Of Mud and Portals

[Voice of Deep Forest]

The swamp is large by any definition, but even so there are still certain areas within it that are distinguishable from the rest. From the more watery places at the edges where you can still safely back to the forest without too much trouble, to the dryer, more elevated mounds by the mountain side. It was the second area where the group eventually found themselves being led to.

Large mounds or even hills of muddy soil, held together by the roots of the wispy trees that reached up high and blocked out the light, were surrounded by murky waters. The main differences from this place compared to other parts of the swamp was that it held a more earthen smell, the scent of fresh soil mixed with decaying rotting plant life. There were also noticeably less insects flying around here, as the streams of muddy water flowed just a little too fast to provide them the proper breeding grounds. The trees did not look very strong, though they held their own and could withstand quite some abuse, but they looked like the losers in a match against the reeds and occasional vibrant green bush plants. Their thin roots stretched out far however, and gave them the support and nourishment to survive, while their branches barely stretched out far enough to touch those of their neighbors, holding long thin leaves.

The scaly, three eyed creatures moved easily through this landscape, every now and then dipping underwater and swimming with surprising grace as their bodies undulated to move them forwards with rapid speed. Their long claws sank deep into the muddy hills, making their climb of the gentle rises seem effortless as they crawled over them. And they led the group deeper into the swamp, the sun blocked completely by the rise of the mountains in the near distance. They were pretty much as close as they could get to the foot of the mountains without leaving the swamp altogether.

Nothing had tried to stop the group on their trek over here, though at the same time it would have been noticeable how little other life they encountered on the way. From the lack of bird song, to the missing sounds of moving animals. No fish or reptiles had hurried out of their path while crossing and moving through the murky streams. Nothing had interrupted them except for they themselves when needed. Now suddenly for the first time since they had set out from the Prison's destroyed lands, faint sounds could be heard ahead. The sounds were mostly guttural; grunts, hissing, but also the unmistakable sounds of activity, both living things and objects being moved around .

The group's view was blocked by a particular long ridge of mounds and the trees and shrubs covering it however. What could be seen on the other side however, was a cleared out area, somehow drained of most of the water, leaving only flat muddy ground for quite a stretch. In exactly in the middle of this was what appeared to be perfectly cut rectangle stones, each around the size of a small horse, sticking out of the mud in a vague appearance of a long gone structure. Around them all sorts of creatures were busy with some kind of chore; either clearing the stones, smoothing the empty area it all around it, or digging into the soil right between the stones. While unclear unless standing right between these creatures from various species -some obviously belonging to the same as the creatures that had attacked the group, others not so much, and some obviously were ordinary forest critters that did not belong here at all- they could not see what they were digging for. But from the ground where the most activity was taking place, a faint white glow seemed to come out of the ground.

[Sky Lily]

Simi had made it a point to never visit the Swamps.

But on one fateful day, the very soul of Deep Forest was thrown into peril.

And so, here she was, wading carefully through mud and swamp as she made her way through the most terrifying place of the enchanted woodlands.

Mud spluttered and squicked behind her as the unicorn ventured forward, keeping close to her companions as they followed the three eyed monsters in the lead. The entire walk here had been in stark contrast to the chaos that had possessed Deep Forest only hours later. Once graced with melodic birdsong and fox calls, it had quickly turned into a roaring chaos of storm, fire, and horribly altered creatures and now...

Only silence. Nothing but the murmurs of the comrades around her and the unsettling squish as each of them continued their united trek across the swamps. Simi visibly shuddered every now and then, closing her eyes momentarily in brief moments of prayer or to just settle her nerves and remember to keep breathing. Oh, what had happened to her home? What had happened to its beauty and life, the cheerful voices of fellow inhabitants?

Could things ever be the same again?

