Benedetto had noticed the odd urn marks and clumps of irregular glass in the sand, just like Penny. There were few... almost as if they'd been purposefully cleaned up. As the others talked, he tapped on the wall and, with a start, couldn't help but notice that it was hollow. Bastards, he thought, trying to hide something from me? While the princess was busy consulting with one of her allies, he turned to the others with a significant look.
"We should go in," he whispered.
Or I'll break you. He kept the last part to himself. Whatever lurked beyond... perhaps it might even be interesting.
Trypano reached out with her mystical senses, looking throughout the cave, feeling out the terrain around them. She used her power to draw in some pieces of elements from the rock around them to better identify it so she might be able to manipulate it further. She was alerted to a possible hollow point notified by Benedetto. The others were investigating another location but his path also showed promise.
"Perhaps we should try and see what's past the wall before attempting to open it should there be an ambush laying wait."Glancing Trypano's way, Ismette nodded.
"Agreed. Something about this doesn't sit right." She took a sniff of the air with those well-developed olfactory senses of hers and thought that she could detect a slight whiff of.... sulfur?
Desmond had been drying off this entire time. He grabbed his hat and began to shake it of water and sand. He was slightly upset that the ship had sunk, yet he was at least happy he was able to keep the flag. He could hang it up on his wall, or when he gets a bigger ship, fly that as well. As they made it in, Desmond was curiously looked around, it was until he began a rhythmic beat appear he became alert. Benedetto had been tapping on the cave trying to search for something. Desmond became intrigued in his search, where when Benedetto found something, Desmond was already on board in searching.
"I think it'll be interesting to see what's hidden"As when Trypano and Ismette spoke Desmond thought it would be smart, yet it's not something difficult as Desmond begins to extend his senses to 'see' if anyone or anything is beyond the wall. Well, sense the energies beyond it.
Ingrid was utterly humiliated that they had missed. Not only that, they had been saved by Benedetto. Again.
What am I even doing here? I'm useless. Benedetto seemed to have noticed a hollow point on the wall and was itching to investigate. Ingrid wasn't driven by curiosity at this point. The only thing she knows is that without help, she'll die apparently.
Ingrid listened to her team's observation. Ingrid thought it could be a sulfur gas behind the wall with what they have seen. Ingrid spoke up that it would be best to make a gas escape on a higher part of the wall if it is gas and that she could make if they would like.
Penny had been struggling with the terrain. Her muscles ached and her joints strained like those of a woman forty years older. There was only so much that kinetic magic could do to make up for the lack of a left leg and hours worth of desperate flight, combat, and adventure. She was exhausted. She glanced at the others surreptitiously.
"I think you should do it. Go see. I'm out of steam, though. I'll occupy my 'fellow royal' in the meantime."Desmond gave a nod to Penny as he said,
"Alright, be careful don't rest too hard, we might have a bit more to do"Trypano nodded in concurrence with some of the other suggestions.
"Perhaps if we create a hole we could light a flame to burn off the excess flammable elements behind the wall. We'd need to stand clear of any possible shrapnel in case of an explosion capable of shattering the false wall. Alternatively I could try converting the elements in the air within into it's less flammable, more breathable compound."Ingrid nodded and sent vibrations through the stone, feeling how the energy moved through the stone to determine the appropriate area to place it. She heard Trypano's suggestion and it seemed safer. Ingrid nodded and made a 2 inch hole in the stone to let Trypano start converting the gasses.
Benedetto could sense Ingrid's mopeyness and it was hard to suppress a grin. The strong cope and the weak fold, he thought, but he had better things to do than mess with some dumb Eskandishwoman's head. Instead, he thought it might be fun to throw her a bone. He jerked a thumb her way.
"Honestly, she's right." He reached out with his senses. There wasn't much that he could detect beyond, aside from a few of the chemical reactions one would expect from a cave. It was almost... too easy. They would need a meatshield.
