Difference between revisions of "Trail of Tears: The Quest Chapter 6"

Revision as of 03:56, 22 January 2014

The dark corridors around were lit up partially by the white spirit-man that ran by. The only other light what the brave travelers have brought with them. Sorien and Crys were in the back, Inola was leading with a few others nearby. The fleeing spirit ran off one of the side corridors, into the Cherokee portion of the mounds.

Makena bolting quickly after her. The expression on the spirit man's face is one of fear, clearly running from something.

Sorien blinks at the hyena's charging off. "Aw, geez..."

Balina growls, but begins to give chase after Makena in short order. "Do me a favor, dear, and make sure nothing's actually chasing us, please?" she calls upward.

"Tell me how it goes out there," Sparhawk calls to the people loitering in the main corridor, bolting slightly slower than the hyena. "Rearguard duly delegated!"

Eithne shakes her head, being one of the other light sources, and lightly scritches at one of Balina's ears. "Will do, love, though the people behind me make that a difficult prospect." But she still turns around in her 'saddle' to peer back behind the party, kitty eyes gleaming in the light she sheds and kitty ears revolving around to remain alert for any sounds.

"Guess we're on the tail end." Sori looks behind, letting people pass as she takes up rearguard with Crys.

Inola breathes a mumbled chant of prayer in her own language, and shivers. She looks to the others, "My ancestors rarely make an appearance, like this. This is not a bright omen, for the dead wake." she pulls out her gun, more of a comfort than any actual usefulness behind the action.

Grantok keeps a hesitant pace behind the glow pair of Balthne. "How many times must I say stick together before it gets through the skull of some people?" She gives a half-assed grin to Eithne. "At least it's not that hard to see over top of me."

Makena waits for folks, not trying to outrun the others or anything. She glances in the direction the spirit's fleeing from.

Eithne chuckles, and then nods. "Mmm. Not that that's difficult for anyone, with my current perch." Her wolf gets an affectionate pat on the side.

"I should have brought the damn rifle." Sori shrugs, and keeps a sharp eye out.

Crys quietly speaks to her mate, "Whatever it is, when the dead speak, there is little reason not to listen." and she pushes those lagging behind onward to keep the group as one.

Ahead the Spirit turns a corridor, and then runs directly into a wall.

Makena giggles, "I think there used to be a door here." getting up to the wall and looking it over

Balina slows to a stop, pawing restlessly on the bare earth and sniffing around, hopes about as near to the ground as her head. "I'd just as well head back to see what it was running from, but I've got a sneaking suspicion we're dealing with Metaphor, not literal playbacks tonight," she mumbles.

Sori looks at the blank wall. "Maybe... But didn't they actually raise these mounds from level ground?"

"I still think, if it's the ghost's memory, the Whateveritis won't show up until their final meeting," Sparhawk says. "With space for me being wrong, especially the part where we take pickaxes to the wall of the tunnel we are standing in."

Eithne reaches over to knock on the wall, ears perked to listen to the sound so made. Sciencecat is checking to see how thick it is. "Metaphor, playback... Either way, what we want seems to be in this way, on the other side of this. Either by direct route, or having to go around. They fled beyond our, current, reach... And maybe the reach of whoever pursued them?"

"One can hope. Of course that would mean that if it were out of reach of whatever it fled from, we'd likely find out what it was in due time remaining here." Grantok has her eyes and ears fixed upon the path that they all came from, on the in case something was still coming.

Inola scratches dirt on the walls, this area built with stone and mudbrick. She shines one of the lights up, and there's definite indentation in this area. Murals perhaps long since covered with age. "I suspect, that we are in the Cherokee area. This was built after the original mounds in the center, during our long journey. We sent bodies back here, even later, which is why there are newer ones built."

"Would it be sacrilege for us to dig? I'd not want to offend either the living or the dead."

Behind them, another spirit comes running, this one a beast of a man, but clearly as ethereal as the other. Red outlines areas stained in blood covering up tattoo that run all over his body. It looks both ways, and then continues off down the main pathway, a tomahawk in both hands.

Inola says, "I cannot condone digging of soil. Let my ancestors remain at peace..." she trails off at the sight of the other spirit, and frowns. "That man was not Cherokee."

Makena giggles "Well, there used to be a door here, but somebody buried it a long time ago. I dunno if I could open it.

"Well... That would be what you'd call a hint. That way, shall we?" Sori says.

