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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 4, 2023 23:55:34 GMT -5
"Ready?" Gerhart looks over to Astrid with a confident grin. "Aye, I'm ready!" she grins right back. The two of them are standing in front of a cave at the foot of a small, rocky hill. The mouth opens up before them like a gaping maw into the earth's depths. Windswept snow drifts nearly hid the opening from view, but luckily, Gerhart is a great survivalist who managed to pick up the faded yeti tracks with a discerning eye. There is something odd about the mouth of the cave, something slightly unnatural, but it's hard to tell. It's possible the signs of its original formation faded long ago. Without an ounce of hesitation, Astrid makes her way into the depths with Spicy Pawsage at her side. Snow mixed with dirt created slops of mud inside the entrance, and each of her steps leaves a slimy footprint behind. The morning sun illuminates the immediate entrance of the cavern, but things grow dark only a hundred or so feet in. The half-dwarf proceeds into the depths without a light source, seemingly unimpeded by the abyss before her. Eventually, only the red embers flickering from Spicy Pawsage's dark form are the only thing giving away their position - besides Astrid's wet footsteps of course.
Night vision Quest Name: Northern Get Away Chapter: Two Description: You have located the yeti's cave, and from the sounds of it the creature is currently inside. You need to enter the lair and take on the yeti the best way you can. Be warned these creatures are savage and dangerous, you are going to need to summon all of your wits and might to vanquish this foe. Requirements: - Requires at least two people (you and one other, the other does not need to be interested in the guild) - You must make at least 8 posts with each post being 150 words to complete the mission. - You must defeat the yeti - Once you complete this mission you have finished this quest line
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 5, 2023 18:42:46 GMT -5
"Bad news is all those stalagmites could get in the way, but the good news is I think your hammer will do more than enough to bust them up."
He grins and follows after, feeling that same confidence brimming in his chest. Unfortunately, Gerhart would need a bit more light. He pushes at a ring on his left index finger, the gold band humming a moment before a gentle glow of light surrounds him. It is not a particularly strong light, but it is enough for him to see now.
Gerhart's eyes drift around the cave as they make their entrance. Even deeper in, some of the ice seems to catch little flecks of light making the walls seem almost starry. It's a shame this couldn't be a safe cave for people to visit. Further in, the young man pauses to look at something in the stone of some of the stalagmites. Is that....writing? He raises an eyebrow as he looks over the carvings.
"I didn't know yetis did things like this....wonder if we are dealing with some sort of super intelligent yeti or something." A light chuckle. "Either way, I bet we are getting closer, so best get ready for this thing to come out at any moment.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 5, 2023 23:35:53 GMT -5
Some aspects of this cave feel magical as they walk through. The way the light catches the flecks imitates an endless night sky. It's certainly more inviting than a mine, even if it is home to some yeti. But there's still something off that she can't quite put her finger on. The walls and ceiling are quite smooth, not nearly as rocky as she expects, but looking at them, it's hard to find any evidence of tool marks.
When Gerhart pauses to observe a couple of stalagmites, Astrid goes over to look at them too. Stalagmites in this cave don't make a lot of sense to her. Those only happen in caverns formed by water erosion and drippage. While this cave is a bit damp, that's mostly because of the snow. It's possible this was formed by an old river, but they didn't seem to be walking through a riverbed. Perhaps an underground spring?
Furthermore, the mention of writing really confuses her. So, she leans in to look where he's pointing.
"Wait, that's..." Her eyes squint, and she brushes off gathered moss from some of the carvings. "That's dwarvish!" Astrid exclaims. The blocky, geometric text is barely visible, worn down over time. Most of it can't be made out, but some of the letters... "Can't nary read none of it, though. It's too worn down..." That only leads to more questions swirling around in her mind.
She steps back to look at this "stalagmite" that isn't particularly conical and doesn't have a stalactite hanging from the ceiling to match. The girl steps back to the formation and starts pulling moss and dirt away from the base. When she finishes, they realize that this isn't a random rock formation! It's got a vaguely humanoid shape, though the head melds into the shoulders smoothly and anything that would make up a face are just smoothed stone. Years of weathering wore away all immediate indications that this could be a person. And it's short too, almost the same height as Astrid.
