The Dead Forest (Increased Orc activity due to skirmish)

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

((You need but to type, my friend. The magic flows from your fingertips like the sorrowful melody from the bow, or something equally poetic and dark.))

Well, this was certainly a mystery. Max was not the kind of man to run off. At least not without a note or something. Ryugi pondered what in the hell could have happened. The simplest explanation was that Max had simply left sooner than he did, and was waiting out front, but Max was too polite to simply leave like that. Then, there was still the mystery of the music itself. The melody was dark and somber, not unlike the town itself. Perhaps they were somehow interconnected? Was that the magical thickness that Ryugi had felt before? So many questions and very little answers. Whatever the cause, Ryugi was ready to get to the bottom of things. Solo quest activate...

He gathered his things and walked downstairs to the lobby. A quick glance around told him that things were as strange as ever, albeit devoid of any other life except the same woman at the desk that was there when he and Max had arrived in the first place. Excuse me, have you seen my friend come through here? He and I entered together and purchased rooms. Has he checked out? The question was simple enough, and it might give him a head start.  

[Maximos]

Ryugi Kazamaru

Excuse me, have you seen my friend come through here? He and I entered together and purchased rooms. Has he checked out?

((I dont know about all that buddy, but sure!))

Its amazing how sometimes the simplest and direct answer was the most effective. The woman, with a blank face almost devoid of the wrinkles indicative of facial expression, just raised her right hand and pointed straight at the open "door".

"He said he heard music", she said. "He went to find it."

And then she set her hand down, lifeless and expressionless as she was she began very softly tapping out just a couple of beats to the music's rhythm all while staring out at nothing at all.  

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

"He said he heard music", she said. "He went to find it."

I see. Thank you. Ryugi thanked the woman and quickly turned to leave himself, taking note that her fingers moved to the beat of the music. The status quo here seemed to be a lack of interest in most anything. In some way, the gesture, which would have been perfectly normal of anyone else, simply seemed out of place. He wondered if that was part of the mystery as he exited the building and walked out into the street beyond. As he did, he tried to tune his enhanced hearing to the tune of the music, trying to discern the location from which it was coming. He supposed if that failed, he could always try the Shadow Necklace to talk to Max directly, but he figured he would take things one step at a time. Rushing into things without proper cause or direction would earn him no points here, he figured.  

[Maximos]

Ryugi Kazamaru

As he did, he tried to tune his enhanced hearing to the tune of the music, trying to discern the location from which it was coming. He supposed if that failed, he could always try the Shadow Necklace to talk to Max directly, but he figured he would take things one step at a time. Rushing into things without proper cause or direction would earn him no points here, he figured.

Ryugi was right, almost purposefully the music lead in one direction. It lacked the supernatural ambiance of most haunting melodies and instead actually appeared to be coming from one direction. It was, as almost might be expected, coming from the other side of town.

To reach it the dragon would have to pass through a good portion of Cyndonia. As he did, if he was watching, things seemed to change. Everything was still gray, everything was still gloomy, but like most real meaningful changes this began as something small and entirely innocuous and would grow secretly into something...else.

It started with nodding heads and tapping fingers, one in every seven or eight denizens. Next were the children, just a few, seemingly without noticing. A few walked down broken streets, avoiding cracks in the pavement and rocks on the floor in sub-conscious step with the music. Their faces never changed from depressed monotony, but their motions slowly did.

The source of the music was a very large building approximately five minutes away from the inn. In 'life' the large pillars decorating its foyer, and its half collapsed staging area just outside the twelve foot tall opening which may have once held doors, hinted that this may have been a temple or town center of some sort. The building itself may have been about two stories tall by normal standards, but the majority of its steeple roof had collapsed into a pile of haphazard rubble inside of its walls and down onto the street outside.

By the time Ryugi reached the building itself and the first few chiseled steps the music had become so intense it was as if it was playing from a live string bad performing just beside the dragon. Every strum and beat moved in sync with the town around him. Grim, dull, beautiful and yet haunting. The towns people seemed as if they were all players and actors cast in an orchestral performance about human motion to the melody of auditory sadness.

And now, like a conductor without a wand, the next steps in the melody were entirely in Ryugi's hands.  

