NM Part 1

You were all on that airship for your own reasons. A pilgrimage perhaps, a business trip, or mabye travelling to see family or just to get away from the city for a bit. Regardless of the whys of it all there you were, completely oblivious to what this simple act was going to set into motion.  %r %r It had been three days out when the storm hit, there had been no warning and the ship's goemancer seemed unable to quell the raging gale. As you stayed in your rooms hanging on as the ship jerked and bucked somthing was not right. In the flash of the lightning dark shapes flickered past your windows, or odd sounds seeped in through the ship's timbers. Then the world turned upside down, and everything went black.

You all awoke with sunlight filtering into your rooms, the ship had stopped moving but lay tilted and broken. Timbers and metal jutted from shattered walls and smashed flooring. You can't help but wonder how you survived, or even remember the crash at all. You gather what belongings you had with you and make your way from the wreckage out into the light, the sky a hazy grey and the light wind carries the stink of engine oil and burned wood. A quick search of the ship reveals no bodies save for your fellow survivors, the captain crew and other passengers having disappeared without a trace. Gathering outside the wreck you find yourself on a simple dirt road, while partly overgrown it has seen signs of recent use going off to the west, just outside of the ship a simple wooden signpost bares a single sign pointing in that same direction, but it's lettering faded past any hope of reading it.

Alba's knives have not left her hands since waking from the crash, her progress through the broken remains of the ship swift and silent as a passing breeze. Once the crew and fellow passengers have been marked, living, dead, or otherwise, the Viera moved outside, clambering to the highest point on the wreckage. There she crouches, ears twitching in all directions about them, but eyes locked on the path the sign points down, waiting.

Ka'Len groans a little as he stumbles from the room he'd rented while shouldering a pack over his shoulder while the other rests on the hilt of his own, still sheathed, sword. "Must've been one hell of a storm," he mutters to himself before noting Alba looking for survivors and instead of joining her he goes to the road and attempts to make heads or tails of the faded writing on the sign.

Remi wakes up below his upturned bed, somehow... And after managing to climb out from under it, he stumbles around the wrecked remains of his room, retrieving his pack and his Lute... Briefly looking happy that the old instrument wasn't damaged in the crush. Peeking past the ruined door at the world aside for a few moments, he slowly pushes it open then... Causing it to break and crash loudly off its remaining hinge. And he flattens his floppy bunny ears to his head then as he slooowly steps outside, going, "Hello?"

The sunlight on Sebastion's face made him groan, getting up off the floor of his room. He looked around, and noticed that a piece of metal had impaled his bunk right where his stomach would have been. He grimaces, and starts gathering his supplies, snapping on his armor. Can't take a nap in armor, after all. That was what he was doing, he remembers, before the world turned upside-down and he thought he was losing his mind. Maybe he still is. He grimaces harder at that thought, trying to force it out of his head. By the time he has joined everyone else, he's silent and observant of his surroundings. "Fiends...?" he murmurs aloud, when he considers the lack of corpses. "It had to be fiends..." He doesn't sound so sure about that. He follows Ka'Len over to the sign, though, taking up a spot beside him, like some kind of bodyguard. He must've been tagging along with the young man, probably got assigned to do it, or maybe he offered on his own. By his fidgeting, it seems Sebastion is probably more nervous about this than Ka'Len, but you wouldn't know it from Seb's face.

Marduke is making his way out of the ship the tapping of his staff giving him away easily enough. Eyes looking around at the wreckage and a shake of his head, "This is..." not quiet able to put a word on it and sighing softly. Holding a hand to his head and rubbing, "I have a headache." Is all he offers looking around and hmmming a moment eyes looking at the sigh and frowning a bit more, "I suspect this headache is going to last a while." Yet he just motions down the path as he starts walking along slowly, "No point in waiting around I suppose, good to see you Ka'Len, Alba, Remi, and Sabastion was it?" glancing back to him.

The Signpost remains illegible, the lettering having been worn away almost completely by time and weather. It seems to be a town marker of some type, though by the neglect it's hard to say if the town it points to even still exists. By the tracks on the road if there were any other survivors from the crash that's the way they were headed however.

"...We go," Alba says, picking her way down from the wreckage. "We are the last. Or we are the only. Whether Fiends, Jagd, or poor machines that bring us down, wetlanders oft fare poorly apart from cities." With that, she begins to walk a short distance down the path, only pausing to see whether or not she is followed.

