[attr="class","wesleft2"]

[attr="class","westitle"]White Rabbit

Wes scanned the area for any sign of the white rabbit, not that he really had any idea what he was looking for. There were lots of dead rats and a couple of living ones scurrying about, but no white rabbit. Inspired by the event, Wes decided to venture further into the farm. He always stayed close to the wooden fence when traveling here because it was the farthest out that the rats spawned. He never had a reason to get closer to the structures that worried him so, but today, he thought, it wouldn't hurt to at least see if he could find some clues to the hare's location.

Cautiously, he advanced. Every couple steps were paused by a quick scan of the ground around him and a wider, slower scan of the area. As he moved closer to the center of the field, he found that the vegetation grew thicker. It still didn’t look healthy; rather, there were just more weeds here. Wes thought they looked unnaturally sickly. Rather than some greenery thriving despite the barren dirt, the growth looked like a sprawling, decaying rot.

Wes didn’t make it too far before he spotted a woman approaching the farm. Her smile solicited his own. He gave a friendly wave and shouted, "Hello! Are-" he cut himself off and scanned the area once more. His face grew pale and panic washed over him at the prospect of his shouting summoning more monsters to the area.

Once he was sure that nothing else was emerging from the… well from the very open space with very little spaces for monsters to hide, he began retracing his steps and striding towards her. It was a slow effort, and Wes was cognizant that he probably looked ridiculous moving through the relatively safe field so slowly. If the woman waited for him to make it, or if she met him where he was, he would offer his name.

"Hi there, I’m Wes" his smile returned from before. It was not a front, but a genuine expression. The moment he had spotted her, he felt a wave of relief wash over him, and now that he stood beside her, he felt the tension in his shoulders relax. Wes had no reason to trust her, not really, though this wasn’t a PvP zone so he didn’t think she could be too much of a threat to him, right? "Are you looking for the rabbit, too?"

Without waiting for her response, he summoned the system message he received regarding the menu and showed it to her.

[attr="class","wesleft2"]

[attr="class","westitle"]White Rabbit

"That sounds perfect!" Wes wanted to hide his excitement but his voice betrayed him. The prospect of traveling with someone who looked much stronger than he was and sharing in whatever reward they received was just too much of a gift for him not to be excited. She seemed too confident and too poised not to have a wealth of experience on him. She didn’t have the same apprehension that he carried with every step.

He clicked the System message to accept the Party invite. "Well Nubia, unfortunately I don’t have much of a clue as to where the rabbit is. But!” He gave her a little point, "seeing that you didn’t get the system message until you came all the way to the farm, I would guess …" his voice trailed off. He didn’t want to say the next words, but he had a strong hunch that he knew where they would find their target. He winced, turning to the abandoned buildings off in the distance "that the rabbit is in one of those."

The structures hadn’t changed since he last examined them some twenty minutes ago, but he felt their presence loomed over him now.

"I’ve never been over there," he broadly gestured. "Don’t really know what to expect."

Despite his worry, he would start to walk forward, back through the field. His pace would be normal to start. Trusting in his new acquaintance and feeling that after having combed through this section of the field twice over now that it must be relatively safe, he didn’t resort to the same awkward gait he displayed earlier.

That is, he didn’t until they got closer to the expanse of dead foliage. Crossing the midpoint of the field, he slowed down and proceeded as he did before. If Nubia didn’t set a pace, he would continue moving as he did, with each step filled with paranoia for the slightest of movements and sounds. If she decided it was unbearable or just decided she wanted to move a bit faster, he would oblige and follow her.

The first building they would come upon was the barn. Now closer, Wes could see that a good chunk of the roof was gone. Broken, shattered boards framed a gaping hole and a couple of fragmented planks laid outside. Wes guessed that the rest of the destroyed roof rested in side the building.

The doors were the same as he had seen earlier, large and slightly ajar, with the wind pulling one door ever-so-slightly open with each breeze before releasing it to fall shut on rusted hinges. There were some windows he hadn’t spotted before, but each was boarded shut.

Wes scanned the area for any signs of life. There were none, not even the rats he saw earlier. That worried him.

[attr="class","wesleft2"]

[attr="class","westitle"]White Rabbit

Wes had a suspicion that they should check the inside of the barn, but he did not want to be the first person to go inside. So instead, he continued to explore the outside of the building. With no expertise on what he should be checking for in terms of any signs of life or safety, he did acted randomly with whatever thought crossed his mind. Each of his actions lacked any finesse, they were clumsy and unrefined.

He first walked along the front and stopped at one of the boarded windows. He pushed gently, testing their strength, but was met with firm resistance. There was not even the slightest budging. He then actually took notice of the placement of the boards and the nails. They were all on the outside of the barn, meaning someone had nailed the boards from the outside. Wes wasn’t sure if that meant anything, but he figured if he was barricading himself in somewhere, he would board from the inside.