A bit of excitement crosses the girl's face as she looks deeper into the cave and sees another one of these a few hundred feet down the path. Then she looks back at Gerhart, buzzing with excitement at the possibilities.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 6, 2023 8:39:21 GMT -5
It is now Gerhart’s turn to be a little confused and unsure. He squints and turns his head at awkward angles to try and see the magic illusion in front of him. Eventually it does come together and he raises his eyebrows in excitement.
”This is cool! You think this is some sort of ancient dwarf thing? Maybe like something cool is hidden in here like a secret dwarven hammer!”
For a moment he has forgotten all about the fact that they are head hunting yetis. He is far too caught up in the now unfolding mystery in front of them. Given her knowledge and ability to see more clearly he will let Astrid lead and follow after the half-dwarf. The excitement of a new discovery gives a little more energy to his steps as he jogs behind her.
The gathering of more and more of these little shapes is fascinating to Gerhart. How, Why, When was all this built? The questions race through his mind, hopefully they could find out more as they went along. If not, once they clear out the yetis maybe they could return to show someone else who might have some sort of clue.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 8, 2023 1:31:34 GMT -5
"An ancient dwarven hammer would be really awesome!" Astrid agrees with a grin, hurrying to check things out farther in. She has a particular appreciation for fancy hammers.
Astrid's interest in this cavern grows more and more as they trek farther inside. The walls become less slick with weathering. The floors become flatter (though still covered in bits of Yeti dung), the slopes to the walls becoming more angular with vague impressions of what might have once been carved reliefs catching Gerhart's light. The details have long since been lost to time.
Every few hundred feet, they find another one of the humanoid-shaped carvings, each one with more detail still remaining than the last. Eventually, their faces gain some features, mostly remnants of thick noses, beards, and brows - all only blobbish shapes lacking fine detail. These figures are clearly quite old, but Astrid has no way to place them in time. Her knowledge of dwarven history isn't much better than Gerhart's.
Scratching her head, Astrid steps back from the stone dwarf they've found deepest in the cave. None of them have written runes like the first one did. She really wishes she could have read what it said. Furthermore, there's something else odd about the statues. They seem to be positioned in places where it looks like there might have been some sort of crossroads, but there is no path crossing, only stone.
Astrid walks over to one of the walls and places her hand on the surface. It's solid, and there's nothing calling out to her at all. She lets out a contemplative hum then looks at Gerhart.
"Soooo... I think this is an old dwarf home," she says. "I was hopin' we could find some reason it's abandoned like this, but nothin' really tells me nothin'..." Astrid looks around again. "S'pose it's possible it just fell outta use. We haven't heard any yetis yet, though. Must go pretty deep into the earth, yeah?" The easy solution here would be to find a way to cave this thing in, but she's not going to suggest that. She's too invested in the mystery herself.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 8, 2023 9:33:26 GMT -5
"Could be, I bet there's lots of minerals and stuff that not many others would be willing to dig for out here in the cold....maybe they just got sick of the cold too?" That was the best theory he could offer up. He didn't exactly have a formal education, so history was well out of his reach.
"Maybe if we clear this place out Zarius or someone who knows a lot about old stuff could check it out with us and find it out." He does pause looking around with a bit of concern at the lack of yetis. "Maybe they are pretty deep down, get as far from the cold as possible."
The dung is a good indication that the yetis are here but the stone floor doesn't leave any tracks behind making it much harder to figure out where they might go. Gerhart leads them further into the cave, slightly relieved it isn't too labryinthian, there are a few dead ends they check out along the walk but it's mostly an easy walk. After another 20 minutes or so of walking Gerhart stops the pair, holding out a hand. What was that sound? Something soft and trickling seemed to echo off the walls ahead.[1]
"Can you hear that? I think there's running water ahead, that'll be where we find them. They would want a fresh source of water."
1. Increased Senses
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 8, 2023 23:31:00 GMT -5
When Gerhart stops them, Astrid pauses and listens out, trying to tune her ears into whatever Gerhart is picking up on. Unfortunately, she doesn't really hear what he does, but if he says there's running water, then she believes him.
