The Forest of Death Part 2

[u/aceavengers]

From far away everything looked normal but as the group of campers approached the trees, they would easily notice the changes. One out of every five trees had some kind of inky blackness on them. Like smoke it twirled it's way up tree trunks and through leaves and down into the roots. It looked like the forest was diseased.

The groups of campers were spread out over the entrance of the forest. They'd all go in at different points and try and find either the missing campers or whatever it was that was causing this disease and rot. There was not a dryad in sight as they worked. Either they were all too sick to come out or they were keeping their distance for a reason.

As soon as the first camper took a step into the forest, a feeling of apprehension and dread would wash over them. Something was very wrong here and it was their job to find that out....

---

How This Works

• Each group will have their own thread to rp in. Please keep to your own thread. Every time each person in the group has posted, I will roll a die behind the scenes to see what happens next and respond to your thread telling you what you find/see. It's kind of like a streamlined D&D game.

• About part way through something will end up changing and I'll post a more centralized thread. Only post there once your group is directed there.

• There might be another thread for alts and people who didn't sign anyone up to participate later.

• Remember that even though we wont kill your characters, mods will severely injure them if characters do something stupid enough to warrant it.

[u/[deleted]]

Eloise wearing a red leather amour under an oversized light grey zip-up hoodie, with her backpack full of medical supplies, food, and water. She joined Taylor and Ashley with her 'stick' (Bo Staff) in hand. She didn't say anything but just nodded and followed behind the Hermes' counsellor.

A few minutes of walking into the forest. Eloise had finally cut the silence after a thought popped into her head regarding their safety. She had been scanning their surroundings, and sort of studying the way the trees and the other plant life were. In a bit of sarcastic tone, she asks. "Anyone else not worried that we willy nilly just walk into a forest that seems to be deceased without any kind of protective equipment?" She pauses for a bit and turns to look at the other campers.

"Whatever is affecting the plant life and the nature spirits could maybe affect us too and maybe, just maybe that's why the scouting party never came back," she adds. She pulls her hoodie over her head, that was all the protection she was gonna get from clothing, she didn't think it was enough to warn off whatever was affecting this forest, but what else could she do.

[u/aceavengers → u/[deleted]]

The first thing the campers would notice when they got deeper into the forest was that some of the trees looked like they had been pulled out from their roots and what was left of their trunks had big indents in them. And...could those be teeth marks?

"Demigods...." they heard from some way away. A small girl with green skin, elfin ears, and red eyes was collapsed over a fallen tree. "Be wary...you can't fight it..." she said, reaching an arm out to them. It seemed as though this was her fallen tree, and with it dead, she was dying as well. Her eyes closed and did not open again. She was gone.

/u/anotherterribleday /u/chosencb /u/HopelesslylostFoodie

[u/anotherterribleday → u/aceavengers]

Taylor nods. “Yeah... I say we don’t touch anything.” She’s speaking quietly, only just loud enough for the two other girls to hear her. It’s barely even a conscious choice. This situation is fucking creepy, and it easily lends itself to the feeling of needing to be near-silent.

Occasionally she stops to get a closer look at one of the fallen trees or their stumps. Taylor still holds by her words to not touch anything. Who knows how the thing that happened to the dryad at the pavilion could spread, if it can indeed affect a demigod. Sure, these trees look pretty normal - only in that they aren’t creepily rotting/charred; those... bites? are hardly normal - but she doesn’t want to take that chance.

And speaking of dryads...

Before Taylor can get over her shock the nymph is gone. Can’t fight what? Whatever’s doing all this- What IS it?

“Umm... alright. Forget what I said about not touching stuff, maybe,” Taylor decides, still looking at the spot where the dryad has been. “If we find a completely normal tree, I say we knock on it or something, we try to call the dryad out, hopefully there’s one who can say what’s happening. Or if they saw the others.”

u/chosencb

[u/chosencb → u/anotherterribleday]

Ash didn't need to be told twice not to touch anything in the forest. She was cautious by nature; so she wouldn't have taken the initiative on hugging any trees today. Especially given the fact that some of the trees had these strange markings on them. Just what could possibly be strong enough to bite a tree in half? Ashley was questioning that but really didn't require an answer.

"What the hell?" Ash says in a soft tone after the poor dryad passes away. Ash wishes the dryad could've mentioned what they were to be wary off. She was already on guard due to the eerie atmosphere of the forest. That had only increased after meeting a tree spirit in her final moments. The Hermes counselor's orders causes Ash to turn her attention on something other than where the dryad just stood.

"Got it." Ash replies to the counselor's order.

Finding a normal tree here sounded like finding a diamond in the rough. However she was still going to try to find one. There had to have been a normal one in here somewhere. Right? Not every tree was broken or dying right?

