Journey Into the North

Henry groaned as he woke up. Eyes stinging, throat dying, side stiff. In that moment, he blamed himself for drinking that horrible Dwarven liquid. He swore never to do it again, even though he knew he would. As he tried to sit up, his side seemed to not exist -- there was no pain, just numbness. It was like his side had ran away from his flesh in the night. He pealed back his undershirt to reveal the nasty cut. At least it wasn't green, he thought.

A few of the others had risen. Valin and Seraph were already murmuring to one another in the corner. Adrian looked like he'd never gone to sleep, propped up against the cavern wall like that. Finn was quite awake, and Henry noticed she seemed a bit ... perkier, like she'd been refreshed or something.

Cyrus was sleeping loudly. Sirloaz, beside him, snored gently in comparison, but their sounds still reverberated around the cavern. Tan'quin, a little further on, was as quiet as a mouse.

Carmenia had slept nearby, still on her own though, as if she was still suspicious and distrustful of everyone. Henry didn't blame her -- she had already seen one of their party almost kill another, and have marks explode all over his flesh.

Soon after, Sirloaz woke up. "Ow! What's that banging noise?" he asked, confused by the hangover pain.

"That's your 'ead, mate," Henry replied, grinning. It made his head split so he stopped.

Sirloaz gave Cyrus a hefty kick, and the Dwarf complained in his sleep. Henry thought he looked like he was dreaming of far-off better places. Sirloaz kicked him again. "If I have to endure this, so does he," the tracker said, holding his firehead. "He was the root of it all."

"Anyone want some food?" called a voice, that of Carmenia's.

So she wasn't being unfriendly, thought Henry. He checked her over -- for an elf, she was quite good-looking. Henry tended to gravitate more towards his own kind, but there was something ... something almost gracious about Carmenia -- her step, her poise. Henry shook himself off and attributed it to the still drunken effects of the posionous Lorae.

"I'll 'ave to pass, miss," Henry said. "Not sure me head agrres with me stomach right now, y'see, nothin' against your cooking, though," he apologised.

"Me too," Sirloaz answered. "But save me some!"

The rest of the party went over and thanked her for the food, hungrily gobbling up the last rations they really had. The last two days in the caves had drained them of any proper food, and Carmenia had been forced to use what little vegetables they had left. No meat whatsoever though.

Cyrus finally woke with a grunt.

"So you're up at last, eh?" Sirloaz asked threateningly, like he was demanding retribution for his hangover.

"Unfortunately," the Dwarf said. "I was dreaming of Daisy and mountains."

"You musta drank more tha' I thought, big man," Henry said.

Cyrus didn't reply, and didn't share Henry's humour this morning.

"I thought you weren't going to rest?" Henry asked.

Cyrus shrugged. "Had to nab a little sleep 'fore the morning came. Not as long as yer lazy humans, though."

Soon after everybody had eaten a little food and prepared in their own way. Seraph, because of his episode in the caves, had suffered a little in the way of respect by the group, and he didn't talk to them. It was Valin instead. The elf stood proudly before them and they congregated, weapons, packs and all, before him.

"It's time to move. We're running short on food, and even though there's plenty of water, we have to make it outside before long. Seraph has let it be known he thinks there is a system of caves further under the mountains that might be worth exploring and looking for an opening," he said.

Cyrus grunted. "There is," he said. "I can feel them through the rocks like they're my own bones."

Valin nodded at the Dwarf. "Good. We will need your skills before long. What I propose is this -- we look for the quickest and most direct way to escape, hoarding water along the way to keep refreshed, and with the talents of Cyrus, Sirloaz and Finn combined, we should be okay."

Carmenia woke with a start. Everything was fine, it was a nightmare, that's all. She pulled the blanket closer around herself. How did she get it? She wondered, stroking the soft fleece.

Last night. It all flooded back to her. She glanced at Henry. He seemed to be sober, she noticed with relief. She knew he wouldn't harm her...it was just...what was it?

Perhaps it was so many years of her childhood hiding under the bed, praying he wouldn't find her. Or maybe it was that night when he hadn't found her, and started beating her mother. She didn't have a mother anymore. Clenching her fists, she practiced breathing deeply. It helped, and her anger was soothed.

She sighed and stretched out on the blanket, lying on her side. She should get up and change Henry and Sirloaz's bandages.

She peered at Henry through her sweeping black eyelashes. It would take a while to get used to him, but he was very handsome...

