faderift | Just a little adventure, really quick, in and out. Back before you know it.

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Just a little adventure, really quick, in and out. Back before you know it. | Closed

WHO: Glimmer, Abby, and Ellie
WHAT: Three girls get assigned to do a job together and two of them get along two cats in a sack. Surely nothing can go wrong.
WHEN: Sometime in mid-Guardian/mid-Pluitanis
WHERE: The Fallow Mire
NOTES: Violence done to zombies/demons at some point; possible discussion of past traumas and conflicts. Swearing. Lots of swearing.

Glimmer had been excited to finally get assigned a little 'project' with Ellie and Abby. At least, that had been the first reaction--something to do with two people she liked! Then after that initial excitement had faded, there'd been a grim realization that Ellie and Abby got along about as well as fire and water.

Maybe this wouldn't be so fun. The feeling of apprehension had grown and grown as the date for their departure had loomed closer and closer until at last, early one morning, they had loaded up Blanche and Artichoke with rations, camping gear, and everything else they'd need for a jaunt to the the Fallow Mire. Surprisingly, Abby and Ellie while still tense didn't seem on the verge of killing each other at the drop of a pin, which was a relief. Naturally, though, Abby had to ride behind Glimmer.

As they finally had made landfall, Glimmer was taking a moment to stretch herself out as she surveyed the marshy island that was going to become their base of operations. It was relatively flat at least, about 100 meters long and 20 across. The edges of the swampy spot were muddy (everything was muddy, but it was extra muddy) and twisted swamp trees sprouted, offering shelter and casting looming shadows that got worse as the afternoon dragged on.

Tugging the panniers off of Blanche, she turned to look back at the other two setting up camp.

"We might need to switch up who rides which griffon. That or make sure they get some good rest..." She gave Blanche a good pat on the flank.

"So, money on the carts just being abandoned or whether we actually run into anything?"

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Blanche comes to the rescue of her rider with aplomb, striking at zombies with claw and beak and helping to give Glimmer more space. Glim backs herself up towards the griffon, blasting away with staff and spell until one of the corpses trying to close on her seem eager to get back up again. She leans against the griffon and takes a breath, burying her face against its fur and feathers. The others are speaking up, indicating they're still in one piece.

"...Yeah. Yeah. Are there more?" She asks, exhausted and soaked by the rain. Good thing she brought a spare undershirt.

It's over quickly, going from crackling blasts of magic and rough ragged breaths to the chilly silence other than the hissing rain around them.

All the corpses are dead again, laying inert in the mud, and Ellie gives a shudder, kicking one back into the swamp. It bubbles ominously, and Ellie glares after it.

"I'm not seeing anything else," she confirms, heading over to Glimmer to lay a hand on her shoulder, reassuring.

"Abby, where'd those things come from? Anything trigger it?"

Yeah, what the fuck are they supposed to do with all of these bodies. Abby nudges a skull with her boot cautiously, and parts it completely from the spine. The sight makes her feel kind of sick. The skeletons have a stink, probably from all the mud, and rot.

"No clue." She's still staring at the skull. The wide, gaping mouth, full of teeth. "Appeared out of nowhere. My shard didn't even ping." So it's nothing to do with a Rift. It's just a... normal walking murderous skeleton.

A frown. "Maybe they saw the fire." She's reluctant to put it out. It's cold out here.

Glimmer slumps against Ellie a little, despite the dampness induced by the rain.

"It better not be the fire. I need the fire. Ugh." She looks down at herself.

"I'm never gonna be dry again, I can feel it," Glimmer mutters and gives a miserable groan as if she might want to just flop over in the mud right here.

"Half of them don't even have eyes though! How can they see anything?!"

"Mmm."

Ellie curls her arm around the back of Glimmer's shoulders, holding her against her side, pressing her lips together. She's gone serious. Even though this is kind of ridiculous, something about this doesn't sit right with her.

"If it was the fire, then why didn't they come earlier?"

"Could be drawn to magic."

They've got enough of it between the three of them; Abby supposes her shard might count in this instance. She frowns, squinting terribly in the half-light, thinking.

Gives up almost immediately. Because really, who cares.

Roughly, "D'you think we should move?" She really fucking doesn't want to move, but... if there are more in the swamp, waiting for them to lull into a false sense of security again.

