[Game Thread] Chapter 4: Tainted Sands

[Surreal]

"Not quite like hell, it feels... like this entire land is simply a doorway. When I pass from one plane to another, I transition through a 'curtain' so to speak. This place, I feel as though that curtain has collapsed on me. There is no 'other side' for me to travel to..."

[ChristopherGroves]

"I can't say I'm happy to be here again ... but we have to do what we have to do.

The shifter sniffed the air, his face contorting in reaction to the foul odor.

"Now where?"

[zarzak]

Celestine looks around, and shrugs. The weary landscape seemed to extend identically in all directions. "I'll fly up and have a look ..." Launching himself into the air Celestine speeds upwards, to see what he can see ...

[Amy]

A dismissive grunt is all that RockFoot will provide as evidence that he recognized their departure from the Heavens. In truth, however, he was wracked with pains at the loss of barely-stirred memories and half-recovered knowledge of that ulitmate paradise. Nothing would fall into place. he never garnered enough information to piece together his past before even his recent experiences were wiped away as easily as the tide erases tracks in the sand.

Needless to say, the dead environment of the Mournlands was as near to the opposite of the fragrant, vibrant life of the Heavens as one could get. His spirits, momentarily lifted by their passage through the land of the gods, were quickly fading within himself: hiding inside a cold stone heart for protection. His facial features seemed sharper, his body-lines more angular as his lips tightened in grim determination. "Let us be about our business. This land is not suitable for lifeforms such as us. Well, most of us anyway."

[Fil kearney]

The sun was not visible within this realm.. navigation was by gut alone-- but the team stood upon a border of sorts... in one direction was rolling sand dunes, the other a glass flatland. both void of water or life... simply a preference of terrain.

[zarzak]

Celestine floats back down to report his findings. "My thought is to head towards the glass ... sand is natural. Glass is not. It is indicative of an explosion, or some catastrophic event. We might find answers there."

[Amy]

"Agreed"

.

[ChristopherGroves]

The shifter snorted.

"Head for the blasted terrain, because the bad has bound to have happened there ... sad indeed, but likewise savvy."

[Surreal]

The ghost in the box hums in agreement.

The first moments of their journey are in dreadful silence, the land formerly known as Cyre of such painfully shocking contrast to the Seven Heavens that all they can do is stare into the bleakness of it. The comforting familiarity of the sand dunes was now far behind them. Beneath their feet, their steps crackling less and less as the sand slowly transitioned to black, to glossy, and finally to nearly solid. Only Rockfoot continued to leave large prints beneath him, the glass shattering beneath each of his mighty steps like the puddles of an early winter's chill.

Rass breaks the silence... "so... where are we going exactly?"

Sul murmurs a response, though it is unclear whether he is answering the question or muttering to himself as it comes as a barely noticeable telepathic whisper... "I feel as though... it is calling to me..."

[zarzak]

Celestine leads the way, flying slowly in front of the group. In a different setting a glass terrain could be a thing of beauty, but here ... it seemed twisted. Nothing about this place felt right.

"Well, technically speaking, we have been commissioned to look for the cause of this event ... and there have been hints that outside demonic forces may be involved." Celestine continues, recounting the events concerning the Mournland Expedition Project and the original group's journey. It was only a few weeks ago, at most, that its started, but it felt like years ...

Thankfully Celestine missed Sul's whisper, otherwise he might've been forced to restrain the ghost ...

As they trudge on the landscape only seems to grow more dreary, if that is at all possible.

[Fil kearney]

Time drags on; mostly measured by the *crnch crnch crnch* of the giant's steady gait cracking the glass.

There was no day or night... this environment doesn't seem to conform to normal Eberron rules-- the eery landscape provides a sort of luminesence of it's own. Due to the monotony, attention wanders inwardly and no one has felt like saying much... a lot has happened in a short period of time, and the trudging march through nowhere has allowed the events to file themselves appropriately in the teams' minds.



"That's odd." Rass comments, more to himself than anyone in particular-- what was simply glass from assumedly melted sand has began to change with distance... not that it was noticable at first, but over time the glass has taken on a smokey transparent quality. At some points, the glass was too foggy to see through; at others, they could peer maybe 15 or 20 feet below the surface.

"I think that is a person in there. Look, over there too." a quick look around reveals humans, elves , and hobgoblins at various depths-- as though the glass was a frozen lake, and everyone was trapped within-- all clearly dead.
From a higher vantage point, both Celestine and rockfoot can see the hints of encased bodies for quite some distance ahead

[zarzak]

"Well, we are certainly traveling in the right direction ... Sul ... can you sense anything from these bodies?"

[Surreal]

"so many lives... so many faces... frozen forever..."

Originally Posted by Celestine

Sul ... can you sense anything from these bodies?

"...it's almost beautiful, in a way... the fear, captured in sculture..."

"Sul?..." asks Celestine again, beginning to worry if this land was beginning to have adverse effect on his friend.

"Look at them... some are shielding their eyes, others are running... what are they fleeing from?"

[Fil kearney]

Sul senses no life from those trapped within the encased landscape below. the frozen drama continues to develop it's testimony to the horrors of the Last War as the expedition trudges slowly towards what is possibly the origin.

In a while, the encased bodies seem to be experiencing "erosion" of some sort... the flesh of the frozen corpses are becoming more necrotic... less defined as though rotten away. As they cautiously proceed, Sul notices something deep beneath the surface, moving slowly. He looks, but it is too "foggy" to notice... the aberation signature of the mind feels as though it is stalking something...

[ChristopherGroves]

Warily eying the behemoth under the glass, the group moved forward ... reaching further towards their goal.