01-19-2017, 09:14 PM
He had been laying belly flat on the cold stone ground for what felt like hours. His nose itched something awful, like every other untimely spot on his body that itched, but he wouldn’t dare budge an inch. The reason why was very big, green, slightly smelly, and hunched on a stool directly in front of the table Burgess was hidden under. Thankfully enough, the troll was facing away, too preoccupied with cleaning out from underneath his fingernails with a wicked-looking knife.
"You’re the slightest out of us three and have a good head on your shoulders," Captain Tell had said to the very concerned-seeming boy before sending him down here, Roland standing to his right. "Surely you can manage to figure out what their business is in this ruin and if they mean us any serious harm. Hurry, now, and return quickly if you are able. We will be on the lookout for you."
While Burgess agreed that he did have a very good head on his shoulders, he was a bit concerned about losing it if one of these trolls became wise to his presence. They were probably strong as grizzly bears, Burgess wagered, and could crush a man’s skull with little remorse. But they were apparently blind as bats, too, because he’d been hiding under this table for an hour at the most and they had yet to catch a glimpse of him crawling and wriggling around on the floor.
The steady scrape, scrape, scrape of the knife was the only sound aside from the footsteps of another troll as he investigated the other side of the massive cavern. Burgess hadn’t thought much of him, despite the trolls’ earlier agitated conversation about the demise of their comrades. To his memory…… something had sprung at them from out of the shadows and made off with two of their number. Apparently the creature was rather gruesome to behold, a horrible abomination with distended limbs that tangled about one another, dripping with corruption and decay.
This explained the blood they had found earlier, and the boy simply couldn’t wait to tell his captain all about what he had heard. But, something distracted him just as he began to pull away, a sly sparkle in the low light…
It was a dagger about the length of his forearm, the weapon strapped loosely to the troll’s side. Burgess supposed that it would be impressive if he brought back something as marvelous as this, just to show that he’d done it. Surely Piers would be impressed.
Almost without his say-so, the boy’s hand began to reach for the dagger. It didn’t get very far.
“Mon, come ovah here!” the other troll called from across the cave, obviously excited.
Burgess froze, his hand still outstretched towards the trollish dagger’s hilt. His fingers very slowly curled into a closed fist, as if it would make him any less conspicuous, and he made to tuck his arm safely back under his chin and out of sight.
Unfortunately, it was just not his day. Before he could pull completely out of sight the troll had turned around, bluish-green skin rippling with entirely too many muscles. To his dying day Burgess couldn’t have said just why this troll had turned around, but he did. And it really made an awful mess of things when he saw the snot-nosed human boy making to paw at his high quality dagger, his tusked face contorting into a terrifying sneer.
Before the troll could gut him like a fish, though, a choked cry ripped through the air, effectively distracting him for a second. Burgess didn’t waste any time or question his incredible luck. Shoving himself out from under the table and stumbling a bit from being still for so long, the boy took off at a run for the stairwell he had come down, only casting a look behind him once he set foot on the bottom step.
Something had gotten the drop on the other troll. It was man-shaped and grey in color, with fleshy, rippling tentacles bulging out from its frame in hideous bends, one arm contorted into a tight, suffocating noose about the tusked warrior’s throat. The star-shaped mantle atop the creature’s head flared, rows of sharp teeth flashing as the flaps of thin, membranous skin pulsated eagerly. Its troll victim gurgled and struggled all the more wildly, his companion pacing about and trying to find a safe direction to attack from, twin knives gleaming already with alien-colored blood.
Not wanting to see any more (and rather wishing that he hadn’t seen anything at all), Burgess hurried up the rest of the flight of stairs, mouth stammering mutely as his mind tried to put into words what he could possibly say to Roland and Tell.
--
Hushed footfalls and harsh breaths boomed off the tunnel walls closing in around Brandon and co., muffled shouts in dwarvish tongue breaking through what little gaps there were in the collapsed mound of rocks. With both Smith and Piers injured the company was forced to slow their steps many a time so that they could be helped over piles of toppled stonework, the architectural remnants obstructing their path growing stranger and stranger the further they ventured inside.
Funeral urns and long, body-length alcoves lined the shaft, occasionally broken by exuberant outpourings of obsidian-colored rock and glittering ore veins from the ruin’s heart. Everywhere were the strange drawings the astronomer had first studied in the entrance grotto— great, sprawling murals depicting star-shaped beings and horribly beautiful beasts that seemed ill-contented with being confined to mere carvings, their bulk leaking over the edges into exquisite and complex sculpture.
They came abruptly to a stop when the shaft split into two long passages, the depths of each one buried in suffocating darkness. Selena looked frantically around, her head whipping this way and that, searching.
“Which way do we go?” she asked Brandon.
