#Koh Srenh

[heartwoodventures]

The Sickness

The long, spindly black arm of the voidsent came surging up toward the knoll Aislinn had found for herself. Always take the high ground if you can. But now she was left exposed, no nearby trees within the Shroud’s forested glen behind which she could take cover. Short of breath, heart already in her throat from terror, she stumbled back, tripped, fell to the soft, mossy ground. As the black mass came rushing towards her, she could have done any number of things, she could have done what G’lewra ultimately did. Instead, she froze, twisting away as she braced for the impact. At the last moment the creature’s arm crashed against an aetherial barrier G’lewra had hastily scribed into place around the hyur. The shield was no match for the voidsent’s force and while it shattered, it had left Aislinn in one piece. Realizing she’d been given a reprieve, she scrambled for her gun and hurriedly pulled herself to her feet. 

Why did it have to be damned void magic? When Heartwood Ventures took up this latest contract all that was known was that some sort of sickness was infecting the Shroud, deep into Sylphlands. The posting asked for medics and a few of the more martially inclined just in case. Aislinn was no medic, but she could fire a gun, weave aether if need be. However, it quickly became clear to all of them they were dealing with something far more sinister than a simple illness. 

Their contact, a white-haired miqo’te scholar by the name of G’lewra, had met the crew in the Shroud and led them through the forest, explaining the plight as they went. 

"I've scouted the area, my dears, the plants have plenty of water and there are no signs of scorch marks on the ground that would show signs of a fire I do however have a terrible feeling tis something none wish to usually mess with." A fairy fluttered over to rest upon the Seeker's head as her summoner continued to speak. "I believe we're dealing with a voidsent."

As the group traveled through the Sylph lands they noticed the devastation G’lewra had spoken of. A trail of dead grasses clearly marked the way, even some morbols had perished and looked like shriveled, rotten pumpkins scattered across the forest floor. Even those not sensitive to aether could feel the pressure in the air the deeper into the glen they went. The miqo’te brought them to a halt, turning to them with a look of concern.

Nazyl glanced at the shriveled morbols and grimaced, the dead flora and chill of the dread corruption near palpable, "Sheesh, ta so easileh bring down this maneh morbols...it has ta be at least be fourth rung...."

"Please be careful as we get closer as I'm sure this beast has fed on enough aether to give us trouble." G’lewra said, the Seeker's fairy moving to hide within her long snowy hair.

"Nymeia's Blood." Aislinn swore softly as she too took in the corpses strewn along the way, the oppressive air causing her ears to pop. There was surely a large concentration of aether somewhere close by. She shuddered, as if something had shot through her body. A sudden dread.

Y'ahn shifted the strap of her medical bag to rest more comfortably on her shoulder. "Lovely... If it's Voidsent we're dealing with I'd best double check I'd brought enough supplies to tend to whatever wounds this party is about to receive..." She huffed as she sat down in the grass, taking inventory of the contents of her bag.

As Y’ahn made her check, G’lewra continued on, "The beast has made its home deep within the Sylph lands, not even the poor darlings feel safe within their own homeland and have moved as far away from the thing as possible. When I went further in I could sense it had become rather large, ‘tis best we do what we can to eliminate it and quickly before it causes more damage to the land."

“Aye, if those cabbage fairies are afraid of the demon, then it must be something nasty. We ought to give it a good beating and show it who’s boss,” Aiswyda proposed. “Unless there’s some caveat on how to approach the thing.”

Y'ahn closed the flap of her bag, latching it back in place, seemingly satisfied with what she had on hand. "To Aiswyda's point, we do have a plan of some sort to handle the beast, don't we?" She asked as she stood back up.

"I could help with that, once we identify the demon." Nazyl offered. 

Not just a voidsent. A -large- voidsent. Aislinn put her fingers to the bridge of her nose, pressing for a brief moment. "Aye, depends on what sort we're looking at here." she said, her voice sounding small even to her. 

While her partners discussed the best plan of attack, Aislinn stood quietly staring into the dark wood, unable to focus on their words. She had run up against void magic only once before. And once had been enough. The mages had called themselves thaumaturges but she suspected that was more for their own protection than anything. Black magic was outlawed in Ul’dah, after all. Well, so was drug running but that hadn’t stopped the cartels either. Plenty was outlawed in Ul’dah that still carried on right in the shadow of the Sultana’s proud palace. She’d been young and naive. A fresh refugee and just desperate enough. Lured by the promise of payment in return for taking part in the mages’ study. As were many of the urchins the mages managed to find. In the end, she had been lucky. She had managed to escape. Others had not. The experience had been enough to convince her there was some knowledge that should be left well enough alone. 

