Private Tales Crossroads

[Ermengarde]

»splendid, on your previous matter though.« Ermengarde patted away the dust from her blue robe before heading out to pick up her sword. Sometimes, well, multitaskin is somewhat a trouble with only one hand.
»This land is nutorious for it's meandering tunnels, so likely he would have run ahead to find a secondary exit...Nifty fox I'd say!«

 

[Draedamyr]

"That's what I..."

Another crack and the ground trembled. Detritus that had barely settled was rattling again. Dust swirled around their feet.

"Or he might have some other alchemy with him," Draedamyr growled. The only way to make explosions like that was through alchemy or raw magic. Nothing suggested the Knight had access to the latter.

 

[Ermengarde]

»Oof, digging himself a new tunnel through... explosions?« Uttered out Ermengarde as her body shiften through the tremble.
»What is he even carrying with him, he'll eventually run out, right?«

 

[Draedamyr]

"Or sealing us in..." Draedamyr said in a grave tone as realisation set in. He conjured another small orb of light and dashed deeper into the cave.

The elf was light on his feet, but he still stumbled over several shadows. It didn't take long to follow the haze of dust to the tunnel that had been blocked off.

"Then I guess he went that way. And escaped."

 

[Ermengarde]

»Splendid,« she said sarcastically while following Draedamyr's way. Convenient that the elf has some magic with him, else they would've been stumped in this darkness.
It took her a lot more trouble to propperly catch up to the agile elf, even with the setbacks. At least now with the small brief respite and the stabilisation of the light, Ermengarde inspected the tunneling a bit further before kicking one of the rubble rocks.
»Wonderful, don't think blasting it again would do any good, wonder what rubble still remains in the ceiling from the damadge.«

 

[Draedamyr]

"Well, might as well give up on catching him now. Hopefully he is in too much of a hurry to finish off your road companion."

Draedamyr also kicked a stone in a rare show of frustration.

"I suppose we should track back and try the other tunnels," he muttered.

 

[Ermengarde]

»Hopefully! He's on a horse now,« Ermengarde nodded her head before turning around on her heels.
»Do you know we could potentially get lost here forever? We might at least leave some kind of track.«

 

[Draedamyr]

"I have some travel biscuits," Draedamyr replied. "Given the rats we saw I doubt they would last long."

"Do you have anything that might mark the walls or am I going to have to blunt my knife chipping the stone?" he asked. His frustration was clearly bringing out some of his worst qualities.

 

[Ermengarde]

Things were surely a bit cumbersome, when you only had one arm, plus the elf sounded quite impatient.
»Do we look like from a fairytale? Leave them for eating.«
From one of her satchels and pockets she pulled out a small box of...colophony. It was a dark brown box of resin, square, slightly transparent. She went to a wall and rubbed it against the stone, and well enough it glistned against the conjured light.
»Fair enough, we could write with this.«

 

[Draedamyr]

"Well that is...very useful..."

She had managed to take some of the sting out of his frustration. However, he had been building up to stereotypical elf levels of haughtiness and was mildly disappointed to have a bump in the path.

"I'm sure another one of these will lead out," he said. In truth he was concerned. If they didn't lead out then they might just lead down into water. The idea of dying in an underwater cave trying to swim to safety filled him with an odd sense of dread.

 

[Ermengarde]

»I can't spare a hand, you know...« Ermengarde handed him over the colophony. »Don't loose it though, it's my only one and I need it for my vielle.«
The woman then turned towards the tunnel. Slowly stepping towards the entrance of one of the many possiblities.

 

[Draedamyr]

"Sorry," Draedamyr said quietly after nearly a minute of walking in silence. "I did not mean to get you caught up in this."

He also had not meant to let his frustration out, but felt that could probably be forgiven out of hand given the circumstances.

Changing the course of this woman's life to end up dying of thirst in a cave was a different matter.

