Fantasy Ascent into Madness

[Tardy Grade]

"Friend or foe?" he heard someone shout as he bobbed in the river.

"P-" his reply was cut short by a follow-up chunk of the debris from the ceiling.

The chunk of cave wall displaced water as it sank, and water began filling in above it as it descended deeper till the bottom. Aeration leading to a momentary force of suction that first pushed him away from the debris on the surface before sucking him under a good four feet. His heavier climbing gear doing little to help the situation.

He could barely see anything in the river with the thousands of bubbles impeding both his sight and ability to swim. Doing his best to keep his mouth shut he kept struggling to reach the surface only to see a panic-stricken light in the periphery of his vision. The worms! He thought in abject horror as the little things tried to escape his bag and risked getting sucked and carried away by the river. Immediately he took off his bag and held it to his chest. Letting himself sink until he'd sunk even deeper.

*Wait ...wait ..*

Finally, he could feel the river carrying him forward gently with only the force of the current and he began an enthusiastic ascent.

"Passerby" he sputtered a complete response before slowly paddling to the shore with an arm still wrapped around his bag even as the worms wiggled atop his head and took note of their surroundings.

"Just be on your way, and we'll forget we ever saw you." That works fine for me he thought, and was just about to reach a point of the river where he could begin walking instead of wading when ...

"Looks like the Dragons have smiled upon me once again. A fresh meal has presented itself before me."

"..." he then began to backup a bit and then let himself float a bit further down river from the group while flipping the bird ... holding the hand gesture till he thought a safe distance was covered leaving him more than ten metres from them and well-within ear shot.

 

[C.DEX]

As Cyell had stepped out of the portal back into the world of the fully living, he soon had become acquainted with the scene before him. Three new faces had appeared, two of them birdlike. His eyes shifted to the third, of which Kniges had already accosted. The blood mage was wild-looking; drenched in river water and clutching his weapon for dear life, stranger than any interloper could be to him. Still, he looked around, paranoid, his eyes landing on Argis as Gniss shouted at the new faces to disappear in what had to be the most unconvincing threat ever made in Uptrekker history, backed up by a group of lightly injured, displaced, vagrant-looking adventurers.

"Let's just go." Cyell said. "We don't need any more ratsin'aik lanitrak in our party, anyways." He commented, lowering his weapon, though the complete truth was that he had the fight exhausted out of them. Of course, what he hadn't known was that the third form had belonged to a Tiefling, the slur that he had committed in a somewhat-shared language having been slightly familiar to the man.

"I disagree. The more the merrier." Argis said, happy to begin hearing Dwarven Standard once again, Faenn having been a distant language to him. "He's not going to eat you." Argis called out to the absconding Tiefling, who had just given them a rather rude gesture in response. "Though, understandable."

"Just eat some rations, idiot." Cyell hissed to Kniges, in apparent response to the threat he'd given the Tiefling. The blood mage pulled a wrapped portion from his satchel, undoubtedly ruined by the water, and flipped it at Kniges, completely ignoring the bit of 'gratitude' that he'd given him. "Unless we're being attacked or they're trying to follow us ... I've had enough of all of this for one day."

"Hello." Argis said, turning his eyes toward the Tiefling. "Argis a'Voldur."

 

[Jeda Teq]

"Tsk, It's still alive..." The dragon-born clicked his tongue, seeing what he thought was a carcass float down the river. "I'll eat what ever I want." he murmured under his breath catching the parcel that was tossed his way. He glared at Cyell with slanted eyes for a second then turned his attention back to those below. From what Kniges could tell, Gniss seemed to be in distress. Almost as if she were about to have a panic attack. He casually tore the wrapping from the ration and took a bite of the soggy food. The moist texture caused him to grimace slightly, but his stomach was too grumpy to be picky.

He stepped of the edge of the slope, expanding his wings to glide down; he landed between the pixie and the three new faces. His hand on his hatchet not for intimidation but for intention. He slapped his tail against the ground with a loud snap that echoed through the cavern. Kniges had become somewhat over protective of Gniss when she was introduced as their captain. Not because she was special but because she knew how to pilot 'his Sword' and she was the ticket to his 855million shards.

"You are the third thing in the last hour and a half to cause my party turmoil" His words spat out of his mouth like venom as he approached the Crane. "This dragon's patience runs thin...," just as he began to pull his hatchet from its sheath a pink glowing spore floated by the white owls soft features. Instantly he froze, as if he looked into the eyes of the Gorgon itself. He had seen no living creature like it before. So elegant. So graceful in appearance. So pretty. He knew he had to have it.

C.DEX Elowyn

 

[Lyro]

Gniss had watched the now-soaked adventurers seemingly emerge from the upstream part of the river with detached interest as she tried to order things in her mind. The fact that they were back was a good thing, she decided. Whatever had just happened, they all seemed none the worse for it, though, if she was any judge of character, Cyell and the professor both seemed shaken by the experience. There would be time enough to question them later. There were more pressing concerns afoot, she thought, as she turned back to the bird people first. She took a deep breath and tried to think rationally. These two appeared to be locals, if she had understood the context of their talk correctly. They surely knew a thing or two about their surroundings. Perhaps they could be of use after all.

