RP:Valentin and Daisy follow their noses

From HollowWiki

Background

Valentin, commissioned in secret by some pointy-hatted git, is charged with the task of disposing of a most hideous creature's cadaver.


But first, he has to find the damn thing. Luckily, the thing smells like hell's lavatory, and he has the assistance of the sharpest (and cutest) nose in the west.


Path to Xalious

Valentin trundles along the meadowside path, heading towards the Xalious mountains, perched resolutely on the driver's seat of his sorcerously refrigerated meatcart. Pulling the cart are two of the grouchiest mountain ponies the world has ever produced, one black as Valentin's heart, and one as white as the coldest blizzard, looking as if they had been foaled with the express aim to bite sharply the dreams of small girlchildren. In truth, their previous owner had been a cantankerous old coot, and the pair had taken on some of his personality. They had only become worse in the companionship of Valentin. The steel cart is engraved with the cheerful and homely description 'Valentin's Butcher Shop and Charcuterie'. Despite holding the reins of the cart harness, Valentin still manages to look butcherly. Were one close enough, they would hear him muttering about 'pointyhatted bankers' and their out-of-the-way wild goose-chasing jobs.


Daisy just so happens to be there on that path when Valentin and his little ponies trot up with that cart of his. More to the side of the path, actually. She's got her head in a bush with her little stumpified tail swishing back and forth. "Come back out!" she coos, while making kissy noises at the fox that just dove into hiding. "I just want to pet you and give you treats!" Hoofprint sounds pull her out of those bushes cause we all know girls like horses. "Ponies!" Of course she doesn't see the angry beasts of angry. Oh no. They are bright and shiny with halos and you can even hear the angels sing in that aaahhh way that they do. "Hello Valentin."


Valentin jerks the ponies to a cantankerous halt, causing Grumpy and Gruff to huff with indignation. "Daisy, lass. Didn't 'spect t'see you out here." Valentin scratches a shaggy muttonchop, pondering. He'd probably need a hand for this or, more importantly, a nose - he wasn't willing to rely solely on the magics left by Svilfon to assist him in locating the beast's corpse. "This may be a fortunate bit o'serendipity, all things considered. I gots me a task t'hunt down some slain beastie that an ol' colleague o'mine needs removin'. He says it's got a distinctive smell, an' I know you happen t'have a clever nose. Interested in a bit o'tunnel exploration an' subterranean adventure? Joblike, an' all, wi'pay as a bonus. Mixin' fun an' business, like."


Daisy loves adventures. A lot. So when-- Don't just go to petting those ponies, kitten! They are gonna eat your little paw off and then Kuzial will have that much less of you to mangle next time you bother him. You can't ride these. The feline pouts a bit on her way over to the butcher. That pout is gone by the time she reaches him, replaced with the brightest of smiles. "I'd love to help you!" One step at a time, she scales that cart, making a whole production of it and accidentally increasing the cute factor of this whole ordeal. Just like a child, she beams proudly of her accomplishment. Got up there all by herself, she did, and sits beside Valentin. "Okay, I'm ready!"


Valentin nods "Sterlin' effort, luv. Now, th'sod I'm doin' this for didn't tell me -what- the blimmin' thing is goin' t'smell like, but it probably won't be pretty. Get in as much o'this fresh mountain air as y'can." With a flick of the reins, Huff and Gruff grit their respective pony teeth and get to hauling the meatcart. "Now, the caverns we're goin' into, luv, ain't been much explored by civilised folks. In fact, civilised folks stay well clear o'them unless circumstances demand, so there may be a little trouble here an' there if the place ain't uninhabited." Huff flicks Gruff with his tail, who responds by nipping Huff on the shoulder. "Oi, can it y'bankers!" Valentin barks. The butcher turns back to Daisy. "We got ourselves at least a couple o'hours o'travel time before we reach the entry cave, so chit-chat is prob'ly in order. So what's been happ'nin' at your end, an' how good are you at seein' in pitch black places?"


Daisy pays very close attention to everything Valentin says. Not only is it polite, but his words are surely important if he is taking the time to warn her of dangers and the like. Aw, she just remembered she has apples. Ponies like apples. Maybe she'll give them one when they stop. "Me? Oh right. I met a dragon and a woman with very pretty lips and I tried to put my tail on again, but it isn't working." Her nose wrinkles a bit. "Maybe I'll just forget about it. Oh! I can see just fine with my flowers!" Flower, really.


