Oh nu, Solstice is injured! ON the other hand, we came to this giant tentacle mather, and other bad things happened. Welcome to a horde of angry noodlebeasts.
Plot twist: They're all just a bunch of spirals knotted together
Oh nu, Solstice is injured! ON the other hand, we came to this giant tentacle mather, and other bad things happened. Welcome to a horde of angry noodlebeasts.
Plot twist: They're all just a bunch of spirals knotted together
XXX
xxx
xxx
Were you expecting a modicum of rust?
xxx
xxx
Oh, and also:
Quote:
There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked for a couple of hours through these new passages, when we came across a passage with unexpectedly smooth, square walls, as if this were a series of hallways that someone had built once, long long ago. Occasionally there were chambers off of these walls, with doors so small that a larger dragon might not be able to squeeze its way through. Clearly no imperials built this place, but with it so deeply frozen in ice, it was hard to say who possibly could have.
Every once in a while we would pass a mouse or other small animal that scurried around, almost seemingly lost and confused in these tunnels.
It was not long after we had spotted the first creature that Umbra began to grow a bit worried. Something about these animals seemed wrong - very wrong - and she wasn't quite sure what until insisting that we got a closer look at one of the mice. The creature had several large, black tentacles instead of legs (not normal). A different mouse we looked at had three eyes, and five legs. A third was covered in a thick coat of prehensile, wiggling hair.
Taken aback with horror at the state of these creatures, we wondered what could be causing these mutations - and then we noticed the thick coat of dust lining the walls and floors. Of course - it was the dust.
We decided to continue on, but the group was on edge the entire time. We covered our faces with cloth to prevent us from breathing this dust, and slowly made our way through the tunnels.
As we walked, the creatures we encountered became larger and larger, and the mutations more and more drastic. Some beasts were entirely unrecognizable, covered head to do with wiggling black tentacles - almost as if they were living mops. They peered out at us from every corner, watching us, waiting... Until one beast let out a high screech and the strange creatures came pouring out of the walls, biting and clawing at us. We needed to fight back!
Although we tried our best, there were simply far too many of them. The horde of beasts began to drag us down the passageways at high speeds, picking us up and chattering to each other.
We were carried through many different tunnels and then squeezed through a tiny hole in the wall. It was then that we found ourselves in the most massive room we had yet seen. At the center of this large and round chamber, was a writhing mass of tentacles and eyeballs and teeth. It looked much like the little mutant animals, but it was nearly 200 meters tall, and equally wide. Around it, thousands of tiny version of this similar creature were all feeding a constant flow of various plants and animals to the 'mother.' There were stacks of grasses and plants arranged in nests, where all of these strange and horrible creatures wiggled about.
In that moment, the exact same thing was going through all of our heads 'Great dragon gods what kind of horror is that?!'
As the little creatures carried us straight into the nest, we were, by some miracle, able to wiggle free and run back out through the hole in the wall, leaving the beasts behind.
As we dusted ourselves off and found a good hiding place, we tended to the little cuts and scratches we had sustained. Unfortunately, Solstice was much worse off than the rest of us, having sustained a serious number of bites from the creatures.
Emmet tried to tend to the wounds, but was unable to do enough to spare Solstice from becoming incapacitated.
Glad to be free from the clutches of the tiny beasts, we quickly left this horrible, horrible chamber. The rest of the day was spent getting as far away from this thing as possible. We did not want its little helpers dragging us back there while we slept - not even a little. When we were confident that we were well hidden and safe for a rest, we made our camp, logged our activities, ate our meal, and slept (in shifts, for safety).
There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked for a couple of hours through these new passages, when we came across a passage with unexpectedly smooth, square walls, as if this were a series of hallways that someone had built once, long long ago. Occasionally there were chambers off of these walls, with doors so small that a larger dragon might not be able to squeeze its way through. Clearly no imperials built this place, but with it so deeply frozen in ice, it was hard to say who possibly could have.
Every once in a while we would pass a mouse or other small animal that scurried around, almost seemingly lost and confused in these tunnels.
It was not long after we had spotted the first creature that Umbra began to grow a bit worried. Something about these animals seemed wrong - very wrong - and she wasn't quite sure what until insisting that we got a closer look at one of the mice. The creature had several large, black tentacles instead of legs (not normal). A different mouse we looked at had three eyes, and five legs. A third was covered in a thick coat of prehensile, wiggling hair.
Taken aback with horror at the state of these creatures, we wondered what could be causing these mutations - and then we noticed the thick coat of dust lining the walls and floors. Of course - it was the dust.
We decided to continue on, but the group was on edge the entire time. We covered our faces with cloth to prevent us from breathing this dust, and slowly made our way through the tunnels.
As we walked, the creatures we encountered became larger and larger, and the mutations more and more drastic. Some beasts were entirely unrecognizable, covered head to do with wiggling black tentacles - almost as if they were living mops. They peered out at us from every corner, watching us, waiting... Until one beast let out a high screech and the strange creatures came pouring out of the walls, biting and clawing at us. We needed to fight back!
