Eight Legged Freaks

[Das Kirb]

As the rain poured down to turn the once verdant fields into mud soaked quagmires of miserable terrain thunder would crack the otherwise silent afternoon skies. The booming crack was nearly deafening though the lightning itself was only light dancing in the thick black clouds that hovered overhead. This desolate land had long since been abandoned, ripped and torn by the hatred and violence of too soon past war. Not even the merchant trail was used anymore as the place had gained a reputation for spirits of the gruesomely slain still raging an infinite battle, constantly repeating the same cycle of rebirth and death without hope of ceasing.

It was here the Shinobi had been sent by recent word of activity having been happening concerning the collection of bodies, most of them skeletons left to rot and feed the desperate plants that attempted to claim what meek life they could. The reason for these dark figures activities was unknown as it was only those who came towards the edge of this forgotten battlefield that had been unlucky enough to be seen. However, all reports had made it clear that there was something off about them. They moved in strange ways, constantly jerking as if in some kind of intense pain. They kept themselves cloak constantly. However, the myth and story that had been spread hinted that behind the heavy hoods and veiled faces was something unnatural. Something moving the masking cloth as it should not be.

Upon stepping foot in this blasted land one would immediately feel the air itself was tainted, choked with rot and stagnation mixing with the dirt and water. It burned the lungs yet would not leave their entrapment. There was no poison to be known, the air just felt thick and soupy as each breath would be labored. The ground was crossed with dozens of holes that filled with water, leaving only shallow trails that could be safely traversed. However, even these quickly washed away and mixed with mud and rain to become almost impossible to spot without hunting for every step. Truly an unwelcoming place, a place of sorrow and want. And a place of mysteries untold. Should the Shinobi search, they may be able to uncover the secrets kept by the quagmire's depths.

[TyDie]

It had been years since she had first caught wind of the return of the Spiders... Aiya and Minako, on the outskirts of Fire Country, dealing with bandits who turned out to be mutated spider hybrids. The creature responsible managed it's escape, but ever since the Ibakuro had devoted much time and many resources to gathering any information they could. Per the clan leader's request, Aiya was instructed to follow up on a lead that took her into the swamplands to the north of Fire Country - A land claimed by a powerful ex-shinobi, who had taken to calling it "The Realm of Titans".

As she approached the swamplands that so many had scurried away from for fear of death or worse, the young Ibakuro pulled tightly on the large brown cloak that concealed her form and kept her warm. These myths of the dead spirits of war rising to fight again were just that - rumours, and they didn't interest the woman in the slightest. No, she was more concerned about these cloaked figures she had heard about... The shifty, twitchy way they were described to move, the strange movements they were reported to make... It was enough that, given the clan leader's memory of the Spider Queen's Nest's location being nearby, he felt it was worth investigation.

And so investigate she did, the damp cloak hanging over her body keeping the chill of the rain from reaching deep into her bones. The swampy landscape was covered in an odor that wrinkled her nose and got a few coughs from her lungs. The watery ground wasn't by any means stable or simple to navigate for a normal person, but all Aiya had to do was maintain a simple layer of chakra along the soles of her feet as she moved ahead. To a Shinobi, water and land were one and the same, as Aiya moved along the swampy terrain by walking along the water, and what little land she could find. "I'm unsure what it is Yosuke expects me to find here... These cloaked figures seem just as much rumor as anything else coming out of this gods forsaken corner of the world. But, orders are orders..."

This was what Aiya muttered to herself as she moved deeper into the bog, searching for anything that might point her in a direction to search.

[Das Kirb]

Impenetrable muck and stagnant water meshed with new running rains to create a nearly impossible to navigate landscape. It was through grace of training she managed to prevent the pitfalls that she'd now spot. Walking over one of the deeper holes one could look down and see within. Corpses had been thrown here, piled on top of each other. Their sunken faces peeled in visages of death and horror. Their preservation a miracle of time and nature. However, the more lethal truth of these holes made themselves known upon closer inspection. As the bodies had become swollen and soft, hundreds upon thousands of eggs would be visible in the waters, lining their flesh. What's more, among the bodies someone had erected spears, tips pointed up, to act as dangerous traps to anyone who'd be foolish enough to stumble in. The rusted weapons were no less dangerous, and more so for the infection and plague that would quickly set in.