Simi had to believe that they could save Deep Forest from this terrible Hethrir, but she could only hope that the Forest would be anything like it once was.

~~~

When they finally arrived at their apparent destination, Simi was hesitant to cross the mound that obscured she and her companions' view. She ultimately decided it would be better to confront whatever awaited them together, and waited for someone else to act.

[Windra]

They forgot the ship.

They. Forgot. The. Damn. Ship. How ... ?

The Reaver was sure Juno was back there laughing at their efforts, and she grumbled under her breath. Well fine. That was fine. They were just getting an A for effort. Who the hell was grading this? It had to be a rigged exam. Seriously.

"I want a re-test," she muttered irritably to nobody in particular.

Klinge was taking up the majority of Gaeva's weight. Naira and Entropy grabbed what was left. Even split between the three of them, the equine was heavy. Nemo found herself stumbling several times beneath the weight upon her shoulder, disgusted by her own lack of strength. Had the battle weakened her nerves that much? If only we were going to Silvertree ... - An idle thought but a deep wish. The energy seeping from that place was known to revitalize her long-dead bones. Too bad this trip didn't call for a pit-stop, or she'd be running there in a heartbeat and return rejuvenated.

Still, the Reaver kept her pace with the others. Those creatures were leading them ... a fact that made her very, very wary. They did, after all, slaughter dozens of them without remorse. Maybe they were leading the group of 'heroes' into a trap. Considering recent events, this wasn't a far-cry from what could actually happen ...

Their destination soon rolled into sight and Naira slowed her pace with the others, overlooking the scene with caution blitzing her eyeballs. It wasn't the strenuous work of various creatures ... it was that illuminated Swampland floor that caught her attention and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Do you suppose they're controlled, as well?" she asked in a hushed voice, gaze never leaving the glowing ground. Nothing charged them yet. That had to be a good sign. But ... "What's ... that?"

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

One hoof after the other Meali trudged on, feeling the mud drying along her legs, and adding weight to her tail where it had stuck on her hair. She felt dirty, but she was fairly sure she didn't look as bad as she thought. Still, she wasn't happy. Having kept mostly silent herself, only answering a question or two on the way, she still didn't really feel the need for conversation. Her focus was on the two creatures "leading" them, making sure they didn't run off, or hide, or hesitate for too long. The light blue mare had had to chase after them a few times, but had been grateful when others in the group caught the hint and also contributed to keeping those two in line, and in view. For all she knew these two were actually smarter than she was aware off and leading them into a trap. She didn't really think they were doing so, but had opted to keep her doubts to herself anyway.

Her ears twitched at the sounds in the distance. She had no idea what was causing it, but hoped it signaled the end of their trek. Casting the millionth glance at the ones carrying her aunt to make sure both she and they were still alright, Meali slowed down. "I think this might be it," she said in a low voice. She hoped anyway.

"Keep those two here!" she quickly said, motioning with her horn to the scaly creatures, "They may alert them of our presence!"

Sneaking closer, positioning herself so she could see where the noise was coming from Meali surveyed the area. A lot of open space.

"Do you suppose they're controlled, as well?"

Meali snorted before looking at Naira, "I have no proof or anything, but I'm gonna go with a "definitely yes" here." She looked back, "And this is a lot of open space. There's no way for us to get closer and check it out without getting seen. And no point in mind reading either if they're mind controlled anyway." She looked up with a frown, then shook her head, "The sky is also too obvious to just fly over them I think."

She cast a last searching look before moving back to stand closer to Gaeva, "We either wait and hope the others get back here before either they, or we, wind up dead, or we find a way to get across this mudscape and see what is going on."

[forgerofsouls]

Klinge kept moving forward, with Geava on his shoulders he could not afford to slow down to much. Of course, being a swamp and all, it was still slow progress. At least Geava was not that heavy. And of course there was one other problem...Lyrial was using her magic to levitate above the swamp! Sure, she had offered it to everyone, but he had it turned down so that she can save up her power. He seriously wished she would save up her magic. If anything, the curious thing about her hair made him think that she only had about half her power left.

Which was true actually. And her hair actually did indicate that. It was half black (full of power) and half white (empty). Klinge had never seen her hair be multicolored before, which is mostly because she can't do that naturally. As her power runs out, her hair turns white. Which of course is not noticeable if she turned her hair white. Klinge couldn't help but wonder if she noticed or even cared about her power running out.

