"Well, dead-hand spiders are the darndest things. I've never seen nor heard of two of them being in the same place. I've never seen nor heard of a baby dead-hand spider, or a old dead-hand spider. As for the lights..." Měihóu looked back at the spider, pausing for a moment, the spider also pausing to maintain distance.
"See, how dead-hand spiders work is they just follow sentient prey around until it gets killed by something else, then they drag it back, web it up, and then that's where the lights comes from. Always the same as the prey's tome color." Měihóu begins searching again, eventually finding a promising stretch of soft ground rather than stone ceiling. She begins prodding around with her staff.
"I've heard theories that they're psychopomps, gathering the souls of the dead and sending them on their way. I've heard stories that they trap the souls in their webs eternally. I do know that they have some preternatural sense of who's gonna die soon, cause I've only heard one or two stories of people not dying once a dead-hand spider started following them around, and it's always a near miss." Měihóu finished finding and clearing a small path down into the room below. Chen could judge that this seemed to be about where he had estimated the peat that had covered the doorway below to be. "So, on the plus side, we're gonna find something today. On the downside, it's gonna be dangerous. And you might get your soul eaten afterwards."
Chen jumped down and began looking around. "Danger is nothing new in my line of work. Having my soul eaten is however. So I suppose I will need to be more careful than usual." Chen saw some peat nearby but shrugged it off. It was irrelevant to his knowledge. Just some plant life, nothing new there. "Will you require some assistance getting down?"
"No, not particularly." Měihóu looked down at Chen with an expression of mild confusion for a moment before shrugging it off.
"Alright then." Chen replied as he observed the area around him. "This is quite a dirty place. Unsurprising, considering how nobody has made it through here in quite a long time."
Měihóu rides her staff down into the room after Chen,
"Rather, I'd say it's quite dirty because of how many people come here. There are so many visitors here." Měihóu picks up an earthworm, raising it up to make her point before setting it back down.
"Certain humans have a definition of clean that few others share." She sets the worm back down gently.
Whatever thoughts the two travelers shared with one another were suddenly shattered as the sound of a loud, inhuman roaring came from the current chamber they stood in. The sound echoed all around them, the sound of something vaguely animal-like jarring even the toughest of nerves. However, there was something extra to the howl, as if whatever caused it was in extreme pain. And then, there was something else hidden in the darkness.
“Mpppf! Mmppf!”Chen looked towards the strange sounds with a blank expression and then looked at his current partner. "Do you recognize those sounds at all? If so, does it react badly to light?" He asked while pulling out a small lighter. He then created some ice in the shape of a circle to use as a sort of focusing lens for light. "Nevermind, we don't have time for caution." He flicked the lighter on and illuminated the area where the noise was coming from.
"Kind of sounds like someone with a gag, but there aren't many people to kidnap down here." Měihóu advances, covering her eyes for but a moment with her hand, and when they showed again, they were clearly not human eyes, having enhanced her low-light and infared vision, at the cost of clearly distinguishing colors.
The moment Chen's lighter was brought out into the darkness, a chain reaction occured in which the entire room was lit up. Massive pillars each filled with lit blue fire illuminated the sheer size of the chamber as well as its single occupant.The roaring was louder than ever and the sudden appearance of a light made a
wolf-like creature narrow its eyes. It flinched as the room was suddenly illuminated by the flickering of blue torches before its red eyes focused on the two individuals before it.
The creature looked to be a Beastkin, which in itself was impossible since Beastkin were rumored to be an extinct race. Nevertheless, the wolf merely growled out again with anger and a spark of defiance. It wasn’t like she was in the best position to answer after all. Massive chains pinned her body to the floor, digging into her flesh and fur causing fresh blood to well up over patches of already dried wounds. A thick, metal muzzle had been fitted over the creature’s face, turning all of her cries into silenced mumbles, leaving her to roar out instead.
