RP:A Hand Hunting We Go

Summary Odhranos invites Emilia on an adventure for the Guild that he found. Meeting in Larket she learns it is for a hand in the sewers below ground. Fermin attack, friendly fire, and a face-eating-Thing monter ensue before Lia carried Oddie to Ara for healing.

Lucy's Crossing

Odhranos , while waiting for his companion to arrive, stood at the base of the great gnarled tree and gazed up into its rich emerald foliage. The grey mage had a new respect for great trees and he placed a bare hand against the old rough bark of the ancient trunk. "I wonder if..." he trailed off, then closed his eyes and extended his magical senses. Studying the tree in this plane of vision, he can see the fine traceries of gold light as the tree's life energy trickled through it, seeping up from the roots. However, he didnt find the accumulation of golden light he was searching for, that signified the growth of a dryad. "Maybe someday" he smiled and patted the coarse bark almost fondly. Turning and crouching, he stood at the edge of the lovingly tended flowerbed and paid his respects to the shrine, then sat on the lush green grass alongside and waited.

Emilia dashed through the crossing with those booted feet barely making contact with the ground as she ran her way around people toward her destination, “Excuse me, Pardon me, I’m late, I’m late for a very important...adventure!” Those words fell from her frost-blue lips as she attempted to not bump into another soul on this dance around Larket’s public toward the crossing where she was behind in meeting up with Odhranos, another of her guild members. Her small arms were full with a pack, which had a broke strap and caused her lateness in cleaning up its mess, a rolled piece of parchment, and a giant ball of twine which no longer fit in the pack, but was the size of a watermelon. With a near collision into the sitting Ohdranos the Genasi skids to a stop a few inches before him, falling back onto her rear with the lack of balance from her arms being full, but beams a wide smile over at her companion, “What a lovely day it is for an adventure into the sewers...”

Odhranos smiled broadly, Ms Lia seemed full of energy and spirit as always. "Indeed! I only wish we could bring some of this sun with us" he gestured around him, as the warm rays of late spring danced in the air. "You seem awfully laden down, might I help carry some of that?" He inquired, noticing the broken strap of the pack the small woman cradles in her arms. He shifted his great rucksake aside and pulled open the top. "Plenty of spare space in this, and I'd say we'll want our hands free from what I've heard of these sewers" he smiled, showing the cavernous interior of the great leather hold-all, containing all of his worldly possessions and still comfortably spacious. He tilted his head curiously at the ball of twine, then his eyes sparkled in realisation! “Ariadne's String! Genius!", he beamed.

Emilia sat down the things she’d been carrying into her lap to free up her arms. “Oh, I just need to tie a knot in the strap and it will be good as new, but thank you!” As she mentioned the task the woman was already working on fashioning a tight knot into the strap to make a fix. “String? Yes! String. I figure if we tie it to the entrance and let it unroll as we go then we can find our way back to the exit faster than getting lost down there. I mean, you might not be one for getting lost, but I am very good at getting myself lost.” And with that she waved the roll of parchment, “Might be outdated, but I copied this here map of the sewers from when they were first put down there...I am sure it is a generally accurate map...or a totally wrong map and useless. We will find out soon enough.” A pause, “What are we looking for anyway?”

Odhranos nodded eagerly, "Its just like a story from my childhood, its a folkloric legend really, of an evil wizard to hid a monster in a maze and the hero had to kill it, but so he wouldnt get lost in the maze, the queen Ariadne gave him the string so he could find his way out, just like what you suggested!" The grey mage grinned, "It was always one of my most favorite stories" he reminisced, then shook his head, smiling idly. Upon hearing Ms Lia's question, he scratched his head and paused awkwardly. "Emm....well...it's kind of odd, but we're looking for... an arm" he stated somewhat bluntly, unsure how else to phrase it. "It belongs to a dryad, named Chisel. I promised I would retrieve it for her, as she is...unable to search for it herself." He added, as blunt as before.