As the shinobi traveled she'd witness several horrors of war and bloodshed. The deeper into the marsh one got the more bodies became known. Hundreds, thousands, millions of people had to have died here, or were brought here for some reason. However, a single clearing of land, standing just above the rising waterline, appeared out of place. The bodies were piled upon it and a glistening white substance appeared to coat almost every possible inch of its surface. Within the mound of corpses were those of all walks. The standards of all soldiers were readily visible. Beyond that, weapons were left as well, apparently thought useless or even given to the rising hill of the slain. The two most striking features of this pile were the relative freshness of those who rest there, as well as the myriad fungus and mushrooms that grew from them. A brief flash of darkness appeared to flit up from the cadavers as well, a sudden jerk of movement before disappearing back into it's amalgum mass.

[TyDie]

As Aiya strode her way across the marsh beneath, looking down as she passed to get a sense of the landscape, or rather the lack thereof, she was disgusted and stunned by the shear amount of death that sat mere inches beneath her. "Good god... these bodies..." The corpses were frozen in fear of something, lined with eggs of some foul creature, and the spears that sat poised and ready to catch a fool shuffling through the bog was even more disconcerting - Not because of the danger the posed, but because of the fact that they were there at all. "If these were just left here, they would've rusted to uselessness within... a year or two at the most. These look rusted, but not useless... something put these here intentionally."

It was a guess, nothing more, but her experience with caring for and using her own weapons lead her to the theory. The concerns only continued to mount as she saw the rising white mound in the distance, and saw the litany of carcasses that lined the surface of the land mass. It took a lot to get to a woman like Aiya, but for once, it was [iher[/i] skin that was crawling. She pulled her cloak tighter as she fought against her fear, moving closer to the mass to get a better look at it. What was the white substance coating the land and rising up like a hill? Why were these bodies so much fresher, how recently did they die? And what was that darkness that seemed to shift within them, or was that merely her mind playing tricks on her?

The only way to get these answers was to approach. With a slight 'gulp', she would step closer to the large white mound.

[Das Kirb]

With each step the mound rose higher into the sky. As the shadows retreated across its surface it revealed large spires of stone, either intentionally made or merely carved from some long forgotten rock, that seamed sharpened to a needle's point. Upon the spires large creatures had been impaled, two such beasts. One of a serpent of insurmountable size. It's rotted husk barely clinging to it as its skull had been spiked clean through by some apparent monster. The other was the body of a titanic monstrous creature. This creature writhed and wriggled though, apparently still alive. The stone spike had been shoved through it's chest and it weakly moved. Getting only slightly closer would reveal this monster as almost human, but its belly was swollen and its arms far too long. It's face sported a large bulbous nose and it's jaw jagged tusks. All across its body would millions of skittering bugs. Spiders of all kinds ranging from the size of a pin head to that of a human head. One could see as it's shattered form was bleeding constantly from myriad wounds. Upon closer inspection, the wounds would rapidly seal only to be re-opned as the the ravenous spiders devoured the rejuvenating flesh.

Getting closer still, the edge of the mass would become visible. There was no land here but instead piles of bodies and web, each one another desiccated corpse wrapped in a spider's silk. Millions of eggs could be seen everywhere and the surface pulsated with life. Here also strange fungus grow in the bunches, all nearly unidentifiable but the smell pungent and intoxicating. Some released spores into the air as if feeding themselves and others. Some still were brightly colored with vivid reds and blues mixing with purples and greens. However, the most striking of plant was a flower, petals a brilliant lavender with needle like barbs at it's center. A yellow liquid oozed from it's core and stem, seemingly harvested by the spiders to be returned beneath the web. It was the only flower to be seen from here, making it stand out even more. However, a strange sound came from somehow further up the mound yet somehow muffled and distant. The sounds of a child screaming, agony in its voice, incoherently wailing in terror and torment.

[TyDie]

The woman's senses only continued to be assaulted as she moved deeper into the quagmire. The sight of the barely living creature filled her with a mixture of horror and sorrow. The countless spiders feasting on it's flesh, blood leaking from various wounds and openings... She couldn't think of a worse hell. The smell was horrendous, and though she had stomached it this far, she had to do something about the spores in the air - She had no idea how dangerous they might've been. Funneling a slight amount of chakra to her hand, a white poof of smoke would appear as she tapped into her fuuinjutsu seal, producing a single kunai. Then, with her other hand, she would reach down to the bottom of her brown cloak, cutting loose a decently large strip of the cloth to tie around her face as a makeshift mask.

