RP:The Initial Spark

Part of the An Ascending Dryad Arc

Part of the Chasing Lightning Arc

Part of the The Most Dangerous Game Arc

Dark Tunnel

Madigan and a band of companions had set out days ago for Craughmoyle to find mithril for the Queen of Frostmaw. The Queen had arranged a meeting for she, a guide, and Madigan to meet up and discuss the necessary details for the upcoming expedition. It was in that brief meeting that Madigan got to acquaint herself with her guide and bodyguard, of sorts - Kirien. The meeting was short-lived because there wasn't much to discuss besides a date and a location, but it was long enough for the dryad to develop some kind of impression about her newest friend. Since they'll have to take care of each other on this journey, she might as well trust him, and hopefully he'd learn to trust her in return. Although the primary purpose of this voyage is to collect mithril for the Queen, Madigan has another purpose in mind for searching the caverns. She would get Queen Satoshi mithril, but the dryad wouldn't be leaving Craughmoyle without searching the caverns for abandoned dragon eggs, gems, and fungi. These things were important to her, and she didn't see the point in missing a perfect opportunity to go scrounging around while having a terramancer as a guide. Madigan's nervous, to be sure, having a slight phobia of going below the ground where there is no sun and possibly no water. She was considerably weaker below the earth's surface but Kirien would hopefully compensate for her weakness... hopefully. She glances over her shoulder at the band and gives them a reassuring smile. Between the arrangement of the expedition to this moment, Madigan had met people she thought could be of use on this journey and had invited them along; it was they that she smiled at in that moment, before returning her attention to the back of Kirien's head. He knew the place better than she did, so she let him guide the rest of them to their fates. Hopefully, it wasn't a bleak one.

Kirien tugs the hood of his piwafwi a little; an unconscious gesture; a sign of inner feelings of trepidation perhaps, or maybe something more akin to anticipation. Where his dryad companion's emotions speak of nervousness at the prospect of leaving the sunlit world far behind, the terramancer is in his element, in both the literal and metaphorical sense. A breath of dusty, damp air fills his lungs and he yawns, rocking up onto his toes, arms arcing over his head in a full-body stretch to aid with the relaxation of muscles before the expedition begins. It feels good, down here where the rock presses all around and the lull of earthsong filters through every fibre of his being, and Kirien maybe bounces a little and smiles to himself. He's definitely excited to get started. They are still not far from Craughmoyle proper - the distant echo of coarse voices, heavy footsteps, and the clatter of metal and iron reverberates through the ground strong enough that even those lacking Kirien's queer form of perception are able to sense it rippling against their soles. Where they're headed, however, all will be silent save the minute sounds of the stone breathing and water dripping endlessly. "So!" With a flourish the terramancer spins on heel to face Madigan and the rest of the small party gathered to embark into the deep. He flashes the little group a fanged smile from beneath the shadow of his hood and claps his hands together, once. It sounds sharp off the rough walls of the intersection they are currently stood in, the gaping black maws of multiple tunnels winding ever deeper into the rock, stretching out underground to who knew where. "This es all for your own safety, so please listen up, oui? Do try to pay attention to what I'm saying, keep your hands et other vital parts out of any lurking shadows, et you should probably not...wander off. Especially as we get deeper. Oh, and-- don't shout. Silence es a virtue, and it might just keep you alive if we get into trouble!" He speaks in a decidedly cheerful tone but there's an underlying hard edge to Kirien's voice, hinting that he is in fact quite serious. Having said all he feels the need to say for now, the empath turns to walk briskly over to one of the nearby tunnel mouths, and the long journey begins...

Tevah had been following the band quietly, being nothing more than a shadow on the ground or a passing cloud in the sky. But now that the group had stopped and the Dark Tunnel was within view, her eyes rose and she pressed herself into the group's provenance. "Will we be meeting any undead on this venture?" She asked with a voice too hoarse to be anything but permanent. As she waited for an answer her hand found a pouch at her side, and with a few quick shakes, a mound of bones fell into her palm. Soft murmurs whispered past her lips, the words seemingly to become solid, a haze of darkness that fell upon the mound. It clung to the bones and solidified, pulling the bones into their proper place, lashing them together into its once live form. The poor thing, a rodent once many months ago, lifted its head to its Caller. "If we need eyes and ears in the darkness, I have just the tool for that."

Krice's olfactories were sharply aware of almost every smell in the immediate area and they flared slightly, each new scent wafting up to his brain. What brought him here? The reason would be revealed when the warrior arrived by the Dark Tunnel; he stopped shy of the entrance, spotting the distant silhouettes of the group who had already set off in search of... whatever it was. Two figures in particular seemed to hold the warrior's interest. Kirien held his gaze as a result of his instructions to the expedition group, but it was the second person who stole his attention thereafter with her voice and necro-rodent. Tevah. After a final sweep of the situation with a speculative stare, the man diverted his cool, crimson gaze to Merrien and he nodded, murmuring, "Here you go."

Merrien nods in gratitude to Krice for escorting her down here to ensure that she didn't run into any...unpleasantries along the road. She peers into the deep cave with exuberance. One could easily tell that the bard was excited to be on the way and couldn't wait to see what adventures were in store that she could later turn to song. She rocks back and forth on her heels, waiting for the necessary preparations to be made before they took off. She says to Krice, "Thank you...for everything. I can't possibly repay you for all you've done for me, but if you ever think of anything you need, just give the word, alright?"