She continued glaring at the two intruders, tail swishing as she instinctively backed away from them. The only people who visited these dark chambers were Imperium priests who sought to ensure themselves that she remained chained up and hidden away from the world.
"You know, something tells me this person is trustworthy. But I have no idea where this thought came from, and my head's pretty unreliable about people. What do you think?""Considering that it's not only hurt, but afraid as well, I doubt it would do anything to us if we freed it. And if it did, we could easily defend ourselves. We should free it." Chen put away his lighter and dropped the ice in his hand. He slowly walked towards the Beastkin and stopped just outside of its reach. "I am about to freeze your restraints the make them brittle enough to shatter. Do not be alarmed." Chen warned as ice began to creep along the floor and towards the Beastkin. It then began to crawl onto the chains of the Beastkin and freeze it.
"Eeesh, that's gotta be chilly. Metal is super conducty. Anyway, I've got super strength if your ice needs a boost."The Beastkin growled, noting that the male referred to her as an "it". Well that was one score off of the creature not clawing their eyes out. Still, the Beastkin tried to nod before letting the man do his work. Then, all of a sudden, the small chamber began to rumble slightly as sprouts of bladed chains emerged from the very ground and slithered over to the two travelers in an unnatural manner.
The Beastkin knew that the chains served as a defense mechanism against bandit and seekers so it was obvious these two weren’t sent by the Imperium. Still, that alone didn’t give her incentive to help them as well, considering that she couldn’t even move.
Chen jumped back when the bladed chains emerged and moved his ice off of the creature. He then decided to focus primarily on these bladed chains and began to freeze those instead. "We should find where the chains emerge and collapse it. No opening means no blades." Chen said as he focused on trying to keep the blades from moving. He layered ice on them to try and freeze them to the floor.
"I think you're looking at the opening, aka, the magical seal thing. Anyway, so long! It was fun." Měihóu leaped into the air, twirling her staff around her once, by the apex of her jump appearing back in her most recent, most powerful, most monkey form. She swung her staff with all her considerable might, shapeshifting the end of her staff to be heavier mid swing against one of the chains holding the beast. This was preferably aimed at one of the spots that was still icey if there was one, but with highest priortity towards a chain dragging on the ground, so that the impact wouldn't tear one of the beastkin's arms off if the chain didn't break. Měihóu relied on her motion and Chen's actions to stay free of the bladed chains for at least the moment required to swing.
Chen noticed what Měihóu was trying to do and focused some ice on the spot she was aiming for. This also had the unfortunate effect of drawing some ice off of a nearby chain, but it was closer to Chen then it was to Měihóu. He could take the pain if it hit him.
The Beastkin was a little amazed at the spectacle. Seriously, who were these clowns? The female had straight up turned into a monkey, now swinging her staff towards the base of the chains holding her. The Beastkin tried not to wince, shutting her eyes as the end came down on the binding lashing her together. With a heavy clunk the metal shattered on impact.
Chen seemed to get the same idea for he too focused his ice on the chain Měihóu was aiming for. This has the effect of weakening it, resulting in the shattering result. But as he could imagine, that left the other chains to hit him square on with their blades. Only a few more of the bonds remained and the Beastkin squirmed, trying to show that the chains were reforming again slowly.
"Owww.. Didn't think that through." Měihóu actually did wince from the impact, and a little more after, several small bleeding wounds marking her flesh where the shrapnel from the shattering metal had impacted her. Seeing Chen get hit,
"Chen!", Měihóu yelled and leaped into the tangle of chains slashing at him, bowling into them and dragging them away from him with the like she was far far heavier than she should be. A keen eye would note her bleeding slowed, her skin took on an unnatural texture, light not diffusing through it like normal flesh, leaving her a strange ashen tint to her complexion.
"Let's switch, you focus on the chains binding the gal, I want to be able to break them without throwing shrapnel around!" Extending her staff forward horizontally, the main body of the staff began growing and bending into a semi-circle around Chen and the Beastkin, and also sending off small branches to stick through links in the chains seeking for Chen or to repair the bind on the Beastkin. However, doing so split Měihóu's attention away from her "Stone Skin" transformation, meaning the chains she had tackled and aggro'd might be able to pierce her defense.