Off to her right, Koh nodded, his words bringing her back to the present. "The wood was weakened enough in the Calamity, best to save it from more damage, for its sake and the sake of those living in it best we handle this sooner than later." He'd lived in the outskirts of the wood, he knew how rough it could be. He didn't want those living there to have it any worse.

G'lewra started to move forward to lead the group further in, her ears perked to listen for any movement. "Please be on your guard, my dears."

The group moved with careful steps through the dark glen. The forest here was oddly quiet. No birdsong, no rustling of forest creatures through the undergrowth. It was almost as if all life within had been holding its collective breath. And then, all at once, the silence shattered. There came a sudden, rumbling roar from a deep ditch ahead. Black limbs reached up from the depths, grabbing onto the ledge as a gigantic voidsent heaved itself up and onto the ground, towering over them. Its dark, bloated body littered in masks that opened and closed rapidly as if searching for its next meal. 

"By the twelve it's huge!" G’lewra cried out.  

The masks as one almost seemed to scream with delight as it focused on the group in front of them.

"Aw, hells it's a Persona..." Nazyl gritted. The knight drew his weapons, mythrite blade and shield glimmering in the dim light, "Watch fer its magic, they can be fastah than they look, n' will freeze ye in place with but a gesture."

Nazyl may have been inured to the hazards of his job as a void hunter but for the rest of them the shock of the creature’s sudden and grotesque appearance reverberated through the group, crashing over them. Aiswyda let out an audible gasp, Aislinn fell back a step with half a mind to outrun her terror and Koh struggled to remain centered, taking several shakey, deep breaths as he stared up at the abomination before them. 

While the others struggled, the lalafell was more than happy to be the first in, kicking off the hill and sliding down, shield raised to slam himself into the base of the creature, rearing back his sword to swing down hard onto the nearest mask, dragging Oathbrand across the earth in a turn, and cut upwards into it again, spraying dirt into it in the process, "All those faces n' yer still an ugleh bastard." He was already vying for the thing's attention.

So began the fight that brought the story to the present, with Aislinn scrambling back to her feet after narrowly avoiding being crushed beneath the voidsent’s grip. Now, the creature lashed out at Nazyl, hitting him squarely in the chest. The mail thankfully absorbed much of it, but gods did it smart. Coughing out a curse, he stepped back in and thrusted his blade forward into the black flesh, twisting and cutting upward to pry off another mask. 

The voidsent’s gelatinous body wrapped around the blade and started crawling slowly towards the lalafell, devouring the sword.

"Sonofa..." Nazyl grunted as he struggled to pull his sword free. 

The creature was far from finished. Its oozing form slipped up his arm, further and further until it had simply swallowed the lalafell whole as the rest of them could do little more than look on in horror. There was a suspended moment in which it seemed all of them wavered, frozen in shock and disbelief. Those that remained were fairly new to the Company. They hadn’t yet lost a comrade on a job. They hadn’t come back with any less than they had started out with. Comfortable and sure in their successes. Koh was the first to shake himself into action, calling up aether as he spun around, his steps light as he dodged the creature. With the miqo’te distracting it, Aislinn hurried to reload her weapon, letting out a string of curses, everything under the sun and then some, as her shaking hands struggled to fit the rounds into the chamber. Each of the creature’s unholy bellows and screams causing her to flinch in reply. 

The fight was a punishing reminder that tested each of them sorely as they tried to keep up the momentum, to work together, to press their advantage. With each mask that they destroyed, the voidsent grew smaller until at last, with one final punch from Aiswyda the last mask cracked and fell away. As the powerful Roegadyn blasted the last mask off the voidsent, the beast withered on the ground as it started to shrink until it was nothing but a small little slime, squishing around until it finally burst into nothing.

Finally, quiet. The weight on Aiswyda’s heart had lifted, but something heavier had taken its place. The voidsent had just...dispersed, and the lalafell was nowhere to be seen. Aislinn dropped her firearm to her side, heart still hammering, knees weak. After a moment to collect herself, she slipped her gun back into place. Sucking in lungfuls of air, she slid down the hill to the others, relieved that it was over but still not quite back to rights. 

"Nazyl." she said blankly. "What about Nazyl." 

Aiswyda knelt down and felt the ground, searching for some sign of Nazyl. A hair, his sword - anything. But he was gone, and Aiswyda felt very, very small.