Of course she noticed, but she figured that with the crisis going on, worrying about her power level was pointless. Than apparently they had arrived to their destination with more mind controlled creatures. "Lyrial, can you break the mind control?"

"Of course I can, only problem is that it would be one at a time." Lyrial answered from her spot in the air.

Klinge only grunted in response. He had wanted a quick use of her remaining power, to use as little as possible. But it sounded like it would take a while to do so, and of course the mind controlled creatures would most likely be attacking them. But Klinge was wrong on one point about her power, and that was she had plenty to spare, only spells that would be defined as miracles would truly drain her power a lot. But he did not know that.

[Luxon Cobrat]

Entropy didn't feel too terribly bright for forgetting about the flying pirate ship that had been parked right next to where they had been in the crater, but at least they were here now. So, moving on...

Entropy narrowed her eyes as she peered at the light coming from the ground. She didn't like the looks of that...

"Not much cover between here and there," she thought aloud.

"You don't think we're going to end up fighting them, do you?" Nei asked, obviously not liking the idea.

"Hope not..." the succubus answered thoughtfully.

She thought they could probably take the creatures if it came down to it. But, knowing that they were being controlled, or at least manipulated, made that unappealing. They would have to try not to kill, and that would make it more dangerous.

After overhearing the exchange between Klinge and Lyrial, though, Entropy had a thought.

"Could you just make us invisible instead?" she asked the mage.

If an easy solution to the problem existed, might as well take advantage...

[Sky Lily]

(( OOC: Pass; I'll only post once Simi actually has something to say or once the other characters figure something out. ^^' ))

[Windra]

Not heavy her foot. Naira's shoulder felt like it was about to give up. But that could be due to a lot of things ... like the fact that she was exhausted for over-exerting herself before. Scarlet's emergence during prior events should have been proof enough of that. There was nothing quite like ripping through your foes with oblong claws designed to mutilate, or rend them apart wiht flesh-tearing fangs as sharp as razors, devouring the flesh of things that tasted no better that raw, spoiled fish -

- Ulp!

Shouldn't have thought of that. Using her free hand, Naira covered her mouth as cheeks puffed out. Nemo ushered a desperate look to the left and right. She couldn't very well drop the part of Gaeva that she was carrying for the sake of vomiting up whatever Scarlet took the liberty of feasting upon earlier, now could she? Besides, the noise alone would attract some severely unwanted attention. Tears springing to the corners of her eyes, the Reaver silently gulped down her misery and grimaced at the taste.

Don't focus on the rather horrid flavor of three-eyed reptiles.

Focus instead on what had to be done ... which was crossing the expansive clearing set before them to the glowing terrace without being sighted by things that would probably go out of their way to kill those of the 'alliance' that were still amongst the living, while horribly maiming and bringing pain to those that were undead. Naira could take hit after hit with great ease. That didn't mean she wanted to.

"I ... I have no idea," Naira whispered with resigned defeat. How could they get from Point A to Point B without being noticed? Unless one of them had an invisibility cloak. And since nobody here was currently attending Hogwarts ...

Wait ...

There was something moving. Right there! Just to their left! Naira could see the form rummaging about in foliage. It emerged with something clenched between it's fang-like jaws. A fruit? In the middle of a swamp? But that wasn't the point. The critter was something Naira had seen out and about for several years now. It followed her here, evidently making it's home within Deep Forest's more desolate areas ... and occasionally starting fires in her inn, or moving things around or breaking them out of spite. In fact, when Naira was last in Deep Forest, the beast had gone and ripped her hair out in a prank turned obscenely cruel. Good thing Reavers healed quickly, or she would have been running about Earth II with a bald head.

Terry. Terry the Graveling. He was a little monster: no more than two feet tall with thin, lanky limbs that were misproportioned to his body size. Even though he appeared heavily emaciated due to the clearly-visible ribs pressed against mottled brown, wart-covered skin, he was far from starving. His sunken eyes were huge, easily the size of dinner plates, and bright yellow in hue ... almost glowing but not quite there. Sharp but flexible quills of tan, brown, and black variations jutted forth from his spine, giving him the appearance of some horribly mutated porcupine. As the Graveling emerged from the brush, his gaze fell briefly upon Naira and her mangled appearance. Amused by how she looked as though she had just rolled out of bed and onto a pile of shark, broken glass, the macabre beast rolled back on his rump, pointed, and laughed ... very loudly.

