Outside 50: Meeting nature halfway

[bc56]

Badlands

That was a boring and uncomfortable trip. Sure the scenery is nice, but Kothar prefers to be near water. It looks like that big rock tower is his goal. So the first obvious question is: is there an entrance at ground level? If not, he'll have to climb it the hard way.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

They're pretty fortunate that whatever caused the boneshards decided to not come out.

"Maybe if you learned and wrote things in, like, Braille or some sort of carving-writing, then that'd make up for not being able to read," Seraphina comments. "Being able to write messages in the dark seems like it could be really important at some point."

Well, anyway, the green light is gone and there's just regular sunlight now.
So...maybe? it's safe? Probably?


Before Khannie has a chance to go out, though, and while Seraphina is packing up everything into the pack (and taking out the cloak again), she says, "Let me go out first. You know magic so you have a better chance of fixing me than vice-versa," she says, and hands her cloak to Khannie, ("In case the sunlight does still do something.")
She says that it's best for her to go out for that reason, but the actual reason is that she'd rather risk herself turning to stone than making a kid do it.

As soon as it looks possible to leave the cave, Seraphina does, and turns around in the sunlight a little. Stops. Turns around, twirls, spins, waits...looks at herself.
Not a statue.

[Ironsmith]

On the Road Again
"Yes." Kothar replies simply, and continues on his way.
It's up to Alan to decide whether he'll accept this.

[Going Inside]

Alan just lets out a weary sigh and follows Kothar. He just hoped someone here could actually help him.

[Rebonack]

[Badlands]

There DO appear to be several holes somewhat close to the ground with mounded dirt leading up to them in the form of a simple ramp. Kothar will be able to see figures moving up and down the ramp in the distance. As he draws closer it becomes increasingly clear what they are.

Termites.

GIANT termites.

Giant for termites, anyway. They're the size of house cats, more or less. But that's still pretty big and upsetting them would probably mean getting swarmed by the things which wouldn't be great.

So the question is...

Could Kothar just walk in there without invoking the wrath of the termites?

Maybe there's a way he could disguise his scent...


[Totally Lost]

"I found some spells that were written in cuneiform but carrying around a clay tablet just in case I need to read in the dark would be annoying," Khannie replies. "Also I would have to learn to read cuneiform."

Which she could do, probably. It would likely be easier to just make up a cypher that uses cuneiform letters in place of regular letters. But that's still a lot of work for an edge case.

And then?

Seraphina goes outside!

And doesn't turn into a statue!

Success!

Khannie will follow her out and Maridia will climb out of Khannie backpack, glad to be out of that stinky cave.

"Okay we just keep going now, right? It sounded like the train station wasn't that far away."

Time to put the mysterious statue village behind them and not investigate it at all. That sounds more like a job for grownups. (While Seraphina is a grownup she's just ONE grownup).

[bc56]

Badlands
What does Kothar know about how termites behave? Absolutely nothing!
He just heads for the nearest ramp and tries to get inside the tower. If they attack him, he'll have to kill them. If they don't, he won't. Simple.

[Earl of Purple]

Wasteland Settlement

As the knights get the people moving, Frigate will approach Lady Skuld. "Fer what purpose did ye attack yon town? Where be they goin'?" He isn't sure there's any reason he can let this stand- it looks like they're a threat to the communities, and he was told to disperse them if they were. He's also leaning the volleygun against his shoulder, where it looks like it's harmlessly pointing at the sky but he could easily bring it down to fire it if he needed to.

Lady Aethelflaed Camp

The good news for Green is the carpark has actually been paved, the space within the flintstone walls covered in old tarmac. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the best of repair even before the first Flash and nobody's been looking after it since. Though at least without vehicles using it, new damage hasn't really occurred. There's burns and scorch marks under the fire pit, and potholes here and there, plus puddles.

"We will keep that in mind should we ever go to the seaside. I'm going to propose we head to the campsite in the morning. We've missed five years of education and have no money with which to do... anything, really. There's too many of us to lodge with the Chimera until we're settled, and we can't force that upon them anyway. Given the choice between a refugee camp and a homeless shelter, I prefer the sound of the camp. We will, of course, vote." There's nods scattered around as the girls think about the future with hope. It's been a while for some of them since they've been able to do that.