She walked forward, walking in between Kniges's legs. "Still yourself, Kniges," she told him as she ducked, not picking up on his sudden reaction. She moved to stand on a small rock that offered her a better vantage point to talk to the locals. "As was previously declared," she resumed haltingly in Faenn, "traveling-folk are we. Our intent lies upward, to find and incorporate knowledge and power. Very upward, not here. But tragedy has befallen us, beset as we have been by an ill will of unknown provenance. We seek the ill will of unknown provenance, that we may... ah..." She hesitated as she searched for the right word. "... mistake-rectify? Assistance in its discovery will of naturality be commensurately rewarded." she finished, putting on a thin smile as she mimed the universal sign for money with her right hand.

Kytrek followed Cyell to the edge of the upper part of the river, twisting the water out of his clothes where he could. It had been a while since his life had been in such immediate peril, but all things considered, it could have gone much worse, and he had handled it well. At least, that was what he told himself as he reached up to his glasses to give them a quick wipe, trying to suppress the tremor in his fingers as he did so. "Do you have any idea what she's on about?" he asked Cyell in a low voice. "Sounds like one of the wilder upper languages to me." He looked past her at the two people she was talking with. He adopted a scornful expression. "Fledge-wings. Pah. Barbarians. Typical upper species. Utterly absorbed in their own meaningless microcosm." He then turned to look at the rudely retreating figure for the first time in detail, only now noticing its traits. "Well, well. A distant relative of yours, Cy? Hey!" he shouted at the tiefling. "Our captain may want nothing to do with you, but I do. Get back here," he said as he jumped down into the lower part of the river and made his way over to him.

C.DEX Elowyn Jeda Teq Tardy Grade

 

[Elowyn]

Some strange creature landed before him and thwacked his tail against the ground loudly. This... being proceeded to get in his face and annoy him greatly. Daemin straightened, his chin tucked, to his full height which nearly matched the dragonborn's. Although his posture stiffened, he said nothing while in his mind angered thoughts swirled. But he didn't want to get in a fight with the new guy because he looked rather dangerous and strong. Not that he was weak or anything, but his physical structure wasn't made for close combat.

Then the sprite came and tried to calm him down.
Gzardina only caught the words "knowledge" and "power." The rest was lost on her, becuase her mind was now swathed with the notion of healing her clan and seeing the young fledges flitting about joyfully after their first molt. "... Assistance in its discovery will of naturality be commensurately rewarded." She sure spoke funny but if her languuage skills were still operating properly, that meant a reward! Perhaps it was a way to cure the Plague? She whispered this idea to Daemin excitedly. He shook his head once. "He means with currency and coin." Louder: "Coin has little use for us here. As you can guess, we are quite isolated and have little need to bring in things from the Outer World Beyond."

 

[Tardy Grade]

Wearily eyeing the motley crew before him he gripped onto the bottom of his shirt, heavy with water and clinging to his skin like a jealous lover, before tugging it outward and wrenching it to squeeze out any drops of heat-denying liquid he could.

"A-Adar." he replied first with his name realising that it would be impossible to simply walk away without having over a dozen eyes trained on his back now. His freezing back. It was a mild boost to his pride that his stutter was not fear induced, regardless of what the group thought, but that relief was shortlived as he knew well enough that without the benefit of a ball of fire drying their wet forms, like it might have for their ancestors, that the cold that set in from long exposure could very well prove fatal. Fumbling at his pants pockets he opened the little one to his left and let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding and removed a parcel of wax sealed metal. Taking a small piece of pewter onto his tongue he made sure not to bite and swallowed it whole. Even as it descended down his throat he let the allomancy do it's thing as the muscles in his body seemed to come alive with boundless vigour. A slight amount of steam rising from his body and despite the tone of his skin, a blush crept onto his cheeks.

"Ahhh... sorry about that. Needed my ... uhhh... medicine?" he replied sheepishly before hearing the offhand comment by the overgrown reptile and losing his embarrassed demeanour is lieu of an offended one. It was likely that the Pewter was contributing to the confrontational element in him so he tried to keep a level head. "Well, firs-" but the dragonling seemed too engrossed in stuffing his face and moving on to the next individual to receive his complete statement.

Finger half raised, he let it slowly fall back towards his palm before clasping his hand shut and consider the group more closely. This wasn't just a bunch of rich tourists looking for some thrills. His assumption was partially substantiated by the words, more tone really, of the ... uhh ... small ... okay he wasn't certain what she was exactly but by now there seemed to be so many variations of what once was, himself included, that it was best to just let them state their 'existence'.

"Look, y'all ... haven't attacked me in the few minutes I've known you all so I can only assume you're not out to cause trouble for me. And threats about ingesting me withstanding ... I'd like to think that'll continue to be the case. I've got a business here."

He did a little twirl with arms outstretched indicating to the level around them. "It's not a big one by any means but I'm a one-man enterprise and plan to stay that way thankyouverymuch!" he said with a puff of his chest and a thwip of his tail. "Now I hope you all manage to do what you came here for and make yourself scarce soon enough and so I'll just be go-"

"Our captain may want nothing to do with you, but I do. Get back here," he saw the figure approaching him and took careful measure. The man looked to be the most plain of the bunch. Human? Could be. Book-reading type from the looks of it. And not just ones with pictures...