Madigan didn't know the answer to Tevah's question, in all honesty. All she really knew about Craughmoyle was that it had dwarves, caverns, and mithril. Everything she knew about this place came from whatever she picked up from the passing words Queen Satoshi had offered her in their meeting - the one that took place before the one had with Kirien included. She gives an acknowledging glance to Tevah and eyes the reanimated bones - a curious thing. Maybe she and Tevah should acquaint themselves a little better in the future. Being a druid who specializes in fungi, Madigan essentially prepares the bones Tevah reanimates by stripping bones of flesh and muscle with her fungi. A smirk upon her face at this thought. Her moss green eyes suddenly glance at the warrior and the elven bard. Madigan was familiar with Merrien but not the warrior - which was perfectly fine with the dryad, really. A warrior is extra muscle that could come in handy in these caverns, and if Merrien trusts him, then he was definitely okay in the dryad's books. The metaphorical kind, of course. She doesn't know how to read or write well enough to keep records of anything... She blinks herself back out of her musings and continues to follow Kirien, her attention now seized by the immense darkness of the tunnels and the sudden grip of anxiety and intimidation as she steps blindly after Kirien. Holy crap, what if there are fire-breathing dragons in here? No, that wouldn't be right. Fire-breathers wouldn't live deep in the earth...would they? She grips her bottom lip between her teeth and starts nibbling away at the skin, trying to control herself. Her eyes dilate as they try to adjust to the overwhelming darkness of the tunnel they enter. Deep breath in and deep breath out. If she starts hyperventilating, then at least the others will have plenty of oxygen to breathe. She tries to chuckle at her dryadic sense of humor but the laugh just comes out as a silent exhalation of air. For the time being, they aren't near any sources of fire; Madigan knows this because her fire ward - the phoenix motif tattooed onto the right side of her back - hums quietly against her skin. It pulses a warning when fire is near. The tattoo's gentle hum soothes Madigan as she follows Kirien deeper still into the tunnels, remaining as quiet as ever.

Kirien gives a curious wibble of his fingers at Tevah, looking back at her over his left shoulder. He answers her question with a shrug and, "Maybe. Never run into any personally before, but tu can never be sure..." That being said, he seems relatively nonchalant when faced with the prospect of running into unknowns and frightening creatures. Kirien has, after all, traversed these caverns countless times, and has committed to memory the crisscrossing, twisting passageways that thread through the earth like a million veins and arteries. The blind man watches the convulsing pile of bones in Tevah's upturned palm take on the outline of a small rodent, feeling more than seeing. "Can tu have him keep an eye on our backs? I'm more focused on what's in front, et all," he suggests, always grateful for an extra set of eyes-- or...whatever the amalgamation uses to see. Kirien is not one to judge, whatever the case. He continues walking but has not even taken a dozen steps into the passage before he comes to an abrupt pause again; and once more he turns, though not fully, staring back up the tunnel to Krice and Merrien. Having caught the empath's interest as Kirien holds his, Krice is subjected to a mildly surprised blink from the apparent guide of this band of explorers. He huffs a soft laugh, quietly amused. "I'm already learning to expect you in strange places." Pausing, the terramancer hums in momentary contemplation before making the offer, "Tu can come along if you'd like. I could use a man like you, Krice." A man seemingly as sensitive to emotions and the surroundings as Kirien himself, that is. The muscle is an added bonus. "Either way, onward!" Setting off into the encroaching blanket of darkness, he walks in silence with his head held high, slightly tilted, as if listening to something in the distance. The path continues unremarkably in a straight line for a long time, though it feels like it might gradually be angling downwards, tunneling beneath Craughmoyle itself to the vast mines and networks of caverns. Kirien slows his pace just a little bit, briefly, so as to nudge his knuckles against Madi's and press into her hands an oval gem. "Breathe on it and it'll light the way if you'd like a break from the dark," he murmurs, as the firestone emits a gentle pulse of comfortable heat.

Tevah nods to the unsung leader of this band, whispering in a language that sounds foul and brutish, full of low tones and harsh syllables, and with that the risen rat jumped from her hand. It scurried past Krice and Merrien, dancing around their boots and stones, disappearing into the darkness that had consumed the entire band. Even with the cavern being lightless, Tevah reached for her hood, pulling it down upon her visage---to hear. The feeling of wrongness, of fear that dredges from the deepest darkest part of a person's mind, that raises awareness and the hair on the back of one's neck is what her ears were attuned to: it was the call of the dead. Cave-ins, deadly gases, fool-hardiness that had kept the foreman driving the miners further and kept the lone miner digging well into the night had left a bounty of memories that the rock walls emitted: wails of help, the last struggling breath of a humanoid beneath hundreds of pounds of rubble, and the deals with foreign and domestic gods being made---all were strands within her mind that she could use, magics that she could summon, should the need arise. "I sense no Undead so far," She called out to Kirien before she fell back into her silent listening.

Krice glanced toward the cavern that held the expeditionary trio within its shadowy maw. When Merrien spoke, his focus drifted to her face once again. He regarded her stoically, unshifting in spite of her praise, and in the end offered only a nod and a simple, "Sure." Whether or not he would actually take her up on that offer remained to be seen. The warrior had every intention of turning away and venturing back toward civilization now that he had completed his task, but Kirien delayed him. Krice turned again, looking down into the darkness of the cavern and locating the empath without trouble. The composed silver-haired man called in return, "Thanks, but I'll pass." A beat. "You'll do fine without me." It was at the tail-end of his words that he noticed Tevah's animated rodent scurrying away from him - arching a brow, because he hadn't seen it approach beforehand. Nevertheless, the warrior turned away from the group to meander eastward, leaving the expeditionary team to their exploring.

Merrien smiles fondly at the former-rodent that scurries past her feet and though she is sad to see Krice go, she's ready to get underway for sure. She keeps close to Madigan, seeing as she was the only person here that she knew. The bard was glad to hear that there were no undead thus far, but that wasn't too surprising this close to the surface. Who knew what would await them in the depths of the world...Still, the adventure would be thrilling and would take her mind off of recent events to be sure. No way was there an evil vampire out for her blood down here, no siree, and the cool, dark depths were something new to explore after a lifetime spent in the open air on the seas and with way too much sunlight.

