Revision as of 01:05, 16 February 2017

Participants

• Amar
• Cary
• Galve
• Levin
• Mal
• Terry

Date

15/2/480

Log

Amar Widestripe and his attendant, Gavin are already here, waiting under a rather lavishly appointed pavillion while a few servants scurry about their work at the little camp.

"AH!" Amar calls out, waving a fat hand at the new arrivals as he reclines on a pile of pillows, what seems to be a hooka of some sort positioned beside him, "About time you all showed up!"

Galve lands with little fanfare. The vespid rogue has been doing a lot of work lately and as such it was hard to expect him not to be here. "Present and accounted for, sir." He says, a hand resting on his sword hilt.

Terry climbs down onto the steady soil after the long, rickety ride in the ol' oxcart. He spares a moment to rub at his aching legs, gone stiff from lack of movement. He straightens again and stretches, rather catlike, and steps up alongside the others, looking up at Amar. He offers a sharp salute. "Ready, sir!"

Levin is the next of the freeswords to leave the cart, his hand running through the short fur on the side of his head as he caresses a 'wound' from earlier. The bumpy ride had taken it's toll on the otter who, due to his always excessive energy, thought it would be a smart idea to stretch his legs about the cart while it was going through some rather bumpy territory. It wasn't a graceful landing. "Oi, oi, hey boss!" he calls out to Amar as he hits the ground "Everyone here and accounted for!"

Mal wiggles a flask, making a face as he realizes it's empty. He looks up as the cart rolls to a stop, slipping the flask into a pocket before hopping off the wagon. "Amar!" the Coyote calls, "Is this going to go like the last few jobs? Deadly traps, crazy pyromaniacs?" He grins at the Tiger. "Nothin' better to get the blood pumping!" Mal saunters over to the rest of the crew, rubbing his hands together. "What're we doing this time?"

After everyone else hopped off the cart, finally, an unfamiliar Ankylosaurus landed down with a loud thud. "Hold on a second, let me just-" The dino stretched themselves a little bit, shaking some of their gear around and straightening themselves up as they faced Amar. "Woah. Much, much better! Now, considering that it seems everyone else knows you and I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet, mister, the name's Cary." The heavy clanned spoke in a quite.. Soft.. Tone for someone of their size. Nevertheless, they nodded and smiled towards the Tiger.

"Very good, Very good," Amar says, rubbing his hands together, "I'm glad to see you boys! I trust the trip wasn't too difficult." He does not wait for an answer, and barrels on. "Now then, now then. I am sure that you are all ready to get right to work. Right to the point, as it were!" The fat, purple tiger waves a beringed hand down the length of the narrow valley. "Down at the end of this valley is a large cavern," he explains, "Some say that it is no natural cave, but carved by hands long before beings came to Promise. That is what we are banking on, boys. I expect that a real treasure trove could be down there!" He holds up a meaty paw to forestall any questions or concerns. "I know, I know. I know what you are thinking! You are asking yourselves, if there is such a treasure here, why has no one claimed it yet?" the tiger holds up two fingers. "One!" he says, "That mountain path is only fit for goats. I doubt anyone has traveled this way in decades! And Two? Well, there are rumors that the place is cursed or haunted or some such fiddle faddle. They say that no one who goes in ever comes out again." The feline's fat face splits into a grin, setting his second chin jiggling. "But I'm assure you, they only say that because no one ever has before!"

Galve nods. "So.... I assume we are going on foot then? I don't see any goats...." He says, fluttering his wings anxiously. He couldn't carry more than himself if he had to fly. "Curses I'm not afraid of."

"Only curse I'm afraid of is a crucible full of iron breaking just before the casting!

Terry crosses his arms as he listens to the rotound feline, his tail flicking behind him anxiously. He quirks a brow at the mention of curses and haunts, but smirks at Amar's reaction. "Yes sir, it sounds like it. I suppose some beings have to be the first to do it." He looks around the group, his eyes scanning each party member, and nodding at Mal and Cary in recognition. "It might as well be us, eh? And I think deadly traps are all but guaranteed." He says with a smile at Mal.

