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 Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:54 pm
Down
"Are we ready?" Rowan asked, peering over the edge of the Great Hollow. Edoc'sil has been living here for more than a year now, and comfortably so. The Clan has more space than they need, but it's still just the same cave day by day and the same hunting areas around. Rosemary had decided to explore further down the Grand Hollow, and see what they find.
No one in Edoc'sil expected the events that would face them for the next little while.
Rosemary nodded to Rowan's question, and crouched down, allowing Rowan to climb onto her back. Eclipse sat beside them, sending a mental nod to Rowan as a reply. Saffron chirped happily as the Butterkyn twisted playfully around them, Basil the Dragonfly trying to keep up.
No Saffron, you're not coming. Rosemary told the small creature firmly, but Saffron just ignored her and dived straight down into the Grand Hollow before anyone could react. From the ease that Saffron did it, they suspect that the Butterkyn has perhaps gone down there before.
Rosemary did as close of a shrug she could with her dragon anatomy. Spreading her wings, she jumped off the edge and into the waiting darkness. Eclipse following after her, making rocks jut from the wall so he can leap from one to another, going almost as fast as Rosemary. With his magic he lit the way for everyone.
They didn't know what to expect when they went down there, but certainly nothing dangerous or truly surprising. They didn't even alert the rest of the clan- they expect to be back in an hour or so.
That was their mistake. The unwary does not last long in the Underdark.[ Basic Info about the Underdark for people who's never read the Legend of Drizzt/forgotten realms stuff]
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:20 pm
Unfriendly
The tunnel went down a lot farther than any of them expected. Rosemary couldn't just keep diving forever, or all that built-up momentum is going to squish her at the end, so she found it hard to keep her speed steady. If the Grand Hollow was any smaller, she wouldn't have be able to do her spiralled descent properly.
If Eclipse hadn't trained so vigorously for the Obstacle Course earlier in his life and had worked diligently to maintain his physique, the Lunar would be utterly exhausted right now. Having to concentrate on creating spikes of Earth jutting from the wall while at the same time jumping from one to the next- it wasn't as easy as he makes it look.
Saffron fluttered around them happily and childishly. Basil the dragonfly giving up on trying to keep up and had gone back to the Den early in the dive. The Butterkyn soon dived far underneath them, faster than the Lunar who was travelling by foot and faster than the European as Rosemary was keeping her flight steady. Saffron soon flew outside the range of Eclipse's light magic and all three of them noticed the odd red glow from Saffron's two eyes.
Nobody in Edoc'sil could understand, but Saffron has infravision, the ability to see in the spectrum of heat, not visible light. In the world of no light, infravision was what most creatures used to get around, keeping the darkness with a very different set of rules than the surface world. Hiding becomes shielding your body temperature or changing it to match surroundings. Any attempts at camouflage or blending into the background would all be for nought- your body heat will shine like a bright beacon, your visible colours completely ignored.
After a half-hour of the constant down-ward travelling, the three noticed that the walls of the Grand Hollow began to widen, allowing Rosemary better manoeuvrability. And then the ground rushed up to meet them, and the three finally landed on solid ground. Eclipse almost immediately laid down, panting and trying to get his heart to stop thumping so hard. He had rested several times on the way down but he still felt extremely tired.
He didn't complain though, and soon got to his feet to examine his surroundings. His magic illuminated everything, yet it seemed to pale in comparison with the pressing darkness just beyond his influence. It was so dark, it was like solid.
Everyone was suddenly nervous and tense for reasons they didn't know. Except Saffron of course, who was never really nervous about anything. But curiously enough, the Butterkyn kept silent, its wings not making a whisper as she flew through the air. She also seemed less perky and...more alert.
Eclipse paced the perimeter of the chamber they landed in, and confirmed it to be about forty feet wide in each direction. Several tunnels led out from this area, and as far as Eclipse could tell, kept on going on forever. His light magic couldn't reach long enough to see an end.
Moving back to the others, he noticed several stalagmites and stalactites around, poking at his imagination. The kyn had lived in a cave system all his life, but this place was just so dark, and there was something sinister about it, unwelcoming...
Saffron suddenly hissed and did a somersault in the air, flipping around several times before it got it's directions down again. Something skipped along the floor, something that had almost hit saffron. Rowan nearly froze in place with sudden fear, but she couldn't help but bend down and pick up the thing, wondering what it was.