Makena watches the other guy with the tomahawks. "And I dunno which one of these two is the good guy hehe"

"... So. Now we know what he ran from." Eithne puts forward musingly, glancing around the tunnel walls and then up at the faded murals revealed there. "... Let's try something. Only downside is it could make me look silly." She clears her throat, and rests her hand on the wall the earlier spirit vanished through. "I, Eithne Morrigan, Student of Dirt, Fragment of Coyote, do respectfully request passage in Coyote's name, that we may serve his Purpose here."

Makena stands by Eithne with a big grin

Balina prods the dirt of the dead end with her nose a few times, as if she expects secrets to come out before craning her neck and attempting to watch the antics above her. "What she said, give or take mention of Wisadejak and insistence that we only mean harm to ancient enemies."

"Or a potential red herring." Grantok ponders a moment before Eithne attempts to pull a few divine strings. "The ancestors likely can tell who we are." She looks to Inola as she continues. "I don't suppose you recall anything further as to where what you saw was in this place?"

Eithne's warmth suddenly grows hotter, and the aura grows larger and larger, until it touched the walls. More dirt falling away, revealing murals all over the room. The light dances off the carvings, and then they begin to animate and glow. Figures and stories told from many different directions, all at once, hard to follow with so much. One by the once-door, shows a man crawling from the river, with a stern looking older figure helping him out. The drowning man, of the Cherokee tribe, recognizes the river spirit, and promises him that he will tell stories to his ancestors. Further down the line shows that man, as an old man, telling his children how he saved himself from the great floods. More stories spark to life, and continue down the corridor, and around the corner in both directions. The edges of the sealed-door glow as well, lighting up the place bricked over quite clearly.

Inola's startled out of recalling to Grantok, "I'm not entirely..." her eyes move to Eithne, then around to the murals.

Sori 'Ooohs' at the sight, looking at the magic as it rolls out.

Makena tilts her head as she looks over the writings curiously, smiling

Eithne blinkblinks, then smiles widely. "Well! That's a rather... nice... display..." Firekitty then blinks, and glances at the spreading murals. "... oh. That's... that's rather obvious that we did something here. We should... probably hurry, yes?"

Makena giggles, "Okay!" she moves on along, looking for anything moving around.

Makena snarls, "Hehe, just keep a light nearby"

Balina tries, and fails, to remain dour and focused, gasping slightly and then carefully and obviously avoiding looking directly at the murals as she carries Eithne along, purely for her benefit, of course. "Lots and lots of praises to Wisadejak. Maybe he is hanging around in the mounds, after all," she muses as she goes.

Sorien headtilts. "But there IS a door outlined... Why would it be sealed?"

There is no need for lights at all with the way this place is lit up. Even after Eithne's radiance begins to fade, it's as if every story told here, is telling itself again, if watched for too long, the stories reset themselves.

Makena snarls, "Hehe, well I mean maybe the guy running away got sealed inside?"

Makena snarls, "We dunno what who he's running from or if he's a nice guy or not"

Grantok tears up a little at the sight, her mind wandering elsewhere more so than fully taking in the sight. Sorien's question does help to bring her back about to awareness. "To keep something out, or perhaps in? Though without any warnings of sorts on the outside, I would venture keeping things out."

Makena looks to Inola and smiles, "Did you recognize the clothes of either of those people? Were they in your tribe a long time ago?

Inola walks away from the group, wide-eyed, following one thread of a story. This one's longer than the others, running down the corridor and around. A story of her people, their part in this place. Another tribe on the trail betrayed the Cherokee, blaming them for their banishment from their home, and scalped, and raped many of the Cherokee. It shows brutal scenes of horror. Many of their warriors had long grown fat and old, so they were unable to save themselves, and the other nations sat by and did nothing to help.

Eithne slips from her saddle on Bal's back, and taps at the bricks concealing the door. "... Well, it seems to be the way we need to go, so let's get to work on it." She slides out her claws and begins carefully scraping the 'mortar' out from between the bricks, intending to use her sticky grip to carefully pull freed bricks from the wall.

Digging at the thing, the mortar is little more than mud, and comes out, though tedious in action. The old clay bricks can be removed without too much trouble afterward.

Inola's continuing to follow the story, dissapearing around the corner the spirit went, still following the path of destruction of her people, something she hadn't even been told about.

Sori watches this for a moment, then looks where Inola has vanished. She starts after the woman, knowing the danger of separation.

Makena follows Inola closely as she can!

Balina continues along the murals for a few moments, absorbed in watching the unfolding stories before realizing she's not guiding anyone along as an excuse any more. Looking back hastily, she rushes back to the door, experimentally digging to see if going under would be easier. The revelation about shoddy mason work puts a stop to that, and a few bricks are carried to the side in an attempt to be helpful.

Grantok glances about as Eithne sets to work on the doorway, catching Inola out of the corner of her eye as she rounds the corner. Like Makena and Sori, she pursues.

