Jek pulling her along takes her out of her reverie. “Oh! Yes! You’re right!” Helping to adjust the mirror, she smiles at Jek- “Yes. Quite the day. Back to Skyloft for everyone! Gandalf will be so proud!”
The bat soared overhead, and below, the world was changed.
Hyboria as a whole was different, that much was true. If there was one thing that Lelith and Greko had time to see on their journey from Celestia back to the outskirts of Hyrule Castle, it was how much the world had changed. The growth of the Mirkwood and its strange denizens. The disappearance of the Wandering Wood entirely and it's replacement by the strange Kandar region, which seemed to be an extension of Spook City.
The effects didn't end. The strange changes of the Kokiri Forest. The complete and undeniable change of the Great Deku Tree, that they had only recently saved, now some leafless husk of its former self.
Then of course there was the Nothing that had swallowed up Kakariko Village and the area around it, as well as the angry red wound that grew over the face of the world, eminating out in all directions from what was Hyrule Castle only weeks ago. A fleshy, unsettling growth, spiderwebbing its way across the world like a slime mold in hunt for its next meal.
Somewhere down there in the corruption, Lelith hoped, were Malon and Sorry, who she'd had to leave behind after the failed battle with the Lord of Darkness...
"Let's start with the landmarks near the castle and figure out where to go from there. Why don't we check back on Lon Lon's Ranch? Malon may have wanted to check back on her foolish evil family," Lelith suggested to Greko as she overlooked the devastation below. She shuddered at the thought of being the bride of the perpetrator of all of this, it destroyed the few things she loved about Hyboria. It's beautiful nature. Why couldn't it be one of the powerful elven gods seeking her instead?
Greko nods and tells Baturday where to fly. “I fear those folks will no longer be there….I know you don’t feel badly for them but I understand their hesitancy to leave when it all you have. As irrational as it was and probably what caused their deaths…..”
"None of that matters when you are dead," Lelith shook her head. "I certainly wouldn't be laying down my life for a ranch. That is why I am alive and they are dead. Life is the Gods' currency, spend it well. If you have to die, at least do it in Hylia's name fighting the enemy or furthering the cause of the people you protect. They will not have my sympathies, only my scorn and despise."
"Let us not dwell on those fools any longer. There are some people that are worth fighting for. We must find Malon and Sorry as soon as possible, if there are people undeserving of the horrors of this conflict, it's those children," Lelith looked to be determined.
"Indeed the likelihood that they are alive are next to 0. It was foolish of them to stay in the face of incalculable odds. What are your plans once we find them? Unfortunately Baturday can't take us all back....well I could shrink them down and carry them in my pocket to safety. Perhaps one of both have an affinity to nature. Oh how nice that would be....it has been such a while since I taught anyone anything....I was hoping Ro......Nevermind that....as you said dwelling on the past will not help. Let us do some good"
A flyover of the area beings to unravel the horrors of the corruption below. Zombies shamble across the landscape, the solitary remnants of the people who had once occupied Castle Town and the farmsteads around the castle. A zombie here. A zombie there. In some instances groups of hundreds of them. Taking more than a quick glance would reveal the multitudinous ways the zombies had changed from their original forms; some had growths, others seemed to be constituted of excess or discarded parts and flesh.
Circling back toward Lon Lon Ranch revealed two things. First was the most immediate; the swirling storm of clouds and gray that was the Nothing. It seemed to have grown since their last visit, the visit when...
Regardless, there was one thing clear now about the swirling mass- it had swallowed up Kakariko Village and everyone inside it.
The other thing they saw was Lon Lon Ranch itself, now a destroyed mess of ranch houses, animal paddocks, and...no bodies. There was nothing obvious from overhead. No dead livestock, though the building where the animals had been locked up had both ends busted open. No people, though, again, the doors and windows of every farmhouse had been pulled open...
And none of the dead at all. No shambling zombies or undead things moving about the ruins to indicate anyone had been there just a couple of weeks ago...
Greko looks down below "As suspected it doesn't appear anyone or thing has survived but I also don't see anything at all....no dead bodies, no dead....perhaps we just land and take a quick look around?"
"Hmmm. There's more to this than what we see unless they took it upon themselves to consume the corpses or they escaped and died further away. It matters not, let's go down and start looking around," Lelith nodded to agree with Greko.
