03-14-2017, 05:42 PM
Brushing a sweaty curl of hair out from her face, Selena squinted against the veil of shadows that concealed the passage ahead of them from sight, a frustrated hiss of breath whistling through her teeth. As a person of half-elf blood, it was upsetting and confusing when her eyes weren’t of much use, playing tricks on her by twisting the most unremarkable gash in the wall into an enemy javelin or sword, poised to strike…
WHUMPH-PHOOM.
A sound like a freight train violently plunging through a tornado whistled over Selena’s head, followed almost immediately by cavernous rumbling. In an instant she had flattened herself and the nearest person— Jade, as it so happened, with Bec and Rebecca tagging along for the ride— against the wall to keep from being crushed. Near to her right, a falling slab of rock crumbled into rubble after smashing against the ground, an avalanche of stones dribbling over them.
Blinking up at her with wide green eyes from where she had partially curled around Rebecca to protect her from the worst of the crumbling ceiling, Jade’s mouth split into a buck-toothed grin. “Hey, nice save!”
“Whuff!” Becquerel agreed, shaking his pelt to rid himself of the dust.
“You’re welcome,” said Selena, a solemn nod backing the sincerity of her words. Turning, she saw Tell and Brandon assisting Amber to her feet further down the passage, the feline girl waving them off with a determined frown.
“No, seriously. I’m fine! Or I will be, once we get out of here. What are we standing around for, anyway? Let’s go!”
Once the dust had settled and everyone was accounted for, they quickly pressed on against the encroaching darkness and quaking ground. Starved of daylight as they were, most every thought was of the sun’s disc shimmering over the freshly-turned snow on the surface, frothy and glistening like the breakers of the sea— they absolutely had to get out.
In all truth, Selena was nervous as hell— and rightly so, too! For one, it was dark. So very, very dark that she had to reach up once or twice to ensure that her eyes were, in fact, wide open and blinking. She nearly leapt out of her skin at the brush of the white hound’s tail whapping against her legs! Sure, some people might say that the furthest reaches of the universe would be darker than a teensy-weensy little cave, but it was still one of the darkest places Selena had ever had the misfortune of seeing. Like, in the top 10 darkest places, at least.
This knowledge was made all the more arresting when one considered what actually went on in that deep, deep darkness, since they didn’t really know. Maybe, if they were really lucky, only eyeless creatures crept and crawled in the depths beneath— cave fish, wolf spiders, pale snails with only the ghostly wisps of shells curled on their backs— and also the writhing monstrosities waiting to thwart their passage in the dark. If not, however... well, nothing’s worse than the private horrors the mind can construct when there’s little to go off of, right?
They ran. Captain Tell had lost the torch he’d found somewhere else in the caverns, so like sightless moles burrowing through the earth they went along, fear in their bellies and hunger for sweet daylight in their minds. Stones both big and small took turns in pelting over their heads like freezing hail, as if flung by a dozen medieval trebuchets. To make matters worse, slick chippings of rock slid under their feet with every step, the shadows trickling like half-melted frost left over from the icy winter months in summertime, freezing in the tiny valleys and furrows in the walls where their fingers tried and failed to grasp the rock.
Selena frowned at the empty blackness, the sound of many feet pattering wetly in the dark swirling all around. It would be just her luck that she would slip in a puddle, trip headlong into a chasm, and then spend a week falling all the way down it, only to break her neck when she hit the bottom. There was one other person, however, who would be much more likely to do so, if his unfortunate track record was anything to go by…
She knew that Brandon was nearby, the sound of his boots thumping against the ground softer than Captain Tell’s heavy, drill-sergeant plodding, but also louder than the swift ‘pap’s made by the shoes of Jade, Amber, and Rebecca. The smell of him, too, was distinctive— reeking faintly of parchment and ink rather than hard labor and sweat. It was something to consider at another time, for sure, that she could recognize him by his scent alone.
“Stick close to me, sir astronomer,” Selena said, low enough that only Brandon might hear her words and know to heed them, as well. “Something tells me that we’re treading on thin ice, at the moment.”
“Thin ice!” the astronomer exclaimed, a fair bit more hysterical than he had any right to be. “Pitfalls, too, I’d imagine, full of sharpened spikes and venomous snakes!”
It was a pity that no one could see his face, for they would have undoubtedly appreciated the utterly gob smacked expression there. As it was, though, Selena simply tightened her grip on her dagger, conscious of the crossbow strapped to her back and how best to reach it in only a second’s time. “Maybe it is just as you say, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here. Those dwarven scoundrels are likely still alive… aye; they might have even been the ones to set off the blasts! Some attempt to suss us out—or, perhaps, to find a way in. Either way, keep your wits about you.”