Daisy is running as fast as her little legs can carry her! Why oh why do letters take so long to get to a person? Someone should invent some sort of device we can carry around for messages that are instant. Then things like this wouldn't happen. The kitten clutches her letter from Madigan in one paw as she stumbles down the tunnel. Did she make it? Did they leave already? She opens her mouth to call out-- Wait a minute! You don't just yell in tunnels. What is wrong with you. Okay so that idea is scrapped. Oh what do her feline eyes see?! People! People in the tunnel. Are they... Yes! Daisy runs right up to Madigan, panting. "I... just... got...*swallow* your letter... and... can *cough* can I come with you?"

Madigan didn't expect Kirien's touch or the sudden warmth as he slipped something into her hands. She jumps up in fright and almost drops the gem, but her reflexes clenched rather than released. After calming her nerves, she considers doing as Kirien instructed but decided this was the perfect opportunity to learn from the blind and passed the stone on to whomever would take it from her hand. She will tread forward in blindness and use her ears to sense through the darkness. It'll be an interesting learning experience, she assures herself. The sound of tiny, bony feet scurrying against the tunnel's floor fades behind the dryad as the rodent goes off to do as it's been commanded. She glances only briefly behind her to see the warrior's silhouette get engulfed by the light funneling through from the cavern's entrance. The light soon would shrink in size until disappearing altogether, surrounding them in pure darkness. Small, hasty feet come up behind Madigan. She's unsure of what they are and still jumps up, heart pounding excitedly, when the sound stops beside her and a small voice comes to her. Oh, Daisy~ Oh, Daisy! She'd forgotten she'd invited her dear feline friend and suddenly regretted bringing her along. Does Daisy know how to protect herself? Damn Madigan for her rash actions. She was suddenly worried she'd put her friend in serious danger. Trying but failing to look at her friend in the eyes, Madigan stares off into the darkness blindly, focusing her body in the direction Daisy had spoken from. "I'm not going to let you go back after you've come this far. Come along and stay close. I don't want you getting hurt. Someone has some stone that'll light the way for you if you breathe on it." Her blind hand reaches out and makes contact with Daisy's fur. Madigan firmly grips Daisy in a comforting, reassuring touch. "Be cautious and wary and don't make too much noise, okay?" She leans forward to press her lips against Daisy, not caring where her lips fall as long as the love is received.

Kirien's world is full of echoes. From the shadows they unfurl on silent wings to flutter like phantoms about the group, ever flitting at the edges of the empath's heightened senses; a whisper there; the scrape of a metal object on stone; the dull roar of a collapse that occurred fifty years past. Many things have happened in these ancient caverns but much of the lingering memories are old and frayed, no more than cobwebs and stray threads across his vision that he can brush aside without difficulty. Each step, each minute shift and vibration in the rock, flows into Kirien and paints within his mind a monochromatic map of the tunnel they travel along and its inevitable end, and all the mass surrounding them, including parallel passageways. So caught up is he in making sure the route ahead is safe that it takes him a couple of seconds to register that the voice he just heard is a familiar one -- Daisy! what is she doing here? at least Madigan is looking out for her, he thinks -- and that Krice's stalwart shadow is not tailing them. Kirien cocks an ear and maybe catches the delayed echo of the warrior's words, puffing his cheeks out a bit. He'd better not get lost. Knowing his concern is misplaced on a man surely able to take care of himself, even in these deep places, the terramancer returns attentions to what lies ahead. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. Features mostly obscured by the piwafwi's hood, his steps measured and silent as a wraith, he moves with the deadly grace of the drow, though such arrogant creatures would certainly not be leading bands of surface dwellers into their caverns. Then, at first only visible as a dim pinprick at the far end of the tunnel, is a gentle, greenish glow that heralds the end of the passage - the walls begin to peel away, the air becoming less claustrophobic as the light brightens and all of a sudden the path comes to an end. It opens out into a vast cavern of indeterminable length that stretches off into the half-dark, maybe for leagues. Stalactites and stalagmites loom and cast wandering shadows, and the whole cave is lit by the eerie, bioluminescent aura of a queer species of moss that clings to the rough walls, unique to Hollow's underworld. Kirien scrunches his nose a bit and sniffs. The air is clearer, here.

Tevah fought to keep her mind centered on its task: keep up a ready web of the dark arts, listening for the slightest twinge that would send a strand to humming vigorously a warning of the risen dead. But, to her sadness, all that she could sense was old death---though the area was abundant with the livid memories and the ghostly essences of the dead, it was always harder for her to raise the dead than it was to, for lack of a better term, infect their shattered minds and control them. Daisy was only mildly acknowledged; with her mind in two worlds, every little noise was a disturbance, and Daisy had made quite a bit of noise! But she smiled nonetheless---of course it was pitch black, perhaps feline could sense the smile instead of seeing it? The viridian glow caught her attention and held it firmly, and the openness that was the Cavern brought her on edge. A hand reaches for the nearest cavern wall to tease from the stone its history: She was, of course, no mage of earth, but death left enough of itself on any and all objects for those attuned to it find. "No Undead...yet."

Merrien is walking along the path under the earth, feeling tense from the lack of noise alone, but she knew it was going to be like this. Can't be waking up whatever's waiting for you in the deep...But Merrien had become so accustomed to noise throughout her life that she was woefully unprepared to spend hours without hearing anything but the group's footsteps and the occasional murmur of something attuned to "all quiet on the front." She gleefully snatched up the opportunity to be the light-bearer and take the stone from Madigan's hand. Daisy was a welcome familiar face for Merrien as well and the bard made sure to insert herself walking next to her and close behind Madigan. The girl only hoped that her healing skills would be rendered unnecessary...but as it was, the first verse of her song would probably be about obscurity and silence. Maybe a ballad rhyming scheme? Those were meant to keep people on their toes until the action started, and hopefully it would soon. They might find a rare artifact, or some baddies, or...another hour of walking in silent darkness. The humongous cavern is a relief and there is a lot to see. How such a big, open space could exist under the ground was fascinating, though being in the dark and unable to see all the walls around her was a little unnerving...

