|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 7, 2009 11:57:14 GMT 9.5
"Ah, ye," Hayden said, and then he said nothing. He concentrated on catching his breath. The corridors were strangely silent. There were no rats or beetles or anything that made any noise at all. There was only Hayden's breathing.
From behind Whip, there came a small flickering light. From all the darkness, it was like a miniature sun, yet it was probably no stronger than a candle. Hayden saw it first, as it was behind Whip, and he prodded the boy to get his attention.
"Behind," he said. "What?"
But before Whip could really reply, it turned out to be a man holding a lantern. He was dressed like Hayden -- like a Raider -- and had a bloody wound on his other arm which was wrapped in cloth. It was a welcome sight indeed.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 8, 2009 9:54:53 GMT 9.5
Whip turned to face the newcomer, but did not get up. "Who you?" he asked as he tried to get up to attack, but the hurt in his legs was too much for him to take right now, so he simply grabbed what he thought was a loose rock, in case he had to fight off this newcomer.
It didn't occour to him that this was a raider like Hayden, but the odd silence in the room was making Whip uncomfortable. What kind of place didn't have sounds in it?
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 8, 2009 11:50:43 GMT 9.5
The man ignored the rock and walked past them. Then he stopped and peered down the corridors.
"Very ancient place," he said quietly. "If are loud it may collapse, so keep voice low. This place called Meahenata. This must be one of few ways into it now. But maybe a way out into the sunlight if we go through? Guhon is behind us. Ah my name is Goruden."
He turned to face the boys, looking from one to the other. He checked for wounds, made sure they'd caught their breath and rested their legs, and then urged everyone onward into the ruins. They were peculiar ruins to say the least, as they seemed only to be made up of aimless corridors. But finally, they came to a particular taller hallway with two doorways on the left and one on the right. Goruden looked to Whip.
"You been this far before? None of us know the way to go, but will let you select a door to go into."
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 8, 2009 14:34:18 GMT 9.5
Whip kept quiet when he heard that this place could collapse. He'd already faced enough scary things today, so avoiding a falling ceiling was a good idea to him. After Goruden gave him the once over, Whip was ready to go, especially since Hayden appeared to trust him.
As they made their way through the ruins, Whip began to remember things. Well not detailed things, but he did see, small flashes of memories before his eyes. If he had to guess, they were probably from a long time ago when he might have found this place by accident. Why then, had he forgotten about it? He managed to push such thoughts out of his head as they came to a collection of doorways.
"Nope, never seen this," Whip said as he shook his head. However, as he sniffed the air, he could detect a faint whiff of fresh air coming from the second doorway on the right! "This way!" he said as he carefully stepped through the doorway, unaware of what dangers may lie beyond it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 8, 2009 22:20:19 GMT 9.5
They both watched Whip as he sniffed to discern the door to enter. The corridors seemed to tighten around them as Whip stepped into the darkness. Goruden stood behind him and let the light from the lantern leak into the darkness. The room turned out to be a somewhat cavernous chamber with a heap of rubble in the centre of it. The rubble was mostly stone and what was once probably wood, along with some scraps of metal and ceramic shards. Oddly, some eggshells were scattered around the rubble.
Along the room's left wall was a long stone counter with an oven-looking device. Along the right wall were some small hooks up high, possibly once for holding tapestries or some equipment.
"Eggs?" Hayden asked, catching up to them. "Eggs of guhon? Any complete ones? Tasty?"
The room was too long to be able to see the far wall with the lantern from where they stood.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 9, 2009 10:32:42 GMT 9.5
Whip bit into one of the eggshells, but immediately tossed it away and stuck out his tongue. "Not food, nope," he said as he looked around for anything shiny. Unfortunately, he didn't find much that interested him. However, he couldn't help but wonder what this room was for. Was it for eating? Was it for hunting? Or was it for something horrible that his mind didn't want to comprehend?
"Not meant to be here," Whip said as a chill went down his spine. He usually loved to explore new places, but something about this place made him feel like they shouldn't be here!
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 11, 2009 11:05:47 GMT 9.5
After Whip spoke, they all paused and listened. The room carried an empty and foreboding silence -- the kind of silence that made you think you were deaf, it was so unnerving. Despite agreeing with Whip's judgement of the room being a bad place to be, Goruden inched forward and held out the lantern in the hopes of illuminating the far wall. By the time he'd moved about a metre forward, they could just make out some brickwork across the room, but most if it seemed crumbled and there was an inky black tunnel. Goruden walked back immediately. A shuffling echoed through the corridors from behind them.
"Whip is right. Bad place to be. We need to move faster," Goruden whispered. "Find weapons. Choose another room quicker."
Hayden had a sword on him; he drew it. Goruden did the same with his longer, broader blade. Regardless, there were some items in the room that could pass for weapons: there were quite large pieces of twisted metal on the heap of rubble that would make good maces, some unusually large cooking utensils including a huge knife on the counter, and the hooks hanging on the right wall could be used for some lethal close-range shredding.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 11, 2009 19:18:02 GMT 9.5
Whip grabbed a large knife. He figured that if Hayden and Goruden had something that looked like them, then they must be effective at fighting the nasty things. He also picked up a decently-sized rock, in case he needed to throw something. After all, nobody likes a rock to the face!
