The Unassuming Cave

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Divided by the Slyscera Mountains, the northern frostbitten territory of Khy'eras is where the Dwarven city Domrhask was founded. Naturally, this area is difficult to navigate to due to surrounding geographical obstacles and weather. Read more...
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Shafiq
Character
the curator
Level
01
26 / 26 HP
18 / 18 MP
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Race: Dragon
Class: Physical
Posts: 2
Joined: November 13th, 2019, 6:57 pm
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The Unassuming Cave

Post by Shafiq »

Somewhere at the foot of the Slyscera Mountains there was a desert scorched by the sun and frosted by the moon. There overseeing the rugged inhospitable landscape opened a cave, the yawning maw of a sleeping beast with stalactite for teeth. No sign of life in its surroundings, no footprint going in or out, no claw or horn marking ownership of the basalt doorstep. The cavern opened with a dusty snaking pathway plagued by chattering vermin that would scream and flutter about intruders diligent as watch dogs and sometimes comparable in size.

Were one to get past them, however, and the signs of habitations become apparent. Right at the corner bend of the echoing tunnel there was another opening in the rock large enough to lead into the halls of a giant... and before it, a small green rug with the runic inscription:

"Velcommen"
Word count: 144
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Vanessa LaNore
Character
Seeker of Legends
Level
02
24 / 24 HP
21 / 21 MP
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Race: Fae and Human
Class: Bard and Summoner
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Joined: October 14th, 2019, 3:30 pm
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Re: The Unassuming Cave

Post by Vanessa LaNore »

Vanessa had paid quite a lot of money to travel this far into the wildlands. The Fae ranger she’d hired through her contacts had met up with her in Verdant Row was not cheap. He was also an overeager chatterbox and she wondered if that came free or was charged by the word. His name was Max and, while Vanessa enjoyed talking too often as much as any other bard worth their songs, she was almost certain she could have constructed his biography halfway through the airship ride to Domrhask. Thankfully he became blessedly serious as soon as they stepped out of airship landing area and mounted their mountain donkeys.

The slow trundling ride southwest into and along the Slycera Range was a boring and dangerous affair. Storms could come in at any moment and deadly monsters roamed the area. Max earned every copper of his very expensive fee using both magic and skill to navigate them safely. He’d been the one to recommend they wait for autumn when Vanessa had wished to depart in early summer. “Not worth getting crushed in a mudslide or dealing with the heat when we arrive,” Max had said in his letters. He'd added something about being easier to get warm than take off their skin.

Max had just begun to become talkative again when they spotted the first signs of the cave. Vanessa near lept from her mount at the sight. She drew them to a halt and summoned her illusory map. Flicking through the instructions and images she’d compiled from scattered tomes, third-hand stories, and even one supposed direct contractor of a being known only as the Curator. Finally she held in her palm a vista that matched what they currently saw. ‘Though perhaps a mile further south and a bit more distant,’ she mused as she rotated and resized the image to line up with their current position and distance. The distant cave, high above the sprawling desert, looked very much like someone had commissioned a great maw be carved into the mountainside.

Max watched Vanessa work with an amused grin. He'd already seen her display of magic to aid in their navigation a hand of times. The first time she’d brought an image to life he’d not stopped peppering her with questions until well after the embers of their fire died. She’d indulged the Fae by regaling him with her favorite beasts from the lands they would be traversing. When she dismissed the illusion he nodded to her and started towards the sharp switchbacks that would lead them up to the cave mouth.

Despite Vanessa’s eagerness to delve the depths Max insisted they make an early camp just inside the mouth. “There’s a lot of something smaller living in there, and we’re nowhere near our best right now. Rest Miss LaNore, and we can get dirty looking for your mythical entrance in the morning,” he said to her in his easy lilting voice. That night they rested nestled against the cave wall, only heavy blankets and closeness to warm them. Vanessa was used to such rugged sleep, but she still awoke in the middle of the night. She peered around the dark cave, her fire-like eyes glowing softly in the faint moonlight reflecting from the desert below. When no sounds beyond her closely nestled companion greeted her she wiggled back down into her blankets and lay her head back onto Max’s. As she drifted back of she mused about how amusing it was that Rangers had a habit of getting rather cuddly when they could do so without feeling pressured.

The dawn came brilliantly and Vanessa squinted awake to see Max looking out over the desert in clear wonder. She struggled out of their blankets and moved to join him before halting in awe as well. The entire desert floor scintillated like a massive jewel. A mix of frost and something in the sand reflected the light in a rainbow of colors as the early morning winds caused the landscape to shift in a shimmering sea. She summoned Kip immediately, certain she’d need to review this many times to truly capture the essence of what she was witnessing. It was beautiful in the way that love struck poets describe the subject of their pining. She grinned and pushed at Max’s shoulder gently when she felt Kip had captured enough of the imagery.