Brandon looked at the stone carvings intently, tracing their many-angled patterns with his gaze until he nearly went cross-eyed with the effort. “I don’t know,” he admitted, sounding sheepish. “It’s all just a bunch of confusing nonsense. I’ve never laid eyes on such drivel! Utter baloney, it is. You’d think they would at least try to—”
The hurrying sound of many booted feet came from further off, though it was difficult to discern from exactly where. Brandon’s mouth clamped shut. Selena’s dagger sang as she removed it from her hip-belt, her crossbow swinging wide across her back when she turned to face the other passage.
Brandon pointed to the left passage. “That way! Hurry!”
Whomp, whoosh, whomp. They flew blindly into the passageway, a crash of footfalls and springing air rising hotly in such close quarters. When they arrived at the end they discovered a door in the way, thickly built and without any visible signs of hinges. A single gap ran down its middle— faintly gleaming sigils patterned the slab of stone on either side, seals of protection that vowed death to those who would dare seek to open it.
A lock pick shooting out of her sleeve and into her waiting palm, Selena crouched down in front of the door and felt spiritedly around for a keyhole with worrying ease. Thunderstruck, she reeled back in apparent disgust. The others visibly recoiled from the door, as well, fearing the worst.
“What kind of idiots would make a door without a key to it?” the soldier cried furiously, stamping her foot like a child.
“The very same who would carve elaborate pictures everywhere that have no meaning, I would imagine,” Smith sighed wearily, slumping against the wall. He cocked his head to the side, listening to the approaching footsteps with a calmness that only the heavily concussed can manage, “They’re on their way, too. Maybe you can give ‘em a piece of your mind.”
“We’re trapped,” said Jade, hugging herself with her arms.
With a harsh war cry Amber had stabbed Razorback’s serrated edge between the double-sided door, her shoulder set against one slab as she tried to wrest the other open. The teenager huffed and grunted, sweat beading on her brow and her teeth flashing in a snarl. The stone groaned. It had likely not been moved for ages, and if it had its way it would not open for many more yet.
Selena placed herself between the astronomer and the imminent arrival of whoever was storming down the tunnel. Brandon glanced worriedly at the woman. The edges of her dagger glinted even in the dark, her hair spiking out at all angles and a heavy scowl set into her features.
She would defend him or die trying.
Jade began to endeavor to tug at the door with her Space powers, but some sort of unbelievably strong deadbolt technology held it fast, even seeming to actively resist her beckoning hand motions.
The faunus strained. The door opened just an inch more.
Dagger held aloft and at the ready, Selena watched as several shadows whisked across the floor—
—And revealed Captain Tell, Roland and Burgess, the three of them battered and bruised but apparently none the worse for wear.
The door swung open.
"You’re the slightest out of us three and have a good head on your shoulders," Captain Tell had said to the very concerned-seeming boy before sending him down here, Roland standing to his right. "Surely you can manage to figure out what their business is in this ruin and if they mean us any serious harm. Hurry, now, and return quickly if you are able. We will be on the lookout for you."
While Burgess agreed that he did have a very good head on his shoulders, he was a bit concerned about losing it if one of these trolls became wise to his presence. They were probably strong as grizzly bears, Burgess wagered, and could crush a man’s skull with little remorse. But they were apparently blind as bats, too, because he’d been hiding under this table for an hour at the most and they had yet to catch a glimpse of him crawling and wriggling around on the floor.
The steady scrape, scrape, scrape of the knife was the only sound aside from the footsteps of another troll as he investigated the other side of the massive cavern. Burgess hadn’t thought much of him, despite the trolls’ earlier agitated conversation about the demise of their comrades. To his memory…… something had sprung at them from out of the shadows and made off with two of their number. Apparently the creature was rather gruesome to behold, a horrible abomination with distended limbs that tangled about one another, dripping with corruption and decay.
This explained the blood they had found earlier, and the boy simply couldn’t wait to tell his captain all about what he had heard. But, something distracted him just as he began to pull away, a sly sparkle in the low light…
It was a dagger about the length of his forearm, the weapon strapped loosely to the troll’s side. Burgess supposed that it would be impressive if he brought back something as marvelous as this, just to show that he’d done it. Surely Piers would be impressed.
Almost without his say-so, the boy’s hand began to reach for the dagger. It didn’t get very far.
“Mon, come ovah here!” the other troll called from across the cave, obviously excited.
Burgess froze, his hand still outstretched towards the trollish dagger’s hilt. His fingers very slowly curled into a closed fist, as if it would make him any less conspicuous, and he made to tuck his arm safely back under his chin and out of sight.
Unfortunately, it was just not his day. Before he could pull completely out of sight the troll had turned around, bluish-green skin rippling with entirely too many muscles. To his dying day Burgess couldn’t have said just why this troll had turned around, but he did. And it really made an awful mess of things when he saw the snot-nosed human boy making to paw at his high quality dagger, his tusked face contorting into a terrifying sneer.