Naira frowned.

Good thing he was a good distance away, so if the other creatures looked at him they would not see the looming group with the unconscious equine ... but that kind of publicity wasn't going to be beneficial in the long run. And Terry wasn't the kind who would listen to pleads or demands. He had to be persuaded to do something, be it through bribing ... or force. And at this point, Naira felt as though she had a decent amount of payback to dish out.

So with a soft hiss emanating between clenched teeth, the Reaver clenched her free hand and gave it a wiggle. Three luminescent, translucent, and sharp needles mirroring the steel claws she occasionally brandished from the glove protectors appeared in mid-air, floating upon their own breeze next to her hand. Their forms were surreal and constantly wavering like the air they had formed from. Tightening her knuckles and flicking her wrist, Naira sent them flying silently in Terry's direction ... whereupon they pierced his behind and sent the Death Dealer flying towards the clearing with a loud, "RHEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Terry's antics were about as clumsy as his grace. His puny figure ran numerous times into several of the beasts laboring out there on the glowing plains. Quite a few were knocked over by his flurrying form. If Entropy, Nei, Naira, Klinge, or Lyrial had attracted any attention earlier, surely Terry's would have stolen it away without much of a problem. And he sure as hell wasn't going to stick around! Bony fingers holding his butt with scathing pain and bristling anger, his brightly-colored eyes tossed one look at those suddenly surrounding him ... and he screeched again, this time in utter terror upon realizing what he had so blatantly thrown himself into the middle of. He wasted no time! Darting between their legs, he raced off to the other side and out of view ... hopefully luring a few of those controlled creatures after him.

Naira, in the meantime, took in a deep breath ad closed her eyes. "And that's the last bit of wind magick I can use," she told the others in a hushed voice which was filled with fatigue despite the huge grin that planted itself on her facial features. "I used up too much earlier ... That theatrical toy alone put a bit of a drain on me."

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

Klinge's question to Lyrial made a lot of sense, and it made Meali wonder if she herself could not do so as well herself. But looking at the creatures moving in the distance, she frowned as Lyrial pointed out it it could only be done one by one. Yeah, there were definitely too many out there. Still, maybe it could help them once they found a way to actually get closer? At least they had some way to fend them off, even if it was one by one. She tried to count how many were out there, but gave it up just as quickly. Too many moved in and out of her view, too far away. Easily going over the hundred though. On the surface. Who knew what was going on below where the glow was coming from.

Invisibility? Meali looked back, her ears perked up. Now that would make things alot easier to at least get closer and assess the situation! It would still mean trouble if they were discovered or tried to interact with anyone or anything, but one problem at the time. At least they were all thinking now.

Terry's appearance onto the scene went unnoticed by Meali at first, until he started to laugh. The loud noise made her stare at the quilled little monster and suck in her breath as he was looking directly at them. Was he one of the mind controlled things? He didn't really behave like it. What if he caught someone's attention?? The unicorn mare felt frozen in indecision, quickly find a way to kill it, or...something else. Anything else. So close and now they'd fail! From the corner of her eye she caught the movement of the long spikes hurtling through the air at the thing by Naira. Impressive. Except to her horror, it just made him squeal even louder!

As he ran straight across the clearing, and right into the mind controlled creatures and animals laboring on and around the stones, Meali paid close attention.

"That...was pretty clever," she commented to Naira, as she watched the thing run off while being chased by a handful of what appeared to be warthogs from a distance, along with some other more humanoids creatures that abandoned their work. It didn't make nearly enough of them leave compared to the many that barely lifted their heads, but it was the right idea.

"Whether we can use invisibility or not, we can use distraction to get as many away as possible." Meali looked at the rest, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't doubt I can get their attention, especially since I was supposed to be hanging by a tree at this point, hopefully get enough to take notice, then fly out of their reach while some of you sneak closer." Lousiest battle plan ever, and she wasn't sure she'd make enough of an impact by herself, or what they were supposed to do once they got close enough, but once more: one problem at a time.

[Sky Lily]

