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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Sept 22, 2022 22:34:33 GMT -5
{ SOME DAYS PRIOR, IN ZEINAV DESERT... }
The chill of a desert night sets in upon a merchant's caravan; a soft buzz of activity stirs around a campfire in The Oasis as the travelers settle down for the night. Laughter rises from over the dancing embers of the crackling flames. Up above, the sky is clear; Lunala smiles down upon them bright and full. Humanoids and beings of great diversity sit amongst the caravan; halflings, humans, elves, and dwarves to name only a few.
Some, like Orym the elder halfling, have nestled up by the campfire closest to the warmth to rest. Others sit on the backs of the wagons to converse and chat farther from the warmth of the fire, with blankets tossed about their shoulders. Others still have settled in for the night, including a young boy and his mother— who occasionally sticks her head out the back of one wagon to hush the nearest rabble-rousers. Some have wandered from the caravan altogether, for a walk or a brief exploration of the nearby surroundings. It's a cheerful, celebratory atmosphere on this night, for no particular reason; it's always a bit like this, as the caravan is a family.
A chilly gale interrupts, sweeping across the sands and lush greenery of The Oasis; and amongst those sitting by the campfire, Leni-Aura opens her eyes suddenly in a flutter of blinks after dozing into the late night. She rubs at her eyes, furrowing her brows as she mutters incoherently beneath her breath; she's uncertain how long she's been nodding off.
Voices begin to drift in; Orym, sitting nearby, seems to be in the middle of telling a story; or, maybe listening to one. She can't tell. He's laughing good naturedly, talking to the young man in spectacles sitting across the campfire who, much to Leni-Aura's personal disdain, had recently begun to travel with their caravan. She hopes that Ulrich can hear her rolling her eyes while Orym addresses him by name.
The elder halfling seems to be quite fond of their new traveling companion— however temporary his company may be— which only irks her further. Compared to the first night they met, however, Leni-Aura has made significant improvements in tolerating his presence.
She has only tried to stab him a few times since then. Unsuccessfully; but, she is now convinced moreso than ever that he has eyes in the back of his head.
"Tell me, Ulrich— have you ever been to the Dragon's Cradle?" the old man asks, his hands folded over the top of his cane. The rabbitaur's ears perk when he mentions her homeland. "For a land with so much unpredictable weather, they have the most interesting plants. The hardiest, too!" The halfling rubs his chin thoughtfully; he is an herbalist, which is probably why he's talking the young man's ears off about random plants, she imagines. "Why, the wind nearly blew me away once on my way to the Frost Gale! I grabbed hold of what I thought was a young sapling, fully expecting it to tear away, but it turned out to be... ah... what was it called..."
He purses his lips, brows furrowing while he thinks; Alara, a blonde elf woman sitting cross-legged in the sand nearby interjects. "Stoneroot, Orym?" she asks, stirring a small cup of tea with gentle clinks as a distant laugh erupts from somewhere near one of the wagons behind her.
The old halfling slaps his knee, "That's the one! Yes, it was a Stoneroot Pine! Scrawny little thing, barely as thick as my wrist— but their large root system latches to multiple stones beneath the earth, which is how they remain so sturdy in the insane weather of the Cradle. They can withstand the most wild gusts! Very hardy against the chill, too! It's fascinating how plants can evolve based on their surroundings, isn't it?"
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Sept 27, 2022 12:42:13 GMT -5
Ulrich listened to Orym tell his story, laughing along with the halfling when Alara answered for him. Ulrich hand came up to his chin in contemplation.
"Yes, I have been to Dragon's Cradle a couple of times during my travels. I remember having to "talk" my way out of a certain situation. As you can probably deduce, it was not a nice conversation." Ulrich flashed a smile to the others around.
"It's fascinating how plants can evolve based on their surroundings, isn't it?"
Ulrich nodded in agreement, "Not unlike the peoples of every region adapting to their surroundings. It may take a long time to adjust to new things, but it does happen. Though, I cannot recall if I've ever heard of Stoneroot Pine!"
