Private Tales The March of Progress

[Vass]

He sighed.

It would have been a lot safer with a length of rope, but then again maybe safe wasn't what they needed. This was supposed to be fun after all, and when things got too safe there was usually an element of taking away the fun.

Usually. "Alrighty then."

Vass said as he watched Ahsoka begin to descend. He waited for a moment, and then quickly began to follow in her path.

It was not long before the two of them were nearly fifty meters down, the crack within the earth seeming to open up further and further. Light from above still cast down, and eventually, after almost an hour of climbing they reached the canyon floor.

The sound of water bubbling echoed quietly, though from where was difficult to tell.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka's eyes were lit with curiosity as she gazed around. She hadn't felt the earth shudder any time recently, not enough to make this kind of a gap anyway, but from the feeling and lines in the soil that she could see... it had to have happened not too long ago. Perhaps one of the other tribes knew better, one who had used this spot before them. Her fingers ran over the soil and rocks then turned to gaze up and down the walkway.

"Guests honour - which way?" she glanced to Vass to see how he was taking it all in.

 

[Vass]

For a few seconds Vass looked around. There was a slight frown on his face, lips thinning as he looked left, then right. "I think..."

He supposed it didn't really matter.

Either direction could lead to nothing, or they could lead to vast wealth beyond any measure that could be told of. Though he rather doubted that latter was even an option out here. His head shook, he closed his eyes, and then took a deep breath. "That way!"

Vass said as he pointed right.

"Right?" He said as he opened his eyes. "Seems as good as the other option."

Shoulders rolled in a shrug, and without much of a wait he sauntered off.

 

[Ahsoka]

Her lips twitched at the corners but she issued no comment. He looked excited. She hadn't really thought that a human would get much joy out of exploring things like this, they had never shown much interest before when she had come across them. It was... refreshing. Maybe it was down to those odd people his army was made up of. The insect-like creature still haunted her waking hours. Without more of a hesitation she begun to wander casually to the right and along the rough path that wound like a snake.

"What was that..." man? woman? insect? It had been hard to tell in the dark. "The... your companion who was with you when you stopped my escape?"

 

[Vass]

"Huh?" Vass asked as he half turned back towards Ahsoka.

For a few seconds he wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about. His brain had to piece together what she meant, and then it snapped into place.

"Oh you mean Balderic." He said with a nod of his head. "Yeah he's a..."

He frowned. "Well, he's never told me what his people are called really."

Balderic had always been the private sort.

"His folk are from deep, deep in the underworld." He told Ahsoka. "Usually don't interact with us humanoids."

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "But they're fast, quick. Usually a lot smarter than us too."

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka seemed to digest this information quietly, nodding to herself as though this made sense before a frown creased her brow and she asked the follow up question.

"What is ' the Underworld'?" the name tingled something in the back of her memories but it was connected to a story about fiery pits and damned souls a human had once told her. It did not sound the place to house insects, though she supposed if it was meant to be a place full of things of nightmares an insect being able to break your bones was probably a good thing to have nightmares about. She knew she certainly would.

"I do not recognise this name."

 

[Vass]

He glanced at her. "Guess you haven't traveled that far after all eh?"

It was a gentle tease, not meant in any mean spirit.

A smile flickered over his lips for a brief moment as he thought about how to better explain what the Underworld actually was. For a few moments he considered, and then as they stepped through another narrow section of the canyon he explained.

"Beneath this world...all of this." He gestured. "There are thousands upon thousands of tunnels. Miles of caverns and the like."

Vass could still remember the first time he'd seen it all. "A whole world that the sun never touches. Filled with races that most of us have never even heard of."

He glanced back to Ahsoka.

"That's where he's from. The Underworld." Vass said with a shrug.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka's head cocked to the side as she listened. It certainly sounded similar to the Underworld she had heard of mortals speak but it also sounded far more similar to the land her people called Skaah.