It was a dart, with some sort of clear liquid coated on the tip.
Rowan! The mental cry was the only warning she got as she felt something small hit her back. She blinked a moment. The pain was not so great, but she suddenly found it hard to think. She stared blankly at Rosemary for a moment, then collapsed, fast asleep.
[People who know about the Underdark should know exactly what's attacking the moment I said the word 'dart' and will know for certain without any doubt when I said the word 'sleep'
If you don't know, then I'll tell you: Drow]
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:10 pm
Rest
At the sight of their rider fall, both Eclipse and Rosemary began to panic. Another dart hit Rosemary at an odd angle and was deflected by her scales, losing its momentum as it went harmlessly wide. Then it was suddenly dark. So dark that not even Rosemary's keen eyesight can discern anything at all.
It's a magical darkness, get out of it, now! Eclipse screamed into her head. She didn't question her love's insight, and blindly crawled her way out of the globe of darkness that suddenly appeared.
Another dart thudded in, this time through the feathers that covered her shoulder, where the transition between scales and feathers ended. She swooned for a moment, suddenly sleepy but she turned her serpentine neck around, grabbed the dart between her teeth and yanked it out, growling through the pain.
Eclipse in the meantime, had managed to drag his sleeping rider across his back, spikes of Earth rising all about him, each blocking another dart. Rosemary quickly stumbled to his side.
Now they could see their attackers. Several forms moved out of the safety of the tunnels behind them, brandishing wickedly sharp weapons. The two Kyn looked at an empty tunnel entrance ahead of them, and with no where else to go, darted straight for it.
Rosemary barely fit in the next corridor, but somehow she managed to get in. Instinct made both Eclipse and Rosemary act at the same time, the two of them calling upon their magic to seal off the tunnel behind them with a wall of rock. Rosemary collapsed, struggling to keep her eyes open. Two more darts protruded from her thigh in their wild escape.
Her size and natural resistance to such poisons was no match for such a large quantity of the potent drow sleeping drug, and Rosemary was asleep before Eclipse managed to get his rider off his back safety back onto the ground.
The Lunar looked around nervously in the dark, then brought light to the area again. Saffron the Butterkyn landed on top of Rosemary, then curled up to sleep with its master, though it did not get hit by the darts.
Eclipse tried to understand their predicament, but he shook his head in confusion. Those thing that had attacked them back in the last corridor. They had the proportions of a human, yet their skin was ebony black. Their eyes were red dots in the darkness, like those of Saffron's.
The uneasy Lunar checked all of his companions to make sure they were not hurt, and was relieved to learn that they were indeed only just sleeping. He then worked on erecting a wall on the opposite side of the corridor they came from, to make sure that nothing nasty jumped on them in the middle of their forced rest. Eclipse made sure there were small openings though, for circulation.
Then, without any other options available to him, Eclipse curled up beside everyone else and fell into a fitful sleep.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:23 pm
Discovery
Rowan woke up first, and panic took hold of her as she realized that she couldn't see a thing around her. The Darkness was absolute- no light could reach so deep underground and still penetrate the two protective stone walls Eclipse and Rose had erected.
She found herself just frozen in place, instinctive fear rooting her to the spot and telling her not to move a muscle. Her strong emotions woke Eclipse fortunately, who wasted no time in lighting the small area up with magic, and this seemed to calm Rowan greatly.
"What happened?" She asked quietly, but to her, even her hushed tones were too loud, giving away their positions. She looked around the rock tunnels fearfully.
Something attacked us, I'm not sure what. They used a sleeping drug and it hit both you and Rose. Eclipse responded, reminding Rowan that if she wasn't comfortable with talking, to just use their telepathic link. When Eclipse mentioned Rosemary, he sounded rather concerned, but hid it easily so that Rowan didn't catch it.
Saffron raised her head, looking at everyone with sleep still in its eyes. That soon diminished though, and the Butterkyn was soon zipping around and banging into the walls of the area and anything in between, which soon woke Rosemary up.
We should call for help. Rosemary suggested, although she wasn't sure how hard it will be to call on other Kyns when they were so far underground. But they had to try, to at least warn the rest of the Clan. Rowan and Eclipse soon agreed -after shutting Saffron up, who seemed intent on chirping away as loud as she could- and they focused on the link connecting them back to the Kyns back at the Den.
Zephyr, Origin, Spirit, can you hear us?
