The Eyes Burn in the Dark [Maegon, Malemar, Winter, Astrea]

[Astrea Rose Griffin]

Astrea watched as the light from a lantern flooded the cave showed her surroundings. In the middle of the cave was a bonfire. “Someone else has been here, but the entrance was closed off.” She spoke still keeping her hand on the edge of the cave to keep her balance. “Who would want to trap themselves inside of a cave?” She wondered once again first looking to Rovan and then Winter and the other followers. She felt the cold of the cave surround her and she shivered a little. The combination of wet clothes and cold was not appealing it you could tell by her trembling finger tips. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and warm herself. “So, do we go farther?” She asked her teeth chattering a little from the cold.

[Maegon]

After smiling back at Astrea with a "you're welcome", Maegon put his stuff back in his bags, and while he was at it he checked if he wasn't missing anything. Thankfully, he wasn't, so he went on to check what Rovan, Winter and Astrea were so puzzled about. The cave really was dark and cold, and with the humid air from the rain, Maegon couldn't help as a shiver made its way up his spine. He noticed as everyone looked to the remains of a fire, and had some ideas of what it could be. None of them involved them leaving perfectly healthy. As his eyes started darting around the rocky formation, he started producing some res on his palms and a little above his wrist. He was almost ready to learn another element, but producing still took two to three minutes, and he didn't want to be caught defenseless. He'd be walking a bit slower, but hopefully no one would notice.

[Rovan Dermane]

Something else broke the silence. The adventurers could hear a mumbling in the cave, sounding as if someone were speaking unintelligiable words. Rovan looked at his companions first, to see if the sound could come from them. Then he turned with his lantern to look towards a huddled silhoutte, sitting up against one of the rocky walls. The man was surrounded by darkness, the shadows concealing his physical traits from the torchlight. After more intent listening, Rovan could make out some words - a phrase the man seemed to repeat constantly. "The eyes burn in the dark, the eyes burn in the dark,--" It was unclear whether the man was aware of their presence or oblivious to it.

[Astrea Rose Griffin]

Astrea stayed close beside Winter and Rovan feeling slightly scared of the whole scenery. It was very peculiar and spooky in a way, but when they found the man huddled in a corner it only added to more of the suspense. She saw how a shadow seemed to shade him over not allowing them to see his entire facial features and she also heard the mumbling whispers come from him. “The eyes burn in the dark.” She repeated after listening to the man. “What does he mean by that?” She asked in a hushed whisper to whoever was standing beside her. Everything seemed strange and she could feel her heart rate begin to rise as she watched the man rocking back and forth as if he had been driven mad. Her pulse pounded in her ears like a drum and she wondered if her fellow travelers could hear her heart as well.

[Maegon]

It took a bit longer for Maegon to react to the talking silhouette. He was more focused on producing res, but when he saw Rovan and Astrea move their heads, he turned his attention to the voice, the transparent liquid dripping every once in a while from his fingers. The eyes burn in the dark, the man was saying, and Maegon found himself repeating that sentence under his breath. It didn't sound like a good thing; on the other hand, it was creepily ominous, as if an ancient evil monster was lurking around, waiting for its next meal. Maegon was getting scared, and was doing a very poor job at hiding it. "Rovan? I'm not sure whose eyes he's talking about, but keep everyone close to the light, just in case." Maegon tried to say it jokingly, to ease the atmosphere, but he wasn't sure it worked. He was being serious though: having your eyes on fire didn't seem a pleasant experience.

[Rovan Dermane]

The man started to arose, much to the tension of the group of adventurers. Scrambling to his feet with the shadows dancing over him made his figure seem twisted, contorted with some inner agony. He mumbled another incomphrensinbly phrase with a voice hoarse from lack of drinking. His face seemed covered by patches of some sort of fungus and in the light his white pupils were revealed, eyes damaged by long-spent darkness. His clothes were a ragged mess of stitches, leather and skin. The lantern uncovered a glint of steel that shined in his right hand from the light. His hand was knuckled around the hilt of a dagger-shaped blade, uplifted and ready for use. He started to approach them, with surprising speed given his stumbling steps. Rovan stepped backwards with his lantern behind the others, feeling the sense of terror deep in his gullet. The intent of the madman seemed rather clear. OOCIt would seem Winter and Malemar have abandoned us, unfortunately. I suppose the three of us must do.

[Astrea Rose Griffin]

As the stranger stood and reviled a dagger in his hand Astrea staggered back a little feeling fear in her heart. This man had obviously been drove into madness, but since she had left her horse outside with her bags she had nothing to arm herself with. She glanced over at Rovan and also saw him walk back to avoid this stranger and then she turned to her other side to look at Maegon with almost pleading eyes. There was nothing that she could do, and not even Rovan seemed to know what to do. She hopped that maybe this man could do something to help them.

[Maegon]

Maegon was glad he had been keeping an eye on the man. If he found the half-dead man standing up and holding a dagger out of nowhere, he'd have panicked; since he didn't, he was already prepared to use the res he had accumulated. Still not wanting to use magic this soon, he hesitated. But since it didn't seem like anyone else was able to fight back, Maegon resigned. Quickly focusing the res he had produced at the palm of his hand, he made an orb of the substance hover a centimeter or two from his hand and transformed it to a hard rock, the size of a small fist. With a movement of his arm, the rock flew rapidly, headed for the chest of the insane man. OOCI'll leave it to you Rovan, to decide if it hits or not, since you're modding.

[Rovan Dermane]

Rovan watched wide-eyed as the sorcerer revealed his true powers. A sound ball of rock was conjured in his palm, as if he had taken the large chunk out of the very cavern walls that surrounded them. Only he did not, Rovan had seen clearly that he had created it from some substance of his own. Maegon willed the rock to fly through the room, and it struck true on the man. It collided with his chest, violently throwing the man to the floor, his back clashing with the hard stones and rubble. A clink of metal rang afterwards as it hit the cavern floor. The man lay there, huddled and groaning in pain. Rovan started with disbelief at the man, then looked at Maegon. For once, he seemed to lack words to the situation. Malemar and Winter seemed to shocked to react, or truly comprehend the situation as well.

[Astrea Rose Griffin]

As Astrea was staring at Maegon right as he had produced a good chunk of rock in his hand, but it wasn’t from a natural resource. He had used magic and this made Astrea wide eyed with amazement. She watched as he threw the rock at the insane stranger sending the man back into the rocky wall of the cave. As she saw his weapon fall to the ground she quickly scrambled and bent down grabbing the dagger by its handle and then stepped back again pointing the dagger awkwardly at the stranger not sure if he had been knocked unconscious. “W-what do we do?” She asked stuttering a little her hand shaking a little from fear.