SKILL : - - - ( 1 / 5 )

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Set immediately after this thread

As Shiloh led the procession of two along, he scoured the area for signs of "seven."

He pried at the dimming world's offerings with scrutiny, counting clumps of tree, flower blooms, and even rocks spaced suspiciously close. When he found small collections that seemed promising, he stopped to investigate - watching, waiting, listening for any change at all.

The knight was uncertain what he was looking for exactly, he knew only that the voice spurred them forward in pursuit of whatever lay ahead. It could be seven harbingers of death for all he knew, but he resisted the temptation to rebuke the voice's orders and instead indulged it.

After all, this made the second time the voice spoke to him - first on the Summit, along with the others, and now here. How many times could he smother down his disbelief when evidence continued to mount?

A frown creased his muzzle as he stooped to investigate another dubious cluster of rocks.

Ye see anythin' out o' place yet? Shiloh asked Lugh, yet not looking in his direction as he cleared the patch of rockwork. Fable an' mathair are better at this stuff.

They saw the patterns others didn't, intricate details hewn from nature for those with the eye for it. His expertise lay in matters of survival and control - the sort of things that aided him on the battlefield, but made him less suited for tracking down spiritual aspects such as runes.

Rune Discovery: 「 Pending success! 」 

---

The atmosphere darkens as you continue your climb. Soon, the sky opens up with rain, a shadow cast upon the ground below you as the dark clouds congregate above. The rain is as cold as ice, tracing like freezing daggers against your skin. It is almost insufferable — almost painful as it bouces off of your thick fur.

You'd be tempted to go back home, except you hear something on the wind.

Drial wa, drial wa, drial wa, it whispers, that foreign voice now familiar to you. It is the same voice that spoke to you before. Eip tolk yia drat yia wire krose! The words, once unfamiliar, slowly begin to translate themselves in your ears. I told you that you were close! You hear it, yes, and your heart begins to accelerate in your chest. It is adrenaline, it is excitement ... but perhaps, too, it is fear.

The wind leads you upward, into the strange, looming shadows of the sudden storm.

You have to squint your eyes against the pain of the razor-like rain droplets. But as you correct your vision, you swear the path ahead of you is glowing. You swear that somewhere, up around the bend of this very hill, you can see a glowing snowbank. It is a strange beacon of light against the darkness of the sky around you, and it radiates with an otherworldly energy.

Yes. You know what you must do. Do not give up now! You are here. The voice floats around you, as if embedded into the heart of the storm itself.

And then it disappears, leaving you with the path. Do you venture into the storm, or do you run away?

Skill: Ranger [1/5]

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Lugh glanced back at his brother before frowning and shaking his head. I don't even know what we're lookin' for, Shiloh... you're bein' weird. He muttered. Rocks... weird rocks. There weren't any weird rocks, everything was normal—besides that feeling, that fire that was ignited by that voice.

Rain began to cascade from the skies—only, it hurt. Lugh shuffled closer to his brother with a frown. I'm not likin' this... he mumbled. It hurts... Any other occasion, Lugh would've begged to go home, or to seek shelter; the water droplets sliced along his back, drawing out a small whine. Wha's happenin'?

The voice spoke again—soft murmurings of gibberish. Lugh grunted in frustration, frowning at the sky—until finally, the words were morphed into a shape he could comprehend—'I told you that you were close!' ...had it? Lugh didn't even know. His glare lifted into curiosity.

He walked in tandem with the boisterous winds, eyes squinting against the rain. Why was he doing this? Why didn't he just go home? Her certainly wanted to. Yet... the desire to leave was overpowered by the need to understand what lay beyond the horizon, what the voice so desperately wanted him to find.

There was something supernatural lacing the air like fog. Intertwining with his fur, sending it bristling along his spine. Down the hill, there was a small glow. Not the luster of fireflies—a beacon. A signal. 'Yes. You know what you must do. Do not give up now! You are here.' Lugh nodded to whatever spirit was with them.

Shiloh—over here! He called out. The boy did not wait for the elder brother before he began to race down the hill, still wincing against the rain whipping his skin raw.

But that glow... he had to see it.

SKILL : GUARDIAN ( 2 / 5 )

He wished suddenly he had asked Epona or Fable to come with them - then they might have known what to look for. As it stood, Shiloh knew just as much as Lugh about what they were looking for - and that was to say "very little."

Anythin' that looks like it doesn't belong, Shiloh told his younger brother, though his explanation likely fell short of glory on this front. Y'know, fae rings an'... rocks with weird markings. Things that don't look natural.

He wasn't really even sure that was what runes looked like here... but he had nothing else to go on, seeing as Tiberii's rune had blown into smithereens.

The sky overhead grew dark, foreboding, so quickly that the knight stiffened with unease even before the first drop of biting rain fell. He danced away from the sharp pain, looking for the source before realizing it was the rain itself. Instinctively, he crowded close to Lugh, attempting to use his taller and broader frame to deflect some of the weaponized rain from the youth.

Stay close, I don't know what that is, Shiloh told him hastily, abandoning the search for the rune, until that voice returned.

Irritation rippled along the surface - what game was this visitor playing, casting them into dangerous conditions all in the name of retrieving whatever it was they were close to?

Shiloh's gaze swept the vicinity in search of a sign of change, landing upon the subtly glowing path and, at its end, a luminous snowbank.

That, he reckoned, counted as "not natural."

Before he could instruct Lugh to follow him, the fire-coated whelp was running off in pursuit of it. Shiloh cursed beneath his breath and lumbered after him, refusing to let potential harm find his youngest brother.

When his paws reduced to a halt before the snowbank, he scrutinized it closely as he attempted to block Lugh's path to it. He had to be sure it was safe before letting him approach so directly.

Experimentally, he reached forward with a paw, attempting to drag some of the glowing snow away.

Rune Discovery:  「 Success! 」 Shiloh Lugh 

---

You brave the storm. Of course you do.
Each step is heavier than the last, your limbs trembling, not only from exhaustion, but from something deeper—a sense of the rune's energy thrumming through the ground. The Dream Visitor’s voice has vanished, but their urgency still circulating in your mind, fueling you to keep going. Don’t stop.

Don’t give in.

The glowing snow pile can be spotted from up the hill, faintly at first, like the flicker of a candle, then brighter, and more demanding..

closer. Closer. Closer.

And then…

The wind dies.

Not just softens or fades, it dies

The silence is instant, even the rain slows, no longer battering, but misting gently. The sky above still churns with blackened clouds, but they no longer move. The storm is not over, no, you stand within its eye, an eerie calmness entrapping you.

It is here, nestled within the snow drift, half-buried in frost, you see it.

The rune.

It is not large or grand, it’s just a single, engraved stone, no bigger than your paw. But its glow is alive, with veins of blue winding across its surface in slow, repetitive pulses.

The moment you touch it, reality shifts: the storm breaks. Just like that,wind moves, and the clouds begin to scatter, revealing a soft blue sky.