This is interrupted, however, when a bloodcurdling shriek is heard. It's not close, maybe five minutes away, so most of the girls are fortunately unaffected by the magical paralysis. However, Hermione looks up and seems worried. "That came from Simone's watch point. We should get our sentries in closer, if that was the same thing that bit me it could have just kissed her. And she wasn't here to hear what the Chimera had to say about the heads." Meaning she doesn't know about the infectious curse and the need to get back to sunlight.
"Sarah, Heighleigh with a G, Athena, Susan and Dani, grab your gear and get out there. Hayley with a Y, go get Fred. I'm calling our pickets in, we need to stick around this light to stay safe from those things." The named girls all start to grab their gear, Hayley with a Y being the girl that Chimera winked at. It'd be faster to send Waheeda's crew out there, since they're mostly still in their exploration gear, but they've also started settling down for the night. The Head Girl selected the next girls on gate duty keeping an eye on the roads, the girl who was keeping an eye on the fire before Freya was awoken and reassigned, and the fastest runner in the group.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

Not being a statue is a huge relief.

Imagine!
If they had never come here, they would never feel such relief for something as simple as not being a statue!

Seraphina nods.
"Just a few hours, to where those scientists are," she says. "Three if we go fast, four if we go regular speed."

Seraphina, who is just one grown-up, gets her cloak back, and starts going that way in the direction she was told.
Eventually, there's just normal trees and shrubs around.

[Ironsmith]

[Lady Aethelflaed Camp]

"This place is a crossroads. Just imagine a great big crossover between every idea you've ever heard of an a whole heap of ones you haven't," Drakaina says. "In some cases that's a bad thing since you get crazy stuff like batheads and Endurance's zombie flowers. In other cases it's GREAT because you get things that are smart, witty, charming-"
"Humble."
"-and beautiful like me and my admittedly less radiant siblings. There's a City not too terribly far from here. They've still got civilization and all the trappings. There's a campsite, too, that takes in refugees if you're still feeling like roughing it after all these years in the wilderness. Either would be better than hanging out here at Apocalypse Junction."

At that last question Leona gives a huff of a laugh.

"Bellerophon did fine; we inherited Chimera's name," she replies. "And his spear, too."
"Most of Echidna's brood is still around. But they're people, y'know? Some of them are jerks. Some of them are nice. Me, Sphinx, Hydra, all pretty chill. Scylla's a bitch, though."

Green, meanwhile, continues shoving on Chimera!

Given that Chimera weighs about two and a half tons scooting them around against their will is pretty tough. Even if Green does have the strength to push that much weight there's a good chance that the ground under Green's feet will give faster than Chimera will.

Also?

Aries tries giving Green a gentle head-butt.

"Um... Green? We're Tristan. Y-you were right about us not being human. P-please stop pushing on us?" the ram's head requests politely.

Lady Aethelflaed Camp

The good news for Green is the carpark has actually been paved, the space within the flintstone walls covered in old tarmac. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the best of repair even before the first Flash and nobody's been looking after it since. Though at least without vehicles using it, new damage hasn't really occurred. There's burns and scorch marks under the fire pit, and potholes here and there, plus puddles.

"We will keep that in mind should we ever go to the seaside. I'm going to propose we head to the campsite in the morning. We've missed five years of education and have no money with which to do... anything, really. There's too many of us to lodge with the Chimera until we're settled, and we can't force that upon them anyway. Given the choice between a refugee camp and a homeless shelter, I prefer the sound of the camp. We will, of course, vote." There's nods scattered around as the girls think about the future with hope. It's been a while for some of them since they've been able to do that.

This is interrupted, however, when a bloodcurdling shriek is heard. It's not close, maybe five minutes away, so most of the girls are fortunately unaffected by the magical paralysis. However, Hermione looks up and seems worried. "That came from Simone's watch point. We should get our sentries in closer, if that was the same thing that bit me it could have just kissed her. And she wasn't here to hear what the Chimera had to say about the heads." Meaning she doesn't know about the infectious curse and the need to get back to sunlight.
"Sarah, Heighleigh with a G, Athena, Susan and Dani, grab your gear and get out there. Hayley with a Y, go get Fred. I'm calling our pickets in, we need to stick around this light to stay safe from those things." The named girls all start to grab their gear, Hayley with a Y being the girl that Chimera winked at. It'd be faster to send Waheeda's crew out there, since they're mostly still in their exploration gear, but they've also started settling down for the night. The Head Girl selected the next girls on gate duty keeping an eye on the roads, the girl who was keeping an eye on the fire before Freya was awoken and reassigned, and the fastest runner in the group.