Eithne snaps her gaze over to a particular mural, and blinks for a few, long moments... then she shakes her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, and continues working to reveal and open the door. Balina gets a light caress of the cat's tail along her cheek for the help.

Inola's not gone far, but she's startled as Sorien and Grantok approach her. She points at the end of the story. "We lost so many people here. Our blood wept in the soils, and we were shamed and hated for our failures." she's got a bit of tears in her eyes, "And Wisadejak blamed himself for all of this."

Sori says, "Then we will tell him the truth."

Makena snarls, "Yeah! This just means we can let everyone know what really happened!"

The bricks come out easily, a little too easily. More than should come out for structural safety. There's a rumbling from above, the two digging better be careful the ceiling is saying, an almost warning despite maybe a hole maybe only a single body could fit through. Light beyond more limited, though there do appear to be more murals.

Eithne leans over to kiss Balina on the nose, and then tries to squirm her tiny form through the opening, cateyes wide and her mind reaching inwards to try and draw forth a bit more flame, if needed.

"First thing's first. We'll have to be sure to find him and then we'll do what we can. Now best we stay together and not wander off." Grantok smiles lightly to Inola.

"Architecture!" proclaims Sparhawk, one eye closed against the falling dust. "I shall take my nature as a funnel web spider today," and begins inspecting the ceiling above the proto-door for where to string steely threads.

"Tell them WHAT, exac--" Balina's snarling is cut short. "I thought we were better at Jenga than that. Uh, much as I hate to sound like a coward afraid of a little burying, could the tinier--" cut short again. "Yes, that. Good luck, and please don't do anything too dangerous."

Grantok just barely noticed with enough time to warn Inola, something moving in the shadows behind her, the illumination of the illustrations, caused moving shadows all down the corridor and it was hard to spot. The hand reaching out of the shadows, long and clawed, towards Inola's neck gives very little time for reaction.

"Shit! Not now! Behind you!" Grantok acts on instinct, rushing towards Inola to pull her away from the shadowy hand reaching for her.

Sparhawk blinkblinks at Balina with hir hind end up the wall. "Or just toss the tiny glowstick in, yes." Shi holds carefully still while watching the door shi is also too large to fit in.

Inola blinks and is pulled away from the hand just before it wraps around her neck. There's a hiss from the shadows, as they seem to expand, into a heavily muscled beast of a man, totally nude, his skin shimmering as the blackness fades into a mixture of scales and skin. It's eyes glowing a mixture of red and gold. "Excuse me dearie, but I need to borrow your blood. I hope you don't mind." the words can be heard everywhere, and drip with venom, smooth and inhumanly spoken.

Makena laughs at the blackness, keeping herself between it and Inola, "Hehe it's just a mosquito!"

Sorien blinks, immediately dropping into combat-stance at the sight of the creature. "I'm afraid she WILL mind!" She braces, knowing that this is NOT a good situation.

Balina bristles at the voice, ignoring her own advice and whirling towards the interloper and all but barrelling straight at the infuriating interloper setting off every last alarm bell in her head. "No RIGHT!" she snarls.

Crys was reading stories, when he ears twitch, the large wolf nearly bowling her over. She slides up against the wall, and then follows less quickly, trying to remove her blades without accidentally hitting someone with a hilt.

Sparhawk mildly crawls down from the wall and peers at the wall concealing the source of malice, then folds hir arms behind hir back. "Guess I'm backin' you up now, firekitty. Everyone holler if you need shadows put out, hmm?"

On the other side of the door, Eithne can see a room with many labeled burial mounds, each aligned carefully in a pattern, twelve bodies, each forming a part of a larger picture. The walls have their own motifs and stories, though the noise makes it a little distracting to follow any one in particular.

"Thank you, Spar, but if it sounds like they need help leave me and join in." Eithne calls back, and then rises to her feet inside the room. She peers around carefully, examining the stories present and the labeled burial mounds with intense focus.

Grantok surreptitiously reaches for her tooth in her pocket with her hand. "Just a little blood, eh?" She edges backward slowly to the nearest support arch with Inola in tow. "Give me a minute and we'll see about some. In the meantime, do stay put if you please." She fumbles through her pockets for "Tooth" and "Earth". "Mind buying me a minute's time?"

The Creature howls, long and mournfully, blasting throughout the area, Inola screaming her head off, and it leaps at Sorien and Makena, in an attempt to throw both away. The creature is unearthly strong, his blow hitting high over the hyena and lands on Sorien, hitting her right in the center of her chest, claws digging at her flesh and tearing easily through her armor. A lavisious and toothy grin appearing on his muzzle. "If you won't be kind enough to remove yourselves, than I'm afraid I must eat you. The master would not be happy, and I simply must have her blood."