Y'ahn Tsunhe frantically looked about for the missing lalafell. "I... I don't see him anywhere!"

G'lewra’s snowy ears flicked in response to the mercenaries’ obvious discomfort as she drew closer. "Fret not, my dears, I'll find him in no time and bring word back as soon as I do." she said gently as she offered the group a warm smile to ease them all. "I'm still able to sense his aether so he's still around, I just have to locate him where this voidsent has sent him off to, never fear as I'm quite skilled in aether knowledge so I'll be able to find him in no time." 

Koh looked up from where he sunken down to the ground, head lowered to his knees as he collected his breath and fought back tears. "Wait, he's...not dead?" 

Aiswyda jumped a little, still in fight or flight mode, tunnel vision and all. But she took some comfort in the Seeker’s words “Ah..Aye. There isn’t much I can do now anyway. No use lingering in this dark place,” she responded, though her words sounded a bit hollow.

His aether could still be sensed. That was something. The tightness in Aislinn's chest eased a bit as she gave Aiswyda a concerned glance. The Roegadyn sounded how she herself felt. Hollow. Empty. 

"We'll find him. We will." she said quietly to Aiswyda, trying to reassure both her friend and herself at the same time. She nodded to G'lewra. "Please...send word as soon as you find something." she said, trying to lend her words life she didn’t feel.

There was nothing left to do now but make their way back to Heartwood and give their report. A wordless exchange of somber glances said that not one of them was looking forward to that task. 

(To be continued!)

[lettersnorth]

The Crystal Man Pt. II

The small band of Heartwood’s mercenaries stood in a collected huddle at the edge of Witchdrop, staring down into the shadowy depths with a variety of expressions on display. Most of them the grim sort. Tracking their quarry through the frozen land had been enough to set several teeth on edge. A party of Seekers, Seawolves, Plainsfolk and Ala Mhigans, not one of them had ever known a cold like this. Even now, Aislinn edged closer to the arcane fire Khora had called forth into his hand. What had begun as a sputtering flame grew stronger the more composed the Seeker became. It was strong enough now to radiate a gentle heat. 

“Damn this frosted place." Y’ahn muttered. 

"Bloodeh h-hells ye can feel the void's chill....ye sure he’s down there?" Nazyl shivered as his small frame leaned over as far as he dared to gaze down into the depths. 

“Void? Like...ghosts?" Aiswyda stuttered. She had only heard of this place before, but figured all the rumors around it were just that. Standing here now though, it definitely felt haunted.

"Any Elezen that decided to willingly wander down there wouldn't exactly be 'sane' in my book." Aislinn noted as she tucked her hands under her arms. “Not with this place’s history.” 

Nazyl nodded, not lifting his gaze from the silent dark below. “This place is a breedin' ground fer 'em. Long time ago as it were, when Ishgard was less....acceptin', they'd throw anehone even accused o' hereseh down this hole."

Aiswyda turned to Aislinn with a worried glance, looking to her to figure out if she should be nervous or not. Catching the Seawolf’s eye, all Aislinn could do was shrug. The lalafell wasn’t wrong. Though there was little they could do about the Drop’s fabled history. If their man was down there, they either went after him or forgo the contract. 

"Witchdrop certainly does have a dark history. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if all that negative energy decided to hang around. If the man's down there, we should be careful." she told Aiswyda in all honesty. She saw little point in sugar coating it. 

There was talk of sending half the party down to investigate but in the end, no one was willing to be the cowardly sort that stayed behind while their compatriots did the hard work, so one by one, they slid down the embankment to a small ledge that ran down into the Drop’s depths. The world of white above disappeared the further the group descended, the darkness settling heavy and oppressive on them all as chatter slowly fell away until eventually they moved in wordless silence. 

N’yami reached the chasm floor first and soon held up a hand that brought the rest of them to a halt. Eyes and ears straining through the gloom it soon became apparent they weren’t alone in the echoing depths. With a flick of her hand, N’yami pointed out the muted form of a duskwight, crouched down, picking at something in the snow. Edges of movement just catching enough light to make out the figure. 

“Well. That’s a bit out of place.” she murmured. 

Several of their number followed her gaze and watched as the duskwight eventually uncovered a frozen corpse and hefted it over his shoulder.  

"The hells? Is he grave robbin'?” Nazyl sputtered in surprise. “Though I can't say those here would have a peaceful rest, but that don't mattah. OI!" He called out. Subtlety wasn't his forte.