Ka'Len looks over at Sebastion steps up beisde him, a brief stiffening and then the young man relaxes a measure. "I couldn't say.. but I don't think we were the only survivors." He motions off towards the tracks before murmuring, "looks like any others went that way, we should likely follow, at least to recoup." He looks at Alba then before nodding quietly and shifting his pack. "Marduke, Remi.. glad to see you two are alright." The young man smiles a little and then starts after the viera woman while rubbing his neck as the initial shock wears off and muscles start to mutter complaints.

Remi slowly starts wandering through the wreckage, his ears soon perking up again as he hears voices up ahead. An emerging onto the path, he looks around at all the survivors... Most of which he knows. Waving a bit at them, he looks unsure, and a little afraid, going, "Um, hi... What happened? Where are we?" But as everyone starts wandering down the path, he soon pulls his pack tighter onto his shoulders, and starts follow, speaking up again, "Is everyone ok?"

"Can't argue with that," Sebastion says in his dull voice, though with a sliver of actual agreement in his mood. He turns to follow Alba promptly, though he does make sure to stick close to Ka'Len, for some reason or another. He glances over at Marduke passively, and corrects him with a dull and informative tone, "It's 'Sebastion.'" He glances over his shoulder at Remi. He considers the bunny-eared man for a moment or two. "Everyone here is okay, but everyone else from the ship is missing. I think the other questions can be answered if we follow those two," he says, motioning toward Alba and Marduke.

"Bruised, sore, but alive." Offers Marduke glancing back to Remi. "The crew is missing, as are most of the passangers. something just seems strange in all this. Stay on guard we may very well not be alone." His voice soft thoughtful as he keeps his eyes open and about. His staff hitting the ground, but no longer making any sounds as he walks quieter.

The walk last about a half hour, though it's hard to keep track of time in this place since the sun hasn't seemed to have moved since you first gazed on it upon leaving the wreckage. The path is lined by scrub forest leading into foothills. Visibility is limited to about 20 yards on either side of the path before a fog settles in to obscure anything else into blurs of light and shadow. To the untrained eye the walk is peacefull, but those those more attuned somthing is just.. off. There is no sound save that of the wind in the sparse treeline. No animals, no insects, none of the sounds that would normally be associated with nature. As you continue onwards you can see the beginings of mountain peaks jutting from the haze in the distance.

"Listen," Alba murmurs at the head of the line, knives bouncing restlessly in her hands, "hear. The woods are still as the Sandsea, the Mist thin as dreams." An involuntary prickle between her ears sets them to flicking, like a cat trying to shake away water. "If we are not within Jagd, we walk upon its lip," she says, sullen voice touched with a distinct sourness.

A smile and sad shake of the head is Ka'len's only answer to Remi. The young nobleman drifts into silence as they walk, his typically friendly nature subdued as silent worries nag at the corners of his mind. A hand lifts to shield his eyes as he stares up at the sky, looking for the sun before he looks off into the scrub. "Strange to have a mist during the day, even in a wood." He pauses and then tilts his head before hissing out a thoughtful breath. "That could explain some of the navigation troubles. Most ships can't travel in the Jagd." He shakes his head, frowning, before continuing along the road with a quick glance sent Alba.

Remi peers around with increasing suspicion as he follows the others with a quiet gait. He isn't much of a survivalist, but he did spend most of his previous life on the road... As such, he speaks up, agreeing with Alba and Ka'Len, "... Yah, something isn't right... I can't even hear any insects or birds." He hmms then, before adding, "A Jagd is a no magic zone, right?" And he raises a finger then... Trying to conjure a small flame upon its tip, to see if his own magic still works.

It's not hard to say that the walk is creepy as hell. Sebastion was already on edge when he didn't find corpses from the crash and he's been looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary, but the fact that he doesn't pick up anything doesn't do anything to relax him. When he hears Alba, his brow furrows lightly, his gaze staring into the mist as he walks, trying to pick out shapes... but it's too thick of a fog. "I'd almost say this was a dream if you weren't all here," he muses aloud, mostly muffled by the scarf he's usually got on, so it might be hard to hear. Doesn't sound like it was directed to anyone. His hand rests on the pommel of his sword, though, his movements becoming tense.

"This doesn't feel like a jagd. Something feels off, different, it is like a dream more then anything else." Marduke continues to walk along his eyes scanning the area, "To quiet?" blinking a moment as he pauses and nods to Alba, "you are right, didn't even notice myself my mind elsewhere. Noticing other things." One can only hear the touch of concern in his voice at that. "Besides, a Jagd has no life, not even vegetation. Unless it is a temp, but again very very odd."