[Lady Aethelflaed Camp]

Does not compute.

Tristan is a human-looking dude. Not a lion.

This lion is clearly not Tristan.

QED.

"You are in error, lion." Green begins, before being interrupted by a scream, which makes her reassess her priorities. This lion did not appear to be causing these humans distress, but that scream was a clear sign of trouble. Leaving Chimera alone, she runs to help... whoever needed it.

Wasteland Settlement

As the knights get the people moving, Frigate will approach Lady Skuld. "Fer what purpose did ye attack yon town? Where be they goin'?" He isn't sure there's any reason he can let this stand- it looks like they're a threat to the communities, and he was told to disperse them if they were. He's also leaning the volleygun against his shoulder, where it looks like it's harmlessly pointing at the sky but he could easily bring it down to fire it if he needed to.

[Wasteland Settlement]

"We have thirty moroi in desperate need of restoration, mister Frigate." Skuld snips. "Weighing out the amount needed to restore our men to good health, there's enough blood here to bring back maybe half a dozen of them. Six more Maesdan lives saved." She gives him an imperious glare. "Perhaps you think that is an unfair trade."

The knights stop in their tracks, still crowded around the villagers to keep them from fleeing, but their attention clearly drawn to this confrontation.

"Let me tell you, mister Frigate; life is unfair." Skuld gestures to her knights. "These men have done nothing to deserve this. To be lowered to the status of mere brigands and beggars. These are good men. Honorable men. And as their Lady, my first and last duty is to them, my people." She scowls. "Now are you with us? Or is this where we part ways?"

[Rebonack]

[Badlands]

Kothar storms the nearest ramp!

Most of the termite just absolutely ignore him.

Not all of them, though. Surrounding the entrance are some larger termites (larger like medium dog size) with bigger jaws and a weird forward-facing horn on their heads. As soon as Kothar approaches they move to intercept!

How you ask?

By squirting straw colored liquid at him out of their horns of course!

The liquid in question is VERY sticky and begins expanding into rapidly hardening foam shortly after colliding with a surface! The termite warriors look like they're planning on trying to glue him to the ground.

Likely it is a bad idea to allow them to do this.


[Totally Lost]

"We should go faster my dad is probably already worried sick about me," Khannie says as she sets off in the required direction.

Well!

This is going pretty good so far, right?

They didn't get ambushed by the statue making thing AND whatever made the bone splinters in the cave never attacked them!

No doubt they'll be able to make it to the train station without encountering any misfortune of any kind.


[Lady Aethelflaed Camp]

"Haha, yeah, our house is pretty decently sized but WOW are we ever not set up for this many guests," Drakaina laughs. "But believe me, GLoG is a big step up from here. Warmer for sure. Better shelter and no horrible batheads trying to smooch you."

Speaking of!

Batheads are probably smooching someone.

Leona gives a low growl as Chimera rises to their feet.

"Gunna help. We don't have to get ready," Leona says as she, once again, silently leaps over the wall and heads off toward the sound of the shrieking.

[bc56]

Badlands

Kothar doesn't want to be glued in place. Fortunately he's fast. He jumps away from the streams of adhesive towards the angry termites and strikes with his flaming axe, one stroke in midair at the termite on the left, one stroke upon landing at the termite on his right. Then he's immediately running towards the next one.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

It's true!: they probably get back safely, so long as they get back on a path or road. Which, since they don't really know where they are except that by following the path they'll get where they want, there's little reason to leave the safety of the path.

They'll get to a swampy area, with a raised road so they don't have to walk through all the swamp. Except it had rained here recently, so the ground's a little wet and muddy. There's a LARGE toad sitting in the middle of the road but it shouldn't be that hard to scare it away.

Eventually, they'll pass a crater, with two scientists in labcoats there; one in the crater with high-tech equipment and the other at the top with a handheld holo-computer, typing stuff.
Cell service starts coming back around here.

And then there's a barn.

