Survival:  24

Perception:  10

For Kora

As the trio compose themselves after the fright of the flying blades, they notice that the knives that lie scattered around you are slowly fading from sight. Looking closer, you see that the serrated blades almost seem to be evaporating, loathsome tendrils of smoke emanating from the blades as they fade into the darkness. Whatever made these blades isn't of the natural world.

Kora deftly weaves amongst the somber trees as the skillfully follows the muddy tracks. The trail leads you out of the thicket of trees and back out into the open. You make your way around the base of a hill, and you find that this side of the hill is rather rocky and craggy, gray stones jutting out of the earth like the broken ends of shattered bones. The trail leads towards a large pile of boulders sticking out from the hill. 

As you round the moss-laden boulders, you find yourself looking at a small cave entrance. The cave is obviously man made, its dark entrance too angular and smooth to be natural. Moss coats the lips of the entrance, and snarled vines spill out from the darkness of the cave. 

Ever attuned to the natural world, Kora can feel a sense of wrongness emanating from the cave. The air seems too cold standing this near to the cave, the air a bit too dark. As she gazes into its depths, she can't help but feel something in its inky depths gazes back. Something evil. Something malevolent. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up, her body sensing the chilling unnaturalness of the cave.

Akyan, with his psychic prowess, can feel something about the cave. His mind can almost taste the terror and horror that has taken place in that cavern, an imprint left behind by the evilness of what is done in there. He has a hard time explaining what he feels, but something is not right. 

Aoufie says "I'll live on. Let's keep going, but I am going to hang back a bit." He continues to follow his siblings more wary of traps. A pang of fear strikes him as he looks at the cave. "Are you sure Kora that Father Donovan went in there?"

Perception

10 rolled in game log. 

Akyan winces as the prickling feeling spikes in his mind's eye. This place is evil. How many horrors has it seen to have such a lingering aura? One strong enough for him to sense. With some effort, the drow pulls his consciousness out of the swirling sensations of fear welling up in his head, forcing himself to separate his emotions from those emanating from the cavern. Aoufie's voice serves as the perfect anchor for him to focus on. He looks to Kora after the Rabbitfolk speaks, mentally scolding himself for not linking with one of the others. If they need to go down there, it would have been beneficial to have contact with the other group. Thinking about this also helps him somewhat refocus his mind...though it causes him to become even more irritated than usual. Realizing his mouth had gone dry, he swallows, then speaks up. "I have an extremely bad feeling about this place. I can't explain how, but I can tell horrible things were done here. The pain and fear from whatever it was lingers...." He trails off, unable to explain any farther. As he continues, the irritation spikes in his voice,"I'm not sure entering would be a good idea. Not without contacting the others...but I'm hesitant to leave the place unguarded." He rubs the back of his neck, and glances down the cavern, "We don't want Donovan escaping, but I have a feeling he has something worse than traps waiting down there for us."

Meanwhile, back at Ismark and Ireena's house, Anthony is having a nice nap.

Kora stares at the gaping hole in the earth.  This wasn't right, sure everything about this land wasn't right... but this?  It was downright wrong.  She visibly shivers then tears her eyes away from the cave to regard her brothers.

"Yes Aoufie, those were his footsteps that led me here, but I don't think he is the only one down here.  I feel something malevolent.  I agree with Akyan, something is very wrong inside this cave.  And you're right, I think we need the others as well.  I can stand guard if you both want to go get them.  If I hear anything within emerging, I can change into something small and hide and try to follow.  Just... hurry back."  The confidence Kora usually carries herself with has waned as she looks back into the mouth of the cave.

Akyan nods, then responds using the mental link he had created with her, "I should be able to keep this up a while longer, assuming the others are within a mile of us. So if anything happens, let me know before doing anything." Out loud he says, "Aoufie, you and I can head back. Kora and I will be in contact for as long as possible." With that, he starts to follow the path back to the others.

Having forgot about Akyan's ability to talk to her in her mind, her eyes go wide a bit, but she nods.  "Good, I'll keep you informed." she still says outloud.

snore

As Akyan and Aoufie turn to head back to camp, Kora can't help but shiver as her attention turns back to the dark cave entrance just a few feet away. Hopefully, her siblings wouldn't take too long, would they?