Sparhawk has one ear pointed at Eithne and one down the Violent Corridor, and a thoughtful frown in the middle. "Pity I can't suck up all the photons and send them along the laser beam that is otherwise absorbed..."

Around Eithne, the chamber's walls tell another specific story. The burial of the elders, six women, six men, each killed during the battle that wiped out a large portion of the Cherokee. They were buried by Wisadejak himself, tearfully and carefully used to construct a spell. The problem is, the stories don't say what that spell is.

Sori Roars back at the thing, shifting as she does; she shifts horribly, slamming the thing back away from her shifting form and into the wall HARD! "GET OFF ME!!!"

Were there anything but murderous, indignant rage in her mind at the moment, Balina might have laughed. One does not talk about eating with a charging Fenrir wolf bearing down on you. Her path cleared by raw coincidence, there is now about eleven hundred pounds of ice-cold anger flying teeth-first towards the Shadowling.

Makena giggles, looking around, is the shadow *coming* from anywhere? Is there a source of it?

Eithne settles down in a kneeling position just outside the spell pattern, tail flicking behind her as she intently studies the weaving.

Crys isn't as fast, but glares when she sees her mate in the creature's grasp, it's hand ready to tear apart her mate. She growls, but there's no space to get by with the wolf and skunk occupied. Between her and the thing, Makena appears to be studying rather than fighting, her eyes drifting down to where the creatures legs seem to connect to the very shadows themselves, created by the flickering lights of the walls.

Grantok makes with the motions of what she has done before; tooth sliced across her palm, blood smeared on both coins in turn, and then shouts down the hallway at the others. "Get clear of him. Now!" She etches both runes onto the nearby support. But then something odd happens as she maintains the energies of the spell. Grantok lurches over coughing and sputtering, a wide-eyed look of confusion on her face as though she were having difficulty breathing.

Sparhawk's right ear flickers frantically at the roaring and clawing and wheezing noises, but the left stays put to observe Eithne's continued safety from being alone and ambushed.

The big creature has his arm caught by the jaws of a hungry wolf, just as it was about to stick it's hand through the growing Sorien's chest, the beast growling, and throwing the muscular woman to the ground, attempting to shake the big beast off. It slams the giant wolf into the walls, distracted by trying to injure the beast, and is distracted when Sorien, now fully grown lifts up and slams the beast's head directly into a wall. There's a nasty crack of it hitting stone, the wall itself cracking a bit, and the creature's blood drips black onto the ground below it from both its arm and its head. Balina can't hold on long with all the movement, and her jaws slip.

Used to her allies, Sori shoves against the thing as she breaks loose, clearing the path for whatever it is that Gran is up to; she drops into a bizarre semi feral crouch and waits for when she's next needed!

Balina snarls and snaps, frustrated at her own failings nearly as much as she is at the creature itself. Conditions are too tight for her to make another dive from her position, and she is forced to fall back to prepare for another charge.

Eithne continues studying, in her out of the way room. A notepad is produced and the kitty begins scrawling in it.

Makena giggles, getting her shadow positioned on the wall by the big shadow critter, doing shadow-puppets on the wall. Her shadow's hands grab around the big monster--as if that would *really* do anything--"choking" it with her shadow's hands.

It finally clicks to Eithne, there's a definite pattern specifically in the way each of the females, and males are set up. Something ancient, magic very similar actually to what Grantok is using, the pictures on the coins, some of them match with the arrangements.

Coughing increases as the lynx reinforces the energies of the spell, looking more and more worse for wear. Lurching over once more, blood spews from her mouth in a heaving fit, staining the wall heavily in a splotch of red. The cracks in the wall around the brute chink and extend up further into the ceiling as dust sprinkles down from above. It doesn't appear as though it will hold much longer.

The walls begin to crumble, the creature starts to lurch forward toward the group and looks startled as something seizes a portion of its body, practically tearing the surface of its skin off, choking it for just a moment. Makena's hands feel significant resistance, the creature roars out, and the sound reverberates around, with the ceiling, enough that it brings a chunk of the mound from above down directly on its head, blocking the corridor down that direction.

Sparhawk hollers over, "Still doing okay over there? I haven't heard reports in at least ten seconds!" Shi's looking up at hir own ceiling with concern.

Makena giggles

Eithne is whistling cheerily as she continues her studying, making notes on the placements of things, what runes are where, and what similarities she sees between the coins and the glyphs here.

Inola seems really concerned about Grantok, holding the poor woman as she sputters. The blood causing her to gasp, and now she's over trying to comfort the lynx.

