[ They are not bald ... or are they... a mystery. ]
A village of this size, everyone knows everyone. It makes it easy to recognize travelers. [ he turns around to do some more busy work around the bar, though he keeps talking as he goes ] We used to get them often enough. People liked to visit the shrine at the top of the mountain. For luck. But these days, even us locals can't make it. They say there's monsters roaming there now.
We've had to bury enough people. We've stopped all search parties.
[ For the record because I somehow erased my own meta about this last comment, there was the top of a mountain visible beyond the forest when they were outside, though they weren't looking too hard at the forest back then so I didn't mention it. ]
On the way there. No one's made it to the shrine since. [ the bear turns back to them with a low grumble in his voice that sounds a bit like a bear growl ] The bodies we did recover were mangled enough, word spread around. Everyone's worried we'll have to evacuate soon. I think the mayor's waiting to see if those last travelers ever make it back first.
[ there's an appraising look towards the racist uhura who doesn't believe in animal rights in meta ]
One of them was a young girl. She seemed sickly... And she looked sort of like you. [ nodding towards lucas. oh so it was a young dog! of course. ] We wouldn't have let her go, but she was accompanied by a swordsman. Said he was a master swordsmith... something about having a son, too? Maybe that's why he was helping her along so she could reach the shrine. It's an old legend. Anyone who reaches the shrine and rings the bell can be cured of any ailment.
[ he says this like he does believe in it even though he called it an old legend ]
We've only recovered four bodies, but over a dozen people are missing by now.
BUT WOW SAME! The way he is so immediately alarmed to hear this even though it makes no sense for Nadia to be a young dog going up the mountain with a master swordsmith who has a son in this village he's never been to before. Fortunately, he is insane and doesn't think perfectly clearly even on his best days.]
[ well we already knew lucas was racist, what was the point of mentioning it in meta
The bear fills up a glass with Grape Juice (tm) and hands it off to the wolf, who has stood up to come grab another drink and gone back to sit down while they were having Concerns. ]
To be honest... We identified two of them from what was left of their clothes, but only because they were villagers here. We're not sure who the other two are. There wasn't much left to identify of those visitors. [ grimly. while being a cute furry bear. ] Those two were recent, they left maybe a day or so ago. It takes about that time to go all the way up the mountain and back if you rush it.
... Is there anywhere we can get our hands on some kind of weapon? [uruha might be arrested for asking this but it's fine.] We'll be looking for those travelers ourselves, and we'll need to be able to deal with any possible monsters.
[just assigns this to lucas too but he doesn't doubt lucas is thinking the same thing.]
[Yeah it's fine they are on the same wavelength so they can both be arrested together. But even now his ass is out here trying to make them sound at least slightly less sus!!!!]
We're exorcists. [Well he is anyway. Welcome to the Society Uruha, you're an honorary member now.] So we've dealt with demons and beasts before. If you could tell us anything at all about what monsters may be waiting there, even if it's just rumor, it would be a great help.
[ the bear says this like that's the most ridiculous thing he's heard, even though he has, so far 1) been a talking bear wearing clothing 2) talked casually about monsters in the mountains killing people 3) mentioned a magic shrine that heals all ailments
anyway, that aside, he looks at them both warily ]
The few people who've seen them say different things. All we know for sure is that they're vicious. Sent a few of our own hunters out to catch them. [ and obviously. they have not come back, as established. regardless; ] I'm not sure what you were planning to do coming here without any gear. I don't know how much we can spare ourselves.
[ luckily no one is calling the cops on furries who want weapons! yay. he nods towards the wolf at the back ]
His brother's a hunter. He should be able to tell you more if you're serious about going after the beasts. Though don't say I didn't warn you.
... Thank you for the information. We'll do that, then.
[inwardly uruha's like fuck i hope we don't have to fight monsters with our bare hands (paws? [has an internal crisis over the state of his body]), i'm not marcoh. actually marcoh would love this, being a furry and punching things.
but he feels like they're done with the bartender, so he heads on over to the wolf.]
Thank you for the warning, as well. We appreciate it.
[Anyway while Uruha goes to gather information, Lucas is just walking right back out the door. He must test something. i could ask zia about this oocly but i think it's funnier if Lucas just runs out toward the forest edge and look around to make sure no one is watching before he just fucking punches a tree. He must see how much strength his furry paws hold if they might have to travel into the mountains with no or few weapons.]
[ I would've made you do it anyway Aki I think it's important.
Anyway, Lucas has like, his regular strength. He does whatever damage to a tree he would normally do. Which is probably more than a dog would, honestly. So that's good! The forest behind the tree while he's looking there seems totally normal and inviting. It's like a storybook forest, honestly. So pleasant looking and colorful.