After about 15 minutes of trudging through damp glens and hills, Aoufie and Akyan make it back to the forlorn village of Barovia, and it's only a few short minutes until you march your way up the the manor where the rest of your group currently waits. As Akyan steps up to the door, his mental connection with Kora waivers, and then it snaps, closing off your mind from hers. Maybe you just stepped out of range?

Those fifteen minutes feel like an eternity to Kora as she watches over the loathsome cave entrance. The crows she talked to earlier haven't come back to her, and she assumes they're too spooked by the presence of the cave to approach her. 

A few minutes into her watch, she can't help but feel like something is watching her. Looking around, she doesn't see anything around her that could be watching her, but she can't shake the feeling. It doesn't help that she can still feel the evil emanating from the cave like heat radiating away from a fire. The complete silence of the hillside is only broken by the sound of rain softly falling around her and the sound of her heart beating uneasily in her chest. 

Around the time she assumes Akyan and Aoufie have made it back to Barovia, she feels her mental connection with Akyan suddenly cut off, depriving her of the gentle reminder that Akyan was with her in a way. The feeling of being watched increases as the connection ends, sending chills up Kora's spine.

Before she can do anything, the ground under her suddenly gives way, an unexpected pit swallowing her as she tumbles into the dark depths of the earth. She tumbles and rolls down a steep incline, uncaring rocks and roots poking and jabbing at her as she slides down in the dark. After a few moments of falling, she finally slams into the cold, hard ground, stunning her for moment.  From the direction she fell, she can hear the earth shuddering and grinding as the hole she fell through seals back up. ((Kora takes 3 bludgeoning from her rough landing))

It takes a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dark, and when they do, she finds herself in a tunnel of sorts. Thanks to Anthony's gift, her eyes can pierce the gloom of the subterranean passage. The tunnel almost looks like it was formed naturally. Roots dangle from the ceiling overhead, and the packed dirt floor and walls looked untouched by a miner's pick. Behind her, the tunnel extends about thirty feet before turning to the left. Ahead of her, the tunnel extends about 45 feet before it curves to the right. She can see flickers of firelight emanating from that direction. 

Even more alarming is the sense of evil. It is all around her, the stale air heavy with malice. The feeling of being watched is almost overpowering, and she feels like there is someone standing right behind her, but when she turns, she only sees the empty tunnel behind her. 

The group walks in to see Jared concocting some sort of trap involving a pitcher and string over Anthony's sleeping head. 

Kora stands there for a moment, rubbing her arm and concentrating hard not to scream out in fright or just to try and scare away the feeling of being watched.  It was awful, nothing like she had ever felt before and did that hole that opened up under her actually close back up?!  How was that even possible?

Looking to her two possible directions, warmth of the fire is definitely a draw.  She also wonders who else is lurking down here with the Father - if the Father is actually down here.  She was so certain when they trailed him to the cave, but now she wasn't sure of anything.  

Not wanting to be found out, Kora returns to her spider shape, but this time a much smaller one, tiny in size and crawls her way up to the ceiling of this apparent natural tunnel.  As she gets up there, she lets her multitude of eyes look around again as she cannot shake the feeling of being watched, but then tries to focus herself as she starts crawling towards the flickers of firelight, keeping to the shadows as she goes.

Aoufie finds and rouses his other sibling. He shares what they found as they followed Father Donovan's track "Hurry get your gear. Kora is by the cave on her own." 

Kora follows the the cramped tunnel towards the flickering firelight, ever wary of what she may find. Her many eyes gives her a pretty decent view of her surroundings, but she still doesn't spot whatever it is that watches her. 

She eventually rounds the corner in a painfully long amount of time; spiders aren't exactly the swiftest creatures out there. As she rounds the corner, she finds herself looking out from the roof of dangling roots at a rather small room. Spherical in shape in shape, the room is about thirty feet in diameter. At the center, a large fire blazes contently, sending warmth and light throughout the chamber. At the far end of the room, Kora sees some sort of profane altar jutting from the ground. The black metal podium is covered in smoldering iron spikes which angle upwards at a slant, forming a nest of spikes at the top, from which faint tendrils of dark vapor rise. Set into the wall behind the altar is a terrifying statue of a horned monstrosity. It's only vaguely humanoid face is frozen is a snarl, revealing wickedly sharp teeth. Large ram horns spiral away from its head, giving the statue a demonic look. It appears only its head and part of its chest are exposed, but you're not sure if it was just carved this way or if the rest of the statue is within the stone wall. The shadowed pits where its eyes should be almost seem to stare directly at Kora hiding amongst the roots that pierce the ceiling.

