Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:04:31 GMT -6
There were options, just none quite so easy or simple as that. She could still send Ras up to the nest and pray the sarane was sleeping and not resting. Considering how much they had got away with so far, the latter state was more likely the case here. But.. if that went wrong Ras would stare down the very wrong end of a very large club tail.
She could recall Ras and head up herself, using her soft feet better than his stony claws. The climb would have been a simple enough task if she took her careful time and made sure each hold was secure first. But she was carrying all the gear for potential mining, and though they were all roped and lashed together to the shovel, which in turn hung across her back with rope, it made for restrictive movements and a chance something could clank at any second.
Plus, staring face to face with a sarane would have been no better for her than Ras.
The only logical option would have been to remove the sarane from the nest, but they had neither the force nor the option to. So if not by strength, then perhaps guile..
Darky scoured their surroundings, the beginnings of a make-shift plan forming. She needed something, some tool, some method some.. Her eyes rested on the pile of bones some distance back, a metaphorical bulb going off in her mind. Now that.. could work.
(16) Ras Dashen: 75 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:05:22 GMT -6
Details and aspects fell into place as Darky looked across the cavern, inspecting the tunnel mouths opposite, distances between nest and that, nest and Ras and Ras and her. As far as plans went, it was a bit of a ‘hail berry’ as she’d heard the City slang used, but regardless them going forward and them going back both risked awakening the sarane, so they may as well have tried. Worst case they would run, run like their lives depended on it, because it most likely would have.
Reaching out a hand towards the bones, the sphinx called up a small bit of arcane energy, the back of her head giving a faint yellow glow. Unlike scrying, this one she had used plenty of times before, especially in training (ironically) sarane. Phantasmal skeins wrapped themselves around a larger chunk of bone, quietly lifting it up off the pile. She then brought it over to her, hand guiding the floating object, and slowly drifted it across the cavern towards the other entrance.
The distraction concept was a simple one. However the ‘hail berry’ aspect hinged on a specific factor - that they would be just one sarane to deal with.
When the bone was across, she lowered it to the ground, edging it closer to the side of where the tunnel bent. She couldn’t send it beyond that, for practice had shown the object dropped as soon as it left her line of sight, but the location was close enough.
( Darky uses Push (2 Hollow MP) )
(17) Ras Dashen: 75 (2/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:06:03 GMT -6
Get ready to move when I tell you, she warned the familiar, floating the bone closer to the ground, tip downward. When it touched the cave floor, she wiggled the fingers slightly and the bone wobbled, scraping across the stones with a loud hollow scratching sound. A pause as she watched the nest, then again, this time pushing it a little more strongly against the ground.
There was no movement from the nest, and the sphinx was almost about to reconsider when suddenly one of the bright heat spots shifted. In some ways the movement caused her to tense more than the silence did, even if she was actually hoping for it. She scraped the bone again, paused, and watched as the sarane head moved out of the nest, locked in on the source of the sound. She moved it again, the head and sarane shifted forward again, sensing a presence.
And herein came the ‘hail berry’ part - the sarane needed to assume the sound was small enough to be made by something that's prey, perhaps some underground creature looking to look the bones of a previous kill. But she also needed the hen to inspect the sound without noticing Ras off to the right of her, just standing low in the middle of the cave. To his credit, if he did not even move, he could be seen as just a rocky formation, but where Ras knew about sarane from his life underground, Darky wasn’t entirely sure the sarane were oblivious of gargoyles existing for the very same reason..
The hen needed to head left, because if she so much as looked right she’d potentially spot Ras, and no doubt the mammalian in short order.
(18) Ras Dashen: 75 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:08:14 GMT -6
Suddenly Darky was incredibly glad for the mud-covering idea earlier, as the further the hen drew forth from the nest, the more she could see her scenting the air, head bobbing lightly as if trying to determine what was there. Had she been simply roaming the tunnels there would have been little doubt she would simply proceed to hunt the source of the sound. But she was sitting on a nest - a nest of eggs, no less - and a mother hen was both cautious and that much more dangerous.
Feeling like this was dragging on for dangerously long, every prolonged second getting them closer to being discovered, the sphinx then tossed the bone against the tunnel wall, sending it clattering and tumbling down the sloped decline beyond. The spell ended the second the bone disappeared from sight, only to be replaced by the sound of scratching, scraping and shifting much closer.