He then bent down and checked the ground by the window. No footprints, no unpacked dirt, there were no signs that anyone had been there anytime recently. Did this mean that it had been a while now that the farm had been boarded up? Or did this mean that the farm had not been boarded up by a person, but instead by a system-- the system?

Wes stood up and scratched his head. He turned to check on what Nubia was doing but stopped himself from speaking. He didn’t want to blurt out that she should lead them inside, at least not yet.

Instead, he walked the rest of the length of the barn front and rounded the corner opposite of where they had arrived. He now stood as far away from the hole in the roof as he could. As he turned the corner, he spotted a tiny flurry of moment at the far edge of the barn. It was small and Wes only caught a glimmer, but he thought he spotted something white. Excited, he doubled back and waived down Nubia. If his initial waves didn’t get her attention, he would offer a whistle, and if that didn’t work a small, whispered shout.

Once he managed to get a hold of her, Wes would attempt to silently signal what he had seen. He made a little bunny with two fingers on his hand and did a little hopping move before then pointing to the other front corner of the building. If his poor excuse for sign language didn’t work, he would just very loudly whisper "rabbit".

Wes then pointed toward the opposite corner of him, hoping to get Nubia to walk around the other side of the building, before turning back around the corner and stalking down the edge. He would see no other signs of life as he walked the broadside of the barn. And whoever reached the edge of the barn first, would not find a white rabbit.

Rather, they would find the back of the barn wide open, revealing a spare interior, well illuminated thanks to the renovated ceiling. The barn was split into two levels: the floor, and an upper level that rested above the front half of the barn. Wes didn’t see a ladder or any other means of getting up to the second floor, but he did spot a table, some chairs, and a makeshift cot. There might have been some other things there, but he couldn’t see from his angle. As for the first floor, it was mostly barren, save for a large stack of hay in one of the front corners.

What was most interesting was that there was a gaping hole in the floor. It looked as if a meteor had fallen from the sky and landed in the barn and burned into the ground. The hole was dark, difficult to see the bottom of, but Wes could just barely make out the contours. He could also see that the hole was less of a hole and more of a tunnel that lead somewhere else.

[attr="class","wesleft2"]

[attr="class","westitle"]White Rabbit

When Nubia pointed to him first, then herself, then the hole, Wes just shook his head. He had no interest in going down there. No, not at all. He watched on as Nubia grabbed some hay and lit it. That’s much better than trying to strain to see Wes thought, and rubbed his eyes from having been straining to see.

The lit hay would fall, but not for too long. It lit up, revealing the path that Wes had thought he spotted in the low light.

"That's not too far down" he started, but Nubia had already made her way to the base of the hole. He stood above, looking down, as she scanned the area for safety. When she was done and motioned for him to join, Wes once again shook his head. However, the sound of movement, of lots of scurrying, from outside of the barn made him change his mind. He practically jumped down, sliding with his feet along the slight slant of the rim. Landing with a show athleticism far unworthy of the haphazard way he flung himself down, he looked to Nubia and then back up.

At the edge of the hole, was a mischief of those gross mice, each looking down at them with their beady, black eyes. None made any move to come down. Rather, they just sniffed, their nostrils flaring and whiskers bouncing, and stared.

"Hmm..." he furrowed his brow, "I really did not want to come down here but its looking better than being up there, shall we?" He walked ahead, but not too far ahead.

After an initial pitch of darkness, that Wes would rely on for Nubia for a light source, if any, there was an ominous, yellow glow. Wes slowed his already measured pace at the first sign of the eerie light. But with seeing and hearing no signs of movement, he steadily progressed.

The glow grew brighter and brighter until they arrived at the source. Stepping out of the tunnel and into a large cavern, there was a giant yellow stone etched into ceiling. He hadn't thought they'd been traveling downward, but the space they were in now had such a grand ceiling that they must have been a few dozen more feet below the surface. And not only was the ceiling large, but the cavern itself was spacious.

Around the rim of the cavern was a circle of water, no more than a few feet wide at any point. The water was moving rather than stagnant, though Wes couldn't tell in what direction it was moving or where it was moving to, and under the yellow light it had a rather sickly appearance to it. It was shallow, with cobbled stone beneath it, and Wes stepped through the water toward the center.

In the middle of the room, directly beneath the giant yellow gem, was a long table covered in a lavish pink table cloth. An assortment of chairs--from wingbacks with plush fabric and ornate trims to simple wooden dining chairs--circled the table. There were enough to sit a dozen on each side.

At each seat there was a setting. A simple one, with a fold napkin, a cup and a plate, and a small spoon meant for stirring. In the dead center of the table, there were two obnoxiously large items: a simple white teapot, and a banded top hat.