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

And now, like a conductor without a wand, the next steps in the melody were entirely in Ryugi's hands.

Ryugi knew little about music, but what he DID know was that Maximos was missing, and that the woman at the inn had told him he had gone to find it. Therefore, if he wanted to find Maximos, he would need to find the source of the music. This place seemed to be the very source he sought. He had to wonder exactly what kind of strange melody this was, though. He knew of bards that could literally enchant those around them with the tones of their voice or musical instrument, but he'd never seen anything quite like this.

It reminded him on a particular children's story about a man that charmed the mice from a town, before charming the children in the same manner. That being said, Ryugi was very wary as he walked through town, watching the people going about their various actions, all while seemingly enchanted by the sorrowful melody. He had to admit it was lovely music, if a little somber and melancholy. However, it matched the town exactly, as well as the people. Something was missing from this town. A spark, perhaps. Ryugi wasn't sure. But whatever was happening, Ryugi was certain this place held both his friend, and perhaps a few answers to the budding questions in his mind.

Thus, as he stood outside the building, contemplating, he nodded silently to himself, quiet in his resolve to get to the bottom of this, and made to open the door and walk inside the damaged hall.  

[Maximos]

Ryugi Kazamaru

Thus, as he stood outside the building, contemplating, he nodded silently to himself, quiet in his resolve to get to the bottom of this, and made to open the door and walk inside the damaged hall.

This place used to be something beautiful, now it was dead and gray. Ornate murals had been carved into the walls but the paint had long since warn away and left only etchings which cast odd shapes on the wall when the warm white light of day poured through the collapsed section of roof and filled a bright white column with illumination, leaving the rest of the room in faded half light and shadows.

Out from the gray, what remained of a red carpet drew a fat red brush stroke from the open doors up between row after row of stone pews leading far across the main hall and then up a small set of sandstone steps to wide flat pedestal set on the far end of the room as some sort of stage or altar. Finally, the frayed and warn out length of silken cloth rain up the wall behind the stage and vanished up into a balcony.

In this auditorium temple theater, the music was as vivid as a live operatice performance. The sounds could not only be heard with the proper volume but the powerful lower notes could be felt rumbling through the floor and in ones chest. It had a powerful sort of presence to it, as it flowed it pulled at the mind. In the same way a person could be lost in a song and let time trickle by, it attempted to pull at the consciousness and let a person drift away. Ryugi, of course, could resist it, easily too. He was quite adept with the magical arts.

Regardless of whether or not he did, a sound would break the flow of the music just a few short moments after he entered the building. Laughter, soft like the chiming of a bell, drifting on the air. A child mostly likely, enjoying themselves. Here. A small shadowy figure darted by the outskirts of his vision sticking to the darker pockets and corners of the room as it raced rather nimbly down and between the pews until it came to a stop right in the center of the beam of light pouring down from the ceiling. The brightness of the light against its figure blurred out all details except that the figure was clearly wearing a long dress that ended just before its bare feet, and its hair fell long down to its shoulders.

"Hey mister!" It called out and waved, distinctly moving and even speaking in cue with the melody.  

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

"Hey mister!" It called out and waved, distinctly moving and even speaking in cue with the melody.

The music was nearly overpowering in its scope. He silently wondered if Max had wandered through here and been as awe-struck as he was now. The building was in complete disarray, but even now Ryugi could imagine the true splendor the place must have had in its heyday.

Alas, in this place, a strange child stood before him, as innocent as a Spring rain. Ironic, Ryugi thought, that such a creature could exist in such a dilapidated place. However, such things were almost expected when one was a fairly seasoned adventurer. The child seemed mostly unaffected by the music, which was, perhaps, a clue that the child was somehow connected, or even responsible, for the melody that filled the ruins of the shrine. Ryugi's senses told him to beware wolves in sheep's clothing, and thus, he was on guard, keeping his eyes, ears, and magical senses trained on virtually every aspect of this place, and the girl. He was alone, after all. He'd have to watch his own back.

He stepped forward, still within the corridor of illumination from the outside, and not leaving the line of red carpet. His boots would probably have echoed against the ruined halls had they not been drowned out by the melody playing powerfully around him. It was almost as if he was swimming in a sea of sound, and he could see how such a thing could easily overpower a person less magically inclined or resistant. His senses checking and rechecking every aspect of the room and the girl, Ryugi would speak. Hello there Miss. Could you tell me what this place and music is? And have you seen my friend come through here? He was probably dressed in black clothing.  

