11-06-2016, 07:07 PM
“Thank you kindly,” Valerie chirped and smiled. He was glad to have found a companion in such a place. Most people would have been at least a bit wary of an armor-clad marauder carrying corpses in the middle of a blizzard, but Val was not most people. His naivety wasn’t so much an absence of self-preservation as it was a willful belief that everyone could be made into a friend. His own student was a prime example of that. The boy had been or rather was a roiling furnace of hatred, but Val had tempered him into, well, less of a hate furnace. So it was without worry that he accompanied Rasteva.
“There,” Rasteva said and pointed off into the distance. Valerie squinted his eyes and follow the path of his companion’s finger. Ahead of them sat a series of mountains, grey leviathans scratching at the sky. But that was not what Rasteva meant to call attention to. Instead the being’s cyclopean eye had spotted a trail of smoke drifting upwards from what appeared to be a small cavern carved into the base of the mountains. Light spilled forth from the cavern, offering a shimmering beacon to all that would witness it. “We will head there to protect you from the storm,” Rasteva said.
“Splendid!” Valerie exclaimed.
Overhead snow began to fall in chilling sheets of white. Valerie shuddered as the wind and ice enveloped his vulnerable body. He found himself inadvertently edging behind Rasteva using them as a shield against the oncoming torrent of wind. The armored being trudged ever forth through deeper and deeper swathes of snow, seemingly oblivious to the worsening condition. Through the driving snow and ice the duo could still see their destination, now not much more than an ember behind a curtain of frost. Although they were not much farther than a stone’s throw the distance seemed insurmountable. The weather threatened to bury them beneath a mile of permafrost.
Valerie held out a shivering hand, it had picked up an alarming blue hue. From beneath his skin vines slithered and took form, poking their lethargic heads out through Val’s fingertips. They began to form a half-shell around the mage. His new safeguard protected him from the worst of the elements, blocking the chilling wind from attacking him. This took considerable energy to maintain, but it was more efficient than freezing to death. Val trundled behind Rasteva, stepping through the trench that the sentinel's large frame had left in its wake. After what seemed like an eternity the duo reached the mouth of the cavern.
Once inside they noticed that the light they had seen had been snuffed out. Wispy trails of smoke slithered from a dead campfire. Half-burned logs and bits of charcoal sat silent, no longer ablaze. Valerie stepped towards the arrangement of wood and crouched near it, his body still spasming from the cold. He held his hand close to the remains and found them to be cold. Something had extinguished the fire before they arrived. The cavern stretched onward into the darkness, it was hard to tell just how expansive it truly was. Val’s thoughts drifted back to the eldritch abomination that his friends and he had encountered whilst spelunking in a similar mountain range. Were there more monsters hiding beneath these mountains. If he wasn’t already shivering the thought would have made him shudder. At this point it didn’t matter, he was getting hypothermia and needed warmth. Rasteva unloaded its load and said to the crouched mage, “unfortunately I have no means by which to start a fire.”
“Not to worry,” Valerie said and once again held out his hand.
From the tip of his finger a small bulb, similar in size and shape to an acorn, sprouted. It was colored a bright orange with yellow splotches along its body. Valerie plucked the acorn from its stem and held it up between two fingers for Rasteva to see. “This is a seed from a Delugian Saltwood Tree, known colloquially as a ‘firesnap’” he said, standing up and taking a few steps back. Valerie threw the acorn at the clump of firewood. Upon impact that nut broke open and exploded, leaking an orange sap onto the wood. After a few moments the sap sizzled with the open air and caught fire. Valerie set to work using it to kindle a proper campfire. As he worked he spoke over his shoulder to Rasteva, “ingenious design to be honest with you, the Delugian Saltwood’s bark is all but impervious to flames and its sap uses minerals from the earth to form an incendiary compound that reacts with oxygen, it starts a fire that only its kin can survive, thus allowing it to propagate and thrive unopposed.”
“Interesting,” Rasteva answered, still keeping an eye upon Valerie.
The fire illuminated the cavern and it turned out to be quite small. Much to Valerie’s relief there were no tunnels that were potentially leading towards unimaginable horrors. Instead there were hundreds of pictograms and symbols carved into the cave walls, all of them written in a language that Valerie could not decipher. He payed the sigils little mind, he was just too damned tired at this point. Rasteva however seemed quite interested in them, pawing a hand across the walls. After a bit of investigation Rasteva turned their gaze back upon the mage and asked, “this one is curious, how are you able to summon plants like that?”
Valerie laughed, “as well, it’s in my blood I suppose you could say.” The mage bit the pad of his thumb until a bright green liquid dripped out. He held out his hand and let the blood drip onto the cold floor of the cavern. After a moment small shoots sprouted from the drops of blood, struggling to grow in such an inhospitable climate. The sprouts grew into something that looked similar to small stalks of wheat, they were connected at the base. Instead of yellow their kernels were a gunmetal grey and they sagged against their own weight. Valerie delicately plucked the plant from the ground and offered it towards Rasteva. “A token of our newfound companionship, a Silverthistle, I believe them to be largely extinct in my home realm, harvested by many civilizations as an easy source of metal,” he said, waited for Rasteva to accept the flower and then asked, “why don’t you remove your armor and make yourself comfortable, I’m sure we’ll be here for a while?”