 

[Ermengarde]

»It's fine, been in worse. Never in a cave though. Can't be helped now, really. --- I sent Jhor out on a horse, maybe..maybe he'll return with help,« she shrugged, not too convinced, but hey, you never knew.
A small fork of two paths appeared, one continued further out, the other went to a lower elevation.

 

[Draedamyr]

Draedamyr quickly made a mark at the crossroads with an arrow pointing roughly back down the way they had come from. It was frustrating to be in this situation. They could be wondering down here for days. If they were trapped and no help was on its way then they were already dead.

"Keep high and hope to get back to the surface?" Draedamyr suggested. There didn't seem to be much logical to leverage in the choice ahead. He squeezed his hand and reduced the flare as his eyes adjusted. Better to save his energy.

 

[Ermengarde]

»If so, well... the only thing I fear is a sudden downpour.«

»Which path do you suggest? Left or right.« Ermengarde shook her head a little. The path to the right seemed somewhat ...moist, enough to shine in the dimmed down light.

 

[Draedamyr]

"Well I had not thought of that. Now I'm not going to be able to stop," he replied with a sigh if frustration. "Let's take the right but mind your footing."

He has one small waterskin. If it was for two them he could stretch it to two days at most. As they continued down the treacherous corridor he started to think that it might not be enough.

 

[Ermengarde]

»You're welcome.« Ermengarde simply nodded her head before turning to the right tunnel. The cavernsuddenly began to get narrower and narrower, soon Ermengarde has to walk sideays to fit through. »I swear he's probably more lost than us right now,« she gritted while going past a rather oddly shaped parth, but on the other end, past the shadows a rather large chamber seemed to open up.

 

[Draedamyr]

Draedamyr had never felt claustrophobia before. It was as the walls narrowed in as they squeezed forwards that he felt the flutter down in his stomach. Then came a warm flush over his skin.

Then it was over and they were back into the open. As close to the open as an underground caven could be. He had been below the surface many times, but it was that sense that it was going to become tighter and tighter until he could not breath.

"I can't feel a breeze."

 

[Ermengarde]

»Can you light up the whole chamber?« Ashed Ermengarde, walking to the edge of the light. It seemed as if this chamber was larger than any place before in this cavern.
And if one was perfectly quiet, a very subtle rustle of water was heard.

 

[Draedamyr]

"Not without a fire," he replied. He concentrated on the small flare of magic and extended its light further into the darkness. It didn't make him a mage, to his people this was as easy as walking. These days he did not know if the elves who lived in the human cities studied magic as much as he had as a child. Perhaps if he hadn't ended up as a refugee he might have become a sorcerer instead of a swordsman.

"Is that water?" he asked. At least if they found water they could extend the time they could survive by perhaps weeks.

 

[Ermengarde]

What a disapointment really... Though as he explained hinself she peered around by feeling alone.



»Hear this.« Ermengarde...quietly spoke towards him before kicking a pebble.








Plink.



Plink.









Plink.










-Splosh-

 

[Draedamyr]

Draedamyr followed after stone. He nearly tripped into the crevice that ran across the length of the cavern. From below came the unmistakable sound of water.

He flattened himself to the stone, leaning over the edge and holding out the flare. The water was barely a stream. He stretched as far as he could and just managed to get his fingertips beneath the cold surface.

"Can't tell how deep it is," he said. "Don't want to jump in and get swept under. Might be able to reach the water further down and refill my water skin."

 

[Ermengarde]

»Watch out, it's slippery!« She waved back at Draedamyr as he tripped.

»Even if it were deep, wouldn't be wise to jump in regardless...,« Ermengarde huffed out before looking around, for a passage downward.

 

[Draedamyr]

Draedamyr was far more careful as he found a place where he could reach the water. He dipped his waterskin into the flowing water to refill it.

"Do you want a drink before we move on?" he called out to Ermengarde. Better, he thought, to get a fill of water now before they moved on. At least the cavern was a memorable location.

 

[Ermengarde]

»Woud not hurt to take a sip.« She briefly stroked her hair behind her head...away from her face.