Emilia blinked, “I have never heard of such a story before, perhaps one of these days you can recite it for me.” In the past, she would have said to her children, but the Genasi still had no memory of the three little ones. Shaking her head those wild curls a mess bouncing every which way, “An arm?” A pause. A long pause as she stared at him like the man had hit his head and spoken to her in some other tongue. Silence. She was processing this strange concept of what the two were about to go hunting for in the sewers of Larket. Finally, she moved if only to start pulling those curls into a french braid before tying it off with a plucked lock of white. “Well, we best get moving then. Don’t want to come out of the sewers into the dead of night with an arm. We would look more like grave robbers than anything.” A smile, however as she got herself up from the ground and slung her pack over a shoulder and then into place before picking up the map and giant ball of twine. “First to find the arm pays for drinks after!”

Odhranos was pleasantly surprised. After a tense moment of silence, the mage had gotten worried, and the look he was getting didnt do much to ease his anxiety, but his worries were laid to rest when the woman smiled and issued her challenge. "I like the sound of that offer" he laughed, and got to his feet, brushing grass blades from his slate-grey robes. Hoisting his pack onto his right shoulder, he lifted his long crystalline staff from where it rested against the tree roots and stretched. "Right! To the sewers!" He announced, then laughed at the absurdness of what he said. Who would think sewers were somewhere that adventure could be found? Striding along the cobbled stones, the grey mage stopped in the middle of the route, as busy villagers bustled around the tall mage, like a river parts around a stone. Crouching down, the mage rubbed a hand on the tarnished metal of the sewer cover, its surface scuffed and marked by the tread of countless feet, but contrasted by a set of fresh-looking lines scored on one side, looking quite akin to claw-marks. "What possessed you to go down here, Chisel?" He murmured quietly, then his cheeks flushed as the blatant truth hit him and he felt guilty. Rummaging around in his pack, he pulled out a long iron rod, pilfered from the guard house earlier and used it to lever open the entrance cover. "After you, ma'am the mage bowed, smiling and bowing jokingly.

Sewers

Emilia would never have purposely gone down into the sewers, but today she had a purpose for going into the smelly wet fermin infested tunnels below ground. “Now, I would like to remind you of the rat-people that live down in those dank spaces and of the sickness that they are said to have...” Words of caution as he got up from his resting place in the grass. “I have never met one so I cannot say if the rumors are true, but enough people of the city have been into Ara for treatment. Just don’t get yourself bitten, Kay? I’d rather not have a mutant-wizard-rat-man for a friend. I hear they like to gnaw on bones and I much like my bones.” Rambling, she was a bit nervous. Once he had opened the sewer up the lass took a moment to tie the end of the string around the cover and knot it good. The lid was heavy enough to be a good anchor for the pair. “After you, Mrs. String...” The Genasi jested wtih a laugh as she dropped the twine down into the hole first, waited a moment to listen for any startled rat-people, and then when no sound came she started her own decent down into the world below Larket. At the bottom she would pick up the giant twine ball and wait for Odhranos to make his appearance into the sewers. “Let the adventure begin!” She announced, in a slightly louder than normal voice yet not too loud, and cast a beaming smile over at the mage, however twisted the gesture from the awful smell that hit her nostrils.

Odhranos was a little alarmed by the notion of plagued rat-people, he had heard rumours of them before, but never actually saw one. Nor did he want to! As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the mage waved a hand in front of his face. "Pooh, it is rather pungent down here" the mage commented, his voice nasally as he clamped his nose shut with two fingers. "One momen' " he honked, and pulled a neatly folded hankerchief from one pocket, and a slightly squished flower from the other. Tucking a petal or two into the fabric, he tied it across his nose, like a kerchief. "Ahh, thats a lot better" he sighed, the strong fragrance of Kelay windflower nicely combating the rather nasty whiff of the sewer. Pulling another square of cloth from his pocket, he offered it and the sorry looking flower to Emilia, then took a step forward. Squelch. "Oohh, I dont want to know what that was" the mage groaned, then hitched his robes up and turned to Emilia. "Okay, where to first?"

Emilia had worn a pair of pants that she had gotten from a man she met in the streets of Kelay in a trade for her perfectly good ones. It was a trade just for this adventure so that she would not ruin her nice clothing, she would rather a homeless man get use out of them for good wear than the sewers destroy them. “Perhaps We should tie your robes up a little shorter to keep them out of the sewage?” A question as she accepted both items from the mage, the string ball tucked under her arm as she mimicked his actions of with the flower and cloth about her face. Much better. Now they truly would look like robbers from the graves when the came out with an arm. A laugh at her own thoughts before she turned to face the sewers with three open tunnels to choose from. “Well, I have no idea where she lost the arm, you were the one who should have taken notes from the lass,” she jested with a smile before closing her eyes and tossing the ball up in the air, letting it land and roll on its own. As it were the ball went and rolled into the Northern tunnel. Opening her eyes she pointed, “That way!” And off she went, kicking the ball along now that it had more than just landed in the murky sewage.