Meanwhile, in people who aren't weird, Uruha goes to talk to the wolf. The wolf does not look up from drinking his, apparently going by the amount of glasses on his table, sixth glass of grape juice. It smells a bit odd for grape juice, but that's what the label says! If Uruha stands there long enough he does snarl a bit. ]
[i like the implication that it's a people skill to be concerned about a snarling wolf. ALSO HE'S JUST A LITTLE TURBO DOG well this is fine.
After testing that out, Lucas makes his way back into the building acting like he didn't just leave to punch a singular tree and then return. He has no idea what part of the conversation they're at so he just moves to stand by Uruha quietly...]
My brother is dead. [ maybe the bear could've warned you guys about that, damn. the wolf slams back his grape juice. ] And you'll end up the same if you go after him.
[ a pause as he also notes that uruha is alone ]
Where's your friend? [ forces lucas to come sliding back towards this conversation Now ] What were you doing out there?
Lucas comes into this conversation just in time to hear Uruha be like WE'LL RISK DEATH ABOUT IT and you know what, fair. He'll just look apologetically toward Uruha and this angry juice alcoholic wolf.]
I wanted to see which direction the mountain lies in. I'd really rather leave as soon as possible, especially if those two left a day ago already... We really can't afford to lose even another moment.
You're fools. You don't even know the path you're headed to.
[ it's snarled again because the wolf is angy but uruha seems CONVINCED so. ]
My brother left behind some of his hunting knives. Might be able to spare a crossbow as well. That's as good as you'll get here. He hunted deer, rabbits, not... beasts. He had no chance. Neither will you.
[ for the record there are absolutely deer and rabbit people visible in the village. don't think too hard about it.
ANYWAY he will abruptly stand up and lead them to where the weapons are so you can pick what you want from the two options of knives or crossbow. there is also the option of like. a rabbit snare. if you want to be funny about it. he does not offer any other supplies; they can either try their luck around the village or leave with whatever they picked up from the wolf, who does have some parting words for them: ]
God won't have mercy on you. Not on this path.
[ lucas probably remembers that path having cute little butterflies and nice looking flowers. ]
[uruha will take a knife, and then look at lucas. does lucas know how to use a crossbow?? uruha feels like they should take the crossbow just in case they ever run into a situation where they need a long range weapon, but uruha is not an archer... are you an archer, lucas... (the answer is no so unless lucas wants it uruha will take the crossbow too.)
anyway, to the wolf, at his parting words:]
That's fine. Never counted on it to begin with.
[does lucas want to try their luck around the village or are they both feeling too restless for this.]
[He is definitely thinking about how lovely and picturesque and storybook-like that path was... But he'll still nod in gratitude toward this poor traumatized cute little wolf villager anyway.]
Thank you, regardless. We appreciate the kindness.
[Lucas is definitely too restless to stay and be smart and try to talk to other villagers, though. He'll pick up the hunting knife. If he can take a rabbit snare he will as well because i aki think the possibility of a future shitpost is rife, but he will prioritize knife. This is fine.
He'll also give the area like, a cursory sweeping glance just to make sure there's no one standing around who looks like they might be of obvious help, like a shady potions dealer wearing a cloak or something. But:]
The woods actually look quite lovely... But the path seems to be that way.
[ So, now that you have them, your new inventory for reference:
2 hunting knives, about 4 inches long blade wise. decent! made for skinning more than stabbing, but hey. beggars cannot be chooser. 1 crossbow. 2 bolts (reusable). 1 rabbit snare.
Anyway, there is no potions dealer wearing a cloak hidden away. The most obvious thing people seem to sell around here is food. Maybe if you went inside people's houses you could get some other supplies, but for some reason you don't want to beg strange animals to give you their stuff. To the mountain we go!
Well, it's the forest path first. As Lucas experienced briefly, the forest path is very nice. There's no overgrowth even as it winds between the trees, it's well lit, there's cute little flowers and mushrooms growing along it and the soft chirping of birds... The whole thing is like a soft picture book forest. And their walk matches it too! It's a trek, but it's honestly an enjoyable one. As they walk further in, they'll notice some things of course. For example, a sign that says MOUNTAIN AHEAD, some secret rabbit snares, a dead deer carcass in the middle of the path.
You know. Normal things.