Although we tried our best, there were simply far too many of them. The horde of beasts began to drag us down the passageways at high speeds, picking us up and chattering to each other.
We were carried through many different tunnels and then squeezed through a tiny hole in the wall. It was then that we found ourselves in the most massive room we had yet seen. At the center of this large and round chamber, was a writhing mass of tentacles and eyeballs and teeth. It looked much like the little mutant animals, but it was nearly 200 meters tall, and equally wide. Around it, thousands of tiny version of this similar creature were all feeding a constant flow of various plants and animals to the 'mother.' There were stacks of grasses and plants arranged in nests, where all of these strange and horrible creatures wiggled about.
In that moment, the exact same thing was going through all of our heads 'Great dragon gods what kind of horror is that?!'
As the little creatures carried us straight into the nest, we were, by some miracle, able to wiggle free and run back out through the hole in the wall, leaving the beasts behind.
As we dusted ourselves off and found a good hiding place, we tended to the little cuts and scratches we had sustained. Unfortunately, Solstice was much worse off than the rest of us, having sustained a serious number of bites from the creatures.
Emmet tried to tend to the wounds, but was unable to do enough to spare Solstice from becoming incapacitated.
Glad to be free from the clutches of the tiny beasts, we quickly left this horrible, horrible chamber. The rest of the day was spent getting as far away from this thing as possible. We did not want its little helpers dragging us back there while we slept - not even a little. When we were confident that we were well hidden and safe for a rest, we made our camp, logged our activities, ate our meal, and slept (in shifts, for safety).
Mine seems to be different. Huh.
XXX
xxx
xxx
Were you expecting a modicum of rust?
xxx
xxx
Quote:
[crackle]
"Hello! Hello...? Test! Test! Does this thing work?"
[more crackling noises]
"Hm. Well, I'll just assume it does!!"
[You can hear voices in the background. You can't understand what they are saying, but they sound annoyed.]
"Fine, Fine! I'll get to the point, jeez. I just built this thing, have some respect."
"Well, this is Asha with today's log! I wanted to try something different and made an audio!! As I'm talking, we're still exploring this strange and definitely far-too-cold cave system!"
[You hear something that sounds suspiciously like a head bumping against something.]
"Ouch. That gotta hurt. Are you okay, Sachiel??"
[There's someone grumbling in the background.]
"This part of the cave looks like someone with a plan built it. Now we know that it probably weren't Imperials! Sachiel got stuck in some doorways already and Blumiose had to blast her free with her magic. Good thing I'm basically a giant noodle!!" *giggles*
"Eeek!! What was that?? Oh, just another mouse. There are lots of critters here, I wonder what they eat... Hopefully not dragons!!" *giggles again*
[Annoyed groaning from the background.]
"Wow, you two sure got no sense of humour. Where's your--
Wait a second... What is that!?"
"EEEEEEEEEK!! IT'S GOT TENTACLES!! GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEeeeeeeeeee...!!!
[something hits the ground, presumably the recorder]
[You hear muffled voices cursing and shouting]
[Someone seems to pick up the device]
"Okay, we retrieved Asha. Looks like I should continue today's log while we walk on, and Sachiel restricts Asha from running off again. Though I have to admit that the mutated mouse did look terrifying. It reminded me of the strange plants we saw two days ago, and I told everyone to put their makeshift masks back on. Hence why I probably sound a bit muffled."
[There's silence save for the noise of steps for a while.]
"Ah, just as I thought. It's the strange dust again that causes the mutations.
...
...
That's bad... It is getting thicker and thicker...
...
It's getting hard to breathe..."
[Someone's coughing, and you hear a mumbled spell.]
"Ah, good idea, Sachiel. Thank you for the protection spell. I think like this we can try to explore where the dust is coming from. For now, I will stop recording until something worth documenting happens."
"Asha, how do you turn this thing off?" "Oh, so now you need me again, huh?"
"Hello! Hello...? Test! Test! Does this thing work?"
[more crackling noises]
"Hm. Well, I'll just assume it does!!"
[You can hear voices in the background. You can't understand what they are saying, but they sound annoyed.]
"Fine, Fine! I'll get to the point, jeez. I just built this thing, have some respect."
"Well, this is Asha with today's log! I wanted to try something different and made an audio!! As I'm talking, we're still exploring this strange and definitely far-too-cold cave system!"
[You hear something that sounds suspiciously like a head bumping against something.]
"Ouch. That gotta hurt. Are you okay, Sachiel??"
[There's someone grumbling in the background.]
"This part of the cave looks like someone with a plan built it. Now we know that it probably weren't Imperials! Sachiel got stuck in some doorways already and Blumiose had to blast her free with her magic. Good thing I'm basically a giant noodle!!" *giggles*
"Eeek!! What was that?? Oh, just another mouse. There are lots of critters here, I wonder what they eat... Hopefully not dragons!!" *giggles again*
[Annoyed groaning from the background.]
