01-23-2018, 12:43 PM
“I can’t believe they’re going exploring in a cave at a time like this…” Cole muttered annoyedly to himself, feeling his way along the wall beside the rusty rail he walked beside. He was going at a rather slow pace, trying not to trip over it again as he kept his Quincy Bow active in his other hand. It may not have been useful as a weapon in the current situation, but with it active still, it gave off a dim aura of fire that did little more than light up his immediate surroundings. That was preferable to not even being able to see his own hand in front of his face, though. His grip tightened around the handle of the magnum in his left hand as he stuck to the right side of the tunnel, with the weapon giving him some small amount of comfort and focus in this dark, damp, claustrophobic, abandoned abyss of a mining tunnel that seemed to go on endlessly.
Despite keeping slow, but steady progress, the dim light at the end didn’t seem to get any closer, and with every passing moment, Cole found himself growing exponentially more impatient.
“Why didn’t I just climb…?” He complained with a sigh, his feet shuffling against the dirt and rock of the floor, as his hand slid across the grimy wall and - was that a bone?
Cole felt his way around the wall again, curiosity taking the better of him and yes. Yes, that was a skeleton nailed to the wall of an abandoned mine.
”Intriguing choice of decoration,” Fumetsu commented dryly, ”clearly their performance was less than satisfactory to the foreman.”
Cole sighed and continued onwards. After all, it wasn’t the first corpse of an unfortunate soul he’s ever come across, though he was certainly more thankful for the lack of light. After several agonizing minutes of this slow, painstaking pace, Cole found that his hand no longer touched the wall. In fact, the rail just ended into an empty chamber, whose exact size eluded the Quincy, but he could tell what it was through the changes in the echoes of his shuffling footsteps.
“Okay, just gotta be careful a-oohf!” Cole cut off as he bumped into a surprisingly large rock in the center of the chamber. Or was it rock? He felt the rock in front of him, and despite having the same mold and grime as the walls, the texture seemed off. It seemed oddly craggy where the rock on the walls was smoothed over time due to the dampness and water that ran along the walls at time. And it was huge!
Maybe it collapsed from the ceiling?
As he felt around, he heard a low rumble as the curious boulder suddenly shifted. The room shook violently, as the low rumble turned to a raspy roaring that echoed throughout the chamber and the many tunnels that branched off from the chamber. Chains rattled against the wall, rocks fell from the ceiling and rolled around as the dust was kicked up, mixing in the air. Dim orange flames suddenly erupted on torches in a quick, successive pattern, forming a ring around the room, barely illuminating the creature that rose from its crumpled-up form.
“… are you serious right now?” Cole exasperated, seeing the rock golem’s towering form backlit from the torches behind it. It was a broad, hulking creature, and from the dim light, Cole could see many bands of rock and minerals forming its body. Its orange eyes ignited like flames from what he assumed to be its head, stout and round as it may be and lacking anything resembling a neck. It glowered and howled at the Quincy that awoke it, as it lumbered forth.
”I think you found the foreman.” Alex concluded in a mixed joking and concerned tone.
The room shook as the golem raised its arm and swung wide, carving a wide swath through the wall as Cole nimbly ducked underneath the clumsy attack. Chunks of rock went flying away, crashing against the far-off wall and floor as the Golem howled again. It slammed onto the ground where Cole stood, with the Quincy leaping out of the way again.
“At least it’s slo-“ Cole didn’t have time to finish his statement as a boulder, launched from the golem’s fist, came hurtling at him at a blinding speed. He barely had time to twist and use energy to push himself out of its way before it slammed into the high wall.
“Okay, never mind, my luck is just terrible today.” Cole landed with a roll and began running in a wide circle around the stone giant, conjuring his second magnum and firing on the giant’s form. Glowing red bullets soared through the air and impacted against the rock, as successive hits seemed to begin melting it, but doing little else than creating small pockets of heated rock. Though, he did aim for the arms, using the dim light they projected against the darkness as an indication of the titan’s movements when it went to swing.