And, either by looking around a bunch, asking the scientists, or looking it up using the phone, they'll be able to find a Riftline station.
Well, calling it a 'station' is pretty generous.
It's little more than a wooden platform with an awning and a single bench, and a train schedule that shows the trains occasionally come by here, but only during daytime.
It's about noon, so.

[Rebonack]

[Totally Lost]

More walking.

Thankfully Khannie's shoes are in pretty good shape, which means they don't get very soggy strolling along the boardwalk through the swamp. When they reach the huge toad she'll try shoving it off the walkway with one of her feet.

"Outta the way bogfrog, we've got places to go."

Once the TOAD CHALLENGE has been overcome some more walking! Just so much walking today. Once they reach the crater Khannie will wonder why the scientists are wearing lab coats if they aren't in a lab. That's where you're supposed to wear a lab coat, right? Miss Geneva doesn't wear a lab coat all the time everyone. Khannie is pretty sure she just wears it when she's in her lab. Regardless! She'll ask them what they're doing as she's walking past. Usually scientists really like talking about what they're doing.

Then past...

A BARN!

Man, what a barn.

Just a barn out here in the middle of nowhere.

Are there any goats perched on top of it?

Anyway on to the station. Khannie will sit down on the bench, her feet aching, and call her dad to let him know that she's okay and on her way home.


[Badlands]

Kothat is not making friends with the termites.

He leaps around the glue spray and easily dispatches a pair of the warriors. They... really aren't very durable. They're probably meant to fight off weird outside wildlife, not tangle will seasoned paladins.

And speaking of seasoning!

The slain termites are releasing alarm pheromones into the air, which shortly attracts even MORE warriors! A good half dozen of them! They come skittering out of the hoodoo and attempt to surround Kothar while squirting glue at them from their weird glue horns.

[bc56]

Badlands
This is slowly changing from a breeze to a workout. But not much of a fight yet if all they can do is spit glue at Kothar. He jumps out of the way again and resumes his attack, spinning to strike with his axe against one and crashing into another with his shield so he can get close to a third with the axe again. As long as they keep fighting him, he can't ignore them, because he doesn't want to be stuck repeatedly while he tries to climb the tower.

[5a Violista]

[Totally Lost]

The scientist on the computer answers.
He really likes talking about it!
He explains how nobody's really sure what caused this crater, and the person whose land this is called to have it investigated, in case it was dangerous. So far! Doesn't seem dangerous. There was nothing sitting at the center, either, though. And he talks about how so far they've discovered that it was apparently caused by a person falling out the sky, and that the person got up and walked off on their own. Pretty interesting stuff!


The barn does, in fact, have a goat on it. A baby goat, specifically.


At the station, Seraphina also sits, and pretends to not hear the conversation. It's not really her business, anyway.

Soon enough, a train comes by.
It's interesting, because if you check the schedule, this train is actually twenty minutes earlier than it should be. But it's still a train, nonetheless!
It comes to a stop.
It's relatively packed, and everyone in there is standing up, and is facing away from the station platform. Also, the floor is stained dark.

Seraphina gets a weird feeling from it, but glances at Khannie. "So, um. Should we get on this one? Or...I mean, you've been on the Riftline more often."

[Rebonack]

[Badlands]

It is less of a workout for the giant termites since they keep getting killed.

But getting killed doesn't make them any less determined!

Several more of the smallish creatures get chopped, bashed, and generally mangled. Even one solid hit is plenty to crush their exoskeleton and leave them maimed. Oddly enough the workers will grab the dead or dying soldiers and drag them deeper into the hoodoo. Otherwise the workers seem either oblivious or disinterested in what Kothar is doing. Only the larger soldiers are particularly bothered by his presence. By this time he's getting rather covered in termite guts.

Gross.

And then?

A very odd thing happens.

The soldiers abruptly stop shooting glue at him, their antenna waving atop eyeless heads. They skitter back to their positions at the entrance and proceed to ignore the lizard man.

He smells kind of gross. Maybe that's a good thing?


[Totally Lost]

Someone fell out of the sky?

Weird.

Khannie has heard that's how Nexus newcomers arrive sometimes and tell the scientists so.

Also?

Khannie will wave at the goat on top of the barn as they pass. She'll even say, "Hi goat!" because that's just what you do when you're walking and you see a goat.

