Veteran’s Plateau Altar

NPC:

As you being to work, begin to cut your ear, a gasp goes up from the familiars and you hear the tabby harshly shushing them, and they fall into a low muttering, you cannot make out the words as you continue your grisly work. When it is done you lift your head, or something lifts it for you, tips your head back so it is looking up at the statue’s face.

The face seems to shift, nearly imperceptible, lips lifting to bare fangs. The red glowing of the eyes grows stronger and then, closer and you realized streams of red glowing fireflies are leaving the empty stone sockets they swarm your head, filling your ear with their buzzing, there is a tearing noise and you feel your other ear ripping from your head and then the flies pile into the cavities left in the wake of your removed ears. You scream- And you cannot hear it. You scream and scream and scream, you find you can move your head and you yell at the faces around you, familiars looking at you in pity and though some move their mouths you cannot hear them, you cannot hear anything.

A ringing starts in the back of your head, the only sound you can hear anymore and you’re sure it’s not from outside but from inside your own skull. You flinch, you tuck your head and curl in on yourself and you scream silently as the ringing grows louder and louder and louder and-

The sounds of the world come back then, louder than they’ve ever felt before, your brain scrambling to adjust to suddenly hearing everything again and you look around frantically, you are standing just as you were a moment ago. The tabby steps forward and gives you a look that seems to be a mix of pity, understanding, and resignation? “The blood you spilled will be considered payment enough today but remember, your body is precious.” You blink down at the cat, it looks at you and there is nothing more there… Just silence and a slowly rolling sense of discomfort, you stumble back, the ringing still echoing in your head but fading quick. You decide it’s best to get out of here, whatever just happened you feel it was a warning and you’d best not tempt it much further.

You have received:
A Small unfleshed thought:

As you are leaving, the sounds of the crowd fade behind you, and you feel some sense of calm come over you. Your limbs grow weak, you let yourself collapse to the ground, your eyes closing for a moment as you let yourself breathe after that terrifying experience. You feel a sort of comfort on the ground here, and despite yourself, you wriggle in the grass. You dig down, your nose pushing through the dirt and you feel the light of the sun disappear behind you as you dig deeper and deeper, the comfort of the wet earth around you and you find an old tunnel left by a worm, it’s yours, you made it you do not know how long ago. The world of wolves does not concern you, has never concerned you, you are a worm, you have always been a worm.

Your eyes snap open and you are on the ground, basking in the autumnal sun, you are a wolf. It feels like you learned something you shouldn't know...