[Maximos]

Ryugi Kazamaru

Hello there Miss. Could you tell me what this place and music is? And have you seen my friend come through here? He was probably dressed in black clothing.

This was the moment where something the snow white sheet is pulled aside to reveal it was covering a bed full of maggots. Maybe it was the fact Ryugi had moved closer, or maybe it was a poorly placed mass of gray clouds rolling over head and blotting out the pristine white glow but the scene very distinctly changed. Ryugi was looking at, and speaking to a child in a long white dress detailed with ornate silver designs and made of what even age could not hide to be the finest silks by the only the best crafters. However, toward the bottom of the dresses hem it began to gray and finally tatter and blacken so that where it pooled around her feet it was so solidly black it seemed like the dress was rising out of black tar.

She looked up at Ryugi, her skin pale but stained with splotches of gray soot and dirt, and yet still so very light that even in the cloudy illumination of the drull structure Ryugi would be able to faintly see her veins pulsing beneath her skin. A dainty hand, so thin and white it moved like painted bone slid aside her lifelessly white hair giving a full neat view of her dirty face.

And then she laughed, with no mouth, no eyes, and no ears. She seemed vacant, entirely empty of definition as if she was there but not there, just something left behind. She turned, her white hair falling around her shoulder and she skipped off toward the large curtain in the back of the room.

A second laugh filled the air, a second little girl standing on the balcony looking down. She looked the same as the first, but reversed. Her hair was as black as jet, and her gown was similar cut from midnight cloth. The second girl pulled herself up over the stone railing of the balcony, leaving her dirty pale feet kicking behind her as she reached a hand out to the girl in white. Without magic or showy display, the first girl vanished, and the reappeared with her hand in the darker girls hand, as one helped the other over the railing.

The two looked back at Ryugi, and then pointed into the darkness of the upper floor above and beyond the balcony. Behind them, a third person stepped out from behind a support pillar his form just barely on the edge of vision. He was bigger than the first two, clearly adult but his face and details were masked by the darkness and his long black hooded jacket. He reached out both of his hands, and the girls accepted them and then turned to skip off into the darkness.

Only instead of skipping or running, they vanished in an instant. And with them, the music fell immediately dead. Ryugi was left alone in what, after the booming music likely felt like deafening silence.

Over head, the cloud which blotted out the light broke, and through the cracked stone and weathered rock rain began to fall.  

[General Clash Warmaker]

A boy with eyes speckled gold and green strutted through the forest. He paused at a particularly misty area and pulled the brim of his hat down low. Growls resonated through the fog surrounding him. Out of the fog came a band of orcs wielding clubs and maces. The color of the creatures' scaly hides matched that of the boy's eyes. The boy shut his glowing embers and clenched his fists as the monsters closed in.  

[General Clash Warmaker]

One of the orcs swung a spiked mace at him.

A cloud of dirt exploded into the air as the head of the weapon sundered the earth inches from his buckled boots.

The boy, backing away, slammed into the orc behind him. He slipped between the creature's legs, narrowly escaping a bear hug and took off into the fog in the direction of Latent.  

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

Over head, the cloud which blotted out the light broke, and through the cracked stone and weathered rock rain began to fall.

The rain fell down across Ryugi's head as he stood silently, alone in a strange land, surrounded by stillness and the ruins of a temple. His mind surged with questions. Who, or what, were those two girls? What had they done to Maximos? And what sort of strange spell had the music been? He shook himself out of his daze as he looked up through the hole in the roof, spying dark clouds and faintly outlined water droplets. Then, he closed his eyes.

Now was not a time for pondering. At the moment, he needed to focus. His magical sense would be the only thing on which he would focus his entire cognitive structure. With Sol Blade still filtering out the ambient background thickness of the air, he'd be more open to any odd magical traces that still permeated the area. As his body reached out to feel the area, his right eye snapped open and pulsed faintly with an otherworldly glow. His Magical Sight would be pushed to the forefront of his vision, and it would glance about the ruined building, seeking any small traces of magical energies and auras that might still haunt the balcony, the floor, or the other areas the three figures had stood just moments before.