"We should make a gas escape and do the converty thing and I say that Ingrid should lead. She's worked underground unlike the rest of us. Besides, she's the only other one I'd trust to deal with whatever comes our way." He even threw a smile at her. Of course, Benny could've done it all himself, but sometimes it was fun to watch other people do it. He'd blow something up later to make it up to them.
Meanwhile, Penny was saying her temporary goodbyes.
"I'll be on call. If you're not back within an hour, I'm leading a party down there." She returned her attention to Princess Amelea, separating the two groups with far more political grace than Benny ever could.
After a couple of minutes, the smell of sulfur lessened, but Ismette made it clear that there was still more behind it, almost as if there was a source somewhere in the distance beyond the hollow wall. With that, Benedetto had had enough of waiting around. He punched a hole through the wall and twisted, grinning, to Desmond.
"Hey!" he taunted,
"Think you can punch a bigger one?" Ismette blinked and looked at the others. She made some light in her hands and shone it in through the hole.
"Punch away, boys," she said with an eyeroll.
Benedetto was impulsive and prone to bickering, both impairments to progress. Still, he had helped both earlier and in finding this hidden location. Trypano wasn't going to throw out his suggestion regarding Ingrid out of pure spite for his character as it was a sound idea. Someone familiar enough with mining would be some use in proper tunnel scouting. Perhaps not the best but still.
"I'll continue to maintain purity for us. Ingrid, since you are familiar with tunnels you should be able to alert us of other visible dangers regarding such spelunking."That said she was disinterest in their punching competition, enough so that she actually caught that Penny was heading out. She gave a glance and a wave as she departed.
Ingrid was wondering where the sulfur was coming from. Their is a chance that their is some volcanic activity and this is just some of the gas leaking through. Either way, if it was coming from deeper than they couldn't change all of it.
Ingrid destroyed some matter on the shape of an arch with a flat bottom and then gently using her kinetic magic moved it out of the way with out making a spark.
She looked at the punching competition and simply said be careful, if their are other gasses and you ignite it than we're all in trouble.
She nodded to Trypano and said thank you.
Desmond waited for some time as he listened to the others, he was constantly using his senses to see if anything changed as they let the gases out and changed them. It seemed as Ismette said that there is a source that is producing more, and in that moment Benedetto punched a hole in the wall as he looked to Desmond and tried to taunt him. Desmond chuckled as he drew his fingers across the wall as he brought his hand against it for a moment before he threw his punch.
Using his knowledge from many different martial arts, he knew how to best produce the maximum amount of energy from the body. He was in a slight bend of knees as he drew his fist away as that was the moment he threw his punch. As his fist flew, he extended his knees to generate power from his toes to transfer it to his hips, twisted his hips to transfer the energy to his back, twisted and extended his back to send it through his shoulder, his shoulders twisted, to send the energy through his arm, as his arm twisted to send all the energy he culminated to his fist. As the moment before impact Desmond prepared as upon impact he would take in the kinetic energy from his punch that he would take back from the force so he is able to put every ounce of force into the punch without fear. As he planned to send his fist through the wall and possibly take it down if the wall is too weak.
The rock collapsed with a clatter, Desmond's punch doing the job, and Benny raised his eyebrows in approval. Thankfully, there wasn't enough flammable gas in the air to make anything ignite, and Ingrid had soon smoothed out a nice, simple path for them.
Of course, very quickly, the floor became rocky and uneven. It was treacherously dark in here, the light from their entrance dim and fast-fading. Dampness and clay and lime soil made the ground deceptively slick, and water pooled in certain areas. he ceiling was low and the three tall women had to watch their heads and move in a crouch at times.
Yet... this subterranean space was not nearly so cold as it should've been. There was a chill, but it was quite bearable, and so the group went deeper, maintaining arcane light with their hands, watching their footing, and stretching out with their senses.
Once again, Ismette's keen eyes revealed things for them.
"Look," she whispered, voice echoing in the sill, dripping darkness,
"more of those same tracks." It was like a number of soft people-sized things had been dragged over the rocks. The space was energy-poor as well. Aside from some minor chemical reactions and a very small amount of ambient heat and kinetic energy from dripping water, there was vanishingly little, almost... unnaturally so.
