ic Night Rings

[Gizmo]

"That shirt is totally outrageous!" Kimber gushed, bouncing up on the balls of her feet and only just remembering to make sure her animated body language remained inside the confines of her sun-blocking parasol. She'd affected a screaming neon pink sleeveless, strappy with a black triangle print for herself and was pleased to meet anyone who could appreciate her fashion philosophy. "We're mostly just here to keep an eye on Corbin, hee! He gets tied up in just the craziest trouble when we're not around, I swear!"

[Fox]

"To be honest, it does seem to happen when we are around, as well," Indira admitted, pressing her palms together and briefly bowing her head to Alfonso - not the world's most formal Namaste, but a polite one none the less. The young alien's time in America had taught her some truly terrible habits for someone trying to disguise one's self as an more terrestrial foreigner, and she was trying to re-learn some habits.

Sometimes. Kind of. Around strangers. When she remembered.

"I am quite sure, too, that he would survive without us. Still," she continued, smiling, "I feel better knowing that if trouble does happen, he is at least slightly less likely to get lost if we are nearby."

[Ari]

GM

 

A soft crunch of rocky sand underfoot announced the arrival of two girls, both in much more rugged outfits than Alfonso, with long sleeves and pants, and gloves stuffed into their belts. Like him they both had short hair, though the one with a ponderous book-bag had hers down to the shoulders. They had been talking quietly to each other before rounding the small bend, and on catching sight of the trio they both stopped in their tracks,  eyes quickly moving from them to the young man whose face positively glowed with joy when he saw them. Waving an arm he called "Hey there, amigos! These are some more crazy people looking for the spring like us. It's fine!" he added with a brisk thumbs-up. The longer-haired one hesitated only a moment, shrugged and resumed the walk, while the other hung back for a second to take a more careful look at the newcomers.

 

"Bu-I mean, good evening, pardon me" the less cautious one(who turned out to be Christina Cazador) said when she'd gotten to casual conversation range and Alfonso had made the speedy introductions, smiling politely from behind thick sport glasses and offering her hand "Yeah, , friend of Alfie's. You're here for the spring too? That's great! I'm sure it's got something to do with the strange creature that's lurking around here, maybe some kind of psychic build-up? Ooh! Maybe it's an alien!" her eyes sparkled with glee "I've found more than a few traces of an alien presence in Spain's past, this could be a long-lost survivor from-" "Calm down." broke in a much more terse voice as the more cautious of the two(Ion, no surname given) arrived "we can talk on the way. Let's see that map, Christina." her dull gray eyes watched the superheroes with some care "Shouldn't linger, we might draw attention. I'm sure you know what from."

 

The slightly awkward silence that greeted that remark was burst by Alfonso's merry "Yeah, park rangers can be grumpy this time of year! Come on gang!" With that he set off for the north, down into the tangle of dense forests that cross-crossed the river plain. "So, you're an artist Corbin?" he asked "What do you do? Photography? Digital? Do you do it for a living?"

 

Ion fell in with Kimber. "Wish they'd be more careful" she muttered darkly "Some kind of monster is about. I can feel it. How can they be so...care-free?"

 

Christina didn't say much as she sauntered next to Indira, though she did excitedly point out a deer as it flashed over a nearby rocky stream "It's so graceful! So strong and quick...awww. I wish we could catch one. That's always the best part though. The hunt, searching for something, hard to be disappointed then." she added thoughtfully as they picked around an outcropping of white stone that gleamed milkily in the moonlight.

[KnightDisciple]

As Indira spoke, Corbin over-dramatically rolled his eyes and gave Alfonso a "see what I have to put up with" shrug.

 

When the two girls came over to them, Corbin gave them both a polite smile and a tip of a hat that wasn't there.

 

"Buenas noches, señoras. What strange creature or creatures do you mean? I've heard some rumors of odd happenings out here, but nothing about specific creatures."

 

He raised a curious eyebrow, though he didn't so much as twitch at the mention of aliens.