Makena snarls, "Hehe I think it's under cover. Where do we go now??"

Sorien pants a little, then looks at the roof overhead. She sighs, then comes over to Gran. "Inola, I can heal her, I think. Just hold her, okay?"

Crys answers Sparhawk, "Whatever it was... I think that was the beast that killed the old sheriff. It's buried for now."

Eithne's got more time to study it, memorizing the pattern. She'll have to talk with Grantok about the shapes.

"Ah, excellent. A momentary reprieve, do be sure to stay out of arm's reach of the pile." Sparhawk settles back down to monitoring mode, letting the adrenaline and the plan of what walls to careen off of slip away. Grantok continues coughing, though not as heavily as before when she was busy with the spell. Her eyes look to the stain she left splattered on the nearby wall, worry running across her brow as Sorien approaches her. "That *cough* is new. Well it looks as though the lug got the blood he *cough* wanted in the end. Just not to the same end, I hope."

Eithne leans back, and pokes her head out. "Oi! Grantok! C'mere please? With sugar on top? I need to see the coins!" Her hands still continue scritching away with idle musings and conjecture, even as she turns her attention away.

Balina comes to a stop near the rubble, snorting disdainfully at the edge of the pile. "Came out of the shadows to begin with. Not sure this is going to hold it for long. Anyone want to check the wall and see if we can get any more people through the hole?" Pacing back, both the Shadowblood and the Granblood are given casual checks, with no apparent surprises found. Grantok herself gets a concerned nudge in passing.

"Just stay still. I think you kinda pushed it there, sweetie." Sori keeps ministering to Gran.

Makena looks around to see if there's any way to get people through to the other side

"One second. Little winded at the moment." Residual coughing continues from Grantok despite looking a good deal refreshed by Sorien's healing. "I'll be fine. Just will take it easy for a while." She stands back up to full short stature. "Should go see what Glowkitty found."

"Okay... But seriously, don't push. Trust me, playing with magic can burn you if you go too far." Sori hugs Gran, then shifts back to her proper self.

The tunnel is surely collapsed. To continue on they'll have to find another way around. The small hole's big enough to fix someone small like gran to Eithne through, and maybe with some time Sparhawk can reinforce it enough to make the hole larger.

Eithne pulls her head back in, and continues whistling cheerily as she continues her studies. Glowkitty is oblivious to combat damage, the fight having happened around a corner and through a tiny hole.

Eithne does begin blathering about what she's reasoned out, though, and showing her notes on the runes and the like as soon as Gran enters.

Balina settles herself near the doorway, sitting down and keeping watch while patiently waiting for the tiny kitty committee to sort this mess out.

Sparhawk attempts to arrange like guardian fu dogs across the hole from Balina. Pondering applied nanite science while sitting in a hole full of ghosts.

Grantok climbs through the passage upon reaching it, taking time to listen to Eithne's conjecture and notes up until this point. She adds a few points here and there from her own experience. "It's their arrangement, yes?" Shuffling out her coins she shows them each to Eithne, pointing out of note the two matching the depiction. "Blood and Fire."

Sorien looks at the pile, seeing if there's a way past without disrupting the binding. "Makena? Can you hear me?"

Makena's muffled giggling can be heard from the other side

Eithne rests her chin in one hand, tail swishing thoughtfully. "... Hm. Blood and Fire... Though can't that one also mean rebirth? So... An arrangement based on Life, maybe? How do you think it should be properly activated, and what do you think the exact purpose of the array is?" Her elbow rests in the palm of her left hand, fingers tapping it. "I'm tempted to try and channel a smidgeon of Phoenix fire into it."

A few words Sorien can hear, but the communication seems to be only one way. Sorien just can't get her words through beyond muffled noises, the hyena's voice does carry enough for words to be made out.

Grantok coughs a few times, taking a moment to wince as she swallows. "Tied to life from death, rebirth yes. But blood means translation. So perhaps a croon or cry of the phoenix would work?"

Makena snarls, "It's dark over here! hehe. Can you pass me a flashlight through the hole?"

Sparhawk loses track of internal musings in favor of eavesdropping on the kitty committee. Overheard science is the best kind when dealing with magic!

Sorien digs a light out of her bag and tosses it through the space. "Got it?"

Eithne nods, and eyes Grantok's coughing and wincing for a moment. Then she gives another slow nod, before hugging the lynx warmly. Literally. Phoenix fire kicks up around her, basking her friend in healing flame, and she throws her head back to release a cry of hope in these dark tunnels.

