Surviving in an Unknown Land

Cold.

That is the first thing that each of you feels upon slowly regaining consciousness. No matter your size, your skin and what covers it. No matter what clothes you are all wearing. The cold is present. It's not overwhelming but it is all over your body. On your skin, underneath your hair, the inside of your mouth, even your very heart feels cold.

Then there is the silence. Not an absolute silence... but quite near it. There are a few figments of sound which can reach your ears, but they are muffled as if passing through something heavy.

It is dark. Wherever you are, it is dark... but some glimmer of light shines on your face. That is what you may believe woke you up in the first place.

Underneath you, there is something soft. It feels like a weaving, some sort of blanket? You're lying on it and your head is propped up by an elevation on it working as a pillow. It's quite a comfortable resting place.... almost enough to lull one to rest for a few more moments. That is, unless you feel around you. To feel yourself encased in stone. At your feet, over your head, at your sides and above you. Cold, hard stone. You appear to be lying in a sarcophagus... with the cold solid stone somehow shifting into crystal just above your face... as if it was made that way so that someone could see you from outside... your you could see what lies out of your prison.

Your limbs may feel somewhat weak... perhaps from being asleep. There is a light ache around the back of your neck. Still, if the situation brings you a measure of panic and you struggle against your stony prison, you'll find that it is of no use to push up on it. No matter how hard you struggle, the stone lid won't move... unless, you push the lid down... in the direction towards your feet. Then it shall slide as if on ice... letting warm air rush into your prison and letting you step out of it.

If you do, if you are the first to do it, you'll find yourself in a dark room... fifteen long paces long in either direction... square in form. In the darkness, you make out five other sarcophagus like yours. One of them is smashed open. The others, however, are completely intact. They may be opening... there may be screams coming from the inside. You may see that the lid of your own sarcophagus slides to the end of it and then as if by magic, stands tall on the foot of it.

There is what appears to be double doors on one end of the room... one of them is halfway open and from it, comes the only light into the room.

Kori shivered as he slowly roused himself from slumber. It felt as though his brain was swirling around his head, almost as if he was hung over or still drunk. He didn't remember getting drunk, in fact the last thing he remembered was working out in the shop. Thinking it must have been a dream, Kori rolled over into the soft bed to get some more sleep.

This bed was really soft and comfortable. His bed wasn't this soft. Realizing this wasn't his bed, his eyes snapped open and he tried to sit upright, however his head soon met a hard stone with a loud thud. His hands quickly covered his forehead as he rolled around in pain, quickly moving between the two stone walls on either side. Once the pain in his head slowed to a dull throbbing, the young man slowly took a look around to see what was going on. Everything around him just looked like stone, with the exception of what he could only call a crystal right in front of his face. Was this some sort of coffin? Did someone think he had died?

Trying to remain calm, he took a deep breath of cold air, "Okay, I'm not buried yet.” All he had to do was push the lid and he would be out. Placing his hands on the cold stone lid, he pushed as hard as he could. His arms felt tired, like he had been working all night long, and he wasn’t able to push the lid open. “Maybe it’s locked from the outside,” Kori said to himself. If that was true, then he would need to get someone’s attention. He placed his head against the cold crystal, which felt good on his throbbing head, and started to bang on the lid. “HELLO!” he called out, hoping to hear a response.

"Quiet with all that...." grumbled someone nearby groggily, still entrenched deep enough in sleep that reality hadn't begun to truly register.

To him, the racket was from the morning life he knew best - his uncle hammering down more planks to extend the patio; his siblings pinning one another near his sleeping space, harder and harder until one of them cried out first or their brother was bothered enough to stalemate the situation himself; winter's chill creeping in, making even their thickest wool sheets mostly useless....

Except it wasn't winter, and, as the waking world made more and more headway in his life, he realized he wasn't covered in sheets, either, nor was he even in his hammock.

Glenn Horn's eyes were painfully forced open to peer into the faint light streaming down from somewhere unknown above, and as he shifted to get a look around him, he felt his heart leap out his chest.