Daisy doesn't see what all the fuss is about. She can see in the dark just fine! Feline eyes and all. A girl has to be good at something! "I'll be quiet." She smiles at her dryad friend, giggling when that kiss meets her nose. She takes a minute to see who else is here. Kirien - who can probably see better than she can - is up there and then there's Merrien, who is always a treat. She slips a paw into Merrien's hand 'cause when someone walks that close to you, they usually need it. The druid doesn't know Tevah, but she's looking out for the undead. Anyone with that kind of skill is okay in Daisy's book. Her book is pretty short: Don't be an asshat. Kitten pupils shrink a bit, but not much, when that lit opening appears. It is no sun, but that moss is surely a welcoming thing.

A particularly brazen light emanates from a small clump of pearly white mushrooms growing in only one area. They can be perfectly described in three words - dainty, alluring, and luminous. Their heavenly aura dulls the green glow of the surrounding mosses, enchanting, but when Kirien notices them he instantly frowns. "No undead, but..." he murmurs, partly in acknowledgement of Tevah's words. The ground all around those fungi, while unremarkable on the surface, feels brittle and treacherous in his vision, and would surely collapse if any one attempted to put their weight on it - beneath lies a narrow, slippery passage lined with those same mushrooms, whose roots corrode and eat away at solid rock. Kirien gestures in the direction of the plants. "Stay away from there. It's not sa--". Ah. Too late.

Madigan had been moving enthusiastically toward the patch of mushrooms on the floor when Kirien spoke. She'd been astounded and had her mind blown when her eyes fell upon the mystical radiance of the moss that had spread itself happily over the cavern's walls for years. Her mouth had fallen open as she tilted her head back and stared at the stalactites that were yet untouched by the fungus' radiant grip. Along the edges of the walls were piles of broken rock and on the ceiling above the piles were broken stalactite bases that had been eaten away at by the moss that had reached them. Her gaping mouth went from wonder to shock. This fungus eats at rock! She'd finally looked down at the cavern's floor after that realization hit and, dodging stalagmites, rushed to collect samples of the mushrooms blooming on the floor and the moss climbing the cavern walls. It was in the moment when she reached the patch of mushrooms and wrapped her tiny, dryadic fingers around a stalk that Kirien spoke his warning. It was in that moment that the cavern's floor gave way under her unimpressive weight. Didn't she realize that fungus that eats away at rock would undoubtedly be resting on unstable grounds? She does realize this -- after she's sliding down a shaft, her skin getting occasionally scraped and cushioned by rock and mushroom caps. The first instance of pain triggers her hybrid transformation. Her skin grows thick and rough like bark as her white dreaded hair transforms into thick, white vines. Madigan lets herself fall down the shaft without reluctance, already knowing that gravity would win out in a fight between an airborne dryad and the downward pull. Along the way down, though, she doesn't miss her opportunity to claw at clumps of mushroom for sampling. Hopefully the shaft didn't take her really deep; otherwise, her body will splinter and crack at the force of impact and the dryad didn't care to spend hours within a dark, dank, and musty-smelling cavern, trying to heal herself without the aid of light and water. A curse screams out in her mind as the shaft suddenly opens up around her, and then impact. It sounded much like a rock slipping into some mucky goo only it was a dryad instead of a rock and instead of mucky goo, it was a pile of...poop. Madigan shoots up suddenly from the pile of crap and inhales deeply, unsure if she's disgusted by what she just landed in. It feels very unpleasant against her body and makes her clothes cling to her in really weird, yucky ways and let's not get started on the smell, but right now, she's pretty damn glad she didn't land straight onto a stalagmite or the hard floor. That was quite a fall and landing in crap actually made her feel a grand wave of relief. In her hands, she still holds the mushrooms - eyes, mouth, and hands are all clamped shut. When she finally opens her eyes - slowly, of course - she lets her hands fall to her sides. Out of the pile she sloshes and places the mushrooms into her newly-scented satchel. The dryad sighs heavily and hears a sudden chain rattling. What the-? She looks up and her heart skips a beat.

Kirien has not even finished his warning when the words are drowned out by the resounding crack of splintering rock. One moment, Madigan is kneeling with her fingers wrapped round a mushroom stalk - the next and she has vanished from view, and Kirien spits an acrid curse that echoes sharply. "Don't go near!" he barks without hesitance to the others before they too stray onto unsteady ground and inevitably endure the same painful tumble into depths unknown. To lose all of them would be dangerous for everyone. "I mean it. Stay where you are." The terramancer's voice sounds out solid and stern, like that of the surrounding stone - a far cry from his usual cheerful demeanour. Contrary to the assumptions of some that he is only ever an air-headed eccentric, Kirien is quite capable of being a fierce, serious being when the situation calls for it. With feather light steps that may involve some sneaky manipulation of the stone underfoot to form a more stable path, the cloaked empath picks his way over to the hole Madigan disappeared down and bends over, his awkward sense of balance allowing him to lean at a frightening angle over the open maw, without the risk of falling in. "Madigan?" he calls out, urging the sound to flow through the rock and carry itself clearly to her ears, "What's down there?" Even his senses pick out little more than a cavern, a hint of this and that, a chain, and something half-obscured and indistinct.