But none of those things are very important compared to waiting for the train. And after waiting a train arrives!

Just...

Really early. Which is weird. Because normally the Riftline trains are always always always exactly on time. Khannie has heard it's because the trains are run by devils and schedules are very important to devils. Now, Khannie was part ghost type for quite a while. A few years, even! And something Khannie really got well acquainted with was spook stuff as a result. That familiarity with the werid and paranormal hasn't gone away just because she started being a little girl instead of a haunter kangaskhan fusion thingy. She still knows spooky when she sees it and a stained floor PLUS lots of totally motionless people facing away from you on a train instead of sitting in seats and facing forward or looking out the windows?

That's spooky.

Khannie wrinkles her nose at it.

"I think that might be a ghost train," she says, standing up and taking a few steps forward. If it IS a ghost train then what's it doing out here? Something spooky, probably? Traveling down to the underworld?

It isn't a long black train, is it?

[Chaotic Bob]

ABAJ - Day 4

G’nichi sighs. Again.
”So I can’t even know if anything she told me about why Eiko had to die was true. Got it. And now I have to figure out how to tell Atsushi and Hana that I have to guess who Ran will go for tonight. Hopefully it will be me. He has every right to hate me. But I don’t know.”
He continues to hate everything about this.

"If she is speaking true, you are doing the right thing. It seems doubtful she would have you killing someone with no purpose, as this is something she could do on her own."
The mace is trying to be comforting in a practical sort of way here, but it does seem to think this.
"At this stage you should just talk to Atsushi, as he is already in on your plan. He may be able to help you with Hana as well, though I question her emotional stability if pressed."

It is at this part that G'nichi's feet begin to itch. Glancing down at his feet, the mist down there seems to be turning pink.
Somewhere in the fog-muffled distance, shouts.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

"Today just keeps going." G'nichi growls. He hurries back into town before his feet melt off.
Hopefully his feet are not actually melting off. He needs those for things and doesn't have spares.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

As G'nichi runs towards town, the pink in the mist begins to fade away.
"It seems to have been originating from behind us..."

Fudo and Jeb's voices can be heard from not far off, slightly out of breath, as the run somewhere nearby. They would appear to be running for the dining building.
"If I can make a suggestion: release me to do some reconnaissance, while you tend to the villagers."

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi nods and sets Shar down. If there's a command needed to let him take his lion shape he'll throw that in there.
"Don't be a hero. I need your report if something's up." Not that he expects Shar to try much considering violence is banned during the game.
Then he'll set off for the hall.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

"By your leave."
The mace blurs as it begins to float away, the shape of a great winged lion vanishing into the fog.

Onwards to the dining hall.

As G'nichi pushes open the door, Fudo, Atsushi (who had evidently been with them, but silent), and Jeb are arguing with each other around one of the tables, upon which lie the very pale and unconscious Yuu and Hana.
"Was this a part of the stupid game?"
"No, it shouldn't be."
"Why are we still doing this anyway? We should just go for help."
"I don't think we can-"
"Shut up Atsushi, I'm asking our great leader."

They seem like they're having a good time.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi enters, clearly not terribly happy to see the teenagers unconscious.
"Shar is going to look around for us but something's up with the fog. Is that what knocked them out?" He almost called them kids even though they're about the same age.
"If something's messed with the fog it means someone is tampering with us while somehow skirting around the violence rule." he's not going to stop folks from pushing him out of the conversation.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

"You should butt out, outsider."
Fudo seems rather agitated, and on closer inspection also seems a little pale.
Everyone here seems pale, Atsushi the worst. Pale and tired.

"Hold on, he's the only one here with any magic knowledge now that Lady Eiko's gone!"
"Which was his idea!"

Jeb ignores both of them, addressing G'nichi directly.
"Yuu went to take a look over the cliff, Hana went to grab him. Buncha pink light appeared down there and the air went bad. Burned, felt like it was sucking the life straight outta our skin. Kids got it the worst, being at the edge.
Sound like anything to you?"

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

G'nichi waves a hand.
"It sounds like someone is mad that we got our special player out. That or something is going on down that cliff. I don't remember which cliff, is there supposed to be something down there? River? Caves?"
He doesn't think that there's whatever buried under the down by the cliffs. Would be a bad spot to bury an evil.