Ro! Rose! Clips! Where are you guys?! Replied a very faint but unmistakably panicked voice of Zephyr. With their combined strength, Rosemary, Rowan, and Eclipse took turns explaining what happened.
Don't come down the Grand Hollow, whatever attacked us might still be there. We'll try to find another way back to the surface from another route. I don't want to put anyone in danger, but if you guys can find any way down into these tunnel systems...well, try to stay safe. They ended the communication, with all three of them exhausted. They really were far away from the den if it took this much effort to contact Edoc'sil.
"We should start moving." Rowan told her two kyns after a while, and they all nodded their agreement. They can't stay here long, this wasn't their world. The stagnant air was slowly driving Rowan insane- the air hardly moved in the Den, but there was always a faint wind circulating around the caves. But here, she felt like she was suffocating.
The three of them looked at the wall leading to the grand hollow fearfully, then they headed the opposite direction, taking down the other wall Eclipse had put up for protection. They hoped that they could find a way out in time.
The tunnel split up several times, and the small group was forced to pick a random path. It tunnel narrowed in places, and widened up in others. Everything seemed the same with each step, and each and every one of the surface dwellers were uneasy. Saffron however, seemed perfectly at ease, and swooped around in a carefree fashion.
And then, the room suddenly widened into a circular chamber. Rowan and her Kyns stopped dead in their tracks.
There, in front of them, was a nest. Full of eggs and a few hatchlings. And an angry-looking female. (Rowan thinks its a female since it's guarding the eggs.)
"W-what are those?" Rose gasped out loud, then suddenly regretted making so much noise even though the creatures had already seen them. They looked almost like wingless, furred Europeans, but they had a rather...catlike quality. But something told Rowan that they were indeed Kyns.
The adult growled, red eyes glowing, slowly advanced on the group. The creature was larger than Rose.
Run! Rosemary screamed at Rowan and Eclipse, and the two didn't hesitate.
They turned around to find their way blocked by an even bigger version of the creature.
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:30 am
Attack
The creatures did not get any closer, to the relief and confusion of Rowan and her Kyns. Until Eclipse realized that they seemed reluctant to step into the area of light he had created around himself and clan mates.
Sevir! Came a harsh voice in their minds, no doubt from one of the creatures. While the language they didn't understand, the meaning was clear, especially when sent telepathically. It wanted them to leave.
They were more than happy to oblige, but the other wingless-European blocked their way and seemed to think differently than its mate.
P'luvt! The larger of the creatures growled, and the smaller one hesitated for a moment before agreeing. The two started to advance on the group, pausing slightly and wincing as they reached the light. But their eyes adjusted to the light soon, the red glow subsiding to show their natural colours in the realm of visible light.
The bigger of the two blocked the whole tunnel; they'll have no way of getting back through there. But from what they could see, there was another tunnel leading out of the nest room on the other side- this cave seems nothing more than an area dug out from a continuing tunnel.
Of course, there was an angry -or hungry, they couldn't really tell- and agitated mother Kyn in their way, but let's not worry about that little detail shall we?
Rosemary turned around to face the bigger of the creature, opening her wings as far as they can go in the limited space of the rather small cave. It was an instinctive gesture, one meant to make oneself appear bigger. The creature visibly hesitated and Rosemary shouted Run, all of you! to her familiar, rider and love. None of them moved though, except Saffron who bravely flew past Rose and dived toward the Kyn-like creature. On the other side the other one advanced, and Eclipse moved in front of Rowan protectively. The girl suddenly wished that she had her hunting bow with her.
Rosemary jumped toward her opponent, screaming at Saffron to get out of the way in her mind. The Butterkyn obeyed, fluttering back just as Rosemary opened her maw and let loose a stream of dragonfire. The heat made Rowan's eyes water and her throat burn with each breath. Rose had never used such an intense dragonfire before, none that Rowan knew of.
The creature roared in pain, and quickly attempted to flee out of the way, but the tunnel was narrow and there wasn't much place to run. Fire was a rarity here in the Underdark, where there is little to burn, and the creature was not used to it. Its fur caught fire and sent it running away, howling in blind rage.
Nearer the middle of the room, Eclipse has his jaws clamped firmly around the Kyn-creature's front leg, refusing to let go as it tried to shake him off. Rosemary couldn't help with this one- she was exhausted from her effort with the dragonfire.
