The cavern of the mountain beast - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/5/477
Log
On the western side of Sweetwater, near the drytongue flats and the secluded razor grass, a meeting place has been established based on the last reported location of William Toppletree. His close companion for a time stands waiting, eying the surroundings as he peers into an eerie looking hole in the ground, one that arguably shouldn't be there.
Asher trots to the meeting point, adjusting his traveling leathers and checking his few weapons. The little corgi was a lover of food first, a tailor
second and a warrior only a trailing third, but he was always prepared for whichever one of these things he happened to be doing. Approaching the waiting being he
waves and gives a little doggy smile. "Hello!" he calls, "I'm Asher! I'm here to help!"
Wanting to get off the boat for a bit, and to possibly see if he can't actually get a good fight started, Rusty walks up next to Asher crossing his arms
a bit as he looks over the surrounding area before turning his attention to those present. "Guessin your the one that is in need of some help?" He asks, patiently
waiting for an answer.
Rixo makes her way onto the scene, warhammer propped up on her shoulder as she shuffles up, thumping a fist against her breastplate and dipping into a
bow. "Rixo at your service. I am here to offer my assistance, as well." She leans forward to peer into the hole and nods. "Anything you think you could tell us
that'd help?"
Valor makes his way up to the meeting point, politely nodding to those assembled. He had his hammer hefted over one shoulder and an arm draped across
it's handle. His armor gleamed and slid smoothly against itself. Only one large sword was in the baldrics on his back but a sizeable hatchet (a small axe to anyone
smaller than him) and his shield was slung across his baldrics. As he approached he remained silent, allowing his mere presence to announce himself, nodding politely
to everyone. "What seems to be the problem?" He finally addresses the being who had put out the call.
Cedric approaches behind the others, hefting his long spear over his shoulder and wearing his heavy plate armor and glancing around quietly for a
moment. He nods to the other beings and just waits for an objective for now.
The approaching heros are greeted by a turning being, their hood pulls back to reveal a rather attractive Cherry Blossom folk. She moves foward and
looks to the hole, and then moves to the heros once more. "Hey, can we hurry up? He might be dead!" she says with a frown. I didn't actually... see much. This hole
wasn't here not too long ago, we came to inspect it and as we did, some beast reared up and grabbed him, it was absolutely massive. I'd tell you more but his overly
polished armor blinded me, I couldn't see enough. Let's go! You're freeswords right? You have power?
Asher pats the worried plant being gently on her thigh, which is as high as the corgi can reach. "Don't worry!" he says, "We will find him! I'm sure of
it!" The tiny canine patters carefully up to peek around the edge of the hole. He looks back over his shoulder at the others, waving to those familiar friends who
have joined the group. "Shall we go?" he asks, seemingly excited at the prospect of an adventure.
Rusty leans over the hole to look in. "How deep is it?" He asks as he turns to the plant, before he turns and without waiting for an answer before he
decides the best way to test.....was to spit and see if he can hear it hit the ground. "Eitherway this should be fun right?"
Rixo tugs her kiteshield around to occupy her left arm, still using her right hand for the hammer. "Yes, I'll do everything in my power to help him out,
don't worry, miss. I have power enough, certainly." She doesn't go near the edge, having had a bad experience with pits in the past. "Anyone have a rope or
something? Or should we just jump?"
Valor nods to the plant being, smiling. "Dont worry, miss. We'll find him in no time." He says, looking to Rixo before picking a rock up off the ground
and tossing it in, his mouth moving silently and counting the seconds, waiting for a sound of impact.
Cedric wanders over towards the hole to peer down it, turning his head slowly as the crocodile spits down into the hole. Despite having no rope or
climbing gear on him, he lowers himself to the hole and dangles his legs into it before deciding to just plunge in without considering other options.
Asher gives a cheerful wave to the cherry woman, then leaps into the hole, bounding from side to side with a little bit of air magic assistance.
Arriving unhindered at the bottom of the hole, the little corgi puts his back to a wall as he tries to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. "Um," he mutters softly,
"Did anyone bring a torch?"
Rusty shrugs his shoulders as it seems everyone is already jumping in, so he climbs down and slides down the side, his boots hitting the ground with a
thud as he draws his axe from his side and waits for his one good eye to adjust. "What, no one brought a torch?"
