ic Jungle Memories: Walking the Daydream

[Supercape]

GM

 

Cassie's eyes snapped back to the present in time with the sickening crack she heard. She could only imagine it was the sound of bones splintering. 

 

"Sacrifice. It must be" she muttered, mainly to herself, looking around the observatory trying to fuse the past and the present. To orientate herself. "They --- the natives --- I think they were trying to ward off some ghost or spirit. With blood and flesh and bones, sacrificed to some God..."

 

It was speculation, of course. And probably not entirely accurate. But...it was something along those lines. 

 

"A protective spirit, perhaps. Except it ceased to be a protector and became a hunter. Or something like that..."

 

She moved up to the Altar, examining it closely...

[Zeitgeist Blue]

The altar top is flat, leaves and dirt strewn over it, and presents nothing of interest so you move down to the tableau carved around the whole altar. You make progress, slowly cataloging the individual characters, subjects and themes which seem to repeat, and Neil follows you, assisting you with your instructions. You consult Neil's journal frequently to double check on the stories and the sun is hanging high in the sky when you have a workable theory.

 

The Moon goddess seemed to be only one god in a pantheon of gods, but she held a special place in the hearts of the Cuespac. They saw her as a mother-protector, watching over the world and its inhabitants during the night as her husband, the Sun, did during the day. Yet even deities fought among themselves and in these struggles the Moon herself was often attacked. When the god of beasts, a frequent and terrifying foe of the Moon, first devoured her in a pique of jealousy it was said the world was brought in darkness for decades, but the Beast was eventually repelled by a small group consisting of the Moon's children and humans. They freed her and she was eternally grateful. Yet the Beast was not vanquished and it would continue to attack the Moon, causing her to vanish from the night sky.

 

You realize that the Cuespac were describing a lunar eclipse.

 

There are more inconsequential details you could study - the Moon and her children, the relationship between her and humanity, the astrological cycles of the year -- when you are interrupted by a cough. Still kneeling by the altar your eyes meet Neil's but he is as confused as you are. "Don't look at me. I didn't do anything."

 

"No, but I had," someone says, all smooth silk and dark cocoa, above you.

 

She sits there, knees gathered under her chin, staring directly at you. Eyes like smoldering coals. Hair long and white as the moon. She wears a red and white woven cloth, wrapped around her to act as a dress and an ornamental sash around her waist. A cloak covers her slender shoulders. Gold bracelets jangle from her wrists as she moves, regarding you. She cocks her head sideways and you catch a long, red slash across her throat.

 

"Hello. What brings you here?"

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

The beast. A myth born of lunar eclipse, perhaps...

 

...but perhaps a beast of flesh and bone, or eldritch sinew!

 

And then, it seemed a moon Goddess appeared in front of them!

 

And a question. What did bring them here? A number of reasons, not all as noble as she would like. 

 

"Exploration" she answered back, trying to be cool, yet not quite succeeding. This was a complicated situation, to say the least. "We wish to understand the...past?" she stammered slightly. Time seemed rather less than straightforward right now. "And who are you?" she added, trying to rebalance the state of affairs. 

 

 

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"The past? That is quite a long time. Such a long, long time ago." Her eyes wander the room as if seeing images and stories that have long been ground to dust. She unfolds her legs all the while and steps down from the platform between you and Neil. For Neil's credit, backs away, not daring to break the musings of a goddess, though his eyes flicker to you for direction. "So many things to explore but you are caged when you should be free. Like a bird or a butterfly. They fly but learn to die alone."

 

The leaves stir as her bare feet wade through them and when you ask her who she is, she stops and blinks then slowly her head turns towards you, as if just remembering you are still here."Oh, me? I can be many things but seem to be nothing at all. Time flies here and you forget and you remember then forget and do it all over again. I envy you your exploration. Such purpose!" She stops herself and blinks again, more languid this time, before she gives you a sleepy smile. "I remember."

 

"My name was once Kayara Tupanqui. A girl touched by moonlight, a priestess of this temple, a wife to another priest."

Edited November 1, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

Perhaps not a Goddess, then. But perhaps not that far away from one, either!