"Back here? Listen, old man, I need to get back up there! Some of us need to earn a living and don't get time t- You know I don't have time to explain what I'm doing here! Don't care what all y'all are upto. Not one bit. Nope."

"Me? I gotta get back to finishing the pa-" he replied looking at the man but pointing at the ceiling. Bits of rock still falling into the river with messy plops to accompany them. "... well not there 'exactly'..." before moving his finger slightly to point at another batch of rock. He cupped his chin and bit at his index finger. "Damn ... gonna need to map a new route..." he mumbled as his tail swished back and forth in a nervous manner. My employers will not be pleased with hearing about the delay ... he picked up one of the rocks that fell from the ceiling and watched it crumble as if it were clay.

Slapping his forehead he gave a long groan. "You know how hard it was to find a route through that mess? Damn water trickling through from up top eroding away the ceiling. Dripping down. Forming rivers. Dripping down some more. Level by fucking level? It's not the rivers you see that are the problem but the ones you don't! Rocks crying, my wallet bleeding..." a slew of mumbling complaints followed interspersed with comments about money, rocks, tourists and dragon-breath.

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges' tail twitched with excitement. His gazed locked onto the female fledge-wing. The expression on his face was hard to read to most. Especially to those who were unfamiliar to lizard-folk or dragon-kin. His sharp and rugged features normally accompanied his brash and cut throat attitude, but this time the natural features of his face betrayed its expression. He admired Gzardina's large eyes and soft feathers.

Suddenly, after the man said his piece to Gniss, Kniges reached his hand out and plucked a feather from Gzardina's wing. He twirled the feather by the stem between his index and thumb. Examining close up.

Elowyn Lyro

 

[C.DEX]

"Distant relative?" Cyell asked, looking over to the supposed Tiefling. His eyes narrowed for half a moment and lo and behold, as he had actually put effort in to regard the features of 'Adar', he had found that he had been a strange-looking Tiefling. It was an odd feeling, that, but the man hadn't looked like any of the other folk that had laid within his society. It wasn't surprising. They were higher up, the metal-eating fellow was rambling oddly about 'earning a living' and the annoyances of water dripping from the higher levels ... he was most likely from a level higher than Cy, and he had shown it within the few minutes they had been observing him.

He spoke out in a tongue he hadn't used in quite a long time - at least, not for anything other than insulting people in a foreign language. Tievel had harsh undertones, as had been expected from a society such as theirs, but the words had come long and fluently, not broken up as if in orc-speak, hinting that there was more than tribal meanings behind his words. "Where are you from?" he asked in Tievel, the 'salesman' now having caught his attention. "If you know routes we could use your expertise in that. We're trying to go up to a higher level, but our ..." he paused, there not being a word for 'rocket' in their language. "-fire-boat-building had been attacked. Our Captain has money, if that's what you want. Also looking for information on a ..." he paused. "Thing that can strip enchantments." he said, still in Tievel, which might very well have sounded like a more proper dialect of the language than Adar had been used to.

"Can help injuries as well." He said in their foreign tongue, looking up to the bit of ceiling that Adar had fallen off and the odd way in which he was walking, though that might have just been the sopping wetness. "Cyell Under from Staalctitha, eighth level." he added finally, an introduction to the new face.

Argis looked around to the others, foreign languages and tongues being outed in every which direction. The 'fledgelings' - a name that Kytrek had attested to - had been chattering amongst themselves in Faenn with Gniss presumably attempting some sort of diplomacy with them. The infernal human and the bright, golden-eyed Tiefling, rambling on about this or that in their own melodic language. Kniges harrassing the bird-woman. It was all a strange, uncoordinated sight, but between Cyell and Gniss, it was at least slightly impressive how quickly the two had switched from self-defense to diplomacy.

He looked down to Kytrek, wading up the river in his suit. "I presume you understand as much of this as I do?" he asked, a small chuckle underneath his breath. "You all dissappeared for a moment, and then I heard a shriek. What exactly happened to you all on the other side?" he asked, his eyes turning to Kniges' bitten tail. "You don't seem to be terribly worse for the wear."

 

[Elowyn]

"Oh!" the owl-girl gasped as the dragonborn plucked one of her wing-feathers. But before she could do anything more, Daemin aur Garrek stepped in, serrated spear in clawed hand. More of a defensive position with the shaft preventing him from getting any closer to his long-time friend. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked heatedly. Daemin's protective side had activated to prevent any more unwelcome actions against the female. As a male of the colony, he felt it was his duty and responsibility to bear. His demeanor was entirely hostile at this point.

Gzardina had never had any being grab one of her feathers like that... except for small fledgelings. The feathers on her head and body fluffed up, making her look more puffy and owlish than before. And by the Great Elders, it stung! She wasn't sure how to respond, really. He didn't seem to have been aggressive or provoking a fight. The strange, scaled one seemed more curious and fascinated than anything.

