player plot: the horror of sarrux's pass

[aberratic]

WHO: Caius, Gwen, Hermione, Jayce, Ness, Siorus, Stephen, Vanya (sumptus, elegiaque, reparo, pathlit, aberratic, wildered, portalling, wearyallalone)
WHAT: The Horrors Cometh
WHEN: Beginning of Harvestmere (October)
WHERE: Sarrux's Pass, outside Wycome
NOTES: OOC post here. TWs for body horror, NPC death, ghost town/apocalypse vibes, children in upsetting situations, and general horror stuff.

Characters

CAIUS

GWENAËLLE

HERMIONE

JAYCE

NESS

SIORUS

STEPHEN

VANYA

The residents of Sarrux's Pass, a small village tucked into the mountains of the Free Marches, have long held that their settlement used to be a bustling trade city where dwarves were as plentiful as humans and they had constant contact between the surface and the Deep Roads. These were assumed by the surrounding cities to be nothing more than fanciful legends for decades, but any long-time resident swore it was the truth, lost to time and "monsters in the deep."

Residents were finally vindicated a few months ago when an earthquake caused a landslide in the surrounding mountains, revealing a long-lost outlet from the Deep Roads. At first, residents of the pass were apprehensive, all too aware of the dangers posed by such an opening, but the longer they went without Darkspawn spilling from the entrance, the more eager they became to investigate.

Eventually, the bravest among them began to enter the Roads, in search of ore and artifacts. They were vindicated again, finding both, and Sarrux's Pass quickly became a magnet for treasure hunters, Lords of Fortune, historians, archaeologists, and anyone in search of a quick buck. Even in the face of the Venatori invasion of the Marches, the promise of fame and riches drew handfuls of people seeking their fortunes to the Pass. News from the area was steady, and filled with discoveries and success stories—as well as the brawls, backstabbing, and even the occasional murder that comes with any good gold rush town.

It's been a few months since the reveal of the Deep Roads entrance. News from Sarrux's Pass has slowed to a trickle, then a drip, and now, in the past weeks, nothing. The last message to make it out of the village three weeks ago said simply: "We weren't just right about the dwarves." The parchment was stained with an unidentifiable liquid—not water, not blood—which smelled of the sea.

Riftwatch has been tasked with investigating the village, with three goals: find out what happened to the residents, recover whatever valuables they can from the Deep Roads, and, if necessary, close the entrance again. There may be Venatori in the area, or Darkspawn, or territorial prospectors—without contact with the village, there's no way of knowing what Riftwatch may discover. © tessisamess

Comments

[pathlit]

Arm bent against his chest, Jayce worries the stone set in the leather cuff around his wrist. “I agree,” he replies, watching Ness and the children closely. “What about the other two villagers? Nowhere’s safe, but at least they’ll have shelter here.”

His eyes skew toward the corpse. The look says, We should get probably get rid of it, but his body language is lacking enthusiasm. Maybe the kids can be convinced to remain on the ground floor.

[aberratic]

While Stephen and Jayce whisper between themselves, Ness returns her focus to the children. She murmurs her questions to the eldest and slips into their mind, careful and discrete. As far as Jayce and Stephen can tell, there are no responses, but after a few minutes Ness stands, re-perfumes the handkerchief, and comes back to stand next to Stephen.

"They're young to know too much," she says softly, "but from what they saw—their parents stopped drinking out of the well in Solace. It was boarded up then, but re-opened again later, I don't think the village could find an alternate source of water. Whatever was in the well was... foul," she shudders at the memory of it, "but they didn't have a choice.

"A body, or a few bodies, showed up shortly after the well was unboarded, but after that their mother forbade them to leave the house. There was panic, they think, but they were kept inside and couldn't get a sense of any specifics. Just... strange noises, or eerie silences, and the smell of smoke, and charred meat.

"Some time ago, their mother woke them in the middle of the night. They heard screaming, they think, but she wouldn't explain it. She just locked them down here, said they could eat anything they wanted, but not to open the door for anyone but her, not even their father. They haven't seen her since. They don't know how long it's been, they couldn't tell time down here."

[portalling]

“Well. That’s bad. But at least we know a little more than we did before.”

Where are the kids’ parents now? The prospect doesn’t seem good. Strange crosses his arms, closing ranks to huddle together with Jayce and Ness to discuss.

“We can bring them with us when we leave, but in the meantime, we should investigate the well and get those villagers to tend to these two. Whether they stay down here, or upstairs. Maybe they can be convinced to move if it’s getting away from that thing.”

His medical verdict on the ogre soon follows, an easier thing to think on than those traumatised orphans: “It’s corrupted, mutated more than usual. Because it’s darkspawn, yes, but something else on top of that; those growths and extra limbs aren’t in any of the illustrations and reports I’ve seen before. Maybe another form of the taint? I’d recommend continuing to be careful touching anything in this village. No bare skin. Wear gloves.”