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The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Under the Docks
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Scholar

Cesare, Kadri, Mikal, Bekkah and Rory

It did not take long for Kadri and Mikal to reach the low terrace, to be just a few inches above the slowly moving water. The air was damp, tinted with the taste of salt, and the smooth worn stone was still slick and treacherous.

Every so often a wave would just crest the top of the stone, sending a film of water pooling across a portion of the terrace until that rogue wave receded.

Behind them followed Bekkah, having left Twls at the top of the cliff side path. The Atteran quickly crossed the terrace to join her companions.

Thus, finally, all had caught up to Rory and Cesare.

Cesare had entered the small, strange anteroom. At this point he could only see just a little bit more into the subterranean passage. The passageway continued almost twice as far ahead before darkness swallowed what was further beyond. Just before the dark shadows there looked to be two openings, to the right and to the left. By what he could discern, the left hand side was not as much a wall but perhaps in actuality a very large column.

Cesare

As he hears his companions he straightens and turns.

"Any of you have light with you?"

Then he follows up with.

"You have heard the girl is missing?"

He assumes they have but they might just be following him.

Mikal

"No", he shakes his head at the question about the torches, then turns to Rory. "Can you bring us some lanterns or torches? And tell our companions where we are and what we are doing?"

He settles his weapons and armour, glancing at the others. "Do you have everything you need before we go in there?"

Cesare

"Crosbow and bolts from my room.."

He says almost wistfully.

"But I have my daggers. Do we know how long before the next tide? The rocks outside are damp."

[[ You have untill lunch before the tides come in ]]

"I have my knives and my wits, as I go nowhere without them."

Bekkah

She lifted her skirts and caught up with the others.

"I sent the girl back to let Daxia know where we went. I'm no expert, but I suspect we have a few hours to look around and get back out."

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Under the Docks
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Scholar

Cesare, Kadri, Mikal, Bekkah and Rory

“Torches?”

Rory looked back to Mikal, a brow raising. He shook his head back and forth, while taking three steps back.

“That be nae the manner of thing we keep under tha bed in case of things goin’ wrong.”

The innkeeper returned a smile, however, as he turned and started to run, almost slipping off the terrace when he rounded Kadri and Bekkah.

“But we do have a tinker and he’ll have somethin’ better…”

And up the cliff side stairs he vanished.

This left the quartet alone, there, beneath the level of the docks, a second village – or perhaps a town – perhaps a city – waiting for them in those darkened halls beyond the short length of corridor the dull morning light illuminated. Looking west, the bay seemed almost calm. The fishing fleet was well beyond sight and the nearby water moving sluggishly. Here and there, looking into the dull blue-green depths a sparkle could be seen, something bright reflecting in the depths.

It was, however, a sad kind of sparkle.

The wind swept away from the pier and the town, tugging at tunic skirts more often than not. That and the dampness in the air made for a cold summer morning.

As they waited, all it would take was a couple steps, for Cesare to look further down the stone hall. To the right all was in darkness, beyond Her reach. To the left, however, past a long length of sable shadows there was a flicker of dull grey, faces of stone barely catching a hint of light as well as a little bit upon the floor.

On the bright side, perhaps it meant that there was some source of illumination further down the subterranean halls.

On the night so bright side it certainly begged a disturbing question – who or what might need that light?

It was faint, which also meant that the request for torches was a necessary thing.

Soon enough, down the cliff side stairs Rory returned.

In one hand the innkeeper had a small grey sack, not very big, perhaps just big enough to hold two cupped hands of coin. In his other hand, fingers looped through two tin hoops, he carried a pair of box lamps. The tops were simple pyramids, topped by the previously mentioned carry loops. All four sides of one were pricked with holes, in a horizontal zig-zag pattern. The second had three pierced sides; the fourth was a plate of glass in a tinny frame.

Rory stopped when he returned to the outer metal door.

He clumsily opened the sack – inside were stubby fat candles, crafted to fit the lamps.

“The tinker sells to both us an’ tha bloody fisher folk.

“So his shop was nae far away.”

He offered up the lamps.

“I kin carry one, ja? Who gets the other?

“Midday and tha tide commin’ back will be here sooner than we think.

“So how do we go find me Dydd?”




<< this is an original post and has not been further edited >>

Mikal

"Thanks, Rory." He turns to the others nearby, then nods at Bekkah. "Most likely for Bekkah to carry the other. The rest of us need hands free if it comes to a fight."

He starts to move inside once the lamps are lit. "Let me take the lead with Kadri and Cesare close behind." He hands his crossbow to Cesare once they catch up with him. "Bekkah and Rory bring up the rear."

