Terre Haute expedition: Camping Day 1

[lord_wizard]

[It's been a more or less uneventful day of travel for the expedition team. Not unexpected for the first leg of such a trip, and with any luck, it will stay that way.

As the sun starts to get low in the sky, Felix signals the group with a sharp whistle to stop, shortly after he feels the change. They've entered the Dead Zone. That sudden loss of power for anyone used to that sort of thing. Not an easy thing to adjust to, at first.]

"We've crossed into the border of the Dead Zone now. We should stop here for the night. Those of you with experience, help set up camp as needed. And I recommend a few of you working out a watch schedule. You never can tell what might be out here."

SET UP | CAMPFIRE | IN THE NIGHT

Comments

[lord_wizard]

So you've mentioned, though you could have sat in the tent.

Is something else bothering you? You've been quiet, even for you.

[kethedammit]

[Mildmay shrugs. He can think of a few ways to answer that, but...] How dangerous does this kinda shit tend to get?

[lord_wizard]

[He let out a breath and took a seat. This wasn't going to be a short conversation, he could tell already]

It's hard to say, but I think out of every major expedition on record, all but one had at least one encounter with something dangerous.

[kethedammit]

What're the worst ones? [...Wait a minute.] You been on one of these before?

[lord_wizard]

Yes. Two...actually. One of them was the quiet one I mentioned, actually. The other was...less so. But there have been others, before I arrived, that ended far worse. Some people nearly died.

[kethedammit]

Shit. You made it out okay? [He sounds genuinely worried, in his own way.]

[lord_wizard]

I was injured, but it wasn't that bad. [He glances away, guilty for causing concern, and perhaps that he'd suffered worse on another occasion, back at the castle]

[kethedammit]

How? What happened? [Mildmay, worried, forgets to enunciate, and his words come out especially slurred.]

[lord_wizard]

[He has a little trouble making that out, but he doesn't really need to, the look on his brother's face asks it well enough.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. It was hard to explain, given what occurred. Mildmay hadn't had the benefit of time here in Paradisa to give him a frame of reference to understand, which meant he'd have to supply it.]

I suppose I'll have to start from the beginning.

That particular expedition was started because someone had gleaned a rumor about a tomb out in the mountains - from Lente or one of the Outsiders, I forgot what it was at the moment. And that's certainly what it looked like when we found it. Heavy stone door with engravings, just as you might imagine. It some doing, though eventually some of the others pried it open and we went inside to investigate.

Which is...when the door closed behind us.

[kethedammit]

[Mildmay looks down at the food in his hands, and fiddles with it.] Lemme guess, a labyrinth.

[lord_wizard]

[A dry, bitter laugh at that] Not quite, no. But we were effectively stuck there, which was just as unpleasant. We found another passage and decided to follow it, in hopes it would lead to another way outside.

I don't think it was very long after that we were passing over a bridge, and...well, it gave way. And before you ask, no, I was fine at that point. Ashura and I were already across by then, but it separated the rest of group, almost intentionally. It wasn't just rubble standing the way, it was magic. Right in the middle of the Dead Zone where it should not have been, but it was. Weak, but there. In hindsight, it made sense as to why.

[kethedammit]

So this place's got boobytraps 'n ancient stuff. [He pokes at his food again. He still hasn't eaten.] Sounds like home.

[lord_wizard]

[He gives Mildmay a look but doesn't mention the not eating thing quite yet. It's probably because he's here anyway]

It wouldn't have been the first time I've been reminded. Unlike last time, everyone escaped mostly unscathed, and we continue on in different directions. What we found down there wasn't just a tomb. It was a near exact replica of Paradisa from town to castle. It was, in fact, another castle entirely, but dead and buried under the mountain.

[kethedammit]

[This gets Mildmay's attention. He loves a good mystery.] So the castle... it ain't the first castle?

[lord_wizard]

[He's in a good place for that, given that Paradisa is one giant mystery and Felix has been neck deep in it almost since he arrived. He smiles, appreciative of this about his brother especially. Few enough people have the curiosity to even ask those questions]

Well, I can't say if it's older or younger, but we do know that Cair Paradisa is at least one of several that did or do still exist on this world somewhere. Cair Libet, which is the name of that one, is the first we've seen personally, and we have evidence that another called Cair Draconis dwells somewhere to the north across the ocean. There is one marked on the map, far to the northeast, though we've yet to make it there. I was told there is some kind of barrier or ward preventing anyone from getting close to that one, however. We may even find one in Terre Haute, though it's hard to say. A tome was found once that mentioned there was five, in addition to Paradisa, so there should be at least two more, depending on whether those three are in fact one of them.

[kethedammit]

We ever been able to reach the folks in other castles? I'm guessing the journals don't do shit for that.

[lord_wizard]

If they exist, they probably have their own. The people in Libet did, though the ones we found were nothing but gibberish.

[kethedammit]

Huh. Well, I guess we gotta figure out what happened to them folk first, don't we? [Either they're back where they came from, or they're all... dead.]

[lord_wizard]

[Well...you're uncomfortably half right]

There were skeletons in Libet. It seems the people who stayed died along with it. [Which implies many uncomfortable things about their connection to Paradisa]

But true, the rest will remain a mystery until then.

[kethedammit]

...Oh, course they was. Well, then, we only just gotta find out what killed 'em, don't we? [What black humor you have today, Mildmay.]

[lord_wizard]

The castle feeds on us. Our...energy and emotions. It's what keeps it alive. In some ways it's as if we were all bound by forms to it, and if it should expire, well...you remember why I was exiled instead of the alternative...

[kethedammit]

So you're saying if something happens where we ain't good to the castle no more... but then, why're we allowed to leave? Shouldn't it keep us in?

[lord_wizard]

It tries. You'll notice the pull the further out we go. It's a slight pull in the opposite direction. Not terribly pleasant. It's a mystery, beyond that. We can leave, it's simply difficult to survive otherwise. And I sometimes wonder if leaving is just an illusion it allows.

[They've diverted from the original point of the story somewhat, though he's not hurrying to get to that explanation]

[kethedammit]

You think... we're still in the castle? [Mildmay is sufficiently distracted by the mystery to have forgotten the original point entirely.]

[lord_wizard]

No. I mean I believe it has more power here than we usually realize. The Dead Zone used to cover the area around the castle, you know, but a few years ago it was reversed. It was like giving us a longer leash, but I think that may be the limit of it.