Chen grit his teeth as several of the blades hit him and ripped through his flesh. He grunted slightly and watched Měihóu tackle the blades to try and save him. "Thank you. That was unnecessary, but thank you." His wounds were already freezing over and the bleeding was basically gone. "I will focus on it's chains." Chen observed the Beastkin's reaction to being called an it and a small, almost miniscule frown crossed his face. "I will focus on HER chains to the best of my ability." Chen began to focus on trying to freeze the binding chains.
The Beastkin grunted in muffled appreciation as someone finally recognized her as a...well, a her. With the two fighter's attention divided the verocity of the chains began to slow down. The ones surrounding the Beastkin in their constant cycle of growing back were soon reduced to frozen brittles while Měihóu's efforts bought enough time for Chen to finish his work.
It only took a little more, the Beastkin's eyes narrowing as one by one each chain fell apart. Only when the second to last one snapped did she growl loudly, clawing and tearing at the floor. With a roar she snapped the last chain and was launched forward, tackling Chen to the ground as she landed on his chest. Her escape caused a chain reaction, the ruin's trap soon falling apart as the magic sustatining them was broken.
One by one each bladed chain fell to the floor lifelessly, the blue torches on the walls switching to a bright orange color. Well then. Mission accomplished. The Beastkin shook herself to get rid of anything lingering in her fur before frowning down at Chen, who was currently making a good seat for her.
"And who the fuck are you two?"Chen narrowed his eyes and let all of the ice on the now broken chains melt. "I am Chen. I work for a individual known as The Librarian. That is who I am." A few seconds passed and Chen's eyes returned to their normal blank stare. "It's considered rude to ask somebody's name without offering your own in turn."
Měihóu's initial response to the question is lots and lots of laughter.
"I usually don't get the opportunity to do this so frequently, ahem." Taken a moment before she begins the pacing of a well rehearsed speech,
"I'm Měihóu Niángniang, the loving fighter!" Měihóu proclaimed to her "audience" of two with an upraised staff. Měihóu began twirling her staff around arms and neck, the great unwieldy object somehow moving with grace.
"The great sage of love and warrior-god of freedom. I see beauty in every heart and permit no body to be shackled!" She stopped for a stage whisper, the staff somehow continuously looping around one wrist held away despite Měihóu barely moving her hand,
"Except the fun kind. Which yours didn't look like." She continued back into her "routine",
"When I say I can be anything you want, I actually mean it! When my staff adjudicates conflicts, it inflicts no true damage!" She winked at the "actually mean it". At "no true damage", she brought the staff down hard, on a single raised pinky. A crack could be heard, yet the pinky did not bend. In another stage whisper aside, she informed them,
"Even though that should have broken it, my pinky'll be fine in like, ten minutes. It's only stunned."Then, rejoining formation as though nothing had happened,
"So, that clear up all your questions about me?""Yeah, no, not really," the Beastkin said indifferently, glaring between both of them. At least this Chen knew when to shut up when no one else seemed to care. That alone already put him in the good graces of the Beastkin. As for monkey chick, she could learn a thing or two from him in terms of shutting the hell up when nobody asked for it.
"I guess I should say who I am now. Name's Ruxen. There. Now piss off," the wolf Beastkin announced, pawing off of Chen and casually heading for the exit of the chamber.
"I appreciate the help and all...but there's really no reason for us to hang around anymore. We're not friends, buddies, or pals.""Bye bye, see you next time you get captured!""Watch out for the Frost Wasps on your way out." Chen called out as he continued to lie down. He looked at his torso and sighed. Her pounce had reopened a few cuts. They began to ice over once more, but it still hurt. "So now what?" He asked as he stared at the ceiling.
"And the big mysterious growly thing."
