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Thread: [M]Would-Be Heroes Off to Help Save the World(IC)

  1. #41
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    "Many thanks," Elloria said, the smile still painted on her face. She glanced over her shoulder to look towards where the clerk pointed, then back to him with a nod of understanding. Supplies and food were then easily taken care of. Next would be a bathhouse to run to when they were done in the mountain caves. Her glance behind her also showed her that Belvanaj was quickly finding all that they would need, and that she wouldn't be able to make small talk with the clerk even if she had wanted to.

    "I was also hoping you might be able to tell us if your town has a bathhouse or the like we might use before we set out," she continued. It was slightly untrue; she was only interested in the bathhouse for when they returned, but it was hardly as though the clerk needed to know the specifics of their journey. As Elloria finished speaking, Belvanaj made his way to the counter with what they were going to buy. That was quicker than Elloria had expected, even after seeing what progress he had made moments ago.

    "There is a building on the lake. It has sectioned off an amount of the clean water and heats it. You'll need to pay a fee, of course, but the water is quite restorative," the clerk answered while counting up the prices of what Belvanaj had picked out. The supplies, all in all, ate up a healthy amount of their budget; but they would be good for a while, Elloria figured, and worth the investment. With a final 'thank you', the pair made their way over to the food market.

    The stop there was quick and uneventful- Elloria had gotten all of the information that she had wanted from the previous shopkeep, and there they were able to jump straight to business. At the food market, they requested goods that would keep a while: hard cheeses, dry and dense breads, dried meats and fruits, as well as a loaf of bread and some fruit that wasn't so well preserved for their more immediate meals.

    After leaving the grocer, Elloria's wallet felt quite light, and she was grateful that they had both been given such a generous stipend. "Then, we've bought food and supplies, and know where we may recuperate after our journey into the caves," she said to Belvanaj in a quiet voice as they stepped back out to the street. "I believe we are prepared to venture forth, yes?" she asked, and looked up to him for confirmation.

  2. #42
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    "Yes, we have all that I was sure we probably needed, and the caves must be in that direction toward the steep slope on that side of this community. We have a big day ahead of us." Belvanaj looked at Elloria, for signs of her interest or any discouragement. Again he was surprised at her eyes. She had some elvish descent. Could that have anything to do with their appearance?

    The settlement of Elsefort came up right to where the slope sharply increased. One cave with a gaping maw was right in plain view, a path at an angle along sideways to the slope continued upward to that cave opening right from a small avenue between residential homes which Belvanaj and Elloria found. Grass thinned out at the bottom, and small shrubs grew at some distance from one another a little further up.

    Belvanaj said, as they came where they could look at it in plain site, "This is not the only cave along here. Being the most conspicuous one I am pretty sure this is not where we should first look. Let us observe carefully along this slope for where other openings to caves are."

    They went a little further up along the path, between occasional sharp ended plants on either side, looking all around at the nearby area along the slope.

    Belvanaj soon said, "I see an opening, over there, well away from this path." He pointed it out. "Do you see it? It is still big enough we could get in there. Let us go there, we have to leave this path. It has probably been neglected and not looked at much."

  3. #43
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    The half elf took a moment to stare at the mountains ahead of them. Her pupils narrowed at them, though it would have been hard to tell against her dark irises; they were so dark a brown that it could easily give one the impression that she looked at everything with excited wonder. It seemed to have taken until now for it truly to have settled with Elloria that the pair would be spending up to a few days within the mountain- and she'd never gone so much as a full day without seeing the sky.

    "Perhaps several big days," she finally mumbled in response as they approached the mountain. There was one entrance ahead of them that looked to beg to eat the pair of them, and Elloria was sure that it had tasted many travelers before them. No, the artifact surely would not have been found from that opening.

    Belvanaj apparently shared her thought. "Agreed," was all she had to say, and they set off along the path. The scant flora that decorated the way looked sharp and tough- it must have been quite hearty to make its home along the mountain, where the soil seemed dry despite the nearby water. She had gotten more lost in her thoughts than she realized, and was surprised to hear Belvanaj speak again. It took her a moment to follow his finger and spy the cave opening, but she nodded when she saw it.