Soon enough, the three of them were back in the room with the three hallways. There was still a terrible silence around them, one that made Whip nervous, but he pressed on and tried not to show fear. "This way," he said as he pointed into the inky blackness of the hallway on the right. All he could do at this point was hope that nothing was waiting for them at the end...
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 12, 2009 21:54:56 GMT 9.5
The next room, fortunately, seemed friendlier. As they stepped in through the doorway, the smell of rotting wood struck them first. The sound of a slight breeze echoes in the distance; possibly another drought from another intrusive tunnel breaking into the room. Right before them was an old wooden table, covered in rusted weapons. Some of them seemed hastily tossed on the surface. The room was long and lined with columns. There were more doorways down the side walls.
"We could spend for ever here," Hayden mused. "Need to go..."
A loud scratching reached their ears. The tension rose. Something was knocked to the floor in another room. Before any of them could say anything, a terrifying noise thundered through the corridor behind them. It drowned out whatever Goruden was shouting, but Hayden began to run. Goruden ran too, and the swinging lantern was momentarily dimmed and everything became unclear and streaked with shadow. In the panic, Hayden chose one of the doorways to escape through and Goruden elected to try to lose the creature between the columns.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 13, 2009 13:17:57 GMT 9.5
Whip poked around in the shadows of the new room. Nothing seemed interesting to him, until he found a shiny silver coin. Without hesitating, he grabbed it and held it tightly in his hand. When Hayden mentioned that they might be here forever, Whip didn't seem to mind. A new place to explore was just as good as anything else, as far as he was concerned.
However, when that scratching noise came back, Whip did the only thing he could think of: he climbed straight up one of the columns and waited for whatever it was to go away. After all, if Goruden had managed to chase it away once, it should only be a matter of time before it went away again!
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 19, 2009 10:41:18 GMT 9.5
Something long and shimmering emerged from the doorway. It flowed into the room as smooth as mist yet appeared complex and segmented like a centipede. With one, large, shining eye it studied the room, claws clipping randomly overhead. Hayden was now out of sight but Goruden had taken a defensive stance nearby; he stayed near enough to Whip so that both of them could see the creature. The creature, therefore, could see Goruden quite clearly, but it also managed to spy Whip. It didn't even seem to give it any thought; Whip was closer. It leapt on the column and snaked up it with frightening agility. Goruden dropped the lantern and ran forward, aiming slashes for its strange tail before it could reach Whip. He managed to make contact but the blade was deflected. The creature, seemingly upset, turned around and descended the column to teach Goruden a lesson.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 20, 2009 20:12:13 GMT 9.5
As soon as the nasty thing came towards Whip, he thought he was a goner, but then it turned back for Goruden! Without hesitating, he scampered back down the column and up one that was further away. However, he could still see the fight from his vantage point, thanks mostly to the lantern that was still burning. However, he was confused. Why was this thing after them? It wasn't like they had done anything wrong and none of the three appeared overly tasty to Whip, so why was this thing after them?
He didn't give it much thought though, since he may need to fight at a moment's notice...not that he wanted to.
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Sept 24, 2009 22:37:45 GMT 9.5
Something happened in the spluttering light and Goruden tried to slash at the creature with his sword. The duel went into another room as the man was forced backwards constantly, through an open doorway. There was a cry and the sound of something smashing. The immense boom echoed heavily around them and dust puffed out of the doorway. Silence flooded the halls. There came a new breeze rushing gently into the room that smelled like salt. Nothing moved. Breathing could be heard. Hayden was standing near the bottom of Whip's column. He had heard the noise and was looking up at Whip silently asking what happened. He lowered his gaze to the doorway that Goruden had gone into with a fearful expression. If the creature won the duel, why wasn't it coming back out and chasing them? If Goruden had won, why hadn't he emerged or made any sound?
"Goruden?" Hayden managed to ask, but his voice was hoarse and trembling. He looked at Whip again for answers, though he knew the boy knew no more than he did. "We help or we run while we can? Do not know what to do..."
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfiremagni on Sept 25, 2009 15:26:01 GMT 9.5
Whip was concerned when Goruden didn't come back, although he was glad that the fighting seemed to have stopped. He honestly hoped that the salty smell was just something that dropped, but he had a bad feeling that something really horrible had happened. As he slowly climbed back down the column, he knew there was only one thing they could do, even though it was dangerous and would probably get them hurt.
"We go. We fight."
|
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Oct 14, 2009 6:27:50 GMT 9.5
Hayden nodded nervously, picked up the lantern, and inched toward the doorway with Whip at his side. When they held the lantern out, they saw that the roof had collapsed and a gaping blackness greeted them where the ceiling once was. There was no sign of Goruden among the heap of stone and dirt. Hayden lowered the lantern in dismay. However, thankfully, there was also no sign of their opposition.
"Goruden..." Hayden murmured. He approached the rubble and began to shift a piece with his bare hands. He picked up another piece and paused before throwing it across the room. "Goruden!" he shouted. He held his breath and listened for a response. "Goruden!" Suddenly devoting himself to removing as much rubble as he could, he set to work on tearing at the pile. To his disappointment, many of the stones were too large to lift and would crush whatever was beneath them if supporting stones were removed and his efforts barely made a dent in the massive heap, but he tried anyway.
|
|
