It was late afternoon, and Kade was in the middle of rigging a rabbit trap when she realized that the entire wood had gone silent. Where there had moments ago been birdsong and the skittering of tiny feet across the fallen leaves, now there was only the sound of the wind in the trees. But as she looked around she was shocked to find two large rabbits sitting back on their haunches, looking off into the distance, not event their noses twitching, completely still, and as she looked up into the branches above, several birds were doing the same: perched motionless, staring off in the same direction of the two rabbits. Kade slowly stood and turned in the direction all were staring, but at her very first step, the forest leapt to life once more. She waiting a moment to see what else would happen; the forest continued in the way it always had.... Kade gathered her things, and took off into the distance to investigate.
"It would be hard not to," she replied flatly. "I've been in the deader parts of the world and seen nature at its quietest, but I've never seen animals just stop that way." She continued walking in the direction she had been walking, expecting that Goose would follow.
As she passed him Goose fell in step beside her, his ears twitching about as he listened to the woods around them. "You are right. I cannot say that I have ever seen everything simply stop. Even when the Beyond was causing trouble the woods would get quiet or panicked, but nothing like this."
"It is odd isn't it?" The fae intruded into the two convo. She had been listening to the two from a perch in on of the trees. "The spirits in the graveyard had been something simlar. They will do they normal banter, but will freeze and stare off occasionally like the critters have. Same directiom too." She said nodding lightly at the frozen bun.
A pale deer with dark-rimmed eyes and ruffled fur spotted the group of familiar faces from afar. He pronked over to them, the black strip of hair down his neck flapping in the breeze. On the final hop towards his friends he shapeshifted midair back into his usual uordeq form, to greet them after another long season of being away from home. "Heya, what's been going on?" Ayrin spoke in a slightly hoarse voice. The duskling spotted Kade's rabbit trap on the forest floor and the two lapines sitting in their rigid position not far away from it. He had noticed the same behavior in other deer somewhat on his seasonal departure from Jastrey..
((I was think the same thing goose lol))
Poppy give the other druid a light nod. "Well we arent exactly sure, Aryin. Your guess is probably as good as ours" she said with a shake of her head.
Poppy popped her attention to Kade. "Well yes, I think it is the fastest way get to the bottom of this quirky activity." She said with a light nod and smirk. "It looks like these are pointing to somewhere in this mountain-ish area. The spirits had the same kinda directional gaze." she said. "Hopefully the direction in what they are looking will narrow up some, the mountains are quite a bit of ground to cover." The fae said with a light sigh.
Goose approaches the pile of stones and shifts out of his Wild Form to kneel beside the pile.
"Looks like an explosion of some kind. Kade and Ayrin, see what you can find out with the plants. Poppy, I recall you are also an enchanter, care to give me a hand with these stones?"
He turns his gaze to the pile of rocks. [Enchanting 88]
Kade glared at the dryad's back before investigating clockwise around the perimeter. It seemed fairly obvious that some sort of explosion had occurred. She glanced briefly over the plants (Forager 53). Having reached the other side of the clearing, she climbed a tree to watch what would transpire.
[Sneak] Poking his head out from behind the mountain rocks, the green clad Empyrean notices some familair faces [Unstealths], "Ay there lads, nice to see some freindly faces." Noticing his bow was still at the ready he decides to put it away and lower his guard. "Glade I'm not the only one to notice something amiss, for a second i thought it was my mind playing tricks on me again." Looking over to the green hair'd cat-tree-man "Whats up wiht the rocks mate?"
"I am not sure, Fooker," Goose replies without taking his eyes off the pile of stones. He had picked up a familiar feeling from the stones and waited for Poppy to remove her hand before moving several stones from the top of the pile aside to get a better look at the glow within the pile. After several stones had been set aside his eyes fell upon what he could only assume was a Golem's name stone.
"I have only ever seen one name stone before, but I have a suspicion that we are looking at Rune. "
For those of you near enough, a large crystal lays encased in what appears to be the remnants of an armored stone hand. The crystal is mostly a deep blue with red fading into purple streaks running through it. There are various engravings all over the crystal, but four large runes are dominate on the front. there is a faint indentation of a symbol over the top of these characters however.
Quiet as the wind, you hear: "You have found this one"
Kade grew impatient with her brother's silence. "Goose! I know you heard me. What makes you say it's Rune?" She pulled an arrow from her quiver and prepared herself should the need arise. Everyone had their attention focused on the pile of rocks; someone had to watch their backs.
Poppy hand shoots away from the stone a firm frown placed upon her face. "It not only, Rune." The fae said flatly. "The memories are a lot more violent the Rune ever showed to be. But the magic feels like his. Certainly it is" The fae said with a nod to Kade. The fae peaked over curiously looking over the inscripted stones. (Translate). The fae's head shoots up at the whisper in the wind. "What kinda mess did you get yourself into?" She muttered to the stones.
"Call it a hunch, and he just spoke." He had never seen a golem in this state and certainly had no idea how to proceed. He observed as Poppy studied the stones.
"Rune, now that we have found you, what are we supposed to do?" His thoughts turned to the one he had fought. "And is Headhunter still with you?"
"You will seek out Malkonius. He can help this one re-animate its body. That Headhunter is no more. Assimilated. It filled in the cracks of this one." emits faintly from the crystal in the dryads hand. The red steaks of the name pulse as Rune speaks of Headhunter, as if to show where the repairs had been made.
"Mhmfp, I wonder what the effects of assimilating him will have on you." The fae said voice holding more curiosity then anything as she eyed the red spots.
"Yes, the dwarf he has fixed you before, I suppose." She said puffing her cheeks full of air before letting it out in a hefty sigh. "I will go fetch him from the tower. " shse said pickimg up one of his stone before giving a light nod to both Kade and Goose before heading off quickly.
A portal opens up, and through it steps Malkonius. He takes a look at the sad state of Rune, now just a pile of rocks on the ground. He then notices all of the others standing around, and takes a quick look around to see who else is here.
"Nice lil' group we've got goin' here, aye?" He then turns his gaze back to the would-be Golem scattered on the ground. "And you... looks like that one decided te 'divide by zero' again, eh? Or is this the reult o' Headhunter?" Realizing that their normal home has been broken up, Malkonius checks the ground around him to make sure he wouldn't be stepping on any of Rune's crabs... luckily it seems they aren't just scuddling about.
"So, tell me Rune. Howd'ya wanna go about fixin' yerself this time? Wanna do it here, or get yeh' back to the Tower first?" He glances back over to the group off to the side, and asks, "Hey - those of yeh more knowledable with enchantin', I'll likely be needin' yer help on this one. He was already unstable after we last fix'd em, and now that it seems like he's been all mixed up with Headhunter, it may prove to be difficult."
After a few minutes walking through the woods Kade can see the green-maned panther of Goose. He sat facing the direction of her travel.
"I wondered if you had noticed it."