Private - Ghost Sightings [DM]

Scouting the town, the stories of the mysterious entity considered a ghost made the naturally curious elf interested in finding the truth. Someone wandering around thin as a stick could be a living thing, and as a nurse in training both in the game and real world, it would be wrong to take care of her if it was so, right?

Still, the ruins were pretty creepy at night. Although it was called The Old Pool, Solaria could only see it as a rubble heap near a bunker. It was the only appearance it gave to her, what with the old stone clearly collapsing and water that was once retained in it no longer there.

Looking around in the darkness, she crossed her arms a bit. "I hope if it's a person, I can heal them...But now that I think about it, what if there really are ghosts in this world? Would they be scary or nice?"

Her mind wandered as she looked around- she'd been told she was to join a group on the quest to find the mysterious, ghastly maiden of the ruins. "It'd be nice if I know some of them..."

 

Ghosts were reserved for horror stories. They thrived off of tales you told in a dark place, hidden under blankets or huddling around a camp fire. The most intimidating likeness were masks you found at a dollar store party shop, and even those left something to be desired. And the bed sheet? Please, that wasn’t even worthy of being related with ghosts.

But a fantastical VRMMORPG that had already done a good job of showing players that it could and would provide anything to give your heart a good jump? Ghosts were good for that. Aeiou had been lingering in the town for a few days, hot on the scent of any sightings, murmurings, inklings of phantoms. When he had first heard tell of a lithe, lingering woman lurking in the ruins, he swore he could feel the hairs on the back of his next stand up. In excitement. A good scare was nothing he had gotten to experience in Terra. Near-death experiences, sure, but he wanted to clutch his chest and convince himself that it hadn’t stopped beating. He wanted to feel his mouth go dry and a cold wind suck the breath out of his lungs in fright.

So when he got directions to The Old Pool, he had gone as fast his little legs could carry him. He squinted at the dusky red clouds, tucking the sun in for the night. The rays that peaked through lit the scene in what would have been an enchanting way, but the atmosphere around was too taut with anticipation. It was as if The Old Pool itself was holding his breath, the same way Aeiou was. He let out a small breath as he saw a figure — which quickly became a sigh of disappointment when he saw it was one of the other adventurers who had come to inspect the ruins (@Solaria). He slowly walked up behind her and gave her a clap on the back when he met her, craning his neck up to give her a great, big smile. His excitement buzzed around him as he stepped up to the edge of the ruins, peering in and around for any site of possible ghost-busting to be had.

 

Avalon’s eyes narrowed on the piece of parchment she had on hands. “Hmm… So you are telling me that some sort of ghost is appearing near those ruins, and...” The faerin raised her right eyebrow as her left frowned in disgust, though her contemptuous smile completed her sneering expression. As she tilted her head, the rogue looked down on a man on the ground, moaning as she massaged the bear-like man's back with her...feet. “People are getting freaked out because they can’t seem to communicate with it. It’s not exactly causing harm is it? Why not leave it alone, Mr.Gilbear?” In one particular rough motion of her right leg, a soft crack could be heard.

“I already told you the name's Gilber-Oah!” The man moaned as if relieved. “ That spot has been bothering me for a while… But yeah, little big fairy. No idea why they want to bother it, though.” The man retorted, mocking her gigantic height in comparison to most other faerins. “I don’t really care if it hurts people or not. Someone passed over here this morning and offered a few gold coins so long as I kept that parchment with instructions for the service.” He answered, trying his best to explain the situation while letting awkward moans and grunts escape his mouth.

“I see there are two other adventurers on the list~! I take it they gave you a foot massage as well?” Avalon intently touched the parchment to try and bring up her User Interface menu and accept the quest. “Not really, my dear. Only you know how to do this!” The man dismissed the possibility, laughing in a nervous tone. “Oh~ what a bummer! I wish that info was legitimate so I could blackmail them or something! Avalon left her tall wooden bar seat, leaving the barman behind. “Guess it won't hurt to do this. Try not to die while I’m away, okay?”