"It'd make sense if there's a spring or an underground river, I s'pose," she says, nodding. "'Specially if this was an old dwarf home. Folks tend ta need drinkin' water, don't they?" An underground water source would also explain the overall dampness of the cave. It's certainly warmer than the outdoors as they descend, too. If there's water nearby, the yetis might be near.
Astrid drops her voice. "Maybe we should be a bit quieter as we go down, yeah?" she suggests. It'll be difficult for two armored warriors to be stealthy, and it's entirely possible their scent could travel down and be picked up by yetis, but they've got to be getting close. She notices a few drag marks in the decomposing organic material on the floor. They seem a bit wet and fresh, so perhaps it's from the things they stole from the merchants' cart? Either way, they should be careful.
"Are we just gonna rush in and whack some yetis or...?"
She doesn't know if they can talk. Honestly, Astrid doesn't even know what a yeti looks like. The cave itself was distracting enough for her to just now be thinking about it.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 9, 2023 16:58:08 GMT -5
"Unless ya got a better idea?" Gerhart would wait to see if she had anything to offer.
If not, Gerhart was just going to head in. As they rounded the corner, some rustling and grunting could be heard. The tone shifted as the yetis had clearly heard them coming, shuffling in their direction. Before the two groups could meet, Gerhart held out his sword, the tip flashing white in an explosion of bright light.[1]
The yetis thrashed and bellowed out, shaking the icicles of the cave as they were suddenly blinded. Three yetis were in the room, each angry and ready to beat however was now assaulting them.
Gerhart rushed around the corner and slashed one across the chest, a bright stripe of crimson across its white chest. The yeti recoiled and punched Gerhart in the shoulder, thankfully it was blinded and the blow more or less glanced off, but even so it carried a lot of power with it.
The other two yetis were still a bit dazed and blinded, stumbling in the cave. Any other creature would've slipped and fallen, but these things knew the ice well.
"Try to keep up!" He called to Astrid with a little laugh, ducking another feral strike before landing an upward slash to the leg.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 13, 2023 16:46:24 GMT -5
An opening in the roof allows a shaft of light to fall into the chamber, but it also allows for snow and cold to capture the area. The opening seems deliberately carved into the rock above, and perhaps it was covered with a translucent material such a quartz or glass. The chamber is another large hexagon with flat walls and faded reliefs. Including the hall Astrid and Gerhart entered from, two other halls lead from the chamber, equally spaced apart by the six-sided shape of the room. A nest of dried grasses and ferns sits centrally, flattened by the creatures inhabiting the room currently.
Gerhart charges in and immediately gets to work on the few yetis in the cavern, dazing them with some kind of blinding light. Astrid pulls her goggles over her eyes and rushes in, both hammers poised.
The icy floor makes it hard to maneuver normally, so Astrid clicks her feet together and two blades drop from the soles of her boots. She easily glides across the floor on skates and flings her war hammer at one of the dazed yetis. The weapon soars through the air, nearly unseen with its enchantment, and strikes the yeti center mass and knocks it to the floor. The cold enchantment has little effect on the thick fur of the beast, but the sheer weight and electrical energy threaten to crush it.
Astrid skates by the other yeti, the tallest of the group, and slings her battle hammer into its back. Again, the cold doesn't affect it, but the silver coat seems to have a decent effect. It reels in pain, scratching at the burning block on its back as she skates away, reeling the battle hammer in before summoning the war hammer back into her hand.
"Keep up?!" she echoes back with a triumphant laugh. "Ya should be tellin' yerself that!!"
These yetis don't stand a chance! But anyone with real knowledge of yetis would know that these man-sized yetis are quite small for the creature's norm, the largest of the three still only stands seven feet tall, half as tall as a typical yeti adult. As it rubs the blindness from its eyes and winces from the impact of Astrid's smaller hammer, it understands they're under assault. Roaring desperately, the yeti rushes down one of the halls into the darkness.
Astrid Bull's Strength Ice Skates War hammer - bonded weapon (electrified, weightless to her, returning), pale ice rune, heavy enchantment Battle hammer - silvered, ice rune, weapon tether Sun Sparked Goggles - immunity to blinding effects
Yeti abilities - Large Size - Massive Strength - Claws - Bite - Horns - Cold Resistance - Rock Throwing - Camouflage (Snow)
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 13, 2023 23:33:43 GMT -5
"I don't have fancy boots like you got." He laughs seeing Astrid ice skate off and start bodying the other yeti. Gerhart blocks a swinging fist, but the sheer strength of the yeti sends him sliding and bouncing off a wall. All right, maybe he shouldn't be so cocky.