The hen had pushed herself out of the nest, gliding down on her wings and was rushed into the tunnel, to chase after the intrusive sound with a low, rumbly, and for all intents and purposes of their present situation, blood-curdling growl.
Darky blinked, flinched and quickly looked to Ras, Go! Go, go, go! Get metal! pointing to the nest.
(19) Ras Dashen: 75 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:08:55 GMT -6
Ras took off immediately, rushing to the wall and leaping up onto the bigger boulders ringing its bottom before scampering ever higher and higher, rock claws easily carrying him closer to the hollow where the nest was. In the same movement, with the hen’s rushing masking any noise she herself could make, the sphinx rushed into the cavern, to the base of the wall. When Ras reached the edge of the nest, expensive seconds ticking away far quicker than they had any right to, he paused to stare at the lumps and shapes inside.
Which, he asked, confused.
The metal one! Darky said back, repeatedly checking over her shoulder for the dreaded sight of a hen returning from the left tunnel. Not an egg, but a metal thing.
All egg! Ras returned, beak grinding in annoyance.
This took Darky back, the sudden folly of her assumption any old nest with a heat-signature surely being the one single nest they were looking for striking her stunned a moment. But no, it had to be here, the quest given specified this area. Sarane don’t like to share, two hens would not be so close, especially if they had different mates.
Look closer! she told him, Find the metal one!
Ras gnashed his beak, but climbed further into the nest, nosing around, letting his senses search each of the lumpy things for that tell-tale energy signature of metal. And every second passing seemed a minute, a minute where at any point they could hear the infuriated roar of a sarane returning.
(20) Ras Dashen: 76 (0/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:09:44 GMT -6
Scrabbling above and heavy footfalls to the side, the sphinx quickly turned around to face the tunnel, not for the first, second or even third time heart skipping a beat as the sounds drew closer. Alright, that was that then, they tried but they weren’t about to risk death and being eaten for the sake of a simple object. Darky weaved her hand through the air quickly, a gentle breeze gathering around her and loosening the tension in her legs. It was time to run.
Find!
She blinked, then looked up to the nest. Ras’ head emerged from over the edge, excitedly repeating, Find! Find! Then, it disappeared and moments later something was nudged over the edge of the nest. The goggles showed it as a stronger warmth than rocks, but still it was almost a matter of instinct and reflex for the sphinx to reach out and quickly catch the object before it clattered into the rocky ground. In the darkness the object had no colour and no detail, but the warmth emanating off of it outlined its shape. It was an egg. A metallic egg. Hollow on the inside, else-wise its weight would have been something to behold, but for all intents seeming no different.
Well, that explained a fair amount.
( Darky casts Quicken (2 Hollow MP) on self )
(21) Ras Dashen: 76 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:10:32 GMT -6
Good job, Ras! Darky smiled, staring up at him, Now come down an-- Her words, even mental ones, were drowned out by a sudden roar and a second too late she remembered the footsteps from mere seconds ago. She would have to curse her absentmindedness at a different point. Right now there was time for only one thing.
She weaved a quick motion at the familiar, the last of the arcane energy imbuing into him and motioned to the right tunnel. Run!
Ras leapt from the nest, skidding and clattering down along the nest wall, claws slowing his descent even as the arcane skeins hastened him. In the leftmost mouth of the cavern, a black shape appeared into view, teeth bared, yellow eyes gleaming in the dimness, a fury about to be unfolded. Darky turned at the hen as the gargoyle dashed past behind her, bolting towards the cavern exit.
“I’m sorry about this,” the mammalian said, take a few steps back, pulling out the crystal torch, “We meant no harm, but that wasn’t quite yours.” Then, she covered her face with an elbow, held the other one holding the torch out at the hen and flipped the torch to full intensity.
The cavern filled with a sudden flash of light and the pained, startled roars of a sarane.
( Darky casts Quicken (2 Hollow MP) on Ras Dashen )
(22) Ras Dashen: 76 (2/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:11:16 GMT -6
When the light cleared she was gone, a mad dash into their escape tunnel on Ras’ heels. The sarane would keep wiping the spots from her eyes for a while, but it was highly doubtful she’d let intruders get all too far away from the nest unchallenged. Until then, the duo intended to put as much headway between them and the nest as possible.