As the walk continues a structure is finally seen in the distance, as the group approachs they see a simple stone and mortar structure with a wooden roof. The shutters on the outside of the windows sealed tight and the door closed. The construction style is old, almost ancient. A style used by settlers and colony builders from before the folly. As the group gets closer they can see the buildings purpose... for as far as the eye can see in each direction the ground is split by a massive ravine at least 100 feet across, on the far side they can see that half the bridge leading over it has been lowered, the half on thier side has been raised, the chain attached to the bridge's supports leading into the gatehouse.

Alba grunts upon coming within sight of the building, ears folding back against her head. "An old place, this. Are we then, to attempt to cross, or sit here and await travelers?"

Ka'Len mouths the word 'dream' to himself quietly before shaking his head a little bit. As they come upon the gatehouse and the bridge over the ravine the young man frowns to himself suddenly. "A thought occurs. If the other passengers and crew came this way, where are they? If they crossed to the other side of the bridge then why is only this side raised? In fact why raise either at all? If you didn't know what you were walking, if this is on the edge of something akin to a jagd, vegetation or not, wouldn't you want to leave a way open to return?"

Remi hmms as a small orb of fire bursts into existance above his finger, slowly spinning and swirling there, "Well... Seems magic works, and I'm not even very strong in it, so..." Shaking his hand then to get rid of it, he looks up as they come across the structure, blinking at it and the large ravine, "Um..." Is all he offers at first, before he glances at Ka'Len and frowns, adding, "... That's creepy."

"I suspect we are the first to pass through here in a very long time. Again things are not right, as you said magic works. yet the spirits are not with us." The last part being emphasised by Marduke. He sighs soflty and points ot the gatehouse with his staff, "I suggest we continue, the other side is lowered, feels like a invitation." Shaking his head as he starts forward again slowly to the gatehouse, ever cautious.

The gatehouse stands silently, only the occasional rattle of the chains in the wind.

"An invitation, aye," Alba mutters, stalking toward the gatehouse, first examining the shutters to see if they can be opened from this side. "The Antlion, also, known to throw its doors wide in hope of guests to visit."

Ka'Len walks towards the ravine and he crouches down for a moment, looking into it before he straightens and backs off again. "Very creepy, and I think that Alba has distilled into words the feeling eating at all of us. We can continue on, or we could try turning back and see if we can find another way, though there's also the possibility we're each letting our own worries eat at us."

Remi frowns deeper, and refrains from getting too close to the building or the ravine for now, staying back a bit, watching the others study them instead. Looking worried and a bit nervous, he nods at both Alba and Ka'Len, speaking up, "... Yah, in scary stories, often the further people go, the worse things get... But then again, if we stay, who's to stay bad things won't come to us?" Shrugging then, he glances at Marduke, "No spirits? What do you mean?"

"Come now, people," Sebastion remarks, quite firmly, in support of Ka'Len's words by the sounds of it. "It's a gatehouse. It would be an amusing trick if there were an antlion inside of it, but we will need the shelter if we can find it, I think. The only thing that's eating me is that something might eat us if we stay out here, too." He walks over to get a look at the shutters on the windows, and tries to pry it open to get a look. He isn't going to open the door without getting a look inside, first, but should there be nothing to worry about, he'd immediately progress to a door and try to open that, too. Of course, it could always be that he just gets frustrated with the shutter if it doesn't open, but he's a strong guy. If the shutters just won't open? Again, door takes priority.

Marduke nods slowly, "This is old, and everything is out of place here. I suspect we are in a very bad situation. Something tells me going back will be no easy task at all. Forward is our best bet. Standing by idle only lets us fall without control." Eyes watching the gatehouse. "Though Alba is right, we walk into a trap most likely, again be on guard." Glancing to Remi and frowning a bit, "My connection to the spirits is gone." The summoner looking back out to the ravine, that seems to be what bothers him the most. A side glance to Sebastion offered with a faint smirk.

The shutters open with a bit of force, banging against the stone wall as the latchs give and they swing open violently. The windows are dirty and share the same neglect as everything else but from what little that can be gleaned from looking through them shows the room within to be unihabited, contained a large desk and behind it the mechanisms to lower the bridge.