Ulrich pulled out his journal, turning to a fresh blank page. Taking note of the aforementioned plant, "That is going into the notes. You never know, the information may come in handy later on!" He furiously wrote and scribbled onto the page as the conversation went on.
While the others chatted around them, the noise seemed to drown out until only the sounds of the winds moved through the camp to Ulrich. There was another mention of Dragon's Cradle, and a gale of wind blew through the camp at the name. Ulrich perked up at the sensation, hairs rising on his arms, a shiver traveling up his spine. He glanced at Leni-Aura as she surely would have felt that as well.
A hint, a whisper... The duo's path would lead into Dragon's Cradle.
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Oct 10, 2022 0:16:34 GMT -5
Leni-Aura rolls her eyes as warm and friendly laughter resounds in the lush environment of the Oasis, then leans her head against her spear and closes her eyes again. They speak of her homeland, so naturally... she listens with a vague interest to the conversation. Orym laughs heartily as Ulrich tells a small tale of one of his travels to the Dragon's Cradle. "My, it doesn't sound like much talking was really done then, was it?" he muses, but the mood is preserved by Ulrich's warm smile. He nods his head as Ulrich continues. "Very true, isn't it? Perhaps we and the plants are more alike than we might come to think, hm?"
This time, Alara rolls her eyes; but there's a fond smile on her face, even as she lifts her tea-cup to her lips.
"Oh, it is a wondrous thing! It makes you wonder how the plant, and all the subsequent plants after it knew..."
Leni-Aura's ears perk as the chilly gales of the Zeinavian night sweep through the camp; the young woman opens her eyes, but does not move her head. The words of those around are like they're spoken underwater; Orym's laugh is muted and faded, but she hears him say, Dragon's Cradle. The wind picks up, ruffling Leni-Aura's hair and fur; she feels her hackles raise, a tingling sensation in her paws with the atmosphere.
She looks up, meeting Ulrich's gaze with a knowing, but somewhat grim expression.
{CURRENT...}
The gale howls in Dragon's Cradle.
Lightning cracks overhead, followed by the low groan of thunder; Leni-Aura feels its vibrations beneath the pads of her paws. It is a nostalgic feeling, to be back in the Dragon's Cradle; but it is one which fills her with nerves, as well— so she has made clear, with her many snaps and complaints to the man traveling with her about the legitimacy of the feeling she'd had that night. "... If my people were to catch me here, I would be as good as dead." she bemoans, flexing her fingers against the haft of her spear as she bounds along next to Ulrich.
She's been in a bad mood since they broke off from the caravan, but that is perhaps to be expected by now.
As the duo scale up the slope of the Dragon's Spine's many slights, they come to a small cliff-side; the path continues further up, but Leni-Aura hops to the edge, anyways. Her land is vast and dull; she can see the crevices, the cracks, and the sand turned glass beneath lightning strikes.
It is damaged, so damaged, by the eternal storm.
"After taking me from here, why would she bring me back?" she mutters, closing her eyes as the wind blows through from the distant clouds. There's something comforting about it; carrying the scent of rain and storm; the smell of home she's very familiar with.
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Oct 14, 2022 14:16:21 GMT -5
As Leni ponders to herself Ulrich almost silently appeared beside her. She's taking in the surroundings of her home land— something he would do himself were they to find themselves in the plains of King's Valley.
He takes in a long breath through his nose and softly exhales out so that he wouldn't disturb her thoughts. He looks towards the storm clouds— that are now— not that far above them. He gives a quiet chuckle as he put his hand on his dagger, as if someone had told him a joke of some sort.
"Avasha sometimes guides us to places we think we shouldn't be. In the grand scheme of things, though, we are right where we need to be. Now, the only thing we need to do...is to fig-"
He was cut off by the sudden raising of the hairs all around his body. A faint electric charge felt in the air, quickly surging stronger. What happened next was no doubt the hint, the whisper, they were looking for in the middle of all the raging winds. A sudden howling gale swept through the duo, followed by numerous tremors resonating from within the mountain.