Odhranos nodded "Good idea, but I have one better" he smiled. Lifting the grey robes over his head, he pulled them off in a great pile of coarse cloth. "Ugh, I need to wash the hem later, or this is going to stain" he grumbled as he balled up the robe and stuffed it in his pack. The mage looked very different, under his plain unassuming robes lay a set of gleaming black segmented armour. He wears it all the time and due to the practical skill of the preklek merchants he bought it off, it fits like a second skin. The shiny black plates are well concealed under the voluminous robes and have saved the mage's life on more than one occasion. Smiling at Lia's...unique method of deciding where to go, he followed her into the gloomy dark of the sewer. A moment later they reached a crossroads and the mage felt like laughing out loud. Glancing across at his companion, he grinned, "Boot away ma'am!" Unique method as it was, it certainly made the job easier!

Emilia gave a small chuckle as he mentioned needed to wash his robes after they got out of the sewers, and to think she was worried about needing a bath to wash her hair. A flash of surprise to see his under armor, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, most people took to wearing armor now. With careful steps the Genasi followed along behind the rolling ball of twine further into the muck. Standing in the crossroads again the Genasi pulled out the piece of parchment that she had with the copied map and a piece of charcoal from her bag. Tilting the paper this way and that the little woman attempted to first match up their location before marking a small x next to the location they were presently standing. She’d find out sooner or later if the map was too old to be correct, “Well, not in this section” she mumbled as she tucked the charcoal into her pocket, closed her eyes and spun herself about three times before giving the string ball a random kick. Easier to make sure it went a random way if she didn’t look. This time it rolled off toward the east sending the pair off toward their right. A faint sound of something up ahead in the chosen direction. Rat-man? Arm? Something else?

Odhranos cocked his head curiously at the rustle up ahead and instead of striding straight forward, he stopped. Closing his eyes, he extended out his augmented senses and they ballooned outward to fill the ahead space. He sensed nothing, but a small rat (regular size and ickyness thankfully) scittering around in the muck and murck. Satisfied, the mage straightened and strode into the open space beyond. "It was just a rat, nothing to be worr-!" the mage was cut off by a noose being dropped around his head and hoisting him up off the ground. Struggling, the mage twists and manages to get a hand into the loop of thick gunk-stained rope, saving him from being choked to death, but he has now found himself dangling three feet off the ground, with his hand trapped saving his throat and unable to get himself down. "Fermin!" the mage chokes out, twisting and spinning from his would-be hanging. All around him now are rustles and guttural growls that could be nothing other than the notorious rat-people. They must have hidden just outside of the chamber, beyond his search sphere, but ready to pounce at a moments notice.

Emilia stopped when Odhranos stopped to check out the noise from ahead. It was comforting to know she was with one that had the skills of magic to sense for danger ahead. A gentle smile as he gave the all clear, she could handle a common sewer rat! Lia was steps behind the mage causing her to walk right into his dangling feet. Oh, gosh she nearly tossed her cookies as the slime ran down the side of her from hit footware. Rat-people? Is that what he just said? Waving her free hand up the little woman focused her frost against the dirty water below her feet. A gust of arctic wind rushing forth to cause a wave of the ick-water below to rise up like a giant wave before freezing itself over an exposed entrance. No sooner did the ice thicken and the fuzzy shadow of a fermin could be seen behind it. "Hang tight!" no pun intended, she hollered at Odhranos as she set to work repeating the process of making frozen-sewer water ice blocks at each entrance before the fermin could scurry around to another entrance. Trapped. Trapped like rats! The look of panic was plastered on that snow-white face as she turned to face the hanging-but-alive Odhranos with a look of 'what do we do now?'. As she stared at him almost forgetting he was in a trap before she slapped herself in the face, "Right! Get you down!" And from below with another chill of cold air from her hand the elemental lass turn more slime water into ice, this time in a rising pillar until his feet would be resting on the solid frozen-sewage water standing next to the petite woman. If the rats broke in at least they would be off the ground.