Rixo stares down into the pit and shakes her head, moving down to join the others with a heavy thunk and rattle of armour. "No torch on my end, I'm
afraid. And my water doesn't generate light, either! But I am sure we'll make it work, somehow." She slings the hammer onto her back and draws the sword at her hip,
instead, unsure of how much room she'll have to work
Valor looks into the murky depths of the pit and reaches back into his pack, pulling out a coil of rope and tying a secure knot. If they came back this
way, they would need a way out. And he had more rope. He also pulled out a wooden torch, with a metal-sheathed handle. "Dont worry, I've got the torch situation
covered. Now, heads up!" He calls down, gripping the rope tightly in his gauntleted hands, dropping into the hole. The rope slid through his gloved hands with a
angry hiss and he landed with a loud clunk. Torch in one hand, he released the rope and removed one glove, deftly grasping the end of the torch, waiting for the
magics that he possessed no control over to light the torch. An unreliable and unorthodox method, but it worked. The wood blazed to life as he jerked his hand away,
patting it against his breastplate. In the torchlight he grinned and and said "There, is that better?"
Cedric takes the drop down into the hole and lands somewhat safely with a loud jangling of his armor before looking around, squinting to try to see
better. "I never bother bringing torches." the badger says, brushing some dirt off a pauldron before tracing a very rudimentary kevinscope in the air with his
finger, evoking a small ball of flame to hover over his shoulder. Even if there's other sources of light, he feels much better having his own personal light source
just in case. Looking to Rixo, he nods a little and raises his own shield. "We should take the lead ourselves, wouldn't you say?" he asks her.
As the torches and lights go on the cavern lights up, dimly in the distance a path can be seen. The Cherry BLossom folk leaps down after a lot of
hesitating, pushing forward slowly. The path flows downward for a short bit, before it begins to head upward, the texture of the tunnel changing as time goes on.
From dirt to stone, the direction their heading suggests they are tunneling through the mountain? In the distant a rumble can be heard, just before the rocks around
our heros upon the ceiling begin to grow faulty, shaking loose debris.
Asher's ears perk up at the sound of the rumbling and he looks up as bits of dust and gravel start to rain from the ceiling. With a loud YELP! the corgi
flings himself to the side just in time to miss being smashed by a rock twice his size! That was close! The tiny canine scrambles to get away from the danger zone
without getting crushed!
Rusty looks up at the cieling with a scowl as it starts shaking, wondering what could cause it as he notices a rock coming straight for his head, side
stepping the corgi sized boulder before he starts to follow Asher, not wanting to be buried in a landslide of rock!
Rixo staggers under the weight of the large rock falling upon her back, bringing her to her knees for a moment before she shakes off the stun and stands
back up. "Ergh. That wasn't fun." She seems pretty fine, though. Whatever her armour was made out of, it was clearly better than silly boulders! "Everyone alright?"
Valor sees the falling rocks and then looks up. He braces for the impact of a rock the size of a small being.... It smashes hard against his
shoulderplate, denting it slightly. He gritted his teeth and bared it, but he'd be feeling that one for a long while. He then begins to hoof it away, grimacing and
fighting through the pain. The torch was held before him to light the way and help him avoid further hits.
The badger is about to head further down into the tunnel when the tremors begin, bracing himself to try keeping his footing and seeing the rocks falling
from the ceiling. And there's a medium-sized one trembling right above his head. Cedric attemps to step out of the way, and might have been successful if the rock
weren't immediately above him, and it smashes into his shoulder with a large CLANK, twisting his shield arm in a somewhat awkward way before it rolls onto the floor
with a dull thud. The badger leans against the cavern wall, dropping his spear to rub at his right shoulder with a pained wince visible past his helm's open visor.
"Yeah. It's fine." he answers Rixo, still rubbing at his possibly sprained shield arm as he crouches down to retrieve his weapon. As he moves to stand back up, he
drops the greatshield with a pained grunt and sighs. He pushes the discarded shield towards the wall with his foot. "Not gonna be able to lift that for a while...
I'll just come back for it later."
The guide feels rather safe as they clear the falling rock zone, or so they think, as they are plopped on the head with a tiny rock which makes them rub
furiously at it. "Ow." they say before examining the group. "Well... you all look okay... so look sharp! It must have been what caused that!" she says determinedly
as she leads onward, looking back to see that they are being followed. The tunnel ends in an enormous cavern, with surprisingly few entrances, one they just came
from, one far across the area, and one on the ceiling that angles off somewhere, an unreachable feat. The floor is dominated by a huge pit, a darkened hole with
spires jetting up from it and the occasional hole spotting its length. A cry for help can be heard as the heavier armored ones move into the area.