 

"And I might have an idea of what from, ma'am."

 

He gave Ion a polite smile and nod.

 

He tried not to give away himself noticing how...odd...Alfonso sounded as he walked and talked, but apparently wasn't fully successful.

 

"I prefer drawing, painting, and sculpting, but I dabble in a lot. It's just a hobby, though; at most I use it to make a few presents for friends."

 

Indira and Kimber had themselves each received such a present!

 

"I'm studying to go into a career in history and archeology, with some business classes on the side for later on in life."

 

He chuckled as Christina mused about the deer.

 

"If you want to catch a deer, come to the Midwestern United States at some point. We've got white-tails coming out our ears and nose."

[Fox]

There was something about this trio that Indira didn't trust, and her new friend struck her as the strangest of all - having had to learn to blink the hard way, and having been briefly human and experienced (woefully limited) human eyes, she was keenly aware of both how necessary the habit was and how easy it was to forget...if you didn't actually have human eyes.

Still, people hid things for all sorts of reasons. Indira didn't miss a beat, smiling casually and regarding the deer with as passive and tourist-y a gaze as was possible. "We do not have to search for something that is already right in front of us," she pointed out. "I do not believe that whoever owns this land would appreciate unauthorized hunting, even if anybody here was equipped for it."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, I don't think you need to worry," Kimber assured the newcomer lightly even as she kept a very close eye on Ion herself. "Sometimes monsters are nice and they just need to hide for reasons, y'know?" The poltergeist liked to think she was pretty good at getting a first impression of people and had more than a little experience with the preternatural. Ion was definitely putting on an act or at least whatever was controlling her was; the stiff way she was moving shouted 'possession' to Kimber. "Some monsters take advantage of people, though, and use them like tools and that's just the worst. Makes me mad enough to break them into a million little screaming pieces and make sure they can't ever hurt anyone ever again," she continued in just as sunny a tone. "Probably it's the first kind though, don't you think?"

[Ari]

GM

 

Alfonso raised an appreciative eyebrow "Oh, art from memory and stuff? That's cool! I think the Impressionists did something like that, didn't they? Hah! That was kinda extreme though!" Despite his loose and casual walk that had him almost lunging over rocks and chuckling streamlets, his shoulders were tenser than before, and he looked much serious than he had a second ago. "Pretty surprised you're all the way out here then. Magic ponds are not all that common, but surely you want more than to just..I dunno, capture it on canvas? Do you think it had something to do with the old days, before the Reconquest, I mean? Not that, like, the Moors would let it enter their darkest dreams to use heathen, godless magic."

 

For a flickering instant, a dim shade wearing ancient clothes materialized just enough to Ghost Girl's otherworldly eyes to shake its fist at Alfonso before collapsing back into the ether.

 

Christina groaned "You're lucky to have such a huge country, Corbin! Way more places for the deer to live than out here, but at least it makes for some good horseback rides when you try to find them." The bookish girl nodded in agreement with Indira "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But sometimes you just want to make sure, you know? You haven't lived unless you make gambles, but it's important to not just assume things too."

 

For a second Ion paused in mid-step, visibly mulling Kimber's words over. At last she picked back up the pace, murmuring "You would do that, wouldn't you? Thank you. The last thing somebody that cruel needs is sympathy." her face softened and she stood taller "It takes a weight off my mind...Christina," she added suddenly, turning to her friend "Does that map actually say anything useful, or is it just a bunch of scribbles with MAP TO MAGIC at the top?"

 

The other girl blinked, and looked downright hurt "Wha-, come on, Ion, that was when we were kids, I wouldn't try and do that now!" Adjusting her blue sport glasses, Christina declared primly "We've got guests along too, so it's double unlikely on top of that. Anyway, let's see..." coming out of a small copse of squat ash trees at the bottom of the hill, the sextet looked out at a broad, glittering plain spanned with noisy streams winding their way to the nearby rivers, a deep, earthy smell of the trees mingling with the scent of wild grass and moist flowers all around them. Oblivious to this, the impromptu guide scanned the weathered piece of cloth she was holding, eyes flicking from it to the biggest stream and ridge of hills before the band. At last she nodded, evidently satisfied, and gestured to the left "So...okay, 'between two rivers at the rising of the Moon'. the Moon rises from the west, right? So we follow that stream up to there."