Balina walks back over to the pile, firmly convinced that if anyone is going to get to the bottom of the wondrous mysteries of the hole, the best people available are on it. Pausing to smile despite herself, she makes a few attempts to dig at the pile, again looking for a way to bypass the problem through the only means she has at hand. At paw. Something.

There's a strange reflection in the room, the runes glowing, from all around magic rushes towards Eithne, and she feels strange, like the spell is reflecting and channeling into her. The first sign of trouble comes when her legs go numb.

The small flashlight makes it through the cracks in the top of the ceiling, and rolls down over the dirt to Makena.

Makena picks it up and calls over. "Hehe, I got it, thanks!"

Sorien glances at Bal. "Maybe we could clear space over the top, where the space was vacated by the collapse..."

The magic continues to heat up Eithne, pouring into her, Grantok can clearly see something wrong in addition to the part phoenix's comment, her fur seems to be shedding.

Sparhawk decides it is peering-through-hole time! "Do kindly keep reporting what's going on, will you? For science?" Assorted escape plans flit through hir head, but none of them are taken due to lack of understanding of what's going on.

Grantok moves from supported and hugged to the role of supportee as crooning kitty becomes swooning kitty. "Shh... Be silent. Don't want to keep the energies moving any further if it's doing that. Sever the power." She coughs aside, still not sounding much better despite the firecat's efforts, but the point is moot. A backup plan is hatched in the worst case and she reaches for "Tooth" once more if improvements aren't seen.

Makena snarls, "Hehe. There's some older mounds, its old Cherokee. They're different from the other ones."

Balina tilts her head to Sorien, then begins placing her weight atop the pile, digging experimentally with cold claws. An ear flicks back at Sparhawk's comments, but there's no sounds of panic yet. Dig, dig, dig. Maybe there'll be something delicious to gnaw on if she makes enough headway.

Eithne shakes her head weakly, and reaches out to poke at numb, fur-shedding bits. "... I... don't think... that will help..." But she gently tries guiding the power along less... harmful paths, though that requires her to try and figure out what it's doing in the first place.

The power shifts from Eithne, the glow reaching around and touching Grantok, the cat's fur returning and pins and needles in her legs. Now the Lynx's fur is shedding, even faster now. She falls to the ground, her feet going out from under her. The spell needs to be stopped, quickly.

Makena looks around inside a bit more.

The tunnel doesn't seem to be easily dug over, so it looks like Makena's on her own for now. The tunnels aren't hard to navigate, they reach and web outward. If she follows through there's bound to be an exit to the surface, after all the creature that attacked them got in somehow. There are two paths directly away from her, one heading into the Cherokee mound, and one heading further toward the east side of the place.

Makena heads into the Cherokee mound to check it out!

And once more the lynx is weak in the knees as the magics continue to unintentionally sheer the fur from her body. "Tooth" nearly drops from her hand as the energies seep into her. Reopening the previously healed gash with a claw, she palms the coin against her blood. and focuses what she can into cutting off the power.

"No dice. Looks like you're on your... own?" Balina calls as the hyena scampers off again. Shaking her head, she carefully backs down and heads back towards the only other thing worth staring at now that she's seen everything the murals have to show. A questing nose peeks towards the hole, and earlier thoughts of digging under resurface.

"Crap. The whole thing'll probably come down if we keep poking at it." Sori sighs. "She'll have to find a way out and hope there isn't something else down here."

Eithne growls, and glances between Grantok and herself. She prepares to try and drag the spell back her way, if whatever Gran is attempting doesn't seem to work, and settles a hand on the lynx's shoulder as emotional and physical support.

Sparhawk scoots out of the way when Balina arrives, by way of moving radially along the tunnel wall until shi is on the ceiling and icewolf is on the floor. "Once again I regret not getting the camera in its quickdraw holster," shi murmurs.

The blood on Grantok's palm, touches the coin, and the fiery glow around her seems to dissolve, folding into itself. The whole room seems to contract on a single spot, and then there are images, A larger man, and the crafty river god. Wisadejak has just finished burying the bodies, and is chanting something with the man, and then that familiar glow fires around him. His body begins to twist and alter in shape, his eyes slitted, his mouth pressing out, his limbs dissolving quickly. Before long there is nothing left but a serpent. Wisadejak picks the serpent up, petting it. In his other hand is the obsidian dagger, the Knife of Night, as the tales call it.

Eithne watches, head cocked to the side, and moves to wrap her arm entirely around Grantok's shoulders. "... Fire and blood." is her muttered comment, even as she tries to feed a slow drip of phoenixfire to the lynx. Healing... is not her strong point, but she'll do what she can to help. Otherwise she's focused completely on the image before them.