"Steaming shit...." he mumbled, as quiet as possible, and as he did, he struggled. The sides he forced his tired limbs to push at, his claws to scratch at, and pull at to find any kind of purchase. When that failed, he pushed upward with his arms until what strength they had left him. After a moment's rest, he put his feet to work, getting as much leverage as he could in the cramped space by kind of balling himself up and pushing upward with his legs, even using his tail to add the tiny fraction of force it had to offer to the equation. When nothing budged, he let a sigh from deep within him out into the closed space, and let his lower half slide back down, his feet scrapping along the roof of the stone something or other as they moved to rest again.

Somehow, that did it. Glenn felt his guts run cold even as warm air rushed in to meet him, and the lid of his prison slid clean off. He didn't move. He hardly breathed. For a good ten seconds, everything vile and evil and hostile in the world seemed as if it were waiting for him to step out and face them, once and for all. Fortunately, within that ten seconds, he reminded himself that he'd found the strength to move that slab, that whatever might be waiting would have to respect that, and, with shaky arms and unsteady legs, he slowly rose to see the other prisons just like his, and the odd room they'd all been stowed away in.

The voice that was once thought to be someone he knew clearly wasn't, than, and as he wobbled over to peer down into the now conscious man's stone trap, without thinking, he asked, "Hello? Do you know what the hell we're doing here?"

Saya did not know how ling she spent shaking and pounding on the inside the terrifying, claustrophobic sarcophagus after she awoke. By the time she figured out how to pull the top open, she was ready to spring out and claw her way past anything that tried to stop her.

Spring she did, or tried to. In an instant, Saya was up on her feet, only to stumble over the sides of her would-be tomb. Her hands hit the floor, scrapping on the hard surface. Scrambling to her feet, she looked around with a wild expression, eyes wide and darting in every direction, taking in everything that her vision could distill in the dark room.

There was already someone else in the room. A squirrel? A really big squirrel? person?

"Who are you?" Saya demanded before noticing that she was not the only person yelling. Her gaze wen down to the sarcophagus Glenn was looking into. "Oh, my God! Is there a person still in there?"

Juvel slowly, but surely, started to rise to consciousness.

The first thing he noticed, as he finally forced his eyes to open up, was the strange surroundings of where he was. There was nothing but stone around him on his sides and a strange crystal thing in front of him. Looking at it, almost reminded him of a coffin of some type, but that wouldn't make much sense - the crystal thing would still have no explanation, and, for reasons Juvel didn't fully understand, stone coffins were reserved exclusively for the old in goblin society. Any other explanation he could think of still did nothing to explain the crystal, and still told him he had to be in an unfamiliar place.

The next odd thing he noticed was the strange quietness around here. Living at his uncle's shop for most of his life, he had become used to the noises of repairs, the sound of snobby nobles taking requests, the sound of his uncle telling him to "Wake up, Juvel - You're burning daylight, and time is money!" None of that was here, though. He could barely make out a few faint sounds, which vaguely sounded like talking, but that was the extent of it.

Finally, Juvel felt a distinct pain in his back. He tried turning on his side to reach at his back, and grabbed a hold of the guilty object - a nicely filled, but uncomfortable to rest on, bag of coins. Well, this confirmed one thing to him - whatever happened last night, he didn't go to sleep willingly. He already suspected this from the fact he couldn't remember going to sleep, but this confirmed it. He would have taken this off if unconsciousness was a choice on his part.

Juvel connected the dots and realized 3 things. 1: He didn't know where the hell he was. 2: There were possibly unfamiliar people outside - could be friendly, but could be dangerous. And 3: He didn't know how the he got here. Or, more accurately, who forcefully "got" him here. Putting these facts together, and acting more on instinct than rational thought, he started trying to escape - he tried clawing and struggling, but that didn't do anything, than moved on to trying to hit it, but that didn't do much but hurt his hand, before finally deciding on screaming.

"Hello?! Is anyone out there? Th-this isn't funny!"

edited 26th Jun '14 2:20:13 PM by Makeyejr

Kori was a bit taken aback by the face that popped into the other side of the crystal asking him if what they were doing here. It almost looked like a kid's face, but maybe the crystal was just playing games on his eyes. Either way, the kid brought up a good question that he hadn't really thought about. It should be something to find out.