He quickly looks up the path continuing above them. His eyes narrow as something in his gut tells him that they need to go.
"The mountain... It's something about the mountain that she wants us to see. Something she wants us to find, maybe?"
He turns back to Leni, a serious and knowing look now on his face.
"We must go."
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Oct 17, 2022 22:16:02 GMT -5
Leni-Aura turns her head to look at Ulrich when he chuckles, a slight frown creasing her lips as he approaches quietly beside her.
Weirdo.
The rabbit breathes a sigh, drowned out by the whistle of the wind; and she crosses her arms over her chest, tilting the weight of her body to the right as she looks back out across the plains. “ I don’t just think I shouldn’t be here. I know I shouldn’t be here.” she objects; the rabbit tilts her ears back, narrowing her eyes at the fields. She opens her mouth, about to respond further, when she stops in her tracks— electricity scatters through the air, surging between the two. She feels the fur along her spine rising as the charge intensifies. Suddenly, the wind buffets her hair and fur— howling in a way that makes the hair on her neck rise— and draws forth painful nostalgia of home. The earth trembles beneath her paws, and Leni-Aura turns quickly to look towards the source of the tremors… the very same path in which they were continuing on. The same path in which the wind blows loose strands of her hair towards as she looks after Avasha’s hushed whispers. She turns, shuffling her paws carefully on the cliff-side, to avoid disturbing the rock face. “ Well, then we go.” she agrees, swinging the blunt of her spear unexpectedly at Ulrich’s back to usher him along; she misses, but she moves past him anyways. “ Tread carefully. If there are tremors, then the cliff face will be more dangerous than usual… Landslides, sulfur pits opening, and the like… those are all quite common, here.” She has seen it more times than she could count. She hops forwards, leading their charge up the mountainside; small rocks and pebbles trickle off the cliff, displaced by paws and boots… and as they begin their climb, the wind follows. A breeze brushes past the duo— gentler than the last— as though pleased in their decision to move forth after her first direction.
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Oct 23, 2022 22:35:03 GMT -5
The pair climb up the mountain, guided by the gentle wind at their backs. He knew they were on the right path. Their climb up the mountain becoming increasingly more treacherous with each passing minute. There were times when they'd stopped to listen to the sound of various rocks falling from above them. Leni warned of the land slides, and with the tremors currently rocking the mountain, Ulrich was keen on being careful. Especially since Leni-Aura was with him! He hadn't taught her the basics of flight— a very useful skill of the Sky Domain— and it was a skill that would be very helpful in the event of a land slide.
He could breath a sigh of relief when the path before them started to even out into a sort of clearing on the mountainside. Although, that relief was short lived. There was a team of miners waiting there at the clearing. They were in a state of disarray— a panicking mob of various different species— running around and yelling at each other. Ulrich spotted of few of them making their way out of a tunnel hurriedly. Their clothes and gear were absolutely filthy— which was not a surprising fact, given that they were miners— but they were covered in soot. There had been some kind of accident within the mines that they work.
Ulrich spared a look to Leni next to him, and with a quick nod, he rushed forth to give any kind of assistance he could.
He rushed forward to lend a hand to some of the miners that had just made their way out of the tunnel. Picking one up and holding his arm around his neck, picking him up by the waist with his free hand. Another miner motioned Ulrich over so that he could check the man he'd just helped.
"Oi! Who're you?! Never seen you lot around here before!" A big burly man with a beard said to Ulrich. From the looks of it he was the foreman here.
"Just some concerned citizens who happened to be traveling on the mountain." Ulrich set the man down on the ground so that he could be medically inspected. "What's going on? What were those tremors?"
The Foreman was inspecting the other miner hurriedly, "Looks to me like the initial tremor came from an explosion within the mine! We're covered in soot and that smoke coming out of the tunnel entrance isn't just dust from the earth rock!" He points to the entrance behind Ulrich.