She shook the thoughts from her head. The plan is to survive. She needed to focus.

Getting up, she prepared some breakfast.

The group began to move. The food sat in their stomachs, heavy, but it would give them the necessary energy to get of the caves.

Tan’quin marched in with the group, silent as usual. He didn’t enjoy these caves, where life seemed to slither and hide. They reminded him of the city structures he so hated. Stone had its part in nature, like everything else, but it was probably his least favorable part.

There was another thing about the caves he didn’t like. There was a presence of some sort. A million souls given to one. It made him shudder just thinking about it.

“We have no idea where we’re going, do we?” Henry asked.

“Do you have a better idea?” Valin answered. “We weren’t getting anywhere just sitting there.”

“Aye,” Cyrus interrupted, “this stone is in my blood. Perhaps I could get some idea if I were to think upon the matter.”

Valin sighed. “We don’t have time for your ‘thinking’.”

“Seems we have all the time in the world.”

Tan’quin was still disturbed by the presence. He could feel it: a net, shifting its knots up and down, left and right. It was a blanket that refused to stay put.

The group came to a fork; two tunnels sat to the right while a smaller, dwarf-shaped hole went left.

“Now what?” the druid said. Then the presence came. Hundreds of bats came screaming out the smaller hole flying about their heads and wreaking havoc. Carmenia fell to the ground in terror as the bats flew about them.

Tan’quin took a deep breath and let forth a stern command to the flying rodents. They had a dark nature about them. It was hard to break their hunger instincts, but they seemed to finally listen and break. They headed back down the tunnel to the left.

“I’m no dwarf,” Valin said, “but I think that’s definitely not the way we’re going.”

I was up before everyone else. I didn't bother waking them up, for I knew they needed the rest. ...No, that is a rationalization. I was afraid to speak to them.

The "night" had not been kind to me--dreams of all sorts, familiar and alien, had kept me from sinking into the deep sleep I normally enjoyed. Dreams of Bane, and Falthyr, fighting a battle of wits for my soul. Dreams of Valin, driving a blade through my heart while Bane pulled strings attached to my arms that made me strike at my deerest friend. Dreams of Finn. Just...Finn.

The rest was a mere blur. Before I'd realized it, Valin had called for a departure. I nodded in thanks. He understood where I was at at the moment.

(More later...go ahead and keep it goin')

I was just laying out my clothes on the rocks near the pool so they could dry a bit when I heard vague echoes back from the caverns. The darkness would protect me unless it was Valin or Seraph who happened upon me (I shivered at the thought), so I took a risk and moved into a place where I could hear better. It sounded like they were getting ready to move on. Cursing, I ran back to the pool and threw on my still wet and wrinkled clothes, tied my damp hair back into a hurried braid, and ran back to join them. I barely had time to grab a few bites of the stew and gather up my even fewer belongings before Valin gave us our marching orders.

I can't say I was particularly pleased to hear that Valin was putting stock in my abilities to get us through. Put me anywhere in the mountains, and I can get you just about anywhere else accessible by human travel. But in the damp, dark caves? No light, no fresh air? Cor, I could hardly breathe as it was. And they wanted me to help?

I was shivering from the damp and cool--as well as nerves, though I barely dared admit it to myself--by the time we left. It didn't help that Tan'Quin, who was walking near me, seemed unusually nervy. I understood why when, not long afterward, the air was suddenly filled shrieking, hungry bats. Carmenia dropped to the ground; Tan'Quin was doing something druidish. For my part, I pulled the pack off my back and began swinging at them, swearing vociferously the whole time. I was just glad my hair was too wet for them to get into... once, when Liam and I were playing in the woods at night, we happened upon a cave--much smaller than this one--and one of the bats got tangled in my hair. Not a situation I would like to repeat.

"I'm no dwarf, but I think that's definitely not the way we're going," Valin said a minute later.

I refrained from saying something very rude about his wit, sense, and probably parentage, and settled for shooting him a murderous look which was probably lost in the dark anyway.

"No bats," I said flatly. Accent or no, they should be able to understand that.

"No bats," I agreed softly, without looking at Finn.

Something was wrong.

I would not longer feel the balance of Law and Chaos within the world. It was as if something were blocking my ability to sense...or there was an overhwelming imbalance.

Valin evidently noted my ponderous expression.