When Meali and the others peered over the mound to see what was going on, Simi joined them. The sight that greeted her, however, nearly made her balk. To see so many poor creatures under this kind of... slavery, was both terrifying and sickening at once. What were they to do? All the unicorn wished was to free them, somehow, to atone for the terrible thing that she and her companions had been forced to do back at the Prison (she only learned that mind control was involved later on while they were walking to the swamps, and the Shifter had nearly burst into tears). But how?

Several ideas were discussed at once; breaking the mind control, invisibility spells, distractions; yet all of these possible solutions seemed to have flaws that could prove deadly if anything went wrong...

Then all at once, a rather sudden plan was put into motion when Naira's 'Terry' appeared on the scene and disappeared as quickly as he'd arrived, at least a few of the monstrous creatures chasing after him. Meali seemed impressed and was even pondering over whether she should serve as the next distraction, but Simi was still staring at the empty place where the Graveling had run off.

"If only it were winter... perhaps I would have been able to distract some of them as well, but... Will he be okay?" she couldn't help but ask.

[tehanu3]

Kit blinked and flicked her tail as she stared out into the massive swamp. It seemed to peak her interest. It seemed like fun to go and explore this place. It reminded her of her old home. At least she thought it did. Kit crouched down before pouncing into the muck. She looked around, swiveling her ears about to see if it was ok to dare further venture. When she was satisfied, she then bolted through the mud and muck like it was nothing more than running through a mud puddle. She almost seemed to glide through the muckiness.

[forgerofsouls]

"Invisibility I can do, and this time its not to bad considering it can only be done one at a time." Lyrial said after considering using invisibility. So she proceeded to make everyone invisible, one at a time. Though the process was a little slow, it was still faster than freeing the mind controlled creature army.

Klinge had some doubts to the plan..."With us being invisible, we won't be able to see each other to." He spoke of his first concern.

"Well....I could cast a spell to allow us to see each other. Though I'd start with myself."

"And what about our smells? What if those creatures also use scent for finding things?" He brought up a good point.

"Roll in the mud, that will hide your scent if you are that worried about it." Lyrial responded. She was mostly concentrating with getting everyone invisible.

[Windra]

It was a strange compliment, but hearing it from Meali made the Reaver grin a little, a small blush forming across her cheeks. Now now, don't get cocky ... Simi's question rang in Naira's ears and she turned to the shifter with a shake of her head. "We've been at this for centuries," she whispered to her, waggling a finger. "A prank war of deadly stuff ... We've been immolated, electrocuted, beheaded ... we're like cockroaches, though. We just don't die."

In the meantime, Lyrial was going to work on making them all vanish. Naira observed her limbs as they started to disappear. She shook one limb before her, and displayed amusement at its complete transparency. If she didn't know it was there, even the Reaver would be perplexed! Naira flicked her tail and took a tedious step forward as the last portion of visible flesh became obscure.

"All or nothing, right?" whispered the woman as she slipped ahead, crouching low and keeping her steps light. Eyes were trained on the ground. It wouldn't do any good to step on a twig right now, would it?

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

Meali couldn't help but grin when Lyrial made it clear she could make them invisible. It was a better idea than using a distraction, because this way none of them would have to risk their lives. Well, they'd still be risking death, but not on purpose, except they were purposefully walking into who knew what, so... She couldn't finish that train of thought and rolled her eyes at herself. Shut up, Meali.

"This is perfect! We can all move closer together and deal with whatever is going on over there. If something does go wrong, we'll have surprise going for us as well, they won't know how many there are of us. Oh..." Meali looked back to where Klinge had stood, and probably still was, "But just to be sure, leave my aunt here. It's of no use to drag her over there when she can't help us. She'd just slow us down." That last part actually hurt to say out loud. Meali snorted forcefully. It was true though.

She waited for Lyrial to be done.

"All or nothing, right?"

Meali nodded at Naira, "All or nothing. Let's do this." And Meali too started to make her way forwards. Her eyes were firmly planted on the ground as well, but not because she was trying to avoid twigs, but because she suddenly became painfully aware her heavy bulk was sinking her hooves into the mud, making it very obvious she where she was walking. Or even that she was walking. A quick bit of thinking and the mare unfolded her large wings. Going back a little to give herself some space, she then quickly galloped a few strides forwards and jumped up into the air. Her mind might be tired, but her wings were still fresh. Hovering was not her strong point as she was rather heavy, but she did her best to stay right above the others, circling them whenever the relatively slow pace became too hard to maintain.

