鉄 Kamitaki Path

[Tenshuyami]

[火]____K a m i t a k i____P a t h____[火]

______________A r e a ... D e s c r i p t i o n ||
____A former popular training area for the samurai, its location right outside the Divine Wind battlements. Watchtowers for archery training, training dummies, bridges. The majority have been weathered down with time into nothingness, some fragments just barely passing the test of time. Its caves once stored secret caches of explosives, some being used even as makeshift cellars for alcohol storage. If anything has been re-purposed, it's been done so by the lesser fades who tend to call such places home. The waterfall where samurai would once train their endurance still runs strong, though its likely the only remaining shard of beauty the area has to offer. The place is exceptionally large with a fairly shallow stream leading downwards from the former encampment into a thick forest full of crimson spider lilies. While lesser creatures of fades make their homes off the beaten path, it's not unlikely to spot fades of higher strength patrolling the northern side closest to the base they've made their own.

______________P o i n t s ... O f ... I n t e r e s t ||
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______________N e a r b y ... L o c a t i o n s ||
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______________K n o w nD e f e n s e s // D a n g e r s ||
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______________U n k n o w n D e f e n s e s // D a n g e r s ||
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______________R u l e s ||
____ • Upon entrance to the area ,roll a 20 sided dice to determine whether or not a patrol is active along with its strength. If the number is above 5, quote a crew member before further posting. .

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

You float in darkness for what seems like an eternity, but at the same time, no time at all. Everything is still, silent, and yet, somehow comforting and warm, as if you were wrapped in the arms of the person closest to you. Above all, it was safe. However, as time passed, you found you could remember who you were in vivid detail, at though you were reliving that life. Those memories seemed to be guided by a disembodied voice that even now faded from your memory. Then all was still once more.

At some point, a mighty crack filled the air, as if a bolt of lightning had struck nearby, and a line of light marred the darkness before you. You barely had time to register the light before it spiderwebbed outward, and the protective void around you shattered altogether. Legs weak, unable to support you, you would likely collapse to your knees in the pile of crystal that now surrounded you. However, after a moment, energy begins to fill you, revitalizing you as you face the new world.

The air about you is bitterly cold, and your first breaths plume in front of you in a small cloud. The only sound is the steady shudder of branches and dead leaves as a steady breezing brushes through them. Likewise, you find yourself kneeling in what seems to be fresh snow, given the surface is otherwise unmarred, although the sky above is clear. Around you, although its a little hard to tell past the piles of white, A few buildings stand, though most roofs have collapsed inward. Four of what looks like towers rest at equal distances from the center of the compound, and a half-standing wall cuts off your sight from the land beyond. Although, mountains rise beyond those walls on all sides, revealing you to be in a valley between them.

SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

The first thing Grey would be conscious to would be a sharp, piercing breath filling their lungs, stabbing like a million pin pricks against the cavity of their chest. The second would be the biting cold and Grey's obvious lack of protection from it. The snow that littered the ground bit into their feet and the light it reflected into Grey's wide, vulpine eyes was blinding. Tears immediately began to well up as Grey searched for a place to take shelter from what amounted to little more than a sunny day and a light breeze. As luck would have it, not too far from where they had woken up, there was a small grouping of rundown buildings; they wouldn't be suitable to live in, but the chance to get a little shelter and maybe scrape together some leftover supplies was just too much not to pass up on. Grey began to sprint towards the closest building, getting down on all fours as they did to hasten their approach.

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

The building you entered appeared to be a barracks of some form, the beds that lined either side of the room rotted beyond good use. That was likely thanks to time, and a hole in one part of the roof that allowed snow to blow through on occasion. In the small bit of light that leaked through the hole, a blueish-white bush grew, without leaves thanks to the cold, but covered in similarly colored berries that, should you touch, were incredibly cold. Enough to tinge your skin pink after only a couple seconds of contact. The berries looked to be covered in a thin white film, as if to protect them from the occasional hungry animal.

