[center][color=043B04][url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174142]How to Play[/url] | [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174144]Today's Chapter[/url] | [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174148]The Story So Far[/url] | [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174152]Prizes[/url] | [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174155]Extras[/url] | [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/raf/2053492#post_24174163]Today's Prompt[/url] [/center]
[center][size=6][color=043B04][font=tacoma]The Story so far:[/size][/center]
[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]Trudging through the verdant warmth of the Everbloom gardens you pause to rest. It's been a few hours since you've taken a break of any kind and this spot seems just about perfect to refresh yourself and take in the lush beauty surrounding you.
With a content sigh you set down your traveling pack and recline against fallen tree. Gazing around, you wonder at the serenity of your chosen resting spot and the profusion of colors surrounding you.
"Has there ever been a place so simultaneously restful and invigorating?", you laugh a little at yourself, it's been so long since you've run into anyone that you've started talking to yourself for company.
"There are many such places in the Everbloom Gardens," an amused voice comes from off to your left.
Startled you begin to spin to look for the source of the raspy, but somehow mellifluous voice, only to trip over your travel bag and fall into the moist earth.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you! I heard you talking and thought you knew you weren't alone."
Embarrassed you pick yourself up as an enormous Guardian moves further into the clearing. Looking at her your can understand why you didn't see her at first, she blends perfectly into the riotous nature that you find yourself surrounded by.
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]"Are you ok?", she asks scanning you with a keen eye.
"Just fine," you mumble while brushing dirt and leaves away.
She seems a little skeptical, but takes you at your word. "Well... if you're sure. In any case, I'm Acer, Matriarch of my clan. We reside... that way." She gestures vaguely behind her, "I don't suppose you are in a hurry? You see, we're in a little bit of a pickle right now and could really use some assistance. "
You hesitate, you weren't in a hurry at all, but who knows what kind of "pickle" the clan might be in?
Sensing your hesitation she smiles a bit, "Nothing too arduous I assure you. You see a member of my clan fancies himself a bit of a explorer and is fascinated by cryptozoology. Every now and then he tends to wander off to track down the latest mysterious beastie. Usually it's not an issue as for the most part he can take care of himself, but this time he's been missing just a little too long. We've managed to track him to a cave system just a little bit to the west of here, but it's an enormous area and we just don't have that much time currently, what with everything happening at the border and-," she stops abruptly to clear her throat. "Well, that's nothing that you need to worry about right now."
She stops to collect her thoughts and look you over a little more closely, "You seem like an adventurous sort and someone who can handle themselves. And it may be that we can compensate you for your time and troubles. Do you think you can help us find him?"
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You take a second to think it over as Acer regards you patiently. You really didn’t have a specific destination in mind and the task doesn’t seem like it’ll be too difficult…
“Alright,” you agree, “why not?”
“Excellent!,” pleased, the Guardian beckons you forward, “if you’d just collect your travel pack and follow me this way.” She turns back towards the section of the undergrowth she emerged from.
Acer continues to speak to you over her shoulder as you follow her deeper into the fragrant greenery, “I’ve sent a couple of the Fae pack into the cave to find JackPine, but so far they’ve had no luck and I’m afraid they’ve been down there for too many days. Every time they come back up to report they seem just a little more exhausted.” She pauses as she moves a large sticky vine out of your way, “Like I said, it’s a very large system. Fortunately they’ve been keeping a fairly accurate map and we seem to have covered a good bit of it.”
The ground is drying up a bit as you continue to follow her up a small incline. When you’ve almost reached the peak of the hill she stops and gestures towards the ground, “Well, there’s the entrance… such as it is.”
You stare at what is little better than a crack in the ground and look back up at her in disbelief, “[i]That’s[/i] a cave?”
“Well,” she shifts a little awkwardly, “this is the closest entrance. The really large opening is over in Driftwood Drag, but that one is a bit… difficult… to use right now. I promise that once you wiggle past this little part here it opens up quite nicely! At least so the Faes say, I myself can’t fit.” She smiles at you hopefully, “You aren’t claustrophobic are you?”
You sigh resignedly, you did agree to help and the Guardian did say that she may be able to reward you. Besides, there may be some really neat stuff down there. With that thought you perk up; who knows what you might see? You settle your travel pack firmly on your back to avoid having it snag and wave goodbye to Acer.
As you begin to crawl through the rock she calls out behind you, “The Fae pack should be on their way back, if you should run into them they can help you to narrow down which parts of the cave have already been explored! And a piece of advice: don’t trust your eyes down there!”
With that cryptic and somewhat alarming bit of wisdom echoing in your ears you shimmy against the rough stone. Moving forward a few feet at a time you feel the damp surface scrape at your skin. You swear the opening is narrowing… fighting down panic you wiggle just a little further forward to find yourself flopping over a low ledge.
“Unf,” You stare upwards into the gloom, “well, I’m in.” Sitting up you see that the Guardian was right, the narrow tunnel opened up into a large, roughly circular room. You look around to see that there is only one way to go.
You check your pack to make sure it didn’t unfasten and then settle it on your back. The only light in the cave seems to be coming from the crevice you rather gracelessly fell from... you do have a few torches, but it seems best to save them until absolutely necessary. After all, you may be down here for a day or two. In any case there seems to be a faint light illuminating the end of the one path out of the room.
Walking forward you can see that while there is indeed illumination of some kind at the end of the pathway, there is also a rather moist and tangy scent wafting towards you. Reaching the end of the passage you find another room, this one easily ten times the size of the first one and decorated by hundreds of thousands of glowing mushrooms. You look around in awe and pleasure, it’s an eerie, but beautiful sight. As you’re basking in the misty glow you hear a wet [i]crackle[/i] from off to your left. Glancing in that direction you see nothing, nothing but mushrooms. You move towards the sound, admiring the many hues shapes of the fungi.
[i]This might be a good time to restock on some supplies[/i], you think as you reach forward. As your hand closes on a particularly large and succulent mushroom one of the masses it’s growing on rears up. It’s hissing maw closes inches from your face as you fall backwards onto cold and rough stone. Scrambling away you see that the creature has not only a backside covered in glowing fungus, but long lethal looking claws. You attempt to regain your feet as it advances towards you at a scurry, never letting up it’s unnerving [i]hissss[/i].
Your hand closes over a sharp rock to use to defend yourself when the reptilian head cocks to the side as if listening and it stops advancing. You pause to listen as well. You can hear the flutter of wings and the monotonous tones of what can only be Fae. Glancing quickly towards the nearest tunnel opening you see five Fae flutter out of the opening. You turn back towards the attacking beast only to blink when it’s no longer there. Warily you gaze around, but seeing nothing you rise (with a thought to yourself that you’ve been on the ground far too much in the past few hours) to greet the approaching Fae.
Spotting you the pack approaches swiftly.
“Greetings!,” chirps the lead Fae, “I am Melba. What are you doing down here?”
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]“I’ve been sent by Acer to help find JackPine,” you reply helpfully.
“That’s fantastic news! You see, we don’t want to give up looking, but most of us need to return to the Vale. We are just so close though, I just know it!” the remarkably excitable and expressive Fae gestures to his pack mates, "Shroudcrawler was wounded by…. Something....” the Fae pauses and seems a little disconcerted, “I’ve patched her up, but she needs to return to the Vale and rest to fully recover. Honestly, we could all use a break. Being down here is starting to wear, but we just can’t leave Jack.” The Fae looks at you pleadingly, “You’ll help right? Two of us will stay to help you and to keep you out of the areas we’ve already explored. Shroud can’t stay though.”
You glance towards the black Fae that Melba seems to be indicating. Her color seems a little dull and her crests are drooping, it’s clear that she needs to get home to heal.
“So!,” Melba continues brightly, “I will remain with you as I’m the head Healer for the Vale and I feel like you’ll be needing me.” He speeds through the last part of his sentence as if hoping you won’t hear him. “That means that either Anisakis, Dreamscape, or Weaver can remain with us and the other two can return home with Shroud to rest and gather more supplies. We each have our own special talents… who would you like to stay with us?”
1.) [color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=3]A murky green Fae covered in scarred leather greets you, “I am Anisakis. I’m a rogue by training and an alchemist by profession. I’m most useful at moving silently, being unseen, using poisons, and quick close combat.” She speaks with a low, monotonous voice, even by Fae standards… but her body seems strong and wiry for her size.
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2.) [color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]A green and yellow Fae who is well wrapped in soft forest-colored leathers and is carrying a large nature tome speaks up. In a serene and calming voice she introduces herself, “I am Shroudweaver, daughter of Shroudcrawler, but you can call me Weaver. I am well versed in the druidic arts and can help you with anything regarding beasts, flora, or green magic."
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3.) [color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]The final Fae smiles at you, “I am Dreamscape, but most dragons call me Dream. I mostly do flashy mage things," his grin turns a little self-deprecating, "But I’m pretty good with illusions, defensive charms, and pretty much anything arcane.”
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You look at each Fae in turn. All three could be handy to have around…
But recalling the lizard...mushroom...thing you realize that someone who can move unseen and is adept with close combat might be best. Facing Anisakis you ask her, “Would you be ok with staying down here with us?” The wiry Fae doesn’t say anything, but dips her head in agreement. “Ani doesn’t talk much,” explains Melba, “but she’s very resourceful and always does what she says she will.”
“Uh, ok. So, I guess it’s just the three of us then?”
“Indeed, and I have faith that you will find Jack quickly,” Weaver states with calm certainty, “In the meantime we will return to the Vale and have more supplies sent, just in case.”
Dream gives you a jaunty salute and a lopsided smile as he moves to support Shroud who seems to be wobbling a bit. “We’ll have someone back here the day after tomorrow to check in and replace your goods.”
Weaver moves to Shroud’s other side, “Try to avoid any fauna if you can, they aren’t all natural,” she advises as the three Fae begin to exit the cave.”
You glance at Melba, who shrugs, “Weaver knows what she’s talking about, but some of the critters in here are a bit hard to steer clear of; they seem to [i]want[/i] confrontation.”
You stare at the chipper Healer who just shrugs again and smiles when Anisakis snorts her opinion.
“Right well, we’ve taken up enough time today! On to Pick A Tunnel! It’s a game we play. It’s pretty self-explanatory really. You just… Pick A Tunnel.”
Turning away from Melba you look at the nine tunnels arrayed in various spots around the large cavern. “Any of them?”
“Well, no, not really. We’ve actually explored all the systems leading out from here except for the two on the farthest right. So, it’s now Pick Between Two Tunnels!”
You shake your head at the enthusiasm accompanying the words and look back at the two tunnels indicated. You glance over at the silent Ani who looks up from contemplating the various bottles strapped securely to her side. You motion to her to Pick A Tunnel. She shrugs and begins to move towards the very last tunnel on the right.
Melba chirrups, “Excellent! I love when Ani picks! She has good instincts.”
You both follow the soundless Rogue as she glides into the mouth of the chosen tunnel, but stumble to an abrupt halt as she freezes.
“What’s wrong?” You ask trying to peer into the gloom.
A soft glow begins behind you, looking over your shoulder you see a shimmering white orb glowing above Melba’s head.
“Oh, in addition to being a Healer I can use a few light spells. Nothing fancy I’m afraid,” he explains in a low whisper while keeping his eyes on the motionless Rogue.
The glow illuminates the first few feet of a new cavern exposing a deep black sludge covering the rocky floor. At least you assume it’s still rock as you can’t actually see anything below the ooze.
Ani glances back at you and gestures for you to stay put. Having absolutely no issue with these orders you remain where you are. She glides a few feet forward, but almost immediately begins to backwing, “Down!,” she croaks out as she lands in front of you facing the darkness.
You dive to the floor just as a large, goopy forelimb comes streaking out of the darkness, swiping filthy claws only inches above your head. You roll to the side frantically peering around to see what became of the Fae. You spot Melba hoving up near the ceiling sending small sparks floating towards the dark, sludgy mass. As each tiny spark connects with the monster there’s a small flash followed by a [i]hsspt[/i].
“They really don’t do much except cause a small sting, but they sure are distracting,” he calls down to you cheerfully. Rather too cheerfully in your opinion.
As the hulking mass seems to be distracted you squint into the dark for any sign of Anisakis.