Tevah had hung at the back of the crowd, allowing any and all who was brave--or foolish--enough to go ahead find those dreaded traps. And a trap it was! One moment, Madigan had been gathering her specimens and in rumbling cadence was gone, sliding head or feet first into an even worse, uncertain fate. Her risen rat scurried to her boots, doing its best to garner her attention by clawing its bony digits against her ankle. "The rodent has found something. I will go see what it is as you...deal with this." She tried to keep her voice as pleasant as possible, but in her darkened mind the outcome of such a tumble could only be bad. "If I cannot find you when I return, I will return to the surface."

Merrien was right behind Madigan and holding onto the hand of her friend when the dryad opened up a crack in the floor and fell through. The bard slipped towards the chasm as well, but managed to ground herself, mostly due to Daisy, who gave her extra weight. While looking down and trying to see if Madigan is alright, Merrien notices Tevah slink off, muttering about the rat finding something. Two bad signs at once...The bard looked towards Daisy, her only remaining companion and says, "Well, just you and me for a while I guess. Can't move...shouldn't talk loudly. Wanna play charades or something?" she suggests, trying to think of a quiet activity that didn't require walking about until their guide and Madigan returned.

Daisy isn't much along the lines of weight, but she does have those claws of hers. Her feet dig into the floor of the cave as she latches onto Merrien. Kirien's warning freezes her on the spot. She's never heard that tone come out of him before. Well in all fairness, she only met him yesterday. Concern for Madigan makes her take a single step forward. "Madi?" she barely whispers, peering down into the new hole. An ear twitches. The other one does too. Why isn't Madigan saying anything? Merrien's words bring her back out of her brain and into the cave. "Oh, I..." Kitten eyes are caught over there. Those eyes gleam as she gets closer to that shiny, glowing moss. "Pretty..." So easily distracted... and she needs some. A jar is produced from her bag so she can carefully harvest the planty stuffs. Now she can grow it anywhere! Hopefully. That would be nice, wouldn't it? So useful. "Maybe we should just wait for Kirien and Madigan."

Madigan quickly closes her eyes at the frightening sight before her and remains utterly still, allowing only small wisps of carbon dioxide into her lungs and releasing even smaller, slower amounts of oxygen. It's time to remain utterly still as a tree does in still winds. She subtly clenches her teeth and cringes when Kirien's voice reaches out to her. Dammit, stay quiet! The mass leans its long neck towards her, its snout hovering over her head as it sniffs and exhales harshly, a low rumble in the back of its throat. Thankfully, she smells like complete sh- crap, so her foreign smell won't be detected. Its head swings away from her, chains rattling once more as it lays its head down. Minutes pass before she opens her eyes slowly to make sure the dragon has chosen to ignore her. She nods her head up and down, hoping Kirien can somehow sense her movements. She's okay, she's okay, she's okay; don't come down here. That's what her slow-ass nod means. Will he get it? She doesn't know because he didn't ask if she's okay, and she doesn't know if he can sense her movements, either. The white glow from the mushrooms casts a dimmer light in this cavern. This air bubble beneath the earth is not as vast as the one she'd come from, but it's pretty spacious compared to the tiny dryad. A glance to this space's ceiling and she finds multiple shafts lined with the pearly, illuminated mushrooms. Her body tenses in worry for those above her. Did Kirien see this at all? Her eyes come down to rest on the dragon she'd disturbed, now resting mere feet away from her inside its massive cage. He was sickly in appearance: frail, bony, and fatigued. A chain collar kept his neck close to the cage floor. Glancing at his legs and -- no claws? They'd been ripped off - all of them. Her stomach drops in pity as she studies the rest of his form, her stomach aching as she takes in the sight of his ribcage and the trembling of his body as he inhales. His back had its scales ripped off and his exposed flesh had been whipped mercilessly. Rather than scales, he had scars. Pale as pale can be, he seemed to have no more will to live. Her eyes cast around the rest of the room and what she finds are strange devices covered in dried blood that have no doubt been used in the torturing of this creature. His tail had been cut off and his wings as well. Parts of his neck, legs, and body were missing their scales. Oh, how her heart clenched and ached at the sight of him. With a wobbling lip, she quietly steps away from his cage, trying to keep the tears from spilling over her cheeks and onto the floor. Coming quietly around the cage from behind him, she takes a closer look at the rest of the room and spots another, smaller cage with a motionless dragon within. Her nostrils flare as she smells something familiar and fresh - death. The other dragon was by no means smaller than the first, but its cage was certainly smaller - another act of cruelty, no doubt. She had suffered much of the same fate as the first dragon. How the dryad's heart *screams* at the injustice. Her long, pointed ears stretch further back from her skull as the tips turn more jagged and frighteningly sharp. Her eyes turn a deeper, fierce green as a righteous rage consumes her. She tries to contain herself, knowing the slightest rash movement and the barely-alive dragon will still come at her. Dammit, Madigan; grab a hold of yourself, she mutters internally in her native tongue.

The cavern, though vast and plagued by a perpetual, unearthly green half-light, is thankfully a relatively safe locale for Kirien to leave Daisy and Merrien in; so he does not worry too much about returning to find them gone, or worse. Sparing Tevah a blink, he had been opening his mouth to protest her leaving but the woman has already melted into the tunnels before he can even get the first word out. He huffs a sigh, hopes whatever the rat found is not too dangerous, then returns focus to his main problem. The opening is narrow, a tight fit for him, and he's reluctant to attempt widening the passage when unsure of what lurks at the other end of it. Pushing back the distracting movement of the two behind him, the terramancer pours his very being into the ground, swimming, though his physical body does not move at all. He dives down far enough that he can pick up Madigan's halting nod but he's too far away to get a good grasp of her emotions, which would tell him much more in this situation. He feels something else, too, but Kirien is not sure he wants to believe that what he picked up on truly exists. There is no other choice but to follow Madigan down, though, and discover the truth for himself. "I'll be right back," he tells Daisy and Merrien again as he surfaces back into himself, his voice drier, like a parched ravine. Then he takes the leap, vanishing down the hole after the dryad. His fall is a mite more difficult than he thought it would be and the empath does indeed get himself stuck close to the opening of the tunnel - he wiggles desperately, kicking out, sending a smattering of small stones and bits of crushed mushroom out of the tunnel mouth in a noisy cascade. The sound wakes the tormented dragon again, and when Kirien finally makes it into the cave, he finds himself almost nose to nose with the beast when he turns around. Surprisingly, Kirien does not jump back nor make any move to pull away, though his expression does suddenly appear somewhat strained, as if he's trying to ignore some pressing thought or feeling. "Madigan. Calm down." He whispers it, his voice soft but cutting through those palpable waves of fury rippling off the dryad. The emotion choking this place is already crushing enough without her adding to it. Kirien murmurs to the dragon, "...You poor, poor bastard."