The ranch reveals the story of what was surely a last stand. Barricaded homes destroyed. Wagons smashed to pieces. Weapons and arrows, what crude weapons and arrows the ranchers had, scattered. Yokes and harnesses sporting exploratory teeth marks. What few remains of what had once been living beings were near the large stable where the animals had been boarded in. Tufts of hair. A hoof. A cow's tail.
The ground around the ranch has been trod to paste; the mud is so thick that walking is a real task, and somewhat perilous. Everything is slick, and the mud is sticky and tries to suck their boots off.
The only sign of life is a rustling sound from inside the house where Lelith took Malon.
"Malon?! Is that you?!" Lelith, with her feet slightly off the ground, took off toward the house to inspect it. Her hand on her bow just in case, she needed to find her and Sorry.
Greko makes his way to the house and listens to his surroundings (14 Perception). He then bends down to look at the floorboards knowing that little farmsteads and towns had secret cellars or safe spaces people could escape to (Inv. nat 1). "Lelith, I am too old to bend and check these floors for safe spaces under the houses. Perhaps you could check?"Greko gets up and rubs his back hoping to prevent a spasm.
Greko looks up when he hears Lelith pry one of the boards aside. He sees her draw her bow and let a few arrows fly. He couldn't tell how many because she was so quick, not because his eye sight is poor. He hurries over and stomps his staff into the ground casting light. He staff illuminates brightly down into the darkness below.
The Redead stumbles as both of the arrows pierce its body, but it doesn't fall. As soon as the light befalls it, it's clear that this Redead just mere weeks ago was one of the women in the household; the older woman who'd been acting as a midwife.
After both arrows sink into its body, it leans back and shrieks...
And the farm around them begins to howl and moan...
Jek pulling her along takes her out of her reverie. “Oh! Yes! You’re right!” Helping to adjust the mirror, she smiles at Jek- “Yes. Quite the day. Back to Skyloft for everyone! Gandalf will be so proud!”
Music for the mood...
https://youtu.be/jCN2bDun1no
AURYN
The Crawling Corruption
Out from ruins once possessed...
...Fallen city, living death...
The bat soared overhead, and below, the world was changed.
Hyboria as a whole was different, that much was true. If there was one thing that Lelith and Greko had time to see on their journey from Celestia back to the outskirts of Hyrule Castle, it was how much the world had changed. The growth of the Mirkwood and its strange denizens. The disappearance of the Wandering Wood entirely and it's replacement by the strange Kandar region, which seemed to be an extension of Spook City.
The effects didn't end. The strange changes of the Kokiri Forest. The complete and undeniable change of the Great Deku Tree, that they had only recently saved, now some leafless husk of its former self.
Then of course there was the Nothing that had swallowed up Kakariko Village and the area around it, as well as the angry red wound that grew over the face of the world, eminating out in all directions from what was Hyrule Castle only weeks ago. A fleshy, unsettling growth, spiderwebbing its way across the world like a slime mold in hunt for its next meal.
Somewhere down there in the corruption, Lelith hoped, were Malon and Sorry, who she'd had to leave behind after the failed battle with the Lord of Darkness...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"Let's start with the landmarks near the castle and figure out where to go from there. Why don't we check back on Lon Lon's Ranch? Malon may have wanted to check back on her foolish evil family," Lelith suggested to Greko as she overlooked the devastation below. She shuddered at the thought of being the bride of the perpetrator of all of this, it destroyed the few things she loved about Hyboria. It's beautiful nature. Why couldn't it be one of the powerful elven gods seeking her instead?
Greko nods and tells Baturday where to fly. “I fear those folks will no longer be there….I know you don’t feel badly for them but I understand their hesitancy to leave when it all you have. As irrational as it was and probably what caused their deaths…..”
"None of that matters when you are dead," Lelith shook her head. "I certainly wouldn't be laying down my life for a ranch. That is why I am alive and they are dead. Life is the Gods' currency, spend it well. If you have to die, at least do it in Hylia's name fighting the enemy or furthering the cause of the people you protect. They will not have my sympathies, only my scorn and despise."
"Let us not dwell on those fools any longer. There are some people that are worth fighting for. We must find Malon and Sorry as soon as possible, if there are people undeserving of the horrors of this conflict, it's those children," Lelith looked to be determined.