She laid her hand placatively on Daemin's shoulder. "I don't think he meant harm," she said quietly. And he did look a bit ridiculous seeing as the scaled one didn't even come up to his shoulder.
He shot back with clenched jaw, "I don't care-- that was entirely uncalled for!" She gazed at his rather reproachfully. "Any untoward action done to you is a provocation to me." This made her blush lightly.
"Really, now." said she, but it was words only , not meaning much.
Jeda Teq

 

[Lyro]

Stifling a scoff, Gniss furrowed her brow and tried to think of what else she could offer. She had gathered by now that some kind of plague was attacking these two's tribe. A common enough occurrence in mana-rich environment, as Deep historians would point out - not that these two would know that, judging by the looks of them. Perhaps that could be used to her advantage.

Before she could press the point, however, Kniges intervened and caused a scene. By now, her patience with the infantile dragonborn had run out, and she turned around to face him. "Kniges," she said softly in Dwarven through gritted teeth, "I. Am. Negotiating." With that, she kicked Kniges on the side of his leg with enough force to knock him down. As he fell, she jumped up to grab the stolen feather, then flew up and handed it back to Gzardina.

"My absolute apologies for my companion's behavior," she resumed stiffly in Faenn. "He remains ever-entrenched in the clawed grasp of puerility. But, if the understanding of which I am possessed is veracious, then your people are victims of terrible affliction?" She softened her tone, driving her anger away as she attempted to regain standing with them. "We seek a place of great power. A power of healing, so the legends say." Not entirely a lie - there was probably some ancient myth about the Surface's mystical healing powers in some backwards culture. "Journey with us, that we may all partake in the... the heavenly ever-glory of the... the..." Faenn was definitely one of those mana-laden languages; she could feel the headache growing as she stumbled through the words. "the all-unboundedness." Did that even sound right? It might have come out as more religious than she had intended. But then, the entire language sounded wrong to her ears.

Kytrek watched with fading interest the tiefling begin muttering to himself. Yet another mana-addled upper. Why ever hope for something different with these people? He turned back to Argis, relieved to find someone else he could talk to after their encounter. "Nothing I couldn't handle," he replied gruffly as he moved to greet him. "Reflections that forgot where they belong. They got a little bitey," he added, with a movement of his head towards the dragonborn. "I'm more interested in knowing what happened here. We're gone for ten minutes tops and suddenly we have three people getting the jump on us? What did you do, send out a signal flare? Yell at the entire cavern to join the party?"

C.DEX Jeda Teq Elowyn Tardy Grade

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges fell to the ground grabbing his leg as he went down. The pain ran up to his hip and was so intense that the only sound he could make was a chirp. He had never felt anything quite like this before. As he lay on the ground, drooling and barely conscious all the reptile could think about was how he just missed his opportunity to propose and this was the end of the great Kniges.

Not many things could penetrate Kniges' thick hide. As a result he had an incredibly low pain tolerance to physical attacks that did get through his natural scale defense. In most cases his scales provided him protection equivalent to stone or metal. However pixie's attacks had such small surface area that their damage output was far greater than their actual strength. Even with mana increasing their native abilities.

 

[Tardy Grade]

"Relative?" he scrutinises the other creature before seeing the infernal touches here and there. "Hmm... you're a fair bit shorter than any cousin of mine I tellsya. You know... aside from the youngins I'd wager." *Still this one did have better clothes than he did so who was he to critique based on appearance?* And thus his guard lowered just a tad at the unconscious likening to another.

Reminded of his clothes condition he ran a hand across the fabric. His shirt was no longer drenched, the slightly damp material wouldn't pose more threat than sweat after an intense workout. Just as well considering the pewter was beginning to waver inside of him. His pants though were well and truly sloshed. The pockets no longer water bags but refusing to dry any faster than normal. A slight bout of nausea accompanying the usage of pewter. Among all the metals be worked with it was pewter that strained him.

His friends would often comment on his push and pull being more noteworthy while all else barely passed mustard for his age. Not that he minded terribly. After all he wasn't aiming to become a strongman of the deeps nor some sort of tracker of the living. No. He dealt with the rocks and metals that lined their homes. All their homes.

Afterall ... rock feared no weather. *Neither would he.*

His attention remained focused on the shorter tiefen. The interest shown toward him being naturally brought out and reflected back as the number of questions piled on.

"Came from the Seventh level maself. Nothing much to talk about there though. Grew up outside Amus. Fewer rules to govern you when you aren't strictly a 'resident'." he shrugged. Not minding the illegitimacy of his stay there. It would take more than some paper and decrees handed out by the 'power' there to deny him claim over his home turf.

"As for routes... you follow upriver if you wanna go higher and you follow down the river if you wanna go lower. No need for a sploding-box to take you anywhere unless you want to end up there in pieces." Unsure of what exactly they'd ridden to reach here." Anything more specific is going to require me speaking about that money of his in more detail." rounding his thumb and index in the shape of a coin he broke into a sly grin. "I'll even give you the relative discount."

The smile vanished at the mention of the latter half of the man, Cyell's, needs. He walked in closer and lowered himself a bit before speaking.

"Listen if you've got someone who's not been getting any better then you might as well send them home. Cures and removal of enchantments? Not my trade. There are some slime moulds that you could apply to open wounds but that's about it here on this level as far as 'medicine' goes, brotha."

"Could be that someone might have also come to this area who could help with that but your lot is all I've seen since I started trying out the ... well ... 'highway'." he said for lack of a better word in their language.