The clitter-clatter of Ras’ claws echoed through the passages, the pitter-patter of Darky’s padded feet close behind. Keep going! Find out, Ras! In truth the gargoyle didn’t necessarily need to guide them - on the way down she’d left markers for herself along the walls, some chalk lines here and there indicating tunnel openings they came from, directions in other, broader rooms. Along the way she sparked the crystal torch back to light again, a dimmer light for now as she pried the goggle down and to around her neck. Even running at regular speeds the heat-vision was a hassle, but with magic-boosted alacrity the change to stumble into some blind rock or another was much too great.
And then, came the even worse news. Another roar echoed through the caverns, but the tonality of this one was much more different.. and yet that much more familiar. The hen, had a mate. A drake was aware of their intrusion.
Things always looked down just as they were looking up.
(23) Ras Dashen: 76 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:12:06 GMT -6
They crossed a marked on the wall indicating the rough halfway point back to the cavern she had begun the scry from, the sound around intensifying, bouncing, reflecting, seeming to come from all directions, and yet the sphinx knew they were likely only coming from one very large, very dangerous, very angry source. They kept running and she kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting to see a jaw-full of serrated teeth any second.
Whatever grace the arcane weave gave them made the bounding across stone, silt, rock and rubble feel like flying through. If she didn’t have a heavy metal object under one arm, it could almost be like when she scryed, except now there was a heavy fleshy body to drag along as well. Tucking the metal egg closer under her arm, Darky flipped the torch even brighter as they kept running.
The black sarane was a sub-terrestrial creature, making this its home turf and one it can easily traverse and navigate. But the problem with being so used to pitch black darkness is even a small amount of light becomes blinding in its contrast. All pretense of sneaking were long out the window, now it was just survival.
And if the sarane wanted them, it had to deal with having their eyes adjust first.
(24) Ras Dashen: 76 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on May 26, 2019 8:13:36 GMT -6
There was a moment not seconds after when she thought to hear claws raking against stone just behind her as they passed another tunnel, but knowing the one true running-for-life rule - never look back - she merely urged Ras onward, counting the remaining tunnels, paths and corners yet to pass.
Sweet was the relief when she managed to spot the familiar length of slope that led them down here in the first place and she motioned to it, Up, Ras! Up, up! The gargoyle, unbothered by such minute thing as breathing, dashed onward, climbing the slope and emerging in the cavern where he whirled around. Darky followed mere seconds after, and this time around she did hear claws raking stone and soil behind her, the narrow passage of the tunnel annoying to something very large. Leaping through the tunnel mouth into the cavern, she switched the torch to dim turned around and held it out at the tunnel, “Stay back!”
The torch flashed brighter, once, a shrieking hiss as black-scaled mass below recoiled and angry yellow eyes stared at her afterwards. “Back!” she dimmed it again, flashing again and the shape recoiled further, slinking back into the deeper darkness. Seconds passed, the sounds of discontent echoing in the tunnel, before they finally seemed to recede. It wasn’t worth it and they were outside of the territory.
With a sudden exhale of a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, the mammalian slumped, adrenaline rushing in and making her light-headed. “We did it..” she muttered, looking to Ras with a sudden, weary smile, “We actually did it.”
It! Ras agreed, sharing in her sense of victory, and bounded closer to tap the metallic object with his beak. With the rush behind them, Darky was finally able to bring it up to clearer light. No sooner had the torch illuminated it that she realized, perhaps, the value of the object. A work of art, to be sure, but it was covered in minute filigree engravings, carvings and little soldered decorations. A golden egg, a latticework of marvel and detail.
No wonder the owner wanted it back. And they weren’t wrong about knowing when they saw it, nor why a sarane of all creatures would steal it - it seemed so close to shape, size and weight of its own egg.
“Looks like we have the prize, alright,” she smirked, glancing to Ras. “And I think the journey back from here should be, hopefully, less eventful.” They tucked the egg carefully into the shoulder bag, picked up their things and begun retracing steps back towards the entrance.
A path that felt like they were already home, in comparison to three hours behind them.
(25) - (added) Ras Dashen: 77 (0/5)
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on May 26, 2019 19:45:32 GMT -6
You have rolled a success! Your quest points will be added to the bank soon, and your prizes will be sent via a message.
You may continue roleplaying if you would like.
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on Jun 1, 2019 0:13:12 GMT -6
You also found all of these on your trip!
|
|