Merrien decides to take a breather while Kirien went to rescue Madigan. She takes a seat upon the cool ground and makes sure to keep Daisy within her sights so as to keep the rest of their dwindling group together.

Daisy's little face scowls. Her brows furrow and her mouth turns down and her nose wrinkles. Why does everyone always tell her to stay put while they dive into adventure. Daisy likes adventure too! What if there is something awesome down there? Like giant marshmallow bunnies or pizza pans that never empty! What if -- oh what is that? She wanders over towards the red speck of light. That taunting, glowing, quickly darting red speck of light. The feline pounces it with both paws, but it escapes and darts up the wall. Her tail swishes as she watches it dance just out of her reach. She makes a run for the wall and climbs up it a little, but the red dot is too fast. "Merrien... Do you have any water?"

Madigan bares fanged teeth at Kirien when he tells her to calm down, her ferocious state pushing to try to consume her, but she knows he's right. She knows she should calm down. The dragon curls his lips back and hisses half-heartedly, baring absolutely no teeth - just swollen gums and spit. The dragon tries to turn his body toward Kirien to defend himself but he can hardly move at all, so instead, he attempts to swish his tail at Kirien. The dragon realizes he no longer has his tail and lowers his head, narrowing his eyes threateningly. He suddenly roars as loudly and fiercely as he can. The roar echoes up the shaft Madigan and Kirien had fallen from and comes out the other end as a muffled echo. Madigan, now calmer, considers ending it right then and there. The poor creature didn't deserve to live any longer in this condition. Who would do such a thing to these dragons? Why would they want to do this? Her jagged ears shrink back to their usual, long and pointed length as the edges smooth out. Her fangs shrink to regular canines as her rage turns to sorrow. How she felt for the poor dragon. And why doesn't he slip into his humanoid form and escape the cage? The bars are spaced out wide enough. It's not making sense to her. A quick glance to the other dragon and she wonders why again. From out of her bag, she withdraws some spores and stares at her palm. She'd have to get Kirien to cover his face to release these into the air. The dryad debates, wishing she didn't have to kill the dragon but knowing it's the right thing to do. Her chin starts to wobble again as tears well up in her eyes and blind her. She blinks hard and swallows, trying to harden herself. She takes a step forward, spores clenched inside her fist, as she strategizes how to get the dragon quickly and easily without putting Kirien in harm's way.

Kirien is so distracted by the dragon and the cloying emotion in the air that the disgusting realisation of being covered in fresh dung is somewhat delayed. It eventually surfaces in the form of a distinctly disgruntled furrowing of brows and a slight huff. Lucky for him, the cover of his piwafwi saved most of his regular attire from being ruined but the protective cloak itself is going to need one hell of a wash - unfortunately no enchantments to keep it unmarred by dirt and the like were ever woven into it. He utters something under his breath to the beast, maybe a reassurance, though words can only offer so much comfort here. Action would do far more. In this lonely cave the sensation of untold suffering screams loud and clear, scraping on the walls; the feeling of it is akin to the screech of nails down a chalkboard's surface, perhaps, and it sends cold shivers of anger down Kirien's spine. Who could do something like this? The dragon bellows its misery right into his face, agonised and terribly weak, unable to defend itself, unable to escape the torture it's been put through. "There should have been an End for tu a while ago, Great One," muses the terramancer, solemn. He takes slow steps over to the hissing creature, forcing down his own fury and instead allowing a gradual sense of sympathy and assurance to leave him, as if in one long, slow exhale of feeling. The sensation thickens until it's almost as though you can reach out and touch it; and hopefully it will affect the dragon, as an empath's abilities are capable of influencing the emotions of others around them, lulling the rage and hurt. Kneeling, Kirien places gentle hands on his pale snout and lifts his blind gaze to meet Madigan's own. "I'd let those soar, now, Ender," he suggests with a pointed look toward the spores. "I don't need to breathe, so don't worry about that. He's suffered enough."

Merrien nods to Daisy, "Yes, I do." The girl stands up and walks towards the feline, curious as to what she needed it for. "Why do you need water, are you thirsty?"

Daisy glares daggers at that red dot. How dare it taunt her like that. Be a man and come out where she can fight you! *fistshaka* Or... a woman. You know. We're not sexist here. She takes the water with a hushed thanks. "Do you see it?" That little red annoyance prances its way down the wall, just in front of Daisy. She doesn't move. She only stares. The cap to whatever container Merrien handed her. "I'm gonna try to..." Ssshh! What the hell, kitten!? Don't tell the creature your plan. Idiot. What was that? That cry... That sad, sad bellow of... sadness. Daisy's ears droop and the red dot is forgotten for a moment. She looks towards the cavernous hole there where Kirien and Madi vanished. "Poor thing."