Makena's pathway takes them deep into the quiet earth. As she travels through the sacred mounds, she could swear she can hear whispers. Sounds echoing around her, almost as if in conversation. Any time she tries to focus on the source of the sound, it's not there. Maybe she's going crazy? She can only hope that lovely voice she hears will guide her to an exit when the time comes. Peering about the burial areas, she finds more stories, tales of the cherokee from long before the trail of tears. Their own ancestors cherished and worshipped, the most important once laid to rest in this mound. One area in particular draws her attention. A chamber filled with the culture heroes of the nation.

Balina stares up, politely refusing to comment. She's too busy testing the limits of the hole and anything she can poke at without causing any further structural problems.

Grantok coughs a few times more. The flames of healing perk her up, though she doesn't sound as though they are doing much of anything. Perhaps something else is at work here. The balding lynx does speak up though. "Do we know anything about that man. The one *cough* turned snake?"

Makena smiles and looks around in there, curious about what made them heroes as she looks around at the murals.

There's enough work to get the hole open without the ceiling coming down. The bricks are removed and the wolf can fit through just as the image seems to finish its actions. Wisadejak in the image points to somewhere off to the east, and then looks directly at Eithne and Grantok, and smiles before the image blinks out. To the Fenris, she can smell the faint hints of a god in the wind.

Sorien follows after Balina a bit later, kissing Crys as she does and linking arms with her. "I take it we missed something?"

Inola follows soon after, Crys hanging back, the small burial chamber becoming quickly crowded with bodies piling in.

"Yes," supplies Sparhawk helpfully. "Context seems to be in short supply, though."

Eithne shakes her head at Grantok, and then moves to help the injured Lynx up. "No idea. Maybe Inola can recognize him, or he's in the stories on the walls somewhere...? And yes. Wisakedjak turned someone into a snake, with the dagger in hand, and then pointed east. Whether somewhere on the maps or further east in the mounds I don't know." Then she glances over to the group, and describes as much as she can remember about the transformed man. "Anything come to mind?"

Makena's able to make out some of the stories with the flashlight, there are six highlighted most carefully, and /one/ looks newer than all the rest. The first five each tell of a great warrior and hero, whom changed the life of the nation, bringing it glory. Each one besting another tribe single handedly and winning the Cherokee great glory. The newest one appears to have been dug long after the others, and shows a man who rescued something really important for the tribe, a big snake coiled around him, its fangs deep in his shoulder. He chokes the serpent and then brings back the object to his people.

"Whiskey Jack was here. Pulling a stunt similar to what we stumbled onto, though in a more controlled manner." The nearly furless lynx clears her throat before continuing. "There was a man with him. At least until he became a serpent. The rest I believe you saw. East is where we need to go."

Makena looks at the object curiously, what's it look like? Then she looks around for the burial mound for him.

Inola shakes her head, "I'm not familiar with any of this tale. We did not tell these stories, or at least they weren't told to me. She looks distraught and jumpy. "Why would that creature want my blood anyway?" she asks.

Balina breathes deeply. Very deeply, exhaling in ragged, rumbling breaths. She glances off in a direction she believes to be east, but the party has been going around in circles for too long to be sure. "Blood is everything," she growls. "There are a thousand things he might have wanted it for, and all that matters is none of them are good."

"Blood is life and power. Taking your blood, that of one of the... Oh. Oh!" Sori says. "I think I get it. Blood of one of the People to gain the knife? Like a key!"

Makena notices something curious. Despite the presence of a burial mound, there doesn't appear to be a body that was ever buried, but she does catch sight of the artifact on the mural, a black knife held in the man's hand. The kind of knife they were looking for. The question is, does she dare disturb whatever /is/ buried?

Makena giggles a bit.

"To get under your skin perhaps." The lynx weakly smiles towards Inola, glad that a firecat is lending a shoulder as she stands. She glances to Sori. "There's truth to that. Would explain why he wanted you if that means something at all." A brief glance at those present and she asks. "Where's Makena?"

Makena figures she should get the others first, 'cause Inola might not want her diggin' up graves down here. She heads back out, figuring the passage to the East leads out. She'll go towards the hole, first, to let folks know what she found.

"She got separated when the ceiling came down on that thing. She was okay, but she ran off on her own."

Sparhawk peers around at a crowd accumulating underneath hir. "Why'd the image show up in the first place, though? Was it a successful whatever-just-happened?"

Eithne motions for everyone to scoot from the room, and then tries to catch Bal's eye, giving Gran a significant look when she does, and then a second towards her earlier saddle. "We'll need to find our way east, then, and see if there's another way around to where Makena was separated."

