[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FM92P8l.png[/img]
[h1][color=ed145b]Sarah[/color][/h1][/center]

Sarah walks down the corridors of the cavern, staying close to the light Pip provides. While she spent some time exploring the cave, uncertain of where to go, she gradually feels a "pull" from something deep within, something calling to her. Maybe it's the sword? Kensu mentioned that perhaps she'd have better luck finding it.

For his part, Pip seems to have quickly gotten accustomed to his new companion. He seems to stay near her, panting at her cheerfully whenever she stops to investigate something. Or maybe he's just a good dog who likes people. Either way, Sarah likes her new companion back and pets him from time to time.

The time spent in the cave, however, makes her appreciate the sunlight outside even more. She's not sure how long has it been in here, and the place is getting rather claustrophobic, what with its tight corridors, lack of light, and strangely stuffy air. Even Pip is whining in concern; this is deeper than he's ever been before, and he keeps occasionally turning back to her as though to say 'are you sure?' It almost feels like it's hard to breathe in here. She pauses to take a breath, struggling against the suddenly heavier air. It's as though the air itself is resisting being drawn in. Suddenly, she feels the world beginning to swim around her, causing her to stumble and struggle to stay on her two feet. She hesitates, taking a couple of stumbling steps - and then her foot hita a soft spot in the ground that caused it to collapse and swallow her up. She screams as she falls into the abyss.

[indent][i][color=ed145b]She looks up and tries to grasp the ledge, but it's too late, and she's already fallen in. She's falling down both at high speed and incredibly slowly, as though she'd been thrown down a hole but stuck in water or sand on the way down. Nothing around her but darkness and terrifying flickers. Then she feels herself hit something hard.

She wakes up to find herself back in the capsule, only now it's full of liquid. She tries to call out but all that comes out of her mouth are strangled gurgles. Beyond the glass, she can see people - no, not people; monsters. Misshapen caricatures of men with mismatched features and empty black pools for eyes, burbling some black tongue that sounds like it's coming from the depths of a bottomless lake. One of them reaches out and rubs against the glass with monstrously long, slender fingers, as though to torment her with her helplessness. She feels like she's going to suffocate, to drown. She bangs against the glass of the capsule, trying to scream through lungs full of vile fluid.

Oh please, open, please open, please open it won't open it won't open itwon'topenitwon'topenitwon'topenitwon'topenITWON'TOPENITWON'TOPENITWON'T-

Then she realizes [b]something is in the capsule with her[/b] as it grabs her face from behind with a long, slimy tendril. She vainly struggles to knock it away-[/color][/i][/indent]

Suddenly the horrid vision is gone, and above her is Pip, barking at her for some reason before he resumes licking her face. She stirs, weak and sick, feeling like she's about to throw up, while the air around her is thrumming and heavy with malicious intent, her vision hazy...

[color=orangered]Pip isn't sure what happened with New Master. She started out well, giving pets and rubs which he appreciated, but after a while she started going in deeper into the cave than Old Master did, as though driven by something. Old Master never acted like she did either; first she was calm and focused, like she was hunting or something, but then she started to tremble, breathe hard, and smell funny. He could smell fear, it was instinctive to dogs. But this fear is different; the longer she stayed here, the more New Master seemed to be going crazy, reacting wildly and shiver before she eventually collapsed and started screaming. He tried to revive her, bring her to her senses by licking her face, but she slapped him away in her thrashing. If she didn't just [i]smell[/i] full of fear, he'd have chalked it up to being moody, but he can smell something in the air, bad and sick, like it was making New Master sick just by her being in it. As it were, he just barks at her in mild reprimand before trying to revive her again.

Her eyes open, and he sees she can see him again. He'd be happy, but her shivers indicate she's still under the influence of the Bad Smell, even if she can't smell it. He can, but it's not affecting him for some reason. He'll have to be her eyes and ears for now.

And that's when he hears - and [i]smells[/i] - something else. Something bad. He smelled traces of it in the village when Old Master took him back and found all the other people gone.

Out of the shadows come three things - bad, tall, gangly bug-things, with legs like spiders and long claws like a mantis. Pip realizes these spider-things were there at the village. They took Old Master's friends, the neighbors who'd say hello every morning, the little children who'd play with him every day, who'd feed him tasty scraps when they thought Old Master wasn't looking, the nice skinner who'd toss him some spare rawhide to chew whenever he came begging. These spider-things had the villagers' smell on them. They took the villagers.

Pip growled, his fur standing on edge as he turns to face the bug-things. The spider-things will [i]not[/i] take New Master. Not if he had anything to say about it.[/color]

What Sarah sees is three long, spidery horrors crawling out from a wall and skitter towards her, their terrifying presence filling the world as the air is now positively groaning and shuddering, her vision blurred and her breath short and uneven. All she could do is scramble to sit upright, her mind feeling like it's trapped and drowning in water, her reactions slow and ponderous even as the monsters sped up to attack her.

And then she sees Pip, glowing alight, growling and barking bravely at the monsters, trying to scare them off. He manages to get them to back off briefly with his loud barking and snarling. But the spell is broken as the spiders smack him aside and reach for her. Pip hits a wall with a loud whimper and crumples to the floor.

[color=olive]With the annoying yapping thing dealt with, the leading spider-thing turns its attention to the newcomer. This new human isn't like the others in town; she looks and smells... different somehow. It's puzzled to see her still conscious, but finds her sufficiently weakened by the miasma to be taken. Its mandibles open, looking like a nightmarish maw full of teeth to the still-stricken Sarah, hissing in anticipation. She struggles to throw off its grasp, managing to smack its arm aside with surprising strength. The spider-thing hisses in surprise, then anger. This one is still strong, it realizes even through the miasma she's proving resilient. Best to weaken it some more before bringing her in. Or better yet, it realizes, it's been a while since they ate. It's always delightful to enjoy a fresh kill, it decides, as it calls up its brethren to finish this strange human off. They raise their claws into the air to strike...[/color]

[i][center]To be continued...[/center][/i]