 

'There' was a rather low, dark and ominous hill roughly in the middle of the rivers flowing from either side of the nearby mountains, crowned with a small ruined castle of red stone. The ground around it was uneven and crowded with enough narrow ravines to hide dozens of ponds. A similar rise was noted as only a few miles from the rough center of the attacks.

 

"It makes for a good landmark, and is the last place we haven't checked in this valley," she explained to the three young superheroes, "but it should be a cinch with all six of us!"

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin gives Alfonso one of those "are you actually serious?" looks when the other young man completely boffs what the Impressionists did.

 

"Some of my art is a near-exact recreation of a person or scene, whether staged or from memory. But some of what I've done is take the actual apperance of people I know and put them in a situation that didn't actually happen, but that could have happened. So some of it is the drawing equivalent of writing a fiction novel, I suppose. 

 

And putting aside my personal enjoyment of Arthurian style legend, which has a fair number of magic ponds, I find the historical implications of this Pool rather fascinating. I'm a student of History as much as I am Art. If I can end up gaining more historical knowledge while also getting a subject for later artistic works, it's just a bonus."

 

He gave Christina a smile and a nod.

 

"Yeah, I do kind of like how varied the US can be, geographically. Really all of North America has some good variety, but like you said, at least some of that is just by dint of how big it is. Plenty of places for horseback riding, though."

 

Corbin waited patiently as Christina examined the map and proposed a plan of action. He frowned at the rough terrain.

 

"I'm not sure it would be wise to split up, even as large as our group is. The ground looks treacherous enough that going solo might prove problematic-"

 

Well, for the 3 "guides", maybe, probably not for the three heroes for one reason or another.

 

"-and as far out from civilization as we are, sticking together to help out if something goes wrong is wisest. Besides, we can still all watch different directions and so forth. Sometimes having multiple people examining the same thing helps more."

[Fox]

"I prefer not to gamble," Indira admitted, though there was no reproach to be found in her smile. "There is perhaps a thrill in...what is the word, 'uncertainty'?...but not in unnecessary risk. Act after observing, not before, if it can be helped. So long as you do not get carried away, anyway. I...confess that I sometimes get carried away."

"I'm not sure it would be wise to split up, even as large as our group is."

"Agreed," the young woman chimed in, nodding. "We were fortunate to even run into each other; if something were to happen to anybody here while they were alone - or in too small a group - it is unlikely that help would arrive in good time. It may slow down our exploration of the castle, but it cannot hurt to stay where we can keep an eye on each other."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, I'm a pretty sympathetic sort alright but if I'm going to do something, I like to see it through. Guess you could say I just don't like leaving unfinished business!" told Ion, tone chipper but her eyes trained on the spot where the shade had briefly appeared. "I'm pretty good at helping other people wrap theirs up, too, if they want to tell me about it," she added a little more loudly. She'd had just about enough of playing along with the odd trio but with a little luck she hoped she'd be able to find out a little more about what was really going on before things came to a head. If she could help out a fellow ghost at the same time, that would be even better!

[Ari]

GM

 

Christina nodded thoughtfully, finding a flattened rock to lay the map out on. "That's a good point. Guess we could all start on the east side and work our way around..." busily scribbling, she started the quick but tedious work of figuring out the best route through the mini-ravines that circled the dead castle.

 

---

 

At Kimber's words the dust swirled up, and just for a moment the half-seen figure regained its form, only to collapse again into nothing sighing faintly.