“You’re really not going to be able to see her until she’s ready to be seen,” you’re informed by the terrifyingly chipper Fae.
You glance back down at the goop covering the floor and then back up at the angrily swatting monster. They seem to be made of a similar substance… you reach down to touch the ooze only to jerk quickly your hand back in pain. You look at your hand, horrified to see a large angry looking burn covering the area that came into contact with the ooze.
Cradling your hand you call out to the Fae, “Don’t touch it!”
Ani immediately appears at your side causing you to jump. She looks at your hand and then at the monster consideringly. She nods her thanks to you and immediately disappears again.
“Ani, whatever you’re planning on doing you should probably do it soon, I’m running out of sparks.”
As Melba finishes his sentence the ooze monster lets out a high-pitched burbling scream and rushes from the room.
You wince and glance down at the Rogue who has reappeared at you side.
“I doused it’s tail with a counter-toxin,” she informs you, “simple and effective.”
Melba floats down to study your hand. “All-in-all that’s not too bad,” he declares as he holds his tiny claws over your burnt one. A soft pearly glow encompases the chemical burn and a soothing breeze fans over it. As the glow disappears you can see your skin is good as new.
You look at Ani, “What was that thing and will it be back?” She shrugs in answer to both questions.
Melba answers instead, “It looked like a type of slarg… but enormous and made of an extremely potent toxin. In any case this seems to be it’s den so we’ll leave this cavern and hopefully not run into it again.” He makes a small gesture towards the floor where the ooze rolls away in a narrow path to reveal clean stone.
“Best be quick, this isn’t an easy spell nor one that I have much experience with!” With that he begins to flutter down the path. You hasten after him with Ani bringing up the rear. Reaching the back of the room you find a small crack in the rock. Ani edges around you to enter it. A moment later she pops her head out and motions you forward. You and Melba follow her through the crack to find a very tiny hollow in the side of a ravine.
Ani points to the side where you see a rusted chest sitting on the ground. Moving forward you open it to find three runestones.
“Ahhh, magae stones!” Melba exclaims. You look at him quizzically, not being familiar with the term. “It’s a magically imbued stone that when activated grants you the ability to perform a spell. They are very useful and very highly sought after. I wonder how they got here..” he trails off, but then looks at you happily, “I’m guessing by the fight we were just in that you don’t have much magic?”
You shake your head a little embarrassed.
“Not to worry! You don’t need much to activate these and once you do it will pack a pretty decen wallop! I recommend only activating one though, too many and you might be overwhelmed. I don’t need any and Ani prefers physicality,” he laughs a little as he finishes his sentence.
The Healer points to each stone in turn and explains what their effects would be. “So! Which one would you like?”
1.) The first stone appears to be on the verge of crumbling, but is covered in iridescent runes. It would give you shielding abilities.
2.) The second stone is dark brown and oddly cold. It would give you the ability to quickly decay organics.
3.) The third stone flares with little incandescent lights as it reflects the glow from the orb. It would give you the ability to work with fire.
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You pick up the stone sparking with incandescent lights. It has a feeling of weight and life as it rests in your hand. Melba nods his approval, “Good choice! It’s what I would have picked for you. Now, to activate it all you have to do is take a very deep breath, center yourself on that breath, and breath onto the stone.”
Not quite sure you understand exactly what that means you nonetheless follow his directions. As you release your breath onto the face of the magae stone you feel a heaviness settle in your chest. You look at the Fae in confusion, that was all? You don’t feel any different really… “Um… maybe I didn’t do it ri…. Umph.” You let out a gasp as the heaviness in chest expands in a rush throughout all your limbs feeling like a small lightning shock… if lightning was also made of water and space dust.
“There now! It seems to have taken effect perfectly. Why don’t you try it out?”
You take another deep breath and raise your hand. “Now what?”
“Just feel it,” you’re advised.
[i]okaaay, I’ll just *feel* it[/i], so thinking you [i]feel[/i] it and are astonished when a strong and steady green flame leaps from your hand. “I’m doing it!”
“Good, good!” Melba chirps happily as Ani looks on with faint (very faint) amusement. “Now we’ve had a long day so far so why don’t we make camp here and continue on in the morning?”
Still feeling a little tingly you agree wholeheartedly with this idea.
After what feels like only a few hours of sleep you are awoken by the excitable dragon peering into your face, “Well how do you feel??”
Startled you release a small spurt of flame from your mouth.
Melba laughs as he quickly backs away and Anisakis lets out a low sigh. “It looks like you’re doing fine! Let’s eat a little and be on our way.”
After a quick breakfast of dried goods you follow the Fae down a narrow ledge above a steep ravine. Glancing over the edge you [i]think[/i] you can see the bottom, but it’s so dark it’s hard to tell.
The Fae come to an abrupt stop causing you to stumble a bit to avoid crashing into them and sending you all over the ledge.
“Sorry!,” Melba chirrups back to you, “There’s a side cavern here that we need to check out…”, he trails off as he ducks into the crack following close behind the silent rogue.
You duck in behind them and stop in astonishment. The cave is full of flowers. More types than you’ve ever seen in one place in your life. You glance up to see a murky green light filtering through the ceiling. It looks like it was once made of crystal, but has grown over with moss and lichen.
“How can the flowers survive with so little light?” you wonder absently.
Ani shrugs and Melba replies, “Well, Weaver did warn you that not everything down here would be entirely… right. It’s a confluence of magics I think. Between the Nature Magic, the Shadow Magic, and the odd Arcane currents floating around down here it’s not that odd.”
“Wait, why are there Arcane currents here? We’re nowhere near the Starfall isles!”
Melba looks at you with slight pity, “And when did anything Arcane ever follow the rules??”
You sigh in acknowledgement of this fact and move towards some of the blooms to see them closer, noticing that Ani has already begun plucking some.
“Anything interesting?”, you ask her.
She shrugs again, “Everything is interesting with the right ingredients and patience.”
You’re a little taken aback by actually receiving an answer, and a fairly wise one at that.
Leaning closer to the flowers you see that some are made of crystal, some of petals, some of what might be a fluid kind of… metal? You lean in to smell them and gasp with delight. They all have unique and intoxicating scents. Some are easy to identify, like roses and juniper, or earth and salt water, others are stranger and more disturbing.
You spin around at the sound of a sharp [i]snap[/i] to see Ani plucking one of the shimmering crystal blooms and tucking it into her satchel. Abruptly she starts slapping at her arms and hissing. Concerned you start towards her to help when she begins to giggle. At this you become downright alarmed and dash across the cave.
“Spiders,” she gasps out overtaken by a fit a giggles, “spiders in the flower.”
“Spiders?”, confused you examine the her arms as Melba comes winging up. Almost invisible against her dark skin you see a handful of teeny, crystalline spiders, the color of a cold dawn. You reach down to brush them off her assuming that the cause for her laughing fit is them ticking her scales. As you brush one away it leaps on your arm. You stop to examine it more closely… it really is quite beautiful. You start to brush it back among the flowers when you feel a slight pinch and a spreading warmth from where it clearly just bit you.
You feel a tickle in the back of your throat and begin to hack. Melba looks at you in concern as he brushes the last few spiders off of Ani, “Are you ok?”
You try to answer but all that comes out is a series of coughing giggles. Melba’s eyes widen as he looks from you to Ani who is now doubled up on the floor howling with laughter. “Uh….I think maybe we should get you two out of here.” He begins to try and shift Ani towards the exit when he yelps, “Oh, oh no,” he begins to giggle as he pulls her out of the cavern.
You follow them out dragging yourself along and laughing hysterically. “I’ve never seen Ani with that much enthusiasm,” you wheeze between breaths.
“Don’t hold it against her,” Melba squeezes out between clenched teeth through which a little whine of laughter escapes, “she’ll be right as rain soon… I hope.”
Ani continues to laugh herself silly as she watches you struggle after them. [i]With her eyes lit up in maniacal mirth she seems a lot more friendly[/i], you think to yourself and then begin to giggle even harder.
“Stop laughing!” the Healer gasps out as he collapses in fit, “I swear it’s contagious.”
Ani points at Melba and continues to giggle, seemingly enjoying the predicament. Melba seems to have lost his persistent chipperness even as chuckles continue to leak through his mouth. He looks around in concern and then spotting the rogues satchel his eyes light up, “Ani, do you have anything in here that might help?”
Nodding despite her hysterics she begins to empty her bag pulling out vial after bottle after dried flower. She stops at a small flask filled with a thick blue good. Rolling it over to Melba she gestures for him to open it, “Rub it on the bites. Anti-venom. Should work. Hopefully. But maybe not!” she finishes her instructions almost cheerfully. Following her directions Melba rubs the goo on her first while chuckling all the while, “Look at this stuff! It’s ridiculous!”
He rubs it on your bite next and then his own. At the soothing feel of the anti-venom your giggles start back up again, but almost immediately subside.
“Well, that certainly was a trip!” The Fae regained his cheer unnervingly quickly, “And no permanent harm done!”
Ani regards him sourly as you shake your head in bafflement of his undauntingly good nature.
“So, I think we should probably press on, we still have a lot of ground to cover!”
Sighing you follow him and the slightly embarrassed rogue out of the cavern and back out onto the ledge.
After an hour of walking you reach a part of the ledge that has a small “staircase” descending into the depths. The ravine has also narrowed enough to see the other side.
“It looks like we have a few options here! One of us can even fly across the ravine and set up a rope “bridge”. We’ll let you pick this time. Where should we go?
1.) Continue to follow the narrow ledge.
2.) Descend the “staircase” into the gloom.
3.) Create a rope “bridge” across the ravine.
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You glance down into the chasm below. You’re pretty sure that you can’t actually make out the bottom and it doesn’t seem very welcoming…
You look forward along the ledge; it seems solid enough, but it does get even narrower just up ahead and while that isn’t a problem for the Fae if might get a little dicey for you.
“Let’s try going across?”
“Sounds good!” With that Melba pulls out three very long, very thin threads from his pack and passes the ends to Ani who grins. Perplexed you watch as the Healer flies across the ravine and secures the other ends to a large boulder, looking back at Ani you see she has also secured her ends in the same manner, two over the third.
Melba calls back to you, “Ok, now just walk along the bottom rope and use the other two to balance yourself.”
“Rope?! These aren’t ropes! These are threads! And that’s not how tension or balance work!”
Ani snickers behind you as Melba explains, “I’m going to be manipulating a kind of air spell to keep you balanced on the ropes, all you have to do is go slowly, use the claw-rails, and don’t look down. I usually only balance small things with this spell though so please don’t move too fast!”
“Sure, yeah, ok, just walk along this thread over a gaping chasm while being balanced by air with a spell used for smaller objects, yeah, sure, no problem, let me just juggle a snapper while I’m at it,” muttering under your breath you begin walking along the bridge keeping your eyes fixed firmly on the pale Fae waiting on the other side. To your surprise it feels like solid ground beneath your feet and it’s not hard to balance at all.
Reaching the ledge on the other side your sigh with relief as your feet touch stone. Looking back over at the “bridge” and the long drop beneath it you feel a little woozy.
Anisakis unties her end of the threads and flies them over to you as Melba pats your back encouragingly, “You follow directions very well! Now it looks like that from here there is only one way to go so let’s get to it!”
Trudging after the Fae you enter a rather narrow tunnel that slopes slightly downward and seems to have a rather… acidic odor to it.
You sniff the air warily and take in a large whiff only to make a face.
“Bugs.” Ani says briefly.
“Bugs?”
She nods.
“What kind of bugs?”
She looks back at you and shrugs. You resign yourself to the fact that you probably won’t be getting more of an explanation from the taciturn Rogue.
The tunnel begins to even out and widens very slightly into a shallow bowl. The three of you stop as the edge and look around consideringly.
A dull glint catches your eye, “I think I see something over there,” you point at the faint shine and begin making your way to it.
[i]crunch[/i] [i]cruuunch[/i]
You glance down feeling brittle snaps occurring under your feet in time with the crunching sounds. You peer at the dull ivory lumps consideringly….
“Ooooh…. Um, there’s some… remains over here.”
Melba and Ani fly over to join you. Examining the dragon bones Ani glances up, “Several.”