Ulrich quickly glances back over his shoulder towards the entrance. The Foreman was correct. The black clouds emanating from the entrance wasn't just dust.
"We've already sent word that there's been a problem within the mine, but who knows how long it would take for them to get up here and help!" The voice sounded from in front of Ulrich which causes him to return his attention to the man.
"The two of us can provide any kind of help here on the outsi-" Before Ulrich could finish, another tremor struck the mountain from within.
A chill then ran up his spine. He went wide eyed, his expression a bit distant as everything around him went silent. As the tremor finished, a strong gust of wind came forth, blowing into the entrance of the tunnel. Ulrich slowly stood up, half turning, his eyes fixed on the entrance.
Avasha meant for the duo to travel into the mountain.
You have got to be kidding me... Ulrich thought as the chill spread throughout his entire body.
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Oct 29, 2022 0:16:23 GMT -5
Ulrich has a confidence that she does not; his faith in the wind is almost reckless in nature… she would be impressed if it weren’t so annoying. Rocks tumble away from Leni-Aura’s stepping paws as she follows Ulrich up the slope; the wind buffets her braid and carries with it the scent of rain, and the feeling of nostalgia. She should be the one to point out the sound of falling rock, or the sound of skittering pebbles; but Ulrich is, annoyingly, a step ahead of her. She feels distracted by the sights and smells of her homeland, though; and while Ulrich stops her to listen to the sound of falling rocks, Leni-Aura distantly wonders how her mother is faring after her exile. She hopes she is okay. As they pick up again, she closes her eyes and takes a breath to avoid becoming overwhelmed; she is not worried about the terrain, despite her warning to Ulrich earlier. This is her natural habitat, after all. It isn’t long before the path begins to even out into a clearing; and as the miners come into view, Leni-Aura is able to pull herself from her unusually quiet place beside Ulrich. The man looks back at her and nods; and Leni-Aura bounds after him, then past him. “ What has happened?” she asks as she circles around a creature that looks like a Kobold; the small lizard is dazed, tail caught under a rock. “ Tremor.” it answers in a voice which sounds small, it winces as Leni-Aura jams her spear beneath the rock, and uses it as leverage to lift it off the Kobold’s tail. It crawls forwards, pulling its broken tail around its legs. “ It happened so suddenly, like an explosion.” As she offers a hand to the kobold, her ears flick back to listen to Ulrich’s conversation with one of the other miners… An explosion. She tries to think about what could have caused it. “ No explosives?” “ What?” “ In the mine; no explosives were used?” The Kobold holds its side as she helps it up, shaking its head. “ Of course not!” Sulfur pit, maybe? She frowns; the miners murmur in concerned tones to one another. She releases the kobold once it’s on its feet, and it drags itself and its broken tail closeby a dwarf, resting on a rock nearby. She looks to Ulrich as he speaks— and then the earth shakes. “Brace!” Miners scatter and scramble for something sturdy as rocks topple and skirt across the ground; Leni-Aura sinks her claws into the earth, ears flattening as the tremor slows… and then, the wind blows. Leni-Aura hesitates. She looks to Ulrich, as though seeking an explanation; but he looks horrified by the implications, which… She looks into the mine, spewing dust and smoke from its gaping maw. She takes a slow breath; the smoke is acrid and sharp in her lungs; and without looking at him again, she moves forwards. The rabbitaur pauses in front of the dark, billowing smoke; inside, the gaping maw is dark. The smoke burns her eyes.
But the wind blows again; strong and certain; and Leni-Aura offers him a look over her shoulder.
She is less certain.
“ Are you coming?”
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Nov 1, 2022 13:09:09 GMT -5
Ulrich watches as Leni approaches the entrance of the mine. The dust and smoke billowing into the air above them. He is hesitant to even walk over. He'd never ventured into a dangerous mine like this— let alone, travel into one on one of Avasha's whispers. He didn't know if he would be prepared for this.
Then the wind blows again— as if Avasha is reaffirming to the both of them that they, indeed, have to go into the mine.