"Nothing to fucking draw from," complained Benedetto, but there was something else: a growing noise in the background. Ingrid, who'd saved up enough energy, was able to call light out in front of the group for a fantastic bright burst that illuminated what lay ahead for a split second.
Beyond the wide but low area that they crept through lay an enormous cavern. An underground river wound its way past, fed by a waterfall that only now came into drawing range, providing ample energy. Stalactites and stalagmites rose from the floor and ceiling, colossal, and grimy crystals veined the walls.
The river branched two separate ways and the group would have to decide which to follow.
That was when Ismette spoke up, shining her light on the near edge of the underground stream.
"Look at this," she said,
"it's uniform here. This bank wasn't carved by nature."The cavern wasn't very surprising to her. What was surprising was the sulfur. It could be made my organic means but the temperature was still relatively warm. As a small precaution, Ingrid sensed for radiation. Their shouldn't be any but until they know where the heat was coming from she couldn't rule it out.
As Desmond brought down the wall, he turned and threw a smile to everyone and said,
"Looks like I win", as he did a light bow before the entrance as he said to Ingrid,
"Ladies first".
As they traveled Desmond was keeping watch over everything, in caution he waited to use his own energy, as Benedetto so wisely stated, they had nothing to draw from. Yet the moment they made it to the opening they were able to draw from a waterfall.
And in Ismette fashion she noticed the very nature itself seem off, as she said the stream wasn't carved naturally.
"Hmm, that's odd", Desmond generated some light on his first 2 fingers on his right hand as he began to look at the rock near the stream and asked Trypano,
"Hey are you able to check if the rock has anything weird in it?" As they proceeded out into the enormous cavern Trypano's eyes were drawn to the enigmatic crystals formed within the walls. She drew from the material that comprised it in order to get a better understanding of it's composition. Ismette was overheard discussing the nature of the river's formation.
"It is quite possible that a mage dwelt in this location, be it recently or long ago. I'm guessing it's had more recent guests given the tracks."She then cast a glance over to Desmond past the corner of her eye.
"Already on it."The group's studies revealed a number of things:
Firstly, that the sulfur was coming from upstream and that it seemed to be warmer in that direction. There was no radiation aside from the heat one might expect, though the source itself was still too far to sense.
Secondly, that the composition of the stone was natural in essence but had been altered. It was effectively concrete. There were a very few minerals, as well, that seemed entirely alien to this cave, as if they had been brought here from some distant place.
Finally, the recency of the tracks was confirmed by Ismette as she took a swab with her fingertip and examined it.
"The different layers of soil are deposited fairly uniformly, except for floods. This has been disturbed recently," she confirmed,
"and often." Her keen eyes peered into the dark reaches in both directions and then she started, scrambling backwards.
"There!" she hissed, pointing downstream, in the opposite direction of the source of the sulfur.
"I saw a light!" Her chest heaved with anxiety.
"A red one," she continued,
"maybe two. Small, and just a flicker, but Vyshta damn me if I didn't see it!" Instinctually, she reached out with her senses, but whatever had made that light either gave off precious little energy or, more likely, was too far away to sense. That did mean, however, that the river and its narrow banks in that direction were a fairly straight shot, much in contrast to the way upstream, which looked narrow, winding, and fast, with a waterfall and rapids.
This was such a fascinating discovery to Trypano. Not only was this an artificially designed structure but it contained elements she had never seen before. She absorbed as much of the info regarding the natural features of these elements as she could while the others spoke up, pointing out details regarding the river itself. Also, it seemed, they were not alone.
"While sulfur can sometimes emanate from natural pockets it is also produced from organic sources. If something is still living in this location I would not be surprised if prolonged stay would result in such buildup."Ingrid was relieved to know their was no radiation here but was much more concerned about the small red light that Ismette claimed to see. Ingrid couldn't catch it herself but she didn't doubt Ismette. Ingrid says "it was most likely eyes if she were to take a guess. Sulfur burns blue in most cases so It could be a creature and you caught its reflection. Either way, absorb some of the kinetic energy of the water and ready yourself because that is the direction we are going"
As Ismette hissed out what she saw, Desmond quickly flicked himself to the direction, bringing up his long gun, which he had retrieved after the ship battle. He aimed down there for a moment as he said,
"Alright, guess we were given a direction".