"The singer speaks wisdom," Alba says, bobbing her ears toward Remi, digging a scrap of pelt from the bag at her hip and brushing away what grime she can from the revealed window, "but it is true. Unless we wish to strike path away from here, and walk until we reach a caravan, we have little choice." With that, she drops to her haunches behind Sebastion as the warrior tries the door, ready to spring through and do violence to anything that may be lurking in the shadows within. "Such journeys are common upon the Sandsea... but I am one, and it would be a hard travel for you wetlanders."

Ka'Len looks over as Sebastion goes to force the building open. There's a slight frown and a sigh before he merely shakes his head quietly, waiting while eyes turn back to the raised length of bridge.

Remi hrms at Marduke, offering only, "... That's creepy." Before he shuffles his feet a bit as he watches Sebastion and Alba busy themselves with the building, silently hoping nothing scary will happen once they open the door, and preparing himself for a possible flight or fight response.

Sebastion finds nothing terribly exciting inside the building, so he decides to enter, grabbing at the door to pull it open, if there's anything to grab. "Especially in armor, and having to worry about the others," he agrees with Alba, at least having some idea of what she means, even if he doesn't share the experience. He's quick to place his hand on the hilt of his weapon again as he steps inside.

Marduke nods to the others, "Indeed." Just to everything in general. Then he moves to the edge of the Ravine to stand along it and lean into his staff, eyes looking out across it to the other side thoughtfully. A slow shake of his head and a faint sigh escaping him.

The door opens easily enough, the interior of the room covered in a thick layer of dust and the smell of mildew hangs heavy in the air. The desk at one time might be been used to process the names of travelers coming and going across the bridge but now it stands empty and unused. The bridge mechanism seems easy enough to operate, a release level held in place by a loop of chain sticking prominantly out in front of a series of gears.

Alba hurls herself through the moment the door is opened, the Viera's toe-claws scraping audibly against the floor as she skids to a halt. Eyes and ears flicker all about the small gatehouse, and upon finding nothing she rises, the stirred dust forcing a sneeze out of her. "...Empty," she reports, just in case it wasn't obvious. "...Let us greet the Antlion, then, and seek shelter from the coming night." Glancing at Sebastion again, she nods at the lever.

Ka'Len smirks a little at Remi and then he stage whispers, "totally is.." However he walks over to Marduke a moment later while Alba and Sebastion do their thing and folds his arms acrossed his chest. "Not a summoner back, so not sure what it's like, but I'm guessing it's like having a limb cut off. You know it should be there, but it isn't. You okay?"

Remi braces himself as soon as Alba leaps into the shack... But then he hears her sneeze, and lets out a quiet breath... Figuring a warrior like her wouldn't do that if something hostile was inside. And what that, he starts wandering a bit closer to the bridge, figuring they'll lower it soon, glancing and nodding at Ka'Len meanwhile.

Sebastion steps aside Alba, having been startled somewhat by her bounding in, ready to carve up hypothetical foes. His brows lift, and he observes her just long enough to catch the nod. He steps over to the release mechanism, and, after a moment of intuiting it, he releases it to drop the bridge. "Here we go, into the jaws of danger," he says as he does this, with mild amusement in his voice, evidently skeptical about what they're all so worried about, at least barely enough to notice.

Marduke continues to watch out across the bridge, his expression lost for the moment. It takes a moment to register he is even being talked to and glances to Ka'Len, offering a nod. "Something like that. It is there, but very faint and weak, this place is seperated somehow from the rest of the world." Eyes looking back out across the ravine waiting for the bridge to lower.

As the lever is release the gears grind for a few seconds before begining to spin freely. Those outside and see the chains rattle and move as the bridge lowers and settles into place with a resounding *BANG* the reverberates off the ravine walls and echos through the still silent air. The movement of the gears inside has kicked up a choking dust cloud that billows out of the doorway. For Alba and Sebastion a brief moment goes by where the swirling cloud seems to encircle somthing, though the glimpse is a brief one a translucent human wearing what appears to be an ancient military or law enforcement uniform is seated at the desk and looks up at them both with hollow sunken eyes before fading back into nothing as the dust settles once again.

Alba presses the back of her hand against her face as the dust begins to billow, ears flattening against her hair, eyes squinting into thin slits against the choking cloud. Upon viewing the hollow-eyed shade, she draws in a sharp breath... and immediately begins coughing, stumbling out of the building, shaking the no-colored flakes from hair and ears once she can breath again. "*That,* she says between breaths, glaring at Sebastion. "*That* is reason enough to 'ware."

