TWO WEEKS AGO

“H-Hello, is there anyone who would be willing to ta- guide me through the mountains? The Dragon’s Spine?” The Birds Perch was a cozy place, and the irony in me, or any other avian staying here, was not lost to me. The woman at the counter had looked at me like I was crazy.

“No.”

I smiled sheepishly “I-I should probably-”

“Get going as soon as dawn breaks? Yes, the Dragon’s Spine is no place for a..” She waved in my general direction “fluffy one like you.”

I frowned internally. I was a literal Snowy Owl hybrid, I was built for the harsh cold. “I-I understand your concern ma’am, which is why I’m looking for a guide. Unless there’s no-one willing to?”

She opened her mouth, no doubt to give me another harsh rebuttal before closing it and opening it again.

“Do you have anything worth an ounce of gold?” I almost gagged. I've traded some pretty valuable information, but it very scarcely ever had that high of a price. Then again, this was an incredibly risky operation, haggling was standard, and all things considered it was reasonable. Only problem was that I didn't even have a quarter of that. Even though I had tradable information, it wouldn’t be worth much in such a hermited village.

“...Eighth of an ounce”

She shook her head “Forget it. But”, she leaned in “If you can do this, I’ll even throw in some rations.” Wooh, I had thought that’s gotta be some task. She walked over to the public announcement board, ripped it off and handed it to me. “A life for a life” she said “save them, and you can probably convince one of them to guide you. We’re gonna try to get a team out there in two weeks”

---

So here I am now, with a guide from the village, and two others, hiking our way through to the Dragon Spine mine site, debating on the best way to break the ice.

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Fugitive's Cloak

Xalmann walked along with the group toward the mine in the Dragon Spine mountains. He had been asked by the people of the village he was resting in to help rescue the miners. They told him that there had been an earthquake while they were in the mountains, mining. An avalanche had buried the mine in snow and ice and who knows what kind of cave-ins or tunnel collapses may have happened that they couldn't see past all the snow.

They had seen him melting a path in the snow as he entered the village and knew he had some control over fire. He would be perfect for the task of getting through the frozen ice and snow. After that, he didn't really know what he might be able to do to help. He was decently strong, but he doubted he could help clear a collapsed tunnel. But, he wasn't the only one that was sent to help. Perhaps that part would be the job of one of the other two who had been sent with him.

It seemed none of the three were exactly sure on who the others were or their purposes for being sent. Perhaps none of them had a specific purpose, just being sent by desperate people to save their loved ones. Xalmann had only agreed to do this because of their desperate pleading. And the pay didn't hurt.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Locate the Mine
Chapter: One
Description: A group of miners have buried under the mountains in the attempt to discover riches. However a set of tremors have recently caused the mine to collapse and bury the miners. We need you to locate the mine which has been collapsed. This may require you to dig through the earth or follow the tunnel they had first carved. However been warned, that area is extremely dangerous and volatile now. Rock slides, tunnel collapses and cave ins are very likely to occur.
Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify they will not gain the reward. )
- You must make at least 5 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
- Must locate the area of the cave in
- Must encounter an environmental hazard such as a cave in or rock slide
- Once you complete this mission you gain access to chapter two. (which needs to be a separate topic)

Iona was beside the lizard man while holding her massive sword. It was sheathed as there was no enemy any her. Though her bones begged for a challenge. Maybe she was the strongest here as she was 9ft tall and weighed more than anyone here. In truth, Iona was only here for the page and the potential reputation she will get from it. She turned to Xalmann and looked down at him." So why you took this job? I did this for the pay and for the clout it will give me. Maybe I will get a peasant girl to drink with me." Iona said as a half joke but she was a princess not a comedian.

       The giantess was the one to open the conversation with the lizard folkman, and so I was content to simply introduce myself to our half-dwarf guide before keeping quiet. We exchanged greetings and I tried making small talk about the the mission and himself, but it seemed to make him a uncomfortable, so I dropped it. His name was Alex, and came off as closed off and with a 'no funny business' kind of attitude, but I wasn't sure if that was his actual personality, of the weight of the mission making him nervous and sharp. I ended up listening to the conversation going on behind us.
   
         Everybody does jobs for the pay, but fame for a small job like this? The stories will fly around the few towns here for a few months before everybody forgets. Though the families will definitely remember, so it’s a good start to a more devoted base of influence. Personally I would’ve picked something off the bulletin of a bigger city, but maybe she wants to build up? Why does she want the fame? Is it sheer naivete or is it greed? Or something bigger? Snow, don’t get ahead of yourself, look at what you know, I thought to myself.

---

Fugitive's Cloak

Xalmann wasn't much for conversation, trying to head the warnings of their guide. He mostly just answered questions with shakes or nods of his head, grunting quietly on occasion.

