Dragon's Cradle was a scary place to the Beanies, with the howling winds threatening to swoop the woefully light Beanies miles away at every turn, the random lightning strikes causing just a little more fear at every roar, and the constant rain dampening the Beanies on the regular. But they somehow found themselves tasked with a quest and so they must soldier on. Apparently, a group of travellers travelling underground have gone missing for a number of days, and the path they took suffered a cave-in, leaving insufficient space for conventional search teams to squeeze through without possibly triggering a chain-reaction. That was where the Beanies (and Demony) came in! Their little sizes and lack of weight meant that it would be much easier for them to maneuver around inhumanly narrow corridors and unstable footing without issue. Not that it was much reassurance for the meek little plushies, but they had people to rescue! Hopefully. They were not entirely sure that they would even be up to the task, but if nothing else, they could deliver some rations and help them survive longer.

Anyway, the Beanies pulled out a black iron lantern[1] from their collective rucksack and asked the ghost fire elemental inside it if it could help them. The ghost would raise and hold the lantern, which the Beanies took as a yes.

"""Thanks, friendly ghost!""" The Beanies sung their gratitude in joy and set off into the unknown. Demony did not like its prospects all that much. It had a larger body mass than the Beanies, for one, even if it could also cover more distance much quicker than them. Please let there be horrified Beanies, it thought as it followed behind those darned plushies.

---

[1]Ghastly Lantern

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Cave Dwellers
Participants: Two or more
Location: Dragon's Cradle
Post Requirements: 6 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, Choice of 2 Common crafting materials
Description: A group traveling deep beneath Dragons Cradle has gone missing, raising concern about their safety. It's been days since they reported in and are believed to be in danger. You have been asked to follow in their foot steps and find their location. After successfully locating the missing group of merchants, miners, or random travelers, you discover that they are trapped and being preyed upon by a group of Flederwulf. Fight off the subterranean creatures and rescue the trapped travelers. 

The difference in reactions between the Beanies and Galvynn's group probably wasn't all that surprising. Giving the druid's connection to the world there wasn't much in the natural world that scared him, so walk with confidence he did. Iomann was not so brave and stayed hunkered down inside a jacket pocket. Even big and brave Bucky kept close to the druid's hip, needing a gentle touch from Galvynn to occasionally remind him things were OK.

He had not heard about the missing travelers, but he would make his way towards a cave all the same. Day and night was hard to read given the cloud cover, but it seemed like the others were in need of a rest. He could accomodate that easily enough.

The druid wanders in until spotting the cave in with a curious look, "Strange...the earth hear does not seem fragile enough to break like this."

He motions for Bucky to start digging. If they felt the ground shift, then they knew this place was unstable. When it didn't shift after a few moments it confirmed Galvynn's other idea....something intentionally caused this. The next questions were what and why.

Galvynn continues down the corridors with Bucky in tow once a path had been cleared.

"Keep sniffing Bucky, any scent that seems strange might led us to the answers here."

The Beanies would be just a little too far along to figure out the entrance they slipped past was already cleared, even if they did feel the tremors and hear the sounds echo along the tunnels, feeding into their irrational fears and making them all just a wee bit more worried than they already were. Not that they would turn tail and run though, they were Beanieventurers and they had people to help! Even if the three were now huddled up, holding on to one another and very slowly inching their way through the tunnels, hoping nothing scary would appear. Demony quite liked this order of affairs, even if it, too, had to be careful about unwelcome occurrences.

Eventually, the Beanies spotted some light bouncing off the walls along one of the tunnels. Could that be from the missing travellers? The Beanies would pace faster like chasing the light at the end of the tunnel until echoes similar to that of malicious cackles began filling the air, echoing all over the tunnels and making it impossible for them to discern its origin. The Beanies immediately hugged one another and collectively trembled in fear, resisting the urge to just scream like little babies. Demony tensed up into a guarded stance. The tunnels were too narrow for it to enlarge without causing trouble for itself, so it would to remain as it were currently.

As Galvynn traipses through the tunnel, thunder and lightning rumble the cave system. Small rocks tumble down the ceiling and walls. Maybe this place is a little more unstable than he thought. Most caves he stayed in were not so constantly being battered like this, so his information may be a bit off.



This place was interesting though. Small bones occasionally crunched under foot, signs of some sort of hunter. He crouches down and picks up a bone to look it over. It is offered over to Bucky to sniff.