"Where the Ones-Whose-Skin-Rejects-The-Sun come from," Drow had never been a word the Tsa'lagi had learnt in the Common Tongue, their word for those people probably more complicated to pronounce than their own. So she translated it like she had done for several other names of things for which there was no direct translation. Suddenly however her hand snapped out and she went from behind behind Vass to in front of him, a strong hang on his chest that would have not been unusual on any strong human male.

A second later in the space where Vass would have stepped a giant worm erupted out of the earth, crossed the pathway in a leap and buried itself straight into the other side with a ravenous snarl better suited to a lion than a worm.

Ahsoka did not seem shocked but she did seem troubled.

"It is running from something."

 

[Vass]

"There's a few down there that fit the description." Vass commented with a shrug. More than a few species in the Underdark were none too fond of the Sun. Some took months to adjust to the light, others? Others found it all but an impossibility.

A shrug rolled over his shoulders.

"Some of them." Vass shuddered. "Some of them i'd rather not meet aga-"

Before he finished his sentence Vass found himself cut off as something exploded out of the earth with a roar. The ground shook, quaked, and then he immediately recoiled as the worm rushed to the opposite side of the ground and burrowed away.

His head whirled towards Ahsoka. "Wha...what?"

Vass asked, somewhat dazed at what had just happened.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka gently pushed him further back and then risked a peek through the hole the worm had just come from rather than the hole it had disappeared through. There was nothing but darkness but if she strained her ears she could certainly hear... something. Approaching at speed.

"We do not want to be here to find out what makes a Wurlump flee so quickly," she grabbed his hand and yanked him forward, already setting off at a run and all but dragging him behind her if he didn't get going quick enough. She was right to run too. They were not much further away when suddenly from the hole burst another creature screaming at the touch of the sun on its black, hard shell. Despite that it swivelled in the direction of the sound of their feet and begun to scuttle after them with alarming speed.

 

[Vass]

"OH SHIT!" Vass' voice broke the...well not silence of the canyon, but it certainly echoed as they ran through the narrow passageway.

His eyes bulged as he felt himself dragged along by Ahsoka, one glance shooting over his shoulder towards the giant milipede. The creature reminded him of something he'd seen in the Underdark, though it's shell was more...solid than those he recalled.

Also there wasn't a Drow riding it. "What in the fu-"

Before he could speak a boulder tumbled down, shaken loose by the quaking of the creatures skittering legs.

Vass quickly dodged to the left of it, stepping once and twice but hanging onto Ahsoka just in case he tripped or fell. He swept to the left, then to the right, and the two of them ran forward. Ahead the light of the canyon seemed to open up, the split in the earth growing wider and wider.

"The fuck is that?" He called as they sprinted forward.

 

[Ahsoka]

"I don't know!" Ahsoka had never heard of something scaring one of the Wurlump. They listened to the tremors in the earth and then rose to the surface to consume whatever it was they had heard. It was a part of the reason the Tsa'lagi learnt to barely tread upon the earth. She had also never seen something like that in all her years - here or travelling. The beetle-creature with eight flashing red eyes was hot on their heels. It screeched when boulders came crashing down but instead of dodging let the rocks fly off its tough exterior. She couldn't see a dent in it. The rockfall just seemed to make it mad.

She begun to tug at her bow as they ran for their lives towards the opening. Sunlight shone so bright she couldn't see anything beyond the entrance but dazzling white.

"Go!" she let go of Vass and all but shoved him forward before turning and in one fluid movement, bringing an arrow to her bow, drawing it, and letting it loose.

Straight into the creatures eye.

 

[Vass]

Vass did go.

In fact he went so fast that he didn’t even take time to see what was on the other side of the bright wide opening that they ran into. As his feet continued to kick him forward the sudden burst of sunlight blinded him.

Not that it mattered much.