Valentin hoped like hell that the kitten wasn't referring to catnip. "Well, tha's dandy. You'll be right as rain, then." Or cavething fodder. Much of a muchness in the longterm, but as she'd somehow survived multiple visits to Vailkrin and an encounter with Kuzial (albeit with minor maiming) chances were her cryptic words didn't mean catnip. Hopefully. For all that Valentin is a habitually closemouthed individual, as a businessman he recognised that there were times when stoic silence were counterproductive to an endeavour, and so the next couple of hours pass as he rattles off numerous stories of stupid apprentices and Cenrilli larceny, of which he had a lifetime of trivia to choose from. For example, in between idle chatter Daisy would learn why 'two-throat street' in southern Cenril got its name (not a pleasant tale), as well as how his fifth apprentice managed to turn his hat into a pretty atrocious salami (still told in butcher's circles in the present day). Daisy would have plenty of opportunities to speak as they trundled higher and higher up the mountain path.


Daisy does seem to get along just fine, now doesn't she? Somehow. She curls her little feet up under her while she listens to the butcher's tales and wonders if he and her friend had their fight yet. That is none of your business, kitten. Besides, you don't want to go and give out any secrets that might be cheating. The druid nods to herself and to Valentin, telling her own stories of pirate ships and how easily a bamboo stalk slides through the throat of a man when he can't keep his hands to himself. Good times. She refrains from asking 'are we there yet' and just enjoys the scenery as it goes by. It is actually kind of nice not to have to walk on the rocky path for once.


Valentin keeps up his patter until eventually he says "Right lass, we're in the right general area" and reins in the ponies by what was barely recognisable as a sidepath. The butcher hops down, and leads the ponies and meatcart into a clearing. Valentin opens up the meatcart, hauls out a couple of bales of hay, and dumps them on the ground before glaring at the ponies "Right boys. Stay. Got me?" Huff and Gruff weren't dogs, so goodness knows what they thought of this command. The hay, however, was certainly appreciated. Valentin nods to Daisy "From here on out, things could get a little tricky, so if y'need t'prepare anythin', now's the time." The butcher snaps his fingers, and his shadow flicks open an eye. Valentin glances down and holds out his hand expectantly. His shadow, developing a silhouette facsimile of the butcher's bowler hat, touches a shadowy hand to it in mimicry of Valentin's usual greeting and produces a shadowy stave and tosses the shadowy form in the 'air'. A moment later, Valentin is catching a staff made of Xalious wood, apparently from midair. "Right, got m'compass. Now, t'get me tools." Valentin pulls a steel box with very fine airholes out of the meatcart, along with his cleaver. "An' I'm set. How you farin', kitten?"


Daisy stands up and shifts over to get down. Oh come now, it isn't that high. Turning, the kitten falls to her belly and reaches a short little leg towards the ground. Claws dig into the floor of that cart seat area as she stretches and stretches and just hop down already! It is like two inches. Finally! Once on the ground she looks around to make sure no one watching. Good. He is busy with some sort of shadow magicery. Do as he says and get ready. Her bag is checked for a blue, rose-esque looking flower. This is tucked into her hair and then a carrot is tucked into her mouth. Chewing, the feline stretches one of those cat stretches that makes you question about spines, but then you're jealous cause you know you'd never be able to get a stretch like that ever. "Okay. Ready. Ooooh." The box is spotted. "What is in there?"


Valentin glances down at the box "Those are me pets, luv, as well as m'cleanup crew. Can't show you 'em right now. They're pretty damn hungry, right now, an' would clean th'meat off your bones in th'space o'fifteen minutes." In fact, the butcher's gravewyrms had been growing fat and breeding well in the pits he had constructed for them. It occurs to Valentin that carrying the box was going to get to be a pain very quickly so, with a dissonant sequence of unsettling necromantic verses, he utters the Cantatus of the Umbral Servitor. The result of this spell is a dog-sized and quadrapedic shadowgolem with what appeared to be a tray instead of a spine. Placing the box on the servitor, Valentin activates the Xalious Wood staff, closing his eyes to sense the sympathetic emanations left by Svilfon. A moment later, with a strong sense of something to the southwest, Valentin starts walking "Right kitten, let's get cracking. Now, what defenses have y'got if cornered by, say, a bear. Or a particularly aggressive badger."