"What's wrong, my friend?" he asked softly. I said nothig, barely acknowledged his presence. After a moment, he looked to the party and said, "Cyrus--I need to know if there's been any stone work on any of these tunnels. Sirloaz...I need to know which if these is more well traveled, and by what."

The dwarf and Sirloaz nodded, and began checking the area. We had lit a few torches, and both of them called for the lights to aid them in their respective searches.

After a moment, they looked to Valin.

"The left passage is the most well travelled--looks to be mostly goblin tracks. The right tunnel is very rarely traveled. From what I can tell, it leads downward. There are booted tracks....but not many. No more than a dozen."

Valin nodded. Then we go right. Goblins prefer the surface; they'd have no reason to venture downward. Worse things than orcs and goblins lurk in the deep."

He looked to me for confirmation. I nodded, but was only half listening.

"Let's move," he said to the group.

Valin (I'm trying out first person):
Something was definately bothering Seraph. I could tell. Even if it wasn't for my Elven-night sight, it was so blindingly obvious that something was on his mind--something bad.
I didn't sleep much last night as I didn't need it. Over the centuries I had trained myself to sleep as little as necessary in order to achieve my goals. As all the others were sleeping I was watching them--and Seraph seemed to have had a nightmare. Normally a sound sleeper, he tossed, and turned and mumbled things about Bane and Falthyr, and unnervingly--me.
I looked towards him again, as we marched ever deeper down into the caverns. He looked quite ill at ease, even yet. Unfortunately, I had no time to devote to worrying about this. While Seraph was in this state, I must lead this group through these caverns: their life, or death, was in my hands and I must concentrate fully on the task at hand.
"Seraph! Valin! Come quickly!" Sirloaz called, Cyrus right behind.
I drew my sword and ran towards the sound. Luckily, when I got there, the situation did not require a sword.
"We found...this," Cyrus said. When I looked at what they had found, my eyes widened. It was a magically protected door towards teh bowels of the caverns. By what it looked like, it must have been at one point in the ancient times have been a sizeable hold or hall of Dwarves. Now, obviously, it lays abandoned, but the door still held its charge. The door's magic spelled out in Dwarven and Elven "Only those worhty may enter" I was familiar with that code. It meant it wanted someone with the proper "pedigree" to open it.
I noticed the handprint where I was to put my hand. I placed my hand on the imprint, and spoke:
"Valin Norovir, Daelia cumtai'ta, Hourva Eldariani"
"Valin Norovir, Bane of Goblins, Heir of the Elves"
The door opened. And I entered, the others following behind me.

(OOC: Sorry for being so LOTR-esque, but I was stretching for ideas this is supposed to be elapsed time.)

Grabbing the torch with a slight thank you Sirloaz walked down the right tunnel a bit crouching to the ground to get a look at the tracks. Lightly running his fingers against the worn path and irregularities he noticed the lightly treaded path. They were organized large boot sized foot prints. The even depth of the foot prints and distance apart suggested a small amount of creatures or humans marching. So Valin's in charge now? Seraph looses the trust of the party, and Valin begins acting in his stead. sirloaz thought as he rested his aching head against the cool cavern walls, thinking just made it worse.

"Why did I drink that?", Plus everything after it was just a blur, reminder, check what your drinking before you drink it he though as he bgan to walk towards the left tunnel.

Upon entering it he felt a slight breeze of fresh air hit his face, replacing the stale cavern air of which he had become accustomed too the past few days. After taking a deep breath he went back to work, noticing immediately that the ground was much more beaten, the foot prints irregular in size. Also they were bare foot prints, too big for a human. "Goblins" he spat in distaste for the dangerous humanoids. What was that that covered seraph, those markings? What ever they are it's definitely not good. he though looking down and pulling up his glove to cover his own markings. Once again resting his head against the wall to calm his thoughts.

"Kill them all" said a voice as Sirloaz tossed the torch to the middle of the tunnel and quickly unsheathed his daggers scanning the walls.

"The time will come" it said again its sly and soft voice coming from be hind him as he whirled around turning to strike.

"Whoa laddy, what you have them out fore?" cyrus asked. "Came up here wondering what took you so long, lets go back." he said not waiting for a reply walking down the hall. Picking up his torch and sheathing his weapons he walked down the tunnel, as laughing followed him all the way.

"must be the drink messing with me head" he muttered.

Alden followed the tracks out into the night sky.

The tracks led off towards the forest. The forest was bright with campfires. Then Alden smelled the food.