"Levin," the otter replies, craning his head around to speak to Cary "Trouble shooter extraordinaire! Good to meet ya' and all that." He turns back to listen to the rest of what Amar has to say, his hears perking up a bit as he catches the most important bit of it all, 'treasure'. With a toothy grin he spins to about to take a look at where the fat cat was gesturing. "Seems like a bit of a long shot, and we ain't no goats - But treasure? Eheh, I ain't turning down a chance for treasure!"

The Coyote shrugs and pops his neck. "Sure, sure. No problem," he says. "So, bring back anything that looks valuable and isn't nailed down?"

The Freesword looks over to Cary and tips a nonexistent hat. "Name's Mal. I'm here for the booze, obviously."

"Only curse I'm afraid of is a crucible full of iron breaking just before the casting!" Exclaimed the dino as they walked on, adding, "But yes, my feline friends, might as well head in first. But considering those caves were carved by men, does anyone else other than me know how to read and speak the Creator language? That might be something we could encounter in there."

"Just a figure of speech, a figure of speech," Amar says, waving off all the goat commentary, "I am sure one need not be a goat to follow the trail. Only know that it is a treacherous one." The enormous feline waves to a servant who rushes to bring him a tray of fruits and cheeses. "Godspeed, gentlemen," he syas, "And best of luck. I expect only the best from you." He turns a shrewd eye on Mal. "Precisely, my boy, precisely. That is exactly what I expect you to do. And clear out any traps you might find along the way, of course. It will be helpful for further exploration." The fat cat looks askance at Cary. "Man?" he asks, "You mean the Creators? Ah, no my friend, these are no Creator ruins. You can be sure of that. Now, off you get."

The path down the valley quickly narrows until what was a valley becomes a high, narrow gorge, just wide enough for two average beings to walk abreast.

Galve nods, following the direction of their tubby employer, Galve heads for the path towards the indicated cavern. "Come on, it isn't going to raid itself." He says, heading for the path with his hand still resting on his sword pommel.

"Ha, you got that right, wings!" Levin calls out to Galve as he skips up to the vespid's side to follow. "You and me can take the lead, pal! I'm huggin' the wall though, you can always buzz down there if ya' fall and my head's plenty hard enough to break a rock if any fall, see?" The otter gives a sagely nod. "Safest option, unless we wanna tie up the lil' fella and toss 'em forward to check to see if the ground is stable - I don't think he'd like that though, would ya'~?"

Mal grins at Amar and nods. "I've worked enough jobs of yours to know what's expected," he replies before following along with the crew, hands in pockets and whistling a lazy tune. Once he's a fair enough distance from the Tiger, the Freesword gives a snort. "Room wide traps, Hill Wurms and crazy Pyromaniacs...now it's potential curses?" he says with a grin, "The more jobs I do for Amar, the more I think he's trying to get me killed!" Haaah, jokes.

"Sorry, I don't do languages. I do stabbing. And I do it oh so stylishly," the Coyote says to Cary, before going back to his lazy tune and peering down the gorge. He gives Levin and Galve a grin before throwing his two crowns' worth in, "So, who's first? Any volunteers?"

"It's alright, stabbing is also good. Just not for health." The dino smiled, walking only slightly ahead. "Well, I didn't know Amar until now but he seems like the kind of person who's got a lot of connections and... Also seems to be involved in some shady stuff, considering what y

"-Y'all talking about."

The narrow gorge soon widens. It widens significantly. And by widens, I of course mean that the cliff face to the right gives way to empty air, leaving the group standing on a ledge overlooking what must be a hundred foot sheer drop, if it is an inch. The ledge further narrows to the point that it is only just wide enough for one being to walk cautiously along the edge of the cliff. The huge, yawining opening to the cavern is just up ahead in the face of the cliff.

Galve walks cautiously. though he doesn't really need to, as he could fly if he wanted to. He was just being polite to the other less..... aerially-challenged beings in the group. "Narrow is right...."