Desmond looked on for a moment longer as he used arcane magic to magnify his sight in hopes to maybe see something, Ismette saw a small flash of red light, that meant one of 2 things, someone is trying to light fire, or someone has some strange looking eyes. He looked down the dark area as he continued,
"I guess with sulfer coming from there, they might have been trying to light a fire like a fool, or as Ingrid said-" Desmond stands up and puts his long gun onto his back as he continued,
"Guess someone has some magical looking eyes".
Desmond walked a bit forward before he said,
"Guess we got some investigation to do, I'll take lead here", as he prepared to walk forward leading this time, as he was comfortable with much more precarious walkways.
Ismette swallowed and took a couple of steps back.
"Oh Bringers," she squeaked.
"Why are we going towards the ...thing, whatever it is? This is the part where the smart people - those who don't die - decide to leave!"Her foot splashed into a small pool, disturbing an Ohm that had been resting there, and it made her flinch even more. The eyeless salamander skittered away with a splash and things went quiet again. Sulfur one way, red light thing the other way. Why are these people so hellbent on death!?
"Those are eyes," crowed Benny, with the confidence and certainty of a boy going to shoot rabbits with his father's rifle.
"And I wanna see what they're attached to." He shot a glance at Ismette over his shoulder.
"Stay in the middle of the pack if you're so scared. I'm going up to the front with this guy." He jerked a thumb at Desmond and stalked up right behind him.
With the matter seemingly decided, the five youths pressed forward, Desmond taking point, Benny right behind him, Trypano, Ismette, and then Ingrid guarding their rear. The water was dark and frigid and the entire place had a weird smell. Aside from the wet crunch of their footsteps and the barely-audible flow of the stream came the sound of dripping water as they went.
Then, just as they had reached where Ismette estimate the red light had been, they heard it: Something moving, and not a small something either. It was... in front of them, behind them, above them! Benedetto shone a light up and the cavern had opened up again, impossibly tall. He couldn't even see the ceiling. Things hissed and slid, echoing in the enormous, near-empty interior of this place. Eyes stared back at them: red and reflective. Yet, when the group reached out with the Gift, hoping to sense anything, they found that they couldn't! There was no magic. They couldn't draw, couldn't sense, couldn't cast!
A strange feeling thrummed through their bodies and even their arcane lights winked out. Things crept nearer.
While always nice to have their suspicions validated it hardly prepared them for the issue at hand. Luckily they weren't in complete darkness as Trypano hadn't relinquished the lantern since the last experiment she made with it. As they approached the next cavern it seemed they had stumbled upon this grizzly host of theirs, some mysterious entity with eyes that reflected light with red menace.
What pulled itself upon her was a choking sensation. She was cut off from her senses, from her essence. The very energy inside her just... Dropped, lost to her due to circumstances outside her current understanding. The beast must have been connected to this, most likely anyway, but how?
"I suggest we step back into the narrow entrance and set up a firing line. Draw the beast into the cavern hall and shoot it in a place it cannot dodge within."She was already backing up and quickly too, fully expecting the rest of them to follow suit.
Ingrid knew that the cave was either going to open again given the amount of sulfur their was or we would see a lava plume of some sort and know would know where the sulfur is coming from. Instead the smell got stronger and they were suddenly surrounded by creatureas and something negated their magic.
Ingrid grabbed Ismette's hand and turned on her heels saying this way. She readied herself to face the creatures with her sword, unknowing if Ismette could raise a hand against any life. Being rear she remembered the path very well as was her job.
From everywhere and nowhere echoed a chittering, hissing noise, rising and falling in chorus.
"B E A S S S S T" it almost seemed to say.