"Wow, you two sure got no sense of humour. Where's your--
Wait a second... What is that!?"
"EEEEEEEEEK!! IT'S GOT TENTACLES!! GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEeeeeeeeeee...!!!
[something hits the ground, presumably the recorder]
[You hear muffled voices cursing and shouting]
[Someone seems to pick up the device]
"Okay, we retrieved Asha. Looks like I should continue today's log while we walk on, and Sachiel restricts Asha from running off again. Though I have to admit that the mutated mouse did look terrifying. It reminded me of the strange plants we saw two days ago, and I told everyone to put their makeshift masks back on. Hence why I probably sound a bit muffled."
[There's silence save for the noise of steps for a while.]
"Ah, just as I thought. It's the strange dust again that causes the mutations.
...
...
That's bad... It is getting thicker and thicker...
...
It's getting hard to breathe..."
[Someone's coughing, and you hear a mumbled spell.]
"Ah, good idea, Sachiel. Thank you for the protection spell. I think like this we can try to explore where the dust is coming from. For now, I will stop recording until something worth documenting happens."
"Asha, how do you turn this thing off?" "Oh, so now you need me again, huh?"
(I will probably do the logs later, but for now I'll post the message...)
There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
It was not long into the day's walk that our path began to spiral upwards. Although we had not yet seen any creatures, we had heard the frequent shuffling of tiny footsteps echoing through the halls. We knew we were not alone, and we were not afraid, although we soon would be.
It was later in the day when we came to a large, circular hole in the wall. Seeing the movement inside, we approached cautiously, turning our lanterns down as dim as they could go. We found ourselves looking down into the most massive room we had yet seen. At the center of this large and round chamber, was a writhing mass of tentacles and eyeballs and teeth. Nearing 200 meters tall, and equally wide, it was easily the largest living creature we had ever laid our eyes upon. Around it, thousands of tiny version of this similar creature were all feeding a constant flow of various plants and animals to the 'mother.' There were stacks of grasses and plants arranged in nests, where all of these strange and horrible creatures wiggled about.
In that moment, the exact same thing was going through all of our heads 'Great dragon gods what kind of horror is that?!'
Of course, we did not have too long to take in this situation, as it was soon after that the 'mother' had spotted us, reaching one of its tentacles up through the hole, which was conveniently situated about halfway to the ceiling of the massive room. We knew we had to act, and quickly.
We backed away from the hole as Ariana climbed into a nook in the passageway, beckoning for her teammates to follow. There we stayed, quietly waiting and watching as the beast's tendril blindly felt around the passageway.
Quietly creeping from our hiding place to get another look at the creature, we... 'hey! Is that a nocturne egg?! Is that thing eating dragon babies like popcorn?!' This was bad. Very bad. We needed to hatch quite the plan if we were to take out a horror like this.
We knew that there had to be a way for us to fight this thing that didn't simply involve conventional combat. Because, let's face it, we were not going to be able to take down anything that big. Not with only the three of us. As we watched this thing function, we looked around the room, hoping to get a few ideas.
North, having spent a good few minutes deep in thought, eventually pointed to the ceiling of the cavern: 'Do you see all those cracks up there? There's even a hole just above the creature's head. Perhaps we could collapse the ceiling down onto it. I'm not sure how we could do it, but if we can find a way up there we might be able to get a better look.'
We began to thoroughly search the area to see if we could find a passage that would lead us upwards, above the creature.
Fortunately, North's map would do just the trick. We began to go back, through all the tunnels we had passed, until finally we began to move upwards.
When we had nearly reached the top, we found a secluded place that we thought might be safe enough for a bit of rest, we made our camp, logged our activities, ate our meal, and slept (in shifts, for safety).
(I will probably do the logs later, but for now I'll post the message...)
There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
It was not long into the day's walk that our path began to spiral upwards. Although we had not yet seen any creatures, we had heard the frequent shuffling of tiny footsteps echoing through the halls. We knew we were not alone, and we were not afraid, although we soon would be.
It was later in the day when we came to a large, circular hole in the wall. Seeing the movement inside, we approached cautiously, turning our lanterns down as dim as they could go. We found ourselves looking down into the most massive room we had yet seen. At the center of this large and round chamber, was a writhing mass of tentacles and eyeballs and teeth. Nearing 200 meters tall, and equally wide, it was easily the largest living creature we had ever laid our eyes upon. Around it, thousands of tiny version of this similar creature were all feeding a constant flow of various plants and animals to the 'mother.' There were stacks of grasses and plants arranged in nests, where all of these strange and horrible creatures wiggled about.
In that moment, the exact same thing was going through all of our heads 'Great dragon gods what kind of horror is that?!'
Of course, we did not have too long to take in this situation, as it was soon after that the 'mother' had spotted us, reaching one of its tentacles up through the hole, which was conveniently situated about halfway to the ceiling of the massive room. We knew we had to act, and quickly.
