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Shadow

It seemed disrespectful to treat one of the True People in such a manner, buried under a shallow covering of dirt as if it were waste. This place was rife with death and unpleasantness... but no Burden, and nothing from the other world.

"We need to find that Burden before it does something else stupid, or before something is done to it."

He trotted over to the stairs and began bounding up.

Bringer


The big cat growled under his breath as he realized the disrespect that had been done to another of his kind.

Nodding in agreement, he followed Shadow up the stairs.

Soot

"I sense no workings here from the dead," she said and looked inquiringly at Tiger-Lily and the others - though they seemed to be departing already.

"Have you?"

Terror

He did not like the room that reeked of death. Old death was unpleasant, especially when one of the death scents was one of their own.

"We still need to go high, yes?" he asked as they all abandoned the stinking dark. "Where the spirit went -- one of the higher rooms, yes?"

He looked around for the steps that he assumed would lead them to the room with the indoor pool.

>Seeker-On-High<

Above, in the window ledge, Seeker continues his watchful guard. Mostly watchful. Well, nominally watchful.

In fact, his focus drifts to distant things, his tail flicks this way and that as things become loose and unfixed and nothing, not place or time or anything, really hold him here.

He does not know if the explorations below will take long enough or not, but if he can slip into sleep and step above, perhaps he can spot more sign of the spirit and learn more about it. And it certainly couldn't get downstairs and evade his notice from the Astral, even if it perhaps could slip his physical eyes and nose.

Tiger-Lily

"We can be thankful for that at least."

It is sad that one of their kind has gone from their world but she knows it happens from time to time. It does not seem that any here knew the cat though.

That still does not explain what the spirit is doing here nor how it got here. Curious, her tail erect like trolley pole, she scents the air and walks daintily around the dirt room.

>Seeker-On-High<

The vision comes on him more suddenly than expected, before he can slip totally free. He doesn't need to, because it's close. And getting closer!

"It's coming!" he calls out, not quite a panicked yowl, a sound he hopes will carry to those down below but not out of doors. "From the pond. It wasn't in here at all!"

He hadn't looked closely enough. This was his fault. He shook off the not-quite-sleep and laid low and tense in the window ledge, ready to jump down and move quickly if the time came.

Shadow

Seeker's yowl drew him at pace up to the ground floor: Imminent arrival needed swift action.

"How long do we have, how fast is it moving? I can be ready to battle it if that is what we need with a fraction of a nap to prepare."

Bringer


Bringer made his way up to the top of he stairs and stood slightly behind Shadow.

[OOC: All of the cats would know that most spirits can't interact with normal creatures, but were quite ferocious on the Astral plane. Yet some spirits can affect the real world, so one never knows.

The cats have the equivalent of one to two melee rounds while it crosses the yard and enters the burden food preparation room.]

Soot

Her already black fur appeared to an onlooker to turn even more black and her eyes shifted to empty holes with the faintest glimmer of starlight about them.

She looked to the others still in the basement with her and slowly made her way to the stairs.

>Seeker-On-High<

"We have to identify this thing, and learn how to get rid of it," Seeker said, in a calmer voice, from his ledge. "Maybe someone can sneak past it and ward its pool against it while it's in here. That might make it vulnerable. Or angry enough to hint at its Important Thing."

Because as long as it was a spirit safe with its Important Thing, it wouldn't be easy to fight at all. Except from Above, of course. And that would be Seeker alone against it, unless one of the others could step Above, which they hadn't said.

Soot

She flicked her tail, once, twice, thrice and looked at him with starlit eyes. "Some could engage it should that be wished." Claws that also glimmered could be seen as she stretched.


ooc: GM, I believe I am reading a feat correctly. If not, please advise and I shall delete this.

Shadow

The ginger tom purred inaudibly, whispering into darkness. With an eye-watering wrench, his form shifted, going from three dimensions to two, from a corporeal being to just a shadow on the ground. A shadow in which emerald eyes glistered.

"Let's see how willing it is to talk. Or how much it needs to be persuaded."

The shadowed shaper looked towards the point of entrance, a second incantation ready on his lips.

Bringer


"I don't sneak good," he snarled, "but I can engage if necessary."

Terror

He growled low, knowing that at the moment there was little he could do against the creature unless they could learn its Name. But he wasn't one to back down, especially as he knew the creature likely would not be able to harm him or any of the others unless they journeyed out.

"You and I should face it when it comes in," he said to Bringer as he topped the stairs. "See how it responds to us -- or if it doesn't even note us."

Tiger-Lily

Alerted by Seeker, she listens to the warning.

"I am a warder can usually pass unseen and unheard. If the opportunity presents itself I will go to the pond."

This is an opportunity to contribute and maybe prove herself. She heads up the stairs behind the others to see if she will get an opening to head for its lair.

Bringer


The big mixed breed scowled at Terror, but then nodded... the scowl was just his nature. He didn't like others coming up with good ideas or answers, but sometimes it couldn't be avoided.

"We need to find its name. Then I could make it pay."

>Seeker-On-High<

Making a spirit give its name or its anchor was tricky work. Seeker's tail twitched back and forth as he tried to think of a better plan than warding the pool to trap the spirit, make it have to deal. Or fight. It was the "or fight" that wasn't the best option.

"I can try to talk to it. But if it doesn't cooperate, we'll need leverage. More than just numbers. Spirits aren't afraid unless they are threatened. If we're lucky, the pool is or contains its anchor and warding it will do the trick. If not..." He crouched down low again, small on the high shelf. "Then we'll have to improvise."

Soot

Quietly she says, "I will go and aid Tiger-Lily as I can or stay and aid in battling the spirit should that be needed."

The spirit appeared as that of a semi-translucent old woman who might be underwater. The glowing skin is puckered as if too long under water. Its eyes are a dark blue of the bottom of the ocean. The spirit flowed over the ground rather than walked as it approached the door to the burden's dwelling. It passed through the door into view of the cats in the burden's food room.

>Seeker-On-High<

Seeker crunched down even flatter on the window ledge, looking down the hallway toward the spirit. Its features were more distinct from this side than they had been from his quick glance earlier. That was a clue. It meant something... He fought to keep his tail from twitching in thought. Twitching when silhouetted here in the window might mean being noticed.

And right now, he didn't want to be noticed. He wanted to see what the spirit would do, maybe learn what it wants. Because every little clue helps work out how to get it to move on.

Shadow

The shadow of a cat worked his Shaper magic once more, trying to increase its scale and 'mass' significantly, reshaping itself into a much larger form. The truth of the matter was this spirit was entering a house that had been under the protection of a cat of their parliament: The death of that one individual did not change the necessity of the duty.

So, in a considerably more literal sense than most of their enlightened species, Shadow made himself big in preparation to meet the threat.

Bringer


Moving as stealthily as he was able, Bringer eased to his left so that he and Shadow could flank the spirit from opposite sides of the room.

Terror

On first sight the spirit did not look threatening -- and old female burden, even if a bit water-logged. But he knew that appearances could be deceiving.

Still, Terror had a certain reputation, and fearing confrontation was not part of it. So he took a place near the food area to see if it reacted to him or ignored him completely.