Daisy takes a step back from that box without a second thought. Fifteen minutes isn't a long time to be eaten alive, but she sure doesn't want to see what that is all about. Shadows shadows everywhere! She hasn't really been exposed to this sort of magic before. It makes her own kind of tingle a little though. It feels so dark next to her light. Oh kitten. Pet something poisonous and you'll be just fine. "Do I have to hurt them?" She frowns a bit, not wanting to have to hurt the animals. "I can usually get away or trap them in vines or put them to sleep. Sometimes they just need a friendly word to calm down." She trots alongside Valentin while they talk. "What am I supposed to be smelling for?"


Valentin rubs the stubble on his jawline "I ain't in a habit o'killin' things outside o'my assigned task, so anythin' that gets a critter off y'back is fine by me." Not strictly true. Valentin was known to kill other vampires for the sheer vindictive pleasure of it, but no need to mention that. "Now, th'bloke I'm workin' for said it'd smell pretty bad. So I'm assumin' y'want to think o'somethin' large which recently passed away." What the duplicitous Svilfon had told neither of them was that the thing had smelled like all the sewers in the world combined - and that was before he'd killed it. No doubt this would not please either of the intrepid spelunkers even now preparing to enter the dark subterranean realms. "He said it's quite a way in, an' left some sorcerous signmarks for me, but I don' believe in trustin' t'magic only. Fool's mistake, doin' that." Their walking brings them to a crack in a hillside, and Valentin holds the staff, concentrating. "This is it." Closer inspection would reveal that the crevice widened out significantly into a cave and natural tunnel where it seemed some waterway long ago had cut its course through the earth's bones. It was already dark by the time they made the cave - the tunnel was going to be pitch black. Valentin muttered the incantation for Dragichnyev's "Umbral Occuli", causing a shadowy set of eyes to extend from dark tendrils. With those sorcerous sensory organs settling in by his bowler hat, Valentin adjusts his mind to accept the strange greyscale mode of vision this particular spell afforded him. Although the visual acuity was less than a similar incantation he'd used in the past, this ritual had the useful side-effect of sensing disturbances in the darkness, a kind of umbral echolocation on top of visual input. Valentin commented "So, luv, with the reality in front of us, y'still ready t'go cavecrawlin'?"


Daisy turns to give Valentin one of those 'are you serious' looks. "All we know is it smells bad?" Well lets just hope the place isn't full of bats. That would be awesome. Hey! This bad smell is worse than that bad smell. Kitten! Pay attention. He said signmarks. "Oh." She smiles again. "We'll be alright then." She resists playing with the shadow and reaches up to pluck one of the petals from that flower in her hair. Said flower slowly begins to glow a soft blue, lighting up a six foot area around the kitten. Not enough light for a normal person to see by, but she's got awesome feline eyes. "I'll go first!" And before he can stop her, the druid slips into that opening.


Spelunking with Butchers, Bats and Druidic Cats

Valentin tromps after the kitten, the tendrillous umbral occuli extending at times to ensure he doesn't lose sight of her "Let me know when y'get to a split in th'tunnel, kitten." The butcher's boot crushes a handful of small bones underfoot, perhaps the leftovers of something's meal, or simply an ex-rabbit. Trailing behind the butcher would come his servitor, porting his cargo of Gravewyrms. "Kind o' cozy, this place."


Daisy pauses to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. That bit of light she has really does wonders. Especially when her pupils dialate the way they do. She does her best not to step on anything that will go crunch. Not because of being creeped out, but because she isn't wearing shoes. Bones are sharp, you know! "Oh I don't know. Some nice curtains, a few throw pillows..." She grins back at Valetin. "Could be a nice summer home." Her little laugh seems to brighten the cave better than that flower of hers does and she walks on, humming softly to herself. Ssshhh. Kitten. Pay attention. The humming stops when she does, faced with that split in the path. "Found it."


Valentin catches up to Daisy, glad that the condition of undeath means he doesn't have to worry about running out of breath. "Good work, Daisy. Gimme a moment, luv." Valentin holds up the Xalious staff, and points down the left tunnel. There are a few more such interludes, as the pair stray ever further and further from the sunlit lands into the darkness of subterranean Xalious. "Y'know, the amount o'damn tunnels this place has, it's a wonder the place hasn't collapsed in on itself."


Valentin || The next tunnel takes the duo down into the earth at a gradual but distinctive decline. The footing isn't fantastic, a hint of dampness making those patches of bare stone amidst the slight gravel underfoot dangerously slick. Daisy would be first to notice a strong hint of guano emanating from what her senses hinted was a cavern ahead.