The dead deer is missing a lot of skin and organs, but there's still enough left on that skeleton to make sure it's a deer! It is not wearing clothes, so probably it wasn't a person deer and just a regular deer. Right? It's ALSO right in front of a split path, which seems weird, because the sign seemed pretty sure there was only one path up ahead. There's also no sign to indicate which way is right, just a path that curves to the left and a path that curves to the right, but both are heading straight towards the mountain. ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-09 08:53 pm
make your own memes actually
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A village of this size, everyone knows everyone. It makes it easy to recognize travelers. [ he turns around to do some more busy work around the bar, though he keeps talking as he goes ] We used to get them often enough. People liked to visit the shrine at the top of the mountain. For luck. But these days, even us locals can't make it. They say there's monsters roaming there now.
We've had to bury enough people. We've stopped all search parties.
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[he looks at lucas like hm.]
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But he's looking back to Uruha like "oh????" OH??? MONSTERS IN THE MOUNTAINS? He's also just like are we people like this but it's fine it's fine.]
People die on the way up there, then...? Or the way back? I assume the word must have spread beyond this town, if others are reluctant to come here.
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On the way there. No one's made it to the shrine since. [ the bear turns back to them with a low grumble in his voice that sounds a bit like a bear growl ] The bodies we did recover were mangled enough, word spread around. Everyone's worried we'll have to evacuate soon. I think the mayor's waiting to see if those last travelers ever make it back first.
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Do you have a description of the last travelers?
[it's going to turn out they're not important so zia will kill me for asking this.]
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NOT THE MANGLED BODIES. There is a look of faint concern, but he'll look over to Uruha and then back to the bartender, also adding:]
How long has this been going on for, exactly? And how many have perished...?
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One of them was a young girl. She seemed sickly... And she looked sort of like you. [ nodding towards lucas. oh so it was a young dog! of course. ] We wouldn't have let her go, but she was accompanied by a swordsman. Said he was a master swordsmith... something about having a son, too? Maybe that's why he was helping her along so she could reach the shrine. It's an old legend. Anyone who reaches the shrine and rings the bell can be cured of any ailment.
[ he says this like he does believe in it even though he called it an old legend ]
We've only recovered four bodies, but over a dozen people are missing by now.
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he looks at lucas with increasing concern because hm. he doesn't like this description. not at all. turning back to the bartender with more urgency—]
Do you know the identities of the four?
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BUT WOW SAME! The way he is so immediately alarmed to hear this even though it makes no sense for Nadia to be a young dog going up the mountain with a master swordsmith who has a son in this village he's never been to before. Fortunately, he is insane and doesn't think perfectly clearly even on his best days.]
How long have those two been missing?
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The bear fills up a glass with Grape Juice (tm) and hands it off to the wolf, who has stood up to come grab another drink and gone back to sit down while they were having Concerns. ]
To be honest... We identified two of them from what was left of their clothes, but only because they were villagers here. We're not sure who the other two are. There wasn't much left to identify of those visitors. [ grimly. while being a cute furry bear. ] Those two were recent, they left maybe a day or so ago. It takes about that time to go all the way up the mountain and back if you rush it.
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... Is there anywhere we can get our hands on some kind of weapon? [uruha might be arrested for asking this but it's fine.] We'll be looking for those travelers ourselves, and we'll need to be able to deal with any possible monsters.
[just assigns this to lucas too but he doesn't doubt lucas is thinking the same thing.]
no subject
We're exorcists. [Well he is anyway. Welcome to the Society Uruha, you're an honorary member now.] So we've dealt with demons and beasts before. If you could tell us anything at all about what monsters may be waiting there, even if it's just rumor, it would be a great help.
no subject
[ the bear says this like that's the most ridiculous thing he's heard, even though he has, so far 1) been a talking bear wearing clothing 2) talked casually about monsters in the mountains killing people 3) mentioned a magic shrine that heals all ailments
anyway, that aside, he looks at them both warily ]
The few people who've seen them say different things. All we know for sure is that they're vicious. Sent a few of our own hunters out to catch them. [ and obviously. they have not come back, as established. regardless; ] I'm not sure what you were planning to do coming here without any gear. I don't know how much we can spare ourselves.
[ luckily no one is calling the cops on furries who want weapons! yay. he nods towards the wolf at the back ]
His brother's a hunter. He should be able to tell you more if you're serious about going after the beasts. Though don't say I didn't warn you.
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[inwardly uruha's like fuck i hope we don't have to fight monsters with our bare hands (paws? [has an internal crisis over the state of his body]), i'm not marcoh. actually marcoh would love this, being a furry and punching things.
but he feels like they're done with the bartender, so he heads on over to the wolf.]