"I think someone is trying to freeze and bury me," Kori answered the kid before realizing that this kid may be the one trying to put him underground. "Wait, you're not planning on doing that are you?" He started banging on the lid of the coffin again, "Let me out right now! I won't let you put me six feet under! I'm still alive!" He could feel his strength slowly returning, but he still couldn't break off this lid.

Glenn twisted around to meet the woman who had risen out of her sarcophagus, hand shooting down to grab the knife usually at his side. He snatched at thin, thick air and threatened her with nothing for a good five seconds.

"Hey, hey, hey! I don't know you either, lady! Or that other pink skin in the coffin! Or any one here!" his eyes darted left and right. " ... Probably." But he had to verify it, looking from coffin to coffin, and tapping the glass on the green skinned fellow that had just woken up. " Yeah. Definitely! Who are you? " He struck a defensive stance and raised his tail like a flag to make him look larger than he was, which still wasn't much.

While Juvel was relieved at seeing another living, sentient creature outside talking to him, Juvel was temporarily taken aback upon seeing the squirrel-man - he had never seen anything like him back at his home town. He had seen plenty of ordinary squirrels back home - heck, he's eaten plenty of squirrels back home - but he had never seen a full blown half-man half-squirrel creature before. But, Juvel decided to ignore that for now - somehow, meeting a new species isn't the strangest thing that's happened today, he reminded himself as he looked around his stone prison, and right now, he needed to focus on getting out of this box.

Juvel smiled nervously at the boy, realizing he was waiting for an answer. "Name's Juvel. Juvel Valentines. Who are you?" Juvel paused for a moment, than spoke up again, realizing there's a more concerning matter at hand. "Wait, can you help me get outta here? This stony... box thing, I mean."

Jafrie awoke to find himself in what looked and felt like a coffin. What the hells? For a moment he panicked at being closed in, clawing at the top and roaring like the lion he resembled. Anyone looking in would see a snarling, enraged beastman, claws out and scraping at the crystal, fangs exposed.

edited 27th Jun '14 6:33:53 AM by tricksterson

The kid left before answering Kori's questions or letting him out. He could hear other voices but none of them were letting him out. What the hell was going on? Either way, it looked like they weren't about to let him out, and his banging was doing no good. Feeling defeated, he quit banging and gave a frustrated kick down the lid, causing it to slide open.

Crawling out of the coffin, he looked around to see that he wasn’t the only one out. There was a girl, who seemed just as confused as him, and the kid, with a tail, who had been looking into Kori’s coffin. The squirrel kid had moved on to another coffin, probably with another person in it. “You know, I don’t think anybody wants to stay in a stone box like that,” He said while moving towards the Squirrel. Kori grabbed the lid of the coffin and slid it down to reveal a green… person? He honestly had no clue, but he had never seen a squirrel person before. Maybe after settling down some, they could introduce themselves.

He heard a roar coming from another coffin. Slowly going towards it, he looked at the crystal to see a lion looking at him. He jumped back in shock, “Hey, you guys, did you know there’s a lion in this one?”

As more of the survivors crawled out of their sarcophagus, they would be able to notice a few more things about the room they were in... and about themselves.

The room they were in was mostly bare except for the stone coffins they found themselves in... though a light inspection of them would reveal that the sarcophagus were not stuck to the ground. Their stone bodies were covered in what appeared to be writing of some runic nature, and their borders were softened with what appeared to be wood and some metal fittings. There were seven of the sarcophagus, three touching against the side walls of the room, and one against the wall opposite of the door. This last one, would be the one which was broken, as if something had smashed the stone half the thing. There was also something on the right corner of the room... something which looked like a bundle fabric, like a cloak cast on the ground with a mask set upon it... a mask with big eyes and little else upon it, whose visage may trigger a single memory of looking upon such a thing before unconsciousness hit them.

Finally, the survivors may notice that they were all wearing something they were not previously... a piece of smooth metal, shaped like a crescent moon, encased with three spherical gemstones. This accessory was on their necks, hugging the back and sides of it lightly in a manner that was not uncomfortable.