Motion towards the center of the room draws her attention away from the menacing statue. You see... is that Father Donovan? You feel a moment of disbelief as you recognize the brown-robed figure of Father Donovan tending to the fire that blazes in the center of the room. Stooped slightly with his back to you, you see he prods the logs in the fire with a long stick, stirring coals that send embers and sparks flying upwards. 

You see he suddenly straightens, and then he tosses the poker stick into the flames. He slowly turns and looks up at you on the ceiling. A cold, almost predatory smile forms on his lips as he looks up at you with dark eyes. The man before is Father Donovan, and yet, it isn't at the same time. Gone is his humility from before, replaced with a cold, calculating demeanor. "Kora dear," he purrs. "Come sit and chat with me for a while. We have much to discuss." He gestures towards a low stone jutting from the ground near the fire that could probably serve as a seat. While whatever it was that stood before you spoke with Father Donovan's voice, his words were too smooth, too smarmy to come from the priest.  

Completely baffled as to how this man found her directly within the roots and shadows of the tunnel, Kora transforms back into her normal human self.  She stares at the man, trying to come to some reasonable conclusion, but she is clueless.  Taking a breath and trying to steel herself, she responds.

"How do you know my name?  I'm sure I did not give it to you earlier.  Much to discuss?  I doubt that, I just want to know why am I here and who you are.  You are certainly not the man I met in the church."  She moves a bit closer to the seat he gestured towards so as not to cause a situation, but also makes sure there is nothing between her and the tunnel out of the room.  She also gives slight glances at the altar, the faint tendrils giving her cause to be alarmed as well as the watchful statue.

Anthony lurches awake at the summons, smacking his head on whatever Jared was rigging up and tumbling to the floor off of the sofa he'd been dozing on.* "I'm up. Where to?" Scrubbing a hand over his face and trying to get his bearings as he hefts himself to standing.

Zathon looks up from tending his weapons, says nothing about the prank set up. "Alright we better hurry then."

He packs up and is ready to head off in a few moments. No doubt all that soldiering about made him used to packing up quickly.

At Kora’s careful inquiries, the “Father” chuckles a deep-bellied laugh, his eyes twinkling with malevolent joy. “One must never reveal all his secrets.” He finished chuckling and then leans forward and looks at Kora appraisingly. “Let’s just say I have my sources.”

He gestures again to the stone lump on the ground, his face devoid of any merriment, “Please, sit.” And then, in a warning tone, he adds, “I don’t often repeat myself, so I suggest you obey.”

Regardless of what Kora does next, he plops down with grubt to a stone near the one he told Kora to sit upon. Looking into the fire, he says, “I have’s had company for several centuries now, so you must forgive for not having the best manners.” He looks back at you, and the firelight twinkling in his eyes almost gives his pupils a reddish glint. Or maybe they were actually red? You can’t quite tell.

”My name is Durokgad, Bringer of Agony,” he says in his deep and resonant voice. “I’ve been stuck in this room for quite a long time until recently. Some fellow stopped by a few months ago. Said he was working for some ‘Azalin.’ Anyways, he told me he would weaken my prison if I were to… perform a few tasks for him.” A thin, predatory smile appears on his lips. “I know it’s terribly rude of me to request this, but I’m going to need to borrow your body for a while.” He looks down disdainfully at the robed form he currently wears. “This Father Donovan fellow isn’t quite up to the tasks I need to perform. You on the other hand…” He looks at you with a wicked grins splitting his face, a hungry shine in his eyes. “You’ll do just fine.”

Akyan gives a small start when his connection with Kora snaps. Great. She's out of range. With that thought in mind he quickens his step. Ugh. He should have sent Aoufie to get the others and just stayed with Kora. That probably would have been the smarter move. If anything happens to her... Well, now all they can do is hurry back.

When they finally meet up with the others, Akyan agrees with Aoufie. "Yes. Hurry. I don't like the thought of her alone in that place." As the others grab their things, he paces impatiently. Once everyone is ready, he stalks ahead of the group intending to lead them back to the cave.

Jared gets his gear and heads out the door.
"And you left Kora alone in this place because?" he calls as he heads out.