Alden recognized the smell, it was the smell of meat, being cooked.

Alden quickly followed the tracks into the forest and into the Elf Camp.

A massive feast was underway. Alden turned as he heard Ursa's voice above the merry elves.

"So I killed all the goblins and that was it," he bragged.

"How can this be?" the leader asked.

"He had a little help from his friends," Alden said.

"Alden! What a night of coincidences. What hero will arrive in my camp next?" the leader said.

"I honestly don't know," Alden said.

"Valin." My friend turned to me as he stepped through the portal. I lowered my voice so only he could hear. "Those markings...they aren't Hill Dwarf. And the elvish...it looks wrong--"

"I know, Seraph. We just have to hope the door is old...and abandoned," he cut me off before I could finish.

"What does he mean?" it was Carmenia. With her keen elven ears, she had overheard us.

"Keep close--no one go off on their own," Valin said loud enough for everyone to hear, not really answering her question.

"Stay tight, everyone, and keep you eyes peeled. Those with torches, stay to the outside and to the rear of the group--those that can see....to the front. Those of you that are blind, stay to the center. We move as a group--as a unit--from this point forward."

I could not have been more proud of Valin at that moment. He spoke with such confidence that one would swear I had fed him the strategy.

I chuckled (inwardly) when I realized I HAD fed it to him--we'd done the same thing when traveling through tunnels beneath the Ruins of Khazadran earlier in our days. We'd had a party of friends, then...a true unit. It was...the last time that unit was ever whole. Then that we began to lose friends. Only Valin and I remained of the original unit.

And then...here we were again, this time with a party of novices that had no trust, no loyatly, and no sense of the word "team."

...At least a leader had risen in the form of Valin. I had failed in that field.

Adrian stood away as Seraph and Valin tried to work that out. He was going to leave the team at Sedgeley. He thought about it now for a while and though this brought back memories of that battlefield. He remembered that time vividly. He was commander of thirty or more men. The battle had been going badly he remembered about fifteen of his own men had been slain. He wandered around seeing his own comrade slain. Their was nothing he could do they all looks of pain and disfigurement. he came to one still alive. "Adrian?... Adrian is that you?."
"yes it's me."
"Adrian please i beg you, kill me."
"But I can get you help..."
"Adrian they don't care about us, we're just pawns in their games of conquest."
"eh but you fought bravely."
"You don't get it yet Adrian, we're nothing we're not important we're not decorated with medels we're nobodies."
"erm, but i an get help."
"Adrian your to caring to be here people die it's the way of the world, i only ask one favour before you go kill me, i'd rather be killed by you than those bastards."
"I can't Adrian had said."
"Adrian please, please kill m... arghhhh!!
An arrow had come out of nowhere and embedded in the soldier neck.

Adrian remembered all this running he had done at the time. He had to face up to his problems. Adrian came out the dream like state. He would decide in Sedgeley whether to leave.

OOC: From what I can tell, we took the right tunnel that leads downward? It wasn't very clear the explanation y'see, on one hand it's said the left tunnel goes up and there's Goblins, while the right could have worse things and also goes downward. Why would we be going downward? Anyway, I'm just confused so if I got it wrong I'll edit my post.

The futile attempt of the dim light emitting from the torches to break the darkness became even more evident as they crunched along the thin passage. Henry's eyes were good, for sure, but in this quiet blackness he could see little, except the glint of torch-fire off armour.

Adrian was beside him, quiet as usual. At least he thought it was Adrian. The other tall humans were placed to the front, and the shiny metal seemed like the Paladin's gold breastplate.

Henry nudged him. "You alright, mate?"

Adrian gazed down at him, and through the darkness Henry could see the glazed, tired look in his eye. It seemed like Henry had just woken him from a dream. "Of course. I'm ... fine."

The pause in the middle of the sentence seemed odd to Henry and he pushed further. "It's jus' yer been quiet recently, y'know? Gotta stick together 'n all that. Don't wan' yer sufferin' on yer own or anyfin'."

"Thank you for the concern, Henry," Adrian replied slowly. "But I'm doing okay. I have to say darkness isn't my favourite place to be."

Henry silently agreed. It was hard to tell if they were even making progress, but Cyrus was to the front, guiding them, and the torchlights did seem to move hesitantly forward.

"Can't argue with yer there, mate," Henry said, realising he had made no verbal response.