 

Then, a faint wind blew, and another shape took its place. Misty at first but soon gathering strength in the eyes of the watchers. This one showed an old man with dark skin and in ragged clothes, a hood over his head, lying on his back in the dirt as he examined the underside of a small but full and sturdy cart above him, a donkey tied to it chewing peacefully. Suddenly the donkey's ears shot up and with a noiseless bray dashed forward, sending the cart wheels crashing over the man's neck.

 

Spasming once, the dead man's jaw ran with blood, working up and down horribly as he stared up at the sky, his eyes reflecting a dazzling sun before they slowly closed, and with a shudder he lay still.

 

A dry whisper drifted into Ghost Girl's uncanny ears "You..can give..me..rest?" The silvery shape of the dead man turned to her, lifeless eyes opening again, full of hope "I would...give much for...that. Seen...many pass through this valley....do you look for one of them?"

Edited March 16, 2014 by Arichamus

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin nodded at Indira's words.

 

"Yeah. Safety first, guys and gals."

 

When Christina brought out the map and laid it down flat, he moved up next to her, striving to make sure his bulk didn't make anyone feel too crowded. He scanned the map, then started using his right index finger to gesture at it now and again.

 

"Let's hit that trail first. Yeah, there. It'd make it easier to loop over here, and then here. Yeah, like that. So then when we hit this turn, we can be sure we didn't miss anything. This might be a good five-minute-break point. And maybe make this our end point?"

[Fox]

Wraith kept her face in calm, relaxed tourist mode only through great practice and willpower. Unless there was some greater tactical purpose to it, she was not terribly fond of sticking to level earth or going around nearly anything; she'd spent her whole life climbing vertical walls and overhangs with ease a spider would envy, and to be restricted to the horizontal was always...chafing.

Still, it isn't like life in human society hadn't required enough of that. Her hopes of cutting loose notwithstanding, this was nothing new. "It seems a reasonable plan," she agreed. "Especially when staying in a single group, it may be best to be efficient; we would not wish to rush through the sights, but it would be less fun to waste time backtracking."

[Gizmo]

"I can sure try!" Kimber told the worn out looking specter, keeping her exuberant voice low and keeping one eye on their suspicious new friends. It probably wouldn't do them much good to let on that she could see or talk to dead people. She just hoped that helping the old man to his final rest would be as easy as she'd made it out to be. "I guess we are sort of trying to find somebody, actually. Somebody's been skulking around trying to find a magic pond, see, and messing around with other people's heads. Do you think you've seen anybody suspicious like that?"

[Ari]

GM

"Oh...That old...tale? Yes...yes there was one in this valley like...that." Turning the sightless eyes to take in the stars, the ghost gestured vaguely northwards "Flying. Passed over me. Stopped. Young...man, tall, bony, not slept in a long...time. There...was a-" the ghost flickered upright, its head lolling backwards on the cracked neck and one arm outstretched, "-a ring on his finger. Beautiful thing. He spoke to it. "Is this it? Do they know?" Seemed...angry at its answer. "Fine, then I'll just use their eyes, they want to find it, and I'm barred thanks to..." A...a...gem?" Suddenly the old man looked utterly baffled, repeating the words slowly "A gem? Yes...in his heart, saw blackness in it..."

The silver eyes widened "Might be...waiting in the new red castle. Darkness could hide behind the walls. Please, do not go...inside" as he spoke, the ghost slowly knelt down, shoulders twisted to let the head look imploringly up at Ghost Girl "Those three...they never saw me, though they came here for years...just want to know...did the gold reach my daughters? I cannot leave, I must await my angel. Bring me that word, "yes", or that "no"...and I can sleep..."

---

"We're sight-seeing and treasure-hunting, Corbin, not on a reconaissance mission" grumbled the spectacled girl, though she followed his advice and carefully adjusted the planned route. Finishing with a flourish of pencil and a triumphant  "There!" Christiana jumped to her feet and set off, the party making for the eerie moonlit hill and its moat of crevasses.