“Pardon?”
“Several remains.”
“Oh.” You look around uneasily, “You said ‘bugs’ right? So, where are they bugs?”
“No use worrying about something that isn’t here yet! When they arrive we’ll handle them,” Melba declares with rather more unconcern then you’re comfortable with, “In the meantime help me open this chest. And try not to step on the departed!”
You lean down to help him out realizing that the glint you saw was from an all gold chest. Decorated with intricate carvings, even the lock is gilded. You brace yourself against the lid and almost fall over when it comes up easily with a loud scraping sound. “I guess it wasn’t locked.”
Ani taps you on the shoulder and points into the gloom. Following her gesture you see a hole in the ground. A hole that is now emitting a rather ominous dry clacking sound.
“I think it’s best if we grab what we can and leave this area,” Melba announces, “Fill your pockets of anything useful and RUN!” He finishes his sentence on a squeak as a large, black, chitinous, multi-limbed [i]thing[/i] emerges from the hole at a dead sprint.
You turn and race for the far end of the tunnel with the Fae neck and neck with you.
“Why are we trying to outrun it?” you pant between breaths, “there’s one of it and three of us and isn’t this what you’re trained for??”
“There was one. Now we’re outnumbered.” Ani answers you while glancing over her shoulder, “Outnumbered and outpaced.”
You feel a frisson of real fear as you look back to see that you are indeed outnumbered. There are now over half a dozen of the… centipedes(?!) and they are gaining.
The tunnel begins to curve as you race ahead of the pack. Coming out around a bulge of stone you have a brilliant idea.
Stopping you turn to face the way you came.
“What are you doing?,” Melba stops beside you, “I too have faith in our abilities, but wow they are fast and they look hungry.”
Ignoring him for the moment you [i]feel it[/i] and aim a concentrated beam of fire at the bulging stone. With laser precision and a low [i]hiss[/i] it slides through the rock and with a sound like a two mountains colliding the protruding boulder falls to block the tunnel entrance.
Melba looks at you with delighted astonishment “Bravo, bravo! That was certainly quick thinking on your part! And what a use of your new abilities as well! I don’t think I’ve met even a small handful of fire workers who could have pulled that off, let alone one who could have done it without years of practice.”
Ani pats you on the shoulder with a pleased grin on her face. High praise indeed.
You all regard the now blocked tunnel where angry hissing and clattering can be heard faintly behind it.
“Let’s be away from here before they find a way out, shall we?” Melba flutters down the path humming.
After walking for a few hours the path splits off into three sections.
Ani gestures for you to choose a direction.
“I agree, after such a brilliantly executed escape you definitely deserve to pick our route!! Where to now?”
1.) [b][size=4]The path to the left slopes downwards and has a very damp feel.[/b]
2.) [b][size=4]The middle path continues straight forward and has a carpet of soft pink lichen. There’s a sweet scent coming from it.[/b]
3.) [b][size=4]The right hand path climbs upwards and you think you can hear [i]swooshing[/i] and a faint chittering.[/b]
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You decide that maybe it’s better to start climbing back towards the surface, some fresh air is definitely needed.
Beginning the gentle climb you hear Melba exclaim behind you, “Really? You haven’t had enough of strange creatures yet today? You want to go towards [i]more[/i]? I knew I liked you for a reason!”
Stifling a grin at his strange (but oddly infectious enthusiasm) you continue to make your way to the top of the easy slope. Reaching the top you find a steeply pitched cavern with high, rippling walls. Looking up you can see sliver of the night sky sparkling through a lean crack in the ceiling.
Watching the sky you see small shapes carving sharp, winding loops through the air. Grinning in delight you watch the aerial acrobatics.
You hear a low whistle and glance over at Ani who is looking at the narrow ledges ringing the cavern near to the opening. “Big. Very big.” You squint towards the ledges trying to see what she’s seeing… and you realize that what you took for a large mass of little bats is actually one very large bat. Knowing what to look for now you see over a dozen more of the enormous creatures. Staring at a particularly large one you jump a little when it opens it’s eyes and stares back.
“Do you think they might be dangerous?” you inquire a little nervously, “There sure are a lot of them.” Your nerves only get worse as faint luminescent runes start to glow along the fur and wings of the one who opened it’s eyes. A soft glow fills the cave as more of the huge bats wake and glimmer.
“No idea! But, we’re probably going to find out before too long,” Melba states matter-of-factly. Ani positions herself in a fighting stance and begins to fade out of sight.
You brace yourself and start to [i]feel it[/i] in preparation as the bats spread their enormous leathery wings and launch themselves from the eaves. They swing in a few wide, graceful circles before flying low enough for you to see their faces. You swear they are laughing at you. Watching them warily you relax your stance as they flit back to the ceiling and then out through the opening into the velvet sky.
“I’d say that answered the question!,” the Healer trills happily, “Now, how about some food?”
You all sit down for a bite to eat and to evaluate your supplies.
Watching the graceful (if erratic) ballet weave in and out of the rock formations in the upper reaches of the cavern you recline and decide that this is the best rest you’ve had since entering the caves.
With that thought in mind you ask, “What exactly was it that Jack was looking for down here anyway?”
“Weeeelllll....,” Melba hesitates, “we’re not exactly sure. You see, Jack is always going on about the latest beastie that he’s discovered or read about, but frankly most of them don’t exist. It’s not that Jack isn’t smart mind you, he just gets [i]very[/i] excited.”
You grin a little at the enthusiastic Fae calling someone else excitable.
“This last time he was saying that he did it, that he’d finally found one of his mysterious and rare creatures. When questioned about it though he said that it was so rare no one had written about it yet. I asked him to describe it and he said it was a fungus sprite.” He looks indignant, “A fungus sprite! Can you believe that?”
Ani’s eyes glint in amusement as she chows down on her dried insects.
“In any case we were all so preoccupied with what’s been happening on the island that no one was free to accompany him on his latest adventure, but when he didn’t come back we had our resident Seer look for him in his scrying glass. All he could get was seeing Jack enter these caves, but because of the density of the rock and the various magical currents and all the extra magic being loosed at the border he couldn’t see more. He knows that Jack didn’t come back out though… so here we are.” He finishes his explanation with a rare downcast look on his expressive face, “I just hope we find him soon. It’s been almost two weeks that he’s been down here…”
Ani passes him a bit of her lunch and pats him on one tiny paw. He smiles at her and continues, “Jack is actually very brilliant in his own way, but he’s not very resourceful and he tends to be a little absent-minded and impulsive. I’m sure we will find him soon though and he can tell us all about what he was looking for!”
There’s a lull in conversation as you all rest and observe the mad flights above you.
“Oh! Look at that! And just in time to restock out provisions!”
You watch as Melba darts forward and begins collecting something at a mad pace. Getting up you move forward to join him. In his claws are large, wriggling beetles with iridescent green wings. You grimace a little, but help him to gather up the lumbering bugs.
He passes you a handful, “Take these over to Ani, please! She has a quick-preserving powder.”
You comply and watch as she sprinkles a beige powder over them. It smells slightly of cinnamon. “There,” she says with satisfaction, “they’ll keep for weeks.” You sigh inwardly, beetles aren’t exactly your cup of tea, but it’s better than going hungry.
“Now! Just to update the map and then we’ll be on our way to save Jack!”
“You have a map?” You’re a little relieved, you were secretly concerned that you wouldn’t be able to find your way back; actually now that you think about it you closed off the tunnel that leads back… You mentally shake yourself, you’ll deal with it when it’s time.
“Well, of course I have a map! I updated it when you were sleeping, but it’s been a fairly straight path so I didn’t have to mark it throughout today,” he laughs, “I have a fairly good memory, but I’m no Snapper!”
“About that, Melba, I was wondering… You’re not a Snapper, but you’re very expressive for a Fae…” you trail off uncertainly, wondering if the question is too personal.
“I have been told that a time or two,” he replies with his eyes dancing, “I may be a Fae, but I was raised by a clan of Spirals. They tend to rub off on you a bit.”
Anisakis snorts, “A bit.”
He grins at her as he makes notations on a large scroll pulled from his satchel. “As you can see, we’ve explored and mapped a large area, but I feel like we’re finally getting close.”
After your rest the three of you explore the bat cave, but find no exit other than the one far, far above you.
“Well, it seems like this was a dead end. A nice break though! And it was a good change of pace to not have to fight for our lives!”
You agree whole heartedly, but it begs the question, “Exactly how many dangerous things have you run into down here?”
“Mmmm…. A lot. Pretty much something tries to maim, kill, or eat us every few hours. Sometimes all three! It’s invigorating really.”
You keep your opinion of this to yourself as you descend back through the sloping passage way.
“I guess we’re going to have to go a different route. There’s the other two unexplored routes still, Ani, would you like to choose?”
The Fae shakes her head, “The last choice was a good one; the wrong one, but a good one.” She looks at you, “You choose.”[/size]
1.) [b][size=4]The path to the left slopes downwards and has a very damp feel. [/b][/size]
2.) [b][size=4]The middle path continues straight forward and has a carpet of soft pink lichen. There’s a sweet scent coming from it.[/b][/size]
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[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]Descending even further into the never-ending subterranean depths doesn't exactly appeal to you.
“Let’s try the middle path, at least it smells better than the bat cave,” you decide with a wrinkled nose, but you spare a small smile for the nocturnal fliers.
“Sounds good to me! And personally, I love pink. It’s my favorite color! After blue…” Melba thinks for a second, “and gold. Silver too. But pink is my favorite after those for sure!”
You have to laugh, you’ve never before met a dragon, Fae or otherwise, so happy about everything around him. Curious, you look over at the reserved Rogue, “So, uh, Ani?
She raises her crests at you inquisitively as the three of you embark on your newest adventure, “Melba was raised by Spirals… what about you? Where are you from?”
Her crests immediately stiffen, “Abiding Boneyard. Mirrors. That’s it.” Hertone is brisker than you’ve heard before and you realize you’ve hit a nerve.
The three of you travel onward in silence.
Melba falls back to travel beside you, “Don’t take it personally,” he says in an quietly, “None of us know much about her past, but what we do know… well, it’s nothing anyone would want to talk about.” He moves behind you to walk beside Anisakis.
You hear them murmuring in an undertone and then feel a small paw on your shoulder. Turning you find her beside you. She dips her head in contrition “My upbringing is not something I speak of, but no reason to snap at you. My apologies.”
Relieved, you accept her apology and look at the mouth of the central tunnel.
You take a deep breath. It smells of gardenia and damp grass and when you bring the air in your mouth it tastes of slightly-tart peaches. You begin to perk up, this might actually be a pleasant place to travel in!
Strolling in you feel relaxed and more optimistic than you have since you started this adventure.
Melba begins to whistle a happy little tune and even Ani seems to have more bounce to her than normal.
The lichen is soft and smooth under your feet and has a silvery sheen when it reflects off the light orb floating above the Healer. As your claws scrape the flora covering the ground the scents seem to change. From gardenia and damp grass, to roses and autumn leaves, to fresh bark and running water it cycles through every scent you’ve ever loved in Nature and back again.
[i]For this alone it was worth the trip[/i], you think to yourself.
The walk seems to go on for hours, but no one voices a complaint. In fact, no one speaks at all. Absorbed by the litany of changing scents you lose yourself in your own thoughts and reveries.
All too soon the tunnel come to an end at a small, dark brook running cutting through the path and then back into a crevice in the rock, continuing off into the dark.
On the other side of the babbling water you can see the tunnel widens slightly and has a decently sized nook carved into the side of it.
Melba sighs and then squares his tiny shoulders, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a more perfect place to make camp,” he declares.
You agree, but look back longingly noticing the Fae are doing the same.
“Well, we should probably rest while we can. I don’t see how we are going to make it back to the rendezvous point with the one tunnel closed off so we’ll take it easy until we can find a way to circle back for relief and more supplies.” The Healer seems subdued at leaving the enchanting lichen behind.
You realize that you are still staring back at it and give yourself a small shake. Tapping Ani on the shoulder you motion across the stream She sighs, but nods.
The three of you reluctantly cross the narrow, but swift creek and make camp in the nook.
After settling down and building a small fire you snack on your dwindling supplies.