Ulrich nods his head and he catches Leni's glance over her shoulder to him.
"Yes, of course."
As he starts for the entrance to join with Leni, a concerned voice sounds from behind.
"Oi! What in the Solaria's name are you doing?! I just told you lot what happened in there! It's too dangerous!"
Ulrich half turns back on his foot. The foreman has a concerned look on his face.
"Are you two stark raving mad?!"
Ulrich offers the man a slight smile. "You could say so. There are men still trapped in there, and they are the ones that need the most help right now. Help out here will come soon, I'm sure. We'll get your men out of that mine." He then turns back towards the entrance of the mine to join Leni.
The Foreman is left with a bewildered look as he watches the two discuss and step into the darkness of the mine.
Ulrich arrives next to Leni, a serious look on his face as he stares into the darkness of the mine.
"Shall we go then?"
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Nov 5, 2022 0:52:04 GMT -5
Leni-Aura watches Ulrich from the entrance of the mine; the smoke is acrid— sharp— and the new damage causes slight aftershocks. She feels the earth tremble beneath her paws; the foreman objects to their attempt to enter the mine, but Ulrich turns back to him.
She furrows her brows sharply at the foreman’s insult, opening her mouth to snap at him when her mentor beats her to it. A flurry of halfling insults die on her tongue before they can escape; she quiets, but still leers at the foreman from behind Ulrich. Her eyes flick between him and the electromancer; how is he able to keep his cool when so blatantly insulted?
It’s one of the few many things she doesn’t quite understand about him; she would let that guy have it.
She breathes an exhale through her nose, looking away as Ulrich turns to head towards her at the entrance to the mine. “Mm.” she agrees, peeking at him from the corner of one eye; she does not want to be the one to hesitate between them, so she steps forwards into the darkness. “We should go.”
Smoke fills the mine as they enter; aftershocks rumble the earth— and Leni-Aura stops moving for just a moment to let it pass. She listens to the trickle of pebbles, the clack of rocks as they loosen from the wall and skitter across the stone floor. “Naas sa pa…” (This is bad…) she murmurs beneath her breath. She tests the ground ahead of her for stability, before continuing forwards.
She’s long-since begun covering her mouth with a bit of fabric from her armour as she goes; it doesn’t really help her stop inhaling smoke in the long run— but it’s something. “Where does the smoke come from without fire? A sulfur pit?” she bemoans, narrowing her eyes against the stinging cloud of gray.
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Nov 15, 2022 14:08:32 GMT -5
The two of them had trekked further into the mine now, further into the unknown darkness of smoke and earth. In his years of travelling, this was a first for Ulrich. He'd never found himself walking into a mine attempting to save people from a collapse. It seemed, though, that Leni had experience with this sort of thing. Well, that was his assumption, anyway. So he let her take the lead.
The mountain is struck, yet again, with another flurry of tremors. What was making the mountain stir like this? What did these miners do?
"I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we can find that answer when we locate the trapped miners."
They'd dragged themselves further along. The smoke slowly became harsher as they went on, and now they faced another predicament. A massive pile of rocks blocked their path, preventing them from going any further into the mine. Through the holes in between the dark smoke slithered it's way through onto their side of the pile.
Ulrich coughs, batting the smoke away as if that would be any help. He turns to Leni who was just next to him.
"Well, it would seem we cannot go any further. Though, the question posed here is, 'Should we go any further?'" He turns back to the rocks blocking their path. "If we choose to move these rocks, there is a very high chance that we'll get buried alive in here!"
He put a hand on the pile, breathing a heavy sight through his nostrils.
Avasha wouldn't be able to give them a clue this time. They are far from the outside, far from the wind. They would just have to trust in their own judgement this time.
"What say you, Leni-Aura?"