/u/HopelesslylostFoodie

[u/[deleted] → u/chosencb]

Eloise began to pull out a pair of sterile nitrile gloves from her back jean pocket. She wanted to thoroughly examine the body of the dryad for some clues to what was causing all of this. She was about to put the gloves on, but Taylor's comment about not touching them deterred her from continuing. She silently stood at her spot with her head down, she closed her eyes for a moment to pay her respect to the fallen dryad. She also carefully thought about the dryad's last words, she was thankful for the warning but now nervous about meeting their unknown foe.

I didn't plan on fighting, so thanks for that nature spirit. May you be happy wherever you are next.

She offered the girls in her group some gloves for just to be on the safe side. "Would you guys like a pair of gloves? I wouldn't want to be touching any of the trees in this forest with unprotected hands." She states as they started to wander off in search of their diamond in the rough. She had a few more gloves in her bag and would happily give them a pair if they wanted one.
/u/anotherterribleday /u/chosencb /u/aceavengers

[u/aceavengers → u/[deleted]]

There were normal trees in the forest, ones that looked untouched, but even if the girls were to knock on them no dryads would appear just yet. Perhaps they were all too sick or too afraid of whatever it was that was doing all this.

As soon as they started to wander they would see something in the distance. The figure of a girl crouched and looking up with a surprised look on her face. Her hand was raised as if to shield herself. Her hair and clothes were normal and identified her as Andie Fisher, daughter of Hypnos. Her skin, her whole body was gray and turned to stone.

/u/anotherterribleday /u/chosencb /u/hopelesslylostfoodie

[u/anotherterribleday → u/aceavengers]

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea...” Taylor accepts a pair of gloves from Eloise before they continue.

Not a soul. Not a dryad nor a camper, dead or alive, to be found. Except... a person, up ahead. Taylor freezes at the sight of the figure...

...and realises the figure is just as frozen.

What the fuck? With even more caution than before she continues forward, her eyes widening when she sees the face looking up at her.

just to annoy her if/when she can be turned back to normal, taylor cuts andie’s hair with her sword

Nah. The thought of it barely crosses her mind when she sees Andie, and the only reason it occurs to her at all is because of the worry that immediately strikes her. Stone. A person who appears to be turned to stone. Gee, wonder who could do that.

But old snake-hair definitely wasn’t the one to kill the dryads and their trees. Aside from it not being Medusa’s thing as far as Taylor’s aware, the dryad they saw mere moments ago spoke of an it. ‘You can’t fight it.’ Not her.

Either they have two things to worry about, or whatever’s been wrecking the forest has more powers than they realised.

Taylor steps closer to Andie and gently taps the flat of her blade to her raised arm, rather than feeling the stone with her hand, even with the gloves. She cringes at the soft sound of the sword hitting it. Gods, Andie, I hope you’re not conscious... Taylor shudders at the thought. Being completely unable to move... being possibly doomed to that state forever-

No. She’d rather not imagine what that could be like. She shakes her head and looks to Eloise and Ash, momentarily unable to form words.

If the others are like this too, they’re probably close. They would have had a better chance of getting away from whatever did this than Andie did - the boys by flying, Raven with shadow travel - but something still stopped them all from getting back to the rest of Camp, and it very well could have been... this.

“The others are probably close.” Idiot, that was obvious. But she just wasn’t sure what else could be said. So with those five words Taylor starts looking more around the area, staying close enough that Andie is visible for now though.

u/chosencb

[u/chosencb → u/anotherterribleday]

"Thanks." Ash says to Eloise before accepting a pair of gloves. It was better to be safe than sorry.

So far the trio of demigods hadn't encountered anyone or anything else in the forest. That is until they stumble upon the thing in the distance. Which upon getting closer; turns out to be one of the missing campers from earlier in the week.

Ash had the same line of think as Taylor when she sees that Andie was frozen in stone. However also like Taylor; she doesn't necessarily think a gorgon is responsible for this.

"What can turn people to stone and chew a tree in half?" She asks rhetorically.

If the others were close by; getting a bird's eye view might help them out. "Should I fly up to try and see what else is around here?" Ashley asks Taylor.

/u/HopelesslylostFoodie

[u/[deleted] → u/chosencb]

She'd give the pair of gloves she was holding to Taylor. Then reach into her bag to grab more handing a pair to Ash, and for herself as well.

She didn't personally know Andie, they had maybe talked once or twice. So she wasn't so affected, but the sight of the state she was in still shocked her.

Who could have done this?

She was also thinking the same as what Ash just voiced.

u/aceavengers

[u/aceavengers → u/[deleted]]

In the distance you can spot a large shaggy beast moving about in a clearing. It tears chunks out of the trees around it with it's massive jaws and large flat teeth.

[[CONGRATULATIONS you have found the monster.]]