 

[C.DEX]

"Shorter? You're balder than any of my relatives, and maybe ug-" Cyell caught himself before he divulged into a tirade, his lips pursed, but it wasn't worth going into. Diplomacy. With a deep breath, he listened to the rest of Adar's tale about the surrounding area. "Well, we don't need you to pay us to tell us to go up the river and I'm not helping them climb to the top of the cavern." he said, shooting a look at Argis. It had been enough to complete the sentence. Now that he had a moment to catch a breath and it seemed that no one was overtly hostile, however, he had reached down, winding up the climbing gear he had formerly fastened around Kytrek. They would need it no longer.

The blood mage's eyes narrowed as he looked at Adar. Just because they were of the relative same bloodline didn't mean he trusted him, and it also didn't mean he wasn't willing to decieve. "Well, if you can't tell us anything we don't already know, then I guess we can just keep our money to ourselves, unless you have something to sell that we can actually get some use out of. We have food, climbing equipment, and weapons, so I assume that anything you're selling isn't going to be worth it for us to buy. Feel free to leave." he said in Tievel, abrupt, and then flicked back to Standard in the same breath.

"He doesn't have anything of use to us." Cyell said in Standard, immediately discrediting Adar, surely much to the odd, stony-looking Tiefling's annoyance. He turned on his heel, pulling himself out of the river as much as possible. He raised his arm, doing his absolute best job to look as if he hadn't even been remotely interested in anything further Adar had to say, and touched a runic inscription near his wrist. A small flame had appeared in his hand, briefly roaring out for a moment and startling the mage, before slowly dying to one that had been perhaps two times the size of a lighter's. He held it close to himself, intending on drying himself off; a rather primitive method, but one that would eventually work.

"Interesting. The nature of this place is bolder than I thought." Argis said as Kytrek had mentioned the 'reflections' that they had just been in battle with. "Well, I didn't do anything. Really, I don't have the energy anymore for that. In all honesty, between you disappearing and your apprentice shouting for you, he and the dragon fighting, and the Captain loudly threatening every moving form, we aren't exactly hard to find. And of all of you, I've been the most inconspicous as of thus." he said, correcting Kytrek's quick assumption that he had anything to do with it.

Then, he laughed at the man. "I really wouldn't consider this the jump, either. The Captain's natural tone seems to be 'startled and accusatory', but we did see them. I'm not sure how I feel about you all as of thus, but I'm not unhappy that you made it back in once piece. After all, this trip up the river has taken a deal longer than I'd like, and I would like to start those 'exercises' you had mentioned earlier that will get me out of this thing." he said, gesturing to his suit.

 

[Lyro]

Kytrek snorted at Argis's protest of innocence, even though he had to admit to himself the half-orc was probably correct. Between their high-strung captain, the oafish dragonborn, and the apprentice drying himself off with a conjured flame ("Lesson 6, Cyell," he shouted at him, admonishing him for the flame's initial surge, "Lesson 6!"), Argis and himself were probably the most inconspicuous of their group. Not that that put them on an equal footing. It was just a fact - at least, until he finally had an opportunity to make use of his talents.

"We might as well start now - doesn't look like our captain is making much headway. I'm guessing negotiations aren't her strong suit. Right, then." Reaching into his bag - his waterproof bag, obviously; he had learned his lesson early on - he rummaged around a bit, then pulled out a very small pocket book, which he handed over to Argis. "The Enterprising Explorer's Elementary Encyclopedia. Its author tragically has a deranged penchant for overusing alliteration, and it thoroughly mischaracterizes the Depths, but it contains detailed instructions for beginners' exercises, in three different scripts." He paused. "You do know how to read, don't you?"

Outside, the cavern had by now fully transitioned to its equivalent of lightrise, the blue tint of the spores now completely replaced by the former pink hue. The large creatures from earlier could now be seen in the distance, slowly lumbering onwards to destinations unknown. A faint haze in the distance prevented anyone from seeing any details, but it was obvious from their slightly elevated vantage point that they were in a truly massive cavern, especially for this level. It probably helped explain how the animals could have become this large without specific enchantments. It was all very pretty and imposing, and Gniss was blind to all of it.

She coughed impatiently. Had she overdone it? Either way, she was not going to stand here forever when the path onwards lay so clearly in front of them; she did not want to wait around for more people to drop from the ceiling.

C.DEX Elowyn Jeda Teq Tardy Grade

 

[Jeda Teq]

What are you doing?! You're the great Kniges. There is noway you can let an ant take you down with such a small bite. You're better than this! Get up! Weakness is not an option. You're the strongest and toughest. You've made it this far because noone can and no one ever will be able to keep up with you. Why? Because your Kniges! The last Dragonborn. You haven't even seeded a bride!


After his internal pep talk the black scaled creature gritted his teeth and regained his composure. Wiping the spittle from his mouth he slowly rose to his feet. The pain in his right leg had yet subsided and putting his weight on it gave extreme discomfort. He used the arm of his right wing to support his weight by placing it against the ground. "Negotiations have been settled." He pointed his sharp finger at Gzardina. "You are to be my wife." He smiled flashing his teeth. "As my wife I will ensure your deepest desires come true. You will want for nothing." Despite the Fae tongue being spoke Kniges spoke dwarven standard. "If you choose to stay, I expect you to be waiting for me." His eyes narrowed at the male bird. "You may bring your servant, if you choose to come with."

