Look Down, Look Down, That Lonesome Road, Before you Carry On

[lizardtits]

Well, that happened.

The team managed, through trial and tribulation, to ascend through the great obelisk temple to the top. It was something of a journey, with both Varis and Gorudak almost fucking dying and just about everyone almost getting killed from an illusory Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf.

Lessons were learned, creepy black ooze was found, and they walked out of the temple with two items of interest:
1. A magic sextant that showed Gorudak some all-consuming thing that now haunts his dreams (though he won't tell anyone about it)
2. A book intended for Portia that only Varis can carry that whispers to him.

And once they all thought it was over, Tetra gave them a ring. Give her the sextant, and they all have their records wiped. Not that anyone wants to meet her demand. Because fuck Tetra. That scythe just makes you look like an edgelord, you pompous Linkin-Park-listening-ass nerd.

With deals in their heads and loot in their trunk, our heroes head home to Butcher Bay to plan their next move.

But first they have to get there. It's a long ride, and even visions of annihilation and deals with edgelords aren't enough to stem idle conversation.

Comments

Velo

[lizardtits]

In the Car

Velo spends most of the ride driving, as Gorudak doesn't seem to be very well off after what he saw. It was probably for the best, since, out of all of them, Velo was the one that had the least hell of a time and no close brushes with death. She'll gladly take the responsibility of staring at brightly-lit nothing for hours on end.

Someone else probably still has to drive through the storm wall, though. That shit still fucks her up.

At Camp

Most of her downtime is spent in her journal, piecing together the information they know and making conjectures as to what it all means, what will happen next, and their best course of action. Nothing much comes of it, as she keeps coming to the conclusion that they really just need more information. Tetra didn't exactly give them time to find it, but leaving this thing with Portia might just afford them that.
Aside from baseless theories, though, she made a couple promises inside the tower, and she intends to keep them. She owes Bowen a story, and she owes Varis some... puff-puff.

What the fuck was she thinking promising him that? The unstable magic of the storm wall must be fucking with her more than she first thought.

CAMP

[daddyissuesdrow]

Honestly, Varis probably doesn't even remember the boob thing. At the very least, it's like waaaay at the bottom of his priority list. Apparently pacing around the camp fire and pausing to glare at the book that he's left sitting on a nearby rock is somewhere near the top of that list, because he's been doing that for like an hour and hasn't once looked in the direction of Velo's rack.

I mean he probably could use a hug or something that involves massive dragontits. Anything to distract him from this other bullshit.

[lizardtits]

Given how it felt when she touched the book herself, Velo can only imagine what kind of hell it's putting Varis through with all the voices.

The boob thing can wait for now. First she wants to make sure he's going to be okay with dealing with that book the rest of the way back. She gets up from her seat to intercept his pacing.

"Is the book still whispering? Maybe you should try threatening it to get it to be quiet?"

Because that's how things work, obviously.

[daddyissuesdrow]

He literally walks right into her because he'd been staring at the fucking book the whole time. After running into her, he jumps like a foot in the air like a startled cat since he's basically 10000% on edge right now. Totally uncool. Almost as uncool as how frazzled he looks.

"Shit. Fuck. I- what? No, that doesn't work. It doesn't listen."

Honestly, he hasn't tried threatening it yet, but somehow he gets a feeling that doing so would be a bad idea. It's likely that nothing would happen, but he doesn't want to risk it.

[lizardtits]

Oh. Well then. Velo wasn't expecting that reaction, but considering how it felt when she touched it, his jumpiness wasn't too surprising, considering Varis was literally carrying it on his back.

"Wow, it really has you on edge. Tell it to shut up and wait or I will jam those locks shut. I do have glue in my toolkit."

Because sassing the evil talking book is clearly the best thing to do here.

Camp

[thewinemom]

It's a little (or a lot) ridiculous that it's taken her this long to approach Velo to express her gratitude re: the whole Ninchilla debacle. True, they had been pretty busy and distracted while in the temple proper, but they'd taken long enough breaks she could have brought it up during one of them. Still, better late than never.

"Velo?" The dragonborn is scribbling in her journal, and she feels a little rude intruding, but she also hasn't seen any better opportunities than this, so intrude she does.