    They would have to trek down the path and over to what was perhaps another mountain- or a hill? It was much shorter than the mound they were currently on, at any rate- and climb up to roughly the same height that they currently had. The path they would have to take up seemed much less steep, though, and trekked further from the village. Ahead of them, it looked as though both the mountain they stood on and the hill with the opening joined quickly. "I'd wager that ought to bring us back under this mountain, then. I expect it's been ignored for assumption that it is it's own cave system," she suggested as she turned around and began the return journey.

    Their journey to the cave opening that Belvanaj had pointed out was quiet. Elloria blamed it on their mission- this seemed like an excellent start, and she herself was almost concerned on what that meant going forward. Could it truly be this easy? Were they just lucky? Or were they completely astray? Did Belvanaj feel the same? Would it be silly to ask? Nerves and excitement jolted through her veins, and occupied her mind for most of the walk. The benefit of this anxious-stimulating feeling made the trip surprisingly short, though, and they were facing the entrance before she knew it.

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    It took some effort going this separate way, between inconvenient shrubbery in places without any helpful path. They came to it finally, a small opening, but not too small for entering, strangely within what would be a hill itself, if it was not attached to this range of mountains. The shrubs that hindered their way to this opening yet helped it remain obscured from general view.

    Belvanaj said, when they came to this opening and were right before it, "It is known to people here that there are several caves. Others must be further away. This one, which I am sure we should look through, is so obscure it may have been generally missed. And if we find no artifact in here, it would have to mean there is another opening to explore that is just as obscure or more so, with an artifact that isn't here."

    Belvanaj looked at Elloria, and hoped he did not look too long, and he bent a little forward as he moved shrubs aside and entered into that dark opening. He called back, "It slopes down in here!"

    Belvanaj went a little further in, appearing to go slightly downward, and was lost to view from the outside, then.

  5. #45
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    The shrubs around their newly found cave entrance seemed to suggest that this network- if it was a different cave network after all- really had been largely ignored by anyone and everyone for quite some time. They stopped in front of it; against the bright sun above them, Elloria only saw a black entrance, as though they were about to walk through some portal and disappear from this world entirely.

    "I must admit I am rather surprised at how ill-used this entrance seems," she remarked in response to Belvanaj. "Given how easily you spotted it, that is, though I suppose you must have quite sharp eyes to have spied this from across the way," she continued, turning briefly to glance back at the path they had walked this morning. "I hope you'll be able to so easily view another entrance should this approach fail, though I hope more that this is simply success," she finished, and turned her body back to the opening in front of them.

    Elloria's stomach felt heavy as she peered toward the cave. She took a quiet breath to steady herself; the apprehension, she supposed, might have been some hidden elf instinct or another. While Elloria knew practically nothing about her specific elven heritage, she did know that they were historically a people that lived among the trees and not underground. If she had to guess, there was some terribly old biological reason that compelled them to stay above the ground- or perhaps she was just looking for excuses, and she was simply nervous of a new experience and the future combined.

    While she was deliberating over her anxiety, Belvanaj took the lead and entered the cave, and was quickly lost from view. With another breath, Elloria finally stepped forward and followed him, careful to mind his warning of the hill. Despite how it had seemed from the outside, the cave didn't actually swallow all light immediately that entered- and while it did take the half-elf's eyes a moment to adjust to the dim around them, she was pleased to discover she could see more than she expected.

    Nearly immediately at the base of the slope was a fork in the cave. Elloria paused at it, and looked towards Belvanaj. "I expect the one to the right to follow the hills and lead back towards the caves accessible in Elsefort. The one on the left, though, I am much less certain. What do you think?" she asked, peering into the dark. The light, unsurprisingly, did not seem to follow them far, though she thought she could see the fainest glimmer of something in the distance of the tunnel to the left. "We may also want to light a lantern before proceeding much further," she suggested, and looked again at her companion.

