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Shukri continued to cover his female companion, as she darted for the nest,letting her get a bit of a head start. With the increasingly incensed and distressed birds distracted he made a break for it himself moments later. Upon reaching the nest the pale haired young man wished fervently that he had more time to loot it. How was he supposed to choose! there was so much splendor on display here but so little time before the birds recovered or called in reinforcements.

With that in mind Shukri gave a frustrated sigh and quickly jammed a few handfuls of whatever was closest to him into the pouches he carried on his belt before beating a hasty retreat back down the mountain. Joining Eden under the overhang he admire the good job she'd done keeping hold of that much treasure on her way down the mountain. If she wasn't so stubbornly ice tribe like he thought she'd make a fine adventuring partner.

Shukri was pretty pleased that his plan had gone so well, neither they nor the birds had been really hurt and they had gotten some items that made the effort worth while. Soon though the young man's focus was on the strange treasure in Eden's hand. He'd seen a lot of unique and interesting items in his time but nothing like this. How it was made he wasn't sure, magic perhaps although what sort of magic the prentice had no clue. Maybe the item, broken or not , was magic in and of itself in which case he was more than happy to let Eden have it, he had no use for trinkets that used a power he had never understood and could not harness.

" If we move swiftly we can probably get to where the rest is today." Shukri replied. Eden's previous explanation of the situation made it seem like their next destination was not horribly far away. As long as he could get the retrieval done before sundown then things should be fine. He didn't fancy their chances against the ground based mountain predators that stalked their prey at night, those would be much harder to dissuade with a bit of wetness and rocks.

" I can carry the treasure, I have a lot of storage space," The fair haired young man boasted jokingly. He couldn't fit all of that into the various pouches and sacks tied to his belt but the majority of it should be carryable. It didn't hurt that he was accustomed to moving while being weighted down and unless they needed to hide the sounds of their presence a little jingling as items clinked against eahc other shouldn't hurt.

A part of him wondered how long it would take the birds to amass a small hoard like this again. It might be worth raiding the nest with help again before his band moved on in a month or so.

Shukri peered down into the dust lined pit then shrugged "Looks climbable." It wouldn't be easy by any means but the young Prentice was confident the ravine was scalable if done correctly. In a situation like this he'd prefer to have rope available as a safety harness but he'd not brought any with him today, not having planned to do any sort of rappelling.

" I need you to use your magic again to clear away some of the dust." It would make the surface of the rock slippery but that Shukri could deal with, he had climbed in the rain before many times and knew how to position his body against a wet wall as well as how to adjust his grip slowly while moving. For the moment the fair haired young man was content with facing the obstacle at hand. Shukri was not a particularly brave or daring young man, he didn't rush headlong into danger like others he knew. Climbing though was his forte and he was sure his skills would be enough to get him through this.

" Good, now I need you to be my lookout since I have to focus on climbing. You'll have to direct me where to go if i get off course or if you think you can see something." He explained to the weary looking ice tribe girl.

If the area had been better lit Shukri felt he could have easily navigated himself down the ravine and retrieved the desired prize. At the moment though his mind needed to direct it's attention to making sure he wasn't misjudging distances in the dark and to keeping him one hundred percent alert. The young man was still confident but he knew he couldn't manage this alone. Edena had thus far also proved to be a very useful ally as well . Sure someone like Takoda who seemed to be more at ease with his magic would probably have been handier but Shukri had grown up learning to make due and to use the slimmest of advantages to their fullest.

Carefully, after removing a few of the treasure filled pouches, he slid himself over the edge of the slush slicked ravine and began to slowly descend. Sure footing and the best handholds he could manage would be important here. Shukri was also hoping that the sudden and unexpected rush of slush and red sluge would have scared off any insects that might otherwise be making the wall their home. He really didn't want to get stung or bitten when he could barely see his fingers.