The creature that Eclipse had stubbornly held onto now calmed down slightly and curved her neck around to attempt to find the pesky Lunar to give it a bite and silence it forever. Eclipse let go at this moment fell into his magic, creating a bright burst of light in front of him.
The Kyn-thing roared in pain for its sensitive eyes and stumbled backwards, and onto its nest, crushing some of the eggs and even one of the hatchlings.
Rowan watched this all nervously, and held back her horror as she saw the creature crushing its own offspring. This shouldn't have happened, if she only have chose another path, these creatures would be left alone and peacefully taking care of their young, while they could be on their way undisturbed, not battling these Kyns.
Rowan stuck her hand into her pocket, and pulled out one of the darts that hadn't hit any of them and still had the sleeping poison within it. Finding a burst of courage, Rowan ran next to Eclipse, and past him, toward the creature that was now calming down. It eyed Rowan dangerously, the sight of her dead brood enraging her. It jumped at the human, mouth open, but overshot a bit because of the blinding aftereffects of the bright light on her sensitive eyes, and fell on top of Rowan instead of biting her in half.
Rowan felt the breath knocked out of her lungs as the thing fell over her and she scrambled out of the way as much as she could. The creature was now on top of most of her, although her head and upper torso was free. Grabbing the dart, she stabbed it behind her into the meaty flesh of the creature. A moment more of struggling, and then the wingless Kyn fell silent in a fitful sleep, the poison doing its work.
Rosemary helped roll the Kyn-like thing off of Rowan. Rider and Kyn shared a fierce hug together, which Eclipse and saffron joined in.
"You know what? No more adventuring for me if I can help it." Rowan whispered.
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:15 pm
Hatch
Rowan felt herself almost wanting to cry, but she held it back and looked at the nest. Two miniature versions of their parents -they looked rather like cat rodents to Rowan- huddled around the dead form of one of their sibling. There were several squished eggs, dead developing Kyn still inside them. The female wingless Kyn twitched in her poison-induced sleep.
We should move on. Rosemary commented as she followed Rowan's gaze. She knew that guilt was gnawing away at her, although she herself and Eclipse felt no such thing. The creatures threatened them; they defended themselves.
Rowan ignored Rosemary though, and clamoured onto the nest. The two hatchlings hissed and screeched at her, both darting away from her and cowering by their Mother's side. Rowan knelt down in the debris and found only two eggs left intact, although one had a rather large crack. The cracked egg soon fell apart as Rowan tried to pick it up and Rowan couldn't help but feel terrible remorse, a horrible creature that bit her from the inside.
She then looked at the other intact egg and knew that this one was still alive. She looked back to the two hatchlings still by their mother's side and remembered how much all her Kyns ate and how often they needed to be fed when they were little. The sleeping drug had caused both Rowan and Rose to sleep for hours, probably more than the whole day.
Those hatchlings would starve if their mother didn't wake up soon. Thier father had been severely wounded by Rose's dragonfire, he might not survive. He certainly won't be in good shape to take care of the little ones.
Rowan wanted desperately to help them, but she knew that these hatchlings would not leave their mothers, would not accept her. She can't possibly bring those two back to the den with her, they'll never bond with her properly.
Crack
The sound startled Rowan as she turned back down to the egg. It was hatching!
Eclipse and Rosemary had now gone to her side, reading her every thought through their bond and understood Rowan's emotions. They didn't say anything as they watched the egg hatch though, Rowan helping the process along where she could, cracking open the egg.
Rowan, we can't keep it. We don't even know what its temperament is like- its mother tried to kill you. Rosemary pointed out.
Your mother did too. Rowan retorted, and Rosemary fell silent as the cracks along the egg began to lengthen and widen. Rowan suddenly regretted saying that- Rose's family had always been a touchy subject for her. She loved Rowan, but she couldn't help but wonder what her life might have been with her mother and father and siblings. She wouldn't have the responsibility of leading a clan.
Finally, what looked like a really wet kitten crawled out of its shell, and stared up at Rowan and the Kyns with glowing red eyes. It bared its fangs and growled at them, backing away. It began to calm down soon, though it still didn't trust them. After a while, it licked itself clean and shivered, cold, but not trusting Rowan and the others enough to get near them.
Saffron settled it for them though, flying to the Kyn's protesting side and cuddled it. After a little while, it stopped resisting and simply enjoyed the shared warmth of the slightly bigger Butterkyn.