[lizardtits]

There was plenty of time to write on the way back, so Velo has no problem putting down her journal for a while in order to talk to Nin.

"Hm? Need something?"

[thewinemom]

"Not really. I just wanted to say thank you for catching me."

And also for stuffing her down your shirt

"I meant to bring it up sooner, but, well. You were there." All the shit kept happening all the time.

[lizardtits]

Genuine compliments? What is this sorcery?

"Oh. I mean, Naeris did most of the work. I was just there to catch you. You're welcome, though."

...

"And sorry for where I had to put you. It was the only place I could think of to keep my hands free."

An apology just in case Nin wasn't really into that sort of thing.

IN THE CAR

[gogodwarvenranger]

Because hey, as the primary driver and navigator team, they can talk here. And story time sounds like a far better way to pass time on the road than... Murders and Marriages? Whatever that game was called.

"So, what's this whole story about mister... Ate? About the questions you shouldn't think about."

Maybe there's some wisdom in this tale that will help her stop thinking so much about everything.

[lizardtits]

"Oh, right, I said I was going to tell you that story. Given what we've seen, though, it's a little more than relevant. I can't help but think it might be related to what we're dealing with now. Maybe even based on it. Any objections to a creepy folk tale, speak up now, otherwise it's storytime."

Yes, Velo is addressing this to everyone in the car. They're all too close to not hear it, anyway.

[gogodwarvenranger]

There's a faint tch from Bowen. "Give 'em some credit, won't you? No one backed down from anything we saw in there. I'm sure we can all handle a little ghost story."

Really, the biggest problem is Bowen herself, whose feeble mind took a position of surrender while trying to comprehend what was happening in that mural. Thank goodness she wasn't the one who looked through the sextant, or who has to carry that book; Gorudak and Varis are handling this so much better than she would be.

Not that she's about to admit any of this, though. A dwarf has to protect her pride.

"So, let's hear it. What's the story?"

[lizardtits]

"I'm just being polite and making sure."

Velo clears her throat, taking a moment to put together her words for a decent telling. As she does, she glances over at Bowen every so often, wanting to see if there's any reaction. She'd look at the others, too, but turning fully around while driving was not a good idea.

"Long ago, there used to be seven deities that watched over a grand city. Each represented an aspect of the city, and held dominion over that aspect: Mr Hearts, Mr Iron, Mr Pages, Mr Veils, Mr Wines, Mr Stones, and... one more. That last one used to be one of the closest to the people of the city, and likewise he was the most endeared. He was always curious about those little mortals he watched over, and they felt the same as him. He wanted to know more about their mortality, and they about his divinity."

"This... mutual curiosity didn't sit well with the other deities. After all, they had jobs to do. Jobs that didn't involve studying the mortals and being all friendly with them. So, they decided to help him answer his question. They offered a gift to mortals to answer their questions in turn: a taste of divinity.

"A literal taste."

Velo pauses a moment, both for dramatic effect and making sure they're still on-course.

"The last deity was tricked, offered a chance to become closer to his mortal friends. He was sent down to the mortal planes, and was... consumed. Consumed by the mortals he had wanted to get to know. With every bite, those mortals grew in power, and consumed more. His flesh, his soul, his memory, his domain, everything. Even his name was consumed, eaten by mortals, who were unprepared to handle the power, and were driven insane from the knowledge he once possessed, a knowledge that they now did not know the origin of. The only hint of wear it came from was the blood on their faces, which they were too mad to notice. In the end, both had the answers to their questions. The deity knew mortality, and the mortals knew divinity."

"It's said that those last bloody remnants are out there somewhere, lost pieces to a puzzle that no longer exists. Sometimes, people find a piece, and wonder where the rest of it is, so they go looking. They might find a few more, but the puzzle as a whole is gone. Searching for it, searching even for the name of the one the remnants belonged to, is maddening. It is a fruitless quest that eats away at the seeker like it once did him. Seekers of the name lose everything in their crazed quest for that Name.

"And that is why one should beware too many questions. You might come too close to the answer, or there may be no answer to find, even if it seems like there should be."

Varis

[daddyissuesdrow]

CAR STUFF:

For the most part, Varis spends his time during the return trip in much the same way he spent it on the way in. He's mostly quiet, with his hood pulled down over his face in an attempt to keep the sun out of his eyes. Portia's book has been stowed as far away from himself as he can get it, which honestly isn't as far as he'd like considering they're all going to be trapped in a car for the better part of a week.