There was a strange shifting of the air, wafting against her face. Then, “Oh, sorry. That was me. Nodding. It’s… very dark.”
Despite the trying circumstances, Selena had to stifle a snort of laughter. “Yes, it is.”
WHUMPH-PHOOM.
A sound like a freight train violently plunging through a tornado whistled over Selena’s head, followed almost immediately by cavernous rumbling. In an instant she had flattened herself and the nearest person— Jade, as it so happened, with Bec and Rebecca tagging along for the ride— against the wall to keep from being crushed. Near to her right, a falling slab of rock crumbled into rubble after smashing against the ground, an avalanche of stones dribbling over them.
Blinking up at her with wide green eyes from where she had partially curled around Rebecca to protect her from the worst of the crumbling ceiling, Jade’s mouth split into a buck-toothed grin. “Hey, nice save!”
“Whuff!” Becquerel agreed, shaking his pelt to rid himself of the dust.
“You’re welcome,” said Selena, a solemn nod backing the sincerity of her words. Turning, she saw Tell and Brandon assisting Amber to her feet further down the passage, the feline girl waving them off with a determined frown.
“No, seriously. I’m fine! Or I will be, once we get out of here. What are we standing around for, anyway? Let’s go!”
Once the dust had settled and everyone was accounted for, they quickly pressed on against the encroaching darkness and quaking ground. Starved of daylight as they were, most every thought was of the sun’s disc shimmering over the freshly-turned snow on the surface, frothy and glistening like the breakers of the sea— they absolutely had to get out.
In all truth, Selena was nervous as hell— and rightly so, too! For one, it was dark. So very, very dark that she had to reach up once or twice to ensure that her eyes were, in fact, wide open and blinking. She nearly leapt out of her skin at the brush of the white hound’s tail whapping against her legs! Sure, some people might say that the furthest reaches of the universe would be darker than a teensy-weensy little cave, but it was still one of the darkest places Selena had ever had the misfortune of seeing. Like, in the top 10 darkest places, at least.
This knowledge was made all the more arresting when one considered what actually went on in that deep, deep darkness, since they didn’t really know. Maybe, if they were really lucky, only eyeless creatures crept and crawled in the depths beneath— cave fish, wolf spiders, pale snails with only the ghostly wisps of shells curled on their backs— and also the writhing monstrosities waiting to thwart their passage in the dark. If not, however... well, nothing’s worse than the private horrors the mind can construct when there’s little to go off of, right?
They ran. Captain Tell had lost the torch he’d found somewhere else in the caverns, so like sightless moles burrowing through the earth they went along, fear in their bellies and hunger for sweet daylight in their minds. Stones both big and small took turns in pelting over their heads like freezing hail, as if flung by a dozen medieval trebuchets. To make matters worse, slick chippings of rock slid under their feet with every step, the shadows trickling like half-melted frost left over from the icy winter months in summertime, freezing in the tiny valleys and furrows in the walls where their fingers tried and failed to grasp the rock.
Selena frowned at the empty blackness, the sound of many feet pattering wetly in the dark swirling all around. It would be just her luck that she would slip in a puddle, trip headlong into a chasm, and then spend a week falling all the way down it, only to break her neck when she hit the bottom. There was one other person, however, who would be much more likely to do so, if his unfortunate track record was anything to go by…
She knew that Brandon was nearby, the sound of his boots thumping against the ground softer than Captain Tell’s heavy, drill-sergeant plodding, but also louder than the swift ‘pap’s made by the shoes of Jade, Amber, and Rebecca. The smell of him, too, was distinctive— reeking faintly of parchment and ink rather than hard labor and sweat. It was something to consider at another time, for sure, that she could recognize him by his scent alone.
“Stick close to me, sir astronomer,” Selena said, low enough that only Brandon might hear her words and know to heed them, as well. “Something tells me that we’re treading on thin ice, at the moment.”
“Thin ice!” the astronomer exclaimed, a fair bit more hysterical than he had any right to be. “Pitfalls, too, I’d imagine, full of sharpened spikes and venomous snakes!”
It was a pity that no one could see his face, for they would have undoubtedly appreciated the utterly gob smacked expression there. As it was, though, Selena simply tightened her grip on her dagger, conscious of the crossbow strapped to her back and how best to reach it in only a second’s time. “Maybe it is just as you say, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here. Those dwarven scoundrels are likely still alive… aye; they might have even been the ones to set off the blasts! Some attempt to suss us out—or, perhaps, to find a way in. Either way, keep your wits about you.”
There was a strange shifting of the air, wafting against her face. Then, “Oh, sorry. That was me. Nodding. It’s… very dark.”
Despite the trying circumstances, Selena had to stifle a snort of laughter. “Yes, it is.”
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