Henry could tell one thing from his nose; the air was getting lighter, and he felt like he could breathe a little better as the ground sloped ever upward. Unfortunately, a more filthy smell was coming upon his nostrils -- a stench of Goblins. Henry shivered and unconsciously touched the wood of his crossbow for luck.

They might need it.

My eyes were finally beginning to adjust to the darkness, and I found myself actually enjoying the ability to clearly make out the stone formations in only the dim torchlight. Not that I wanted to stay underground longer than I had to, but having my sense of sight returned to me, at least in part... that was definitely a relief.

It wasn't cause for much relief a few minutes later however, when, after passing through the strange door, I saw firelight glinting off crimson armor. My attention attracted--by the color, of course, since how often did one see a hue that bright in a cavern system?--I watched as Seraph crossed to Valin and apparently began to speak. Their voices were too low to make out, and though I could see better now it was still too dim to even attempt to read lips, but from a few agitated gestures, and the way Valin appeared to cut Seraph off, I could conjecture enough to know that something wasn't right.

Valin's voice boomed out then. "Keep close--no one go off on their own." Aye, an' tha' keeps me feelin' secure. Gooseflesh rose on my arms and prickled across my back--still damp and cold anyway--as the elf continued to speak. I didn't have a torch and though I could see somewhat, I still wouldn't trust my eyes to spot out another of those holes Seraph had fallen into earlier. Disregarding those in my way, I wound my way forward through the group, so that I was between two holding torches, but far enough forward that I could see if I had to.

My shivering continued to grow in intensity until my teeth began to chatter, but I knew from experience that it wasn't only due to a combination of damp clothes and hair and chill cavern air; I always shivered when I was anxious about something, and now I couldn't shake the feeling that something very, very bad was going to happen.

Wrapping her arms around herself for warmth, Carmenia glanced at Valin. I sure hope he knows what he's doing, she thought, observing the grim surrounding.

The flickering torches shed enough light for her to look at her fellow sufferers faces. Finn looked extremely cold, Adrien seemed unusually quiet, Henry looked uneasy, and Cyrus and Valin were in front, trying to make sure everyone was safe.

She herself felt uneasy. Something didn't feel right. But she plodded on with the rest of them, determined to keep going. The others, Seraph, Sirloaz and Tan'quin seemed relatively normal, except for a bit of uneasiness which everyone had.

She moved forward and fell in line next to Finn. Carmenia had begun to enjoy having another girl around, even one that didn't seem to care about the filthy condition of her body, and constantly wore a scowl. But today, however, she noticed that Finn's skin was clean, and was a creamy ivory. She had bathed. Thank goodness, thought Carmenia inwardly.

Following the girl's gaze, her eyes met the Seraph's. Ah. That explained a lot. Carmenia smiled slightly, wondering why she hadn't seen it before. Of course there was an attraction.

She looked Finn over subconsciously, her hair was braided nicely, though not exactly in a feminine way, and the usual grayish skin had been washed and turned out well. She would just have to do something about that hair. But that would come later, if they ever got out of these cave-like tunnels.

We continued on another forty or so paces--the ground past the door was different from the earlier passage--hewn stone instead of natural cavern formation. Something about it unnerved me.

I kept to myself, ignoring the presence of the others. Over the decades I'd learned to keep my abilities secret. When I first learned of them, I used them generously, sacrificing my life force for others, and stealing it back from my enemies as they lay dying. That all changed when I saved a town from destruction at he hands of orcish invaders, only to be cast out at the tips of pitchforks and blades when I healed myself of a particularly grisly wound.

From then on, I stopped using my powers in front of others, including those I trusted. And now I had. And they mistrusted me...like I knew hey would. Only Valin seemed unaffected by the appearance of the Banic Tattoos--he had seen them before.

click

A small, mechanical sound issued from the stone beneath my feet. Damn it all--

"TRAP!" Henry shouted. "MOVE!" Hell broke loose; purely on instinct, I reached for the closest (was she the closest?) person to me--Finn--and pulled her to the wall. But then there was no floor beneath my feet. The pressure plate I had stepped on had activated the trap--one that swung the floor downward, sending the entire party sliding downward into a deep blackness. Before any of us could react, we had slid down the ramp, and were falling who knows how far down. There was a slight sliver of light above us for an instant, then it was gone. The floor had resealed itself, the trap reset.

I remember wondering how far the fall was; i couldn't have been fatally far, because I only got halfway through the thought before I smashed into the ground.