A hint of madness in the air [Open]

[Papus]

Timestamp 7th Spring 510AV


It was a dark wet and starless night. The moon appeared from behind a cloud and cast a reflection on the small tarn.

Papus sniffed at the air. “mmm” he thought “yum yum yum” he whispered quietly in his deep crackly voice. It sounded more like a growl than fully formed words.

Moving swiftly despite his bulky size Papus bounded down the rocks towards the small tarn. “mmm yum yum plin yum” he said quietly. He skipped lightly over the rocks, and although he moved quickly he ran with a hunch.

He touched the hem of his dress and sniffed his fingers. “mmm yum tum” he said to himself.

He looked into the sky and saw the star. “ooottle” he whispered at the star. “oootle” replied the star in his head. “mmm” nodded Papus in reply to his own thought, agreeing fully with the command of oootle.

Papus sniffed at the air again. He could see them now. Though his keen eye could not quite make whoever it was out, they smelled nice, and Papus was very hungry. The figure slowly moved towards the tarn and knelt at the waters edge.

Papus crouched behind a rock, he clasped a hand to his mouth and stifled the laugh that was welling up inside. Damn he couldn’t stop it. He spluttered quietly to himself. He sniffed his fingers again in an effort to stop the laugh. It worked. He lay in wait. Waiting for the stars command.

[Maea Waydrop]

Maea knelt in the darkness and sighed. It was good to sit, even if her evening's work wasn't yet done. Cool wavelets lapped near her knees and for a moment she considered stripping right there and bathing herself in the chilled water. Only for a moment, though... it would foolish at best to expose herself to the cold in such a way, and suicidal at worst. So instead she knelt and closed her eyes, inhaling the clean evening breeze.

After a moment of silence, she went back to work, finishing construction on her rough-made fish-weir. As she worked, she tried to clear her mind of anything but the task at hand.

It didn't work.

She hated being alone for so long. The last caravan she had traveled with had parted ways with her as they headed Northwest, toward Taldera, planning to make Avanthal by Summer. She hoped to find another soon, but so far, the only other travelers she had come across seemed to be little more than brigands and highwaymen, from whom she steered clear.

Somewhere, a noise startled her out of her reverie. She looked around, first across the lake, then back toward her camp, where Cobweb already slept soundly. Nothing.

Breathing deeply, she willed herself to relax.

[Papus]

"mmmkkk" growled Papus. He peered from behind the rock. A vrroobie, and a gir. For a moment Papus became lucid and wondered what he was doing running around the wilderness on a night such as this. His lucidity lasted seconds.

He crept out slowly from behind the rock, trying further to stiffle his laugh. He stroked the vvrooobi which slept in front of him.

The girl looked straight at him.He stopped, not breathing. She seemed to look right through him. The star spoke to him in his mind. He had to eat the vrrobie then the girl. He asked the star in his mind if he could eat the girl first but the star told him no, it had to be be the Vroobie first. He stiffled a second laugh and licked his cheek.

In an instant he was upon the horse, biting first at its flank and then moving to scratch at its eyes. The girl sat up startled...

[Maea Waydrop]

In the darkness, Cobweb squealed in terror, and Maea was on her feet without knowing how.

There was a ...thing... in her camp. Without thinking, she ran toward the whatever-it-was that was on Cobweb. The dappled Frostmarch kicked with his rear hooves, but Maea couldn't see if the thing was hit.

"Get off him!" Her scream echoed across the lake in a surreal sort of way. She hoped dearly it was just a wolf, something she could scare off. Ahead of her, Cobweb reared and lashed out with his hooves, squealing again as the thing tried to circle around to his head. "GET! GO!"

As she ran, she drew the longsword at her waist. After last week's encounter with a highway robber, she always kept it with her. Even sleeping. Gripping it's hilt so tightly her knuckles hurt, she barreled towards the thing, and her heart seemed to fall to her feet as she finally got a good look at it.

It was a living terror.

She fought to remain rational, though fear threatened to overwhelm her.

"GET AWAY!"

[Papus]

The creature snarled at the girl, and carried on biting the horse. The girl swung her sword at the creatures head but the creature moved out of the way, but loosening his grip on the horse the horse quickly got to its feet and ran off a little way into the scrub.

Papus turned and snarled at the girl again and rubbed his stomach. Then almost as suddenly as he had attacked he began to smile and made cooing noises at the girl.

He touched the hem of his dress once again and sniffed his fingers. Papus crouched on the floor and offered his fingers out to the girl, he made sniffing noises at her.

"oooble?" he asked in a raspy growl.

[Maea Waydrop]

Maea's heart pounded in her ears as the put herself between Cobweb and the thing. She held her sword in a guarding position in front of her, and reflexively began a benediction to Rhysol before catching herself. It was Rhysol that caused all the horrors in her life. Rhysol who had destroyed everything she loved.

A new fear clutched her as she stared at the thing; that the dark god had finally sent something to finish her off. It looked terrible enough to be one of his monsters...

"Oooble?" It growled.

...And crazy enough.

She looked at the hand it had reached out toward her, and searched for any marks of the dark deity. Finally, she met its eye.

"What... what do you want?" Her voice was shaky, but she continued nonetheless. "Who sent you?"

[Papus]

The girl spoke. Papus nodded sympathetically and pointed at the star. "ooble" it said.

Papus placed his hand in his pocket. He pulled it out again. He seemed to be offering the girl something.

[Maea Waydrop]

Maea followed the thing's gesture, but saw nothing save for the night sky. It didn't make any more aggressive moves, though Maea remained wary.

"Ooble?" She repeated carefully, hoping to keep the creature calm. Vaguely, she wondered how much it understood.

When the monster reached into its pocket, she braced for an attack, but relaxed fractionally as it withdrew something small and offered it to her. Slowly, slowly, she eased close enough to look at whatever it was the thing held.

[Papus]

Papus held the rotting eyeball out in his hand. "ooble" it said, quieter this time.

Papus sniffed at the eyeball. The star was not speaking to him, no orders now. He felt he could give this girl his eye and she would know what to do, maybe even put it back in for him. He held it out further towards the girl and pointed to an empty hole in his skull where the eye had obviously come from.

He held the eye out again, firmly...obviously wanting the girl to accept. Papus cooed with a soft growl.

[Maea Waydrop]

Behind her, Maea was aware of Cobweb fidgeting, and she wanted nothing more than to go to her horse, to care for and comfort him.

Maea swallowed fearfully as the eyeball came into view. She was disgusted, yes, but despite her revulsion, she forced herself to accept the grizzly memento hoping against hope that it did not carry any curse with it. Not, however, before reaching into her own pocket to retrieve a handkerchief. Terrible curses could be passed through some things, she knew, though not exactly how--so she was as careful as she could be. Thus protected, she inspected the thing.

Her hand only shook a little.

It was dry, but vaguely soft in her hand and she brought it closer to her face, trying to determine what its original color had been.

"It's a very nice ooble," she told the creature as she fought to keep her voice calm. "But I don't really need any more than the ones I have. You should keep it, in case you need it later." As she spoke, she forced herself to smile in a friendly sort of way.

She was about to hand it back when an idea struck her: the creature clearly expected her to do... something. Carefully, making a show of what she did, she folded her handkerchief around the grotesque body part. Daintily, as if preparing a precious gift, she gathered the edges of cloth together and bound it in a neat little bow-knot.

"Here, this should keep it, uh... safe."