This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
The Fairest completely understood where the girl was coming from. Guns weren't her favorite either, but it was okay
Sasha quietly chuckled. "Well Katie, I am pretty flexible, so it shouldn't be too difficult." The Dancer crouched down as if it was nothing. She could easily move in nearly any state, crab walk if she had to.
As the Onyx moved slowly through the thorns, she looked for any further signs or clues to anything.
3 successes
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Retainer
"OK. I'll try."
Ingrid bit her lip.
This time her head buzzed and she felt a peculiar lightness deep in her gut as she forced her dwindling reserves of Glamour to churn and surge around her once more. Her mantle responded, sending a pulse of plum perfume from her straining form.
This time she was lucky and a vague sense of what lay ahead settled into her mind like cloying wax.
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Sasha and Ingrid maneuver deftly through the tangle without a scratch, though luck alone probably saves Circe from the mental/emotional scars the Thorns might have left embedded in her. Katie watches in amusement, then follows only after Sasha is through. Of course, it looks easier for a person with her frame size, but she still takes caution not to catch on any Thorns. "I made it, too!" she says, excitedly. Quickly, though, she sticks to Sasha once more. Outside her hideout, the Hedge is a scary place for a child.
As the pathway ahead of them lengthens, it does, indeed, feel darker. Much darker than the pastel-colored wonderland mere feet behind them. The beam from Circe's flashlight cuts a whole in the darkness, showing more of a barely trodden path surrounded by thorns that twists a few yards down, cutting off what could be seen there.
Sasha passes the retreated Thorns as she walks. Like her Spring counterpart pointed out, it does seem to line up with the Thorns retreating from a small frame in some places. But what's that over there? Amid twinklings of frost forming at the very edges of what can be seen (at least, in Sasha's eyes), a dark splatter with a sheen of its own paints the Thorns. Blood. Billy's blood.
Ingrid's augury strikes pay-dirt, this time. Several forks exist on the not-so-worn path that lead to dead ends of tangles and black nothingness. Only one true path exists, snaking first to the left, then right, then straight down the center of a three-pronged fork. As Ingrid's minds-eye traces along the path, the end of the pathway reveals itself. A clearing pitched in gloom with the unmistakable presence of a Gate.
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RetainerThings were getting harder. She was feeling hollow now, cold, and her concentration was starting to flag. Blinking, she shoved her preternatural weakness to one side.
"Follow me... Things are going to get tougher from now on... Left. Then right. Middle. Glade and... Gate."
Ingrid mumbles it like a mantra as she moves through the deepening gloom with Circe at her side and Sasha behind with Katie.
I added a Survival roll for the navigation. I leave it up to you if she gets lost or if someone else can pick up on it before she looses them all in the Hedge. *cough*
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"That is good Katie," Circe quipped from up front. The elf is less then pleased with the sheer darkness of the setting. She'd once looked up the closest mythological creature to her appearance and found it very disappointing. Not the pop culture match but the fact that she didn't get nigth vision with her makeover. The flashlight was barely cutting it.
"Got ya Ingrid," Circe nods in agreement while keeping focused on what is before her. Her ears are flush back against her head the whole time. She never liked traveling the Thorns. She doubted she ever would. "Lets find us a lost boy."
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The Fairest doesn't like the look of the Hedge now. This was her least favorite part of being a Changeling. It reminded her of the hell she had to get through when she left the clutches of her Keeper. But, she was not that frail girl anymore.
Looking over everything as she slowly moved, she noticed some crimson splash. It looked like blood and her face crinkled up as she pointed out. "Ingrid, Circe." Not wanting to alarm Katie, but she was aware she may look anyway. But any tone of her voice would make the poor girl worry even more. She stopped dead in her tracks, not really sure of the path ahead, and because of what she found, needed to take a breath to consider a few things.
OOC
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OOC
The darkness plays tricks on the eyes as Ingrid, Sasha and Circe lead Katie through the twisting pathway. The picture in Ingrid's head simply doesn't line up with what she actually encounters. More than once, as she follows what she's sure is the right path, she's met with a dead end. Each time she does, the end looks the same: an impenetrable tangle of thorns surrounded by darkness and eyes that could be staring down at them from tall trees. In the madness of the Hedge, the trees themselves might not even exist, or only exist as shadows. Going in closer to verify this would be an exercise in futility.
Maybe it's Sasha's concern for the girl, but she isn't able to make sense of the twisting paths either. No telltale drops of blood tease the direction Billy might have fled. The eyes in the darkness seem to smile, mocking her lack of progress. To complicate things worse, Katie does, eventually, take notice of the blood. Huge eyes well up with tears and she stands close to Sasha in silent suffering.
Thankfully, Circe and her flashlight eventually find the right path. The world seems a little brighter - though not from some perceived light source. The background simply shifts gradually from pitch blackness to a grey haze, like the sky on a rainy evening before sunset. As the four finally escape the darkened passage through nothing, they're greeted by a grim scene right out of Autumn's playbook. Ruined grass worn to patches cover greying, unhealthy soil as far as the eye can see. A few long-dead skeletons of trees dot the landscape that refuses to break free from the muted gloom. On one side of the dark passage's exit, the Gate from Ingrid's vision can be seen. It almost appears like a plain, wooden door studded into the ground. There is a significant amount of wear, making it look old - but not ancient. Directly across from it is a gate of an entirely different kind. A spiked, iron gate that stretches around the perimeter of a graveyard, with a single path leading up a tall, looming hill. Something like a castle can just barely be seen at it's peak.
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Circe wasn't enjoying the trip, nor the time they spend playing in a literal Hedge maze. Even the fact that she figures it out doesn't cheer her up.
The elven Fairest is on high alert. Especially at the sight of what is in the field. Circe looks back and forth between the two options. A door that is just standing there and a spooky gate to graveyard with a storybook villain's castle.
"Well, I think I know which we are gonna have to go," Circe griped pointing with the pistol and light toward the graveyard. "I mean Billy couldn't get anywhere with the other door. But I suppose," the elf eyed the field with a contemplative look, "We should do the detective thing again to make sure."
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RetainerIngrid blinks and rubs tired eyes.
"How far could this kid have gone!" The words burst, breathlessly, from her mouth before she still the flow.
"Area's too big for another kenning," the Darkling mutters as she drops into a crouch. "Lets look for clues. Ash. Cinders. Something. Maybe Dracula's castle is a distraction. I saw this Gate, right. So why not start there."
Her hands unconsciously grip her arms as a phantom chill runs through her - almost empty of life sustaining Glamour.
Ingrid is checking out the Gate and its immediate surrounds for signs that a little burning Elemental has gone through it
One would think the Ice Queen would enjoy a castle, but that was not the case. Castles were either full of pretension, violence, or something absurd. At least this was Sasha's opinion.
The Fairest looked at Katie to make sure she was doing okay. She tried to look around to see if there were any other things that could have given any clues.
"I'm not a fan of castles." Sasha simply stated, more to Katie, but also to let Circe and Ingrid know that she would be proceeding with the utmost caution. She was not far behind Ingrid and looked to make sure the girl was still with them. Currently, the Dancer was a bit distracted which was probably unfortunate. Still, there were worse times to let her judgement be clouded.
ooc
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Striking Looks
