Chapter Text
(The Knee)
Landing near the woods, Eda had looked around the winter scene around her, while observing that it was quiet. Too quiet. Hearing Lilith and Raine land behind her, she looked at them, who had then looked around the place as well. "Well, Lily, what shall we do now?"
"Well, firstly, we need to search around the place for anything unusual. When you do find it, unleash a small flame spell in your sky, and the others will immediately go there." Nodding, Raine and Eda then looked around as Eda walked towards Lilith's left, while Raine walked towards the woods. Lilith then walked south of the two as they then started their mission.
All of them, however, are unaware that something was watching them from far away, it's mouth creating a grin as it then slowly slipped off.
(Bonesborough Fair)
"Easy now, Luz. Easy now." Though Amity tries to ease the human, it still failed as Luz kept vomiting on a trash bin as the two had decided to take a ride that has advertised itself as stomach turning. The two decided to test if it was true, and now Luz is now taking the consequence of their action.
"Well, at least we now know not to tempt the ads.", Amity said, trying to find a happy moment in this situation. Luz only gave her a confused look as she then vomited again.
When Luz was done, the two then walked towards a bench and sat there, as they admired the people walking around there, and the children with their parents. "You know, we can try some of the fair games here." Luz gave Amity a raised eyebrow as she looked at the games. "Aren't they mostly rigged?"
Amity chuckled as she then dragged Luz to a fair game called 'Uniform Dressup'. "Here's an easy one, Luz. You basically have to dress up the mannequins on a certain time. The more you dressed up, the greater the reward is."
Looking at the owner, who had a smile, Luz then chuckled as she agreed to this. The two then went to play it, happy.
(The Knee)
As Lilith kept looking around for clues, she was certain that there was something watching her but she was unsure what, or who, it is. Ignoring it since it wasn't a threat yet, she kept looking.
Then, she saw one large red flame come up the sky, so she immediately ran towards there. As she got to where the flame came from, she saw Raine standing there, waving nervously at her.
"What did you find, Raine?"
"Well, um, should we-" Before Raine could finish their sentence, they heard the leaves rustling. Preparing for whatever it was, Lilith would groan a bit while quietly thanking, that it was only Eda, who was very messy and filled with leaves all around her body. "What did I miss?"
As much as Lilith wanted to smack her head hard, she had asked a good question, so she inhaled sharply as she then gave her sister a stern glare. "Well, I also just got here, so let's see what Raine here has discovered."
Nodding, Eda and Lilith's eyes are then set on Raine, who then looked at the two nervously. "Well, I found a certain cave system just past this part of the woods. Why did I say that? Well, the fact that a head of a Slitherbeast is impaled there is evidence enough for me."
Although the wind was the only noise there, everyone around knew that they found the source. And so, Raine then walked again, with Lilith and Eda tailing behind them. They now had to be careful, since the three of them are entering dangerous territories.
(Bonesborough Fair)
Luz was struggling to hold the giant stuff toy in one of her hand, while Amity was trying hard to win the game she's currently playing. "Umm, Amity. You know you could stop, right?"
Unfortunately, Amity kept on going. And after about 25 tries, Amity managed to win it, earning a loud cheer from Luz and Amity. "Yes!!! Now, my prize!!!" The shopkeeper, who watched her grow getting more pissed, nervously give her the prize: a five feet long chocolate bar.
"That's....a large piece of chocolate." Amity chuckled as they then walked around, stopping at a carousel. "You want to ride this, Luz?"
"You know what, yeah. Let's go." As Amity smiled, Luz then grabbed her hand as the two paid and sat down. The carousel then started, as the two chuckled at the enjoyment. "You know, gotta confess, Amity. I'm enjoying this.", Luz said blushing as she looked away from Amity. Amity, meanwhile, smiled as she then leaned close to Luz's shoulder and hugged her. "Why, thank you. I had made sure to give you the best Sunday ever, you know."
As the two enjoyed the ride, Amity listened to one of the most beautiful sound she hears: Luz's heartbeat.
(The Knee)
"Well, this place is terrifying.", Eda spoke in a joking manner. Lilith groans as she looked around. Calling it terrifying is a huge understatement.
The entrance did had an impaled Slitherbeast head, but entering it was a whole other feeling. Not only that, but the presence she felt earlier was back, this time more malicious and more dangerous.
"No offense, Lilith, but can we leave now? I'm starting to regret finding this place.", said Raine, their hands shivering. Eda would go to them and comfort them by rubbing their shoulders. "Hey, don't worry, Rainestorm, with the three of us here, whoever will attack us won't know what's coming."
Raine smiled as then, the three stopped walking when a large stone circle was laid out in front of them, which made them investigative.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Eda then slowly approaches the place, looking at the skull of the Slitherbeast laid on it. Said skull was also embedded with a jagged knife with a hilt shaped like a crescent moon. As the three looked around, they then saw what appears to be skeletons all around the stone, robed in black.
"Well, my guess is this is, or was, a cult thing. And this stone here.", Lilith said as her hands point to said stone, "is something akin to a sacrificial table." Eda whistled quietly while Raine looked at each skeleton. "These skeletons looked....odd, to say the least."
One of Eda's eyebrows raised as she checked on the skeletons. Meanwhile, Lilith grabbed a small bag and grabbed the Slitherbeast skull and knife, putting it inside the bag. As Lilith looked around, she saw what appears to be letters engraved on the corners of the stone, getting her attention. 'What odd words.' Grabbing a notepad, Lilith wrote down the words while circling around to get the proper sentence.
"Hey, uh, Lily. Look at this.", Eda spoke in hood timing as Lilith finished the writing. As she puts the notepad back to her pocket and the bag held tightly on her hand, she went to Eda and Raine, who was kneeling in front of the skeletons. "What is it, Edalyn? Raine?"
Eda gulped loudly as she then inhaled. "Do you notice anything about these skeletons?" Lilith raised her eyebrow as she looked properly at one of it. Her focus was clear on it as then, she noticed the flesh around the skull. It was still fresh.
"It's fresh?", Lilith asked, shocked. Eda nodded as they all stood up and looked around. "We appear to have entered either a failed sacrifice, or a successful one. Either way, none of the implications are good."
Raine looked around the area, and noticed the wall cravings all around. It depicts scenes of something monstrous devouring creatures of all size, while leaving a large grin. Then, they saw one certain carving on the wall, which they looked at properly.
"Raine? Raine? Raine!!" Eda walked towards Raine and shook them, snapping them back to reality as they looked at Eda. "Are you okay?" Raine only nodded as Eda smiled. After that, Raine took their scroll out and took pictures of the carving. Meanwhile, Eda looked at any possible hidden caves they didn't noticed. Finding none, she returned back and saw Lilith looking all around while Raine took pictures of the walls. "You know, we're here for Slitherbeast. I don't know if this is a part of it, though." The two looked at her with raised eyebrows, while Eda only chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Well, Edalyn makes a point. And as she said, let's get back to our original mission. Though let's make sure to save this place up with a marker." Eda smiled as she then created a spell circle, and unleashed a small Hooty illusion on the cave's entrance. "Tada!"
Lilith only shook her head in disappointment while Raine smiled. All three then left the place, ready to finish their assignment.
Unbeknownst to them, something was watching them from above, it's grin widening even more.