As the door closed behind her, Avalon quickly pulled up the hood of her hodrik’s cloak and dashed towards the rendezvous while making use of the rogue mastery to the best of her ability. When she was fairly close to reaching her destination, Avalon could notice the sun was setting. Quickly switching to a slower but steady pace the rogue could notice what resembled the ruins mentioned in the instructions and two adventurers already waiting for her. She realized that out of the two, she had met @Solaria before on the mycolossus fight while approaching them.

“Hello!” She first waved at @Aeiou and then winked to Solaria in hopes that she would remember her. “I’m the last adventurer for the quest. The name is Avalon!” After properly introducing herself the faerin scanned her surroundings. “Hmm...Uh… This place looks quite scary, don’t you think?” The faerin commented, as if unsure of what to do.

 

Seeing a familiar face, Solaria was quick to wave to @Avalon with a bright smile, a giggle in her throat from the small wink she received. "Avalon, I haven't seen you since Mycolossus, right? Have you been well?" Her words were tinted rose, a cheerful kindredship on her mind. Her memories of Mycolossus were vast and lovable, despite the beast itself being involved. She'd made friends there, and she was starting to feel more part of the world.

However, even now she could feel the difference between herself and others. As she looked upon the two fae- one she knew and couldn't fully recognize as a faerin, one she did not whom she towered over as easily as the Empire State building would herself- she could only feel a mixture of excitement and anxiety from being the only elf. Not that it was that surprising...But a faerin yladian sandwich was far from expected to her.

"Oh, right! Introductions surely are a good idea aren't they? I've met Avalon, but I haven't met you yet have I, sir?" Reaching her long arm out to offer a hand to @Aeiou , she felt her eyes soften until they closed, taking a deep breath before giving the man a good introduction, eyes staring at him with intrigue. "I'm Solaria. I hope we can get along well, both during this mission and in the future."

Looking around as Avalon noted it, it really was a bit spooky. There was just something about the air that sent a chill down her spine. "Well, I guess it wouldn't have a ghost story if it wasn't intimidating though. But...Does anyone know the right way to do a ghost hunt? To be honest, I haven't tried to do it since I was in middle school. I really wanted to find the seven mysteries I read about online...But it wasn't nearly as spooky as this, it seems like." Seriously, why was this place so scary- especially compared to a middle school at night? Would this really be as simple as she'd first thought?

 

If she were any normal person, the elf would probably have actually talked to her party members about what to do when a stranger came chanting from afar. The problem was Solaria was far from normal in that respect. She didn't even look at her teammates when she heard the voice, and instead just rushed up to the stranger that had been making the weird chant, wanting to ask about it.

Though her sight was slightly blurry due to both her own and the mysterious glow of the others, she was able to easily identify where the shadow was enough to try to tap it's shoulder. "Excuse me! What's that chant? Is it some kind of song?" Her smile was just as stupid as her actions, her lips blindly grinning to the stranger she could barely make out the outline of.

"A labyrinth...Life is a lot like one itself, don't you think? Labyrinth is the life of the soul. I think it's really poetic, your song. Really, really pretty!" Yet wouldn't her cold sweat mean she was scared? No, it was probably just a chill having been worried about ghosts. She was courageous, sure- she liked ghost hunts. But that didn't mean actually meeting one wouldn't terrify her at least a bit.

But somehow, thinking of the chant as a poem made it far less scary. In fact, it almost felt romantic to meet them, even if it was hard for her to see!

 

"What...Was that?" Staring around her, she couldn't help the feeling that she was forgetting something. Everything felt like a dream- the voices, that vision of a church...Wait, was it a church? It had looked like one, yet the dusk air was eerie in the image. Then, there were the images of tendrils or snakes, of a body...

Panting, she stood up where she laid, a panic overwhelming her. It had to be a hallucination! There was no other explanation! But somehow, that place...The church called to her, whether in dream or memory. "I should get some sleep soon...But...Maybe I'll have a look into that place...But where do I even start?"

Wandering alone into the cold air, she left the scene untouched...Or at least, no longer aware she'd ever touched it, as she began her search for clues to the mysterious memories she couldn't shake away.