Terry follows the other beings, listening to them but not saying much himself. He almost seems uneasy in the middle of this group, his tail flitting anxiously as he regards their suroundings. He squeezes past the others, but as their path opens into that dizzying ledge he stops and presses himself against the wall. He peers at Mal and Galve. "Well, if you still have rope, I wouldn't mind some right about now." He peers down, then around. "Well.. I suppose there's only one way forward now." He peers up at Mal again. "Sir, you seem experienced in these death-defying adventures. How should we proceed?"

Levin can't help but let out a bit of a snicker as he shuffles along, for once in his life being careful with his steps as he moves forward. "Yeeeah, well, I kinda left mine at home. Sorry little guy... But now that you mention it, uh, did anyone remember to bring any? It might be handy, ya'know, in the cave 'n all."

Mal whistles lazily and inches his way along the ledge, pausing to look at Terry. "With improvisation," he replies after a moment, giving the cat a bit of a grin. "Honestly, I say we head into that cave over yonder," he adds, gesturing to the cavern. The Coyote leans over to look at Levin. "...I have a pen. From Longtech," he says after a moment, holding the fancy pen up and twitching it between his fingers.

"Well, y'know, considering I've been journeying around for a while I've been bringing a lot of stuff with me but uh.. If I still have some rope left it may not be enough to tie all of us together or something like that." The dino says, walking very, VERY carefully now. Their enthusiasm about possibly charging straight into the cave was quickly eliminated. "Although I'm pretty sure I may have small picks with my blacksmithing tools which may be of some use."

The ledge is narrow, but not too treacherous. It is honestly more nerve wracking than actually dangerous. At least in these favorable weather conditions.

With only a few unnerving skids and no particularly close calls, the group manages to scoot and inch their way into the large mouth of the cavern that digs into the mountainside. It is wide and clear of debris. If it weren't so remote and at the top of such a large cliff, one might expect that it was maintained by beings. The floor of the cavern is smooth and bare and the ceiling is high and arched with no signs of stalgamites or stalactites to mar its surface. The wide cavern quickly fades into darkness, the outside sunshine does not reach far.

Galve pulls a torch from his belt. "Well... I'm going first." He says. "Mostly because I don't want to be trampled if we have to make a hasty retreat."

Terry follows along the group, staying in the middle of his group of companions. "Understood sir. I'll bring rope next time." He meant it, too. No use making mistakes more than once. He shimmies along, aided by his diminuitive size and slim profile. As he arrives at the other side he breathes a sigh of relief, sparing one last glance at the dangerous passage before turning to the cave and stepping forward. He nods at Galve as he steps forward. "Yes sir." He follows along, padding quietly, observing his surroundings. "Strange place, this.." He looks back at Mal. "Have you ever seen anything like this, sir? It's quite.. well kept. Certainly not how I imagined a cavern would be."

Levin lets out one hell of a sigh of relief when he gets off the ledge and into the safety of the cave - More then one of those unnerving skids were from him. "Cripes, I don't wanna do that again..." the otter grumbles before glancing back over his shoulder. "... Guess we gotta to get back out, but hey." With a click of his tongue his eyes wander about the room, a brow raising at the unusual smoothness that covered the area, "Well damn, the big guy was right - This is strange, yeah, real strange... Which means the chance for treasure is rising! Keep that pen of yours ready, my friend! We may need it yet!"

Mal pats Terry on the back once they're all safely inside the cave. "Not so bad, see? By the by, how ya been, Terry? Fed any livestock?" he says with a grin, looking around. "...We brought torches, right? I keep meaning to get my hands on one of these little glowing rocks, but I alway forget. Need to ask Zuri where he got his..." he says, pointing to Galve. "Ahh, there we go! That works," he adds, rubbing his hands together. "...I had something for that, dammit!" he says to Levin, before shaking his head. "Nevermind, let's go find some treasure!" he adds, a glint in his eye as he falls in behind the torchbearer.