He takes his sword and swings it out, slicing through the air. It seems like a poorly timed swing but the wind suddenly picks up sending a cascade of cuts up both of the yetis bodies.[1] The thick hide of the yetis makes sure the cuts aren't too deep, but it forces the closest one to guard itself.
That gives Gerhart an opening, pushing off the wall and uses his momentum to slide across the ice, slide tackling the yeti. When it is off balance he gets up and strikes it down across its back sending it into the ground.[2] Gerhart huffed as he put is sword finally through the yeti's back to finish it off.
He catches his breath looking over to Astrid and the hallway the last yeti went down. "That can't be good....think it's getting back up? Like a boss or something? These guys seem a little....small?"
1. Wind Cutter 2. Grounding Strike
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 14, 2023 2:12:45 GMT -5
Just as Astrid's about to take off after the fleeing yeti, the one she knocked down gets up. Well, that's a problem. Not for long. She rockets across the clearing on her skates and slams both hammers into the yeti just as it starts to get its bearing again. The force of the impact sends the yeti careening into the wall, and she skids to a stop with a satisfied smile.
"Just stay down, would ya?" she taunts, ready for more. Gravity peels the yeti from the cracked stone on the wall, and it collapses to the ground. To her surprise, it seems to say something, though it could just be broken grumbles from cracked ribs. If it was speaking, it's not in a language she understands at all. Nevertheless, the yeti stays down.
They can hear the roars of the yeti who ran away echoing down the hall.
"A boss? Maybe the yeti alpha or... whatever yetis have fer leaders," Astrid says, looking around. He's right, the yetis do seem kind of small. That's weird... Her eyes glance up at the reliefs carved into the stone walls of this room. The art style is definitely dwarven. This was definitely an old dwarf home. Some of the broken and worn stones in this area might have been furniture or a fire pit recessed into the ground at one point, a common area of sorts. It's hard to tell now with time and yeti nests wearing it all down. There's no time to think about that anyway.
"Let's get goin'!"
With that, Astrid starts skating down the hall the yeti ran. Ice forms ahead of her skates by magical means, giving her a surface to smoothly glide on. The hall is dark, and this one has a couple of cross-sections that actually open into other halls. One of them is sealed shut by a pair of stone doors, and it occurs to Astrid that most of these halls have or had doors to close them off. There are even broken doors in the hallway they're moving down. It must be a means of defense. She read in a book that dwarves would funnel invaders and used their stone defenses to help them do so.
As they make their way down the hall, they can hear more yeti voices, roars and shouts, hoots and screeches. There must be a lot of them up ahead, and there's a light ahead to show it. One yeti voice stands out among the rest of the yetis. It's several octaves lower, and it seems to make the chamber and halls rumble with each note that escapes its maw. There are three loud bangs, and the chorus of screeching silences.
Astrid slows her roll and looks at Gerhart. There's something weird going on here.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 15, 2023 20:33:50 GMT -5
Gerhart relaxes just a bit with both of the yetis in the room down, he can take a breath for the moment. His gazes drifts to where Astrid's settle for the moment, but he doesn't have time to comment as she is already off. He chuckles softly and follows after at a brisk jog to try and keep pace.
Finding a place that used to be a home was definitely not what he expected, he thought the stories of dwarves living inside the mountains and earth was more just a tall tale than something that happened. Though this was not exactly the place to get lost in a history lesson as they look around. Broken doors and an eerie silence that is only broken up by the hoots and hollers of yetis somewhere deep in the cave still.
"Yeti aren't usually this clever from what I've read....they are almost....challenging us? But not in the way you'd think a beast would. This is a lot more like...coordinated? All of that noise just a moment ago...were they singing or maybe chanting something?"
Gerhart is similarly unsettled for the moment. He wants to continue forward, but he isn't keen on rushing in. He'd gotten over that instinct thankfully.
"Think we could try and blind them again? Or I don't know if you have something that can hit a lot of folks at once, sounds like there might be more than just the one big fella hiding back there."