 

In any case, this was dangerous, exciting, fascinating. 

 

"Well met then" she replied boldly. "Touched by moonlight. That might be a bane or a blessing, or mayhap both" she mentioned, studying the woman who might, she realised, have quite lost her mind over the years. 

 

"Do I take it you have been...imprisoned here? Chained by means material, divine, or arcane? be it by foul design or lamentable fortune?" she asked, not moving either towards or away from the priestess. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by Supercape

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"Both. Yes, I like the sound of that. A blessing and a bane to be carried for all eternity..." She moves around the altar, fingers tracing its edge as she circumnavigates the circle. "They told me I was pretty, that I was blessed and a gift, a child to be cared for then a woman to be lifted on a pedestal. Yet now I do not know. What has Her touch done?" Fingers pick at a strand of hair across her face, stark white as if the clouds framed her face. "I feel so far away, cut off from Her. A hand without an owner. A child without a mother."

 

"They said the Moon lived through me but does it still do so now?"

 

She finishes a lap around the altar then suddenly pivots towards you, eyes alight with manic energy. "Why not all, explorer of this caves? When you are prisoner you care not for your captive's nature, only how they treat you and the years that pass by."

 

She steps closer to you and her tongue darts out, as if tasting you and the air, licking her lips. Her hand darts forward and grabs your own, before lifting it closer to her face to regard the ring on it. Her fingers are warm, very warm, and as solid as you or Neil are.

 

"So curious. I know this ring from somewhere long ago..." She pries her eyes from the ring and brings them up to meet yours. She is shorter but not by much. "I was sacrificed to appease the gods. Promised paradise but woke up to a living nightmare, this half-state of mine." She regards you for a few more seconds before she tiptoes to whisper in your ear. "I have been everywhere in this cursed and blessed temple. Everywhere, but the catacombs under the ground. It lurks there and though I do not live I cannot comprehend that place, so far from the sky. Go there and perhaps you may find the answers you so would love to seek."

 

She pulls back her face and you see her beam at you. "Or stay! Stay here with me until the sun sets and the evening truly begins. It is so beautiful."

Edited November 2, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"If there are curses, I am your woman" said Cassie, unconsciously and aloud. She knew the Crow name was a magnet for any hex or curse around, and she had an uncomfortable feeling about that ring on her finger. 

 

She was not sure about the moonlight. Perhaps it was beautiful, but this was a place of double-edged swords. It could be beautiful, entrancing, and deadly. 

 

"The Catacombs it is!" she said, firmly, smacking her fists together earnestly. "I cannot promise you a paradise, for I doubt there is such a thing for God or mortal, but no one should wander eternity as an echo of what they were!" she said, just as earnestly. There was something deeply macarbe about it. 

 

And this priestess was something beautiful and dangerous, and - quite possibly - mad. 

 

With that, she turned heel, beckoned Neil, and started the descent to the catacombs below!

 

If they could find them!

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Kayara watches you leave, her face unreadable, as she easily lifts herself back into the altar, crossing her legs under in the same pose you first saw her as. Then the observatory blocks her from your view and it is only you and Neil now, boots padding softly against the stone floor. 

 

"The catacombs?" He asks after some time, walking up to a little forward of you. "I suppose if we really want to find the way there, we should search what the ground floor, look for any promising entrances. But, Crow," and he twirls, stopping in his tracks and a hand outstretched. "Why pursue this? Something is going on and I don't like it. All this talk of sacrifice and Moons and crazy not-ghosts. Let's leave and figure out how to remove that ring of yours when we're not here and safe."

 

He looks at you and you can see a hint of trepidation in his eyes. "What do you say?"

[Supercape]

Snakebite 

 

"I say its not safe to stay or to leave" replied Cassie. "Look, the ring is on my finger, not yours. You don't have to stay around, I won't hold it against you. But I have far more chance of working out what this ring is, and how to get it off, right here. Not stuck in some dusty library in Cairo or Timbuktu" she said. 

 

For all her academic skills, it was in the field the Cassie felt she belonged. 