“I think the last scent may have been the best,” you ponder aloud, “crisp apples and pine needles… a rather strange, but beautiful and intriguing combination.”
Melba looks at you in confusion, “I didn’t smell that at all. The last scent was candlewax and sunlight… Invigorating and comforting!”
“Mushrooms and embers,” Ani murmurs almost inaudibly.
“You guys really didn’t smell pine needles?” You ask a little puzzled. They shake their heads, but seem lost in their own thoughts.
You lay back thinking of the scents, your memories, your dreams…
You wake with a start at the small paw on your arm and Melba speaking in your ear, “Time to be up! We’ve slept long enough I think!”
You come more fully awake and realize that you feel more refreshed and content then you have in a long while. All your aches and pains have faded in the night as well.
Ani smiles at you a little, seemingly more at ease than you’ve ever seen her.
You try to remember falling asleep, but all you can remember are the dreams you had. Beautiful, vivid, and comforting, they seemed to have relaxed something in you that you hadn’t realized was tense.
You watch as Melba crosses back over to the stream and gathers a few scrapings of the lichen while being careful not to tread on it. Nonetheless it’s siren scent wafts over to you. The Healer tucks his samples into his satchel, “I think I may find a very good use for this,” he says soberly.
The three of you pack up the rest of your camp and refill your water skins from the clear, sweet tasting brook.
Traveling down the passageway you are all a little quieter than normal, but not unhappy - just thoughtful.
After a while it seems like the tunnel may be rising upwards. Ani moves ahead to scout and comes back quickly looking grim.
“Serthis.”
Alarmed you move quietly forward until you have vantage point of a large cavern opening to the outside.
Moving about the cavern storing and organizing various good and weapons are indeed a clan of Serthis. A half dozen of them or more.
Wiggling backwards silently you confer with Melba and Anisakis.
“We may be able to sneak around them. There’s a large ledge following the rear of the tunnel and running through to the rest of the cave system, but it’s a rather exposed ledge,” Melba furrows his brow with worry. “Or we can go back and try a different route...” He trails off.
“We can surprise them. Gain the upper hand.” Ani states confidently, but a slight movement in her crests conveys the concern she is trying to hide.
“What do you think?”
1.) [color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4][b]Sneak along the ledge and hope you aren’t seen.[/size]
2. )[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4][b]Surprise the Serthis before they notice you and try to gain the upperhand.[/size]
3. )[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4][b]Backtrack through the tunnel and lose a day or more in searching.[/size]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[color=1B7F1C][font=tacoma][size=4]You study the ledge in question and the open area where the Serthis are moving about, “Isn’t the ledge a little… exposed?” you ask in concern.
Melba concedes this point, “It’s true that there isn’t much space to hide or to fight if it came to it.” He lets out a small sigh, “Going back through the caves could add days onto our search.”
“So we fight,” Ani states matter-of-factly.
“We fight,” the Healer agrees reluctantly.
Working your way back up to the end of the tunnel you watch the movements of the Serthis. There seems to be seven of them and they all seem to be fairly focused on their various tasks. Looking at them all by turn you study them for weapons and purpose. It takes a little bit, but you feel confident that you have discerned a pattern and have accounted for all weaponry. After a fierce debate the three of you finalize your plan of attack.
Anisakis begins to fade into the shadows as Melba gets as close to the edge of the overlook as possible without being seen. You move to the far right, almost at the beginning of the wide ledge running along the back-side of the cave.
Crouched and silent you watch as the Serthis furthest from you, and closest to the cave exit, stiffens abruptly and then just as abruptly sags slightly to the right and then down below a stack of crates.
You look around quickly hoping none of the others noticed their companion’s odd behavior. With relief you note that they all continue intently with their various organizing and stocking.
Watching the only other isolated Serthis you begin to [i]feel it[/i]. Taking deep breaths you wait for the battle to commence.
Ani’s second target is an oddly slight Serthis, one who is covered in various baubles and trinkets and seems to be stitching together stacks of rough cloth. Watching her as intently as you are you can see the slight motion behind her, really no more than a disturbance in the shadows, as Ani moves in. A quick thrust and the Serthis topples over revealing the Rogue and her small dagger… and sending one of the ornate bottles attached to her belt smashing to the ground.
There’s an immediate reaction from the remaining five Serthis; like a fork lightning ran through the room they all whip around in concert. Eyes landing upon the fallen bodies of their sect mates they launch into a furious charge at the all-too-visible Fae. Ani leaps into the air and positions herself to fight as Melba begins to rain little sparks down upon exposed flesh.
You jump up and aim at the Serthis at the rear of the pack storming in on the Fae. A hissing, thrashing bolt of blue fire leaps from your hand and darts towards the Serthis; with a crack like a whip the fire lashes around his neck and yanks him to the ground.
Not stopping to observe the after effects of your attack you spin around to see that Melba’s distraction is working a little too well. Two of the snake people are bearing down on him, and while he has the advantage of height, he has no real offensive or defensive spells. You spare a quick glance over your shoulder to see Ani darting and swooping around two Serthis while attacking with a small dagger. Dashing towards Melba you think frantically, what can you use that will get their attention and won’t risk hitting the Fae??
With a deep breath you stop and concentrate on balling the fire up in your hands. Taking aim you quickly roll first one ball, and then the other directly at the thick, sinewy tails in front of you. As the balls make contact with scaled flesh they erupt with a blinding flash of light and overtake the Serthis.
Keeping your eyes on the Healer you call out, “Are you alright?”
He stares at what’s left of what was moments ago, two warriors and takes a second to answer. When he does he looks up at you and looks you in the eyes, “I’m fine.” While his words say one thing the slight fear in his eyes says something else. Shame and guilt roil in your stomach as you choose to accept his answer and turn back to help Ani.
With horror you see her fighting from the ground while an unnervingly well-muscled warrior taunts her with a spear.
“Ani!” Melba screams darting towards her.
[i]Too far[/i], you think as you sprint after Melba, [i]too far[/i]. The Serthis notices the reinforcements pelting towards them and sneers. Raising her spear high she moves to throw it at Ani. Without conscious thought you throw your hands forward and watch in stunned amazement as a shield of fire blossoms around the fallen Rogue.
With a hiss of fury the Serthis spins towards you and launches the spear. You watch it come hurtling forward, but all your quick-thinking seems to be used up. As it slices through the air time slows and then comes shuddering back into real time as the spear is knocked askew by a strong gust of wind. Startled you look over to see Melba give a crooked smile, “Sometimes I can use the air spell on fast moving objects as well as slow dragons crossing rope bridges.” A rush of gratitude fills you, but you have no time to respond she the enraged Serthis engages you. Her face is twisted with hate a viciousness as comes at you bare-handed. Having no further desire to engage in bloodshed you decide on a simple, but effective method.
“Melba! Rock!” The Fae immediately grasps your plan and while you struggle with the Serthis he picks up a large rock (well, as large as he can manage) and drops it square onto her head. Poleaxed she slides gracelessly to the ground.
You take a moment to breath while Melba once again goes racing for Ani.
“You have to drop the shield! It’s a very good shield, but you have to drop it!” He chirps frantically back to you while dancing impatiently in front of the fiery wall. It takes you a second to figure out how, but as soon as you do the Healer is crouched beside Ani who is breathing shallowly.
“Ok, Ani, ok, you’re going to be ok,” he murmurs to her while laying a soothing silver light over a deep gash in her side. He continues to talk to her uttering low sing-song nonsense as he concentrates on knitting her back together.
“Not... a hatchling.” She gasps out between pained breaths, “No need… to... talk... like that.”
He pats her soothingly, “No, no hatchling would be so foolish as to take on two serthis warriors with a dagger. Speaking of which… where is the other?”
Ani gestures limply at the mouth of the cave, “Stabbed him…. Th… Toxin. Fast. Fell… outside. No worries.”
Melba looks up at you, “She’ll be ok with lots of rest and food, but we should get away from here. If there was one outpost of Serthis there will be more.” He waves at the stacks and piles of supplies, “These are here for a reason and I guarantee it’s not for seven Serthis. Do you think you could carry her for a bit?”
You agree without hesitation.
“Good. I’d say we could leave through the cave here, but there are going to be more Serthis out there and we still need to find Jack. I can’t see how he has much time left. Let’s follow the ledge through and hopefully we’ll find a secure place to rest.”
You gently lift the Rogue who grumbles a bit at being carried, but then lapses into silence as her energy flags.
Melba gazes at her, “I closed the wound, but it’s going to be tender for while and she shouldn’t jostle it or it’ll re-open. Normally I could heal it completely, but I’m running low right now… We should surface soon so she can return to the Vale. We’ll look for another day, but then we may need to turn around.”
Rambling seems to calm him so you let him continue to talk as you travel along the wide ledge. Looking it over you can see that your earlier assessment was correct, there’s no way you could have snuck down it the whole way undetected. Knowing that doesn’t make you feel any better about the slight weight in your arms.
You contemplate your journey as you reach the end of the ledge and step into yet another tunnel with Melba in the lead. Re-kindling his orb he takes point as you walk into the gloom.
After traveling for only a few hundred yards Melba stops abruptly. “There’s a large hole here…” he relays back to you, “It seems rather-” He cuts off suddenly as a rustling noise rises from the stygian hole.
“Hello?” a hoarse voice whispers, “Hello? Who’s there?”
Electrified Melba darts to the edge of the opening and peers down, “Jack?!,” he calls in happy disbelief.
“Oh, Melba! It’s great to see you! I was afraid I’d never see anyone again…”
You can’t believe it, you have actually found the missing cryptozoologist. Ani grumbles softly in her sleep as you lay her gently on the ground and step forward to join the Healer. Peering down into the dark you can the narrow grey muzzle of a wildclaw peering back at you.
“Oh, Melba, you’ve brought friends. Pleased to meet you I am sure. Just the two of you then? How lovely.”
“We brought Anisakis too, but she was wounded in a fight with Serthis…” Melba replies as he scans the walls of the hole, looking for way to get Jack out.
“Serthis!”, Jack spits, startling you. It’s the first thing out of his mouth that isn’t an absent-minded kind of dignity and affection, “Serthis are the reason I’m in this hole! I was following the trial of the never-before-seen Enoki Sprite when they surrounded me. Laughing they herded me into this hole, five-on-one which is extremely unsporting behavior! I’ve been down here for.. Oh, I don’t know anymore… a few days at the least…” he trails off. “Will Anisakis be alright? And where are the Serthis?”
You shift uncomfortably and don’t answer. Melba looks at out of the corner of his eye and answers the Wildclaw, “Ani will be fine with rest and the Serthis are… taken care of.”
“Good, good,” Jack answers absently, “Say, do you think you could help me out of here? I’m rather tired of looking at all this dirt.”
Melba gives a quick grin, “Not a problem!” He digs his ropes back out of his pack and smiles at you, “If you could just tie one end of these around a sturdy rock.”
You comply and watch in puzzlement as he flies down into the hole to lay the ropes on the ground. Making sure they lay flat he then bring the free end up the the side opposite of where they were tied. Glancing back to make sure the center of the ropes remained flat on the ground he nods in satisfaction. “Ok! Now Jack, just stand on the ropes, careful not to move them!” He looks at you, “Pick up the loose end and back up slowly. This will raise the ropes and Jack out of the hole.”
You begin to point out, again, that that isn’t how ropes or tension or balance work, but decide against it. It’s not like he listened last time.
But Melba can tell what you’re thinking and laughs. He nudges you, “Balancing Jack can’t be nearly as hard as balancing your shaky walking.”
You shake your head in amusement and begin to raise the Wildclaw while closely his eyes and mutters under his breath. Sooner than you thought Jack is perched on the ropes in the center of the hole, level with the ground. You feel no weight on the “bridge”, but give up questioning the logic involved.
“Melba, I’m afraid I don’t know where to go from here” Jack calls out.
“Hop! Just hop over to the side, I’ve got you steadied.”
With an elegant shrug Jack jumps over and makes it with room to spare. “Well now, that’s much better!”
Looking him over he seems rather filthy and a little skinny, but not too bad.
The Healer studies him with clear puzzlement, “I’m happy you’re healthy… but how are you healthy?”