The sight of another person calmed Jafrie down. "Can you get me out of here?," he asked. "I won't harm you.

Glenn was torn between defending himself at whatever threat the human girl might of presented, and trying what he could to help the seemingly polite green guy who lacked either the strength or the ingenuity to get out of his stone coffin.

He opted to split his next move down the middle.

"Glenn, from Horn and Sons Delivery Incorporated." he answered, without diverting his gaze from the girl. "Your mama taught you some manners and I'll respect you for it, but I can't trust you just like that!"

But than the surprise of the roar when the second to last of the prisoners woke up sent him scrambling backwards in surprise, and for a moment he forgot he was supposed to defending himself against anyone but whatever that might be.

Juvel hesitated a couple moments. He was happy someone let him out, but... maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but his savior didn't exactly look like a creature he recognized, either - the pale, pinkish skin gave him a brief moment of shock, but it was the plain and simple height of the creature that surprised him more. He was used to being one of the tallest back home, but here, that thing was at least a couple feet taller than him. Was this a human? He heard tales about them back home, but never met one before. Suddenly hearing a bizarre roaring sound made him wonder whether he should get out at all. Anyways, with his box recently opened, and deciding that just laying down won't get anything done but waste time, he made his way out. As he got out, he noticed another creature - another human, it looked like, although this one was female.

He decided to speak up, focusing on Glen. "Ya do realize someone let me out already, right, squirrel boy?" He said, "Anyway, no need to worry 'bout me. Never fought a day in my life, and no weapons, see?" To emphasize his point, he showed his empty hands, pat his cloth pants, and took off his straw hat and showed that it was hollow inside. "Oh, no weapons in the bag either." He added real quick, giving the bag on his back a little shake and letting it jingle a little. "Well, unless ya consider money a weapon. Anyways, Glen, was it? And where the hell did that roar come from?"

Saya likewise jumped back when the roar called attention to the last unopened coffin. Squirrel, and other people forgotten for the moment, she scrambled back around her sarcophagus, putting at least one more obstacle between were and whatever dangerous thing was over there. With the dim light from the open door casting a ray near her, Saya noticed that her bow was on the bedding, it had been laying beside her the whole time, it seemed.

Grasping the weapon and the quiver of arrows that had also been left inside, Saya felt a little more secure. She advanced one slow step and a time towards the last sarcophagus.

"I won't harm you." she heard the occupant inside say, to which her imagination added Your death will be quick and painless. Still, if it could talk it wasn't a wild beast. She made her way to the 'window' of Jafrie's coffin and peered in.

Having met more than a few humans both in the circus and among the customers Jafrie knew better than to give a full, tooth bearing grin. The first couple of times he'd tried that, trying to imitate human friendliness, the object of his smiles had dropped whatever they were holding and run screaming. on one occasion to come back with an angry mob. So he stretched his mouth in a closed smile then said, "Sorry about the roar, I don't like closed spaces. I...panicked. So how do I get out of here?" accompanying this he pushed impatiently against the crystal then, inadvertantly, downwards. "Oh. Never mind," he said as it slid downwards and he sat up.

edited 27th Jun '14 1:30:51 PM by tricksterson

It seemed like Kori wasn’t the only one to be startled by the roar of the lion. He guessed it made sense, after all, they just woke up. Looking around again, he noticed something that he had missed before. His sword was in the coffin that he had been in. It was really a wonder that he hadn’t felt it when he was rolling and banging around in there.

As he looked at his sword, Kori realized that he may not have been dreaming as much as he thought. Either way, it wasn’t something he wanted to leave laying around. He worked so hard on it, it was his first blade of his own. The young man went over to grab it, and wrapped the belt around his waist. Next thing he knew the girl was walking up to where the lion was.

Kori walked up next to the girl and looked through the crystal with her. “What do you think? Should we let him out?” If it had been just him, then he might have just opened the lid, but he wasn’t alone, and she looked like she was getting ready for a fight. “After all, he said he wouldn’t eat -,” Before he could even finish his statement, the lion…man had opened up his coffin. “Never mind, the cat is out of the box now.”