By the time they arrived, it quickly became clear that they'd be hard-pressed to find just about anything in the maze of ravines, small pits worn by now-gone waterfalls, streams rushing through miniature canyons and an especially yawning crevasse before them that lay just in the shadow of the hill, rivulets feeding into it with a faint music. The Moon in the cleared sky bathed everything in a silvery sheen, and just for a moment, the three Spanish pond-hunters faces' fell.

"Well, we won't find it standing here!" said Alfonso, all awkwardness leaving him as he stepped forward and slid and hopped down the nearby slope, the other two Spaniards following him with surprising skill into the shallow chasm.
  Edited March 24, 2014 by Arichamus

[KnightDisciple]

The big American boy just grinned at Christina.

 

"The only difference between treasure hunting and military recon is what you're looking for. We just get to take more pictures this way. Smartphones and cameras out, everyone!"

 

Corbin fell into a position about midway along the line of explorers, trusting Indira and Kimber to watch his back and have sharper senses than he did. 

 

When they reached the canyon, Corbin raised an eyebrow at the skill displayed by the 3 locals, but made no fuss of it.

 

"That's the spirit of adventure and exploration! Just what we need today."

 

With that, the Hughes scion hopped down, displaying an amount of grace that was positively shocking for someone his size as he all but bounced from side to side of the canyon walls before landing in a crouch on the ground. 

[Fox]

Indira sighed a bit at the slope, watching Corbin descend with the oddly bulky grace of...she wasn't entirely sure what the Earth equivalent was. She'd heard goats were fairly agile? Regardless, bipedal bodies were just so awful for climbing - all stiff and awkwardly segmented with a high center of balance.

Still, she wasn't without her advantages, in spite of the body she was stuck with. She waited for Kimber before picking her way down the slope with the fluid, self-assured grace of someone who was secretly a bit stronger than they should be and could shift their inner mass around at will.

"Are you alright?" the young alien quietly asked as they made their way downhill. "You seem distracted."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, I was just talking to--" Kimber began to point to one side before remembering that of course Indira was no more capable of seeing the elder phantom than the valley's other explorers. "Whoops. New ghost friend! Sounds like somebody with a talking ring has been poking around, mind controlling folks, holing up in the darkness and generally being a big creeper." She kept her voice low and concentrated for a moment on miming scampering over the uneven ground rather than just floating through the rocks. Turning back to the old fellow she added, "Thanks for the help! We'll definitely see what we can find out about your daughters! That's a super adorable unfinished business, so many people are all, 'grr, revenge, argh, bring my killer to justice'. Oh! Sorry, outrageously rude, I never got your name!"

[Ari]

GM

 

The ghostly image strengthened, just for a few seconds "It was-it is Abdullah Rahman...for the just kings. My family lived just beyond that ridge, a good house" a spectral arm lifted and waved gently at the hill where the Claremont alumni had first arrived on the bus "Large...it may be buried...like me."

 

Fading quickly, the silvery body raised its crooked neck and whispered "A black horse stood by us..."

 

The canyon floor burbled and chuckled with the noise of running water, a small stream splitting in two around a pillar-like stone at the bottom of the slope. One stream ran quickly down into a low tunnel, the other meandered along the ravine floor.

 

"Pretty sure the story didn't say anything about holes in the ground," Alfonso commented as he retied a lace "let's follow the other stream, it'll keep us on our route anyway. No need to backtrack."

[Fox]

Indira cocked her head, something at the edge of even her extraordinary hearing pulling her attention toward the cave. They'd been looking for something out of place, and mysterious music certainly qualified. Especially if it was coming out of a 'hole in the ground'.

"A hole in the ground," she repeated aloud, her expression inscrutable as her sunglasses darkened for a moment, as if her eyes had turned black in the space between blinks. "The story is old and may be incomplete," the young woman pointed out, turning her head back to the others. "The water present would not be sufficient for an above-ground pool; even if it could collect somewhere, its presence would be seasonal at best. Underground it would be easier to retain, however; the stream going into that cave is very old, and hidden from the sun it would be less likely to evaporate and could be closer to the....ah. The-"

She paused, frowning, briefly muttering something in another language in an attempt to remember the translation. At least she knew the Hindi term.... "The...it is the level of water in the earth. But it would protect the pool, and help maintain it."

