[Day 9, EN] Call of Darkness

[Reo]

Something had woken Reo...though he couldn't put a word on what precisely what was causing it. He had begun to dress and step out when he had been caught. The other in Spider were far more alert than the others in the camp. To his honest surprise...the others had chosen to join him under the simple excuse of "there's something out there calling to me"

[Reiko]

The biggest surprise perhaps was that not just the general Spider, but the champion herself joining. It perhaps shouldn't have been a big surprise, very few knew spiritual like Reiko within the Spider, so she was best placed to be able to assist. However, she had taken the hint that it could be dangerous, and armed herself. Instead of her usual walking stick, she used her Yari as her guide. Over her normal robes she wore her armour. Kanna would have likely tied her to a chair if she hadn't worn that after all.

"What did the calling say?" she asked as they got closer.

[Reo]

"It's not words, per se. It's almost like, like a chorus of larks in the threes. Like I have a thousand mouths gnashing and chomping their teeth in some kind of hunger." Reo frowns. "Does that make sense?"

[Canary]

Reo heard something from deeper in the cave. It was like that strange and chaotic chorus, but more focused, starting to coalesce. It encouraged him farther in, the sound sweet and abhorrent like the scent of half-rotten fruit.

Reiko, at the same time, heard a nightmarish screech that didn't reach Reo's ears in the same way that the odd song-like sound didn't reach hers. [Fear 3 roll to continue farther inside for Reiko]

[Kanna]

Kanna was there too, armored up and watchful. Place gave her the creeps. But no way in hell was Reiko going anywhere without her.

[Reiko]

The sound that came and washed over Reiko had her staking multiple steps back, tripping over Kanna as she did so.

"T-there is something very dark in this place. Very evil. It..." she looked somewhat panicked.

D9 EN fear 3 (TN15) roll.: 3d10o10k3+4 12

[Kanna]

Kanna's eyes widened at the noise. Her grip tensed, she reached out to hold Reiko's arm to support her. But at the least she was not afraid.

Fear resist void TN 20: 4d10o10k4+1 20

[Reo]

"What is it? It doesn't sound that way at all to me." Reo snuffs audibly, the scent like rotting fruit, yet somehow comforting. He doesn't notice the fear of the other Spider as he continues his stride to the cave entrance.

[Canary]

Such a difficult life you've led... the song seemed to wrap around him, intoxicating. Suffering at the hands of your fellows for something you could not help...

Kanna and Reiko can smell metallic tang of blood farther inside, mixed with something else. Something that smells like the deepest parts of the swamp you passed days before.

[Reo]

"That's right." Reo murmurs, taking another step. "No one. Not until-" Reo blinks, as if remembering something. The Spider hadn't given him two looks about his limp. They had come with him.

"There's a voice now" He calls back to those behind him. "And music."

[Canary]

And how long do you think that will last? How long until they turn on you?

Reo... We've waited for you here for so long.

[Kanna]

Kanna followed after Reo, an eyebrow raising as her arms crossed. "Whatever's goin' on here ain't good, Reo. You sure we should be pushin' forward here?"

[Reo]

"But if it's lingering there, it's a problem for everyone else in the camp." Reo let's out a sigh he hadn't realized he had been holding. He takes another step into the darkness, bolstered by someone here, refuting what the voice said of only for a moment.

"I can't explain it. It's like something has been calling me since even before we set off. I have to know. I have to-"

[Kanna]

"Ya don't have to do shit," Kanna responded with annoyance. "Whatever's in there ain't good, and I ain't keen to put any of us in danger just for a curiosity. If we're gonna clear it out, we should be gettin' a full team."

[Reo]

"But we should have some idea of what it is, right? Wasn't that why Madam Reiko came?" Reo keeps going, but his pace is easy to keep up with. Kanna's words make sense, gnawing at his brain even as the sounds of the cave swam in his ears, him pressing on.

[Canary]

Reo... Join us. You will always have a home here...

We could even restore your leg... Make you stronger than your tormentors could ever hope to be...

[Reo]

Reo...We could even restore your leg... Make you stronger than your tormentors could ever hope to be...

Reo freezes, his body going rigid. The thought runs through him like a thunderbolt, his muscles taut. To be normal again? To run alongside the others? To easily slink through on raids instead of worrying about slowing them down, or giving them away. To stand up straight while trying to impress a woman, to carry a full pack without delay.

"The ground would be be mine." The whisper comes from his lips unbidden, his eyes closing.

Make you stronger than your tormentors could ever hope to be...

But not the skies.

The agony and the shame had been necessary for that, hadn't it? Had he had been whole, been unbroken, been normal, then he would not have been here right now. He would have been a normal Kakita, maybe a craftsman. There wouldn't have been a need to prove himself: a simple, uncomplicated life, all to eager to go along with the others as they slid to Doji's rule.

"I already am."

Reo looks back to Kanna. "I want this thing with its head on a pike. Do you think we can get a full team before we break camp?"

[Canary]

But not the skies.

What makes you think we couldn't do that?

Laughter filled his head.

Keep your mortal weakness for now, then. You will become ours eventually... You could have kept your mind when we took you, but it's not a necessity...

[Reiko]

Reiko, who had stayed at the entrance, peered inwards.

"Come back. This place...it's not good. It's corrupted" she called to the two who were further in.

[Kanna]

"Maybe. But it's enough to know it's here for now. Let's avoid risk while we've got the bigger mission to think about." She nodded as she heard Reiko's voice. "Plus I don't want to leave Lady Reiko out there any longer'n I gotta."