When he does try to strike up conversations, it's not with the same youthful jovialness that it had carried on the way in. There's a certain degree of urgency in his chitchat attempts, a desperate need for distraction from more than just the monotony of travel. Boredom is the least of his worries, so long as this fucking book is around to whisper creepy shit into his mind.


MAKING CAMP AND SHIT

The good news is, Varis isn't bouncing around like an asshole and annoying everyone this time around when it comes time to make camp. He does a lot of pacing, though, and ends up wandering pretty far from the car, as well as the book, on a few occasions.

Come nightfall though, he stays close by in order to keep watch. In the dead of night, he really has no choice but to listen to the book's creepy whispering. At first he tries his best to ignore it, but by the second night he pretty much just gives up on that. Thanks to Portia's weird notebook messages, he does feel reassured that it really is the book just messing with him, and not anything worse that he needs to worry about.

That doesn't make listening to it any easier, though. The voices, all the horrible things that they're saying, they're all but impossible to block out. Some voices he recognizes. Some, he knows too well. Old friends, current friends, lost family, understandably they hit him the hardest. He can't help but listen. Thank fuck it doesn't whisper at him all the time, but it's still often enough to fuck him up. In an attempt to not go absolutely insane, he starts writing everything down, and keeping track of the voices he recognizes. It's kind of fucked up in his own way, but having something to do with his hands trough all this is at least helping him keep a cool head.

So, that's a thing. Read over his shoulder if you want, It's some weirdass shit.

ROAD TRIP

[gogodwarvenranger]

So, hey! With Nin trading off as the navigator this time around, Bowen gets to hang out in the back seat this time. You know what that means, right?

She's arm rest height! More elbow room!

... okay, but besides that. They need to pass the time somehow. And while talking would do the trick, he did recently bring up that they can't always rely on mouth noises.

"So, care to show me a few of those hand signals? Maybe a few easy ones, at least."

[daddyissuesdrow]

Hell YES, a distraction from the fucking book, GIVE IT TO HIM.

"Oh, hell yeah! I'll start you off with something really easy. This one means 'fuck you'."

He flips the back of Gorudak's head off, and naturally he's grinning like an asshole. This one is fake, don't memorize it.

[gogodwarvenranger]

"Oh, is that what that means. Suddenly everything makes a lot more sense."

She's being very deadpan with her sarcasm. Go ahead, Varis, keep harassing Gorudak. It's probably going to come back to bite you when it's training time.

But then she shakes her head, and gets serious: "Look, I know those kinds of gestures. I mean, I wasn't raised by wolves. I met some people before."

Nin

[thewinemom]

On the Road
Nin's been keeping to herself as much as possible while squished in a crowded car, alternately staring out the window when she's lucky enough to get a window seat and meditating when she gets crammed into the middle. It wouldn't be wrong to say she's deep in thought, because she is definitely having a lot of thoughts. But, as said thoughts are alternately running in circles re: their current shitty situation and her self-centered desire to get the fuck off this godforsaken rock and go home, they aren't, by nature, particularly deep. Nothing that's going to spring up and offer a solution to any of the shit they're currently dealing with, anyway.

She does trade off with Bowen occasionally and act as substitute navigator; with their similar backgrounds of growing up in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, she and the dwarf both have great memories for routes and paths...although this particular trip isn't all that difficult. "Drive toward the Storm Wall" is basically the beginning and end of their wayfinding directions. It's probably a pointless position, but it is nice to have something to do besides brood.

In Camp
Her reticence persists each evening when they stop to make camp, though she is keeping a careful eye on all of her companions. The drow, the dwarf, and the half-orc, especially. She suspects that the vision Gorudak had when he looked into the sextant is troubling his sleep, although he never talks about it. It's just guesswork on her part based on how poorly-rested he looks each morning, and how he hadn't seemed to have any difficulty sleeping prior their acquisition of the artifact. Bowen's been "off" since the shadow clone fight, and her mood had only seemed to drop from there. The 10th floor room with the stone etchings and the strange black goo oozing from the walls seems to have really shaken her. And Varis, dear, sweet, obnoxious baby Varis, is having a hard time with Portia's book. Of the three, the drow's difficulties are by far the easiest to figure out through simple observation.