"Indeed the likelihood that they are alive are next to 0. It was foolish of them to stay in the face of incalculable odds. What are your plans once we find them? Unfortunately Baturday can't take us all back....well I could shrink them down and carry them in my pocket to safety. Perhaps one of both have an affinity to nature. Oh how nice that would be....it has been such a while since I taught anyone anything....I was hoping Ro......Nevermind that....as you said dwelling on the past will not help. Let us do some good"
A flyover of the area beings to unravel the horrors of the corruption below. Zombies shamble across the landscape, the solitary remnants of the people who had once occupied Castle Town and the farmsteads around the castle. A zombie here. A zombie there. In some instances groups of hundreds of them. Taking more than a quick glance would reveal the multitudinous ways the zombies had changed from their original forms; some had growths, others seemed to be constituted of excess or discarded parts and flesh.
Circling back toward Lon Lon Ranch revealed two things. First was the most immediate; the swirling storm of clouds and gray that was the Nothing. It seemed to have grown since their last visit, the visit when...
Regardless, there was one thing clear now about the swirling mass- it had swallowed up Kakariko Village and everyone inside it.
The other thing they saw was Lon Lon Ranch itself, now a destroyed mess of ranch houses, animal paddocks, and...no bodies. There was nothing obvious from overhead. No dead livestock, though the building where the animals had been locked up had both ends busted open. No people, though, again, the doors and windows of every farmhouse had been pulled open...
And none of the dead at all. No shambling zombies or undead things moving about the ruins to indicate anyone had been there just a couple of weeks ago...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Greko looks down below "As suspected it doesn't appear anyone or thing has survived but I also don't see anything at all....no dead bodies, no dead....perhaps we just land and take a quick look around?"
"Hmmm. There's more to this than what we see unless they took it upon themselves to consume the corpses or they escaped and died further away. It matters not, let's go down and start looking around," Lelith nodded to agree with Greko.
Greko tells Baturday to find a spot to land away from any danger within the little ranch.
The ranch reveals the story of what was surely a last stand. Barricaded homes destroyed. Wagons smashed to pieces. Weapons and arrows, what crude weapons and arrows the ranchers had, scattered. Yokes and harnesses sporting exploratory teeth marks. What few remains of what had once been living beings were near the large stable where the animals had been boarded in. Tufts of hair. A hoof. A cow's tail.
The ground around the ranch has been trod to paste; the mud is so thick that walking is a real task, and somewhat perilous. Everything is slick, and the mud is sticky and tries to suck their boots off.
The only sign of life is a rustling sound from inside the house where Lelith took Malon.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"Malon?! Is that you?!" Lelith, with her feet slightly off the ground, took off toward the house to inspect it. Her hand on her bow just in case, she needed to find her and Sorry.
Greko shakes his head as Lelith darts off toward the noise "The young and the restless.....always so impulsive" He walks after her
There is no answer from inside the house as Lelith calls out. There was no indication from outside of what had made the sound inside...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Greko makes his way to the house and listens to his surroundings (14 Perception). He then bends down to look at the floorboards knowing that little farmsteads and towns had secret cellars or safe spaces people could escape to (Inv. nat 1). "Lelith, I am too old to bend and check these floors for safe spaces under the houses. Perhaps you could check?" Greko gets up and rubs his back hoping to prevent a spasm.
"Very well, let me see," Lelith nodded as she checked for any safe passage and tried to pry open the wooden boards that would make up the floor.
Prying up the floorboard reveals an expansive dark space beneath the house. It looks like a full-on basement, but it's pitch black down there.
There appears to be a figure down there in the dark sulking against the wall.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Seeing through the darkness and the figure, a redead, Lelith drew her bow and mercilessly fired at it two arrows.
To Hit: 1d20 (6) + 9 =
15Damage: 1d8 (7) + 6 + 1d4 (3) + 1d6 (4) [piercing] =20To Hit: 1d20 (10) + 9 = 19 Damage: 1d8 (8) + 6 + 1d6 (4) [piercing] = 18
Greko looks up when he hears Lelith pry one of the boards aside. He sees her draw her bow and let a few arrows fly. He couldn't tell how many because she was so quick, not because his eye sight is poor. He hurries over and stomps his staff into the ground casting light. He staff illuminates brightly down into the darkness below.
The Redead stumbles as both of the arrows pierce its body, but it doesn't fall. As soon as the light befalls it, it's clear that this Redead just mere weeks ago was one of the women in the household; the older woman who'd been acting as a midwife.
After both arrows sink into its body, it leans back and shrieks...
And the farm around them begins to howl and moan...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York