Daisy takes especially good care as she treads over that slick gravel. How mortified would she be if one wrong step sent her tumbling down on her rump all because of some, "... guano." Her nose wrinkles and she hopes he doesn't notice the rest of her sentence wasn't out loud. "There's a cavern," she whispers, not wanting to disturb any hungry cave bats. "But I don't think it smells as bad as the thing we're supposed to be looking for." All whispers and silent footsteps, the kitten heads right for that opening.


Valentin wasn't taking quite so much care, until he almost lost his balance when a foot slid forward half a yard before crunching into gravel again. Muttering a curse, Valentin regained his footing and responded "Bats? Jus' what we blimmin' need. Them vermin droppin' their business on our 'eads." Valentin said "Hold up a moment, let me check it out." The butcher closes his own eyes and focuses, sending an umbral occulum out on a shadowy tendril. The sensory organ whisks off into the darkness, down the tunnel and into the cavern ahead "Oh, well, tha's jus' blimmin' fantastic." The butcher mutters then says "Before I give y'the bad news, luv, how large are bats meant t'get?"


Daisy pauses and waits quietly while the butcher 'looks' around. Bad news. Aw, maaaaan. She closes her eyes and lets out a soft sigh. Maybe there is a little bit of a groan in there. "Wing spans of maybe five feet." She peeks one eye open to look at Valentin. They're gonna be big. She knows they're going to be big. There is no other explination for his muttering and... is blimmin a swear word? She isn't sure, but he doesn't sound happy. "How big are they?"


Valentin grumbles "The ones I can see, about that. Hard t'tell, but some of 'em hangin' up in the high places, well, they seem bigger than th'ones zippin' round at the moment. There's a lot o'the buggers too." Valentin opened his eyes. "An' this is why y'can't trust magic. 'Jus' follow the magical signature' 'e said. 'They'll direct you to the thing.' 'e said. I'd lay you Cenril to a brick that m'hat's goin' to need a proper clean after this." Valentin scratched a shaggy muttonchop. "We might as well get a bit closer, an' figure out what t'do. Come take a look wi'me, an' let me know if y'got a solution to our bat problem that don't involve wholesale slaughter. Otherwise, we're goin' t'be drenched in batbits an' fresh guano." Valentin's problem solving skills, alas, only got as far as 'wholesale slaughter' when it came to situations like this.


Valentin || Ahead of them the tunnel broached a large cavern which in ancient times had been some kind of underground reservoir, but now served as home for a colony of haemophagic giant bats. In an environment with little in the way of vegetation, this species had evolved to gain its nutrients from the blood of other cavelife - mostly rats and other mammalian creatures, but unfortunately the bats didn't distinguish between bipedal and quadrupedal.


Daisy hasn't ever tried to get rid of bats before! And she certainly doesn't want to just kill them all. Though it probably isn't too much to say that the bats will try to eat them should they just stroll on in. "I'm surprised they haven't heard us by now." Oh whispering, such a friend you are. "And they aren't very noisy, which is unusual for bats." She frowns. Can these bats see in the dark? Maybe they are sleeping. "I want to see them." She moves closer to the entrance, quiet like and close to Valentin so she can maybe get a better idea of what they have to work with.


Valentin takes Daisy's cue, and gives her a bit of space so his loud tromping doesn't foul up her quietlike reconnoitrin'.


Valentin || The centuries have allowed the stalactites and stalagmites here, in many cases, the opportunity to form large columns, and it is in the pitted sides of these formations that the giant bats have settled their colony. The vast majority of the bats, for reasons unknown, seem to be hanging in their sleeping position. The floor is crusted with a deep layer of guano and the bones of small animals. The closer one is to the cavern, the more powerful the smell of guano and decay. There is a sound of trickling water off to one side, and the suggestion of a tunnel's continuation at the far side of the cavern. Daisy estimates the cavern takes up enough space to fit a small village. Some of the batlike figures hanging from stalagmites seem strangely large for the species.


Daisy takes in what she can, thankfully without making the bats go crazy. Soft paws! Soft paws! Right back to Valentin. "We can't just tromp in there." There's a flick of her tailstump while she thinks. "Can you make your shadows cover us? They won't see a shadow passing through. If we're quiet enough, they won't hear us either." She rummages in her bag. "I can make an umbrella of sorts to keep the droppings off our heads." Good thing she doesn't need light to know which seeds do what! Research, my good sir. The kitten does it. Once her seed is found, she looks up at the man. "Otherwise I don't know what to do."