[KnightDisciple]

"Water table. You're right, between being in a cave with a semi-steady supply from streams like this, and the water table, there's a good chance there'd be...well, a pool down there. It's worth glancing at, anyways."

 

Corbin waved the group toward the cave entrance, being sure to click on the flashlight that he had with him. He didn't need it, and the girls didn't need it, but their guides might.

 

He had some suspicions, though.

[Gizmo]

"A horse?" Kimber muttered quietly to herself, hands on her hips. "Well, I don't think that would still be alive! Maybe he meant it like a metaphor. Don't know why so many other ghosts feel like they have to get all riddley all the time..."

The singing coming from deep within the cave soon drew her attention, though her frown only deepened as she slid over to Indira's side and whispered, "Did you notice the way the words are changing from language to language? That's not normal, not at all. I think we better get ready to go bump in the night, if you know what I mean." After a pause, the disguised phantom covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh! Wait! That sounded terrible, that's not what I meant at all!"

[Fox]

Indira smiled despite herself, trying to quiet a chuckle. "I know what you meant," she assured her incorporeal friend, inclining her head to listen to the music. She could barely make it out, but.... "I think, however, that you are right. There is something too...familiar about it. I can almost make out words I should not be hearing, but cannot quite understand all of it."

She shook her head, glancing at the others. "I do not think I can sharpen my senses further without...attracting attention. You may be right: we must simply be ready to...bump...if necessary. I shall watch your back if you watch mine, and we shall both try to keep Corbin out of trouble?"

[Ari]

GM

 

Pausing for a moment, Ion shook her head "I can't hear anything. But that cavern can't be too deep, so we'll head on. Join us at the top there, then we can search the next ravine." With that she trudged off, feet splashing in the narrow stream, followed by the other two. Christina and Alfonso were notably slower, glancing up at the surrounding walls and pausing now and then to mutter to each other, as if comparing notes.

 

The cave was narrow at first, but as the water broadened and slowed, the walls gradually spread apart. With every step, the noise that wasn't water grew, until at last all of them could hear it, a voice calling at the edge of conscious hearing, asking for anyone who could hear to turn aside and follow it. The way underfoot was sodden and slippery from ceaseless water flowing, and the occasional root, a finger groping for the precious water, made the going a little slower than it might have been. At first the trio had to go in(mostly) single-file, but by the time they'd reached the mouth they could easily have gone three abreast and had space to spare.

 

At a glance, even before their eyes(those that needed to) adjusted to the dimness, it was obvious they had found their goal.

 

The pool shone from within, a clear, pale glow that soothed the eyes to look at. The cavern ceiling was open, but hidden by an enormous tangle of leaves and branches that even the stabbing moonlight couldn't fully penetrate. Roots had grown down to cover the walls and approached the spring itself...but something held them back from the water's edge, and a short wall, about a foot high, had built up over the slow eons.

 

The voice paused when the Claremont alumni entered the inner sanctum, but after a moment it began again, speaking much more clearly "Through me there is illumination. The future, the past, the here and now; but drink my water, and it is yours."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin watched as the rest of their group conveniently split off. His eyes narrowed just a bit with suspicion, but he said nothing.

 

As they descending into the small cavern, he took a position just slightly to the rear. Not so much for his sharp senses (both girls had him beat by at least a little bit there), but for the fact that if something came barreling down at them, he was the most likely to stop it with the lowest chance of injury to self.

 

And then they found it. The pool of legend.

 

For a curious mind like Corbin Hughes, the idea of knowing past, present, and future was sorely tempting. He stared at the sparkling water, his right hand twitching up for just a moment before his will clamped down.

 

"Tempting. But too easy. Really, it seems too easy to just find it like this anyways. But just sipping some water and knowing all of that? Has to be a catch. I think I'm full up on strange magical "gifts" found in lands far from home at this point, thanks."