[center][hr][h2]A Gentle Rain at Dawn[/h2]
[@Shiyonichi][hr][/center]
Watery brushes of soft blue light lit up the sky in long perfect strokes. Rays of potent, binding magic cut through the white haze of snow with unerring precision, each one lashing around a hapless victim. Above the clouds, ethereal radiance exploded around dozens of winged shadows. Blue threads lanced through each, nailing them to the sky. At a distance, they seemed little more than tiny fireflies pinned starkly onto a stormy canvas. These enormous creatures were the size of mammoths. Their small eyes bulged from a horse-like head. Their skin was that of steaming tar and was stretched too tightly over their bulky frame. Darkness clung to them even while illuminated, and peeled away in noxious, black wisps. 
[i]Shantaks.[/i]
Many more of them had escaped into the night, but several dozen still lingered.

Dawn finally began to break as the sun dared to peek over the horizon.  The macabre haze surrounding the sisters began to thin, but had already stayed too long. Bright motes of lethal magic rained from above, leaving hazy green streaks in their wake. Holes formed as the mist and snow recoiled, but not fast enough. Each droplet bored a path to the ground. 
The Carnivorous Mist writhed silently, pantomiming a sunken face of anguish before dissipating. Within seconds, the only thing that remained of the mist was a fading chorus of disparate wails. The dark clouds disappeared were simply gone with no trace of there ever having been a storm. Horrid black chunks of scorched flesh fell from above, collateral from the sisters' displays of prowess.

The mountain slopes were pristine and white, covered in thin layers of fresh, powdery snow. Wherever the putrid flesh landed greasy, black stains smeared across the snow and rock. As the sun continued to climb, the remnants began to evaporate under the natural light.

The immediate threat was gone, cowed both by a show of power and the searing light of day. The trek down the mountain no longer had any obstacles, but something still lingered in the mountains, a silent malice that prickled the senses.

[center][hr][h2]Visions of Nowhere[/h2]
[@Rune_Alchemist][@Mag Lev]
[hr][/center]
The forest was painfully quiet. No bird songs, no humming of insects, not even the creak of wind in the boughs of a tree. The plants were hardy and green, but seemed lifeless and still. Whatever majesty the forest once had siphoned away. Everything looked natural, but nothing felt natural, least of all the trees.
Loping through the dense edges of the forest, a Dryad and her disguised companion climbed hills of increasing severity before the land yielded to a sheer drop into a narrow ravine. The dulled noise of rushing water floated up to them. Some distance down, a river flowed at a nervous pace. Fed by the mountain, it cut through the hills and likely emptied into an estuary further south. 

The rugged mesa on the side of the ravine was much shorter. Instead of slopes, rocky terraces offered a passage downward. Smaller steps had been cut into the formation and hewn clefts in along the walkway served as a makeshift staircase to the river. Following the switchback of stairs was easy, and led to an old cart trail which disappeared behind a barren knoll. 

For Nara and Iva, the severe-looking terrain was no obstacle. After travelling at length, they found it.
Perhaps a dozen structures were spread through a loose woodland. Ancient buildings of mouldering planks were topped by shingled roofs overgrown with moss. They all surrounded a large plowed field, more than half of which laid barren and dry.  A grass-bitten pile of rubble that was once a granary occupied a wide space next to the field. The entire village looked abandoned. The thin patch of loamy soil sprouting with vegetable crops and strange flowers indicated otherwise. So did the two people tending to them. A middle-aged man and younger woman both wearing the stoic expression and seemed engrossed in their work. They were so thin, they could make convincing scarecrows.

A thin wisp of a man with dark, leathery skin stepped out of one of the houses and appraised the two travelers critically. A sling of soiled bandages covered half of his face. The other half was adorned with one small, penetrating eye the color of granite, sunken deep into its sockets, which peered at them from beneath a heavy brow. His expression was both tired and somehow intense. He looked to be a man whose life was a vicious storm he was determined to weather and dark clouds were always on the horizon taunting him. 

[b]“A dryad and her mate coming to visit Jhorm, eh? Now, that’s a sight.”[/b] He boomed with a raspy, but deep voice. He didn't seem surprised by their sudden arrival. [b]“I am Kessig. And who might you two be?”[/b]
His attention had trailed off, following their footsteps back along the path they had come, but his gaze snapped back to the girls. A hint of suspicion glinted in his eye.

[center][hr][h2]Beyond the Yawning Depths[/h2]
[@BKburke][hr][/center]

The rime-coated throat of the abyss eventually yielded to a natural cavern. Masrith crept cautiously deeper into the caves. His shuffling footsteps echoed into the hollow darkness. The floor and walls glistened in the guttering fire light. Here and there, patches of translucent blue slime seem to flinch away from the light. The deeper Masrith went, the more of the strange slime clung to the walls of the narrow passage. The air was stale, but carried a sweet, earthy scent. 

A particularly large bulge of blue slime clung to a nearby wall. It shuddered as the light drew near, reflecting a translucent mirror image of the flaming angel. Tempted by the new disturbance, questing feelers reached out toward the Masrith, as if sensing his presence.

The cave widened into large chamber further down. Venturing forward, Masrith noticed a crunch underfoot. Fragile pieces of bone and other ivory white fragments litter the ground, carpeting the floor of the cavern. The fragments were slick and strangely smooth like stones in a river bed. There was no telling what creatures met their in these darkest depths.