Valentin nods "That could work. Mind you, I have t'warn you, the ground cover o'guano is at least a foot t'three foot thick in places. It's worse round th'columns an' spiky bits. I'm guessin' th'bastards 'ave been here fer generations, innit." Valentin pondered. "Alright, I'll put us under cover o'shadow an' see how we go." Valentin hisses the cantatus of shadowbinding, blanketing them in a shell of darkness whilst allowing the kitten the short-range benefit of her glowing flower. "Now, how t'walk silently when treadin' kneedeep in batshit, tha's the question..." At which point the vampiric butcher's traybacked shadow servitor caught up with them. "...an' there's the answer. Kitten, take a ride, an' try not t'jostle the box too much." There is a rasping sussuration from within the box already. Valentin hissed out another sequence of dissonant syllables, linking the shell of darkness to the servitor. "Me, I'll hitch a ride in a different fashion." Valentin utters one final sequence of necromantic verses, and sinks into his own shadow, which gives a salute and points its shadowy arm in a 'March on' kind of way. The servitor would start a slow progression through the cavern, and it would be up to Daisy if she used the servitor as a palanquin, or chose a different method of getting through the guano-layered cavern. One of the larger batcreatures seems to stir in its presumed slumber above the strange entourage


Daisy is absolutely all about hitching a ride! Sure she likes to swim, but not in that sort of muck! Three feet! That's... ohman. Without hesitation, she climbs up onto that servitor while taking the greatest of care not to upset the box. "Ssshhh... little gravewyrms." Good thing she doesn't take up much space! Also a good thing she has one of those seeds with her. Dirtless growing, she calls it, closing her fist around that seed and whispering into the cup by her thumb. It takes a moment, but from that seed shoots a stalk and from that stalk sprouts one of those giant rainforest leaves. She gestures in the same fashion as the shadowy arm and stays very very very quiet. Her eyes look up at the stirring batcreature, silently willing it to go back to sleep. Please? Just sleep.


Valentin's shadow whisks off into the darkness of the cavern, and the cat-carrying servitor begins its slow advance through the guano-covered surface while bats above slumbered fitfully. Without the light to startle them, the slow-moving progress of the servitor leaves Daisy in only one form of danger: being overwhelmed by the obnoxious smell caused by generations of bats leaving their deposits. Short of some unexpected calamity, though, the feline would find herself at the far end of the cavern after an inordinately slow and stenchfraught five minutes.


Daisy tries very very hard not to breathe while on that horrid journey. It isn't that bad, really. She has sailed with pirates afterall. Some of them don't ever bathe. You can throw water on them, but it doesn't work. The water just stops mid-air, lets out a girly little squeal, and runs off whimpering like children when they see Tene. She eats children, you know. At least that is the rumor. What were we talking about? Oh right! Finally at the other side of the cavern, the kitten can breathe a little easier. Lucky for them the bats didn't wake up! She looks around for Valentin. Lucky for him, shadows don't have to breathe. "Now where do we go?" She whispers. Can't be too careful about noises, you know.


When Daisy and attendant shadowy servitor clears the cavern of olfactory horrors, Valentin would step out of a shadow to reclaim his steel carrycase with a quiet "Further in, kitten. An' hopefully no more bats or less pleasant surprises." Banishing both servitor and the covering darkness, Valentin starts to tromp down the passageway.


Not exactly tunnel science: Daisy and Valentin on Mushrooms

Valentin || The tunnel they would now travel down also shows all the usual signs of being carved out by a river, short of having an actual plaque stating "This passage opened up by the honorable Water Way, circa a feckin' long time ago" It winds down in a long and uninterrupted fashion, save for the odd patch of bat guano and the bones of small rodents. Eventually, it would lead towards another large cavern wherein a trickle of water could be heard. There is a strong smell of mushrooms.


Daisy enjoys a surprise now and then. Even the ones that will probably try to kill her. It is too dark to see that smirk of hers as she discards the poopbrella leaf there on the edge of the cave. Maybe they'll be lucky and will be able to find another way out, but if not, she'll need that again. Right! Forward march! Er. Sneak. Marching is noisy and we don't want echos! The feline slips off her trusty steed -taking care to give it a pet on the head- and continues on through the cavern. Watch your step now. "Did he say how far it is?" Her whiskers twitch. Oh what is that smell? Mushrooms! Her furry little ear perks right up. Water means liiiiife. Usually. Only one way to find out. "We should go that way."