"I've formed the bond with her. She's a member of the clan now, we're not leaving her behind." Rowan said after a while, feeling the familiar connections of emotion between herself and the hatchling. Rosemary shrugged, no argument left in her, and bent her neck down to sniff the newest member of Edoc'sil. It hissed and edged closer to Saffron, who looked at Rosemary reprovingly.
It would have been funny if the situation wasn't what it was.
"Well, she needs a name." Rowan said after a while, her voice forced and nearly cracked. She still felt guilt for what had transpired in this cave. "How about Syllable? That's a nice name for a female."
The creature growled and shook its head from side to side almost in frustration, and hissed at Rowan.
"Um, I'm guessing that's a no..." Rowan mumbled, a bit surprised. None of her other Kyns had ever really seemed to care about their names when they were born.
Ilythiiri! Screamed a voice in Rowan's head, and she looked around, alarmed.
Ilythiiri. It said a second time, more calmly, and Rowan looked back to the hatchling. Was it coming from her?
"Alright then, I guess we'll name you Ilythiiri. Ilia for short, is that alright?" Rowan asked tentatively, wondering if Ilia had any more surprises in store for her. Ilia nodded in contentment and soon curled up and fell asleep.
Rowan carried the hatchling in her arms as they moved out of the cave, hoping that they'd find a way home soon.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:23 pm
Light
The group found a stream some long time later, to the relief of the dehydrated group. They were first unsure if the water would be safe to drink, but after seeing what looked like fish swimming around in the water, they decided to take a chance.
They stayed there for some sleep, their internal clocks telling them it is night though none of their other senses are able to confirm it. They decided to set up watch, at least one of them being awake for the whole night. Ilythiiri seemed to bond with Saffron more than anyone else, and the two tiny things sticked together at all times.
Halfway through their broken rest, a terrible hunger radiated from the bond they shared with their new hatchling. It was only then that everyone realized themselves that they haven't eaten since they had come down here who knows how long ago.
Rosemary attempted to catch the fish from the stream, but they were too fast for her, the darkness fooling her eyes. When she finally managed to strand a fish with a combination of earth and water magic, they realized that the fish was covered in a thick hard armour, and none of them could really pry it open to get to the meat without too much effort. It wasn't worth it.
After the effort, no one was really sleepy anymore. So they gathered as much water as they can, and set off in a random direction, hoping luck will guide them back to the surface world. They found some mushrooms that seemed less brilliantly coloured along the way. They were hesitant about eating it, but Saffron reassured them that they were edible. Not questioning how the Butterkyn knew, they ate the bland mushrooms without complaint, hardly stemming their painful hunger.
Ilia sometimes jumped out of Rowan's arms and caught small beetles and other insects to eat. It seemed to satisfy the small hatchling alright, but they were hardly nourishment for Rose, Clips, and Rowan.
Then, just as weariness told them to go to sleep, they entered a cave with a pool of water in the middle, a constant trickle of water dripping down from a stalactite the source of the small lake.
And there, resting beside the lake, was a herd of cattle-like animals. Rothe they were called, similar to their surface counterpart, the cow. Rosemary and Eclipse each hunted one down, and the two managed to cook the meat for Rowan. Rosemary ate almost an entire Rothe by herself, and the two animals were enough to fill everyone up nicely.
They decided to stay there for their sleep, and Rosemary went off in search of some of the Rothe they had scared off. She managed to bring one back. With much struggling with kynfire and combustible mosses, they managed to smoke the meats alright and stored as much as they could in Rowan's bag and tied on Rose and Eclipse's back. They probably won't have any access to such an abundant source of food often.
The days turned into weeks. Rowan and her kyns became ever more adapted to the Underdark. Saffron and Ilia seemed to instinctively know where food and shelter could be found. With their help, they survived, and even thrived. They met several of the underdark's denizens and none of them were friendly. The dangerous dark tunnels soon turned the clanmates into fighters and survivors.
And then, suddenly, the light came.
It started as a slight wind, cool and refreshing, unlike the currents in the underdark, which were stifling and thick. They followed it eagerly and suddenly found themselves in a small cave, the ceiling collapsed in, the stars shining above them.
They had left the Starless night, to the world of light.
Rowan dropped to her knees at the sight, happiness and relief swelling within her. She prayed to whatever god was up there for thanks, then began to climb back up into the world in which she belonged.
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