Ryugi wasn't a bloodhound, but he was equipped with a fine body and set of senses to detect magical energies. If anything was likely to give him immediate clues, it would be the magical energies present in the area, and any auras left behind. He would focus on these first, using his perception to better his odds of finding any clues of how to act next. If this failed him, he'd have no choice but to rely on good old-fashioned legwork and gathering of information. However, he'd make use of his most immediate tools first and foremost.

Let's see what's been hiding...  

[Maximos]

Ryugi Kazamaru

Let's see what's been hiding...

What Ryugi saw was time, seconds ticking back and forth like musical notes. Instead of rushing forward like a stream, time lost all sense of focus and flow, and simply danced to the rhythm of the now silent melody. Ryugi would be able to visibly see this like specks of dust flickering through the ether of this abandoned place in assorted rhythm.

And yet, the clouds above continued to churn and the rain continued to floor. A flurry of pitter-patter noises filled the auditorium hall.

Where the little girls were a moment ago, was now a cloud of white gray specks. Pinpoints of lights that outlined a small figure in a dress, and as Ryugi watched the cloud both stood perfectly still and moved through the blurry motions he had just watched that self same girl moved through. Motions on repeat, continuing even as they stood still, even as they moved. Time as it was, visible by the magic visibly moving it seemed to be focused on the balcony, though from this vantage point there were simply too many flecks to be perceptible as really anything more than a rush of static.

A bit of more in-depth perception, revealed something else. The rain, while it fell from the opening in the roof and could be heard inside, never struck the floor. Or perhaps, it simply struck the floor and did nothing at all. No wet spots, no puddles, no visible change what so ever.

Much like the more one stares at a single picture, the more details they notice, more Ryugi poured one sense into the room the more the room would seem as if it opened up to him. It would take several minutes if Ryugi actually spent the time to look at the rumble, the flowing curtain, and the many smaller details of this space but it would eventually dawn on him that as he was moving forward - that he did not belong here. Like the single red stain on a white shirt or the one rhino in a room full of cats this place was different from him. It was displaced, and off. It was subtle, enough to not be immediately seen but likely because it was too large to be immediately seen. And yet it was there. This magic feeling this purveying sensation of time being orchestrated by music that for some reason was no longer audible to Ryugi.

But what was worse, was that it was growing.  

[Ryugi Kazamaru]

Maximos

As he stared, the silence spoke to Ryugi. Slowly, it spilled its secrets. Too slowly, Ryugi soon realized. This place existed outside of time. At the very least, it existed outside the current timeframe. The music was clearly somewhat magical in nature, as it had seemingly entranced those around the church, but it was also possible that it was a carrier for this time distortion. Rain fell but struck no floor. It left no trace. What did leave a trace, however, were the magical auras left by the "residents" of this place. His eyes were not nearly as keen as Max's Reaper Eyes, which he now lacked, nor were his senses as sharp as his brother's, who was capable of exactly pinpointing various effects on an area simply by doing as he was now, but it gave him something to go on. His vision was clouded by the multitude of auras, like a Paladin being overwhelmed by a dozen evil auras, or a mage casting a Detect Magic spell in an artifact warehouse. Down here, there was too much going on for Ryugi to effectively see the entire picture.

The balcony where the girl had stood minutes before would likely be his best spot. As he walked to ascend to the position, his mind went over what he knew already, or, what he surmised was the gist of the situation. The magical melody that had bewitched the place seemed to be a carrier wave of sorts, bringing this distortion of time across a wider area, which for the moment was confined to the church. However, the music had been audible to himself quite readily from the inn, which meant that this effect would eventually engulf the town if he didn't find a way to halt it. Worse, perhaps, was that his only guide to the situation in Latent, and guide to Cydonia, was now among the strange persons of this place. Worse than that was how Max had stated that the creatures would come out at night, and he was certain his day was beginning to grow shorter by the moment. Dragons, princesses, none of that seemed to make an appearance yet, simply some creepy and haunting music, and a lot of magical oddities.

His thoughts paused, however, as Ryugi finally made his way to the balcony, relaxed himself, and focused on anything and everything there was for him to see, and feel.