He waits to see if anyone has other thoughts, then moves ahead.

Kadri:

"... makes sense."

She looks at Rory

"We will bring her back."

she says matter-of-factly, as if its not even a question.

She then murmurs under her breath.

"Lady oh lady mine, we go into the deep, the shadows divine. Into the dark and into the deep, in hopes of a girls life now to keep."

She looks up and says aloud.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Mikal."

She moves into place and follows.

Cesare

He takes the crossbow from Mikal with a nod. He had learned that a distance weapon is very useful and he has his daggers as back up in melee.

Before going any further in, he takes a look at the sun, fixes the direction that the hallway goes and mentally places an image in his mind. Rhoni are good at finding their way around and he is confident he will be able to find his way back if needed.

Then he steps up beside Kadri with a brief smile and prepare to move further in. He will be looking ahead mostly, watching for any signs of recent passage especially by Dydd. Also of any movement or anything out of the ordinary.

Bekkah

"Yes, I'll carry one." she said taking one of the lanterns from Rory.

"Lead on. I hate to think of that young girl down here."

Cesare

"At some point, and definitely before the tide comes in, we need to close that outer door."

Just wants to add that thought before it gets overlooked.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Under the Docks
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Scholar

Cesare, Kadri, Mikal, Bekkah and Rory

“Aye …”

It was Rory who took Cesare’s wise advice, walking back and shouldering that heavy metal door back into place. It was not the closing, but when he dragged the long lever down –accented by the sound of hidden bolts being thrown, hidden in the heavy stone frame – that had the dull solid air of finality.

They were now somewhere else – a place beneath the Village with that closed door between them and the rest of the world. Without any hint of the sun above the carven halls were timeless. It could now be any time, any day, any season, any age.

It was odd, however. With the door closed the air should have been still. Yet it whispered and swirled – but only for a moment, only a long set of heartbeats, making the skirt’s of Kadri’s tunic flare and dash this way and that.

Perhaps it was nothing. But then between two lamps and tall stone columns the one thing that could be said was they were casting these subterranean halls full with shadows.

The columns, as the small troop passed between them, were tide worn but still elegantly crafted. Their simple bases were almost as tall as Kadri and capped by a rune carved ring. The runes were faded, but like those at the Amber Inn they seemed to be just decoration; water, earth, horse, time, beast, mastery – all were represented.

The column shafts were straight and true. In the lamplight they shone a gentle sepia; they were not white marble but the same honey colored stones used in the mainland keeps. The column capitals could not be seen, they were higher than their light could reach.

Cesare had mentally marked the location of the sun; it meant that they first walked north along the columns until they discovered that the faint glimmering they had previously seen was indeed caused by a lamp. Very similar to the ones Rory had acquired, it was hung from the side of a column. A thick rope – the kind the dockworkers would call a sheet – was wrapped several times around the column at head height and bound by a clove hitch. In turn the little lamp was hung by a leather strap lashed to the rope.

Here the colonnaded passage turned right; Cesare would note that this was east and would directly lead underneath the village proper. In the distance they could see another soft grey glow; most probably a second lamp bound to the stone.

But between here and there a set of steps headed downwards. That brought Mikal to a stop; not just because the steps lead down into water – which logic would say could not be too deep as the fisher folk had to have come this way too –but because the Jvrllian had seen that the water wasn’t still. A set of ripples, like a stone thrown into a still pond, washed up against the steps.

The surface of the water was like a mirror, reflecting the corridor’s darkness and the dull lamp light; exactly what was beneath could not be seen.

That said, Mikal was sure that he had also heard something moving. Not like a fish breaking the surface, but like something, something large, wading through the water.

Ahead.

But hidden in the dark.

[OOC: re the steps the only way to go or could one continue on the path; not sure whether the steps stretch all the way across the passage? ]

[OOC OK seen the map now, ignore question above ]

Cesare

He whispers, the dark giving him a feeling of foreboding.

"Assume these steps go down and then come up ahead judging by the light we see further on? Wonder if there is a way around it, maybe a hidden door in the first corridor?"

Mikal

"Let's take a look to the right", he replies softly. "There is something large in that water and I'd prefer to avoid it if possible."

Kadri:

"Avoiding large things in the water, good idea. Although we may have to go back that way."

She murmurs under her breath.

"Light my way that I may see, light my way, it's only me. For a little girl to find - I am quite sure you would not mind ..."

(Darklight)

Then she proceeds to look carefully at the floor and walls for any signs that someone has been through here ...

... Under the Docks

As Kadri whispered her prayer she reached up and unlashed the lamp bound to the column. When she was finished the candle within went out.