Madigan steps closer toward the dragon, swallowing down a ball of emotion. Kirien's soothing energy reaches out to Madigan, gently prodding her own energy to let it in and she does. His energy mixes with hers, dulling the intense pain. Soon, her shoulders relax. She doesn't unclench her fist until she's standing right by the dragon. Moving to stand beside Kirien, Madigan looks the dragon in his eyes and coos to him in her native tongue, reaching out with her empty hand to stroke his snout. He opens his mouth and hisses at her hand. She pulls it back quickly and suddenly opens her palm to blow the spores into his face. The spores move into his mouth, eyes, and nose, causing him to cry out in discomfort and pain. He starts hacking at the spores in his throat as they burn him, the poison getting absorbed by his body almost instantaneously. His nose starts running as he tries to sneeze the spores out, but they've stuck to him and won't release him. Tears rolls out of his eyes as he whips his head and stomps in place, trying to escape the burning sensation, but he can't and he won't for a little while. Quiet tears roll down Madigan's face as she watches him suffer. He'll die in three minutes -- too long for Madigan to be okay with. All she wanted was to give him a soothing touch before releasing the spores, but the dragon wasn't going to let her do that, and why should he? He's been tortured terribly. She sighs deeply in an attempt to control her tears but it fails. They keep rolling down her cheeks, her face stoic, not a sound coming out of her mouth. The dragon's movements become more sluggish and delirious as the poison sets to work on his mind, eating away at his nervous system. He collapses anticlimactically, his breaths labored, struggling, shallow, and pained. His eyes are red and swollen as they roll around in their sockets aimlessly. Madigan takes that moment to run her hand down his neck. A small whimper slips from the dragon's throat as the last breaths of life take their turn. That instant of contact releases a floodgate from within Madigan, allowing a single wrenching sob through before she covers her hand over her mouth and tries to control herself. Madigan moves away from him. She's not a stranger to death but she's certainly not familiar with absolute cruelty. The farther away she can get, the better she feels, so she moves to the farthest corner she can manage away from the dying dragon, crouching close to the ground and clasping her hands over her temples as she sobs quietly and without restraint.

Kirien stays. It is the least he can do. These final minutes have a certain weight to them that hold the empath in a state of quiet stillness, binding him to this moment like the cruel chains that have kept the dragon shackled here in pain for goodness knows how long. Deadly spores whirl across his cheeks but he does not allow them entry to his lungs, while the pale beast at his side unwittingly inhales a great cloud of them as intended by Madigan, and the poison swiftly begins to take hold. Kirien feels it spread, the fingers of death creeping languidly throughout this once magnificent creature's body, promising a final release from all the humiliation and never-ending agony - the poison will carry him away to somewhere peaceful, where he can rest without the heavy burden of manacles and spread his wings once more. Kirien feels this, too. By the time the dragon collapses under the full effect of the spores, the terramancer is holding his head gently with his face pressed against the milky, scarred skin, looking almost as if he is falling into a dreamy sleep he'll never wake from. A moment passes before he blinks open his eye and glances up at Madigan, all tearstained and trembling, though he does not see this. What he does perceive is the ocean of sorrow welling up within the dryad, threatening to drown her, especially after she brushes her hand down the dragon's neck and it breathes its last breath. He gives her a couple of minutes to huddle in the corner she retreated to - how he appears so calm is perhaps confusing, but though he does not cry, the same heartbreak consuming Madigan is clutching at his chest, too. Carefully, he lowers the dragon's head to the floor then stands, tugging off his soiled piwafwi and bundling it up, inside out. Silent strides bring him to Madigan and he drops to kneel in front of her, gentle hands coming up to rest lightly upon her shaking shoulders. "Tu sent him over the stars. I'm sure he's glad to be out of this place." A move to hug her might almost have been initiated but Kirien becomes distracted by something he's presumably just picked up on, now the tormented dragon's heartbeat has faded into the stone. He's staring now at the other smaller cage, vulpine ears pricked, listening. "...Ah," he says; a hushed exclamation.

Merrien looks around for this 'red dot' that Daisy apparently sees, but can't see anything other than cave moss, stalactites, and the like. She continues to keep Daisy in sight so as not to lose track of her, but tries not to wander far from the original sight either...

Daisy's attention is snapped back to her prey. "Sshhh..." She crouches down, pulling Merrien along with her. Sharp eyes stay trained on the red dot. It is there! Daisy isn't imagining anything. She presses her cheek to Merrien's and whispers. "I'm gonna drown it..." She gets the bottle ready and narrows her eyes at the dot. It gets closer and closer to their feet until- "Ah-hah!" She douses the red light with the water then slaps her paw on top of it. "I think I got it!" She giggles with glee at Merrien.

Madigan takes in one last raggedy breath before reeling herself back in. Once the dragon's presence left the room, Madigan was able to relax. She starts to lean into Kirien as he consoles her but abruptly catches herself when she feels a shift in his attention. She stares up at his face, the first time getting such a good look from so close, the distance between them not being much. Strange that he'd come within such intimate reach of her, though she really didn't mind. He was just comforting her and it was working. She follows his line of sight to the other dragon, the one that'd been dead for a while now. Maybe a few days since it's been dead. She wonders why he's looking off in that direction, so she stands to investigate. He sensed something or he heard something - whichever the case, she's going to investigate. She walks around the cage, peering inside at the dead dragon, no longer disturbed by the unearthly paleness of its color. At some point, this dragon was radiant and full of life, but that life is long gone and the radiance gone with it. Or more likely, the radiance left before life had. Her eyes cast to the floor as she thinks of the other dragon who'd just died. A strange, rotten smell stings her nose - a poignant odor. She looks around for it on the ground and when she spots nothing, her eyes rise to look higher. This wasn't the usual scent of death. Finally, her green eyes fall upon the origin of the smell. Beside the smaller cage, against the wall, were dried streaks of blood and something else. Her eyes follow the streaks to the floor and there she sees two premature dragons surrounded by cracked egg shell pieces, bloodied and crushed from the force of impact when their shells were thrown into the rock wall. Madigan's mind reels at the thought. She'd throw up if she could. Instead, she hangs her head and looks away, looking at what she can only assume is the mother dragon. She bites her lip to control herself as she considers why. Perhaps they stole her offspring and killed them in front of her as another cruel act. She shakes her head in disgust, unable to imagine the kind of darkness someone has to possess to do such a thing. How she'd love to discover who did this... Staring at the mother's face, she realizes something odd about her positioning. It was as if something was poking her neck. She squeezes through the bars of the cage with a bit of difficulty, the bars not being as spaced as with the other cage. She tries to find the thing that forces the dragon's neck at an awkward bend. Madigan climbs onto the dragon's neck, impressed at how ice cold the body is, and peeks over her neck to see what she's hiding. Madigan blinks suddenly. She didn't actually think the dragon was hiding anything. It was just a form of expression she was intending when she thought it, but the mother did die hiding something. "Kirien," is all Madigan manages in her astonishment.