"If there more they'd have come by now, I think," Glimmer says, though she doesn't sound the most confident in her argument. Maybe it's the whole half-dressed in the rain thing. She leans heavily against Ellie, already feels exhausted. She's sure she'll feel worse in the morning.

"And I am not looking for another dry patch in the fucking dark and the rain. Fuck that."

Ellie waffles between the two, because both choices have merits. Ultimately, there's no guarantee that they'll find anywhere safer or more defensible.

"Yeah. Finding another camp now... we'd just have the same problem."

Even if what attracted them is a third option; that someone is sending the corpses after them on purpose. If they stay, all they'll have to work with are what they've already destroyed.

"... m'up, though. You two get some sleep."

You really think someone would do that? Just go out into the Fallow Mire and send corpses on purpose?

Abby's fine to stay here, but not to go to bed. Ellie's offer is... nice, in a way (eugh) but Abby refuses to see past the unfairness of, "I just started my watch."

Besides, there's no way she's going to actually sleep any time soon. She's really keyed up. "I still have a couple hours left."

It's possible that this is something people do on a regular basis, Abby!

"...No. No, no no. We are not going to argue about who is staying on watch, it's still Abby's watch so she stays and we--" She tugs at Ellie.

"Are going to try to get some sleep because otherwise, I am going to be absolutely miserable in the morning if I had to stay up an extra couple hours while you two argue about who's tougher or whatever."

Ellie starts to grumble back, but Glimmer breaks in to stop the fight before it starts, and Ellie gives the squashy ground a somewhat sullen look instead.

"Fine," she says flatly, in a tone that makes it clear that she'll listen, even if she doesn't like it.

All told, it's the thought of Abby and Glimmer getting the tent together that has her hackles prickling, so- this might be for the better.

She allows herself to be tugged back into the tent.

This makes the eventual watch handover with Ellie predictably awkward and grouchy, but Abby can be thankful for falling into a half-sleep the moment she gets back into the tent and into her sleeping bag, flat on her back with eyes closed. And it's not a nightmare that rouses her hours later, but Glimmer getting up for her watch. She's hazily aware of her switching places in the tent with Ellie but she goes back to sleep and doesn't think about it, waking suddenly with a sharp intake of breath in the early morning.

Jaw hurts. Must have been grinding her teeth all night. She relaxes it once she notices, pushing up onto one elbow with a sigh.

Breakfast is a little sullen. Everybody's tired.

Abby picks at her food. In the plain light of day the corpses that didn't sink back into the marches are wet and disturbing, draped brokenly around the edges of their campside. They might have kept other things away from them for the rest of the night, actually, like some kind of fucked up warning line.

Blandly, through a mouthful of porridge (why she's still choosing to eat while she looks at the things is beyond her), "I think I know why the carts are being abandoned."

Glimmer is in a terrible mood this morning, daylight (and some mild easing of the rain) not seeming to help. She's seen to the gryphons and is now slouched over in damp clothes, eating the bland road-porridge made from ground grains and a few dried pieces of fruit carefully hidden from the damp. She'd slept like shit and all she wants this morning is a nice strong cup of tea or maybe coffee. Sadly, the discovery that her bag of tea has been soaked through at some point during the journey and therefore ruined has made her even grumpier.

"...Why?" She asks, eyes boring into Abby like a laser beam. She's ignoring the bodies, thanks very much.

Everybody's tired. Everybody's pissy. This is the part they don't show in those adventure stories. The grumpy as fuck breakfasts where nobody wants to be here, and they're surrounded by corpses. Even the griffons seem deflated.

Ellie doesn't respond to Abby; just lets Glimmer field this one. She hasn't been eating much, but she stuffs her mouth with a big section of bannock just to make sure she doesn't have to weigh in.

Wow. Tough crowd.

"... Because of the corpses."

Never mind.

She eats the rest of her shitty breakfast in silence, soaking in the collective mood, and thinks longingly of her bed at home, the dog lying at the end of it. All she has to do is get through today.

Case in point. Perhaps it's more helpful for her to add, "I'll get the tent packed up in five." She only has a few more bites of this porridge left in her. The texture of it is gumming her mouth up, bleugh.