 

"Besides, this temple is a red rag, and I am a bull. I can't stop now" she said, more eagerly. It was true, everything was disconcerting, even for her, but she simply couldn't live with herself if she just walked away. 

 

"Ill just have to be careful" she added, with a smile. And with that philosophy in mind, she started to look for an entrance...

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"Yeah, this isn't what I was expecting too but--" Neil sighs then shakes his head. You see doubt when he looks back at you, and though he lets you take the lead when you start again he is slower, less enthused, now quieter.

 

It takes the better part of the afternoon to find a way to the catacombs.  You return to the ground level and search every nook and cranny, using Neil's map for guidance. It isn't particularly efficient work but you see no other way of finding what you're looking for. Your breaks are short, just enough for lunch and tea, and later snacks but they are enough to keep you going. Finally, it is only when you stumble past a partially broken wall do you find an entrance way hidden behind the wall and stairs leading downwards.

 

The sun hangs low in the sky, casting long shadows within the temples, and yours and Neil's silhouettes fall down the catacomb stairs to an inky blackness. At the bottom of the stairwell, your enhanced vision sees two sets of eyes watching the two of you. Reptillian, glowing an oily green in the darkness. It notices you watching back and it blinks, disappearing in an instant.

 

Neil, unaware, shines a flashlight through and you see deep cracks in the rock. He slides forward and experimentally taps his flashlight at a crack at the wall. Bits of stone break off at the contact.

 

"Be careful here, Crow. This area doesn't look stable."

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"Wait!" snapped Cassie, soft but firm and sharp - her hand reaching out across Neil to block him from proceeding. 

 

"There is something down there...." she explained, slowly pulling out her Tranq-gun. "A snake, maybe..."

 

Maybe something quite different from a snake, too. Although she did not say that aloud. 

 

"Be careful. Its not just the architecture we should be wary of...." she added, although as Neil had said, they should indeed by wary of the architecture. This place was ancient, and she didn't want to get caught in a landslide. 

 

"Lets stake a rope here" she added, caution - at least transiently - overcoming her eagerness. "Make sure we have something leading us back to the surface...." if they could tie it around a tree or a relatively stable part of masonry, then take the other end with them, at least they had a better chance of crawling out...

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Neil scowls at your warning but he kneels down and puts down his backpack, pulling out a flare. He brushes past you and shines his flashlight down the stairs. "Yeah. Stake a rope somewhere around here." He points vaguely around you, at the masonry and plantlife growing through the ancient stone. "There's probably something sturdy enough."

 

He waits as you stake a rope, stepping to the side as you move to the catacomb entrance. Then he lights the flare and tosses it down the stairwell. You hear it tumble to the bottom and ending with a dull thud. It lights the bottom in a red light and you see underbrush and moss, weeds among the stone slabs, but nothing which the reptilian eyes belonged too. Neil gestures for you to lead and in a few moments you descend down the stairs, a hand on your rope and Neil behind you.

 

As you move down you feel the familiar heat of the ring against your finger and the stairwell blur. There are alcoves along the walls, long unused, but they begin to glow with a fire millennia old. Two figures walk past. They hold headdresses in the crook of their arms, feathers colorful and proud even just under the light of the torches. Their robes are rich and patterned. Gold jewelry hang from their ears and necks, depicting symbols of their Moon goddess.

 

One is older, long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the other is taller by almost a head and as the torchlight shines on his face you realize you have seen him before. It is the man from your first dream, younger now.

 

"They ask if the earthquakes will ever stop." The older man begins as the taller one listens impassively. "They ask and pray but still they do not. We have the answer. You know that, Hakan."

 

"I doubt that."

 

"Like you've always done. But this is different. Come and we shall show you the rituals we have devised. Do it for our old friendship at the least."

 

The taller one does not respond to that and they leave you. Soon the vision fades as well, the torchlight giving way to the red of the flare. Your feet touch solid ground and you let go of the rope.