She doesn't know what to do about any of this, however. She's not really the type to approach someone and pry into their problems. So, she continues to watch everybody quietly and keep mostly to herself like a big introverted loser.

CAMP

[daddyissuesdrow]

Varis is sitting around nearby with the book on the ground next to him, busying himself by scribbling shit down in his journal. It's probably not the most exciting thing to watch, but he does make some weird faces every now and then. God, this trip sucks.

This continues for about an hour because what the fuck else is he supposed to do, until he suddenly leaps to his feet. Looking very much like he'd just seen a ghost or something, he ditches his journal and stuff and practically sprints over to Nin, more or less taking cover behind her while he stares back at the book.

So that just happened.

[thewinemom]

"Uh. Varis?" She was actually writing in her own journal when Varis leapt behind her. "Did you see a spider? Do you need me to move it?"

[daddyissuesdrow]

"Fuck. Fuck."

Yeah just give him a second to walk around in a little circle while swearing. Apparently it helps him calm down. Or something? He finally does calm down and stops pacing, and it seems to suddenly dawn on him that Nin had said something.

"You- what? No. You guys can't-- you guys really can't hear any of this, right?"

'This' being the book, that he's flailing an arm in the direction of.

IN CAMP

[gogodwarvenranger]

... well, it pretty much has to be while they're camping, doesn't it? Since they're trading off with the navigating, now.

Don't worry about the conversation starting, though. Bowen has enough wisdom to realize she's on Nin's list of people to fret over, and enough pride to try and get off it. She's not being terrorized by elder gods, she's just a wuss. Let her deal.

"You know, if we weren't in a hurry to get back, I would say we should take some time to track down some beasts. Give you a little more ideas for your wildshaping, eh?"

See, let's talk about animals and nature and all that good stuff. Let's not talk about the temple or anything in it.

IN CAMP

[thewinemom]

No. Somehow she's become the Mom Friend, so gosh darn it, she's gonna mom!!

...She does smile when Bowen introduces that particular topic, though.

"I kind of get the feeling we'd really have to go searching. There doesn't seem to be much out this way except for worms. But maybe we can get a quick round or two in at the Monster Starbucks before Tetra starts screaming for our heads. That's where I figured out the bear."

[gogodwarvenranger]

wait are we actually calling it Monster Starbucks in character

"Well, if it's not a total wasteland, it wouldn't be as hard as you'd think to find out. I've got a trick for that."

But then she folds her hands besides her head, and looks away, surveying the land a bit. "The only problem is that finding it wouldn't do us much good. And we don't have anything to try luring it over, or trap it."

Bowen

[gogodwarvenranger]

ON THE ROAD:

Bowen doesn't seem to be focusing so intently on the trail this time. Which is probably why, with the weakest of persuasion from Nin, she actually gives up the front seat and spends some time in the back this time around.

For one thing, this is all familiar territory now. And even going in blind, the most difficult part of the journey had been the length, not navigating the terrain. So... not the sort of journey that necessarily needs a ranger's masterful exploration skills.

But besides that, she's obviously worried about what's been happening. She still stares out of the car, but her gaze seems to be following the horizon, looking somewhere far away. She also spends some time looking through her own journals, and in particular her copies of the mural drawings, as if she's still trying to wrap her head around the story and all its implications.

Mostly, though, her worries seem to be drawing her attention into the car itself. Towards the people here. She's been checking up on people regularly, especially the men of the party, asking if they're feeling all right and making sure they stay hydrated.

(She's not going to monitor the terror pissing, though. That's your own problem, boys.)


IN CAMP:

On the upside, you know who is feeling happy on this roadtrip? Marse! After all, he's back outside and has so much more room to run around. Which Bowen allows, at least for the brief period before the sun sets and the worms start waking up. And as soon as the sun is up in the morning, he's up as well, and waking up the bleary-eyed dwarf to get breakfast started.

Bowen is pretty much always available to talk. In the evenings, she's writing in her journal by the fire, but she doesn't seem to mind pausing to ask a question or answer someone else. In the mornings, she seems a little more... flippant, but she's not losing her temper at anyone. So hey, feel free to take your pick.