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    Belvanaj said, "Of course. Using the torch I brought to help us just occurred to me. I can light that, and your torch as well, if you like. The light from the entrance will not show anything any further than this."

    Belvanaj set his things down, and dug for the lighting tabs he brought. Once he had a hold on those, he worked at lighting his torch. Suddenly, where the barely seen enclosed space where the passages parting in different directions was just barely discerned, the rugged rocky walls suddenly with a burst shone with reflected light. And they both saw a small image of a thick arrow with what must be an eye showing in it drawn on the wall to their left.

  7. #47
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    A few moments later, their torches were lit. Generally, this wouldn't have been a noteworthy event, except for the fact that there was a drawing on the wall. Elloria blinked, then gingerly stepped towards the symbol on the wall, and held her light closer. "It looks old," she remarked, and peered closer towards it. In fact, it didn't look as though it had been drawn on the wall, but rather etched into the rock.

    She turned around quickly and looked at Belvanaj. "Do you know how a rock might change over time? If this were carved in? Like how a carving on a tree will not rise with it, but simply stay where it is as the tree grows older?" He was the cave expert, after all. If the marking was more recent than what Elloria might have initially guessed, then it could perhaps be a trick to send the pair astray. However, if it was old, then it could have been some ancient warning about the artifact that they searched for- or a clue to it- or perhaps even a marking from the item itself.

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    Belvanaj answered, "I know it would seem a symbol we find could help us to get to one artifact we should locate. We were shown possible symbols for certain artifacts. I brought several of those copies I made in notes along with me. But this symbol is not at all like one of those. And I don't know what it means. Why would there be an eye within an arrow? And why would it point in the direction out from where we entered? If it were carved in it long ages ago, the only way rock here would change over that time would be with it wearing away. There is nothing to replenish the rock around here. The rock must have worn away long ages ago for a passage like this to widen this much, with what flowed through here."

    He looked again at the turn from there to the extension on the left. He thought, and then said, "It is like there is the arrow for any coming from this passage to tell them to go that way, that they would get out from here." He stepped further. "But as you note this way would go away from where that larger cave in the mountain that is known around here is located."

  9. #49
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    Elloria bit the corner of her lip as she thought about what Belvanaj had said. It was an unknown symbol, so it could still have been some sort of trap. Perhaps something left by a previous generation of students who were trying to mislead their peers? Local children making things mysterious for laughs? Or could it actually be a sign from the artifact? Either way, it was not a relic leading them to something found long ago.

    She studied the eye closely. If it was not meant to be an eye, Elloria figured, it was a rune from some language that she nor Belvanaj, apparently, could recognize. But an arrow was a clear symbol. And if it lead away from a promising, but so far unfruitful, mountain... "I think we ought to follow it," she finally said, and looked back at Belvanaj in the dim light. "Either we will see more evidence further along that could suggest the presence of the artifact, or we can turn back. But I think this symbol has too much potential to be ignored."

    Part of her wanted to press on without waiting for his response, but Elloria knew better than to force the matter. Proceeding without his assent could breed resentment, and the pair would never be successful if they distrusted each other. And Elloria very much wanted Belvanaj to trust her.

  10. #50
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    Belvanaj answered, "Well, the arrow shows with the way it is pointed the way out, which we entered from. It seems it would be some person or persons cutting into the stone and giving pigment to it, deliberately, to show that way out, however long ago it was. But from where, or what? Something must be further on, to leave from, to go back out. And maybe it is not close. We would not get lost around here, where we know the way out. But maybe that way left, going away from the mountain cave the opening of which we found plainly in sight, would go on to where some might get lost, that they need arrows pointing back to the way out. We still came to look, for what we should find. I don't think we should turn away from what looking we can do for that, and we may find out besides what interesting things are further that would have been that important to any earlier people who came here. So, why don't we just go on?" He stood by that passage leading the left way from where they stood, standing then still ready to go on, waiting for Elloria to show she was choosing that way too.

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