Between the moisture coating the cloth and the thickness of it, it would hopefully handle most of the nasty airborne particulates.

"Lord have mercy, places like this shouldn't be allowed to exist..." The woman muttered to herself as she kai'd again, letting the Kunai disappear back into her seal only to replace it with her large staff instead. It would serve as a walking stick for now, allowing her to support herself a bit better and test the land in front of her as she walked. And then the scream rang out, terrible and horrific, causing Aiya's breath to catch in her throat and her eyes to grow wide with surprise and fear.

The fear, however, was quickly overpowered by a sense of duty; Aiya wasted no time rushing towards the sound's source, staff at the ready. "I'm coming, Everything will be okay!"

[Das Kirb]

The first steps taken onto the web would prove that shinobi training was truly multi useful as her feel glided gracefully over the sticky hold. However, her staff would plant itself firmly in the engrossing glue and it would hold firmly. It punctured the upper crust, diving deep into the myriad catacombs of swarming arachnids and further down. It plunged into the open mouth of a long dried corpse, causing the creatures to scatter and swarm in all directions. The staff would require but a slightly firmer tug and the web would break free. However, it brought with it a vagrant.

Upon the end of the now freed staff an eye had stuck. The perfectly preserved green human eye stared at the shinobi, swirling and twisting to look all around. It did move with skittering legs that seemed attached to a body behind it, and swiftly it scurried back into the writhing webbing. If the girl looked back, she could see a near infinite number of spiders repairing the damage done already.

Rushing forward like she did the girl would hear the agonized screams get louder. She would crest the top of the mound and the screams would be coming from below. No obvious way down made itself known if she scanned all around. However, the webbing did shift colors, going from a brilliant and glistening white to a darker and more dull gray at the very apex. Perhaps a way in was concealed, or perhaps it was elsewhere. Only investigation would tell, but the screaming was muffled and tortured, though shrill and pained. And it was coming from below.

[TyDie]

Aiya struggled for a moment as her staff got stuck in the webbing beneath her feet, realizing that her Act of Water Walking was preventing her from getting stuck. As she ripped her staff's head free however, the disturbing eyeball spider caused her to cringe and swing her staff around to rid the damn thing off. She loved spiders, but this... this was beyond regular spiders. It gave even more credence to the information she had been given, as disturbing as it was to deal with. "What the hell is all this..." The woman spoke in a hushed, fearful voice to herself before continuing on to locate the source of the screaming. It seemed to be coming from the top of the mound of webs, but as she got up there, she saw... nothing.

At least, not at first. As the screams reverberated, she could tell that whoever it was was beneath the webs. Looking down through the multiple layers of webbing, Aiya could see that there was in fact a tunnel that ran beneath the surface of the webs. A ha! An entrance to the nest! Poofing away her staff, she would quickly replace the weapon with her sword, Onikiri. With a yell of fury, she'd lash out against the webbing at her feet, digging her blade deep into the silk in the hopes that she could break through and drop down into the pit below. If she succeeded, she knew that the floor would give way underneath her, so her plan was to lash out with the wires around her other arm and dig them into the walls of the tunnel so that she might swing towards a wall and stick to it, opting for the "Act of Tree walking" to ease her way down into the den of webs.

She would find the source of those screams and help them escape.

JutsuShow

[Storage Fuuinjutsu • Multi-Storage Seal]
B-Ranked Fuuinjutsu
After tattooing this seal on her body, Aiya can store up to [control/2]m³ of weaponry within the seal. Thereafter, utilizing additional seals tattood on Aiya's palm, Aiya can call forth or put away any weapon within the seal utilizing Chakra Kai. Aiya can withdraw a maximum of either one 'standard' weapon per hand, or five 'projectile' weapons per hand from the seal with a single use of Kai.

[Piercing Webs]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Aiya will thrust her arm forward, sending her wires hurdling through the air towards her opponent in an attempt to pierce their flesh with the barbed tips of her wire. If successful the wires will be embedded in the target's flesh, and moving away from the wires will prove excruciatingly painful, as will ripping them out if they attempt to do so. With a simple flick of her wrist, Aiya can cause the wires to forcefully rip themselves from the target's body.