We backed away from the hole as Ariana climbed into a nook in the passageway, beckoning for her teammates to follow. There we stayed, quietly waiting and watching as the beast's tendril blindly felt around the passageway.
Quietly creeping from our hiding place to get another look at the creature, we... 'hey! Is that a nocturne egg?! Is that thing eating dragon babies like popcorn?!' This was bad. Very bad. We needed to hatch quite the plan if we were to take out a horror like this.
We knew that there had to be a way for us to fight this thing that didn't simply involve conventional combat. Because, let's face it, we were not going to be able to take down anything that big. Not with only the three of us. As we watched this thing function, we looked around the room, hoping to get a few ideas.
North, having spent a good few minutes deep in thought, eventually pointed to the ceiling of the cavern: 'Do you see all those cracks up there? There's even a hole just above the creature's head. Perhaps we could collapse the ceiling down onto it. I'm not sure how we could do it, but if we can find a way up there we might be able to get a better look.'
We began to thoroughly search the area to see if we could find a passage that would lead us upwards, above the creature.
Fortunately, North's map would do just the trick. We began to go back, through all the tunnels we had passed, until finally we began to move upwards.
When we had nearly reached the top, we found a secluded place that we thought might be safe enough for a bit of rest, we made our camp, logged our activities, ate our meal, and slept (in shifts, for safety).
[/left)
[center][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/116943/11694247.png?mtime=WIgDRAACP6Q.png[/img][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/166435/16643491.png?mtime=WH186wACXm8.png[/img][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/81786/8178578.png?mtime=WH19NQACNDs.png[/img][/center]
Alcor shrieked at the abominations that had begun to pour from the cave walls, both in an attempt to scare some off and out of his own fear. The creatures looked like something Iuka might whip up in her creepy science cave. Why did they have to get lost following that, [i]thing[/i], whatever it was that had dug the tunnel? They hadn't even found it! But if the cave was full of these tiny terrors, who knew what kind of creature the huge tunnel-digger was?
The Mirror slashed at the beasts again and again, still screeching. His augmented claws tore through them rather easily. When they started jumping on him Alcor panicked and backed himself into a corner. He shook himself desperately as he tried to flee the attack. Their bites made his more irritated skin sting like heck and he was terrified they would bite through his wires and disconnect one of his limbs. Off to the side, Charlie was busy slashing through the creatures as well. She avoided using her fire though, as none of them knew if the strange dust was flammable. When she heard Alcor's normal screeching turn into panicked squeals her attention snapped to his side of the cavern.
"Alcor, hang on!" Flinging the beasts out of her way violently, she rushed over to the Mirror and used her tail to swat the attackers off of him. Once free of the abominations Alcor whined his thanks and huddled against the wall. Charlie knew they couldn't leave him to fight alone, hell he probably wouldn't fight anymore at all. "We need to get out of here!" she shouted to her other teammate.
"Hold up, I got this!" came Matte's reply. The Tundra dug through one of her bags quickly and produced a vial filled with a weird liquid. "Heads up!"
"Oh gods no," Charlie turned and shielded Alcor with her wings as Matte tossed the vial into the writhing horde ahead. There was no explosion thankfully, but there was a gross hissing as the creatures melted into a pile of black sludge.
"Eeew, cool." Unfortunately Matte couldn't spare a second to marvel at her handiwork. She turned to her teammates. "Okay let's go!"
Team Pumice managed to escape the hoard and continue down the tunnels. When they felt they were a safe distance away, Matte had them stop so they could all patch each other up. Alcor was coughing, his sensitive lungs irritated by the strange dust.
"If we keep breathing this, we aren't gonna turn into them, are we?" His voice was small, clearly still shaken from the encounter.
Matte had to admit to herself, breathing the stuff in was not at all comfortable. But she didn't feel different or like it was re-writing her DNA or anything.
"No, we'll be fine," it was Charlie who actually answered his question, "we just have to keep going. This can't last forever."
"We can keep going tomorrow-er, after we sleep," Matte chimed in. "We all really need to rest. Keep your masks on guys." Everyone sank to the floor in relief. This journey was not turning out the way any of them had expected. Sleep would not come easily that night. The three dragons huddles together for warmth and tried to at least rest a little.
Alcor shrieked at the abominations that had begun to pour from the cave walls, both in an attempt to scare some off and out of his own fear. The creatures looked like something Iuka might whip up in her creepy science cave. Why did they have to get lost following that, thing, whatever it was that had dug the tunnel? They hadn't even found it! But if the cave was full of these tiny terrors, who knew what kind of creature the huge tunnel-digger was?
