TSW 17: Arina's Dream

[18:08]	IcePickLobotomy	The air is cool, a gentle breeze stirs past you causing the trees to sigh and whisper. The moon hangs high, heavy and full above you, tinted pink alongside the sky and stars. It smells musty and earthy, with the wind carrying a hint of the sea. A faint thirst tickles the back of your throat, and the cool metal of the lantern is reassuring in your hand, the awkward weight of the coin in your...
[18:08]	IcePickLobotomy	...pocket less so."
[18:08]	Arina	(Ah, dream round 2)
[18:08]	IcePickLobotomy	(Yeap)
[18:08]	Arina	(First night after blood zombie?)
[18:08]	IcePickLobotomy	(Yes)
[18:09]	Arina	looks around, rubbing her throat uncomfortably.
[18:09]	IcePickLobotomy	The wind picks up, bringing with it a colder chill.
[18:12]	Arina	wraps her arms around herself for some extra warmth, looking around.
[18:15]	IcePickLobotomy	The underbrush of the forest is hidden by the trees, a few slivers of pink light sneak their way past to illuminate a few patches of bare ground. The wind picks up further, tugging at your hair as well as the branches. The trees hiss and groan at the movement, their shadows shifting uneasily in the dark. You can still make out the path, packed earth and pine needles crawling forward beside...
[18:15]	IcePickLobotomy	...the brush and bare earth.
[18:17]	Arina	sighs, walking along the path and holding the lamp high to shine its light around.
[18:18]	IcePickLobotomy	The warm yellow light casts long shadows beneath the trees, but chases away the dark all the same. The path winds further into the forest, the trees growing taller and wider, the moon's light becoming rarer and thinner. The trees are now almost 5 meters wide, and seem to tower upwards forever.
[18:20]	Arina	(4 DoS on the Notice)
[18:20]	Arina	walks through carefully.
[18:21]	IcePickLobotomy	You notice a cobblestone in the pathway. Then another a few hundred meters past that as well.
[18:22]	Arina	blinks curiously as she approaches. Classically cobblestones aren't singular.
[18:22]	IcePickLobotomy	And then another. A pair of them later on. They're becoming more common
[18:25]	Arina	"Sooner or later it's going to be a road, I suppose..."
[18:27]	IcePickLobotomy	It's sonner, rather than later. The cobblestones turning into a proper road, and half-grown into a tree is the shattered remnants of a watch tower, made of the same pale-grey stone as the road, rubble scattered across the forest floor. The ruin is covered in moss and vines, bushes and brambles clambering over the stone as the trees loom above it.
[18:28]	Arina	frowns, coming to a stop and looking more closely at the tower.
[18:29]	IcePickLobotomy	The base is wide and thick, well engineered if you have any say in the matter.
[18:30]	IcePickLobotomy	There is the rotted remnants of a stairwell partially winding up it's length, though everything past the first floor is now scattered across the forest floor.
[18:30]	Arina	peers into the first floor curiously.
[18:32]	IcePickLobotomy	A few destroyed tables, and what looks like a former bed, but what catches your eye is the figure leaned against the far side, slumped over. For a brief moment he seems to be staring at you, but in the light of your lantern shows it to be nothing more than the empty-eyed stare of a skull leering at you.
[18:36]	Arina	jolts at first, but calms a bit as no movement ensues. "... there's a lot of that, I suppose..."
[18:36]	IcePickLobotomy	The empty voice of the wind and forest say nothing.
[18:38]	Arina	swallows, rubbing her throat, and moves into the tower to look around a little more. "... no shovel..."
[18:41]	IcePickLobotomy	The body has lain there for many years. Something tells you it shall remain that way for many more
[18:43]	Arina	Anything else of note in the tower?
[18:43]	IcePickLobotomy	(Nope.)
[18:44]	Arina	"Well... I hope your vigil was successful... hopefully I can get you a proper burial before I leave..."
[18:44]	Arina	curtsies to the body and steps back out, sighing.
[18:47]	IcePickLobotomy	(Keep going down the road?)
[18:48]	Arina	(Yeah)
[18:52]	IcePickLobotomy	You push forward, further down the road. Hours pass and you come before a fork in the road. The left goes down a steep trail, and through a thin gap in the trees you can see lights beside a lake, a town or city perhaps. To the right the road continues, the breeze coming from that direction. There's something in the wind, a melody almost, one just beyond your hearing.
[18:54]	Arina	leans in, trying to hear it.
[18:54]	IcePickLobotomy	(Roll SR)
[18:56]	IcePickLobotomy	A melody, a small fragment of a vastly greater song, one that resonates with you. You feel it in your chest and. . . Something else. Something almost hidden within the wordless song. Screaming, agonized pained screaming.
[18:59]	Arina	's eyes widen. "I...?"
[19:01]	IcePickLobotomy	The wind dies down, and the song, the voice, the screaming, fade into the night.
[19:01]	Arina	frowns, looking after it for a while. "That..."
[19:09]	Arina	sighs, shaking her head and rubbing her throat, following the faded song. She'd like to go to the town and civilization but 'screaming' seems a bit more immediate.
[19:14]	IcePickLobotomy	Though the wind picks up, the screaming has gone silent.
[19:14]	IcePickLobotomy	And. . . You dream. You dream of strange vistas and starless skies