Odhranos tore the rope off from around his neck and took a moment to catch his breath, gulping deep breaths of sweet (well, not so sweet.) life-giving air. "That was awfully close, thank you for saving me." the mage gasped, as he rubbed the rope-burns around his throat and chin. He glanced around the room and surveyed Ms Lia's work. Cryomancy, very impressive cryomancy too. Odhranos had never experienced the powers of Emilia's aspect before, he only knew the cold never seemed to bother her(Anyway?), but it stood to reason, and explained the woman's glacially white hair and snow-white complexion. "We're sealed in, but at least they're outside and not in here with us." Odh commented, his military-grade tactical training, learned at his father's knee, sending his mind whirring, throwing up possibilities and ideas on how to extricate them from this predicament. All at once, a clear chime-like note graced the chamber, followed by another, and soon a host of clings and clangs reverberated around the chamber. "Pickaxes! They're trying to break in!" The mage called over the din. Hoisting his long crystalline staff in front of him, he points the end at one of the four entrances. With a growling roar, a leaf-bladed spear of flames ignites and stretches like a lance from the end of the staff. Holding it a distance away from the ice-woman, he gestured towards the ice-plugged entrance. "I'm going to stab through the wall and try hinder their progress. When I retract the spear, you can reseal the hole it leaves, right?" The mage had to shout over the racket, as what sounded like the racket of a host of angry metal woodpeckers bounced around the room, amplified by the enclosed space.

Emilia let out a small breath of relief as the rope was removed from her friend's neck and her clumsy-self could not accidentally knock him from the ice keeping him from hanging to falling to his death with a broke neck. His comment was given a nod in response..at least they were on the other side of the ice blockades, but then how would they get out of this tiny section of sewer? Lost in her own thoughts the little woman jumped at the first sound of the Fermin knocking against the wall trying to break it down, and nearly knocked herself off the platform. Balance caught the ice-lady turned those blue eyes, now wide as could be, toward the flaring staff in Odhranos hand. Even with it pointing away from her frozen-self the Genasi could feel the heat of the fire. A single shiver of fear ran along her spine. Whether that was from the idea of rat-people getting them or the side-effects of prolonged heat exposure could do to her one would never know. "Yes!" The she hollared over the maddening sound of the noise, "Ready when you Are!" She added after a moment to adjust her stance on their icy ground. Her skill was being tested beyond anything Odhranos would guess in keeping the ice from melting under their feet and freezing back a wound to her wall by his fire-staff. Small hands moving in a gentle waving motion as she prepared to blast the water over the break in the ice after it was hit by the mage's fire. She was ready and when it was time would push her hands away from her sending a blast of frigid air out to wave the sewage water from below into crashing against the entrance before freezing over once more.

Odhranos barely heard Emilia's reply over the din, but got the gist nonetheless. Steadying himself on the sloppy pillar of ice, he pointed the business end of the staff at one of the ice walls. With a squeaky roar, the fire-spear extended and melted a tunnel through the ice wall, causing something (or someone) to shriek on the far side and the sound of pickaxes from that tunnel were stifled as fire jumped from mangy fur to mangy fur, driving the fermin back into the gloom of the sewers. Odhranos spun and repeated this attack on two of the other tunnels, but by the time he had reached the last, the ice gave way beneath the pummeling pickaxes and spots of beady red eyes snarled and chittered towards the entrance. Extinguishing his spear (no doubt to Emilia's relief) he held both hands out straight in front of him and with a clenching and swift jerking of his hands down, the mage poured his remaining energy into a wave of terramantic power. With a shrieking rumble, the stones and earth of the tunnel collapsed and the entrance was swiftly sealed beneath a few hundred tonnes of displaced earth. The mage swayed and his knees gave out, sending him tumbling towards the hard icy floor below in a headache ridden stupor.