The Mirror slashed at the beasts again and again, still screeching. His augmented claws tore through them rather easily. When they started jumping on him Alcor panicked and backed himself into a corner. He shook himself desperately as he tried to flee the attack. Their bites made his more irritated skin sting like heck and he was terrified they would bite through his wires and disconnect one of his limbs. Off to the side, Charlie was busy slashing through the creatures as well. She avoided using her fire though, as none of them knew if the strange dust was flammable. When she heard Alcor's normal screeching turn into panicked squeals her attention snapped to his side of the cavern.
"Alcor, hang on!" Flinging the beasts out of her way violently, she rushed over to the Mirror and used her tail to swat the attackers off of him. Once free of the abominations Alcor whined his thanks and huddled against the wall. Charlie knew they couldn't leave him to fight alone, hell he probably wouldn't fight anymore at all. "We need to get out of here!" she shouted to her other teammate.
"Hold up, I got this!" came Matte's reply. The Tundra dug through one of her bags quickly and produced a vial filled with a weird liquid. "Heads up!"
"Oh gods no," Charlie turned and shielded Alcor with her wings as Matte tossed the vial into the writhing horde ahead. There was no explosion thankfully, but there was a gross hissing as the creatures melted into a pile of black sludge.
"Eeew, cool." Unfortunately Matte couldn't spare a second to marvel at her handiwork. She turned to her teammates. "Okay let's go!"
Team Pumice managed to escape the hoard and continue down the tunnels. When they felt they were a safe distance away, Matte had them stop so they could all patch each other up. Alcor was coughing, his sensitive lungs irritated by the strange dust.
"If we keep breathing this, we aren't gonna turn into them, are we?" His voice was small, clearly still shaken from the encounter.
Matte had to admit to herself, breathing the stuff in was not at all comfortable. But she didn't feel different or like it was re-writing her DNA or anything.
"No, we'll be fine," it was Charlie who actually answered his question, "we just have to keep going. This can't last forever."
"We can keep going tomorrow-er, after we sleep," Matte chimed in. "We all really need to rest. Keep your masks on guys." Everyone sank to the floor in relief. This journey was not turning out the way any of them had expected. Sleep would not come easily that night. The three dragons huddles together for warmth and tried to at least rest a little.
DAY 5: THIS IS NOT A FUN HOUSE
the day starts off with my dragons being rly old with their aching backs and hips from sleeping on the ground (do dragons even have beds? isn't ground sleeping their normal position? mysteries)
their old bones dont get any better as they keep running face first into mirrors
AND THEN THE MUTANT BATS CAME
Caligo got bat bit and Riwa tended to him and then Riwa punched a wall bc he's a..... spiral and very.... stronk and Caligo tended him back
it was all very sweet
then anyway they got to the top of the cavern for a good birdseye view of MAMA ELDRITCH MONSTROSITY, but they chose the significantly more fun option of turning into smoke and they practiced drifting around which sounds hilarious and exactly the sort of thing i'd do if i had magical powers and could turn into sentient smoke
then: knowledge
A. mutated animals! with tentacles! and extra eyes! and extra limbs! awesome!
B. mama bear too big to get out of that cavern. she is the queen and she has many drone servants
C. THEY EAT DUST. RUN DUST BUNNIES RUN
the day starts off with my dragons being rly old with their aching backs and hips from sleeping on the ground (do dragons even have beds? isn't ground sleeping their normal position? mysteries)
their old bones dont get any better as they keep running face first into mirrors
AND THEN THE MUTANT BATS CAME
Caligo got bat bit and Riwa tended to him and then Riwa punched a wall bc he's a..... spiral and very.... stronk and Caligo tended him back
it was all very sweet
then anyway they got to the top of the cavern for a good birdseye view of MAMA ELDRITCH MONSTROSITY, but they chose the significantly more fun option of turning into smoke and they practiced drifting around which sounds hilarious and exactly the sort of thing i'd do if i had magical powers and could turn into sentient smoke
then: knowledge
A. mutated animals! with tentacles! and extra eyes! and extra limbs! awesome!
B. mama bear too big to get out of that cavern. she is the queen and she has many drone servants
C. THEY EAT DUST. RUN DUST BUNNIES RUN
Hmm, none of my dragons have determined that it was the dust yet, like other groups have. I thought Urvine or Vallan would have noticed it.
[center][b]Team "Thrill-Seekers"[/b]
[i](Name chosen by the only thrill-seeker in the team)[/i]
[img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/276456/27645527.png[/img][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/256480/25647912.png[/img][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/276456/27645528.png[/img][/center]
[quote=Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted]There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked for a couple of hours through these new passages, when we came across a passage with unexpectedly smooth, square walls, as if this were a series of hallways that someone had built once, long long ago. Occasionally there were chambers off of these walls, with doors so small that a larger dragon might not be able to squeeze its way through. Clearly no imperials built this place, but with it so deeply frozen in ice, it was hard to say who possibly could have.
Every once in a while we would pass a mouse or other small animal that scurried around, almost seemingly lost and confused in these tunnels.
Eh, the mice seemed weird, but we shrugged it off. Maybe some of them were a little mutated, but caves have weird animals. Weird animals live in caves. Not really cause for concern.