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Nov 21, 2022 0:52:27 GMT -5
It’s not that she’s done this before, but it is certainly some bid to prove herself— although, she’s not sure who it’s meant for at the end of the day. Perhaps some desperate attempt to show Avasha that she listens, and is willing to continue. “ Mm…” Leni-Aura hums some kind of absent-minded agreement when the man offers his opinion. Her eyes burn, narrowed against the smoke pouring from the tunnels of a mine in a way that seems endless… She shakes her head, stepping forwards and brushing small pebbles from her path as she leads Ulrich further down. The farther they go, the darker it becomes; and the farther they go, the thicker the smoke. Leni-Aura coughs into the fabric of her cloak, and listens to the sound of Ulrich— shockingly, not faring any better than herself— doing the same. “Ugh…” she sighs, feebly swatting at the swirling smoke as it writhes through cracks in the blockade before them. “Surely, she wants something more from us than this.” Leni-Aura objects, moving forwards to lay her hands on the pile of rocks.
She cautiously moves them about, feeling the location and sturdiness of each rock in the pile, until she finds a rock that trembles when she touches it— unsteady and easy to pull or move— but Ulrich is right, and she finds that annoying. The mine is already unstable, and there’s no telling what state the structure of the tunnel is in after the tremors. “She can’t have sent us down here only to be blocked in…” the rabbitaur is technically answering Ulrich, but she’s also speaking to herself to some degree; trying to talk herself into this through the same speech. “...We did not come all this way, to be stopped by rocks.”
She holds tighter to the unsteady stone, brows furrowed and eyes narrowed, while she considers pulling it— the tower would tumble and let them through, but… hesitantly, Leni-Aura’s shoulders relax, and she releases her hands without taking the stone, ears lowering slightly. “ ...We did not come all this way to die, either.” She punctuates her sentence with a cough, and covers her nose and mouth with her hand. “ ...If there is no other way, we should go through.” she mumbles, moving past Ulrich to tap a hand against the wall. “ But… as a last resort; maybe we try another passageway from where we came?” Her palm touches the rough surface of the earth— not cold, but warm to the touch— and she furrows her brows slightly, about to point it out, when she hears… something else much more concerning. Something beneath the earth howls distantly far past the rock wall and many more leagues beyond it; and seconds later, the earth begins to tremble again. Leni-Aura looks up, ears perking when a sudden rush of smoke causes the blocked path to rattle— dark wisps force their way through the cracks of the blockade. She can’t see, but she hears the tumbling of rocks; first, small pebbles— and then larger, and larger still— until the whole blockade has begun to crumble, and the tunnel with it.
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Nov 24, 2022 5:50:36 GMT -5
Ulrich stood there considering everything Leni was saying, and she was making very good points. The winds clearly pointed to them traveling into this cave— a dangerous one at that— to save miners that were trapped within the mountain. By an explosion which was the fault of the mining company or was it something else? The Foreman didn't seem to certain when he'd explained it to them earlier outside.
Then he hears it, he feels it. The mountain begins to tremble once again, and the smoke that was seeping through the rock pile is now rushing forth. A howling comes from deep within the mountain, and now the blockade has begun to crumble along with the tunnel they were currently standing in!
At first it was only small pebbles that fell around the duo, but it didn't take long before rocks of even bigger begins to strike the ground around them. All he can think of right now is that they cannot stay here any longer! In his haste, without even giving it any thought, Ulrich quickly takes hold of Leni's hand.
"Quick, Leni! We must get out of here!" He screams over the crashing of rocks.
He begins running back in the direction of the way the came, all the while holding onto Leni's hand. They did see more passages along the tunnel as they made their way in earlier. All he could do was hope that one of them lead deeper into the mountain to the trapped miners... Or whatever it was that howled powerfully enough to shake the mountain. That's if the two of them didn't get buried alive first.
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Post by Leni-Aura Thunderpaw on Nov 29, 2022 23:59:53 GMT -5
The earth shakes beneath her paws; and Leni-Aura jerks back, stepping backwards as pebbles and small stones clatter and echo off the sides of the wall in front of her. The black smoke fills the air; and it blinds her, but she doesn’t need to see to hear the violent upheaval of the stone above them.