Before the troll could gut him like a fish, though, a choked cry ripped through the air, effectively distracting him for a second. Burgess didn’t waste any time or question his incredible luck. Shoving himself out from under the table and stumbling a bit from being still for so long, the boy took off at a run for the stairwell he had come down, only casting a look behind him once he set foot on the bottom step.
Something had gotten the drop on the other troll. It was man-shaped and grey in color, with fleshy, rippling tentacles bulging out from its frame in hideous bends, one arm contorted into a tight, suffocating noose about the tusked warrior’s throat. The star-shaped mantle atop the creature’s head flared, rows of sharp teeth flashing as the flaps of thin, membranous skin pulsated eagerly. Its troll victim gurgled and struggled all the more wildly, his companion pacing about and trying to find a safe direction to attack from, twin knives gleaming already with alien-colored blood.
Not wanting to see any more (and rather wishing that he hadn’t seen anything at all), Burgess hurried up the rest of the flight of stairs, mouth stammering mutely as his mind tried to put into words what he could possibly say to Roland and Tell.
--
Hushed footfalls and harsh breaths boomed off the tunnel walls closing in around Brandon and co., muffled shouts in dwarvish tongue breaking through what little gaps there were in the collapsed mound of rocks. With both Smith and Piers injured the company was forced to slow their steps many a time so that they could be helped over piles of toppled stonework, the architectural remnants obstructing their path growing stranger and stranger the further they ventured inside.
Funeral urns and long, body-length alcoves lined the shaft, occasionally broken by exuberant outpourings of obsidian-colored rock and glittering ore veins from the ruin’s heart. Everywhere were the strange drawings the astronomer had first studied in the entrance grotto— great, sprawling murals depicting star-shaped beings and horribly beautiful beasts that seemed ill-contented with being confined to mere carvings, their bulk leaking over the edges into exquisite and complex sculpture.
They came abruptly to a stop when the shaft split into two long passages, the depths of each one buried in suffocating darkness. Selena looked frantically around, her head whipping this way and that, searching.
“Which way do we go?” she asked Brandon.
Brandon looked at the stone carvings intently, tracing their many-angled patterns with his gaze until he nearly went cross-eyed with the effort. “I don’t know,” he admitted, sounding sheepish. “It’s all just a bunch of confusing nonsense. I’ve never laid eyes on such drivel! Utter baloney, it is. You’d think they would at least try to—”
The hurrying sound of many booted feet came from further off, though it was difficult to discern from exactly where. Brandon’s mouth clamped shut. Selena’s dagger sang as she removed it from her hip-belt, her crossbow swinging wide across her back when she turned to face the other passage.
Brandon pointed to the left passage. “That way! Hurry!”
Whomp, whoosh, whomp. They flew blindly into the passageway, a crash of footfalls and springing air rising hotly in such close quarters. When they arrived at the end they discovered a door in the way, thickly built and without any visible signs of hinges. A single gap ran down its middle— faintly gleaming sigils patterned the slab of stone on either side, seals of protection that vowed death to those who would dare seek to open it.
A lock pick shooting out of her sleeve and into her waiting palm, Selena crouched down in front of the door and felt spiritedly around for a keyhole with worrying ease. Thunderstruck, she reeled back in apparent disgust. The others visibly recoiled from the door, as well, fearing the worst.
“What kind of idiots would make a door without a key to it?” the soldier cried furiously, stamping her foot like a child.
“The very same who would carve elaborate pictures everywhere that have no meaning, I would imagine,” Smith sighed wearily, slumping against the wall. He cocked his head to the side, listening to the approaching footsteps with a calmness that only the heavily concussed can manage, “They’re on their way, too. Maybe you can give ‘em a piece of your mind.”
“We’re trapped,” said Jade, hugging herself with her arms.
With a harsh war cry Amber had stabbed Razorback’s serrated edge between the double-sided door, her shoulder set against one slab as she tried to wrest the other open. The teenager huffed and grunted, sweat beading on her brow and her teeth flashing in a snarl. The stone groaned. It had likely not been moved for ages, and if it had its way it would not open for many more yet.
Selena placed herself between the astronomer and the imminent arrival of whoever was storming down the tunnel. Brandon glanced worriedly at the woman. The edges of her dagger glinted even in the dark, her hair spiking out at all angles and a heavy scowl set into her features.
She would defend him or die trying.
Jade began to endeavor to tug at the door with her Space powers, but some sort of unbelievably strong deadbolt technology held it fast, even seeming to actively resist her beckoning hand motions.
The faunus strained. The door opened just an inch more.
Dagger held aloft and at the ready, Selena watched as several shadows whisked across the floor—
—And revealed Captain Tell, Roland and Burgess, the three of them battered and bruised but apparently none the worse for wear.
The door swung open.
Quote:20,397/40,000(?) or less than 40k, depending!
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Gamzee Makara Wrote:S’aight. After all, dogs have a tendency to motherfuckin’ bite.