such things, after all. Because of this, she detects the strange smell at once- probably with more detail than any human could be expected to detect it.

"I smell something decaying."
She states factually.
"There are a number of plants which may give off a similar scent, but I suggest we treat the source as carnivorous and hostile until it has been satisfactorily determined."

[Ashen Lilies]

You used big words. Never use big words.
"... I don't smell anything."

Now that that little encounter is over, things have begun to register. Like the fact that his best friend is now dead. And he's in the middle of the freakin' Weald, and has just been attacked by some Eldritch Abomination. And he isn't being paid enough.

[AmberVael]

"The common human's olfaction is minuscule in comparison to mine."
Yaza states, beginning to look around. A film slides over her eyes in a rather reptilian manner as she begins to examine the area around them with thermal vision.

[Ashen Lilies]

By now, if her hearing is also better than human, she may also hear the shuffling and crunching and cracking of humanoids moving through the forest.

But thermal vision shows up nothing beyond forest normal. Odd...


The guide is shocked into silence. You can almost see the steam coming out of his ears.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt smells it, though likely only after Yaza does and points it out. Her sense of smell is probably better.

He reassures the guide by offering to double his pay on the spot.
Now if it were me and somebody did that, I'd immediately panic much more.

Reinholdt looks around, starting with down, then looking up because those are really the two scariest places something could come from, unslinging his gun as he does so.

Now Reinholdt's hearing. That's something he really has going for him. He tries to pinpoint the location of the source of the sound, going quiet and listening.

[AmberVael]

Yaza may not experience emotion herself, but she is intelligent enough to understand it, and as such recognizes the guide's anger with her. Typically she'd attempt to placate him, but she has determined two very important things about him:
1) He probably won't survive the trip.
2) If he does, she'll never see him again anyways.
So she isn't in any hurry to actually make him happy. It serves no practical purpose, in her mind.

Yaza's hearing, unfortunately, hasn't been enhanced. Eyesight and sense of smell are both far more important for the type of work she does than hearing, so it has been left by the wayside. Her swift analysis of Reinholdt, however, indicates that he is in fact good at hearing (and is in fact hearing something at the moment). She instantly goes entirely silent and motionless, staring at him unblinking as she waits for his analysis of the situation.

[Ashen Lilies]

"You haven't payed me anything yet, and I have no use for money if I'm dead."

The sounds are coming from... everywhere. All around. Ground level though. Nothing in the tree-tops, nor underground. And now they're loud enough that any old human could hear them. Not that the guide is in any mood to notice.

[Reinholdt]

"We're surrounded." He looks at a nearby tree and at the guide. "This tree climbable?" As in will it not eat them for touching its bark. They might have better luck if they stay off the ground right now.

[AmberVael]

"I believe we are about to be attacked by undead."
States Yaza, who raises a hand in front of her in a manner identical to the way she summoned the book for Reinholdt's perusal. Again there is a soft whirring and a glowing vein of green along her arm which powers a few circular spots on her hand, and with a pop a small bubble of some glassy material appears in her hand.

Within this bubble there is a certain amount of glowing, sloshing liquid. It's like moonlight caught in water.

[Ashen Lilies]

Something seems to register within the guide's mind.
"Oh gods."
That's when a roughly humanoid zombie leaps at him with long, catlike legs, and bites his face off. More fey-zombies shuffle in. There's naiads, sprites, nymphs, even a few wood elves. They close in, some faster than others, using various means of locomotion. A four legged tauric cat-fey attempts to leap at Reinholdt from behind, while two wood elves lurch at Yaza drunkenly.

[Reinholdt]

If they hadn't attacked the guide first, the leap from behind would probably have worked. He told him to climb the tree. But nooo.

Anyways, he whirls slightly and put out his hand to meet the zombie cat-fey first, sending a wave of positive energy through his hand. When it comes to this life gift he's (ironically really) picked up, he's essentially a very powerful cleric when it comes to fighting zombies. They don't frighten him in the least.

"Save the guide Yaza. He may still be alive."