He supposed if worse came to worst he could send Edena to find some scrub brush to light on fire or something. Even a temporary makeshift torch would be a great boon. Right now though the young prentice wanted to try and just feel his way through this and waste as little time and what daylight there was filtering in from above as possible. Shukri hoped his confidence in his skills would be justified when this was all over.

Shukri had been less than pleased when it became apparent that something did indeed live within the ravine and whatever it was, or they by the sounds of it , was not happy with his invasion of their home.

Thankfully the next hiss Shukri heard came from his ally. He had momentarily jerked his head up in response to his name being called out and then turned it to peer into the distance in the direction Edena had indicated. Hmm, he didn't see anything from where he was but he trusted the ice tribe girl to not lead him astray, after all what good did it do her?

" Ok, and ready your magic, there's.. things down here" he called up in warning as he began to maneuver his way along the ravine wall and down to the left. Hopefully, whatever was below him would think twice about any sort of sustained attack if they got slush dropped directly onto them. Of course Shukri would prefer to not get attacked at all if possible. As it was he was pretty positive his clothes would be ruined and even his protectively calloused fingers blistered by the time this was over. Getting injured was not on his to do list today, not that it was ever really on his to do list.

It had taken everything in Shukri to stifle a less than manly scream when hundreds of.. things.. had blown past him. He couldn't even fight this, to try and use his sling would have meant taking both hands off the ravine wall which would end in a likely painful fall. As it was the the small ledge he was on felt like it was crumbling beneath his feet with every moment. Shukri couldn't go anywhere though, not when he was surrounded by the strange noisy creatures.

Then they were gone , having frantically flown past him, up towards Edena. Edena who magic seemed to be having no effect on them. Then they were gone and there was only silence before his ally called down to him.

" Little wet, but otherwise ok" Shukri called back, his voice filled with a sort of strained humour. Some of the ice tribe mage's defensive magic had dripped down onto him giving him a bit of a chilly impromptu bath and damp hair. All the more reason to get back to finishing the task at hand. Still a bit shaken and trying to hold back the 'I can't believe I didn't just die' giggles that always came up at inappropriate times Shukri continued to descend towards where the damned peice of treasure was supposed to be.

" Going up is way easier than climbing down," the pale haired young man reassured his partner. At least in this case it was true because he knew the path back up That and Shukri had simply always found it easier to haul himself up the sides of cliffs and mountains.

Able to at least properly see his goal Shukri pushed away from the wall and hopped down , the minor fall's landing cushioned by the infernal dust that was everywhere here. Although come to think about it it might not be dist after all but powdered droppings of those creatures.

Wrinkling his nose at the thought Shukri quickly snatched up the piece of treasure and waved it over his head to show Edena before tucking it into one of the few packs he'd kept on himself. "I'll be back up before you know it" he promised with a grin that probably only he could see.

That said he headed back to the ravine wall and began his ascent, filled with confidence and pride. Next time something like this happened he might be a bit more thoughtful but overall Shukri felt the day had gone well. He was going to have some story to tell when he got home. It'd have to be good though given that he was pretty sure his clothes were a right off at this point and his mother would not be pleased, no matter how much he'd successfully stolen from the scruffy birds nest.

The climb back up was a little harder than Shukri had wanted. He was in good condition but even on his usual adventures his body wasn't often worked this hard or beset by so many obstacles. Tiny rivulets of cold water roll off his damp hair and trickled down his face making the trip even more irritating. Still the job was done and with each inch gained he clawed his way back up into the light and towards rock cleared of the damned dust that might not actually be dust.

With burning muscles Shukri hauled himself at last over the lip of the ravine and flopped onto his back to take a breather. " You're welcome, besides you kept your end of the deal" he reminded the ice tribe prentice. She might be getting a strange shiny treasure that felt oddly special but he.. he had a small hoard of his own to pick through. Proof that solid effort did not go unrewarded, and that if united by a strong enough cause, and treasure was always a good cause in Shukri's mind, that even members of their tribes could work together as equals.