Emilia moved with a silent grace around each movement of the mage as he shifted to send the fire hitting into the walls of ice she’d recently made to keep the fermin from reaching them. Each blast of flame was followed through with a rushing wave of sewer water and a blasting of frigid air resealing the two tunnels with frozen stank-water. A small sigh of relief the fire went out, but it was short lived for next the ground was quacking and shaking with the rumbling of earth-magic that caused a cave in on the third tunnel. The little woman of ice had enough time to catch her own balance on the icy ground before Odhranos started to tumble backwards without warning. The Genasi moved with arms out stretched to catch the falling one with her arms sliding into place between his arms and sides, mind you the height difference in the pairing would allow her to save his upper half and head from hitting the ground while his legs were somewhere in the mix. Tiny and frail looking Lia was stronger than she appeared, easily able to hold his weight with the catch. She herself was like landing backwards against a wall of ice with a small bit of padding that came in the form of flesh and breast, “Gotcha...Ahhhhhh” The lass screamed moments after catching the mage and in the next instant was dropping him. In the scuffle against the fermin a crawling arm-hand (much like Thing) had found its way into their sector of the sewer. Not only such it had fallen from the ceiling, landing on the face of the ice-woman and clung onto her. Startled beyond compare was the reaction of the little woman. A slime covered thing was on her face, she couldn’t see, and guessed it was a mutant spider about to suck her brains out... Lucky for the mage the hand over her face was muffling her high-pitched shrieks.

Odhranos was in a fuzzy daze. Half aware of his surroundings and half away with the birdies, the mage half registered his fall backwards and the small, yet surprisingly strong arms that caught him as he fell. Thanks for the catch, Ms Lia-THUNK! The unfortunate mage's head bounced comically off the icy floor, but at least it wasnt from the previous height, it only concussed him, as opposed to cracking his skull. Getting to wobbly knees, Odh held his head and groaned, a small trail of blood dripping from his nose. In his bleary, semi-consious state, the mage peered up at Lia and saw her battling frantically with some strange brown crab-thingy, that had decided to grab onto the poor woman's face. Had he his full mental faculties about him, the mage would have put two and two together and realised that by pure coincidence, the object they had come to find had conveniently found them, however at the moment, the mage was a little confused. To say the least. Startled, the mage tried grabbing the long stick part the claw was attached to, but missed, no doubt whopping poor Emilia over the head.

Emilia if she was not in a panic that her face was going to be devoured by a sewer demon would have felt the worst for dropping the Mage onto his head after catching him, but that would have to wait to later...if there was a later for the Genasi. Blinded the small woman was trying to pry the face-eater from herself while hoping about like a senseless idiot all while trying to shriek for milk...or was it help? The words were much to muffled to understand clearly. Panic’d Genasi and a wobbling loopy Mage with a head injury trapped in a cross section of the sewers, luckily the public couldn’t see their struggles right now. Thunk---Odhranos’ helping attempt missed, colliding into a solid ice-skull that most likely hurt him more than it hurt the pale-lady, who would have a nice bruise beneath those flowing wild curls. With this moment of interaction the Thing leaped off the face of the woman with attempt to latch onto the male’s face. Free! Her face was free minus from the evil-Thing, however blood dripped along pale skin where the nails had dug in and left crescent-moon cuts. “Oddie! It is going to eat your face watch out!” she screamed toward him while also giving him a nickname whether intentionally or not.

Odhranos only had a moment or two to realise he had in fact hit his friend in the head, and through the haze of concussion, the mage tries to stammer out an apology, only to receive a faceful of slime and claw. Odh's apologies petered out and instead were replaced with a startled yelp. Stumbling about blindly, the mage tried his best to pry the raging claw from his face, but only succeeded in bumping into a few walls, muffled yells echoing around the room. Certainly not the mage's finest hour anyway. He managed to hear Lia's cry and was equal parts amused and alarmed. The nickname was fitting, if the current odd predicament was anything to go by, the face-eating part didnt sound to appealing. The mage continued to stumble around, then his hand closed on something hard and faceted. His staff!! Grabbing the haft of the staff, the mage did his best to point it AWAY from where Emilia's screams were coming from and ignited a fireball at the top, bringing it close to his face in an attempt to scare the mutant crab off. Luckily, it worked, the crab-arm sprung off Odh's head. Unluckily, the mage singed off one of his eyebrows in the process. The mage slumped into a pile on the floor, hoping not to be tossed around or jumped on, or hung.... or anything in that vein to be honest.