Though the torches were a welcome addition of light, he mostly relied on the sound of rock grinding against rock, which was telling of the giant’s movements as it twisted and turned to swing at the nimble interloper. That, alongside his own heightened reflexes, allowed him to evade the sluggish creature.
Dodging, rolling, leaping, and even riding along the titan’s arms allowed him to evade its sluggish, but powerful attacks as it pounded, crashed, and thrashed the chamber, and to Cole it felt like it was shaking the whole mountain with its rage.
”I think it’s mad you woke it up.” Alex quipped.
“You don’t say?!” Cole ran up along the arm of the titan as it attempted to swat him away with its other hand, only to instead find the Quincy crawling up that arm, firing at the golem’s head, aiming for the creature’s eyes. As bolts flew into the golem’s skull, it howled in pain and rage, shaking and thrashing about as it slammed into the wall, hands over its face.
Cole was thrown off by the sudden quick movements, colliding onto the floor as the room shook violently from the titan’s booming wailing. The Quincy quickly leapt back onto his feet, observing the titan’s riot as it regained it slowly regained its composure and brought its clenched fist down onto Cole, who rolled out of the way, but found that the ground heaved upward in a kinetic wave from where the fist impacted against it, throwing him off balance as the golem swung its other arm in a follow-up attack.
Then came the sharp sound of metal grating against rock as a large blade cleaved through what appeared to a tendon on the creature’s wrist with an upward swing, causing it to reel back, writhing and howling again. Cole could just barely make out Cloud against the dim light of the lantern he carried in front of him, with his sword in the other hand.
“You okay?” Cloud turned and asked, to which Cole nodded, regaining his balance as the ground quake subsided.
”Wait, where did he even come from?” Cole thought for a moment, remembering that he saw the blade cut before he even saw the sword, let alone Cloud. And what was with the lantern? It didn’t exactly shine very brightly… This group was weird.
“Where’s Blink?” Cole asked, as he watched the giant thrash about.
Cloud just pointed to the entrance of the room, though Cole couldn’t see anyone there, it was simply too dark.
“I see you met a friend.” Cloud noted, though Cole couldn’t be sure if that was a joke or not.
“Yeah, I was having a polite conversation with the mine foreman while you guys were exploring a cave,” Cole retorted with a half-smile, “You’re welcome to butt in though.”
Despite keeping slow, but steady progress, the dim light at the end didn’t seem to get any closer, and with every passing moment, Cole found himself growing exponentially more impatient.
“Why didn’t I just climb…?” He complained with a sigh, his feet shuffling against the dirt and rock of the floor, as his hand slid across the grimy wall and - was that a bone?
Cole felt his way around the wall again, curiosity taking the better of him and yes. Yes, that was a skeleton nailed to the wall of an abandoned mine.
”Intriguing choice of decoration,” Fumetsu commented dryly, ”clearly their performance was less than satisfactory to the foreman.”
Cole sighed and continued onwards. After all, it wasn’t the first corpse of an unfortunate soul he’s ever come across, though he was certainly more thankful for the lack of light. After several agonizing minutes of this slow, painstaking pace, Cole found that his hand no longer touched the wall. In fact, the rail just ended into an empty chamber, whose exact size eluded the Quincy, but he could tell what it was through the changes in the echoes of his shuffling footsteps.
“Okay, just gotta be careful a-oohf!” Cole cut off as he bumped into a surprisingly large rock in the center of the chamber. Or was it rock? He felt the rock in front of him, and despite having the same mold and grime as the walls, the texture seemed off. It seemed oddly craggy where the rock on the walls was smoothed over time due to the dampness and water that ran along the walls at time. And it was huge!
Maybe it collapsed from the ceiling?