Rory and Bekkah still had their pierced tin lamps so the amount of light where they stood was unchanged.

After a moment - perhaps a handful of heartbeats, not long at all - Mikal's observation was made clear to the rest. Ahead, in the darkness, there was a sudden splash followed by the sound of water being moved by something large.

The sound echoed for a bit and then it was silent once again.



[[OOC Note - Kadri's spell results in PM]]

KAdri:"

Well, people, I know whats back there."

She said conversationally.

"I think, perhaps, fulhand perhaps a little farther back. LArge, lizardy thing, none too bright however - biting its own tail."

Cesare

He says nothing but a shudder passes through his body. He has developed a real aversion to large lizardy things.

He moves ready to start searching for a way to bypass that water with even more determination.

The Heartwood
Talesan’s Village
Under the Docks
Hasday, the Twelfth Day of Scholar

Cesare, Kadri, Mikal, Bekkah and Rory

“We are going back?”

Rory protested, but he did follow, simply not understanding the reversal of direction. He looked wistfully over his shoulder, once, before lifting his lamp to follow the others as they headed back in the general direction of the metal doors.

Rory was a farmer, and probably didn’t realize the importance of knowing what was at one’s back.

Slowly, Mikal, Cesare and Kadri inspected the walls to what was now their left; Kadri still carrying her unlit - at least to everyone else – lamp. The walls on that side of the corridor were smooth but still showed signs of their original crafting. They had the same base that the columns had - with the carven band - while above the smooth surface was divided into large tiled panels. The tiles were small squares, their colors faded and worn by the tides, but their original imagery could be faintly distinguished.

They appeared to be sea-faring mosaics; sailing ships on the open sea, boats tied up at port, ships being built, pragmatic scenes of day-to-day living at a port city. Interestingly many of the ship had more than one mast.

The village fishing fleet were smaller, single masted boats.

As for secret doors or passageways, none could be found. The portals they did pass, for if this was an Ancient street to walk a length this long without a doorway would have indeed been odd, were impassable; they either looked into spaces that were completely collapsed or the openings themselves were blocked by stone, coral and fallen block.

Passing the metal doors the main corridor-street continued on, along what was the western face of the docks above. The wide subterranean expanse ended in rubble, blocking any further passage south. To their left, however, heading east and once again under the village a second corridor was found.

Running parallel to the one they just left, it was about the same width and similarly constructed. A set of columns ran down its center while the side walls were ranked with matching pilasters. And, ejust like the other corridor, a set of steps lead down into a sheen of black water.

What were missing were the lamps. The rope lashings and tin pin-hole pierced lamps were not to be seen; the columns were bare and the only illumination came from the lights Rory and Bekkah were carrying.

However, here, everyone could hear the occasional splash of something wading in the darkness. It was not only beyond the illumination of the lamps carried by Bekkah and Rory but beyond Kadri’s more shadowy divine light.

Indeed, any thought that the sounds were some trick of carven stone and naturally lapping water were sent to rest by a sudden loud splash.

Which was followed by several smaller splashes.

They occurred just beyond Kadri’s darklight and were localized; that is they appeared to have happened at one general location and the smaller splashes did not move appreciably closer or farther away.

Now there was a choice.

Return to the lamp marked corridor or continue here.

Mikal

He understands Rory's frustration, but he doesn't have time to explain everything to the man as they go.

Once they find the only other way forward is another water filled passage, but unlit, he gestures everyone back a few paces to talk quietly.

First to Rory. "Rory, I understand your frustration and desire to find Dydd quickly. We wish that too. But you must let us look for her safely. It will do her no good for us to rush ahead blindly and be injured or killed ourselves in the search. We have no time to discuss every move we make, so I do not mean to be harsh but unless you see danger or you know something about this place we don't you will just have to trust us."

He then looks at Kadri, Cesare, and Bekkah. "Both passages seem the same. Water filled, with some sort of creature or creatures in them. I can't imagine that so many people come here that the fishermen need to construct elaborate decoys, so my suggestion is to follow the lit passage."

He pauses, then looks at Kadri. "You said a fairly mindless large lizard? Does anyone have any food with them? Left over breakfast sausage perhaps? If the fishermen come this way they need to pass this thing, and perhaps it is as simple as feeding it?"

Cesare

"Nothing but your reasoning is sound."

When they get back to the lit area Cesare studies the way ahead.

"Perhaps we could test the depth? Maybe even attract the creature into range. Better to fight it on our choice of ground if it comes to that."

KaDRI:

I'm not completely sure its hostile" she said hesitantly.

"Of course, we have to go forward as if it is, but it seems awfully ..."

She struggles for words.

"Inoffensive for an offensive creature."