"Doesn't smell human...still.." He sets the bone down and stands up. "It means there is a predator in here somewhere....probably more. Let's hope we can make friends or at least find a bit of this cave they aren't using." He smiles and ruffles Bucky's ears.



The druid makes no attempt to muffle his footsteps. The gentle impact of his boots can easily be heard to anyone who happens to be paying attention. So far he has not found a need to quiet himself, though that might quickly change. For the moment, he and Bucky are about as quiet as any person walking down a city street. Fingers crossed that isn't a mistake.

The malicious cackles seemed to echo ever louder with each passing moment. The Beanies were unsure if it was their fear manifesting as amplifiers, or that its origin (or origins) were genuinely inching closer towards their location. They were too busy being terrified little teddy bears to find out. Then, discordant footsteps would join along as ambient beats to the cackling. Oh no! Whatever was left of the Beanies' composure was fast reaching its breaking point, and-
"Googaaaaaaaaaa!" Goody would run off blindly in a panic.
"(Aaaaaaahhhh! Goody-plush!)" Star had to chase after Goody, fast! The labyrinthine tunnels were prime locations for a disastrously lost Goody given their lack of sense of direction and that would be really, really bad!
"(Wait for Chili~!)" Chili too, would break into a sprint, and Demony followed too, unwilling to risk its only source of sustenance being snuffed out without its knowledge.

Goody had no idea where they were headed and eventually found themselves tripping over a random pebble that littered the uneven surfaces, bringing their frenetic momentum to an abrupt halt and sending them falling to the floor. As Goody recovered and lifted themself back up, they would realize they had no idea where they were and they couldn't see anything due to the darkness, causing the already terrified Goody to literal tears as hilariously large globules of salted water began sprinkling outwards from their eyes. Then a cackle sounded right in front of them. Oh dear. Goody tried to retreat, but the sounds of breathing would cause them to freeze. It seems the little Beanie was surrounded.

Meanwhile, Star, Chili and Demony had completely lost sight of Goody and were wandering the tunnels, shouting the latter's name and trying to find any sign of their hatted companion. Goody always was the fastest runner among the four.

Caves are always filled with different sounds, but the noise of the Beanies was certainly unique. Gerhart tilted his head trying to pick up on where it was coming from. He wandered further and further in to try and pinpoint it. He figured turning into a bat or anything like that wouldn't actually help much. There was too much of an echo.

"I guess let's just see if we can sniff it out Bucky." Galvynn let out a little sigh.

What was going on in this cave? Something was certainly off and he was starting to lose the light from outside. He stops a moment to close his eyes and exhale slowly. He offers up a hand and light starts to coalesce in his palm. The little orb of light soldifies and turns into a canary, tweeting itself into existence.[1]

"Go raibh maith agat a dhuine bhig, tá sé ag éirí deacair a fheiceáil." He smiles at the fae chirps.

It flitters ahead of him and casts a soft glow of light. It isn't much but it signals to others in here that the druid is around. The light also brings the cackling to a stop. Whether or not the Beanies see the light, whatever creature is here certainly has. If that is good or bad is hard to tell at this point.

Bucky stops a moment and huffs, sniffing the ground fervently for a moment. He chuffs and looks up to the druid.

"I can sense it too...quite a few people too. Must have been chased in deeper by something."

Goody found themselves being pawed around like a litter of pups playing with a ball. The little Beanie was an inedible oddity, and so the creatures apparently saw fit to toy around with the animate object until the novelty wore off.

On the other side, Demony was now leading the other two of the Wholesome Trio (blegh) along the tunnels to where Goody was. The felicitous fear was a forthcoming fortune for the furless feline facsimile, even if they were on the way to rescue the insufferable Goody-two-shoeless from its predicament as the words were written.

Then, out of nowhere, a light shone from elsewhere and everything within range collectively looked to its source. It appeared to be a young man accompanied by a bear. Goody could now see the features of the beasts who were treating them like a genuine toy. Dog-like creatures who seemed deeply offended by the very presence of light in the deeps would turn their collective attention to the stranger and leaving the little bear be, allowing the quartet to reunite once more, with the three Beanies collectively letting out tears of relief and hugging one another. Goody was bawling their eyes out, with Star hugging Goody so tightly one might think the latter would suffocate, and Chili coming in between the two.

