Story I: The Rift

"I have to think about this." Ameera walks into the cages."and I don't know about the rest of you, but I think better when my stomach is not making so much noise." Ameera continues through the study and into the mess. She checks that the door to the outside is secure and the door to the cots (if there is a door) is closed for privacy. She grabs some dry fruit and meat, and sits on a bench closest to the stove, where she can watch the doors to the cots and outside.

"I've waited years to be allowed back down there. After the rift first opened up and those...things came out and dragged our people down with them I went down there alone - despite the mayor forbidding it - to try and get them back. But I found nothing. Nothing helpful, anyway. There were good people taken. Some of them were from my temple." The grizzled ranger's hand unconsciously handles the holy symbol hanging from his neck. "If it were up to me I'd go right this minute. But I'm no fool - this isn't an expedition you can embark on unprepared. I've waited this long, I can wait a little more."

Pyrrah scowls and begins nibbling at her thumb nail, her arms still crossed over her chest, as she mauls over the information. "But what did they look like? Just... fog?" She looks from Callie to Devanis, eager for more information or rather troubled by the lack of it. If she couldn't get solid information from these two, she'd go track down this Brynn character.

"It was years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. A great earthquake ripped that fissure you saw back there and swallowing up two houses. The monsters came out, and something worse - a living shadow, darker than the night, that reeked of some macabre mixture of sweetness and rot. It happened at night so everything was hard to make out. I'm human, as you can see. My eyes weren't made for seeing in the dark. But I've been practicing in preparation for this day. I can see as well as any elf now."

Erran clings to the wall, resting up against it with his arms crossed, listening intently to the information being relayed.

Errans ponders over the possibilities of what may be behind these events, his brow furrows as the potential scenarios play out in his mind.

His stomach begins to churn and grumble, yearning for nourishment after their long hike earlier today. "If you'll pardon me..." Erran says softly with a nod to Callie, doing his best to not interrupt as he makes his way through the building and to the mess hall.

-

Helping himself to a refreshment, and a few pieces of flat bread, he walks over to Ameera sitting near the stove, motioning towards an empty spot on the bench, Erran asks, "May I join you? I have a subject I wish to inquire you about."

Baric, hearing the mention of these monsters, is frozen for a moment, staring into a corner of the room. He steps back and catches himself on one of the cases sitting behind him. He steps into the conversation between Devanis and the two girls, chanting in a low, deep whisper, I have seen them. Maybe not the ones you speak of—his words are rasping and he pulls in tonations that should elicit terror into his speech—but I know of one of many. It's been years, but the image is scarred into my memory: bones covered in blood and filth and surrounded by shadow, everything somehow alive and yet brutally misshapen from anything natural– and the fangs. They... His voice raises and wavers, adopting sorrow and a child-like sadness at something lost. He raises his hands and clenched his fists tightly before releasing them, They can do so much damage in a single. Crunching. Moment. His hands drop to his side's, one resting on the sly ones shoulder. But those memories are from more than a century ago. I'm sure Brynn knows more than I do. I'd like to go with you see what she knows. He pats her should as he walks away, heading for the cold of the outside.

"Erran of clan Escolant, sit where you like. I would like to hear you thoughts on this fools errand." Ameera wipes her hands on her pants and crosses her arms. "I have considered leaving you all and going back to civilization, but I think my chances of survival are better here for now."

Pyrrah nods. "Thank you for your help" she says as she follows Baric out of the building. She heads for where she knows Brynn is, towards The Frozen Hearth.

"I wouldn't be so sure, my lady," Erran replies while unbuckling the straps to the large sheath holstered on around his shoulder, leaning his bladed behemoth up against the wall next to him as he takes a seat.

"Callie has been informing us of the history of the chasm in the center of town, most foreboding is a quasi-real shadow that once manifested from it when the ground was initially split along with strange creatures, taking many of the town folk down with it," pausing for a moment to take a bite of the salted tack, "peculiar enough, the more I am told the dangers of our destination, the more I find myself yearning to set off."

Ameera chuckles, stands, and hits Erran on the chest with the back of her hand. "I am no lady, and most certainly not anyone's lady." She sits back down next to Erran, straddling the bench so as to face him directly. "But it seems I missed some important information, Callie had specifics on what creatures attacked? What were they? Did she speak of a strange smell like rotting plums?".

Erran's eyes narrow slightly in suspicion of the young girl's inquiry, "Yes, oddly enough that is almost precisely how Devanis described it. Do you know of such a creature? I thought it might be a Malianac of some variety."

Dusting his hands free of crumbs, he says, "Pyrrah and Baric have just departed to an establishment known as The Frozen Hearth, to aquire some more details from someone who may be able to tell you more than I. If we left now, we might be able to catch up with them. My question for you can always be held off til' a less pressing time."

Ameera frowns and looks away. "Like most, I've heard rumors of creatures that live below us. Stories to make small children behave." but with a grin "I guess I never listened to those stories.... If there is more information to be had, I'm game." Ameera gets up and tugs down on her leather armor, makes a gesture as if to touch her shoulder, but then simply wipes nothing off her shirt. "Lets go catch up, I have something to tell you too, but perhaps the others should know as well. Wait, you said Callie was describing the creature, not Devanis "