"Okay, yeah. You're right. I... actually hadn't thought about that all," Glimmer says with a touch of genuine contrition in her voice, because it's true. She hasn't thought of anything because she is so fucking tired. She groans and rubs at her eyes, nods again.

"I'll start packing the gryphons up, I guess. Or I can help with the tent, if you want to handle the gryphons, Ellie?" She forces another mouthful of bland breakfast into her mouth. Soon they'll be back at the Gallows with proper food and proper beds and proper baths, Gods willing.

Ellie manages not to snort into her porridge, but she doesn't fully manage to hide her smile at Glimmer.

"Yeah, I can do that."

It'll give her a second away from Abby- but she's finding that she minds that less and less. It's familiar, this.

"What direction are we headed in? I'm all turned around."

"Um,"

It's so not easier by the light of the day, everything looks the same. Wet and dreary and full of mud. Abby treks reluctantly back over to the corpses to have a look at how they've fallen, check for tracks. She determines, "Probably this way. Looks like they were coming up from over there."

She points out a reaching torso that didn't fully make it out of the muck. Probably got a sparkle bomb in the chest or something.

"Well, let's get packed up and check it out," Glimmer says, gulping down the rest of her breakfast and rising to her feet.

"Sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can be in the air back home, right?" She stomps towards the tent and ducks inside to start rolling up her sleeping bag and other accoutrements for the trip. She wants out of this cold, miserable swamp as soon as possible, thanks.

"Right," Ellie says, like anything is ever that easy, and then puts her back into breaking camp. It helps that she and Abby are both experienced in making a quick getaway, and Glimmer's no slouch about being in an active warzone, either.

As they start out, Ellie touches the side of Artie's bridle.

"If you want, I can fly up, see if there's anything to see."

They'd vetoed the idea a bit earlier, mainly because being in the sky could leave them vulnerable, and it would split the party. Now that they're flying even more blind though... it could be worth it.

"Don't jinx it," she mutters, still squinting at half-formed marks in the wet, dark sludge. Kinda hard to track but she thinks she's got it...

Ellie's offer gets a note of approval, and the nod of Abby's head. "Yeah. Good idea." Useful, to get an idea of what they're working with exactly. For emotional reasons also she'd love to know exactly how deep into the mud they're about to go so she can prepare for that.

Abby is more than used to this, but that doesn't mean she has to enjoy it... so...

"D'you wanna take him up now, and Glimmer and I can pack everything away, get moving."

"Yeah, go ahead and go up--" Glimmer is already stepping out of the tent with her pack ready to go.

"I'll get the rest of your stuff packed up unless you got it already, Ellie. It'll be fine." Even if Glimmer doesn't like the idea of splitting up, she likes the idea of leaving the swamp even more.

"Abby, let's get the tent."

"You bet."

Ellie sets her jaw, grabbing up her bow and swinging into the saddle. She takes a moment to settled Blanche, who's riled and wants to come with them, but she can't let her take off when Abby and Glimmer might need her in order to get out of dodge if they find something.

If she finds something.

Artichoke springs into the air, shaking the mist off his wings and giving a screech before he powerfully beats them up and into the sky, enough to get a better view on this place. It's ruins, mostly, where they can see signs of life. Old burned-out farms, signs of dilapidation and decay. There are the remains of what look like a small village, and Ellie shakes off the shivers before moving on. It's a prime zone where there'd be infected back home. She can come back to that.

She follows the road that's barely there, getting glimpses of it where it peeks out from underwater and badly rotted bridges.

She doesn't go far, maybe a few miles, before she happens to fly over the right place. A break in the foliage shows her what look like the remains of a merchant cart.

Carefully, Ellie circles it once, then marks the direction and distance, flying out in one wider circle, looking for signs of anything else that might be concerning.

Nothing. Or maybe she just can't see through all the green.

"All right, bud," Ellie murmurs, patting Artichoke's neck. "Let's head back."

It's pure luck that they get back into a line of sight before the attack comes.

It's magic, not an arrow. That may be the only thing that saves them, because they hear the crackling of a lightning ball before they see it, and Ellie has flown Artichoke through enough warzones to be used to a sudden attack from the ground.

He barrel-rolls out of the way, and Ellie holds on, ducking against him as another blast comes soon after.

"Shit!"

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Just a little adventure, really quick, in and out. Back before you know it. | Closed

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