She plays along for now

Yes/No (Likely): Lux pretends to cooperate - are they fooled? | [5,3] Yes

“Yes, of course.” Lux smiles broadly, hoping its convincing – fortunately, these people don’t seem to be at their sharpest, right now. “I’d love to join you.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” The blonde girl clasps her hands together. “Gill, she’s a friend, you see?”

“Maybe,” the man says. His way of speaking is oddly detached, as if he’s talking to someone in a dream. He stares, not fully focusing on Lux, before he adds, “The great Athisz will decide what to do with you.”

“The great Athisz will welcome her, I know it.” The woman approaches Lux, holding out a hand. “My name’s Rosabel. Welcome to Hollowstone – to your new family!”

“Thank you.” Lux shakes her hand, a bit uneasily. “I’m Lux. Which way do we…?”

“This way.” The man called Gill sets out to take the lead. Lux and Rosabel follow, while the other men remain behind.

Lux keeps an eye on her surroundings as they make their way through the village. There are children here after all, she sees, but they’re at work like the adults, quietly carrying out assorted chores. A sort of vacant calm hangs over everyone. Lux spots what looks very much like an old temple near the centre of the village – its doors and windows firmly boarded up.

“Tell me about your leader,” she says as she walks alongside Rosabel. “Athisz, was it?”

“The great Athisz.” Rosabel sighs blissfully. “A prophet sent to lead us to a new home – a brighter world. Everyone’s been working so hard since Athisz got here, but soon it’ll all be worth it, very soon…”

There’s just the slightest crack in her bright, almost manic cheer. Some flicker of doubt that surfaces before being drowned in her excitement to see the supposed miracle this “Athisz” has prophesied. Lux simply nods along and follows. Whatever’s happening here, she doesn’t like it one bit.

Pacing Move: [5] Advance a Plot

The villain is preparing to open the portal right now…

Gill leads Lux and Rosabel away from the houses of the village itself, along the well-worn path leading out to the quarry. Lux notes as they pass that blocks of cut stone have been left discarded by the wayside – clearly, whatever Athisz wants with these people has nothing to do with profiting from their livelihood. Other quarry workers are going about their business with the same silent, methodical air as everyone else, as if only half-conscious. None of them give Lux so much as a second glance. For that matter, nobody Lux has seen yet has reacted to her distinctive appearance – only to her presence as a stranger. Ordinarily that might be a pleasant surprise, but here, it only makes her more suspicious.

They make their way down the dusty sloping path into the quarry pit, cut from the sloping hillside by long years of ceaseless work. At the end, they come to a rock face – unremarkable at first glance, but as they draw closer, Lux sees that the digging has exposed the mouth of a cave within the hill itself. Gill continues through the rocky passage without stopping, and after a moment, Lux follows.

Stepping in from the bright daylight, Lux’s plane-touched eyes adapt quickly to the dim light of the chamber, though a sense of gloom persists. Standing torches cast their flickering light over the interior, which Lux is quickly sure is no natural cave. Though the surfaces of the walls, ceiling and floor are rough and uneven, all are neat and regular enough that they must have been worked into this shape, long ago.

Ahead, a small group stands around a prominent stone formation: an archway, half the width of the cave itself. Like the rest, Lux has no doubt it is artificial, though incredibly ancient. Where the dull, dusty grey rock has worn or chipped away in places, she makes out another layer hidden beneath – gleaming facets of something like glass or crystal that occasionally catch the fitful torchlight.

Casting an eye over the people present, there’s no mistaking which one is Athisz: an imposing figure in ornate red-trimmed robes towers over the villagers, head nearly brushing against the cave ceiling. Lux can’t make out the face or any other clear features from this angle. But she can hear the voice of imperious command directing the villagers as they hurry this way and that with an assortment of unguents, incense-burners, rune-carved stones – the trappings of some complex occult rite. Wisps of smoke drift in the still air, carrying strange and unsettling scents.

Gill approaches, hesitantly, and bows down to Athisz. “Great one – ” His voice bears a flicker of hesitant awe, the first real emotion Lux has sensed from him. “Begging your leave – ”

“Of all the days.” Athisz hisses with exasperation, not even sparing a glance for the newcomers. “The ritual nears completion. This is no time for distractions.”

Sure enough, Lux feels a chill as the stone archway begins to react to the ceremony around it. The facets glinting from beneath the stone start to give off an unearthly light of their own. A shimmering haze begins to form within the arch itself, faint images hovering on the edge of sight. A portal, no doubt, but where might it lead? Lux doubts it will be the bright new world Rosabel was promised.

“Almost, almost.” Athisz turns, and Lux tenses as she falls under the robed prophet’s gaze. Looking up, Lux sees the face half-hidden by the hood – sickly-pale, gaunt, the too-large eyes glinting yellow in the torchlight.

“Now, what do we have…?” Athisz’s head tilts slightly. “Ah. Perhaps this is a valuable find you have brought me.”

Athisz leans closer, and Lux feels the weight of that yellow-eyed stare on her mind. It takes every ounce of her mental strength to fight it – and she doesn’t know how long she can keep fighting. This might well be the last thing each one of these villagers saw before they fell under their so-called prophet’s spell…