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

Fudo and Atsushi continue to bicker, Jeb continues to ignore them.
"Hrm, there's a stream that runs along the bottom of the cliff. There's some nooks and crannies, but nothing I'd call a cave. If that poison is coming from down there, we can't look around."

There is an emphasis on the "we" clearly indicating everyone except for G'nichi.
"Just in case this is related to the game, or breaking the rules, we should probably move everyone away from that side of the village. Fudo, Kawa, and myself can take other dormitory rooms."

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

If things weren’t so dire G’nichi might wonder what set Fudo off. He was relatively calm dealing with G’nichi.
Jeb’s words make something occur to G’nichi.
”Wait, so was the stuff affecting you too from that far away? It only made me itchy. But I was pretty far away.” He looks down at his little bracelet. It had protected him from the weather before but not poison.
”It’s not about breaking the rules. If it was it would have simply killed me. And the other person who was cheating, which was Eiko. And-
…
Jeb where’s Ran?”

[Chaotic Bob]

[ABAJ - Day 4]

Jeb doesn't immediately grasp whatever significance G'nichi is implying here.
"I would guess he's probably still at the temple with Kawa, unless they left. They didn't come with us."

He does frown at a different part though.
"What do you mean Lady Eiko was cheating?"

[bc56]

Badlands
Finally.
Kothar must smell bad enough they don't recognize him anymore. He'll slip into the hoodoo and look for a way up towards the top. The treasure is always at the top of a tower or at the bottom of a cave. Always.
His weapon is ready in case of another encounter with angry termites.

[Deathkeeper]

ABAJ - Day 4

"You remember I said my weapons have their own power? Yesterday's went nuts when I was alone with Ran and Eiko. One of them was some sort of monster and was influencing the Demons. I figured it had to be one of them. But Eiko is dead and the fog is still out there. So Ran must be the last Demon, and Eiko was the imposter. But they were still clearly working together. I just hope Eiko didn't leave a contingency for Ran to enact in her absence." She had said good luck.
"I should check the temple. If nothing else Kawa needs to know that there's poison in the air." He needs to wait for Shar to return before he checks out the cliff anyway.
He sure hopes that if something happened to Shar he would know.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Steelbite Canyon]

"You truly do not care? Perhaps you should." Calm Reed tightens her grip. "I am an Immaculate monk. I studied spiritual martial arts passed down from the Immaculate Dragons, with which to slay gods. To a mortal like you, I can do much worse. Instead of killing you, I can trap your soul within your inert body. Or obliterate it entirely. Or turn it into a hungry ghost, roaming this place forever. Which of these sounds most appealing?"

Steelbite Canyon

"An' I'm the magical fairy princess o' Toadstool Hall. My farts 're classed a forbidden weapon in three jurisdictions an' I can burp the Nutcracker Suite. Your mumbo jumbo religion ain't any o' my interest, the end is comin' and there's nothing you can do about it. Fido showed me, it's beautiful. It'll devour us all, and it won't stop till there's nuthin' else." The old guy's lying about the first bit, and probably also the farts. Seems a bit of a nihilistic thing to worship; perhaps more than appease for power they feed it in exchange for a more merciful end than they think it'd otherwise give them.

[Steelbite Canyon]

"Ah, hells." Atreyu grunts, forcing himself back to his feet and stumbling over. "If the fella's that convinced that the end is coming, threats to his life probably ain't gonna produce results." Seems enough time has passed for him to be more-or-less recovered. "Don't have much to hand that would force him to be any more talkative otherwise. Ya got any ideas?"

[Rebonack]

[Badlands]

The termites do not assault Kothar further.

There are, however, worse things than termites in here.

He might recall seeing something flying high up the hoodoo's face?

Well, none of the termites appear to have wings.

Making his way up through the winding, hollow structure he'll see the first of these creatures before too long. A tall, slender thing the color of sand. From a distance in low light it might be mistaken for a human wearing robes, but closer inspection reveals an insectoid horror draped in its own wings. The creature's mandibles fit together in such a way as to be suggestive of a human face, though a good look at it would reveal that it's anything but. The creature is standing as still as a statue, staring down the corridor Kothar is traversing.

If it noticed him it hasn't reacted yet.

That may or may not be concerning.