Asher follows after the growing folk guide, his twitchy little senses on high alert after narrowly avoiding being smashed! Arriving in the large chamber, the small
dog draws two knives from their sheathes under his arms. The daggers look like short swords in the little fellow's hands, but he seems to know what he is doing as he
moves swiftly and quietly forward, counting on his larger companions to cover his own noise. He does his best to follow the sound of the cries for help, eyes
scanning for danger.
Asher follows after the growing folk guide, his twitchy little senses on high alert after narrowly avoiding being smashed! Arriving in the large
chamber, the small dog draws two knives from their sheathes under his arms. The daggers look like short swords in the little fellow's hands, but he seems to know
what he is doing as he moves swiftly and quietly forward, counting on his larger companions to cover his own noise. He does his best to follow the sound of the cries
for help, eyes scanning for danger.
Valor steps into the large cavern, looking around with curiosity. He heard the cry for help but his shoulder throbbed and he needed something to relieve
it. But while there was nothing, he was good at putting the pain out of his mind and focusing. He drops the hammer off of his injured shoulder and onto the uninjured
one, the torch held aloft. He starts towards the pit, not trying to be steathy and just plodding on stubbornly, his shield on his torch arm now.
Rusty hears crys as he walks into the chamber and looks around, as soon as he realizes how much space they have to work with he shoves his Axe back into
his belt and unslings his musket from where he had it on his back. "Guessin that's the one we are lookin for?" He asks as he cocks back the flint hammer on his
musket and starts shuffling forward a bit.
Rixo leans over to look into the pit, frowning. "Certainly doesn't look like a very inviting place, no. But we'll get him out,
hopefully. Anyone have
any idea how we're going to handle this one, or are we just going to jump in again, hmm?"
Cedric has stopped rubbing at his shoulder so much at this point, just nodding and travelling down the tunnel with the others. Occasionally, he'll shake
and roll his right arm and shoulder to try and ease the soreness in it, to little avail. After a while, he quietly unbuckles a belt pouch at his side, carefully
removing a vial from it. He gives a rather shifty glance before uncorking the vial with his teeth and pouring from it a pile of white powder underneath his tongue
before stuffing the vial back into the pouch.
As the beings approach the pit, their voices echo downward and spur a nightmarishly shrill chitter. The screaming for help turns into a loud "RUN!"
which bounces about the cavern, as a creature about a third of the size of the pits radius clambers upward into view at an alarming pace. It grips the spires and
walls, dragging itself upward by rippling muscles. The creature is bizzare, its head attached by a lack of neck, with strange growths upon its shoulders in various
locations. It appears to have eyes. Its arms end in claws that look remarkably capable of digging, bits of rock stuck to its skin. As it shimmies upward towards the
top of the shaft, it's legs and tail come into view. it's legs are strange bending apendages, equally as limber as its arms, and its tail appears to be a long barb
tipped ordeal, the whole thing covered in thick hide. Almost a testament to it's thickness, a sharp jagged rock lays stuck inside of a portion of its back, piercing
almost nullified.
Asher turns his pattering approach to the pit into a full on sprint on a parallel as the strange, massive beast heaves it's way up from the depths. He
doesn't waste his limited breath on words, instead turning his focus to fling blades of concentrated air math at the thing's eyes. If it can't see, it can't fight,
right? Hard to say with something like this, though.
Rusty pauses, blinking a bit as he watches the creature rise from the pit, before he takes off in a full sprint behind Asher! This was no place to fight
a creature like that, it had the home court advantage and would rip them to shred if it got their claws in them!
Rixo gives her sword a little flourish as she eyes the creature and rolls her shoulders. "Well... What's the plan here? If we're going to fight it, then
let's get to it! If not, then... Well, let me know now before I have at it!"
Cedric just stops in his tracks and stares at the beast rising from the pit. He seems remarkably calm about current events, although that might just be
the ebon. "It's fine." he says, brandishing his spear threateningly at the beast, standing at Rixo's side. "Everything's fine! I'm sure we can kick this thing's ass
if it's got one." he says confidently, trying to focus on some calculations, tracing something in the air with his sprained arm to cast some rather underwhelming
fire magic at the beast. "...shit, I think I missed a triangle in there." he mutters to himself. Well, whatever! He's still got a big spear and armor, how bad could
this be?
The creature exits the pit and begin to tower over Rixo, staring down at them as it is presented with wind in its eyes. THis doesn't seem to bother it
remarkably, the eyes remain unblinking. As it is lit on fire however it seems to get rather uncomfortable, slamming the ground below it, carving a bit of rock up
before the growths on it seem to come to life, a blinding flash hits the area, not stopping for a few seconds. During the duration of the flash it lashes out at the
fleeing heros, stopping to rear its tail up above Cedric.