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[Anyway while Uruha goes to gather information, Lucas is just walking right back out the door. He must test something. i could ask zia about this oocly but i think it's funnier if Lucas just runs out toward the forest edge and look around to make sure no one is watching before he just fucking punches a tree. He must see how much strength his furry paws hold if they might have to travel into the mountains with no or few weapons.]
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Anyway, Lucas has like, his regular strength. He does whatever damage to a tree he would normally do. Which is probably more than a dog would, honestly. So that's good! The forest behind the tree while he's looking there seems totally normal and inviting. It's like a storybook forest, honestly. So pleasant looking and colorful.
Meanwhile, in people who aren't weird, Uruha goes to talk to the wolf. The wolf does not look up from drinking his, apparently going by the amount of glasses on his table, sixth glass of grape juice. It smells a bit odd for grape juice, but that's what the label says! If Uruha stands there long enough he does snarl a bit. ]
What.
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I heard your brother's a hunter. My friend and I are looking to go after the missing travelers.
[
a pause where he looks around for said friend but can't find him. lucas doko]
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After testing that out, Lucas makes his way back into the building acting like he didn't just leave to punch a singular tree and then return. He has no idea what part of the conversation they're at so he just moves to stand by Uruha quietly...]
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[ a pause as he also notes that uruha is alone ]
Where's your friend? [ forces lucas to come sliding back towards this conversation Now ] What were you doing out there?
[ SUSPICIOUS!!! ]
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[but he looks at lucas because what were you doing out there.]
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Lucas comes into this conversation just in time to hear Uruha be like WE'LL RISK DEATH ABOUT IT and you know what, fair. He'll just look apologetically toward Uruha and this angry juice alcoholic wolf.]
I wanted to see which direction the mountain lies in. I'd really rather leave as soon as possible, especially if those two left a day ago already... We really can't afford to lose even another moment.
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[ it's snarled again because the wolf is angy but uruha seems CONVINCED so. ]
My brother left behind some of his hunting knives. Might be able to spare a crossbow as well. That's as good as you'll get here. He hunted deer, rabbits, not... beasts. He had no chance. Neither will you.
[ for the record there are absolutely deer and rabbit people visible in the village. don't think too hard about it.
ANYWAY he will abruptly stand up and lead them to where the weapons are so you can pick what you want from the two options of knives or crossbow. there is also the option of like. a rabbit snare. if you want to be funny about it. he does not offer any other supplies; they can either try their luck around the village or leave with whatever they picked up from the wolf, who does have some parting words for them: ]
God won't have mercy on you. Not on this path.
[ lucas probably remembers that path having cute little butterflies and nice looking flowers. ]
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anyway, to the wolf, at his parting words:]
That's fine. Never counted on it to begin with.
[does lucas want to try their luck around the village or are they both feeling too restless for this.]
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Thank you, regardless. We appreciate the kindness.
[Lucas is definitely too restless to stay and be smart and try to talk to other villagers, though. He'll pick up the hunting knife. If he can take a rabbit snare he will as well because i aki think the possibility of a future shitpost is rife, but he will prioritize knife. This is fine.
He'll also give the area like, a cursory sweeping glance just to make sure there's no one standing around who looks like they might be of obvious help, like a shady potions dealer wearing a cloak or something. But:]
The woods actually look quite lovely... But the path seems to be that way.
no subject
2 hunting knives, about 4 inches long blade wise. decent! made for skinning more than stabbing, but hey. beggars cannot be chooser.
1 crossbow. 2 bolts (reusable).
1 rabbit snare.
Anyway, there is no potions dealer wearing a cloak hidden away. The most obvious thing people seem to sell around here is food. Maybe if you went inside people's houses you could get some other supplies, but for some reason you don't want to beg strange animals to give you their stuff. To the mountain we go!
Well, it's the forest path first. As Lucas experienced briefly, the forest path is very nice. There's no overgrowth even as it winds between the trees, it's well lit, there's cute little flowers and mushrooms growing along it and the soft chirping of birds... The whole thing is like a soft picture book forest. And their walk matches it too! It's a trek, but it's honestly an enjoyable one. As they walk further in, they'll notice some things of course. For example, a sign that says MOUNTAIN AHEAD, some secret rabbit snares, a dead deer carcass in the middle of the path.
You know. Normal things.
The dead deer is missing a lot of skin and organs, but there's still enough left on that skeleton to make sure it's a deer! It is not wearing clothes, so probably it wasn't a person deer and just a regular deer. Right? It's ALSO right in front of a split path, which seems weird, because the sign seemed pretty sure there was only one path up ahead. There's also no sign to indicate which way is right, just a path that curves to the left and a path that curves to the right, but both are heading straight towards the mountain. ]
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