As we walked, the creatures we encountered became larger and larger, and the mutations more and more drastic. Some beasts were entirely unrecognizable, covered head to do with wiggling black tentacles - almost as if they were living mops. They peered out at us from every corner, watching us, waiting... Until one beast let out a high screech and the strange creatures came pouring out of the walls, biting and clawing at us. We needed to fight back![/quote]
Kay took a quick step back as the creatures approached them, "Oh Windsing- AH!"
"EEEEE!!" Urvine lunged at Kay before the creatures could make it to them, and latched onto her like his life depended on it.
Kay instinctively tried to push Urvine off of her so she could fight, but everything was happening so fast and she wouldn't be able to pry him off quickly enough, she instead decided it would be better to fly higher to buy herself more time. She darted straight up with Urvine still attached, trying to avoid the creatures below, only to then be attacked by one who vaulted off the wall behind her. As soon as Kay and Urvine fell back to the cavern floor, Vallan swatted the creature away from them, and then proceeded to fend off the rest. With the impact of the fall separating the two Faes, Kay was able to ready herself to fight the creatures behind Vallan. Urvine bent down low to be sheltered between them, and dug through his pack for something.
[quote=Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted]Vallan began to claw and bite in every direction, pushing the creatures off of us and squashing them one by one. With each eliminated opponent, another two appeared.
Urvine pulled a vial out of his pack and tossed it into the crowds of creatures blocking our path forward. As the acid began to burn away at the creatures' tentacles, they flailed and wiggled about before melting into a pool of boiling black tar. Those that survived, came at us with greater force.
The fight was long, but we were much larger and stronger than the creatures. We were eventually able to scare the last of them away - leaving us to tend to our minor cuts and scratches in peace. Determined to figure out the source of the problem, we knew we had to carry on - even if it meant squashing another couple hundred monsters.
As we continued through the passages, the dust grew thicker and thicker, until it began to cloud the air. It was so thick, that our cloth masks did not seem to be helping us anymore.
Kay paused for a moment and cast a protection spell on the group. Fortunately, this seemed to keep the dust at bay. Safely within our magical bubbles, we could continue on without fear of the harmful effects of this harsh environment.[/quote]
While they were safe for the moment, the three of them chatted a little about the events their day. Vallan was the first to speak up, "I saw you out there, collecting things every now and then as we walked. What did ya get today?"
Kay turned to Urvine, it was obvious who Vallan was talking to. Urvine opened his pouches to show the new contents. "I found these bones shortly before we entered that smooth, rectangular passage. I picked up the thin, scaly skin immediately after I saw it shed from one of the mutated mice. It seems to resemble snakeskin, but I don't have the proper tools to fully analyze it yet. The powder, of course, was scooped up in this small bag just before Kay cast her spell... Is it okay for me to keep the powder to be analyzed later?"
[item=Snakeskin][item=Mimic Powder][item=Small Legbones]
Vallan remained silent as he stared at Urvine for a couple of minutes, then nodded and faced forward. "Kay, do you have anything to say about this?"
Kay looked upwards at the ceiling of the cavern, watching the thick dust moving past their bubble. "Those... [i]things[/i]... were so creepy. I'm a little scared that we'll find out the hard way what it was that made them mutate, but I'm also a little excited to find out. What do you think it could have been?"
Vallan raised a brow at Kay, and replied, "I was talking about Urvine keeping the powder. It might be dangerous, but as long as he keeps it bagged up, I'm fine with it. What about you?"
"Oh! Um, yea, if he keeps it in a bag, then I don't see a problem with it."
Vallan nodded in acknowledgement, and the group continued to wander in silence, until Urvine suggested that they use his map to find someplace safe to rest.
[quote=Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted]We spent the rest of the day exploring the dusty caverns before retreating to less-dusty grounds for our rest period. It was quite fortunate that we had our maps to lead us back to safe territory - where we could camp, eat our meal, log our activities, and sleep.[/quote]
Hmm, none of my dragons have determined that it was the dust yet, like other groups have. I thought Urvine or Vallan would have noticed it.
Team "Thrill-Seekers" (Name chosen by the only thrill-seeker in the team)
Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted wrote:
There was no dawn, and we couldn't be sure of what time it was - or even what day it was - but nevertheless we awoke feeling quite rested. Taking the time to eat a meal and pack up our items, we soon found ourselves up and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked for a couple of hours through these new passages, when we came across a passage with unexpectedly smooth, square walls, as if this were a series of hallways that someone had built once, long long ago. Occasionally there were chambers off of these walls, with doors so small that a larger dragon might not be able to squeeze its way through. Clearly no imperials built this place, but with it so deeply frozen in ice, it was hard to say who possibly could have.
Every once in a while we would pass a mouse or other small animal that scurried around, almost seemingly lost and confused in these tunnels.
Eh, the mice seemed weird, but we shrugged it off. Maybe some of them were a little mutated, but caves have weird animals. Weird animals live in caves. Not really cause for concern.