The elezen swiftly looked up at the group, and approached with a smile. From a brief glance, he looked completely fine, and seemed to radiate a comforting sort of heat in the chilly weather. A detail, that while tempting to this group of warm climate folk, was nevertheless disconcerting. 

“Ah, what a large group of people! What brings you down here?” The stranger said, still hefting the frozen corpse upon his shoulders with ease. 

Nazyl quickly scanned the man's face. He didn't seem like he had crystal in or around him, "'Scuse us, what're ye doin' with that bodeh there?"

“These poor victims don’t deserve a shallow grave of snow and ice. Sometimes I come by to give them a proper burial, away from Witchdrop.”

The group passed each other a handful of looks that said down to a one, none of them was put at ease by this explanation. Nor were they sure of what to make of the man’s altogether calm and rational demeanor. This wasn’t the usual state in which they found those who had become crystal tainted and it set them off their footing. As Nazyl continued to converse with the strange man, N’yami turned to the rest of them, her ruby eyes glittering in the darkness. 

"Is that the person we're looking for?" she asked. 

Khora shrugged. "I don't know? Is he covered in crystal? Or is that snow?"

"I...Well, the intel does say we're looking for an elezen. And I'm assuming that not many people come down here for fun, so...yes?" Aiswyda ventured. 

"They might send someone down here to clean up corpses from time to time?" Y’ahn proposed. 

Aislinn reached up and quietly slid the gun from her back, regardless.

Koh followed suit, keeping his hands on his weapons, ready if need be, though he did turn back to the man, waiting for a lull in the conversation before asking, "Seen anything suspicious down here? Looking for an individual, would have seemed...out of sorts."

“To be honest, you lot are the most suspicious thing I’ve seen all week!” The elezen laughed, and strangely, the air grew warmer as he did so. “Though I suppose, there was that group earlier, that came down just to ask me how I was feeling. Otherwise, it’s the usual. Just a few like minded folks, but we mostly keep to ourselves.”

Khora ears fell over his head.  He was beginning to grow impatient, a feeling expressed by that furrow in his brow.  "No one in their right mind would come down here to 'see how someone is feeling.'  And how long have you been down here?  Long enough for two separate parties to venture down here?"

The man, who offered up the name Ifoux, dodged the question. In fact, he seemed very apt at dodging most of their questions. Something that soon grated on the more hot blooded among them. One heated argument and a report of gun fire later, the man hurriedly tried to make peace, smoothing the way by offering to continue this conversation back at his hut, where it was assuredly warmer than the depths of the chasm. He led the group back to his home in the wilderness where he made his living as a hunter. A hunter who apparently felt called upon to plumb the depths of Witchdrop and bring up the bodies from time to time. 

After hastily burying the retrieved corpse in a freshly dug grave, the elezen ushered them all into his home though he continued to nervously look back now and again at Khora’s gunblade. Khora, for his part, was now quiet. Listening. Piercing silver eyes refused to leave Ifoux as less and less the Seeker trusted the elezen.

They all huddled around the small hut’s cooking fire as Ifoux poured them each a cup of hot pine tea. Several of their number politely refused but Aislinn wordlessly accepted a cup. Though she had no intention of drinking it, she let her freezing hands curl around the warmth it provided as the conversation continued, each one of them trying and failing to pin down the wily man who was either completely clueless to the strange heat he was putting off or he knew very well that it wasn’t natural and was doing his level best to fend them off. The last thing one wished to be this close to Ishgard was unnatural. 

Nazyl quirked a brow at the man. "Have ye always lived here then?”

Ifoux took a dried karakul haunch off from a dangling string, and tossed it into a pot. “I’ve lived here for as long as I remember. It’s a simple life, hunting and living off the land.” He tossed in some garlic and popotos into the stewpot alongside the karakul. “...though things have been a bit odd, as of late.”

"So we've heard. What's the odditehs ye've heard about?"

“Something is...grave robbing my makeshift cemetery. The entire body goes missing, and all I’m left with is a hole. At this rate, eventually my cemetery will just be a collection of deep ditches.” The elezen stopped stirring, and looked down in defeat. “No tracks. It always happens at night sometime though. I’ve tried staying up to catch the graverobber, but I can never seem to stay up the entire time.” Ifoux looked at everyone with hopeful eyes. “You lot are adventurers right? Perhaps you could help.”

Aislinn North slid a questioning glance N'yami's way before looking back to the Elezen with a considered gaze. "Suppose...we could see our way to doing that." she spoke up. 

Honestly, this entire venture was turning odder by the moment. Why not lie in wait for a graverobber to boot?

(To be continued!)