“Oh, well you see it was the Enoki Sprite that helped me out. She felt bad that I was stuck because I had been tracking her so she’s been bringing me food and water. The Serthis would check on me every day or so and chuck things at me for a bit of a joke… nasty creatures… and while they seemed puzzled as to why I was still alive I guess they didn’t really put much of a mind as to why that was.”
Melba is still clearly puzzled, “What’s an Enoki Sprite?”
“Oh, well, you see, so…” Jack waffles a bit, “An Enoki Sprite is rare creature covered in beautiful translucent white mushr
The Story so far:
Trudging through the verdant warmth of the Everbloom gardens you pause to rest. It's been a few hours since you've taken a break of any kind and this spot seems just about perfect to refresh yourself and take in the lush beauty surrounding you.
With a content sigh you set down your traveling pack and recline against fallen tree. Gazing around, you wonder at the serenity of your chosen resting spot and the profusion of colors surrounding you.
"Has there ever been a place so simultaneously restful and invigorating?", you laugh a little at yourself, it's been so long since you've run into anyone that you've started talking to yourself for company.
"There are many such places in the Everbloom Gardens," an amused voice comes from off to your left.
Startled you begin to spin to look for the source of the raspy, but somehow mellifluous voice, only to trip over your travel bag and fall into the moist earth.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you! I heard you talking and thought you knew you weren't alone."
Embarrassed you pick yourself up as an enormous Guardian moves further into the clearing. Looking at her your can understand why you didn't see her at first, she blends perfectly into the riotous nature that you find yourself surrounded by.
"Are you ok?", she asks scanning you with a keen eye.
"Just fine," you mumble while brushing dirt and leaves away.
She seems a little skeptical, but takes you at your word. "Well... if you're sure. In any case, I'm Acer, Matriarch of my clan. We reside... that way." She gestures vaguely behind her, "I don't suppose you are in a hurry? You see, we're in a little bit of a pickle right now and could really use some assistance. "
You hesitate, you weren't in a hurry at all, but who knows what kind of "pickle" the clan might be in?
Sensing your hesitation she smiles a bit, "Nothing too arduous I assure you. You see a member of my clan fancies himself a bit of a explorer and is fascinated by cryptozoology. Every now and then he tends to wander off to track down the latest mysterious beastie. Usually it's not an issue as for the most part he can take care of himself, but this time he's been missing just a little too long. We've managed to track him to a cave system just a little bit to the west of here, but it's an enormous area and we just don't have that much time currently, what with everything happening at the border and-," she stops abruptly to clear her throat. "Well, that's nothing that you need to worry about right now."
She stops to collect her thoughts and look you over a little more closely, "You seem like an adventurous sort and someone who can handle themselves. And it may be that we can compensate you for your time and troubles. Do you think you can help us find him?"
You take a second to think it over as Acer regards you patiently. You really didn’t have a specific destination in mind and the task doesn’t seem like it’ll be too difficult…
“Alright,” you agree, “why not?”
“Excellent!,” pleased, the Guardian beckons you forward, “if you’d just collect your travel pack and follow me this way.” She turns back towards the section of the undergrowth she emerged from.
Acer continues to speak to you over her shoulder as you follow her deeper into the fragrant greenery, “I’ve sent a couple of the Fae pack into the cave to find JackPine, but so far they’ve had no luck and I’m afraid they’ve been down there for too many days. Every time they come back up to report they seem just a little more exhausted.” She pauses as she moves a large sticky vine out of your way, “Like I said, it’s a very large system. Fortunately they’ve been keeping a fairly accurate map and we seem to have covered a good bit of it.”
The ground is drying up a bit as you continue to follow her up a small incline. When you’ve almost reached the peak of the hill she stops and gestures towards the ground, “Well, there’s the entrance… such as it is.”
You stare at what is little better than a crack in the ground and look back up at her in disbelief, “That’s a cave?”
“Well,” she shifts a little awkwardly, “this is the closest entrance. The really large opening is over in Driftwood Drag, but that one is a bit… difficult… to use right now. I promise that once you wiggle past this little part here it opens up quite nicely! At least so the Faes say, I myself can’t fit.” She smiles at you hopefully, “You aren’t claustrophobic are you?”
You sigh resignedly, you did agree to help and the Guardian did say that she may be able to reward you. Besides, there may be some really neat stuff down there. With that thought you perk up; who knows what you might see? You settle your travel pack firmly on your back to avoid having it snag and wave goodbye to Acer.
As you begin to crawl through the rock she calls out behind you, “The Fae pack should be on their way back, if you should run into them they can help you to narrow down which parts of the cave have already been explored! And a piece of advice: don’t trust your eyes down there!”
With that cryptic and somewhat alarming bit of wisdom echoing in your ears you shimmy against the rough stone. Moving forward a few feet at a time you feel the damp surface scrape at your skin. You swear the opening is narrowing… fighting down panic you wiggle just a little further forward to find yourself flopping over a low ledge.
“Unf,” You stare upwards into the gloom, “well, I’m in.” Sitting up you see that the Guardian was right, the narrow tunnel opened up into a large, roughly circular room. You look around to see that there is only one way to go.
You check your pack to make sure it didn’t unfasten and then settle it on your back. The only light in the cave seems to be coming from the crevice you rather gracelessly fell from... you do have a few torches, but it seems best to save them until absolutely necessary. After all, you may be down here for a day or two. In any case there seems to be a faint light illuminating the end of the one path out of the room.
Walking forward you can see that while there is indeed illumination of some kind at the end of the pathway, there is also a rather moist and tangy scent wafting towards you. Reaching the end of the passage you find another room, this one easily ten times the size of the first one and decorated by hundreds of thousands of glowing mushrooms. You look around in awe and pleasure, it’s an eerie, but beautiful sight. As you’re basking in the misty glow you hear a wet crackle from off to your left. Glancing in that direction you see nothing, nothing but mushrooms. You move towards the sound, admiring the many hues shapes of the fungi.
This might be a good time to restock on some supplies, you think as you reach forward. As your hand closes on a particularly large and succulent mushroom one of the masses it’s growing on rears up. It’s hissing maw closes inches from your face as you fall backwards onto cold and rough stone. Scrambling away you see that the creature has not only a backside covered in glowing fungus, but long lethal looking claws. You attempt to regain your feet as it advances towards you at a scurry, never letting up it’s unnerving hissss.
Your hand closes over a sharp rock to use to defend yourself when the reptilian head cocks to the side as if listening and it stops advancing. You pause to listen as well. You can hear the flutter of wings and the monotonous tones of what can only be Fae. Glancing quickly towards the nearest tunnel opening you see five Fae flutter out of the opening. You turn back towards the attacking beast only to blink when it’s no longer there. Warily you gaze around, but seeing nothing you rise (with a thought to yourself that you’ve been on the ground far too much in the past few hours) to greet the approaching Fae.
Spotting you the pack approaches swiftly.
“Greetings!,” chirps the lead Fae, “I am Melba. What are you doing down here?”
“I’ve been sent by Acer to help find JackPine,” you reply helpfully.
“That’s fantastic news! You see, we don’t want to give up looking, but most of us need to return to the Vale. We are just so close though, I just know it!” the remarkably excitable and expressive Fae gestures to his pack mates, "Shroudcrawler was wounded by…. Something....” the Fae pauses and seems a little disconcerted, “I’ve patched her up, but she needs to return to the Vale and rest to fully recover. Honestly, we could all use a break. Being down here is starting to wear, but we just can’t leave Jack.” The Fae looks at you pleadingly, “You’ll help right? Two of us will stay to help you and to keep you out of the areas we’ve already explored. Shroud can’t stay though.”
You glance towards the black Fae that Melba seems to be indicating. Her color seems a little dull and her crests are drooping, it’s clear that she needs to get home to heal.
“So!,” Melba continues brightly, “I will remain with you as I’m the head Healer for the Vale and I feel like you’ll be needing me.” He speeds through the last part of his sentence as if hoping you won’t hear him. “That means that either Anisakis, Dreamscape, or Weaver can remain with us and the other two can return home with Shroud to rest and gather more supplies. We each have our own special talents… who would you like to stay with us?”
1.) A murky green Fae covered in scarred leather greets you, “I am Anisakis. I’m a rogue by training and an alchemist by profession. I’m most useful at moving silently, being unseen, using poisons, and quick close combat.” She speaks with a low, monotonous voice, even by Fae standards… but her body seems strong and wiry for her size.
2.)
A green and yellow Fae who is well wrapped in soft forest-colored leathers and is carrying a large nature tome speaks up. In a serene and calming voice she introduces herself, “I am Shroudweaver, daughter of Shroudcrawler, but you can call me Weaver. I am well versed in the druidic arts and can help you with anything regarding beasts, flora, or green magic."
3.)
The final Fae smiles at you, “I am Dreamscape, but most dragons call me Dream. I mostly do flashy mage things," his grin turns a little self-deprecating, "But I’m pretty good with illusions, defensive charms, and pretty much anything arcane.”
You look at each Fae in turn. All three could be handy to have around…
But recalling the lizard...mushroom...thing you realize that someone who can move unseen and is adept with close combat might be best. Facing Anisakis you ask her, “Would you be ok with staying down here with us?” The wiry Fae doesn’t say anything, but dips her head in agreement. “Ani doesn’t talk much,” explains Melba, “but she’s very resourceful and always does what she says she will.”
“Uh, ok. So, I guess it’s just the three of us then?”
“Indeed, and I have faith that you will find Jack quickly,” Weaver states with calm certainty, “In the meantime we will return to the Vale and have more supplies sent, just in case.”
Dream gives you a jaunty salute and a lopsided smile as he moves to support Shroud who seems to be wobbling a bit. “We’ll have someone back here the day after tomorrow to check in and replace your goods.”
Weaver moves to Shroud’s other side, “Try to avoid any fauna if you can, they aren’t all natural,” she advises as the three Fae begin to exit the cave.”
You glance at Melba, who shrugs, “Weaver knows what she’s talking about, but some of the critters in here are a bit hard to steer clear of; they seem to want confrontation.”
You stare at the chipper Healer who just shrugs again and smiles when Anisakis snorts her opinion.
“Right well, we’ve taken up enough time today! On to Pick A Tunnel! It’s a game we play. It’s pretty self-explanatory really. You just… Pick A Tunnel.”
Turning away from Melba you look at the nine tunnels arrayed in various spots around the large cavern. “Any of them?”
“Well, no, not really. We’ve actually explored all the systems leading out from here except for the two on the farthest right. So, it’s now Pick Between Two Tunnels!”
You shake your head at the enthusiasm accompanying the words and look back at the two tunnels indicated. You glance over at the silent Ani who looks up from contemplating the various bottles strapped securely to her side. You motion to her to Pick A Tunnel. She shrugs and begins to move towards the very last tunnel on the right.
Melba chirrups, “Excellent! I love when Ani picks! She has good instincts.”
You both follow the soundless Rogue as she glides into the mouth of the chosen tunnel, but stumble to an abrupt halt as she freezes.
“What’s wrong?” You ask trying to peer into the gloom.
A soft glow begins behind you, looking over your shoulder you see a shimmering white orb glowing above Melba’s head.
“Oh, in addition to being a Healer I can use a few light spells. Nothing fancy I’m afraid,” he explains in a low whisper while keeping his eyes on the motionless Rogue.
The glow illuminates the first few feet of a new cavern exposing a deep black sludge covering the rocky floor. At least you assume it’s still rock as you can’t actually see anything below the ooze.
Ani glances back at you and gestures for you to stay put. Having absolutely no issue with these orders you remain where you are. She glides a few feet forward, but almost immediately begins to backwing, “Down!,” she croaks out as she lands in front of you facing the darkness.
You dive to the floor just as a large, goopy forelimb comes streaking out of the darkness, swiping filthy claws only inches above your head. You roll to the side frantically peering around to see what became of the Fae. You spot Melba hoving up near the ceiling sending small sparks floating towards the dark, sludgy mass. As each tiny spark connects with the monster there’s a small flash followed by a hsspt.
“They really don’t do much except cause a small sting, but they sure are distracting,” he calls down to you cheerfully. Rather too cheerfully in your opinion.