As we walked, the creatures we encountered became larger and larger, and the mutations more and more drastic. Some beasts were entirely unrecognizable, covered head to do with wiggling black tentacles - almost as if they were living mops. They peered out at us from every corner, watching us, waiting... Until one beast let out a high screech and the strange creatures came pouring out of the walls, biting and clawing at us. We needed to fight back!
Kay took a quick step back as the creatures approached them, "Oh Windsing- AH!"
"EEEEE!!" Urvine lunged at Kay before the creatures could make it to them, and latched onto her like his life depended on it.
Kay instinctively tried to push Urvine off of her so she could fight, but everything was happening so fast and she wouldn't be able to pry him off quickly enough, she instead decided it would be better to fly higher to buy herself more time. She darted straight up with Urvine still attached, trying to avoid the creatures below, only to then be attacked by one who vaulted off the wall behind her. As soon as Kay and Urvine fell back to the cavern floor, Vallan swatted the creature away from them, and then proceeded to fend off the rest. With the impact of the fall separating the two Faes, Kay was able to ready herself to fight the creatures behind Vallan. Urvine bent down low to be sheltered between them, and dug through his pack for something.
Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted wrote:
Vallan began to claw and bite in every direction, pushing the creatures off of us and squashing them one by one. With each eliminated opponent, another two appeared.
Urvine pulled a vial out of his pack and tossed it into the crowds of creatures blocking our path forward. As the acid began to burn away at the creatures' tentacles, they flailed and wiggled about before melting into a pool of boiling black tar. Those that survived, came at us with greater force.
The fight was long, but we were much larger and stronger than the creatures. We were eventually able to scare the last of them away - leaving us to tend to our minor cuts and scratches in peace. Determined to figure out the source of the problem, we knew we had to carry on - even if it meant squashing another couple hundred monsters.
As we continued through the passages, the dust grew thicker and thicker, until it began to cloud the air. It was so thick, that our cloth masks did not seem to be helping us anymore.
Kay paused for a moment and cast a protection spell on the group. Fortunately, this seemed to keep the dust at bay. Safely within our magical bubbles, we could continue on without fear of the harmful effects of this harsh environment.
While they were safe for the moment, the three of them chatted a little about the events their day. Vallan was the first to speak up, "I saw you out there, collecting things every now and then as we walked. What did ya get today?"
Kay turned to Urvine, it was obvious who Vallan was talking to. Urvine opened his pouches to show the new contents. "I found these bones shortly before we entered that smooth, rectangular passage. I picked up the thin, scaly skin immediately after I saw it shed from one of the mutated mice. It seems to resemble snakeskin, but I don't have the proper tools to fully analyze it yet. The powder, of course, was scooped up in this small bag just before Kay cast her spell... Is it okay for me to keep the powder to be analyzed later?"
Snakeskin
Dragonmade
A useful component of snakeskin cloth and showy boots.
26
Mimic Powder
Organics
Aside from a healthy amount of drool, Mimics can also secrete a pungent-smelling powder used to disorient treasure seekers.
45
Small Legbones
Organics
A pair of sharpened legbones. They look as though they may have come from a large rodent.
55
Vallan remained silent as he stared at Urvine for a couple of minutes, then nodded and faced forward. "Kay, do you have anything to say about this?"
Kay looked upwards at the ceiling of the cavern, watching the thick dust moving past their bubble. "Those... things... were so creepy. I'm a little scared that we'll find out the hard way what it was that made them mutate, but I'm also a little excited to find out. What do you think it could have been?"
Vallan raised a brow at Kay, and replied, "I was talking about Urvine keeping the powder. It might be dangerous, but as long as he keeps it bagged up, I'm fine with it. What about you?"
"Oh! Um, yea, if he keeps it in a bag, then I don't see a problem with it."
Vallan nodded in acknowledgement, and the group continued to wander in silence, until Urvine suggested that they use his map to find someplace safe to rest.
Day 4 - The Beasts are Corrupted wrote:
We spent the rest of the day exploring the dusty caverns before retreating to less-dusty grounds for our rest period. It was quite fortunate that we had our maps to lead us back to safe territory - where we could camp, eat our meal, log our activities, and sleep.
Ehhhh, what should I put here...
Well, FR +2, but saying that is kinda useless since I'm most active at night anyway.
My dragons found a machine thing!
Their poor little hearts got too tired checking it out that they had to take a break
Methyl: Up up we go let's go on a mutant-cave-borderline-animal safari.
Sacred: Okay team we will not embarrass ourselves any further, here let me teach you how to not be noticed.
Fallrail: Okay mom we got dressed let's go.
*entering first room*
Methyl: Ew the monster mother creature is even bigger than the cave.
Sacred: Oh there's a vent of dust here let's follow that.