“There,” Rasteva said and pointed off into the distance. Valerie squinted his eyes and follow the path of his companion’s finger. Ahead of them sat a series of mountains, grey leviathans scratching at the sky. But that was not what Rasteva meant to call attention to. Instead the being’s cyclopean eye had spotted a trail of smoke drifting upwards from what appeared to be a small cavern carved into the base of the mountains. Light spilled forth from the cavern, offering a shimmering beacon to all that would witness it. “We will head there to protect you from the storm,” Rasteva said.
“Splendid!” Valerie exclaimed.
Overhead snow began to fall in chilling sheets of white. Valerie shuddered as the wind and ice enveloped his vulnerable body. He found himself inadvertently edging behind Rasteva using them as a shield against the oncoming torrent of wind. The armored being trudged ever forth through deeper and deeper swathes of snow, seemingly oblivious to the worsening condition. Through the driving snow and ice the duo could still see their destination, now not much more than an ember behind a curtain of frost. Although they were not much farther than a stone’s throw the distance seemed insurmountable. The weather threatened to bury them beneath a mile of permafrost.
Valerie held out a shivering hand, it had picked up an alarming blue hue. From beneath his skin vines slithered and took form, poking their lethargic heads out through Val’s fingertips. They began to form a half-shell around the mage. His new safeguard protected him from the worst of the elements, blocking the chilling wind from attacking him. This took considerable energy to maintain, but it was more efficient than freezing to death. Val trundled behind Rasteva, stepping through the trench that the sentinel's large frame had left in its wake. After what seemed like an eternity the duo reached the mouth of the cavern.
Once inside they noticed that the light they had seen had been snuffed out. Wispy trails of smoke slithered from a dead campfire. Half-burned logs and bits of charcoal sat silent, no longer ablaze. Valerie stepped towards the arrangement of wood and crouched near it, his body still spasming from the cold. He held his hand close to the remains and found them to be cold. Something had extinguished the fire before they arrived. The cavern stretched onward into the darkness, it was hard to tell just how expansive it truly was. Val’s thoughts drifted back to the eldritch abomination that his friends and he had encountered whilst spelunking in a similar mountain range. Were there more monsters hiding beneath these mountains. If he wasn’t already shivering the thought would have made him shudder. At this point it didn’t matter, he was getting hypothermia and needed warmth. Rasteva unloaded its load and said to the crouched mage, “unfortunately I have no means by which to start a fire.”
“Not to worry,” Valerie said and once again held out his hand.
From the tip of his finger a small bulb, similar in size and shape to an acorn, sprouted. It was colored a bright orange with yellow splotches along its body. Valerie plucked the acorn from its stem and held it up between two fingers for Rasteva to see. “This is a seed from a Delugian Saltwood Tree, known colloquially as a ‘firesnap’” he said, standing up and taking a few steps back. Valerie threw the acorn at the clump of firewood. Upon impact that nut broke open and exploded, leaking an orange sap onto the wood. After a few moments the sap sizzled with the open air and caught fire. Valerie set to work using it to kindle a proper campfire. As he worked he spoke over his shoulder to Rasteva, “ingenious design to be honest with you, the Delugian Saltwood’s bark is all but impervious to flames and its sap uses minerals from the earth to form an incendiary compound that reacts with oxygen, it starts a fire that only its kin can survive, thus allowing it to propagate and thrive unopposed.”
“Interesting,” Rasteva answered, still keeping an eye upon Valerie.
The fire illuminated the cavern and it turned out to be quite small. Much to Valerie’s relief there were no tunnels that were potentially leading towards unimaginable horrors. Instead there were hundreds of pictograms and symbols carved into the cave walls, all of them written in a language that Valerie could not decipher. He payed the sigils little mind, he was just too damned tired at this point. Rasteva however seemed quite interested in them, pawing a hand across the walls. After a bit of investigation Rasteva turned their gaze back upon the mage and asked, “this one is curious, how are you able to summon plants like that?”
Valerie laughed, “as well, it’s in my blood I suppose you could say.” The mage bit the pad of his thumb until a bright green liquid dripped out. He held out his hand and let the blood drip onto the cold floor of the cavern. After a moment small shoots sprouted from the drops of blood, struggling to grow in such an inhospitable climate. The sprouts grew into something that looked similar to small stalks of wheat, they were connected at the base. Instead of yellow their kernels were a gunmetal grey and they sagged against their own weight. Valerie delicately plucked the plant from the ground and offered it towards Rasteva. “A token of our newfound companionship, a Silverthistle, I believe them to be largely extinct in my home realm, harvested by many civilizations as an easy source of metal,” he said, waited for Rasteva to accept the flower and then asked, “why don’t you remove your armor and make yourself comfortable, I’m sure we’ll be here for a while?”