Kniges turned his back to the pair and took a couple limped steps towards the first incline. The sting in his leg filled him with spite towards their Pixie captain however if any misfortune were to happen to her by his hand could lead to a breach of contract. He clenched his jaw swallowing his pride and enduring the swelling. Fed up with the pain of each step he flew up to the first ledge of their incline. He made sure not to land in the water.

Kneeling on his left knee the black reptile began to inspect his minor injuring. His mind recalled the time he was in a party with a healer. He remembered how she healed his pawns at that time and began to channel mana into him.

Lyro Elowyn

 

[Elowyn]

It seemed that inter-group dynamics were still unstable as the small fae toppled the draconic-looking one. After accepting her feather back, although she really couldn't use it anymore, Gzardina's interest piqued at the mention of a healing power available at the Surface. She had not heard that mentioned in the Legends and Tales the Elders spoke of. Her mind was getting tired of interpreting the strange wording used by the fae.
She turned to Daemin and said in a low tone, not that they would be able to understand, "I think someone ought to go and at least verify these claims. Perhaps I could bring back something of use."
"Nobody knows what is up there. Who knows? Can we really trust such a mixed group of individuals? They hardly look like they know what they are doing." At his hesitation, she continued on. "It's better than waiting for all of our deaths!" At last, he nodded.
"We need the clan's permission first," he said. The other companions of the reptile and the winged character seemed to also be in deep discussion.

The dragonblooded regained his footing, but Gzardina and Daemin were no longer paying attention to them. So she was surprised to hear her name coming out of his mouth. Daemin's eyes flashed with barely concealed anger. Whether it was at the proposal or at being called a servant, it wasn't clear. In a moment, his spear-head was pointed at the draconic's throat. "Say that again and I'll skewer you."

Gzardina pushed forward and told the fae, "We wish to speak to your group-leader, that we might verify your claims and find out any additional details."

 

[Tardy Grade]

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" he quickly ran up ahead of Cyell, cutting him off and continued,"Let's not be so hasty now? Surely you know the little song and dance of negotiation? A little wetting of my horn, a little wetting of yours?", accompanied with a series of hand gestures carried out to illustrate his point. There was no way Adar was gonna lose a chance at an easy payout if he had anything to say about it. Bad enough that he'd likely have to pay reparations to the previous group for the delay in routework...

"And who says that we need to climb the cave walls? There should be more than a handful of inclined steps sloping upwards. Heck, even rank amateurs would likely be able to scale that with a rope in hand. All we have to do is make sure that the rope is tied to something that can take their combined weight. And that's just plan B. I got plans C to ... uhhh ... Zay(?), right here!" pointing a finger at his well-polished dome. Tapping it with a well-callused finger that retained considerable dexterity regardless of it's form.

"Of course the first plan was free but the rest..." once more the inner deal broker showed his slimy smile.

"Because while I'm sure you're well and truly stocked..." takes a side-ward glance at the odd yammering occurring between the others,"... capable individuals... it would cut your time spent on this level by days, if not weeks."

 

[C.DEX]

Cyell raised his hand, waving Kytrek's admonishings off. They weren't exactly in a controlled environment anymore; it was easier to yell about controlling his magic than it was to actually do it. He made it a point to stay out of the water to assure he wasn't taken to that god-awful mirror plane. "Says the old man who made us flip to the 'mirror plane' to save you." he said in Standard. Then, before he could continue to admonish Kytrek's observation about his magic, the Tiefling from beforehand had skidded in front of him.

As Adar had done just that, the blood mage closed his hand, the flame drying up in an instant. It wasn't easy to maintain a spell - even one as simply as a flame - when arguing with another. Strangely enough, though, the blood mage didn't seem annoyed. No, insecurity for incompetence came easily to the mage, and so did manipulating those he thought had the same features. Cyell flipped back to Tievel as Adar had continued to speak to him, pointing a finger at the business-minded man.

"Firstly, if you try to touch anything resembling a horn on me then we're going to have a problem." he hissed. "Secondly ... Gniss?" he asked, his words turning to Standard and his frame turning toward the pixie, who was getting far less progress with her negotiations than Cyell had been. "He says he can help us ascend quicker. I don't know if that's true, but he seems to know the area better than us, and -" his eyes turned toward the feathered Fledgelings. "Them. If it's not getting anywhere then don't bother with them." he said, his eyes shifting back down toward Kniges, who had seemed to be determined to ruin any chance of negotiation with the winged creatures.

Argis took the pamphlet from Kytrek, peering over it for a moment. "There is not much to do in solitary other than read. It would be a pretty pitiful existence for me, otherwise." he said, skimming over the text for a moment before flipping back to the beginning. His eyes shifted to look up at the ceiling of the cavern, where the 'night' had finally shifted into day again. Then, he called out to the others. "Between being ransacked in the night, ambushed by bird people and dropped in on by Tieflings and half of our people being sucked into some mirror dimension, not being able to properly eat ... I'm quite tired."