A large noise errupts across the mound, something breaking. The ceiling ripples, and the corridor, the area the creature was buried seems to explode. The chamber door starts to buckle, and Cryst quickly moves to put her shoulder underneath it.

"And if there's more than the one hulk about? Or some other of Shadow's minions. We should look to meet back up with her ASAP." Grantok looks to Sparhawk. "We triggered whatever was necessary to see that, yes." And then things get worse. Fast. "Out! Now!"

"EVERYONE OUT!" Sori moves to buttress Crys' efforts. "Everyone go!"

Balina gives a worried glance to the door, then back to the cats. "Get her out first, then toss her on; I don't think we can fit through together!!" The last part is called as the wolf carefully but hurriedly tries to get herself through the doorway before it collapses any further, crouching just outside ready to spring.

Sparhawk makes a 'gah!' noise when the ceiling shi is standing on takes offense. Path's clear to run out to the ceiling of the cross-path though, peeking around at the scene shi missed while keeping guard.

The explosion hits Makena's ears, and her head swings, something is really wrong. She exits the room, taking note of where it is, before her instincts kick in and she's running madly eastward, even deeper into the mounds, wherever she's going it's away from that noise.

Grantok heeds her own and everyone else's words, making her way back up the passage from which they came to begin with as fast as she is able.

Eithne drags her fellow feline out of the room. "Here. You still seem pretty weak, so you can steal my seat and ride around on Bal's back. Comfortable, fast, and combat capable."

Sori waits til everyone is clear, then with Crys rushes out and away from the collapse!

Everyone free, Crys lets the room get buried. Out around back in the main corridor, the mound the creature was buried in is... gone.

Makena heads away from the noise, west to the mounds first, trying to recover what's hidden in the mound that never got a body put in it.

Balina wastes no time as soon as she's loaded with Gran. What she remembers of the way out, plus any trail she can pick up from the party's original foray in, is followed with all due haste before anything else happens.

Grantok nods to Eithne, taking up the rider's seat of the moowolf. "Thanks. Though I can't guarantee how much use I'll be in a fight right now."

Sparhawk flips down from the ceiling like a dropped ribbon and offers a hand to Eithne. "I am more like a pickup truck, most of my training is in carrying needlessly heavy people. Might need to hold on tighter."

Makena's frantically searching the burial site, not heeding her instincts to run. She works hard and fast to remove the packed dirt the size of a square foot. Inside not far below the surface she finds a wooden box. There's not much time left, her mind screaming and her body itching to run from the shadows. She bolts.

Makena giggles, heading down the east path quick as she can manage.

Eithne clambers up onto Spar's back. Glowkitty likes her exotic mounts. "I'm good at holding on, mmhm. I'm also capable of walking on walls and ceilings, if you remember Spar." Nodnod, and then a gesture eastward. "Onwards, and /quickly/!"

Inola asks, "Do we follow that thing? Or do we flee for the surface? Do we have enough to go on?" she pleads, seeming to shy towards the light.

"East. We go east!" Sori says.

Sparhawk murmurs, "An entirely different mechanism, mind you." Over hir shoulder to Inola shi says, "If we don't go deal with it, who else will? If we are insufficiently prepared, who will be?" Then shi is off, the fastest thing on six legs.

"We can't leave Makena stranded down here. Find her first then make for the exit." Grantok coughs as she clings to the saddle. "I can't say I'd be willing to get used to this. All the bouncing is a little nauseating."

The group heads through the now cleared corridor, eastward. The group bounding down the corridor. Balina can smell it, but they hardly need to, the things clawmarks all over the walls as it seems to be bounding along using various bricks and dirt for support. The creature pays no mind or respect, having broken ritual things, and burial marks are torn apart in its charge. It's clearly intently after something now.

"Wanna bet what it's following? C'mon!" Sori says, putting on some speed.

Makena's finding the corridors getting thinner, older, areas, they seem to be heading down, more than up and out. Maybe this is the wrong way? Perhaps she'll die alone deep in the tunnel? It doesn't seem to bother her as she keeps running, the precious box in her arms, no time to try to figure out how to open it.

Balina continues along the path as fast as she can without throwing her charge off. Mentions of bouncing slow her again, though only slightly. "Urgency over comfort," she mutters, then resumes the half-track, half charge.

Sparhawk run run run, with a smoother gait distributed among three sets of ground-impact centers. How fortunate that the Jerk leaves a trail of malice to follow!

"Then I apologise in advance if my stomach contents don't decide to agree with that statement." Bits of stray fur flutter off the lynx as she is pulled along at the semi-hasty pace. At least if won't be difficult for those behind who can't keep up to follow the trail. Or others for that matter unfortunately.