Asher reaches into the folds of his traveling coat and produces two handfulls of wicked looking throwing knives! Wrapping tendrils of air magic around
each one, and keeping on the move, the corgi flings ten knives at high speed toward the beast. The intensity on the round little canine's face is surprising to those
who have only seen him binging on his favorite treats at the Freesword's Inn.
Rusty notices everyone else attacking the creature as he flees, so he skids to a stop and shoulders his musket, taking aim at the creature and firing at
it! "Guess we are fighting then!" He shouts, that scowl growing on his snout once more.
Rixo brings her shield up, locking her eyes on the foe as she works the math over in her head, trying to bring a chill to the very core of the creature
to sap its strength. She didn't expect such a creature to be too used to the cold!
Cedric seems to have pissed it off quite a bit with his tiny little fire spell. Good. He hopes it suffers! Though a pang of regret hits him as he looks
up wearily to see the tail looming above him and tries to leap and roll out of the way, getting grazed pretty good by the barbs at his neck, tearing through a
leather gorget between his helm and breastplate. He rises to his feet, still a bit weary... though it seems to be from more than just the ebon. "You little..." he
growls, raising his spear.
The beast lets out another shrill chitter as it is assaulted, arrows not going paticularly deep but sticking to it like darts in a dartboard, as a
musket shot and fire cause it discomfort. The creature appears to be quite bothered, and then it does a thing. The growths that had once shone a brief blinding glare
begin to srobe on and off in a rather peculiar manner, the effect quite disorienting as the lighting becomes disorienting. It moves only during the lulls, with
practiced rhythms, making it appear to shift from position to position in the blink of an eye. Claws raised, it prepares to fall down upon Rixo.
Asher averts his eyes from the flashing beast. His attacks just don't seem to have enough penetrating power to slow this monster down! The little canine
stows his weapons and latches onto a new plan of attack. The little guy gives himself a running start, then makes an air-math assisted leap onto the thing's broad
back. Popping a pair of buckles on his coat, he latches onto a pair of knives in the monster's hide, focusing on his dragon form. He wasn't especially big as a
dragon, but a little extra protection for himself and a bit of weight to throw the thing off would be a good thing, right?
Rusty shields his eye, squinting as he looks up at Asher as he jumps on the creatures back, he realizes that he isn't going to be much help at the
moment swinging around an axe. So he goes about reloading his musket while it seems the creature isn't attacking his way...
Valor holds his hands up to block the light, continuing to run across. He had no real ranged weaponry and just kept running. His usefulness was at its
end for the moment and the only thing he could do was run and help the others if they needed anything and focusing on the path ahead so he doesn't wander onto
treacherous footing.
Rixo doesn't falter as the creature turns its attention towards her, patiently finishing off her spell. She frowns a little as it doesn't give -quite-
the reaction the wanted, but it doesn't matter too much. Instead she steps forward with a strige and brings her sword up, swinging it in a wide arc as the blade
ignites. Quite the opposite of the former cold.
Angered at the beast's tail slashing into him, Cedric hefts his spear and starts to rush forward to attack as well, stopping suddenly and nearly
tripping over his own feet. Not just his feet though, his entire body feels rather heavy and sluggish for a moment. "Venom!" he shouts before tumbling over. "I can't
move! Watch out for it's tail!" he manages to shout out before the paralysis overtakes him entirely.
The creature is clipped with a flaming sword, and now frost and daggers in his back! The beast looks to be getting mighty aggressive as it attempts to
angle its tail to spear the dragon on its back by sliding it along its length, as opposed to risk stabbing itself. As it does so, it starts to grasp a spire it rose
up on and a wall as it gets lower, the creature is retreating!
Asher holds on tightly to his dagger made perch as he adjusts to his new, larger form. He might be relatively small for a dragon, but he was three times
bigger than his usual self and he felt POWERFUL! The corgi-turned-dragon fumbles for a moment at his pocket and produces a small vial of clear liquid and smashing it
into one of the creature's oozing wounds. In the meantime, he is not unaware of the barbed tail crawling toward him and exerts his will to buffet the poisonous thing
away with some focused air magic!
Rusty slams his ramrod down the barrel of his musket as he continues to reload, watching the corgi gone dragon ride the creature as it seems to retreat!
That's when he notices Cedric go down due to poison, and he frowns a bit as he yells to Valor. "Horse! Get Cedric!"
Rixo stares at the creature from behind her helmet, but once it seems to be retreating... She stands down. It was a creature, not a being with
malevolent intent. It had tried and found that they were not easy prey, so she opted to not try to chase after it for now.