She flinches back and bumps into Ulrich as something crashes down in front of her; she braces herself to flee, but—
not before Ulrich has clearly had the same idea.
She feels a tug on her hand, followed by a pull of the shoulder; and then he’s whisking her away from the crumbling blockade into the tunnels from whence they came. She stumbles at first, gripping onto his hand tightly to keep herself on balance; but once she’s righted herself, she flees alongside him only a step behind.
It’s hard to see in the smoke-filled tunnels; it’s harder to hear; and all of her senses are focused on escaping the landslide. Behind them, the earth ruptures and splits; chunks of stone crumble and slam into one another. Smaller pebbles and stones tumble against them, ricocheting against the wall, and past the fleeing duo.
As they burst into a small cavern, the rumbling starts to cease; and Leni-Aura barely clears the tunnel before it closes up behind her.
Had they waited a moment longer, she may not have made it as generously.
Smoke wisps from the cracks between the stone wall and begins to grow thinner as they’re suddenly cut off from their source. Leni-Aura gasps, her heart beating in her ears as she begins to slow down. Her chest heaves while she catches her breath. Leni-Aura looks over her shoulder, between stalagmites and natural rock formations, at the solid wall that’s blocked their original path…
“Maada ban…” (We almost…) she trails off, ears tilting back slightly as a few pebbles tick across the floor. Finally, the earth stops rumbling beneath their feet; and Leni-Aura finally eases to a stop with Ulrich, in the middle of the cavern. She’s quiet for a moment, looking back at the collapse, before looking to Ulrich.
… Or, she was going to.
Instead, she makes a double-take halfway-through the motion.
“...”
Her expression darkens a shade, but it’s hard to make out in the shadows of the cavern.
It takes all of a heartbeat to yank her hand from Ulrich’s and unleash a flurry of punches against his arm and shoulder. It could be that she’s yet to recover from their escape, but there’s hardly much of a punch behind them, despite the number of them. “What am I, a child!? I can run by myself!” She snaps in a huff, brows furrowed at him; and with one last half-hearted attempt at a smack, she spins around and storms off in a randomly picked direction between the remaining tunnels in this area that they’d yet to take without so much as a, 'thank you'.
“D’at!” (Ridiculous!) "Let's just go!"
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The Expedition
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"Ulrich, you will have to let go of what you loved then to protect the things you love now."
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Post by Ulrich Ambriz on Dec 5, 2022 14:42:07 GMT -5
A look of confusion crosses Ulrich's face as Leni yanks her hand from his. She proceeds to deliver a flurry of punches against his arm and shoulder, but he didn't know if he could call those punches. Maybe she hadn't had enough time to recover from their narrow escape out of that tunnel just now? "What am I, a child?!"" Well no, I—" She didn't give him any chance to finish his sentence. "I can run by myself!"She gave him another half-hearted smack, spins around, and storms off in a random direction. "D'at! Let's just go!" She yells in a huff. Leaving Ulrich to stand there like an idiot. Ulrich stands there dumbfounded. He doesn't know what to say, really. Of course she'd be mad at him for that. He just grabbed her hand like nothing and ran. I mean they made it out of the tunnel safely, right? She had to be grateful for that at least. He snaps out of his thoughts as she enters one of the randomly chosen tunnels. " Ah, hey wait, Le—" He stops himself, remembering that he hadn't called her by her full name earlier. He gently smacks his forehead as he realizes that's two things he did back there that we're stepping over the line. He decides to catch up to her in silence.
The two adventurers wandered for what seemed like forever through various tunnels within the mountain. As they traversed the dark paths, the slowly grew closer to achieving their goal of finding the remaining miners trapped within. The tremors had not stopped. The tremors that shook the mountain only seemed to grow stronger. At least these tunnels were actually stable this time as opposed to the one they found themselves in before. Eventually the pair stumbled upon a tunnel which echoed a familiar sound from the end of it. It was the sound of voices that drifted towards them! They'd finally found the group of trapped miners! But they would also find that they had found the source of the tremors that shook the mountain... TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER TWO...
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