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 17, 2023 20:34:58 GMT -5
"Aye, I've got somethin' I can blind a few of 'em with," she says quietly, nodding. "Might be a bunch more than we can handle though..." Astrid looks toward the opening to the cavern. "I think I'll send Melodia in."
She summons forth the magic to manifest Melodia the ghost and quickly explains the situation. The ghostly woman seems a bit anxious about the situation, but she agrees and disappears from view. During the time she's gone, not a sound echoes from the cavern ahead. The hall seems cramped and tense with only Astrid and Gerhart waiting patiently in the dim light.
Finally, Melodia returns with a perplexed expression on her face. "Um," she starts then feigns taking a breath, if only her lungs were real and corporeal. "So, this is an interesting situation. They seem to simply be... waiting for you. The leader is quite tall, twice the size of the rest of them. It's... the strangest thing. It has a horned helm and a double-headed battle axe. Do... yeti typically carry weapons? They don't seem the type that would."
Astrid shrugs. "I dunno, I've never seen a yeti before. Maybe we can go talk ta them? I'm sure they're upset we kinda... invaded their home and beat up some of their friends..."
Call Ghost
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 18, 2023 15:28:30 GMT -5
"Waiting for us huh?" He scratches his head, very confused by what is happening. This definitely wasn't like any other yeti he had heard about before so there was nothing for him to go off of.
"What if it wants to like....challenge us? We should probably decide who's gonna take it on...This is a dwarf kind of place right? Does it make sense for you to challenge him? I just don't want us to wait until we are in there and he gets mad about us talking back and forth."
If it had enough wits to put on armor and grab a weapon this certainly wasn't going to be as easy as the two they just took out. A yeti like this certainly has him second guessing if they are on the right side of this, but they were hired to stop yetis from attacking merchants. Though....were the merchants picking on the yetis? Is this just a misunderstanding?
"OK, let's try talking to them, but we should be ready for a fight." Gerhart sheathes his swords to at least try and show they are willing to talk things out. Why not give it a shot, you know?
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 18, 2023 22:32:08 GMT -5
Astrid thinks for a minute about the situation they're walking into. "Well... I guess if the big guy's tryna protect the rest of 'em, it makes sense that they'd try ta challenge us. I dunno if yetis can talk like us, but maybe we can find out why they're attackin' merchants. Bein' ready fer a fight ain't a bad idea, though. Me hammer's always ready." Astrid hooks her battle hammer onto her belt and keeps her war hammer in hand. Then she clicks her heels together to put the ice skates away before walking cautiously down the hall.
They clear the last doorway and enter the chamber at the end. It opens up to a massive underground room where all sides are carved and flat stone. There are enormous geometric arches rising to the roof where quartz windows allow white light to pour into the room. At one point, trenches would have held burning oil to allow more light. Broken sconce stands little the floors and walls, nothing more than weathered rubble after the centuries. Faded reliefs of ancient dwarven kings catch the light that pours in from above. At the end of the room, three broken and worn stone thrones sit on a plinth, and sitting on the central, largest throne, is a yeti that towers above the rest that fill this ancient throne room.
As Melodia described, it wears an ill-fitting, rusty, horned helm. One of the horns is broken off, the other lost to time. It grips a dual-headed battle axe in its massive gorilla fist. Four tusks jut out from its maw, the two largest from the bottom jaw and the other two crossing its lower lip. Its golden eyes watch Gerhart and Astrid from behind a heavy brow. Its nostrils are turned up in a perpetual sneer. This creature watches them with intelligence. Its fur is marred with scars and battle wounds. And the oddest thing about its face is the braided beard of white fur hanging from its chin.
When the adventurers step in, the sea of yetis watches them with anticipation. There's a lingering silence before the leader stands from the throne and opens its mouth, its voice booming out in a language familiar to Astrid. In broken Dwarvish, the fifteen-foot-tall yeti king speaks, "Thin-haired smallfolk, d'clare reasons. If war want, war get."
The yeti speaks. Not only does it speak, it speaks the tongue of dwarves! Astrid barely has a moment to process before she glances to Gerhart nervously and translates in the best way she can. There's distress on her face.
Call Ghost [post 2/3]
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