Ten beds lined either side of the space, most still bearing moth-eaten pillows, but perhaps enough salvageable material from the blankets to craft something warm out of. Aside from that, they all had footlockers that had long since been picked clean, save for one that contained a discarded rusty wrench. A door to the side, that had caved in, looked to lead to a bathroom, while another door, shut with a look, remained untouched by time.

SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

Having found themselves indoors, Grey had thankfully solved their wind problem; if only they could warm this place up. The barren, stone walls were just as icy to the touch as the snow and really only served to raise the room temperature by a few degrees. Still, Grey was lucky to have found this little relief; now it was time to make the most of it. The room itself offered little outside of immediate relief from the storm, but the bounties inside held limitless possibilities.

Grey snatched up the best-looking blankets they could find and quickly shredded, tied off, and refashioned them into several makeshift pieces of clothing: a hooded poncho, a pair of foot-bindings, and some hand-wrappings. Once their clothing was secured, Grey retrieved the old wrench they had found, dropping it almost immediately. The bare metal, exposed to the cold for who knows how long, had grown icy cold and painful to the touch. To remedy this setback, Grey took a few scraps from the much less usable sheets and fashioned a clothe grip on the handle, allowing them to wield to tool with ease.

Grey hated this whole situation. They hated the cold, they hated how scratchy the clothing was, not being barefoot; it was all too restricting to them. The sooner they were out of this ordeal, the better. Now that Grey had torn apart the immediate interior of the room, it was time to venture further into the building. The first thing out of the ordinary were the berries, but Grey would come back to those later. Right now, the object of their immediate attention was the locked door. Grey approached the door, brandishing their wrench as they did. Once they were up to is, Grey would raise the wrench and *TWANG!* Grey would begin to repeatedly strike the lock and handle with as much force as they could muster, stopping every two or three whacks to see if any progress was being made.

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

Maybe it was thanks to the cold, or the rust, or a combination of both, but after the second hit of the wrench, the lock broke free of its latch, falling uselessly to the ground. Without the lock to keep it in place, the door drifted open with a creak and a plume of dust.

Beyond, there was darkness, not quite as deep as what you experienced moments before, but enough that even your animal-like eyes couldn't see through it. Cobwebs hung in droves from the bit of roof you could see, which appeared itself to be stone. Likewise, just barely, you could see stone steps leading downward, and the draft of air that brushed past you was no warmer than the air you currently faced, hinting that it led down rather far.

In the situation that you chose to travel down without a light, you would find the steps cold and slick, but it appeared there was a rail along the wall to support you should you slip.

SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

As much as the looming hallway filled Grey with unease, it was the only way they could go. It was far too cold outside and they had already thoroughly searched the upstairs room. Grey took a firm grasp of the hand rail and slowly descended the stairs, allowing time for their eyes to adjust to the light.

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

Descending the stairs, there was little ambient light, and once your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you at best could only see a foot or two in front of you, which did little in the way of helping you see. The stairs descended for quite some time, occasionally tormenting you with a cobweb hanging particularly low so that it caught limbs or your head. They broke of course but the suddenness of them was likely enough to startle.

Assuming you didn't turn back, eventually the stairs did level out into a corridor of some sort. However, the moment your foot touched the bottom, what sounded like a generator kicked on somewhere and lights on the ceiling flickered into life, likely blinding you for a moment.

The corridor where you now stood stretched on for perhaps thirty meters before splitting off to the right. From there, there appeared to be a path straight, and then right, that led to a dead end, and another path just before it to the right that split off into corridors also leading right. Both of these then turned left a little ways off, blocking any further sight. Just before the second of these two paths sits a demonic-looking idol (a) with what appears to be rubies for eyes.

(Open spoiler for visual)

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SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

The cobwebs served as only a minor inconvenience to Grey; what did startle them was the sudden blast of light and increasing roar of the generator. Taking a moment to look around, Grey quickly assessed that the best way to go was forward. Not too far though; that idol rubbed them the wrong way more than it should. Instead of tackle the hallway to their right with the idol, Grey traveled traveled down the immediate hall, turning the corner to reveal the contents of its dead end.