Ka'Len opens his mouth to say something to Marduke while the words sink home. Whatever it was going to be is lost though as the bridge drops and he jumps visibly before coughing and looking left then right while calling out, "little warning next time please." He stops as as Alba stumbles out and jogs over to her, "what dust? Or...?"

Remi seems a bit startled as well as the bridge suddenly lowers with a crash, his ears flattening. But then coughing Alba catches his attention, and he turns to her, blinking and headtilting at her words, "Huh? What happened?"

The moment that Sebastion gets hit with the dust, he finds him very appreciative of his scarf. He doesn't have to hack and cough at it, but it also allows him to freely notice the apparition, and his sword almost immediately comes out of its scabbard, eyes widening and face paling. He stares at the spot it was at as it fades, holding a combative posture with the weapon. His brow furrows, and he slooowly sidles toward the door to join back up with the others, keeping his eyes on the desk, and the floor, which is no doubt covered in dust. He doesn't say anything back to Alba, except to say, quite defensively: "At least we know why this place is so creepy." His voice has gone from skeptical to grave in the span of a minute or two, even if still perpetually dull. He glances briefly at the others, "The gate guard seems to be holding his post, even in death. He didn't attack, though, he just sat there. But..." He doesn't put away his weapon or finish his thought. Not now.

Marduke watches the bridge clash down unphased and just shakes his head, "They were planning on lowering it, why is it such a surprise?" A touch of faint amusment in his voice, trying to ligthen up a bit. A glance to Alba and Sebastion as they come out with a narrowing of his eyes. "Alba isn't one to be phased by dust, something else." Hoping it seems a answer is soon forth coming. Frowning as he glances to Sebastion and shakes his head slowly. "Not alone." Turning he starts towards the bridge intent on crossing.

"...But it means that death guards the bridge, and death awaits beyond it," Alba says, spitting the last of the dust from her mouth, the rest left on face and body. The Viera, it seems, is loath to release her knives, now. "This Antlion should wish to clean its porch, should it wish a greater number of guests." Her daggers are held back, scraped along the split scorpion-stinger affixed to their sheaths, imparting the weapons with a fell green glow. "Let us tell him so."

Ka'Len doesn't respond to Marduke's initial question, though he does have something of a sheepish expression that he sends to the man before snapping his attention back to Sebastion and Alba both. The young man sucks in a breath before mimicing Remi without really thinking about it, "... That's creepy." He blinks and looks at Remi then before letting his eyes move after Marduke. Turning his attention to the gatehouse the young man looks back the way they came before he mutters lowly, "I should've stayed home," as he slowly starts to follow after, his hand on his weapon though that is left sheathed.

Remi blinks at Alba and Sebastion both, suddenly looking wide eyed, and he starts to open his mouth... Before Ka'Len beats him to it, glancing at him. Briefly biting his bottom lips, he then says, "You mean there's ghosts? ... I really don't like ghosts." And he turns to look at the bridge, watching Marduke starting to move towards it, "... I bet there's a whole town of them up ahead... Does anyone know how to even fight ghosts?" He asks.

Sebastion nods at Alba's words. She caught his train of thought pretty easily. They seem to be on the same page. His sword his held in one hand, though. At her comments about bringing their displeasure to the 'antlion,' he gives a soft 'Hmm' noise, though doesn't offer much further input on the idea. "If we're lucky? We stab them. If we're not lucky? I hope you know how to use that fire magic," he tells Remi, his neutral voice seeming to lean more to being conversational that time. "If that doesn't work... the only thing left is to run."

"You do the sending on ghost and unsent." Marduke offers with touch of thoughtfulness to his voice, "For they are spirits that have not been able to pass on, if they are willing. Something tells me we will get a better idea of what is holding them past this bridge. This feels more like a ancient mystery then it does death." Starting his way across the bridge, "though I suspect death very much awaits us to. Hades guide us."

The bridge is solid and sturdy despite it's weatherworn appearance. Footsteps echoing into the ravine below as Marduke begins to cross. As he reachs the mid-point of the bridge the fog on the far side fades enough to see the outlines of several more buildings beyond it, the looming walls of the moutains on either side casting a shadow that further intensifies the gloom that seems to enshroud this place. Somewhere in the town the sound of a church bell tolling spreads through the silent streets. The bell tolls five times before falling silent once again, as though welcoming the new visitors.