Memoriam Mortis | Open

That damned black carriage.

Jade had half a heart attack when the thing stopped in the middle of the woods on its way to Briarbane Settlement. She'd known this whole Quest thing was too good to be true- free public transportation was always a trap. And there was no good reason why they'd stopped-- no announcement, no "we're sorry for the inconvenience." Nothing. Just axels creaking to a halt, joints creaking, and then silence.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to bail in the deepest, scariest, most unknown part of the Timberlands. But hell, it beat waiting around to get murdered.

There was something on the road. Guess that's why the horses stopped, Jade thought, slinking forward to investigate. Her eyes darted uneasily back and forth.

Then the stench hit.

A huge, rotting carcass was blocking the path, seeping something dark into the well-trod dirt. Its bones shone dimly gray through the mist.

Air hissed out between the woman's teeth. "What in the hell..."

She heard a twig crack and turned, nostrils flaring. "Who's there?"

Her back stiffened for a moment as she fought not to yell in surprise, a spasm running down her spine. Then she relaxed.

Nobody that cheerful's any kind of game fixture. These woods were crawling with players like her, probably hunting wild Pokemon. @redead 's appearance had the immediate effect of reassuring her-- more people in a group, less likely they were to get attacked by wild animals. Pokemon. Whatever.

"Tell me about it," Jade said, swinging out of the carriage. Her eyes moved warily through the tall, dense trees. There was little visibility in the fog, leaving her unsatisfied. Eyes flicked back to the person who'd stopped to chat and she gave them a small, wry grin, thumbing back at the carriage. "Hope you weren't looking to hitchhike. Looks like it's not going anywhere soon."

The elephant in the room was the carcass. Huge, pale, and decaying to the point where whatever-the-hell it had been was a total mystery.

"Any ideas what this thing is?" Jade asked. She moved a little closer, eyeing the bones warily, but curiously.

Well, there was only one way to answer that question.

Jade quirked an eyebrow. "You ever watch those crime shows? No chalk outline, but I'll wager there's clues."

She moved closer, holding her breath. The stench was really something-- it sent shivers clawing pinpricks through her body. It was times like these that reminded her how realistic this game was. It was one thing seeing pretty graphics and hearing the ground squish under her boots. This was something else.

Curiously, Jade didn't seem frightened as she squatted down to investigate the mass of bones and decaying gray flesh. "I figure whatever's did this is long gone by now. It's been dead for awhile," she said, pulling up her ninja mask (yeah, she had one) to help filter out some of the smell. She was surprised by how immediately effective it was-- wasn't that why real ninjas had them? To filter out poison gas and smoke bombs and shit?

"Poison..." she murmured out loud, looking back down at the creature.

The ground was sticky. Jade could see a trail of something black and ichorous leading off into the trees. If there was a source, it was out there.

She looked back at the other player, then did a double-take and really looked. "You some kinda Frankenstein?" Jade stood up, dusting off her knees. It wasn't in her nature to ask for someone else's name, much less provide her own, but her tone was not unfriendly. "I'm headed this way. You coming?"

Despite her poser ninja avatar, Jenny didn't know shit about actual ninjas, real or fantasy. She'd just thought it would be funny to cosplay as one of the default pseudo-oriental JRPG options from the character creation screen. 

"I think it's pronounced Konnichiwa," she said over her shoulder, pushing her way through thin, leafless lower branches. She did stop to grimace at the idea of tasting the crap. "Zombie. Gotcha. I'm Je...ade." Her name (Jade Jager ) appeared in a tooltip over her head, accompanied by the KINDLER icon. 

The idea of sending out a Pokémon made her pause, then rub the back of her head. "You might be onto something there, Re-dead." Hell, she still hadn't gotten the hang of all this yet. She didn't need to be worried about fighting off bears or wolves or rabid raccoons-- she had friendly Pokemon friends to defend her.

Halfway through the trees she stopped, reaching for her belt to release her Torchic, Roger.

The little fire chicken appeared in a burst of light that made Jade hiss and shield her eyes. <Zzzz.> He was asleep, just like she'd left him.

Jade nudged him with her foot. "Arright, sleepyhead. Naptime's over." 

A wisp of smoke escaped the corner of the bird's beak before he woke up, eyes opening. <You need my help? Already?>

"What do you mean already, I- anyway. Maybe. Sure. Something big and dead out here, and it's not just the zombie." She thumbed over her shoulder at @redead . "This here's my buddy Re-dead. plus Gohma."

<...I get the idea. I'll lead the way then,> said Roger, shaking out his feathers and setting off down the path. He seemed unfazed by the stench, surroundings, or new acquaintances. Eyebrows raised, Jade glanced at Redead and then followed.

The cute, fluffy, and warm Torchic paced through the woods, following the viscous trail like a bloodhound.

Jade's head came up like a deer in the middle of grazing, instantly alert. "Yeah, I do," she said, eyes narrowed. It hit her like a punch to the gut how little she knew about this world, how little her instincts could actually serve her in a fantasy setting. Her mind leapt to bear, her body poised to climb a tree or play dead or whatever-the-hell-else the situation required. But who was saying any of that would work? Some eldritch horror might come out of the trees. Or a goddamn Abomasnow that she'd have to battle with her cute little Pokemon friends.

But how would she know where she stood until it happened?

PROMPT: [Prompt]yr7zCbd_1d100

<There's some Tall Grass ahead,> Roger reported, making Jade jump and swear. The chick gave her a Look and turned to Goma instead. <She hasn't been in any Tall Grass yet. She's afraid of catching Pokemon.>

"I ain't afraid, it's just..." Jade grimaced, shooing the chick away. "Fine, whatever, if that's where the trail leads we'll go there. But you better be ready to fight off some Pokemon."

<That's what I'm here for,> said Roger.

Something wasn't right about this Tall Grass patch, though. The closer they got, the louder the sound that @redead had perceived through the trees. It seemed to be coming from the grass itself, humming and harmonizing through the air.

It sounded like music. Distant, eerie, underwater. Like hearing a movie soundtrack on the other side of a tunnel.

The grass in the middle of the patch was withered. The sound was strongest there.