The three walked along a trail on the side of the mountain until Alex, their Half-Dwarven guide, stopped them with a raised hand and turned around. They had been warned not to make too much noise or they may cause another avalanche to come down on top of them. An avalanche on these mountains could be quite deadly. Even if the force of the snow and ice hitting you didn't kill you, you could suffocate from being buried in it and unable to dig yourself out, unable to tell which way is up and down after being tossed around in the avalanche. The group surely wanted to avoid that.

Lead by Alex to the correct spot, Xalmann gave a nod to the Half-Dwarf before getting to work. His body began to heat up, his scales glowing like forged metal. He reached his hands forward and began melting a tunnel through the snow and ice, taking his time and moving slowly to avoid the snow collapsing on top of him and undoing his progress. The melted snow quickly refroze behind him once he was far enough that his fiery aura no longer reached, forming a thin layer of solid ice that reinforced the tunnel.

After about an hour, Xalmann finally broke through the snow and ice into a tunnel inside the mountain. They could finally see into the mine. He continued clearing away ice and snow until there was a large enough entrance for the giant woman to crawl through. It would have taken much longer and been more dangerous to make a tunnel she could walk into, so she would have to put up with this much. Once the tunnel was open, he turned back and beckoned the others to enter with him.

Now the group just had to worry about any cave-ins and tunnel collapses that might be deeper inside the mine. Hopefully the other two would have tricks up their sleeves to handle those.

Iona looked at the dwarf and the lizard man although she was a bit disappointed at his lack of words. Did this lizard Have no tongue, did she smell or was this lizard person afraid of no. She was a good princess, she didn't abuse her power and she thought she was pretyy nice. Nevertheless she shook her head to get her head back into reality and placed in her hooded coat. The coat was a bit unnecessary as she was a giant and she could handle a little cold. However, the coat was so warm and comfortable. Iona had magic up her sleeve, if there was ever a cave in or collapse, she could use her immense strength to destroy the blockage. It was probably a reason why she wad accepted." Thank you lizard," she said as she patted him softly on his scale lying back.

Searching the walls for any gems, she would pluck some if there were any or any ingredients. It never hurt to have something to sell or to brew.

    The Lizardman slowly melted away the snow, forming an archway of ice as the water froze to the shape of the cave opening. “Thanks…for opening up the tunnel… ” I waited for him to give his name. After getting his reply I continued, seizing this opportunity to finally break the ice. “You guys can call me Shun, and you are…?” I asked, turning to the giantess.



    Introductions and snow finally out of the way, the four of us head into the cave. It was pretty standard as far as arctic caves go. Cold, rough walls, a well trodden path going into the cave smoothing the stone straight down the middle of the walkway. Above us was a litany of stalactites and icicles, the walls, patterned with the irregular pattern of the rock catching water, creating a mural of ice and shadows, shadow cast by the light of the torch that Alex had brought out. He guided us through the caves, telling us of the hazards and what he knew about the caves in a low voice “‘E’ve been minin’ these caves for geeenerations. ‘Ek I used ta vurk ‘em.” We continued walking steadily down into the mine shafts. “Dis ‘uns typic’lly not problematic, but it happens. Keep quiet and pray to Ginma is what we do, and the goddess lets us take our share of iron and garnets. Most of the time. When She gets mad She lets us know.” he gave a dry little chuckle. I just gave a polite smile. We turned at one more fork in the road before we saw what had kept the miners from coming up- foot wide fissures in the walls and ground, and a chunk of the floor of the tunnel had come up, to kiss the stalactites on the ceiling, making it impossible to pass. From the other side, we could hear the muffled sound of pickaxes, carefully making their way through the rock

Xalmann didn't like being called a lizard and especially didn't like being patted on the back. He gave a glare to Iona and moved away from her, his arms crossed. He didn't think he'd get along before because of how much the giant woman had talked on the way here, but now he knew they wouldn't. She was just lucky he'd stopped using his fire magic once the snow and ice was cleared. If not, she would probably have burnt her hand on his scales.

He didn't give a response after being thanked for removing the snow by Shun except for a slight nod. He only gave his name after she actually asked for it, and his response was brief. At least she seemed a bit easier to get along with than Iona.

"Xalmann" he replied quietly.

He hoped that would be enough of an introduction for them both. He followed them into the mine. His part in melting the ice was done, but he would still see this through to the end, and the end of this mission was to rescue the trapped miners. If he just left now, he'd have no idea if his help had amounted to nothing. He was mostly relying on the others now for them to do their parts in the rescue operation.

He looked at Iona, the giantess, expecting her to now do her part in this mission.