[Grey went down that first corridor]

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

You find yourself staring at, well, a dead end. Aside from a few loose rocks on the ground and a lamp lighting the end of the hall, there is nothing spectacular here. It would probably be best to take another path, or return the direction in which you came.

Assuming you take the path less traveled and continue through the underground maze, both of the latterly mentioned paths lead to a door, and both are stuck fast when you try to open them.

[If you choose to try to open a door, let me know which path you took]

(Open spoiler for visual)

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SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

Grey shrugged as their first path almost immediately ended in a dead end. Oh well, best to keep moving. Unless this building was made by psychopaths who enjoy filling basements with empty hallways, there had to be a room somewhere. Deciding to carry on, Grey made their way into the next hallway and followed the long corridor to the door at the end. They tried to wiggle the handle, but found it stuck. Grey scanned the hallway for a quick second then, taking a quick step back, slammed their shoulder into the door in an attempt to dislodge it.

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

The handle, when you tried it, did move, showing it was not locked and merely stuck in place. The door didn't budge on the first attempt. Or the second, for that matter. In fact, assuming you kept trying, it wouldn't open until the fourth hit, in which it swung open with a great bang!

The room beyond was a little on the dim side, some of the bulbs in the ceiling having burnt out sometime in the past. Besides that, it appeared the place was a storage room of some sort. Stacks of boxes sat in neat rows, covered in dust and cobwebs like the rest of the place. Though, given how old the place looked, it was debatable if anything was salvageable.

Some shuffling not far into the room revealed rats that had found their way down there. The things were the size of cats and covered in thick fur, but they didn't pay you any mind, scattering instead at the site of a strange figure. What's more, at the center of the room stood a large crystalline structure, the opaque material a dark, smoky color that allowed for little site beyond it. Not unlike the color of the shards of crystal that surrounded you upon your wakening. You could faintly see a figure within, but could not make out any features of it.

(Open spoiler for visual)

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SB5K

 

[Cute Things In Jars]

Grey cautiously entered the room, keeping mind of the frozen figure that stood silent vigil over the many crates. Whoever they were, it didn't seem like they were going to stop Grey is they just so happened to start rummaging through the various crates. After a quick scan of the room, Grey would immediately set out towards the closest crate that didn't look like it had seen better days and went to work with rifling through its contents.

Royal Taorito

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Grey's Narration... ||

The first box that looked to be in not-so-great condition you come across opens with ease, the lid of it coming off with little to no effort. However, what lies inside is strange indeed. Gelatinous objects that look oddly like fruits lay inside, each contained in their own small case. The fruits themselves are about the size of a fist and glow with a faint orange light that seems to come from the gel-like substance itself. Picking up a container does nothing, but in order to get to the fruit itself would require breaking the glass.

Also oddly enough, all of the 'fruits' seem to be fairly fresh, not wilted or rotted in the least.

(Open spoiler for map visual)

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SB5K

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

_______________Levi's Narration... ||

You float in darkness for what seems like an eternity, but at the same time, no time at all. Everything is still, silent, and yet, somehow comforting and warm, as if you were wrapped in the arms of the person closest to you. Above all, it was safe. However, as time passed, you found you could remember who you were in vivid detail, at though you were reliving that life. Those memories seemed to be guided by a disembodied voice that even now faded from your memory. Then all was still once more.

At some point, a mighty crack filled the air, as if a bolt of lightning had struck nearby, and a line of light marred the darkness before you. You barely had time to register the light before it spiderwebbed outward, and the protective void around you shattered altogether. Legs weak, unable to support you, you would likely collapse to your knees in the pile of crystal that now surrounded you. However, after a moment, energy begins to fill you, revitalizing you as you face the new world.

The air about you is cold, damp, and the room you find yourself in is lit only by dim incandescent bulbs that line the ceiling above. But upon closer look, the 'room' appears to actually be a cavern of some sort, the walls made of raw stone. Boxes and crates sit in rows, and the amount of dust and mildew that coats them suggests they have been there for a long time. Doorways lead out of the room in the northwest corner--or what you can guess is northwest anyway, as well as the southeast.

A figure rummages around in one of the crates in the room, likely having paused at the sound of the crystal breaking.

malavaes

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