[tehanu3]

Kit was on a search for her new friend. The Reaver that had helped rescue her. She needed to learn more on this new place she had to call home. She needed help to remember what she couldn't. Kit climbed onto a tree root and shook off the muck from her paws. She stretched and clawed at the wood to sharpen her claws. She shook the water out of her blue fur before she took a look around. She tested the air, trying to catch the scent of the Reaver. The scent was very faint, and somewhat disappearing. She could sense some danger, but had to keep pressing on for her new found friend. Kit then jumped back into the muck and ran onward to find the Reaver.

[Sky Lily]

"We've been at this for centuries," Naira whispered reassuringly to the mare. "A prank war of deadly stuff ..."

"... We've been immolated--"

Wince.

"--electrocuted--"

Wince. Flinch.

"--beheaded--"

Shudder. Wince.

"... we're like cockroaches, though. We just don't die."

"... O-oh. I see."

And that was all she had to offer on the matter.

From the looks of it, however, a plan had finally been arranged. Lyrial was going to use spells to make everyone invisible to all creatures in the area except for themselves. Klinge's worries about their scents were quickly quieted by someone's suggestion to roll around in the mud here. Simi would have avoided doing this otherwise, but after the frightful battle at Meali's tree, she wasn't keen to find her long, vulnerable neck in the jaws of one of those... monster things again. She took care to rub herself in the available muck around them, managing to cloak her soft sky-blue coat with dull browns before her body began to disappear completely.

At first whickering in surprise, Simi found herself dancing about in a circle as her legs slowly faded away from sight. Then her body, then her tail and mane until she could see nothing of herself any longer.

So strange, so very strange, she thought; excited, intrigued, and very nervous about tripping over herself all at the same time.

Just take a deep breath... and don't look down.

That mentality relieved her, a bit. Not thinking about her invisible hooves and just staring ahead like she normally did would definitely make things a whole lot less confusing.

Once Lyrial's spell-casting was complete, Simi carefully trudged after Meali and Naira, mud squicking underneath as she inhaled deeply... and set her eyes on the portal before them.

It was time to save Deep Forest.

How she hoped she would be everything her friends needed in this hour.

[Windra]

Meali told them they could lay Gaeva upon the ground before proceeding. This caused Naira to express relief with a great sigh as she knelt to dislodge the unisus from her strained shoulders. With that weight removed, slipping along the slimy, damp terrace was considerably easier. The Reaver had no use of her wind magick for now, temporarily exhausted from suc efforts. Alleviating herself from the soil to eradicate ay indicating noises of their presence was out of the question, so it was a lot of careful walking until then. Thankfully her draconic talons were wide enough to where they were actually somewhat buoyant on the muck. It was just a matter of not putting too much force on them. Footprints would easily give away their position.

Meali encountered this same problem and took to the sky. She wasn't too close to them, omitting the possibility of wind bursts from her wings flapping about those who had their minds clouded by foul influence. Every few moments she could circle low to regard them. On the ground, Naira took the lead with Simi close in tow. Several times she had to stop herself from reaching for her scimitar. These beings ahead were not going to fight them by their own choice. If something went awry and they were attacked, they would simply have to be subdued ... nothing else.

That portal was close now.

So was the 'enemy'.

Naira inhaled. Well ... here goes nothing. Tediously, she stepped around the first brigade ... carefully averting little limbs tossed before her, keeping her extended tail tight against her back, sucking in to make herself as small as possible ...

[tehanu3]

Kit finally caught scent of the Reaver and took to it like she was on a mission. Which of course she was. She lightly bound through the muck and brush like her life depended on it. She kept her scenes on high. It smelled like magic was being involved here. Like something of a possible threat. She tried not to panic and pushed onward. Until the scent was strong like the Reaver was practically in front of her. She couldn't see anything; so she went to jump onward when she hit an invisible presence. She fell back onto the muck in surprise from the impact of something. She got up and shook the muddy water out of her blue coat and began to sniff the area. She wasn't alone. She could smell the Reaver; but there was more beings here too which made her slightly on edge as she skittered about the tight area trying to focus on the scent of the Reaver somewhere in front of her.

[Luxon Cobrat]

The invisibility plan was in motion and the group was moving again. Entropy and Nei, at least, availed themselves of the mud to hide their scents as Lyrial had suggested, though the area was probably a bit too crowded for the scent of a few extra creatures to stand out.

