25th of Glade 121, Afternoon
It wasn't for a particularly good reason that Leith found herself in the Warrens.
It had all begun when a tea vendor she frequented at the docks gave her a strange glowing mixture, tempting her away from her usual green tea. Apart from the visual appeal: a faint blue aura, the tea itself was quite delicious. An earthy richness, just the slightest sweetness and an aftertaste that was mildly minty, leaving the palette refreshed. The woman admitted that she paid someone quite handsomely to go into the First Deep of the Warrens, but when Leith's coal black eyes lit up like burning embers she warned her that she had a very special way of brewing the mushrooms to get this result. Leith waved away the woman with a hand. She wasn't interested in stealing her tea business, but if unique edible flora could be obtained in the Warrens, what might she be able to use it for her in her own recipes?
She had heard tales of course, of the groups that defended the city from the horrors that lurked in the Warrens. How it grew infinitely more deadly the further you traversed. But it sounded as if the fungus was immediately available in the First Deep, and the curiosity had been sparked deep within, overriding some base instincts that had resonated more deeply in her when she actively hunted in the deep seas of the Southern Ocean.
So it was that Leith came as prepared as she imagined she could be. She packed water, provisions, several of her kitchen knives that had chips and cracks leaving them unusable by her standards for cooking, but sharpened to a razors edge. They sat in leather sheathes wrapped around the middle of her hulking Lycan form, pack slung over one shoulder as she made her way into the entrance of the Warrens, nose working as soon as she entered, large black eyes slowly adjusting as the light behind her receded and she made her way into the cavernous depths.
It smelled of decay. The natural, and some putrid bitter undertone that was certainly the unnatural quality of the place. Luminescent flora did in fact appear almost as soon as the light of the entrance to the city had disappeared, but it was high up indeed, moss clinging to the ceiling of the great cavernous tunnels. She strained her eyes to see if she could detect any mushrooms, but could not and kept walking. Her eyes darted from floor to walls and ceiling and back again methodically. It was as she continued that a subtle pervasive sort of dread began to take hold. It was quite minor at first, a sort of uneasiness she had felt when trying to catch rabbits in the woods and understanding that her skills at hunting on land were far inferior. Then it surpassed this sensation ten fold, then a hundred fold as she began to sense things around her.
At first she thought it might be purely paranoia, until a quick turn of her head revealed a rat like creature scurrying out of sight. She followed it doggedly, nose picking up an even stronger scent of death around a corner, noting the arrangement of stalactites so she would recall this intersection. When she rounded the bend she found a handful of the creatures feasting upon an....arm? What had once perhaps been an arm, and was now putrid flesh and mostly bone as the 'rats' feasted upon it. They were black as night, and almost seemed to be seeping...though she blinked several times and tried to dispel what was obviously a trick of the eye. They barely paid her any mind and Leith approached, crouched, and drove tip of a knife once meant to filet fish straight into the skull of one of the rats. The rest screeched and fled, and the stuff that came out of the rat she stabbed made her stumble back, aghast. Now she noticed the creature wasn't just black, but also red, strange veins lacing, pulsing, though they dimmed as the life ebbed away from the creature. Leith wiped her knife upon the damp rocky floor and wondered if perhaps this might be a good time to turn back.