As he felt around, he heard a low rumble as the curious boulder suddenly shifted. The room shook violently, as the low rumble turned to a raspy roaring that echoed throughout the chamber and the many tunnels that branched off from the chamber. Chains rattled against the wall, rocks fell from the ceiling and rolled around as the dust was kicked up, mixing in the air. Dim orange flames suddenly erupted on torches in a quick, successive pattern, forming a ring around the room, barely illuminating the creature that rose from its crumpled-up form.
“… are you serious right now?” Cole exasperated, seeing the rock golem’s towering form backlit from the torches behind it. It was a broad, hulking creature, and from the dim light, Cole could see many bands of rock and minerals forming its body. Its orange eyes ignited like flames from what he assumed to be its head, stout and round as it may be and lacking anything resembling a neck. It glowered and howled at the Quincy that awoke it, as it lumbered forth.
”I think you found the foreman.” Alex concluded in a mixed joking and concerned tone.
The room shook as the golem raised its arm and swung wide, carving a wide swath through the wall as Cole nimbly ducked underneath the clumsy attack. Chunks of rock went flying away, crashing against the far-off wall and floor as the Golem howled again. It slammed onto the ground where Cole stood, with the Quincy leaping out of the way again.
“At least it’s slo-“ Cole didn’t have time to finish his statement as a boulder, launched from the golem’s fist, came hurtling at him at a blinding speed. He barely had time to twist and use energy to push himself out of its way before it slammed into the high wall.
“Okay, never mind, my luck is just terrible today.” Cole landed with a roll and began running in a wide circle around the stone giant, conjuring his second magnum and firing on the giant’s form. Glowing red bullets soared through the air and impacted against the rock, as successive hits seemed to begin melting it, but doing little else than creating small pockets of heated rock. Though, he did aim for the arms, using the dim light they projected against the darkness as an indication of the titan’s movements when it went to swing.
Though the torches were a welcome addition of light, he mostly relied on the sound of rock grinding against rock, which was telling of the giant’s movements as it twisted and turned to swing at the nimble interloper. That, alongside his own heightened reflexes, allowed him to evade the sluggish creature.
Dodging, rolling, leaping, and even riding along the titan’s arms allowed him to evade its sluggish, but powerful attacks as it pounded, crashed, and thrashed the chamber, and to Cole it felt like it was shaking the whole mountain with its rage.
”I think it’s mad you woke it up.” Alex quipped.
“You don’t say?!” Cole ran up along the arm of the titan as it attempted to swat him away with its other hand, only to instead find the Quincy crawling up that arm, firing at the golem’s head, aiming for the creature’s eyes. As bolts flew into the golem’s skull, it howled in pain and rage, shaking and thrashing about as it slammed into the wall, hands over its face.
Cole was thrown off by the sudden quick movements, colliding onto the floor as the room shook violently from the titan’s booming wailing. The Quincy quickly leapt back onto his feet, observing the titan’s riot as it regained it slowly regained its composure and brought its clenched fist down onto Cole, who rolled out of the way, but found that the ground heaved upward in a kinetic wave from where the fist impacted against it, throwing him off balance as the golem swung its other arm in a follow-up attack.
Then came the sharp sound of metal grating against rock as a large blade cleaved through what appeared to a tendon on the creature’s wrist with an upward swing, causing it to reel back, writhing and howling again. Cole could just barely make out Cloud against the dim light of the lantern he carried in front of him, with his sword in the other hand.
“You okay?” Cloud turned and asked, to which Cole nodded, regaining his balance as the ground quake subsided.
”Wait, where did he even come from?” Cole thought for a moment, remembering that he saw the blade cut before he even saw the sword, let alone Cloud. And what was with the lantern? It didn’t exactly shine very brightly… This group was weird.
“Where’s Blink?” Cole asked, as he watched the giant thrash about.
Cloud just pointed to the entrance of the room, though Cole couldn’t see anyone there, it was simply too dark.
“I see you met a friend.” Cloud noted, though Cole couldn’t be sure if that was a joke or not.
“Yeah, I was having a polite conversation with the mine foreman while you guys were exploring a cave,” Cole retorted with a half-smile, “You’re welcome to butt in though.”