Emilia was not getting in the way of Ohdranos and the face-Thing, no-way-no-how. They had managed to scare away Fermin attackers, but they could not get this...this...Thing to surrender. The pack on her shoulder was quickly turned upside down as the contents fell onto the ice floor below with some light tinking sounds as they hit. Nothing she could not buy again without worry, they could rot in the sewer for all the Genasi cared. Her friend’s face was about to be sucked off or his brains sucked out through his nose. She hadn’t the least idea which...both were horrible thoughts. Her shriek at the sudden burst of fire was rather loud as it echoed around them before the crab-demon-something launched from his face. A moment of thought as the lass dived after it with the bag open. A series of thudding as she wrestled with the monster around the ice-floor of the sewer. “Got it!” Lia chimed after minutes. The monster was caught and tied in her pack, wriggling and squirming to get free, but trapped. “We will have to come back for this arm, Oddie, when we are more prepared. Fermin and face-eaters! Come on, let us get back to the surface.” Holding the bag firmly in one hand she made way to the fallen man, squatting with her back to him, “Wrap you arms about my neck, I’ll carry ya.” And she would too if he let her piggy-back style or over her should like a giant sack of potatoes. Melting the tunnel that the string went through to let them back into the former area.

Odhranos nodded weakly and let himself be carried, like a lumpy sack of aching, groaning and generally sorry-feeling potatoes. He did his best to try help Emilia, even attempting to walk after a few feet, but he was in no fit state to be awake, never mind moving. With shaky hands and ears buzzing ominously, the mage let Emilia carry him through the tunnel they had come from. "I...can...hold the ...rope" he mumbles, which would allow the woman a hand free, her other one occupied with the still shaking back of scary face-eater crab.

Emilia being a mother of three half-dragon-half-wild-child had learned the ropes of carrying more than one normally could manage, but this talent was a mystery as she had yet to remember she had three offspring somewhere out there in the world. With a small almost grunt the Genasi shifted the weight of the man so that she was sporting his legs about her waist and holding them in spot with a hand that was also holding the squirming bag, the other helped keep his arms about her shoulders. “You just be quite and let me get you to Ara for some mending and resting,” she almost scolded him like a mother does. Back to the ladder the Genasi finally. Lia stared up to the light above and for a moment wondered how the heck she was to get this grown man up there when he could barely keep awake...Ah, icky water below! Like prior the woman rose up with Odhranos on a pilar of ice to the world above. Tight squeeze as the pairing barely fit out the entrance together, but it happened with a bit of shifting on his weight a time or two before stepping onto solid ground of the surface world again. “You should stop eating rocks Oddie,” She jested while adjusting him once more while still holding the moving sack of face-eating crab, “Off to Ara, it isn’t far, Oddie.”

Odhranos was in pretty rough shape, his head had taken quite beating and his neck was still in a state from the hanging. However, his mind was still ticking away inside his muddled head and something was bothering him. The creature that had attacked them was oddly familiar, but he couldnt place why. He was catching glimpses of claws raking across his chest, and vines, why did it always come back to vines? The mage was far too befuddled to know, so he decided to delay coherent thoughts til another time and let himself be carried up out of the sewers and into the clear night air. Oh, the sweetness of fresh air, it was so beautiful the mage almost cried. Or was it from the nosebleed, who knows?

Emilia would keep the monster in the sack and lock it in a wooden box once they got to Ara, then wait until her partner in sewer adventure was back into the correct mind set to find out what they got. Maybe it was worth a good chunk of gold at some black market for crazed monsters. Southward she went with the man and toward the river where Ara located. Nothing like a good healing center to take the hurt mage, and lucky for him the Genasi was also trained in healing, but would not be taking care of him. She was too tired from moving a man bigger than her to Ara. She’d help get him resting on a bed with one of the nurses before going to lock away the squirming monster into a box that would keep it from running away. “Don’t let him die.” She’d warn the staffing.

Odhranos vaguely remembered the trip to the healer's, but his recollection was hazy at best. He awoke briefly to the sounds of discussion and Emilia's warning to the staff, then a pair of hands pressed cool fingertips to his temples and he was quickly whisked off to a restful and healing sleep. In the late hours of the following morning, Odh woke up with a pounding headache. He pressed a hand against his forehead and felt the rough cotton of a bandage there, holding a cool compress in place on his head. The mage made a valiant attempt to sit up, but stars flew across his vision and he was forced to lie back down with a groan that would alarm any nearby staff.