 

"Damn it!" Neil gives a low growl and he pulls out his machete. You turn to look what has spooked him. A few feet into a corridor you see a skeleton skewered over the remnants of a large wooden door. Damp old cloth clings to the bones as it lays over the broken door. A sharp piece of wood is stuck between the skeleton's ribs.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"Easy....easy...." said Cassie, slowly. 

 

Better a Machete drawn and not needed, than needed and not drawn...she conceded to herself. Still, sudden moves born from an adrenaline flush where not a great idea either. And even she could feel the palm of her hand, gripping her Tranq pistol tightly, moist with sweat. 

 

"Whats that? A vampire?" she asked, not sure herself if it was a serious question or trying to jolly the mood a little. She hadn't ever seen a vampire, but she had heard of them. The dusty tomes of the Crow library had plenty of interesting reading material. Some of it was possibly true. 

 

"I'm picking up visions of the past..." she whispered, not sure if it was her own eye or the ring on her finger or - quite probably - both. "Earthquakes and Gods and Rituals...how often they all go together...." she explained. 

 

"And now, sacrifice or murder or vampire slaying..." she added, kneeling down to examine the skeleton...

 

And counting its teeth!

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"Crow." Neil calls you as you approach the skeleton but he doesn't stop you.

 

You examine the teeth and they look like those of a normal human's, nothing which suggests the long, sharp ones vampires would use for bloodsucking. But this close, you notice other injuries. Broken bones, ribs shattered, the neck bent at an unnatural angle. it lays splayed over the door as if it were thrown into it.

 

And then something catches your eye in the darkness, half-hidden beneath the skeleton's tattered clothes. You brush your fingers against it and pull it free easily. A blade made out of bone, like something used for cutting clean. Its handle is dull and carved in delicate figures. You recognize it as one of the ritual tools Neil had taken from the altar on the ground floor.

 

Before you could search for more, Neil moves to your left and picks up another tool from the ground. He rubs it with the sleeve of his shirt and you see a hint of gold underneath the dirt. He looks at you. "...What?" Then he looks down again, shining his flashlight on the ground. He picks up another, and then another, each one as rich and gold as the last and he brings the three to you. Two large earrings, a necklace.

 

"Crow, this was a graverobber."

Edited November 7, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

Cassie was no forensic psychologist. She could only guess that the man had been victim of some violent struggle, and a brutal unpleasant one at that. But...who knew for sure? perhaps he (or she) was throne down a pit. Or something unnatural had tossed him like a rag doll. 

 

The dagger of bone...a ritualistic device, surely. But perhaps something more. She kept hold of it. If there was a foul spirit down here, then maybe a dagge of bone would be more useful than a modern tranq-dart. 

 

"Then we best not make the same mistake" she said, gently putting the three pieces of jewelry down. It might rankle with Neil, but she would happily pay him the price of those pieces thrice over. "He met some grisly end, although what it was...."

 

Was anybodies guess. 

 

But perhaps she need not guess. 

 

Touching the skeleton with the tips of her fingers, she forced her mind back through the storm of time, to see if she could witness the graverobbers demise....

[Zeitgeist Blue]

<Leave it!>

 

Two men come running from deeper in the tunnel, their flashlights carving through the darkness. You recognize the one in the lead as the same man whose skeleton rests in the observatory. His hands are free save for the flashlight he carries, unlike the other man trailing him.

 

The second man is a native too but his hands are occupied trying to juggle a flashlight of his own and two bags of what you guess are jewelry and other precious items. He struggles to keep up with the first.

 

What is common for both men though is the panick they exude, panting with exertion, sweat staining their shirts. They run for the stairs and they have to scramble up, hands digging to find purchase on the stone.

 

<Leave it!> The first man shouts again.

 

<I can't! We need this! My daughte-- ghkk!>

 

He drops what he is holding as his hands grasp at something around his neck that you cannot see, and he stays there, grasping and choking. The first man's eyes widen and he resumes his flight up the stairs, leaving his companion. You see the man being choked reach out one last time before his bones break and his body is flung away so forcfully it crashes through the heavy wood door.

 

"Crow?" Neil asks you as the scene ends.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Cassie snapped back to the present (as far as she could tell) feeling transiently dazed from the shock of violence. 