As the hulking mass seems to be distracted you squint into the dark for any sign of Anisakis.
“You’re really not going to be able to see her until she’s ready to be seen,” you’re informed by the terrifyingly chipper Fae.
You glance back down at the goop covering the floor and then back up at the angrily swatting monster. They seem to be made of a similar substance… you reach down to touch the ooze only to jerk quickly your hand back in pain. You look at your hand, horrified to see a large angry looking burn covering the area that came into contact with the ooze.
Cradling your hand you call out to the Fae, “Don’t touch it!”
Ani immediately appears at your side causing you to jump. She looks at your hand and then at the monster consideringly. She nods her thanks to you and immediately disappears again.
“Ani, whatever you’re planning on doing you should probably do it soon, I’m running out of sparks.”
As Melba finishes his sentence the ooze monster lets out a high-pitched burbling scream and rushes from the room.
You wince and glance down at the Rogue who has reappeared at you side.
“I doused it’s tail with a counter-toxin,” she informs you, “simple and effective.”
Melba floats down to study your hand. “All-in-all that’s not too bad,” he declares as he holds his tiny claws over your burnt one. A soft pearly glow encompases the chemical burn and a soothing breeze fans over it. As the glow disappears you can see your skin is good as new.
You look at Ani, “What was that thing and will it be back?” She shrugs in answer to both questions.
Melba answers instead, “It looked like a type of slarg… but enormous and made of an extremely potent toxin. In any case this seems to be it’s den so we’ll leave this cavern and hopefully not run into it again.” He makes a small gesture towards the floor where the ooze rolls away in a narrow path to reveal clean stone.
“Best be quick, this isn’t an easy spell nor one that I have much experience with!” With that he begins to flutter down the path. You hasten after him with Ani bringing up the rear. Reaching the back of the room you find a small crack in the rock. Ani edges around you to enter it. A moment later she pops her head out and motions you forward. You and Melba follow her through the crack to find a very tiny hollow in the side of a ravine.
Ani points to the side where you see a rusted chest sitting on the ground. Moving forward you open it to find three runestones.
“Ahhh, magae stones!” Melba exclaims. You look at him quizzically, not being familiar with the term. “It’s a magically imbued stone that when activated grants you the ability to perform a spell. They are very useful and very highly sought after. I wonder how they got here..” he trails off, but then looks at you happily, “I’m guessing by the fight we were just in that you don’t have much magic?”
You shake your head a little embarrassed.
“Not to worry! You don’t need much to activate these and once you do it will pack a pretty decen wallop! I recommend only activating one though, too many and you might be overwhelmed. I don’t need any and Ani prefers physicality,” he laughs a little as he finishes his sentence.
The Healer points to each stone in turn and explains what their effects would be. “So! Which one would you like?”
1.) The first stone appears to be on the verge of crumbling, but is covered in iridescent runes. It would give you shielding abilities.
2.) The second stone is dark brown and oddly cold. It would give you the ability to quickly decay organics.
3.) The third stone flares with little incandescent lights as it reflects the glow from the orb. It would give you the ability to work with fire.
You pick up the stone sparking with incandescent lights. It has a feeling of weight and life as it rests in your hand. Melba nods his approval, “Good choice! It’s what I would have picked for you. Now, to activate it all you have to do is take a very deep breath, center yourself on that breath, and breath onto the stone.”
Not quite sure you understand exactly what that means you nonetheless follow his directions. As you release your breath onto the face of the magae stone you feel a heaviness settle in your chest. You look at the Fae in confusion, that was all? You don’t feel any different really… “Um… maybe I didn’t do it ri…. Umph.” You let out a gasp as the heaviness in chest expands in a rush throughout all your limbs feeling like a small lightning shock… if lightning was also made of water and space dust.
“There now! It seems to have taken effect perfectly. Why don’t you try it out?”
You take another deep breath and raise your hand. “Now what?”
“Just feel it,” you’re advised.
okaaay, I’ll just *feel* it, so thinking you feel it and are astonished when a strong and steady green flame leaps from your hand. “I’m doing it!”
“Good, good!” Melba chirps happily as Ani looks on with faint (very faint) amusement. “Now we’ve had a long day so far so why don’t we make camp here and continue on in the morning?”
Still feeling a little tingly you agree wholeheartedly with this idea.
After what feels like only a few hours of sleep you are awoken by the excitable dragon peering into your face, “Well how do you feel??”
Startled you release a small spurt of flame from your mouth.
Melba laughs as he quickly backs away and Anisakis lets out a low sigh. “It looks like you’re doing fine! Let’s eat a little and be on our way.”
After a quick breakfast of dried goods you follow the Fae down a narrow ledge above a steep ravine. Glancing over the edge you think you can see the bottom, but it’s so dark it’s hard to tell.
The Fae come to an abrupt stop causing you to stumble a bit to avoid crashing into them and sending you all over the ledge.
“Sorry!,” Melba chirrups back to you, “There’s a side cavern here that we need to check out…”, he trails off as he ducks into the crack following close behind the silent rogue.
You duck in behind them and stop in astonishment. The cave is full of flowers. More types than you’ve ever seen in one place in your life. You glance up to see a murky green light filtering through the ceiling. It looks like it was once made of crystal, but has grown over with moss and lichen.
“How can the flowers survive with so little light?” you wonder absently.
Ani shrugs and Melba replies, “Well, Weaver did warn you that not everything down here would be entirely… right. It’s a confluence of magics I think. Between the Nature Magic, the Shadow Magic, and the odd Arcane currents floating around down here it’s not that odd.”
“Wait, why are there Arcane currents here? We’re nowhere near the Starfall isles!”
Melba looks at you with slight pity, “And when did anything Arcane ever follow the rules??”
You sigh in acknowledgement of this fact and move towards some of the blooms to see them closer, noticing that Ani has already begun plucking some.
“Anything interesting?”, you ask her.
She shrugs again, “Everything is interesting with the right ingredients and patience.”
You’re a little taken aback by actually receiving an answer, and a fairly wise one at that.
Leaning closer to the flowers you see that some are made of crystal, some of petals, some of what might be a fluid kind of… metal? You lean in to smell them and gasp with delight. They all have unique and intoxicating scents. Some are easy to identify, like roses and juniper, or earth and salt water, others are stranger and more disturbing.
You spin around at the sound of a sharp snap to see Ani plucking one of the shimmering crystal blooms and tucking it into her satchel. Abruptly she starts slapping at her arms and hissing. Concerned you start towards her to help when she begins to giggle. At this you become downright alarmed and dash across the cave.
“Spiders,” she gasps out overtaken by a fit a giggles, “spiders in the flower.”
“Spiders?”, confused you examine the her arms as Melba comes winging up. Almost invisible against her dark skin you see a handful of teeny, crystalline spiders, the color of a cold dawn. You reach down to brush them off her assuming that the cause for her laughing fit is them ticking her scales. As you brush one away it leaps on your arm. You stop to examine it more closely… it really is quite beautiful. You start to brush it back among the flowers when you feel a slight pinch and a spreading warmth from where it clearly just bit you.
You feel a tickle in the back of your throat and begin to hack. Melba looks at you in concern as he brushes the last few spiders off of Ani, “Are you ok?”
You try to answer but all that comes out is a series of coughing giggles. Melba’s eyes widen as he looks from you to Ani who is now doubled up on the floor howling with laughter. “Uh….I think maybe we should get you two out of here.” He begins to try and shift Ani towards the exit when he yelps, “Oh, oh no,” he begins to giggle as he pulls her out of the cavern.
You follow them out dragging yourself along and laughing hysterically. “I’ve never seen Ani with that much enthusiasm,” you wheeze between breaths.
“Don’t hold it against her,” Melba squeezes out between clenched teeth through which a little whine of laughter escapes, “she’ll be right as rain soon… I hope.”
Ani continues to laugh herself silly as she watches you struggle after them. With her eyes lit up in maniacal mirth she seems a lot more friendly, you think to yourself and then begin to giggle even harder.
“Stop laughing!” the Healer gasps out as he collapses in fit, “I swear it’s contagious.”
Ani points at Melba and continues to giggle, seemingly enjoying the predicament. Melba seems to have lost his persistent chipperness even as chuckles continue to leak through his mouth. He looks around in concern and then spotting the rogues satchel his eyes light up, “Ani, do you have anything in here that might help?”
Nodding despite her hysterics she begins to empty her bag pulling out vial after bottle after dried flower. She stops at a small flask filled with a thick blue good. Rolling it over to Melba she gestures for him to open it, “Rub it on the bites. Anti-venom. Should work. Hopefully. But maybe not!” she finishes her instructions almost cheerfully. Following her directions Melba rubs the goo on her first while chuckling all the while, “Look at this stuff! It’s ridiculous!”
He rubs it on your bite next and then his own. At the soothing feel of the anti-venom your giggles start back up again, but almost immediately subside.
“Well, that certainly was a trip!” The Fae regained his cheer unnervingly quickly, “And no permanent harm done!”
Ani regards him sourly as you shake your head in bafflement of his undauntingly good nature.
“So, I think we should probably press on, we still have a lot of ground to cover!”
Sighing you follow him and the slightly embarrassed rogue out of the cavern and back out onto the ledge.
After an hour of walking you reach a part of the ledge that has a small “staircase” descending into the depths. The ravine has also narrowed enough to see the other side.
“It looks like we have a few options here! One of us can even fly across the ravine and set up a rope “bridge”. We’ll let you pick this time. Where should we go?
1.) Continue to follow the narrow ledge.
2.) Descend the “staircase” into the gloom.
3.) Create a rope “bridge” across the ravine.
You glance down into the chasm below. You’re pretty sure that you can’t actually make out the bottom and it doesn’t seem very welcoming…
You look forward along the ledge; it seems solid enough, but it does get even narrower just up ahead and while that isn’t a problem for the Fae if might get a little dicey for you.
“Let’s try going across?”
“Sounds good!” With that Melba pulls out three very long, very thin threads from his pack and passes the ends to Ani who grins. Perplexed you watch as the Healer flies across the ravine and secures the other ends to a large boulder, looking back at Ani you see she has also secured her ends in the same manner, two over the third.
Melba calls back to you, “Ok, now just walk along the bottom rope and use the other two to balance yourself.”
“Rope?! These aren’t ropes! These are threads! And that’s not how tension or balance work!”
Ani snickers behind you as Melba explains, “I’m going to be manipulating a kind of air spell to keep you balanced on the ropes, all you have to do is go slowly, use the claw-rails, and don’t look down. I usually only balance small things with this spell though so please don’t move too fast!”
“Sure, yeah, ok, just walk along this thread over a gaping chasm while being balanced by air with a spell used for smaller objects, yeah, sure, no problem, let me just juggle a snapper while I’m at it,” muttering under your breath you begin walking along the bridge keeping your eyes fixed firmly on the pale Fae waiting on the other side. To your surprise it feels like solid ground beneath your feet and it’s not hard to balance at all.
Reaching the ledge on the other side your sigh with relief as your feet touch stone. Looking back over at the “bridge” and the long drop beneath it you feel a little woozy.
Anisakis unties her end of the threads and flies them over to you as Melba pats your back encouragingly, “You follow directions very well! Now it looks like that from here there is only one way to go so let’s get to it!”
Trudging after the Fae you enter a rather narrow tunnel that slopes slightly downward and seems to have a rather… acidic odor to it.
You sniff the air warily and take in a large whiff only to make a face.
“Bugs.” Ani says briefly.
“Bugs?”
She nods.
“What kind of bugs?”
She looks back at you and shrugs. You resign yourself to the fact that you probably won’t be getting more of an explanation from the taciturn Rogue.
The tunnel begins to even out and widens very slightly into a shallow bowl. The three of you stop as the edge and look around consideringly.
A dull glint catches your eye, “I think I see something over there,” you point at the faint shine and begin making your way to it.
crunch cruuunch
You glance down feeling brittle snaps occurring under your feet in time with the crunching sounds. You peer at the dull ivory lumps consideringly….
“Ooooh…. Um, there’s some… remains over here.”
Melba and Ani fly over to join you. Examining the dragon bones Ani glances up, “Several.”
“Pardon?”
“Several remains.”