Valor hears Cedric's cries for help and quickly turns tail and runs in his direction. Putting his hammer in a sling on his back he knelt down next to
Cedric's poison-addled form. He grabbed one arm and pulling him up, draping Cedric's arm over his shoulder and helping him along.
"It's fine, I'm fine, everything is fine." the fallen badger says, pushing himself up weakly and fighting against the slow-acting venom with a bit of
help from the equine, and watches as the creature makes its retreat. That was rather close. "It's fine..." he says, pulling his arm off of Valor's shoulder and quite
stubbornly stepping forward. "But let's hurry up and conclude our task so I can get some actual treatment."
The creature is poisoned, and the pain cause sit to writhe and flail, before it slams its backside against the wall of the pit. The cherry blossom folk
returns into view, on the other side of the pit. "Hey! Can I get some help?" SHe says as she runs back from view again. When did she get over there?
Feeling the monster begin to flail about, Asher dragon decides it's time to withdraw before he get squashed or impaled. Curling his new bulk beneath
himself, the corgi-dragon launches himself from the beast's back with a burst of air magic. He lands heavily at the edge of the pit near the cherry blossom folk.
"Here to help, Miss," he says in a new, bizarrely low voice, adjusting his leathers which have cleverly expanded into a sort of harness for his dragonish form.
Rusty finishes loading his musket, but has no need for it anymore as he slings it back over his shoulder and walks over to the plant with a frown.
"Where did you go?" He asks, a little annoyed that they up and left them in the middle of a fight.
Rixo looks towards the cherry blossom woman and turns to hurry after her. "Did you manage to find them, miss?" She slides her sword back into it's
scabbard, but keeps her shield at the ready.
Valor has insisted on assisting Cedric. Cedric may be the most stubborn badger in all of Promise, but Valor was a just as equally stubborn horse. And he
insisted on helping Cedric, supporting him as he walked. "Is there anything I could do for the poison?" He asks, trying to hurry a little and get back with the
group.
Cedric shakes his head, sighing as he just goes along with the help but he doesn't looks like he's enjoying it at all. "I've no idea what that thing even
was, let alone what its venom will do if we linger. So... hurrying things along would probably be the best thing to do for it." he says, a bit quickly as they
approach the pit across from the growing folk being. Upon reaching it, he unties the bindings keeping his breastplate on and lets it fall to the ground. The armor is
only really weighing him down right now, and if it can't defend against some cutting winds or a monster's tail, it's no use to him anymore, anyhow.
The beast recoils down into the depths, a strange unexplored place. THe cherry blossom shakes her head. "THe reason we came here! I can't let him die, I
haven' proposed a lifebond yet you... sorry, you had that handled right? Follow me!" she says as she rushes off, anyone following her can see small dead creatures
line the tunnel, all would probably come up to an average beiengs knees and look fat and plump, almost shaped like sausages. At the end of the tunnel is another
hole, which houses a tree folk. He doesn't look so good, but he seems to be alive. He calls up for help once more upon seeing the group, and as he does it echos out
towards the main cavern once more through another opening in the moderate pit.
Asher clambers down into the hole, no deeper for him now than climbing down from a barstool would be for him under normal conditions. "Hello!" he
rumbles amiably, "I'm Asher, I'm here to help you out!" The Corgi dragon carefully boosts the trapped growing folk up to the edge of the pit. He thinks uncomfortably
on the little dead creatures in the tunnel, hoping that he does not end up that way. "What WAS that thing, anyway?" he asks.
Rusty nods to the plant, unslinging his musket in case it is needed against something coming their way. "Either way lets get out of here before it comes
back again." He mutters, really not wanting to face that thing once more...
Rixo comes to a halt upon seeing the other growing folk, frowning a little. "Hey, you'll be alight! We're going to get you out of here and to some
medics or something, don't worry." She wheels about to watch the way they had come, letting the others tend to him. "I'll watch the back."
Valor sees Cedric taking off his armor and nods. "Yeah. Look, I could make you some more later if you would like. But for now lets get if off in case I
need to haul you out of here." He says, looking around warily.
Cedric removes a few other pieces, nodding a little in reply but not really up to speaking much more at the moment, as he has too many other things on
his mind at the moment. Instead, he just resigns himself to being helped, even desipite his stubborn grunts in protest.
The tree folks collected and our heros alive, they emerge from the hole. The tree folk make certain to state that they will inform the locals of the
dangerous area, handing out a large sum of loot and crown for all to enjoy. "I can't thank you enough!" William says, as Cedric and he seem to be fairing much
better.