Valentin clomps along, the notion of stealth not something that had ever really occurred to the butcher, save in the most unusual and dire situations: such as if he knew Tenebrae was coming with new and suicidal tasks to give him. "The banker was blimmin' tight on specific details. Secrecy an' discretion an' all that mumbojumbo nonsense th'robed gits like t'mutter on about." Deciding to trust the kitten's nose, Valentin follows her lead when she suggested the entrance passage. "A'right, luv. Lead on."


Valentin || The waters below the Xalious mountains were occasionally known to cause interesting morphological aberrations in its denizens. Some sages blamed it on the Xalious Tree, others suggested a more malignant influence. All of which would have been very interesting to the philosophical crowd, but was utterly useless here. Indeed, none of those learned debaters would have expected a humble mushroom patch to be warped so utterly over the centuries as to gain limited sentience and mobility. It is one such fun guy that Daisy would meet at the entrance: a large flatcapped mushroom, approximately four foot high, slowly shuffling along on a morass of clutching tendrils. The mushroom emits a cloud of spores in shock. Those who study natural toxins and suchlike might recognise the spores as a soporific. Those who didn't, and breathed the spores in, would come to the same conclusion in the old fashioned way.


Daisy is one of those druids that actually spends a lot of time researching. She pours herself over books and articles and can labels and pretty much anything she can get her little paws on that might tell her something about anything that might be a plant. Information gathered, she goes out to find these planty substances. Kittens can't grow something if they've never seen it before, right? Right! And right now there is a mushroom (just as tall as our sweet feline) walking around and spitting out spores. "Valentin!" She quickly pulls a towel from her bag and covers her nose and mouth. Oh what good is a druid underground? They ask. Pfft. This good! "Don't breathe those spores."


Valentin scratches a shaggy muttonchop. "No problem, kitten." It seemed that the butcher could add another tick to the 'positive' column of being a vampire. Valentin stared at the mobile mushie as it vibrated its gills in an agitated fashion. "Correct me if I'm blimmin' wrong, but they ain't meant t'be movin' around, right?" For all that the vampiric portion of his life had exposed him to aberrant horrors the likes of which man ought not wot (but which his sire had gleefully created and summoned) Valentin was not exactly Mister Greenthumb and up-to-date on the topics of flora, fauna, and frightened fungi.


Valentin || The Myconic shambler they had confronted was nonplussed. They had failed to a) respond to its greeting and b) were rapidly showing themselves not to be mushrooms at all. In growing consternation, the mushroom shakes more, developing a hint of a bioluminescent glow. Another puff of spores, these ones subtly different from the last.


Daisy shakes her head as she moves closer to the mushroom. Oh how it is so important to always know where your towel is! Daisy's is wrapped around her face to form a mask while she so cautiously moves closer to the weird little... er... big mushroom. "No. But I've seen stranger things." Seriously. Don't go snooping in her bag. "Hey there guy." Damn right the druid is going to talk to that plant. "You look fun. We're just passing through, right?" It is glowing now, kitten. Get with the shroomwhispering a little faster, hm? She moves closer. Maybe it just wants a hug or something. God, what is wrong with you!? Don't touch it! Not even a little! Not even with that single outstretched claw that gathers up some of the new spores.


Valentin had made a similar mistake to Daisy here: because the butcher had found himself unaffected by the first spores, he had assumed that not breathing would give him a free fare to immuneville. Alas, he had never heard of a single mushroom being toxic in different kinds of ways. And the strong hallucinogenic properties which the second cloud of spores contained tended to be efficacious even through a generous amount of skin contact.


Valentin || The Myconic Shambler ceases its agitated shaking as the smaller intruder somehow responds to its greeting without using spores. The confusion this causes is enough to stop the mushroom from moving as it tries to comprehend this state of affairs - which also means that the duo are only subjected to one blast of the hallucinogenic fear spores. Lacking a mouth to respond to the fuzzy creature's strangely comprehendable noises, the creature responds with another soporific blast of communication spores.


Daisy blinks several times with a step backwards. Just one. That grin of hers widens, brightening her eyes as she slowly turns towards Valentin. As if she didn't have Pyro eyes before! Sweet kitten with her rose colored glasses. That dark cave brightens like a Disney cartoon on steroids with singing birds and everything. Fear spores? Oh man. Maybe this sort of thing works on some people, but for the kitten? Oh now look what you've done now, Mr. Shambler. She is dancing around the place like an idiot. Do you know how hard it is for me to keep her civil in public? Thanks a lot. Now she's got a some sort of powder and is poofing it all over the place. "Dance with me, Valentin! It's snowing!" Psst. That isn't snow, kitten. It is that stuff you made for athlete's foot... which happens to be. Oh. Well then.