“Oh.” You look around uneasily, “You said ‘bugs’ right? So, where are they bugs?”
“No use worrying about something that isn’t here yet! When they arrive we’ll handle them,” Melba declares with rather more unconcern then you’re comfortable with, “In the meantime help me open this chest. And try not to step on the departed!”
You lean down to help him out realizing that the glint you saw was from an all gold chest. Decorated with intricate carvings, even the lock is gilded. You brace yourself against the lid and almost fall over when it comes up easily with a loud scraping sound. “I guess it wasn’t locked.”
Ani taps you on the shoulder and points into the gloom. Following her gesture you see a hole in the ground. A hole that is now emitting a rather ominous dry clacking sound.
“I think it’s best if we grab what we can and leave this area,” Melba announces, “Fill your pockets of anything useful and RUN!” He finishes his sentence on a squeak as a large, black, chitinous, multi-limbed thing emerges from the hole at a dead sprint.
You turn and race for the far end of the tunnel with the Fae neck and neck with you.
“Why are we trying to outrun it?” you pant between breaths, “there’s one of it and three of us and isn’t this what you’re trained for??”
“There was one. Now we’re outnumbered.” Ani answers you while glancing over her shoulder, “Outnumbered and outpaced.”
You feel a frisson of real fear as you look back to see that you are indeed outnumbered. There are now over half a dozen of the… centipedes(?!) and they are gaining.
The tunnel begins to curve as you race ahead of the pack. Coming out around a bulge of stone you have a brilliant idea.
Stopping you turn to face the way you came.
“What are you doing?,” Melba stops beside you, “I too have faith in our abilities, but wow they are fast and they look hungry.”
Ignoring him for the moment you feel it and aim a concentrated beam of fire at the bulging stone. With laser precision and a low hiss it slides through the rock and with a sound like a two mountains colliding the protruding boulder falls to block the tunnel entrance.
Melba looks at you with delighted astonishment “Bravo, bravo! That was certainly quick thinking on your part! And what a use of your new abilities as well! I don’t think I’ve met even a small handful of fire workers who could have pulled that off, let alone one who could have done it without years of practice.”
Ani pats you on the shoulder with a pleased grin on her face. High praise indeed.
You all regard the now blocked tunnel where angry hissing and clattering can be heard faintly behind it.
“Let’s be away from here before they find a way out, shall we?” Melba flutters down the path humming.
After walking for a few hours the path splits off into three sections.
Ani gestures for you to choose a direction.
“I agree, after such a brilliantly executed escape you definitely deserve to pick our route!! Where to now?”
1.) The path to the left slopes downwards and has a very damp feel.
2.) The middle path continues straight forward and has a carpet of soft pink lichen. There’s a sweet scent coming from it.
3.) The right hand path climbs upwards and you think you can hear swooshing and a faint chittering.
You decide that maybe it’s better to start climbing back towards the surface, some fresh air is definitely needed.
Beginning the gentle climb you hear Melba exclaim behind you, “Really? You haven’t had enough of strange creatures yet today? You want to go towards more? I knew I liked you for a reason!”
Stifling a grin at his strange (but oddly infectious enthusiasm) you continue to make your way to the top of the easy slope. Reaching the top you find a steeply pitched cavern with high, rippling walls. Looking up you can see sliver of the night sky sparkling through a lean crack in the ceiling.
Watching the sky you see small shapes carving sharp, winding loops through the air. Grinning in delight you watch the aerial acrobatics.
You hear a low whistle and glance over at Ani who is looking at the narrow ledges ringing the cavern near to the opening. “Big. Very big.” You squint towards the ledges trying to see what she’s seeing… and you realize that what you took for a large mass of little bats is actually one very large bat. Knowing what to look for now you see over a dozen more of the enormous creatures. Staring at a particularly large one you jump a little when it opens it’s eyes and stares back.
“Do you think they might be dangerous?” you inquire a little nervously, “There sure are a lot of them.” Your nerves only get worse as faint luminescent runes start to glow along the fur and wings of the one who opened it’s eyes. A soft glow fills the cave as more of the huge bats wake and glimmer.
“No idea! But, we’re probably going to find out before too long,” Melba states matter-of-factly. Ani positions herself in a fighting stance and begins to fade out of sight.
You brace yourself and start to feel it in preparation as the bats spread their enormous leathery wings and launch themselves from the eaves. They swing in a few wide, graceful circles before flying low enough for you to see their faces. You swear they are laughing at you. Watching them warily you relax your stance as they flit back to the ceiling and then out through the opening into the velvet sky.
“I’d say that answered the question!,” the Healer trills happily, “Now, how about some food?”
You all sit down for a bite to eat and to evaluate your supplies.
Watching the graceful (if erratic) ballet weave in and out of the rock formations in the upper reaches of the cavern you recline and decide that this is the best rest you’ve had since entering the caves.
With that thought in mind you ask, “What exactly was it that Jack was looking for down here anyway?”
“Weeeelllll....,” Melba hesitates, “we’re not exactly sure. You see, Jack is always going on about the latest beastie that he’s discovered or read about, but frankly most of them don’t exist. It’s not that Jack isn’t smart mind you, he just gets very excited.”
You grin a little at the enthusiastic Fae calling someone else excitable.
“This last time he was saying that he did it, that he’d finally found one of his mysterious and rare creatures. When questioned about it though he said that it was so rare no one had written about it yet. I asked him to describe it and he said it was a fungus sprite.” He looks indignant, “A fungus sprite! Can you believe that?”
Ani’s eyes glint in amusement as she chows down on her dried insects.
“In any case we were all so preoccupied with what’s been happening on the island that no one was free to accompany him on his latest adventure, but when he didn’t come back we had our resident Seer look for him in his scrying glass. All he could get was seeing Jack enter these caves, but because of the density of the rock and the various magical currents and all the extra magic being loosed at the border he couldn’t see more. He knows that Jack didn’t come back out though… so here we are.” He finishes his explanation with a rare downcast look on his expressive face, “I just hope we find him soon. It’s been almost two weeks that he’s been down here…”
Ani passes him a bit of her lunch and pats him on one tiny paw. He smiles at her and continues, “Jack is actually very brilliant in his own way, but he’s not very resourceful and he tends to be a little absent-minded and impulsive. I’m sure we will find him soon though and he can tell us all about what he was looking for!”
There’s a lull in conversation as you all rest and observe the mad flights above you.
“Oh! Look at that! And just in time to restock out provisions!”
You watch as Melba darts forward and begins collecting something at a mad pace. Getting up you move forward to join him. In his claws are large, wriggling beetles with iridescent green wings. You grimace a little, but help him to gather up the lumbering bugs.
He passes you a handful, “Take these over to Ani, please! She has a quick-preserving powder.”
You comply and watch as she sprinkles a beige powder over them. It smells slightly of cinnamon. “There,” she says with satisfaction, “they’ll keep for weeks.” You sigh inwardly, beetles aren’t exactly your cup of tea, but it’s better than going hungry.
“Now! Just to update the map and then we’ll be on our way to save Jack!”
“You have a map?” You’re a little relieved, you were secretly concerned that you wouldn’t be able to find your way back; actually now that you think about it you closed off the tunnel that leads back… You mentally shake yourself, you’ll deal with it when it’s time.
“Well, of course I have a map! I updated it when you were sleeping, but it’s been a fairly straight path so I didn’t have to mark it throughout today,” he laughs, “I have a fairly good memory, but I’m no Snapper!”
“About that, Melba, I was wondering… You’re not a Snapper, but you’re very expressive for a Fae…” you trail off uncertainly, wondering if the question is too personal.
“I have been told that a time or two,” he replies with his eyes dancing, “I may be a Fae, but I was raised by a clan of Spirals. They tend to rub off on you a bit.”
Anisakis snorts, “A bit.”
He grins at her as he makes notations on a large scroll pulled from his satchel. “As you can see, we’ve explored and mapped a large area, but I feel like we’re finally getting close.”
After your rest the three of you explore the bat cave, but find no exit other than the one far, far above you.
“Well, it seems like this was a dead end. A nice break though! And it was a good change of pace to not have to fight for our lives!”
You agree whole heartedly, but it begs the question, “Exactly how many dangerous things have you run into down here?”
“Mmmm…. A lot. Pretty much something tries to maim, kill, or eat us every few hours. Sometimes all three! It’s invigorating really.”
You keep your opinion of this to yourself as you descend back through the sloping passage way.
“I guess we’re going to have to go a different route. There’s the other two unexplored routes still, Ani, would you like to choose?”
The Fae shakes her head, “The last choice was a good one; the wrong one, but a good one.” She looks at you, “You choose.”
1.) The path to the left slopes downwards and has a very damp feel.
2.) The middle path continues straight forward and has a carpet of soft pink lichen. There’s a sweet scent coming from it.
Descending even further into the never-ending subterranean depths doesn't exactly appeal to you.
“Let’s try the middle path, at least it smells better than the bat cave,” you decide with a wrinkled nose, but you spare a small smile for the nocturnal fliers.
“Sounds good to me! And personally, I love pink. It’s my favorite color! After blue…” Melba thinks for a second, “and gold. Silver too. But pink is my favorite after those for sure!”
You have to laugh, you’ve never before met a dragon, Fae or otherwise, so happy about everything around him. Curious, you look over at the reserved Rogue, “So, uh, Ani?
She raises her crests at you inquisitively as the three of you embark on your newest adventure, “Melba was raised by Spirals… what about you? Where are you from?”
Her crests immediately stiffen, “Abiding Boneyard. Mirrors. That’s it.” Hertone is brisker than you’ve heard before and you realize you’ve hit a nerve.
The three of you travel onward in silence.
Melba falls back to travel beside you, “Don’t take it personally,” he says in an quietly, “None of us know much about her past, but what we do know… well, it’s nothing anyone would want to talk about.” He moves behind you to walk beside Anisakis.
You hear them murmuring in an undertone and then feel a small paw on your shoulder. Turning you find her beside you. She dips her head in contrition “My upbringing is not something I speak of, but no reason to snap at you. My apologies.”
Relieved, you accept her apology and look at the mouth of the central tunnel.
You take a deep breath. It smells of gardenia and damp grass and when you bring the air in your mouth it tastes of slightly-tart peaches. You begin to perk up, this might actually be a pleasant place to travel in!
Strolling in you feel relaxed and more optimistic than you have since you started this adventure.
Melba begins to whistle a happy little tune and even Ani seems to have more bounce to her than normal.
The lichen is soft and smooth under your feet and has a silvery sheen when it reflects off the light orb floating above the Healer. As your claws scrape the flora covering the ground the scents seem to change. From gardenia and damp grass, to roses and autumn leaves, to fresh bark and running water it cycles through every scent you’ve ever loved in Nature and back again.
For this alone it was worth the trip, you think to yourself.
The walk seems to go on for hours, but no one voices a complaint. In fact, no one speaks at all. Absorbed by the litany of changing scents you lose yourself in your own thoughts and reveries.
All too soon the tunnel come to an end at a small, dark brook running cutting through the path and then back into a crevice in the rock, continuing off into the dark.
On the other side of the babbling water you can see the tunnel widens slightly and has a decently sized nook carved into the side of it.
Melba sighs and then squares his tiny shoulders, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a more perfect place to make camp,” he declares.
You agree, but look back longingly noticing the Fae are doing the same.
“Well, we should probably rest while we can. I don’t see how we are going to make it back to the rendezvous point with the one tunnel closed off so we’ll take it easy until we can find a way to circle back for relief and more supplies.” The Healer seems subdued at leaving the enchanting lichen behind.
You realize that you are still staring back at it and give yourself a small shake. Tapping Ani on the shoulder you motion across the stream She sighs, but nods.
The three of you reluctantly cross the narrow, but swift creek and make camp in the nook.
After settling down and building a small fire you snack on your dwindling supplies.
“I think the last scent may have been the best,” you ponder aloud, “crisp apples and pine needles… a rather strange, but beautiful and intriguing combination.”
Melba looks at you in confusion, “I didn’t smell that at all. The last scent was candlewax and sunlight… Invigorating and comforting!”
“Mushrooms and embers,” Ani murmurs almost inaudibly.