"Tell thee what," Jafrie said as he climbed out of the coffin. "Don't call me a cat and I won't call you a monkey. Deal?"

Figuring if the lion was going to eat them it would have done so by now, Saya lowered the bow. She glanced from the giant cat to the other occupants in the room. In the dim light, she noticed they all had something in common.

Her hand flew to her own neck. Sure enough, there was the broken circle around her neck. She felt at the sides and her fingers brushed across the round gemstones sticking out. Saya gave it a yank but whatever it was had no intention of letting go it seemed.

"Hey, what are these?" She said aloud, pointing at her own crescent collar.

Whatever else Jafrie might have been about to say was derailed by the human girl's statement. he looked at the collar around her and the boys necks and then felt his own. He. Did. Not. Like. Collars. He grabbed the front of it, extended his claws to try and get under it and then gave a hard tug.

Kori shrugged at the thought of being called a monkey, he had been called worse. Next thing he knew, the girl was commenting on what they all had around their necks. Instinctively, he tried to look down at his own neck, but of course couldn't see it. His hands felt the strange crescent moon.

This was... new, to say the least. He tried pulling on it, to no avail. His hands slid around it, looking for any sort of lock, but again, no luck. "It feels like a collar, and a well made one at that. It's almost as if it was forged around our necks." This was just something he couldn't wrap him head around. However these got on their necks, it was done in a way beyond him or even his master.

"Ya ain't old enough to go around callin' people boy, yet." Glenn snapped, even if he was keeping his distance for the time being, eyes darting from Jafrie back to the goblin.

Fortunately, he mostly forgot about what might of been the start of a feud when he realized that he too had something strange around his neck. He felt over it, trying to get a feel for what the weird thing was made of.

"They've got some money, whoever did this. 'Course that's not exactly a surprise if they figured out a way to stuff us all in those big ol' stone beds. So what?" he cast about wildly, as if the answer would jump out to greet them at any angle, any moment now. "Are we slaves now? Slaves who stuff they're allowed to keep?"

The collars didn't give up hold at first, but with a few more tugs it was as if a force holding them there gave up... and those tugging would get the ability to take them off without much effort.

However, the moment they removed the collars from their neck something strange would happen... the words of everyone else, ringing clear in their own language suddenly... were not. With the collars off, what the others said was gibberish in a tongue they couldn't understand.

Upon hearing about the collars, decided to feel around his neck. Yep, sure enough, a collar was there. It wasn't doing any harm at the moment, he thought, so he decided he might as well keep it on until it does start causing chaos. Once again, he felt a brief moment of surprise upon meeting another new species, but at this point, he figured that he already just met 2 new species today, so really, there was no use being surprised over a 3rd at this point. The new person did intimidate him somewhat, though he seemed friendly enough, and Juvel figured that if the lion-man did want to get aggressive, then at least it would be 4 against 1.

"S-slaves?" Juvel stammered, replying to Glen. He hadn't thought of that possibility, and the thought of being owned by another being, especially one he might not even know the species of, considering those around him, quite frankly frightened him. "Nah. That can't be it, right? I mean, after all, like ya said, we still have our stuff. And why would the kidnapper make escapin' those boxes as easy as he did if he intended on keepin' us?"
That's when he noticed something sitting in the corner of the room. "Huh. Somethin' over there?" He asked, not waiting for an answer, as he began walking towards it. He reached the corner, and saw a cloak bundled up, with a mask resting atop it. He picked up the mask, looked at it - and remembered. More specifically, he remembered being attacked while walking back to his uncle's shop after a successful deal with a rich goblin, and seeing this mask just milliseconds before losing consciousness. He quickly dropped it out of surprise at seeing it after realizing this, but then picked it up, and showed it to the others.

"Hey. This look familiar to anyone else?" He asked, bluntly.

edited 28th Jun '14 9:52:30 PM by Makeyejr

As Juvel took the cloak he would notice something else... it appeared to be some sort of full body clothing, with a cloak integrated within it. But what was most noteworthy about it was that... it was all full of ash, that when he picked it up poured right onto the floor.