Valentin was blinking rapidly. It was strange how quickly the psychoactive fungal compounds took effect. The creature had to be an illusionist, yes, that was it. He could have sworn there weren't any damn vampires down here. Or pigeons. But some bastard had obviously vampirised a flock of the damn birds, as if they weren't verminous enough without little fangs. Valentin would start swatting at them, muttering "Can't dance, got blimmin' vampire pigeons t'get rid of. Ask th'elf illusionist" and pointing vaguely at the mushroom.


Valentin || The Myconid Shambler, whose name was entirely conceptual and consisted of a complicated biochemical formula of spore emissions, was growing more and more discombobulated by the entire situation. Maybe it hadn't communicated properly? Maybe it needed to use denser sporeclouds if these strange intruders had poor receptors. But then, calamity! Alarm! Discomfort and woe! For the first time in its existence, the myconid shambler discovered the sensation of 'itchiness'. Alas for those around it, the sporeclouds of distress it was emitting were paralytic in effect. The shambler would tendrilcrawl array, spasming in dismay and displaying a mottled colouration where the antifungal properties of Daisy's powder were creating something of a rash.


Daisy continues to toss that snow about, completely unaware of what it is doing to poor Mr. Shambles. He was only trying to say hello and now there is this! Nevermind that this form of greeting could really be a problem for the kitten and her escort. She pauses, blinking up at the sky. Er. Ceiling. Indoors! "We can't stop here! This is pidgeon country!" Feels aside, the powder is helping. So is Daisy's natural druid body healery. What does this mean? Those infectious spores don't last long with her natural defenses and she slowly comes out of that psychedelic obnoxiousness she was put in. "Wha... oh." Help the butcher, kitten! I don't know how. Throw more powder! That seems to be working. "I only have snow!" So she throws that instead, aiming to neutralize the spores and hopefully make them a bit more safe. Valentin's deliriousness can be delt with in a minute.


Valentin continues swatting at the flock of damn bitey birds, although the myconid shambler's latest sporecloud had made his movements a bit spasmodic and jerky. The butcher, unaware of this new development gripes "First pigeons, and now y'throwin' flour around, Kitten. I think it's time we got movin' afore things get worse" Fortunately, the antifungal properties of the flour did help reduce the active nature of the spores covering the dynamic duo's surfaces, and Valentin's vampiric nature provided him a strong natural resistance to such things, albeit in moderation, so his thoughts grew a little more in tune with present reality. After another minute of grumbled swatting, the pigeons seemed to have fecked off, and the butcher was left with the task of remembering which way they had to go. A consultation of the butcher's Xalious staff indicated the path lay in the same direction the myconid shambler was headed, although the current tunnel continued onwards.


Valentin || The Myconid shambler was having the worst day of its life, and was constantly emitting sporeclouds of distress. He soon meets up with a pair of other myconids, and the air becomes thick with the spores of their hurried conversation. The message wafted through the Myconid shamblers' vast underground grotto that the intruders were dangerous, and not to be trusted.


Sometimes there are penalties when following your nose

Daisy would be appalled if she knew a plant thought she couldn't be trusted! Stupid miscommunications! You're always mucking things up with your misses and communications. Well! Good thing Daisy has no clue what is going on over there in their little fungus party. Her feelings would be hurt. But since she has no hurt feels, she just watches them make a mess of spores all over. "I don't think we should go that way." Even if the staff says they should. Ehhh. "Maybe there is a way around this way." She gestures towards the other tunnel.


Valentin nods his agreement, and tromps off down the tunnel, his movements still occasionally showing the aftereffects of the concentrated burst of paralytic spores they had been subjected to. Indeed, the butcher resorts to a tried and true method of passing the time: grumbling "I swear, I'm goin' t'make th'pointyhatted bastard suffer for this, you see if I don't." The gravewyrms in their box rustle with the butcher's mood "Oh no, can't take th'easy way in. Got t'be discreet, innit. Go the feckin' roundabout way. Use some dinky little mage spell to create path markin's, but not tinker the spell t'avoid stupid obstacles like bats*** an' big mushrooms. Oh, he'll get his, he will." Eventually, the staff directs them through numerous tunnels and passages, only to bring them down into something of a predicament: A small cave, a collapsed tunnel and the hint of a vile smell. "Somethin' tells me, kitten, that we might be gettin' closer."