*several hours later*
Falltrail: Hey look there's a fan here-
whirrrrrrrRRR
Methyl: wHAT DID YOU DO-
*after escaping that room to this room via Falltrail's wind magikz*
Sacred: What is this machinery? It's frozen here for seemingly an eternity...what's the purpose of this?
Falltrail: Mom can we do this later I need sleep
Methyl: Me too dearest second in command - you know what nevermind im sleeping
Sacred: *sighs* That concludes the end of our day 5 then.
Having an engineer onboard proves to be useful. Maybe we'll find out more about it later. Hopefully it's not a giant mecha getting ready to attack us.
Quote:
While we took our watches at night, we had rather a lot of time to listen. During the days, there was the constant sound of our footsteps, mixed with the quiet chatter between teammates, and although we often took time to stay quiet and aware of our surroundings - the quiet of the day was nothing compared to the quiet of sitting alone in a dark cave with nothing but your thoughts for hours at a time. It was during those quiet hours, that we all began to hear something. It was an indescribable sound, like wind moving through tunnels or a constant exhale.
When we prepared for the day's expedition, we knew we had to follow this sound - to figure out what it could possibly be. We walked through smoothed, dusty caverns, constantly turning around upon reaching a dead end, hoping that we would eventually be able to find the source of this noise - and this dust. Soon enough, we found what we were looking for. We came to a large open chamber filled with a number of large vents that came from below. The dust slowly drifted out of these vents, accompanied by the slow whir of moving air.
Akechi Mitsuhide, looking into one of the vents, immediately concluded that these were mechanically constructed fans. Although their precise purpose was yet unknown, they seemed to lead down into some kind of machine - one that was almost certainly the source of all this dust.
If we wanted to figure out what was going on in this cave, we needed to get down to that machine.
We followed the distant noises as best we could, but with the way the tunnels were laid out, it was not easy. We often found ourselves face to face with a dead-end, sending us backtracking for hours.
Fortunately, the maps we had kept were sufficient enough to prevent us from becoming too disoriented. We eventually came to an open room with smoothed stone floors and walls with metal-paneling. The back of the room was home to one of the largest and most intricately constructed machines we had ever seen. It laid at the center of a massive, cylindrical chamber with pipes going upwards, and somehow it still seemed to be running, although at a low power.
We spent many hours thoroughly looking all around the machine, trying to draw and take notes on as much of it as we possibly could. It did not look like anything ever built by dragonkind, and the writing on the walls was not in any known language that we had ever heard of. Additionally, considering the state of the machine, it appeared to have been running for many, many years. We weren't sure how it was still going, seeing as it was half covered in ice as if frozen in time from an era long past.
Eventually, after hours of investigation, we grew tired, and set up our camp in this room - hoping to investigate it further when fully rested.
Having an engineer onboard proves to be useful. Maybe we'll find out more about it later. Hopefully it's not a giant mecha getting ready to attack us.
Quote:
While we took our watches at night, we had rather a lot of time to listen. During the days, there was the constant sound of our footsteps, mixed with the quiet chatter between teammates, and although we often took time to stay quiet and aware of our surroundings - the quiet of the day was nothing compared to the quiet of sitting alone in a dark cave with nothing but your thoughts for hours at a time. It was during those quiet hours, that we all began to hear something. It was an indescribable sound, like wind moving through tunnels or a constant exhale.
When we prepared for the day's expedition, we knew we had to follow this sound - to figure out what it could possibly be. We walked through smoothed, dusty caverns, constantly turning around upon reaching a dead end, hoping that we would eventually be able to find the source of this noise - and this dust. Soon enough, we found what we were looking for. We came to a large open chamber filled with a number of large vents that came from below. The dust slowly drifted out of these vents, accompanied by the slow whir of moving air.
Akechi Mitsuhide, looking into one of the vents, immediately concluded that these were mechanically constructed fans. Although their precise purpose was yet unknown, they seemed to lead down into some kind of machine - one that was almost certainly the source of all this dust.
If we wanted to figure out what was going on in this cave, we needed to get down to that machine.
We followed the distant noises as best we could, but with the way the tunnels were laid out, it was not easy. We often found ourselves face to face with a dead-end, sending us backtracking for hours.
Fortunately, the maps we had kept were sufficient enough to prevent us from becoming too disoriented. We eventually came to an open room with smoothed stone floors and walls with metal-paneling. The back of the room was home to one of the largest and most intricately constructed machines we had ever seen. It laid at the center of a massive, cylindrical chamber with pipes going upwards, and somehow it still seemed to be running, although at a low power.
We spent many hours thoroughly looking all around the machine, trying to draw and take notes on as much of it as we possibly could. It did not look like anything ever built by dragonkind, and the writing on the walls was not in any known language that we had ever heard of. Additionally, considering the state of the machine, it appeared to have been running for many, many years. We weren't sure how it was still going, seeing as it was half covered in ice as if frozen in time from an era long past.
Eventually, after hours of investigation, we grew tired, and set up our camp in this room - hoping to investigate it further when fully rested.
XXX
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