“You guys really didn’t smell pine needles?” You ask a little puzzled. They shake their heads, but seem lost in their own thoughts.
You lay back thinking of the scents, your memories, your dreams…
You wake with a start at the small paw on your arm and Melba speaking in your ear, “Time to be up! We’ve slept long enough I think!”
You come more fully awake and realize that you feel more refreshed and content then you have in a long while. All your aches and pains have faded in the night as well.
Ani smiles at you a little, seemingly more at ease than you’ve ever seen her.
You try to remember falling asleep, but all you can remember are the dreams you had. Beautiful, vivid, and comforting, they seemed to have relaxed something in you that you hadn’t realized was tense.
You watch as Melba crosses back over to the stream and gathers a few scrapings of the lichen while being careful not to tread on it. Nonetheless it’s siren scent wafts over to you. The Healer tucks his samples into his satchel, “I think I may find a very good use for this,” he says soberly.
The three of you pack up the rest of your camp and refill your water skins from the clear, sweet tasting brook.
Traveling down the passageway you are all a little quieter than normal, but not unhappy - just thoughtful.
After a while it seems like the tunnel may be rising upwards. Ani moves ahead to scout and comes back quickly looking grim.
“Serthis.”
Alarmed you move quietly forward until you have vantage point of a large cavern opening to the outside.
Moving about the cavern storing and organizing various good and weapons are indeed a clan of Serthis. A half dozen of them or more.
Wiggling backwards silently you confer with Melba and Anisakis.
“We may be able to sneak around them. There’s a large ledge following the rear of the tunnel and running through to the rest of the cave system, but it’s a rather exposed ledge,” Melba furrows his brow with worry. “Or we can go back and try a different route...” He trails off.
“We can surprise them. Gain the upper hand.” Ani states confidently, but a slight movement in her crests conveys the concern she is trying to hide.
“What do you think?”
1.) Sneak along the ledge and hope you aren’t seen.
2. )Surprise the Serthis before they notice you and try to gain the upperhand.
3. )Backtrack through the tunnel and lose a day or more in searching.
You study the ledge in question and the open area where the Serthis are moving about, “Isn’t the ledge a little… exposed?” you ask in concern.
Melba concedes this point, “It’s true that there isn’t much space to hide or to fight if it came to it.” He lets out a small sigh, “Going back through the caves could add days onto our search.”
“So we fight,” Ani states matter-of-factly.
“We fight,” the Healer agrees reluctantly.
Working your way back up to the end of the tunnel you watch the movements of the Serthis. There seems to be seven of them and they all seem to be fairly focused on their various tasks. Looking at them all by turn you study them for weapons and purpose. It takes a little bit, but you feel confident that you have discerned a pattern and have accounted for all weaponry. After a fierce debate the three of you finalize your plan of attack.
Anisakis begins to fade into the shadows as Melba gets as close to the edge of the overlook as possible without being seen. You move to the far right, almost at the beginning of the wide ledge running along the back-side of the cave.
Crouched and silent you watch as the Serthis furthest from you, and closest to the cave exit, stiffens abruptly and then just as abruptly sags slightly to the right and then down below a stack of crates.
You look around quickly hoping none of the others noticed their companion’s odd behavior. With relief you note that they all continue intently with their various organizing and stocking.
Watching the only other isolated Serthis you begin to feel it. Taking deep breaths you wait for the battle to commence.
Ani’s second target is an oddly slight Serthis, one who is covered in various baubles and trinkets and seems to be stitching together stacks of rough cloth. Watching her as intently as you are you can see the slight motion behind her, really no more than a disturbance in the shadows, as Ani moves in. A quick thrust and the Serthis topples over revealing the Rogue and her small dagger… and sending one of the ornate bottles attached to her belt smashing to the ground.
There’s an immediate reaction from the remaining five Serthis; like a fork lightning ran through the room they all whip around in concert. Eyes landing upon the fallen bodies of their sect mates they launch into a furious charge at the all-too-visible Fae. Ani leaps into the air and positions herself to fight as Melba begins to rain little sparks down upon exposed flesh.
You jump up and aim at the Serthis at the rear of the pack storming in on the Fae. A hissing, thrashing bolt of blue fire leaps from your hand and darts towards the Serthis; with a crack like a whip the fire lashes around his neck and yanks him to the ground.
Not stopping to observe the after effects of your attack you spin around to see that Melba’s distraction is working a little too well. Two of the snake people are bearing down on him, and while he has the advantage of height, he has no real offensive or defensive spells. You spare a quick glance over your shoulder to see Ani darting and swooping around two Serthis while attacking with a small dagger. Dashing towards Melba you think frantically, what can you use that will get their attention and won’t risk hitting the Fae??
With a deep breath you stop and concentrate on balling the fire up in your hands. Taking aim you quickly roll first one ball, and then the other directly at the thick, sinewy tails in front of you. As the balls make contact with scaled flesh they erupt with a blinding flash of light and overtake the Serthis.
Keeping your eyes on the Healer you call out, “Are you alright?”
He stares at what’s left of what was moments ago, two warriors and takes a second to answer. When he does he looks up at you and looks you in the eyes, “I’m fine.” While his words say one thing the slight fear in his eyes says something else. Shame and guilt roil in your stomach as you choose to accept his answer and turn back to help Ani.
With horror you see her fighting from the ground while an unnervingly well-muscled warrior taunts her with a spear.
“Ani!” Melba screams darting towards her.
Too far, you think as you sprint after Melba, too far. The Serthis notices the reinforcements pelting towards them and sneers. Raising her spear high she moves to throw it at Ani. Without conscious thought you throw your hands forward and watch in stunned amazement as a shield of fire blossoms around the fallen Rogue.
With a hiss of fury the Serthis spins towards you and launches the spear. You watch it come hurtling forward, but all your quick-thinking seems to be used up. As it slices through the air time slows and then comes shuddering back into real time as the spear is knocked askew by a strong gust of wind. Startled you look over to see Melba give a crooked smile, “Sometimes I can use the air spell on fast moving objects as well as slow dragons crossing rope bridges.” A rush of gratitude fills you, but you have no time to respond she the enraged Serthis engages you. Her face is twisted with hate a viciousness as comes at you bare-handed. Having no further desire to engage in bloodshed you decide on a simple, but effective method.
“Melba! Rock!” The Fae immediately grasps your plan and while you struggle with the Serthis he picks up a large rock (well, as large as he can manage) and drops it square onto her head. Poleaxed she slides gracelessly to the ground.
You take a moment to breath while Melba once again goes racing for Ani.
“You have to drop the shield! It’s a very good shield, but you have to drop it!” He chirps frantically back to you while dancing impatiently in front of the fiery wall. It takes you a second to figure out how, but as soon as you do the Healer is crouched beside Ani who is breathing shallowly.
“Ok, Ani, ok, you’re going to be ok,” he murmurs to her while laying a soothing silver light over a deep gash in her side. He continues to talk to her uttering low sing-song nonsense as he concentrates on knitting her back together.
“Not... a hatchling.” She gasps out between pained breaths, “No need… to... talk... like that.”
He pats her soothingly, “No, no hatchling would be so foolish as to take on two serthis warriors with a dagger. Speaking of which… where is the other?”
Ani gestures limply at the mouth of the cave, “Stabbed him…. Th… Toxin. Fast. Fell… outside. No worries.”
Melba looks up at you, “She’ll be ok with lots of rest and food, but we should get away from here. If there was one outpost of Serthis there will be more.” He waves at the stacks and piles of supplies, “These are here for a reason and I guarantee it’s not for seven Serthis. Do you think you could carry her for a bit?”
You agree without hesitation.
“Good. I’d say we could leave through the cave here, but there are going to be more Serthis out there and we still need to find Jack. I can’t see how he has much time left. Let’s follow the ledge through and hopefully we’ll find a secure place to rest.”
You gently lift the Rogue who grumbles a bit at being carried, but then lapses into silence as her energy flags.
Melba gazes at her, “I closed the wound, but it’s going to be tender for while and she shouldn’t jostle it or it’ll re-open. Normally I could heal it completely, but I’m running low right now… We should surface soon so she can return to the Vale. We’ll look for another day, but then we may need to turn around.”
Rambling seems to calm him so you let him continue to talk as you travel along the wide ledge. Looking it over you can see that your earlier assessment was correct, there’s no way you could have snuck down it the whole way undetected. Knowing that doesn’t make you feel any better about the slight weight in your arms.
You contemplate your journey as you reach the end of the ledge and step into yet another tunnel with Melba in the lead. Re-kindling his orb he takes point as you walk into the gloom.
After traveling for only a few hundred yards Melba stops abruptly. “There’s a large hole here…” he relays back to you, “It seems rather-” He cuts off suddenly as a rustling noise rises from the stygian hole.
“Hello?” a hoarse voice whispers, “Hello? Who’s there?”
Electrified Melba darts to the edge of the opening and peers down, “Jack?!,” he calls in happy disbelief.
“Oh, Melba! It’s great to see you! I was afraid I’d never see anyone again…”
You can’t believe it, you have actually found the missing cryptozoologist. Ani grumbles softly in her sleep as you lay her gently on the ground and step forward to join the Healer. Peering down into the dark you can the narrow grey muzzle of a wildclaw peering back at you.
“Oh, Melba, you’ve brought friends. Pleased to meet you I am sure. Just the two of you then? How lovely.”
“We brought Anisakis too, but she was wounded in a fight with Serthis…” Melba replies as he scans the walls of the hole, looking for way to get Jack out.
“Serthis!”, Jack spits, startling you. It’s the first thing out of his mouth that isn’t an absent-minded kind of dignity and affection, “Serthis are the reason I’m in this hole! I was following the trial of the never-before-seen Enoki Sprite when they surrounded me. Laughing they herded me into this hole, five-on-one which is extremely unsporting behavior! I’ve been down here for.. Oh, I don’t know anymore… a few days at the least…” he trails off. “Will Anisakis be alright? And where are the Serthis?”
You shift uncomfortably and don’t answer. Melba looks at out of the corner of his eye and answers the Wildclaw, “Ani will be fine with rest and the Serthis are… taken care of.”
“Good, good,” Jack answers absently, “Say, do you think you could help me out of here? I’m rather tired of looking at all this dirt.”
Melba gives a quick grin, “Not a problem!” He digs his ropes back out of his pack and smiles at you, “If you could just tie one end of these around a sturdy rock.”
You comply and watch in puzzlement as he flies down into the hole to lay the ropes on the ground. Making sure they lay flat he then bring the free end up the the side opposite of where they were tied. Glancing back to make sure the center of the ropes remained flat on the ground he nods in satisfaction. “Ok! Now Jack, just stand on the ropes, careful not to move them!” He looks at you, “Pick up the loose end and back up slowly. This will raise the ropes and Jack out of the hole.”
You begin to point out, again, that that isn’t how ropes or tension or balance work, but decide against it. It’s not like he listened last time.
But Melba can tell what you’re thinking and laughs. He nudges you, “Balancing Jack can’t be nearly as hard as balancing your shaky walking.”
You shake your head in amusement and begin to raise the Wildclaw while closely his eyes and mutters under his breath. Sooner than you thought Jack is perched on the ropes in the center of the hole, level with the ground. You feel no weight on the “bridge”, but give up questioning the logic involved.
“Melba, I’m afraid I don’t know where to go from here” Jack calls out.
“Hop! Just hop over to the side, I’ve got you steadied.”
With an elegant shrug Jack jumps over and makes it with room to spare. “Well now, that’s much better!”
Looking him over he seems rather filthy and a little skinny, but not too bad.
The Healer studies him with clear puzzlement, “I’m happy you’re healthy… but how are you healthy?”
“Oh, well you see it was the Enoki Sprite that helped me out. She felt bad that I was stuck because I had been tracking her so she’s been bringing me food and water. The Serthis would check on me every day or so and chuck things at me for a bit of a joke… nasty creatures… and while they seemed puzzled as to why I was still alive I guess they didn’t really put much of a mind as to why that was.”
Melba is still clearly puzzled, “What’s an Enoki Sprite?”
“Oh, well, you see, so…” Jack waffles a bit, “An Enoki Sprite is rare creature covered in beautiful translucent white mushr