I nodded at Xalmann's introduction. Brief was one was to describe it, some others might say it was clipped. I think I need to get to know him better before I make a judgement about him, but a little stand- offish was my first impression. The dwarf made his way across the broken ground with surprising nobleness for his stature. "Follow careful now," he advised to the three of us who were following behind "Rock migh' be hard, but it's also brittle- a wrong step, and you're slidin' right down to Ginma's cradle. That being said," his eyes slid to look beyond me, and I turned to look at the giantess. " You can' really follow us beyon' dis point… We don' have many of yer folk around these parts, so we didn't think to consider the different…challenges that woul' be on dis journey when we wrote up the request…". We all ended up deciding that there wasn't much point to her staying it she couldn't go any further into the cave, and so she turned to go back. Now we- one dwarf, one hybrid, and one lizard man faced a of stone. We could hear the clink of the pickaxes working at the stone from the otherside much more clearly now, along with voices.

"It's Alex, with some hires" called our guide "Is everyone alright over there?"

"We're okay, aside from some bumps and scratches, but we're out of provisions" replied a feminine voice, slightly distorted by cave. 

I murmured to Xalmann. "What do you think? I could probably climb up there with a pickaxe and wiggle my way to the other side, but coming back would be an issue, considering I'll be taking people with me."

"Hmm." Xalmann looked at the stone wall, considering the group's options. He'd expected the giantess to be able to help with this part, but the brittle floor of the cave had made that an impossibility. This wouldn't be as easy a job as he'd hoped. The gap at the top of the cave-in wasn't huge. It might barely be large enough for the smaller Shun, but the broad shouldered Lizardman definitely wasn't going to fit, and neither would their stocky Dwarven guide. If that was the only way in, she'd be going alone, and who knew if she could even get them back out from there?

But, there was something that might work. The floor being brittle gave him an idea. If they could collapse the ground beneath the cave-in, it'd be much easier to throw a rope and get everyone over the gap than it would be to try and mine all of this rock away. They just needed to figure out how to do that without falling down with it. Xalmann also needed to figure out how to share this plan with everyone when he could barely speak the common language.

He Shook his head and then pointed to the ground below the rock pile blocking their way and looked to the guide.

"Send the wall down... to Ginma's cradle." He hissed, hoping the guide would get his meaning from his repeating the man's own words.

I'm sceptical of the idea- we don't know how the rock will break, or how far we'll fall if it does. Unforunately, I couldn't think of a better idea. Alex started to tap ground, and inspect the rock itself. "Ol' Perci, ye heard the guy? Ye think vee can do zis?" he called over the wall of stone. There were some thinking noises of metal against stone that resonated through the gap before a weathered voice called back "yeh," then we heard, slightly more muffled "y'all take some ten paces back though". Alex turned around to us. "Vee should be fine, 'cuz d'fizzure's on our side" he told us, before getting to work, freeing the rock from the wall, being careful not to fall in. I couldn't really do anything but worry, staying close to Alex and readying my wings to catch the people on the other side just in case the rock took some of them down with it. I stayed quiet to let the two miners focus. This went for some five minutes before the miner on the other side- Percy- let out a quiet explitive.

The rock wall trembled and a thundering crack resonated through the tunnel,

"GET BACK!" Percy yelled, but it was too late. The rock beneath our feet burst in a spider web of cracks and we went down with it.

The rock cracked and a low rumble echoed through the cavern and suddenly the ground dropped out below them all. The cave-in had indeed fallen through the ground, no longer obstructing their path, but now there was no path left to obstruct. The whole floor had given way and everyone tumbled down along with it.

The pile of rocks thankfully fell faster than all of the miners and their attempted rescuers, so it didn't threaten to crush them all upon landing wherever the bottom of this crevice proved to be, but more rocks fell above them after cracking and breaking off of the walls and ceiling.

Xalmann smacked away rocks with the flat of his axe and with swipes of his tail, keeping himself from being battered by the falling debris. He kept an eye out, trying to spot something he could use to stop his fall. The others were falling around him as well, but his first priority was surviving this himself. Not getting paid was better than dying.

He couldn't spot anything to help him, and his axes couldn't sink far enough into the wall to stop his fall even if he was able to manage getting close enough to try. With how fast they were all falling, the axe might even have just been wrenched form his grasp anyways. It looked hopeless.

Then he suddenly heard a huge splash below him as the pile of rocks had fallen into what must have been a huge underground lake. Maybe they'd all survive this after all. He braced himself for the impact, putting his feet together and his arms up. He pierced into the water rather than smacking into it painfully.

A lot of the falling miners, however, bellyflopped onto the water with loud smacks. At least it was obvious from the groans of pain that they'd survived.