Carpenter

Status: Adventuring...
Status Effect: Journal Unavailable until return!

Carpenter's Journal

4/30/2024:
I'm so scared. I know I voted for the first expedition, but it was a terrible disaster. Why did the Queen send us here? Why me? There's something strange in the air. It's like a Hivemind but... darker. It feels sinister. The mist is freaky.

There's three of us this time. It's probably a good thing that the queen feels safer sending more of us away... I'm realizing now how... common life outside a Hive is. There is no Hivemind to guide us anywhere.

Ach! Every time I think of the Hivemind, that voice returns. It's terribly grating and I hate how sweet-sounding it is, like some twisted form of a Hivemind command... but one that doesn't know how to command me. It's strange.

Pollen is incredibly high-strung. He's jumping at every sound or shadow. I can't blame him, his first experience here was... traumatizing. And it's very creepy here. Plus he's got that weird shadow-thing following him around. It's kind of cute, though. I hope I find one here.

Tonight's going to be a hard sleep, I think. The silence is pressing on me, and everyone looks uncomfortable in the eclipse light. It's a very strange sight, but so are many of the other things here.


5/1/2024: (Not in journal form for better understanding )
The three drones walked steadily through the maze of ruins.

Pollen kept himself low to the ground, flinching whenever he saw something move or heard a sound. The wispy creature could be seen now and again floating merrily behind him, seemingly playing in the mist. Carpenter was weary of both the Ruins and, it seemed, his companions as well. Bumble... seemed like he didn't care at all about the danger. He kept glancing at the wispy creature as if he wanted one.

Then there was a sound. This was quite strange - the only sound until now had been the dragons' own footsteps. All three of them froze - even Bumble looked frightened. Pollen was shaking all over. Only then did they realize how thick the mist had gotten. They had come to the center of the Ruins.

Carpenter looked afraid, but was brave enough to speak. "Must we... go see whatever that is?" he lowered his neck to look deeper. "Could... could it be Honeycomb?"

Pollen couldn't answer, he was so scared. Bumble gulped, nodded, and took a step forward. Carpenter followed his companion's lead after a beat. They very slowly crept forward, then looked back. Pollen would not follow. They hesitated, but continued. They would write whatever was ahead into their journals and leave as quickly as possible. The eclipsed moon and sun seemed to glare down on them. They rounded a corner in the stone maze.

They would never forget what lay before them now.

It was a circular room, the roof long since caved in to reveal the sky. What was once a stone table sat in the center of the once-room. Atop the table sat Honeycomb... but he wasn't like normal anymore.

He faced away from them, but it was clear he was under some spell of corruption by the purple-black shade over his scales, and the way his wings and tail faded to billowing smoke. Most concerning was the antenna-like appendage coming out of his forehead. It glowed softly violet.

Honeycomb shrieked again, and now it was clear he was the one they'd heard before. As the sound faded, Pollen gasped. He had just turned the corner.

Honeycomb whirled. His face was worse - covered in midnight-purple scales with eyes black as pitch. The antenna attached to his forehead, lighting a strange symbol none of the drones recognized. It glowed like an eclipse.

Honeycomb - no, the thing - snarled and lunged for Carpenter - the closest of the three companions. The sickened dragon's claws wrapped around Carpenter's neck, and he was dragged toward the center of the room. Carpenter clawed at the monster with fear-filled abandon, just barely managing to escape and leap back.

"Run!" Carpenter called, just as the Honeycomb creature opened his mouth to rasp, "Co~o~o~me!" But he was ignored. The three companions dashed through the maze, each beginning to spread their wings when the mists writhed.

Carpenter, in the back of the group, was snatched back by shadowy chains. He gargled and clawed at the chains but they couldn't be removed. Honeycomb barreled around the corner again, screeching, "Co~o~o~me!"

Just in time, the wisp-bird creature, normally by Pollen's side, materialize near Carpenter. Bumble and Pollen both exclaimed in fear, but the creature was able to use it's own magic to counter the chains. It weakened them until Carpenter could free himself. Then they were running again, spreading their wings...

This time, they made it. The corrupted dragon seemed confined to the mists. Shadowy chains had to be dodged the whole way home, but they made it... safe.