The Voldur moved to continue up the river, putting the pamphlet in his pack. It was the most flippant he had been so far, but his patience was wearing thin.

 

[Lyro]

There was a tearing noise, a loud snap, and a sound like metal scraping against metal as the great Kniges inexpertly channeled healing magic into his wound. A fresh wave of lancing pain shot up through his tail, but nevertheless the spell seemed to work. Where the injury had been there was now only smooth, unblemished skin in between the dragonborn's scales. It would take a while for the affected area to fully heal, but at least the dull pain Kniges had been feeling until then from the injury had given way to a dull ache.

Jeda Teq


OOC: I am going to assume Gzardina and Daemin didn't actually understand what Kniges said, following our discussion on Discord.

Gniss frowned at Gzardina's request. "I am the..." the word itself was unfamiliar, though she could divine its meaning, and she tried to repeat it as she had heard it, "... the group-leader. What distance lies betwixt our selves and your clan? I possess willingness to talk to them, but we are under pressured time--" Cyell's cry interrupted her and she turned around to look at him, finally getting her first good look of the third intruder - the one who had fallen from the sky, she recalled dryly as Cyell explained that he should know the area better than them. "I beseech an ounce of patience from you," she said hurriedly to the two fledge-wings as she walked up to Adar.

"Alright, tiefling," she said briskly in Dwarven. She hated those eyes. They burned too bright. It reminded her of home. "My patience has been worn thin by those two's yammering." She could still feel the headache where the mana had been drawn into her speech centers. "So make it quick. We need to get going. What are you offering?"

C.DEX Elowyn Tardy Grade


"Feel free to lie down, then," said Kytrek as he abruptly moved to follow Argis, unsure of where to go since everybody else seemed busy and he was unwilling to be on his own just yet. "At the rate these three-way negotiations seem to be progressing, the light may yet rise and dim before we get a move on." He reached into his bag and pulled out another book - a substantially thicker one than the pocket guide he had handed to Argis - along with some scrolls, reached for his writing tablet and settled down on a nearby rock. "Might as well prepare for the road ahead. It's only going to get worse from now on."

C.DEX

 

[Jeda Teq]

Like most of Kniges' copycat magic, his attempt at healing had various unexpected side effects. The auditory disaster would cause most novices to cease the casting of the spell, but these things meant nothing to Kniges as long as he got the desired effect. His heart thumped rapidly against his chest as he felt the sudden pain spike in his tail. When the spell was finished he let out a sigh of relief for there was no pain in his body aside from a minor ache. He could now walk without a limp.

The dragon-born threw all four of his arms up in celebration. "Yet again, the Great and Wonderful Kniges has performed yet another miracle. He has mastered the art of healing" He looked down at everyone from the ledge he was standing. The he noticed the male bird in an aggressive posture with his weapon facing Kniges however the rubble in the river caught his attention. He raised a brow in curiosity then looked up at the ground above, where the tiefling fell from. While the others we distracted with each other, Kniges flew up to inspect. He found that rock and dirt to be moist. Without much effort he could scrap the muddy material off with his claw.

Kniges carved many tunnels to make uptrekking easier for him. In doing so he gained much experience with the nature of the walls and rock. He knew the signs he saw were not good for those below. For a second he thought about how satisfying it would be to see the Pixie get flushed away by stone and water. He then thought about the promised payment; his greed outweighed his petty desire for revenge. With a frustrated grunt he flew down to warn his employer of the eminent flooding.

 

[Tardy Grade]

The one called Gniss seemed to be having a bad day to Adar. Her curt manner wasn't something new to him but the tone came across as a ... well ... *cross*. He eyed the two members and took off his bag before stuffing a hand inside it and begin fishing around.

"Ahem ... as I was saying earlier these levels are all naturally made aside from the subterraforming done by the 'old ones'." he kneeled onto the ground and put a heavy pouch of metal pieces down onto the flatter section of the ground. "We are currently somewhere here.." he knuckled one hand of his into a fist and drew a rough shape of the river. Then opened the leathery pouch and took out what looked like pig-iron filings and placing a small heap onto the bank they were currently occupying.

"As it stands the route recommended involves going straight to one of the monitored relay stations. I don't think you want to do that because aside from being about five days away ... those guys are a regular bunch of clod-eaters. They'd probably take money from their own grandmothers if those old biddies tried to go between levels. " he spat out in Standard sending a drizzle over his makeshift river. "So my offer is this... I'll guide you in exchange for protection to a far quicker path where the levels meet. The air-tunnels to be precise."

He cleared his throat and brushed the fillings perpendicular to the river using the side of his palm. He kept this up until an estimated day's travel was depicted followed by additional copper nails being dropped around their new location.

"Now the bad news ... the air vents are surrounded by failed attempts by both levels to set up a permanent route making use of the already existing network or tunnels. Some of this wreckage is said to still be 'active' and this includes explosives that have yet to be removed. That's what the copper entails. Not only that but some of the wildlife that's chosen to set up shop there could prove troublesome. But the living are the least of our concerns..." He began dusting off the metal and putting it back in the pouch. Tightly tying the mouth before continuing to wait on the response that was still building on their tongues.