“I promise if this Curator is half of what they claim you’ll see even more interesting things inside,” she said, teasing him slightly in return for several night’s worth of his indulgent disbelief. Max simply shook his head and moved to pack up their gear, taking every opportunity to glance out at the distant sands. For her part, Vanessa pulled out the morning’s breakfast, dried meat, berries, and some mixed nuts, before dismissing and resummoning Kip. The process was important, if he ran out of energy, or was destroyed, he would lose everything he’d witnessed. If he was dismissed properly she could review his perfect memories later to create her illusory scenes.

They munched on the last of their breakfast in companionable silence as they moved down into the snaking pathway. The entire time they were verbally accosted by something that reminded her of bats, but much larger and more standoffish. Max remained on edge, his hands gripping the hilts of his swords, until they were well past the beasts. For her part, Vanessa simply observed and investigated without straying from her guardian. When they came to a corner Max halted abruptly and Vanessa had to scramble not to run him over.

“Script, runic, on a-” he said in fear that quickly turned into confusion.
“A welcome mat,” Vanessa finished, grinning at the neat little green text-bearing rug. “I think it says ‘Welcome’, but my runic isn’t my best language,” she said after several seconds of silence. “If that contact was correct we have arrived at the home of the Curator.” After several moments of contemplative silence Vanessa nudged Max. “Time to protect me valiantly, Sir Max,” she said as he frowned and stepped past the mat at her insistence.
Word count: 1039
User avatar
Shafiq
Character
the curator
Level
01
26 / 26 HP
18 / 18 MP
0p / 0g / 0s / 50c
Race: Dragon
Class: Physical
Posts: 2
Joined: November 13th, 2019, 6:57 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: The Unassuming Cave

Post by Shafiq »

As they crossed the doorway swords spears and shields polished to a mirror surface reflected the light of their torches back at them, an entire host of dwarf warriors stood at attention frozen as if awaiting orders from an unseen general.

Their visages had been timelessly preserved by their exquisite sutton hoo helmets, each face-plate carved and embossed in the likeness of the warrior that once wore it. The armor had been carefully oiled and protected from rust, but the pock-marked dents of morning stars had not been repaired as well as the short straight scars of axe bites and other such signs of real combat. Visible at the joints was the thick padding of leather and gambeson, these materials usually deteriorated rather quickly so the Curator with his eye for detail must have been tormented by the idea of merely propping up these old bearded bones with iron supports and had new padding suits commissioned for each and every one.

And there were hundreds, arranged in squads of thirty or so warriors; sword-wielding dwarves with their shining tower shields adorned with the head of a ram, pike dwarves holding their anti-cavalry spears high into the air, hammer dwarves, axe dwarves, and mounted on an ornate platform were a few crossbowdwarves with their heavy footcrank crossbows that would have instilled fear in the heart of even the most heavily armored knight.

Opposite to the dwarf exhibit was a gathering army of disparate creatures. Orcs, ogres, mammoths... At the center of the room was a stuffed wolf of prodigious size with an orc on its back brandishing a crude iron axe and a tattered hide shield decorated with cracked white paint. The orc was likewise stuffed, his face frozen in what surely must have been a blood curdling roar.

Above the warlord lingered a strange shadow, and if one were to look upwards there was the desiccated remains of a mummified bat that must have had a wingspan of at least forty feet. On its neck, nested between its hunched back and its massive fanged head was a wooden box where a crew of skeletal goblins froze while in attendance to various sky faring tasks including one that appeared to be loading itself into a cannon.

"Fascinating is it not?" Rumbled a voice so deep and potent it could have belonged to the mountain itself. "Sometimes we hold reenactments on Sundays."
Word count: 400
User avatar
Vanessa LaNore
Character
Seeker of Legends
Level
02
24 / 24 HP
21 / 21 MP
0p / 0g / 0s / 60c
Race: Fae and Human
Class: Bard and Summoner
Posts: 99
Joined: October 14th, 2019, 3:30 pm
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: The Unassuming Cave

Post by Vanessa LaNore »

Max did not like any of what they were seeing. Something had taken and stuffed a lot of very strong and very dangerous creatures and then posed them. He was certain they were about to be eaten by a wyrm or overrun by a giant spider woman like in the nightmarish tales they told.

Vanessa was having trouble deciding where to look. She had Kip zipping about frantically, capturing the details and features. It wasn’t often she got to see the outcast dwarves up close still in one piece.

When the voice came rumbling out the pair froze, Max reaching for his swords and Vanessa tensing her will around Druvask’s summoning tether. Then Vanessa’s thoughts caught up to what had actually been said. She held out a hand to Max and straightened herself back up.

“They are amazingly maintained. I would love to see one of these reenactments some day," she said, speaking into the open air in a projected not-quite shout, before bowing slightly. "Pardon my manners, I am Vanessa LaNore, scholar, researcher, and lover of beasts legendary, mythical, and fabulous. This is my hired and well-meaning friend Max,” Vanessa added, motioning to Max who still kept the hilts of his blades in a white knuckle grip . “We came here, seeking an audience with one known as the Curator. I have a piece I believe they might be interested in, and wanted a chance to perhaps see some of the collection.”

If whatever guarded this place was hostile, and simply toying with them, there wasn’t much she could do. She hadn’t released her will’s grip yet though. She would not be taken without a fight if it came to that.
Word count: 287
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