As he ran faster and faster in an attempt to get away from the creature and with the unbalance of Ahsoka shoving him he quickly found himself tumbling forward…over the sheer edge of a cliff. Some desperate part of his body tried to keep him from falling, somehow lash on or pull back so he didn’t fall, but it was no use.

A scream echoed from his lips as he suddenly found no earth beneath him.

His arms flailed wildly, his eyes wide. No thoughts ran through his head, no images of his life flashes before his eyes. All that came was a loud scream. He fell for ten, fifteen, twenty, and then a dozen more meters.

Then finally he splashed into the water below.

 

[Ahsoka]

The creature screamed and reared up, its pincer legs trying desperately and unsuccessfully to grab at the arrow and drag it free. It tossed its head wildly from side to side and then begun to throw itself into the side of the walls. That, along with Vass' scream, gave Ahsoka the warning she needed to make a far more elegant dive off the edge of the cliff for even with the monster wounded there was no way she would get past it. Even falling as she herself was, she winced when she heard him smack the water. It sounded more like a slap and she wondered if he had broken his neck hitting the water in such a horrific manner.

Grew up by the sea indeed, she silently chided just before the cold rush of water rose up to meet her.

The river they had fallen into was no calm thing and a currently quickly dragged the pair along, threatening to throw them against rocks and rubble that must have fallen when the cliff split. Ahsoka kicked her way to the surface and took in a mouthful of air as she cast around for a sign of the human.

"Vass!?"

 

[Vass]

Vass took in a deep breath as he surfaced from the water.

The river rushed all around him, it’s rapids dragging and pushing him all around. Yet he was no stranger to this sort of thing. The currents of the sea could be just as powerful as those of a raging river, and he managed to weave through the obstacles.

Once or twice a stone struck his foot, a boulder nearly collided with him, but the young mercenary managed to drag himself through the waters surprisingly well. ”I’m fine!”

He bellowed out.

”Don’t talk!” That was an easy way to drown. ”Get to the bank!”

That was all that mattered now.

His arms tensed and he used the boulders to push himself towards the left bank, dodging what he could on the way as he slowly swam through the rushing waters and to safety. His hand reaching out to clasp a branch, looking back to offer a hand to Ahsoka.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka kicked against the current, bow still grasped in one hand as she fought her way across the river. Every stroke seemed to take her a tiny inch across to the bank but a foot further down river. Eventually she made it to a jagged rock about half way across and pulled herself up onto it with the water churning below her. With cold, numb fingers she fumbled for an arrow in her quiver. There weren't many remaining after the fall but she wound some vines draped across the rock around the shaft and then aimed and fired. The arrow whistled across the river and thudded into a crack in the rocky edge. The Tsa'lagi tested it twice with firm tugs then, satisfied it would hold, begun to use it to help pull herself to shore.

Once she got closer she took Vass' hand and heaved herself up the rest of the way.

"Are you well?" her eyes ran over him critically, frowning at the bruises and cuts.

 

[Vass]

Vass yanked both of them onto shore, pulling them free of the waters and tossing himself onto his back. A loud, strangled breath fell from his lungs, and he felt the sting of his muscles as he relaxed against the warm sands.

"Kress." He swore quietly, head spinning.

One eye popped open as Ahsoka asked him if he was okay, his head lulling to the side to look at her. A weak shrugged pulled over his shoulders. "I'll live."

He told her.

"Just a few cuts and bruises." Vass said, looking himself over for a few moments. "What in the fuck was that thing?"

He'd already asked the question, but in all the chaos he'd forgotten if she ever answered.

 

[Ahsoka]

"I don't know," Ahsoka repeated with the patience of a Saint who was tired of repeating themselves. She sat up on the sands and then ran a hand down her face. Droplets still ran down her face and dropped now onto her lap. She tugged her bow onto her lap to examine it for damage and was relieved to find only a few dents and scratches. Easy things to patch or file away without ruining the balance of the weapon. The arrows were another matter. She only had three left.