 

"There must be something down here....some protector....!" she concluded. She looked around a moment, wondering if something was going to jump out and throttle her. 

 

"Perhaps it has died. But somehow I doubt it. Whatever you do, don't go taking anything!" she told Neil, firmly. 

 

She recalled the priestess-Godess' words. "She said something lurks down here...and that we would find answers here too...."

 

There was simply no turning back now. "Our blood sweat and tears as well" she muttered to herself. She didn't mind sweating. She could happily miss the blood and tears. 

 

"Lets see what we can find..." she concluded, pressing on with the search...

[Zeitgeist Blue]

You resume your trek into the catacombs, past the broken door and the broken skeleton. As soon as you step through, it is as if the darkness envelopes you. Even with Neil's flashlight cutting through in a tight cone and your heightened vision, you can barely see more than a few meters ahead of you. Everything else is indistinct, shrouded, shapes that come from half-dreams. The sounds too seem muted and the beating of your heart fills the empty sound, rushing into your ears. The walls push towards you, barely enough for two men to walk abreast.

 

But you walk and you walk, and you walk some more. The tunnel is straight and does not seem to have been as affected by the earthquake as other parts of the temple.

 

"Crow," Neil says, breaking the silence so suddenly you could jump. "I don't think we're under the temple anymore."

 

He shines thr flashlight around you and you see you aren't in the narrow tunnel anymore. It widens and you see shelves along the walls, and in these shelves lie jar-like things, faded paint decorating their bodies. Masks stare at you with hollow eyes and gaping mouths. These are the jar of the mummified Cuespac, you realize, and there are dozens of them within your immediate view.

 

The catacomb branches out from the room you stand in. You can almost see the silhouettes of more jars within more shelves lining more rooms. Neil steps beside you, mouth open slightly.

 

"Damn, this was never in any record."

 

He is still taking it all in when something moves at the corner of your vision, far from the light the flashlight provides. You turn to look but it steps out of view, behind a stack of jars in the room next to you.

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"Nothing ever got out to record it" whispered Cassie, grimly. 

 

She whipped her flashlight round and gripped her Tranq-gun. 

 

"Something down here with us. Something fast...in the dark...."

 

Something that strangles men and breaks bones....?

 

Cassie was a bold sort. Her eyes could see in the dim light and she was as well equipped as anybody to deal with tomb raiding. But even she could feel the tightness of skin and throat, the wetness of neck and palm, and the flutter of her heart. The adrenaline was kicking in. She felt the barrel of the pistol shake slightly. 

 

She gritted her teeth, and slowly moved around the jars, to confront whatever she had seen....

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nothing is there but more jars and more rooms, branches that lead off into the dark. Neil is right behind you, swinging his flashlight around. His hand gripped his machete and he shifted it, anxious about what you face.

 

He swings his flashlight and just as the light moves past a room further away you catch sight of something standing just behind the doorway. You think in that flash of a second you notice arms and feet, clothes hanging off a back and hair. A face staring straight at you. Neil sees it too and he slashes the light back around but it is gone.

 

"Trespassers..."

 

You here the whisper as if it were right beside you and Neil jumps too, pivoting around to catch sight of the source of the sound. But there is nothing there and he looks at you and back at the doorway, then back at you again, and you see him set his face. "Come on, Crow. This is nothing. You wanted to solve this mystery, right?"

 

And he strides forward. He brandishes his flashlight like a lifesaver, swiveling it around, but he sees nothing. Then you hear it again, coming from past that room, further down the catacombs as if it wanted you to chase it.

 

"Despoilers..."

 

It echoes, as real as any sound you can make.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

GM

 

Chase...no. 

 

They were almost blind, in an ancient temple with some slithering horror. And it was anybodies guess how many pits and traps the builders of this temple had made to protect its contents. Chasing was a step too far. 

 

Follow...now that was another matter. 

 

Flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other, Cassie stepped forward. The Lemurian blood in her veins and eyes made her senses sharp even in darkness, and she trusted her instincts and reflexes. Besides which, she was in too deep now. 