Kirien does not abide by the (mostly) universally-accepted rules of personal space, as anyone will discover after being in his presence for even a short few hours. He has this habit of getting up in your face without asking, thinking nothing of it. Right then, he saw no problem in approaching Madigan, or in attempting to embrace her and offer silent comfort. But what he's picked up on has drawn his attention away before the gesture can be completed and a curious terramancer cocks his head slightly to one side, sensitive ears twitching in rhythm with some beat imperceptible to anyone other than himself. He -knows- this feeling, and it conflicts with the lingering shadows of death cloaking the cavern. Life. Quickly he follows after Madigan, moving over to the smaller cage. The whelps and their shattered eggs are purposely ignored because Kirien knows his control might slip if his emotions are driven out of control - he'd rather not accidentally set off an earthquake down here and risk killing them both. He swallows the lump in his throat and looks away. Instead, the empath trains his gaze intently on the cage and what lies within it that has grabbed his focus. With some squeezing Madigan can make it between the gap in the bars but the larger man has to forcefully bend two of them aside in order to fit through, stepping carefully so as not to tread on the corpse of the mother. She must have been beautiful once, he muses to himself, hopping over a mangled limb and inching his way up to her neck. "I know," he breathes back at the dryad's shocked whisper of his name, the faintest smile on his lips, "There's still life here." And they are going to take it with them before this place snuffs out another life. He bends over and, making sure to be very careful, manages to pry the egg out from beneath the body. Every breath is nauseating, punctuated by the pungent aroma of death, but soon he has in his hands a heartbeat that he draws close to his own chest. "C'mere," he says to Madigan, guiding the dryad back out of the cage. She stays close, fixated on their precious cargo, which Kirien presses into her arms. It's hers, after all, though it's probably a bit heavy for the dryad. Briefly the terramancer eyes the mushroomy tunnel they both fell down to reach this place before he shakes his head, then glances across to the far side of the cave, where the darkened mouth of another passage lurks half-hidden. It feels like it heads down, though, so he does not even consider exploring it, simply speaking a lone word alive with magical undertones - and then, the earth sings. It cracks and shatters beneath and above the pair, though no debris falls to crush them, and slowly they rise up out of the low cavern on a rumbling, spindly pillar of rock. Weaving through the stone like a great grey snake, the column soon breaks out into the luminous cave Merrien and Daisy still wait within, and Kirien wiggles his fingers at them both in what might have been a greeting.

Merrien looks astounded and hopeful that the immense cracking noise is from a friendly source...and the girl breathes a sigh of relief that it's Kirien and Madigan. The stunned bard waves to the two and suddenly asks, "What on earth took you guys so long? I was getting worried..."

Daisy lifts her paw up to peek under it and... what the heck! Both paws go up in the air! The thing is gone! What is this sorcery!? This foul play!? This... Oh. She smiles at Madigan and Kirien. "You're safe... and smelly. What happened?"

Madigan pressed the egg close to her chest as they rose through the ground and into the cavern they'd descended from. She shrugged at Merrien and Daisy's similar questions and held the egg a little higher against her chest as explanation. She didn't want to talk in detail about what happened - not right now. Madigan realizes the necromancer's missing. At her question about the missing member, the group answers vaguely but the reply is good enough for Madigan to simply let it go. She's had enough of being down here, but they did come here for something. For the next several hours, they collect mithril and store it in their satchels. Madigan continues glancing warily toward the egg, wondering if the sadists would come for it and kill it like the other babes. She pursed her lips at the thought and tried to chase it away with her satisfaction at finally getting what she wanted. After hours had passed, they decided it was time to leave. Everyone gathered their things and Madigan carefully picked the egg up and leaned it against her chest, wrapping her arms firmly around it. She wondered how Kirien managed to continue onward while covered in crap, but he probably managed the same way she did. She was just glad they were finally getting back to the surface. On the long, quiet journey up, Madigan considered the riddle in her vision. The other parts of the prophecy were true but the final riddle... 'The light within shines the night'... She thought she'd understand its meaning after this journey was over, but perhaps this adventure isn't over quite yet. There was no light at the end of the tunnel for them. By the time they surfaced, it was a black night with a sky almost blanketed completely in stars of varying sizes and colors. There was no moon. As Madigan drank in the sight of the night sky she realized the riddle's meaning: In the darkness, the light shines brightest. You can't see light if you're looking for it in the day, right? She glances down at the egg. Today, Madigan had to end a miserable life that suffered in darkness. Was her compassion the light referred to in the riddle? Perhaps. But today, she also found new life - new light. She would ensure her whelp never saw the likes of the pain her parents had endured. This dragon has a fighting chance and Madigan will do everything in her power to help it reach its full potential. That was her promise.