Desmond quietly and deftly moved across the narrow walkways, he watched himself as he heard Benedetto was pulling up behind him. Desmond didn't show his emotions he held them in, he couldn't get back at him, not yet.
As they made it to where they would find the eyes, a voice rang through his head, calling out in a voice he could not really make out saying, look alive.
Desmond brought up his gun fast, fast enough to almost look as if he was a blur.
Desmond felt something, like a hum, a burning in the center of his back, it was telling him to fight, run, hide, death seemed to have surrounded them. As he reached out to sense what is surrounding them, he felt nothing, as he noticed when he shifted his foot, he couldn't 'feel' it. His magic wasn't there.
He face hardened as he began to think, Trypano tried to get them to run, but they might be trapped, so Desmond though, it might be best to try. They might get to see it, and if they can, they get to kill it.
Desmond stood up and put his back to Benedetto as he said out loud,
"Get close! we can't leave a hole for it to take advanatge of, Ismette keep watch high, Benedetto watch low, Trypano and Ingrid watch to either side and infront as we try to move. I'll keep watch behind"Desmond began pushing against Benedetto telling him to move, he was ready to fire the moment he say this beast try and lash out.
It was a brave defence. It was a good plan, but it was uncoordinated. In any event, it wouldn't not have been enough. Grouping together made them a single target and the hissing walls closed in on them. The eyes multiplied. The air took on an even more potent smell and Desmond swung at one enemy with his rifle butt. Ismette punched, Benedetto kicked, and Ingrid slashed with her sword.
The eyes drew back. The air grew fouler. A faint feeling came over the group. It was... hard to breathe. There were few points for visual reference, but things were growing hazy!
Feeling himself fading, Desmond opened fire. Muzzle flashes illuminated his immediate surroundings for a split second and he and any others who looked that way would've peered through a thick haze. It was hard to make out anything in detail except what looked, for a moment, like massive tentacles or coils.
They were surrounded and from the little she saw from Desmond's gun, they couldn't fight it. Only way to get out would be the water. It is risky but it the best option.
Ingrid grabs Ismette and hops into the water. All she said was hold your breath.
The moment the gun flashed, he saw what they were fighting and knew this was no fight they can win. They were losing time, breathing was not an option anymore as they were being gassed, so every movement took that away. As Desmond looked to the bank he silently nodded to himself, as he tossed his gun off into the bank and turned to Benedetto. He picked him up like a child and threw him in, as Desmond looked to Trypano and yelled to her,
"GO!" He flicked over and brought up his pistol as he loaded a phosphorous shot with a Ahn-Shune's Light shot, knowing the moment they make contact with the intended target, they should spark and ignite with the mixtures of chemicals, hopefully starting a fire in to cause it pain and keep it at bay for long enough for them to make a full escape.
Once he fired that shot he will attempt to hop into the bank as well.
Ismette, grabbed and... womanhandled, blinks furiously. Her larger lung capacity makes her far more susceptible to this sort of attack, but paradoxically far better able to resist it if she holds her breath. Her eyes are better adapted to seeing in the dark and she was able to get a decent glance at what was attacking them. It was -
She hits the water and is forced to continue holding her breath.
Well they just rolled the holy trio of terrible coincidences. Not only had they somehow lost access to magic but they were surrounded AND assaulted with some sort of anesthetizing gas.
Fan-tastic.
Not even sparing enough time for Desmond to tell her to go Trypano takes a quick breath away from the gas cloud and through her sleeve, holding it as she then dives into the waters. She might not have long to fight if the creatures come into the waters with her but she'd still have longer than she'd have had still breathing on land.
Time to see what came with the water.
They raged, then, against the dying of the light but, in their desperation, failed to heed that the river's current was carrying them towards the greatest bulk of their mysterious enemy.
Less able to see or move, the darkness claimed them one by one. Last to go were Benedetto, fighting for every last moment, raging at how his strength hadn't been enough, at how there was something out there yet much greater than he, and Trypano. She had, at all junctures, taken the route more logical, but perhaps this entire endeavour had been a grave error in judgement. Yet, as she went under, she saw something that inverted her expectations.
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