 

"We come by invitation, we despoil nothing but dust" she said to the darkness. 

 

And her boots marched forward...

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"Murderers..." The darkness replies and you march on.

 

The tunnels become rougher, more natural, hewn from water and wind over millions of years than human hands. And as you march your ring begins to warm.

 

You see Hakan walk alongside you, his once stoic face barely holding what seems to be a rush of emotions. His arms are up and in front of him as if carrying a body but you see nothing. He fades into the dark.

 

"Theives..."

 

You round a corner and there is a thicket of leaves and branches obscuring your path. Neil steps forward, machete at the ready, and with a few chops of the machete breaks through the thicket. He steps through and looks about at where you have found yourselves in.

 

You are in a glade hidden within a cavern and in the middle of that glade is a clearing. In the middle of that clearing is a rock as large as a bed. A skeleton lies on that bed, and you see the moonlight shine through, a beam of light that almost envelopes the rock. You hear the spray and crash of a waterfall in the distance.

 

But before you can do anything you hear a voice behind you.

 

"Explorers." Feminine, deep, but off somehow.

 

Behind you stands Kayara but where she was once composed if a little unhinged, now you can see the madness in her eyes. Her hair is in tangles, dirt and leaves and twigs stuck in her mane. Her robes are torn, scratches adorning the skin behind the rips and tears of clothing. She raises her hands as if wanting to touch you and they are rubbed raw.

 

But it is her throat which catches your attention the most for it is cut open, a maw, a slash, and her lifeblood seeps from it.

 

"Explorers," she says again, whispering, and steps closer.

 

On your finger, the ring begins to warm.

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"Kayara?" 

 

Cassie took a step or two back. Was this the same Kayara? If the priestess above was the spirit, this looked like the body. A reanimated, zombie like body, as if freshly sacrificed. 

 

She ignored the warmth of the ring. She was sure it meant something, but she didn't know what - and right now she had more pressing matters. 

 

"Explorers, yes. Neither Thief, nor murderer, nor defiler" she said, boldly. She was sure she had not murdered anyone. Theivery or Defiling, well, that was a little more  murky ground, given how many antiquities she had dug up. It rather depended on whose point of view one was taking. But she was fairly sure she had not taken anything from the temple so far. Defiling? Not deliberately. But accidentally? quite possibly - who knows what ancient customs surrounded this place. 

 

"I already told you this....above this place,  under the shining sun" she said, poking for a response that might give a clue...

Edited November 13, 2018 by Supercape

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"There is no day... no moon... only... only dirt... and poison..."

 

She regards you with her runny eyes then clambers forward, on legs too thin and weak, her head revealing her intent, not on you but--

 

The shot explodes behind your ear, a roar that deafens you, and it rings and rings and rings, drowning all other sounds.

 

You see Kayara's head snap back, red spraying behind her and a hole carved in the middle of her head. For a moment, she hangs there as if registering the bullet hole in her head. And then her body collapses to the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.

 

Behind you, Neil holds a smoking revolver. He looks at the body, lowering his weapon. Then, as if from dar away, you hear another retort and his revolver jumps, punching another hole in Kayara's body.

 

He nods, speaking to you but you can't hear the words - you assume it is supposed to be reassuring - and he holsters the revolver within the folds of his clothes.

 

Your ring grows hot, as if you were holding it in front of a fire for too long.

 

Off at clearing, you see several figures appear around, solemn and regal. They form a circle around the rock and the moonlight shines down on it fully. The old man is there, right behind it.

 

 

"It had to be done," you hear Neil say as if from far away.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Supercape]

Snakebite

 

"That was a mistake" said Cassie, angrily. "You shoot at something, they have a tendency to shoot back"

 

She couldn't be too angry. Nerves where shredded and adrenaline was in the air. Fingers could twitch all too easily. But...under the initial anger, she had a thought. How well did she know Neil? Maybe he was the defiler, the thief...the murderer?

 

She would have to watch her back now. As well as everything else. 

 

Keeping her suspicions close, for now, she stepped forward and went to examine the body. If it was even dead....