video. un: a_civil_serpent. threadjack away.

[inferus]

( Wrath's expression is as unreadable as ever as he, and presently Lockwood, walk away from Kuthuba, who has taken a rock and thrown it at the moon, howling, "Stooooooooooop looking at Kuthuba!" More rocks follow, shot upward and plopping back to the ground at Kuthuba's feet.

Wrath pauses, lets out the slightest of sighs, and then continues forward. )

At least they're not howling derogatory words this time. [ Lockwood remarks in a mild tone, though the quick look he shoots Wrath suggests there may be a story there. ]

How lucky for the rest. ( Though Wrath might take the howling at the moon personally given his wife's lunar connection. Regardless. Now that they are far enough away, Wrath gets down to business as there is much to convey: ) The Huntress was here before. Her influence, at least, remains.

For those unaware, she is part of the Undead Lieges - the brotherhood. Two years previously, according to Kuthuba, a woman ran through the forest here. She was sought by mortals for her beauty. Many died in their search, lost in the mist. She wore no clothes, had long, red hair, and eventually, was banished to her husband. As some in our group may remember, she was married to the Beastmaster who was slain months ago. In our initial encounter with her in Taravast, she was able to control those associated with Death to follow her, do her bidding, ( the slightest lock of his jaw - near imperceptible, but the flash of violence in the gold of his eyes is far more visible, he would like to see her destroyed ) and she was drawn by fire and magic. She does not linger.

It would also seem the two of us can now view the Lumberjack haunting and stop him. We spoke to him. He believes his work is good as it forces people to face their past, making them better people, more able to move through time... unburdened. He wishes to do well with his haunting so he does not disappoint a 'them'.

The lumberjack, seems to be someone who wanted to do right, but who was easily influenced, used and abused. The villagers were not very kind to this young man, yet he always saw their actions in an innocent light. [ Does Lockwood sound a little judgmental about those who had been using this kid? Yes. Yes he does. ]

We recovered three pages of what appear to have been this young man's diary. On one of the pages he recounts that his family believed him prone to starting trouble, that odd things happened around him, like water bursting, or air turning stormy. I get the sense that he was a lumberjack because it was an out of the way occupation for him.

Apparently he tried helping his uncle selling fish one day, but had an altercation when a customer tried to haggle the price. The customer began to choke, struggling to breath. A foreign woman in white, [ Lockwood recounts the woman's details as if reading from the diary page itself ] approached our lumberjack, told him he was special, that she could help him. Then all of a sudden the customer could breath again. [ Which had obvious implications. ]

Has anyone else encountered anything about a woman in white, or other villagers who seem to have abilities they are either unaware of, or unable to control?

Comments

[somebadnews]

It's amazing what mentioning a fish-god will do. They even slipped me a donation. [ And all he knows about Kathoo'lul is how to pronounce it. ]

I've still got them if you want to take a look. [ Although now that he's thinking about the Huntress... ] I did find something she wrote that mentioned something about a beautiful woman who arrived in the village last year.

[ Because he might as well make it sound like he was reading her diary while he was robbing her, since he kind of was. ]

[inferus]

I would like to see them if only to confirm they both have a similar residual energy. ( And that might tell them that the red threads are related to another haunting... or they are something else entirely. ) Where are you?

( there is a pause then - Wrath certainly has no judgement over anything that was read, they're in a precarious position and they need all the information they can get in whatever manner they can get it. )

That does sound like who she is referencing.

[somebadnews]

[ Which means she might be in league with the Huntress, in addition to the witches in the lake. There's a reason she was such an obvious target. ]

The lighthouse. [ It's not ideal with the ghosts floating around, but they've managed to leave him in peace for the last hour. ] Feel free, I've already sorted through everything I took.

[inferus]

( Wrath appears a few moments later - the dark shadow and sulfur and brimstone that lingers in the air whenever he transvenios to a new location. He strides toward Five wherever he happens to be within the Lighthouse. )

[somebadnews]

[ Five knows who it is the moment he's near. Sulfur and brimstone is a strange thing to welcome, but he’s become accustomed to it after all this time. The lighthouse echos with the distant sounds of ghosts once they notice a visitor, but Five hedges them off as he blinks over to greet him. ]

Don’t mind the ghosts, they’ll go away if you ignore them. [ He gestures to the mess he has on the table behind him, covered in papers, newly-stolen books, and a bag with the rest of what he took. They’re organized in his own way. Math is scrawled on every surface in-between, but that's to be expected. ]

The threads are over there. They were tangled in a rope she had hidden to scale off her balcony.