Like Gaeva, Entropy hovered overhead to maintain a bird's eye view of the situation, though hovering was easy for her without any need to circle.

Despite the invisibility, however, the succubus remained ever-prepared to blast a path back out of the area at a moment's notice if the situation suddenly went south...

[Voice of Deep Forest]

OOC
Doing a little fast forward here, hope you don't mind.

IC
With all their precautions in place the group managed to make good time crossing the mud towards the activity filled work site. None of the beings and animals hard at work seemed to notice them at all, even though at several times they came rather close to the group. It became obvious to the adventurers as they came closer and closer that the simpler animals were mostly occupying themselves with digging in the mud; creating small canals to lead the water away from the large-stoned ruins, revealing more of the stone structure, or adding on to the support that kept the already revealed stones upright.

The other creatures that most likely housed greater intelligence in their mind controlled brains, were making sure the stone structure would not collapse, ensuring the strong animals were digging in the right spots, and helping out with the more complicated maneuvers that required perfect timing and math. Some were building crude mechanisms to help lift and move some of the larger stones, using a lot of ropes and rocks to accomplish this. All in all almost everybody was hard at work, panting and sweating if their species were capable of doing so. Only a very few seemed to just aimlessly stand or walk around, though getting even closer it would become clear they were keeping an eye on the work.

Now having come close enough to hear, smell and see everything from up close and personal, even having passed some of the outer ring of workers, the invisible group would notice that these supervisors weren't really paying attention to anything but the workers, as if their focus was filtering out everything else. That meant that all they had to take care of was not to physically touch or trip over anyone to avoid detection, which became harder and harder as they neared the center of the hustle and bustle. All creatures moved around a lot, and when they moved they did it at a quick pace, never hesitating, never thinking something over. It was now also clear that this stone structure was a lot larger than it might have appeared from a distance. The large, light colored stones that stuck out from the mud were just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, from this close they see they were a part of a large structure, possibly structures from long past, and extended to far below the mud and ground.

The white glow they had seen came from a large dug out hole in the ground, and was nothing other than a portal like the ones they had dealt with before in the Prison area. Except this one was larger. A lot larger. All of the invisible adventurers could have lined up side by side in front of it, and still only cover half of its width. More than 50 stone steps in the same light yellow color as all the other stones here led down to it, still slightly covered in mud, but mostly safe enough not to slip down. The other sides leading down were made up of a completely straight stone wall with pulleys at the top to lift both heavy stone, and buckets of mud upwards and out, and the other two were caved in and had workers crawling all over it to try and clear it up. Only the steps were relatively free.

In the large opened up area at the current bottom -they were still digging furiously after all- the portal stood slowly swirling like the smaller version had done. Around it stood 8 hooded beings, no taller than an average human, their black robes hiding their bodies, and their hoods keeping their faces in shadow. All 8 faced the white portal, and all 8 were doing various things in what seemed to be an effort to get closer to it. Whether pushing invisible air, casting fireballs, flinging rocks, or chanting incantations, they all were busy trying to get closer.

And finally, the one major difference between this large portal and the multitude of smaller ones, was that while the swirling energy was just as white as the others, at it's very center a small circle stood out in different colors. Half of it was a light lavender, the other half was pure black, and these two colors were moving out of sync with the rest of the portal, circling each other, diving into each other while at the same time avoiding each other, but never actually blending.

All this they could see as the invisible group stood now at the very top of these light yellow steps, many creatures working around them, some coming closer and closer while doing their mindless tasks.

****

Back on the other side of the muddy area from where they had started, Gaeva's body lay still, unmoving. Two others however were coming closer to her, though both seemingly unaware of what they were about to stumble upon. One was Kit, searching for Naira and following her scent to where the Reaver had last stood when still visible. The other was a 3 foot high two legged creature, covered in tough leathery scales, and three eyes it its head. Sharp claws dragged through the mud as it tramped on, scouting around mindlessly, making sure nobody was lurking around.