"Once they were deemed unfit for entry rock carvers were commissioned to make sure no one would make the mistake of trying to repeat that mistake by carving around the wind tunnels in the shape of ... well." he proceeded to draw a skull in the loose cave dust. Deepening the holes of the eyes and mouth.

"The 'Last smile' tunnel lives up to its name ... giving you the last smile you're likely to see even as the circulation of air between both levels is carried through it and others like it ... however, for reasons we've yet to figure out the air, there is almost 'bellowed' to-and-fro." Adar opened and swayed his hand side to side like a pendulum.

"The Climbers on this level call them 'Howling winds' because if you get trapped in one when it's active... the only things left of you are the echoes of your final moments as you crash into jagged rock after jagged rock ... and the fleshy paste smeared against them." His grim face suddenly parted into a proud smile as he proudly stated," But... I just so happen to know the exact time of day that the winds slow down enough to allow travel through one of the tunnels! Cost me a few worms testing it out a week ago but it seems fairly consistent. Just long enough for a motley crew such as yours to pass safely. Assuming you're willing to take some risks."

 

[Elowyn]

There was more commotion and one of the travellers launched into a lengthy exposition.
"Come on," Daemon muttered. "Let's go while we can. "
Gzardina began to protest.
"The leaders much hear of this," he said. She clamped shut her mouth in a grim line.
"Alright," she relented.

The two Bird people's took their leave...
(Bye guys, thanks for having me. )

 

[C.DEX]

Cyell listened to Adar as he gave a particularly colorful explanation on what exactly the team could expect upon taking his shortcut. He watched as the Tiefling scattered metal dust over the flat area of the ground he had sat down on. It was an interesting way to map a route, and he wasn't even sure if they could trust the eccentric man. For a moment he didn't know what to think; it wasn't as if Adar had been upselling them to a route that was too safe to exist; the visceral descriptions of what would happen to them if they failed still itched in his mind. But really, of any of them, he could very well have had the best chance of surviving.

"Well I'm not strapping Kytrek to my back and I'm sure if the Orc even went as far as to open his arms too wide in a harsh wind he'd take off." the Infernal said, not entirely confident in the plan of going through a wind tunnel. "'Course we could just leave Argis behind, seeing as we're not kidnapping every single person we come across anymore."

He looked to Gniss and Kytrek. Really, it had mostly been up to them, with Kniges' opinion on the matter being almost completely inconsequential in his mind. "We also haven't checked on the rocket." he added, looking back in the direction they had come from.

"For your information, I'm halfway decent at climbing. I wouldn't have been where I was if I weren't, but -" Argis said. He raised a hand, showing the suited glove. "I'm just not sure if I could do it in this. I would be more concerned about the smaller companions of the party." he said, glancing partially toward Gniss and Kniges. "No offence, of course.

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges quickly deccelerated from his decent. The downward thrust of his wings kicked up the dirt as his feet touched the ground, distorting the carefully drawn map Adar had made. He landed next to Gniss, that grey guy, and the new stranger. Their conversation didn't mean much to him since he only heard part of it on his way down. His eyes darted around as he glanced at everyone around, and took notice that his bride had been taken away. Unfortunatley for her he didn't have the time to perform a rescue mission.

"Oi, Shut-up and listen." He said loud enough so that everyone could hear him, "If living un-injured is something that you value you'd be wise to head the voice of your Savior. the ground-above in this cavern is going to callapse. It could be an hour, it could be days from now." He nodded his head to the fallen stalagmites in the river, "That's sign number one. I, Kniges, have verfied this by taking a survey. The ground-above is saturated with water." Eyes on Gniss, Kniges took a knee towards her, "Do you want to continue up, or turn back and find another way."

 

[Lyro]

"You certainly know how to sell a route," Gniss said dryly. 'Last Smile', 'Howling Winds'... who came up with these names? People with either too much or too little imagination, usually. She turned to listen to Cyell, nodding as he finished. "Yes, it is quickly becoming obvious that we will not be catching up to whatever it is that stranded us here. We should go back and settle in for the long haul. And we are not leaving Argis," she added with a sidelong glance at the half-orc.

"Sounds like pretty standard fare," grunted Kytrek from his nearby rock without looking up from the spells he was preparing. "Don't take everything the tiefling says literally, either. People from around here like to embellish tales; he might actually believe them too. In any case, that sounds a whole lot better than trekking up this river, especially since using magic around it would be ill-advised... wouldn't it, Kniges?" He looked at the dragonborn's tail where the wound had been, noting its incomplete healing. "Ask Cyell next time. It's one of the few things he's supposed to be good at."

"If the ceiling is at risk of collapse, that whole route is out of the question anyway," Gniss added in response to the dragonborn's input. "Very well, then. Looks like the choice has been made for us. We will go up, and simply hope to come across the answers." It sounded ridiculous when she said it out loud, but that had been the unspoken plan so far, hadn't it? Just climb and hope to stumble upon what had killed their vehicle. It sounded like their new guide didn't have any idea about its nature either, so perhaps it had simply been a freakish act of nature. She doubted it, but it was a possibility worth considering. The mission was greater than the rocket itself in any case, and they were already closer to success than anybody else before them; it would be madness to go back now. "Let's go back to the rocket for now. We can discuss payment on the way. Do you people accept credit cards up here?"