It probably wasn't a surprise to the Beanies that they were given a more curious look than the flederwulfs. The druid had seen plenty of those in his time. He was unfamiliar with talking little beanies though. This was a curious sight.

Bucky's first instinct was to join in on the playing with them. He was stopped by the creatures getting more defensive of their territory and what they now claimed as their property. The small pack began growling, hackles raised.

Galvynn put up his hands with a smile, "Easy friends, I am no threat I promise. We are not here for food."

Strange chortling sounds come from the creatures, it sounds like someone trying to laugh with severe hiccups. It's a response that gets a sad look from the druid.

"Please. There is no need to fight."

The chortling continues and the flederwulfs prepare to bit down on the Beanies to run away with them. Galvynn flashes out a hand and the jaws would instead bite down onto thorny vines causing yelps of pain while protecting the Beanies.

"Come this way little ones, the vines will only hold them back for so long." He motioned towards Chili, Star, and Goody. "I will lead you from here, but speed is important here."

The Beanies noticed the man and the bear's eyes going more to them than the dog-like creatures, not that it was anything new to them of course. They were (probably) one-of-a-kind, living, breathing teddy bears after all. The other fellows were probably some kind of predator species living in the tunnels. They wished they were briefed on them in advance. Then they noticed the creatures preparing to lay their fangs on them (and Demony) like cats about to scurry off with their prey. Which was bad. The Beanies certainly did not want to spend the rest of their days as chew toys! And so it would be fortunate for the Beanies that vines suddenly grew all over them and took the bites instead. Demony was taken aback by the magical overgrowth, but managed to jump onto them and make their way to the Beanies, whereby the latter would immediately hop onto the former's back.

They would then hear the man beckoning to come over and offering to lead them to safety, which would be fine and dandy, except the Beanieventurers had descended all the way down here to save some other people in the first place! The Beanies had little shame in having to be rescued - they knew their limits and they had accidentally bit into more than they could chew, but people's lives were at stake here.

"Um, um, there's some other people in need of saving!" Goody waved their arms frantically, eyes squinted into inwards arrows.
"We saw a light further in and we think it might be them!" Star pointed in the direction they had originally came from. "Could you please help us?" The Beanies collectively put their arms together, pleading at the stranger and imploring that he help them.

"I can smell them too, but we need to handle this first." He smiled softly, thankful these three had helpful hearts.

Getting past the flederwulfs was going to be quite the ask though. He had no desire to kill or injure them, they were not being overly aggressive or violent. They were simply acting within their normal attitudes. Unfortunately he couldn't let them kill and eat so many people either.

"I don't suppose you have any ways to make yourselves larger or make a lot of noise? If we look larger and louder, we can maybe scare them away without having to hurt them."

Bucky would raise up on his hind paws and roar as if to demonstrate what needs to be done. The creatures seem to take a half step back. Galvynn pulls his jacket out wide and makes noise as well to continue the threat.

He had back up plans if this didn't work, but scattering the flederwulfs here and now would be the most successful he hoped. He has a general sense of where the people are, it's just a matter of getting there before the pack here can reconvene. He would just have to cross his fingers.

The Beanies didn't have anything on hand that specialized in making noise, so...
"""Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee?""" The Beanies collectively pleaded at Demony, their eyes googly with wavering highlights. It was sorely tempted to not listen to the Beanies or the stranger - violence, especially justified violence was a deep-seated desire it possessed, but its rationality, or cowardice - depending on how one looked at it - would prevail. There were close to 20 of these creatures and while the tunnels were wide enough that it could safely scale up, battling them was still going to be an ordeal of its own. Demony gave a slow nod, then proceeded to propel the Beanies forward, sending them flying into the air.

"""Beanieeeeeeeeeeeee!?""" The tiny teddy trio trilled tremendously as they tumbled towards the terrifyingly teethed terrestrials. No sooner would they land on the larger Demony's head, having grown quite expediently while they were rolling mid-air and emitting out eerie vapours and an intent most murderous. Enough that the flederwulfs would turn tail and scatter like the wind.

"""Thanks, Demony!""" The Beanies would voice their gratitude, outright forgetting the scare their shadowy frenemy just pulled on them. """And thanks mister! Thanks bear!""" Of course, they wouldn't forget to vocalize their appreciation for the strangers who helped them without hesitation.

The druid and the badger share a confused look at the display. It was certainly an effective move, just not the one the expected. Galvynn is thankful though, he would not have totally hated Demony if they chose the violent route. The flederwulfs were attacking a friend just moments ago and self-defense exists even in the natural world.