"But I have a theory," she continued and glanced up, nodding to the opposite side of the riverbank. The deep crack in the cliff went far deeper than originally seemed. Into the earth itself. On the sand bank opposite the carcass of another unusual beast lay torn open.

 

[Vass]

Vass, luckily, had retained his sword in the fall.

It was mostly thanks to the sheath that Barin had given him. The damned thing could keep his blade safe if he was in the maw of a Dragon. At least he was pretty sure it would. He glanced over towards Ahsoka. "What's the theory?"

Not that they would really be looking into it.

There was a war to prevent still, and the only way in fuck he would ever go after that thing was if it somehow could help them stop the King.

"Overgrown worm?" Vass jested as he pulled himself to his feet, wincing slightly at an ache that shot through his thigh. Only then did he notice the creature on the opposite bank, his brief smile faltering into a frown.

 

[Ahsoka]

Setting the bow and arrows aside she then moved to take off her boots.

"That they climbed out of the hole," Ahsoka said in the simplest manner she could to make sure he understood. She tipped her boot upside down and water gushed out onto the soil.

"I have not seen these creatures before, and I have lived here all my life," even if she had wandered to other realms, these forests called her back to them with their ancient song. She proceeded to unlace the other boot. "The only thing different is that crack, that goes deep, deep into the Heart," she touched the ground when she said that. "Perhaps when it split, it woke some things that had been living down there," dangerous things it seemed.

She poured the water out of the other boot.

 

[Vass]

Vass frowned for a few moments, considering what Ahsoka said.

"It's a good of an explanation as any other." The Mercenary said with a slow shake of his head. He supposed that at the end of the day it didn't really matter. All that he cared about was making sure the Red Hundred Survived all of this mess.

One monster wasn't going to be the difference in that.

"As long as it doesn't bother us again." He said with a shake of his head. "Right?"

The glanced towards the not-elf. "I mean we're out of that canyon."

Maybe exploring, poking around, hadn't been the best idea. Not that he would say that out loud any time soon. Particularly around Ahsoka.

 

[Ahsoka]

"Right..."

The Tsi'lagi didn't sound convinced and she kept glancing up at the large, dark rift in the earth on the opposite side of the river as she put her boots back on and slowly laced them up. She was going to have to report it to the Elders. Perhaps the patrols would come and take a closer look to figure out what it was they were dealing with.

"Come on," she got to her feet and dusted the sand off her backside. "We should head back, it is getting dark."

 

[Vass]

Vass glanced up towards the way they had fallen from, lips thinning for a brief moment. Something about this felt...off. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but his head slowly shook as he scooped himself up from the ground.

"Right." He said with a nod.

One more glance was offered up river, and then he began to follow after Ahsoka. The two of them would have to cut through the jungle and somehow get up the ridgeline, but he figured she probably knew a path. Least a way to find one.

As they began to walk, he noticed the quiet around them.

It was far more silent than he would have expected it. Even the insects seemed silent as they moved.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka's ears seemed to quiver as they walked, twitching at some noise or other that couldn't be detected by the human senses, or perhaps she was straining to hear something. They had been walking for a good ten minutes before she finally knocked her bow and held it in a loose half draw. Something was wrong.

"Keep quiet," she spoke barely above a whisper and if he hadn't been human she probably would have spoken even quieter. Her eyes kept flickering to their left where the deepest shadows were. Something... was following them. She was almost certain.

 

[Vass]

Vass snapped his jaws shut.

Fingers tightened for a brief moment, and as he saw Ahsoka knock an arrow into her bow he decided it was probably best if he readied himself too. The blade left his scabbard as quietly as a mouse scurrying through a field.

The Mercenary had absolutely no idea what Ahsoka was hearing.

Those long ears of hers were probably miles and leagues above his own, so he simply decided that he would trust her. An odd thing, given that little less than a day ago he had been tackling her to the floor.

Not that such a thing was too rare for him.

The Band did always keep rather odd company.