"Should I ask what that was or is it something I am better off not knowing?" He laughs a bit.

Galvynn wasn't very familiar with evil spirts, devils, demons, whatever Demony might be. He was aware of their existence and sometimes they prefered not to reveal themselves. It was a strange set up though. These inanimate objects made animated seemed to have a wildly different personality from the big scary thing they used.

In any case, they were helping. Galvynn didn't need to think further than that.

"Would you like to climb up on me and we can go look for the others in here? I am very curious to learn about you three."

The offer was genuine, Galvynn was endlessly curious about the trio. It was not often he ran into something as truly unique and new as this. Even when he learned about new societal things, he could chalk that up to the strangeness of humans. But The Beanies? As far as Galvynn could tell The Beanies were one of a kind.....well three of a kind it seems.

Demony preemptively curled its tail around the Beanies' faces and squished them together before they could spoil anything about it, causing their voices to come out muffled and preventing the friendly stranger from gleaning any possible knowledge on the shadowy creature. Even if the Beanies and Demony itself had no concrete idea of what it really was, technical definitions would mean little in the face of liberal or appropriate application of power against it, and so it saw keeping its nature a secret as paramount to its long-term survival.

The Beanies were biting at Demony's tail in retaliation, trying to break away from its prehensile grip to no avail. They could only nibble away at food, so needless to say they hadn't nearly enough penetration power to cause sufficient hurt to the meanie Demony.

Then, Demony would hurl the Beanies at the man the moment he offered to carry them and shrunk back to house cat size with zero regard for the trio of bears as they flew straight towards the stranger's chest.
"""Sorry~,""" the Beanies apologized as they clung onto the man's clothes and climbed up to his shoulders, then readjusted their faces back to their original roundness.

"Demony's a major meanie who loves to toy around with us," Star crossed their arms in annoyance while seated on the man's shoulder. "But anyway, the name's Star!"
"Goody!" The hatted plush toy waved their arms enthusiastically.
"Chili!" Chili stood up to emphasise their presence and would proceed to fall from the man's shoulder as they accidentally lose balance in the process.
"Chili!" "Chili-plush!" The two friends would shout aloud, concerned for their fellow Beanie but powerless to help.

Galvynn notices the silencing, but does not press. He is no stranger to having parts of one's self that are better kept under wraps. Hard for him to fault anyone else for doing the same. It only made sense to be a little bit more protective when you are something outside the norm.

The druid catches the Beanies and helps their scramble before he started walking again. Bucky arches his head back to sniff at them as they walk. The rune badger is certainly curious about them, but is far less inclinced to chew and toss them about.

He smiles wide and puts a hand out to catch Chili and assist them back onto his shoulder, "Careful there little one. You three can call me Galvynn."

Once they are more settled in, he would resume his walk. The cave was pretty confusing looking, but he and Bucky continually sniff the air. There are a lot of scents here, but finding the human ones shouldn't be too hard. The help of the light fae with them helps prevent them from stumbling around in the dark at least.

"Did you see where anyone may have went? I don't want to call out and attract the flederwulfs back, but we don't wanna take all night."

"Thanks!" Chili bounced up and thanked the stranger, facing him.
"""Hi Mr. Galvynn!""" The Beanies replied in unison. Yay, new friend!
"So what brings Mr. Galvynn here?" Star asked curiously, given that he seemed ready to talk.
"We were tasked to find and rescue some missing travellers. Couldn't send others over due to the cave-in blocking the tunnels." Goody added.
"And then Goody panicked and ran because everything got too scary!" Chili teased, and Goody would lower their head in shame.
"Chili-plush!" Star glared at their fellow polar bear.
"Is true. Goody got scared," Goody squeaked meekly, feeling horribly ashamed of their cowardice.

"Well, Star-plush was mapping the tunnels as best as Star-plush can," Star raised a comically small map by humanoid standards that was about as large as the winged bear's upper body, its immaculate precision only possible due to the Beanies being small enough to apply the miniscule writing tools they created for their personal use. "The light we saw was that way!"

Star would guide Galvynn along the tunnels until they returned to the location they last left off, and the light they saw seemed just slightly dimmer than before. Hopefully nothing had happened. Demony certainly hoped some kind of tragedy occurred in between Goody running off and getting surrounded by their predatory creatures. It would make for such gourmet guilt.