Daisy follows the grumbling butcher, sharing his sentiments just a bit. You did offer to help, kitten. Didn't even ask where you were going or doing or what kind of dangers there would be. You just waved your little arms and bounced like that smart girl in Hogwarts. Oh sure. You know the answer, but gosh is it ever... What is that smell? Her nose twitches and she coughs a little. "We probably have to get in there, hm?" She digs in her bag while moving towards the rubble.


Valentin scratches at a shaggy muttonchop as he evaluates the fallen rocks. As a butcher, he'd grown used to horrendous smells over the years. Viscera had all kinds of nasty smells attached to them. But even so, he wasn't looking forward to the full effect of whatever had caused that lingering odor. It was going to prove a logistical nightmare, getting through those rocks, but he had an idea or two if given no other choice. "Well, my nose may not be as sharp as yours, kitten, but I've a feelin' we've found the right place." The Xalious staff disagreed, saying they needed to retrace their steps, but as this was a clear blockage, the spell would undoubtedly discount it as a viable path. "Y'got any ideas on how t'get through them rocks I should know about?" Valentin never ignored the possibility that people might have a useful idea. It was a matter of pragmatism: If you don't ask, y'wont know. If you ask, and they have a good idea, well that's blimmin' dandy. If you ask, and they've no idea, well, at least y'know. And if y'ask and they say somethin' stupid, y'can happily ignore them or use 'em as sausage mince. There were no downsides to the butcher's approach that he'd ever come across.


Daisy likes shiny things. Did you know that? Not just people and places, but gems. She likes to find them and bat them around on the floor. How does she get these shiny things? She mines. But look at those little arms! You say. A pick axe is useless behind her swing! You claim. Truer things could not be expressed. Smart kittens are smart, though. And she finds her ways. "I do." She smiles, pulling a small vine from her bag of forestry there at her side. Always a vine. Druids love vines! Especially ones that are placed on walls of collapsed rock that need to be cleared away. Ones that, with a few whispered words of druidery (also popular with the druids), quickly grow and spread over the rocks, weaving and curling and sneaking into the tiniest of cracks. The kitten takes a step back and lets that vine invade. "Shhh," she lowers her chin with a teeny smile and a glint in her eye you won't see in this dim light. So destructive. A breath later and the vines constrict, crushing the wall in their way while forming a supportive arch for them to pass under. "It won't last long." Oh god that odor nearly knocks her over.


Valentin watches Daisy at work. "So you're a druid after all, kitten. Nice work." Valentin examined the vines. Probably wouldn't hold longterm, especially if she had to keep them in place through her own efforts. "Right, hold that openin' for a bit longer if y'can while I get somethin' a bit more long-term in place." Valentin was fortunate that the collapse was localised, and not a major shift in the geological strata. Valentin was unfortunate in that he needed to 'breathe' every time he spoke to push air past his vocal chords, and right now the air was horrendously foul. It was similar to the notion of a thousand rotting spleens, and Valentin was familiar enough with rotting spleens to make an advised comparison. Setting down the wyrmbox, Valentin pulls out a red crayon from the pocket of his apron, and hisses a sequence of necromantic syllables. A wash of cold shadow sweeps across the floor as Valentin summons the cryumbral tides, using them to sweep the floor of all rubble and dirt from Daisy's own efforts. With the floor cleared, Valentin gets to work, rapidly sketching out a sequence of sigils and muttering snatches of necromantic canta as he does, double checking sections of his sigil array as he sets them down. To Daisy's eyes, it would appear that the each section Valentin checks as he proceeds would pulse darkly, and a corresponding section of the ceiling would be momentarily obscured by thick shadow. After a few minutes, The basic array would be in place, and Valentin would intone the cantata of umbral binding to form a mystical arch of black ice through the opening. The butcher examines his handiwork "Alright, that'll hold. I'll need t'make it self-sustainin' in a moment, but y'can relax for now. An' whatever y'do, don't scuff th'sigils.""


Daisy smiles one of those cute smiles of hers. "Of course I am." As if she could be anything else! There was that brief period where she thought she was a paladin, but it turns out she just had gas. She watches the necromagic with slight awe. Her magic is pulled from within. Where does his come from? Maybe another time they can have a chat. Now is for slipping through that arc while totally not stepping on the drawings. Her vines stay in place, but she doesn't have to use effort to hold anything up. That is kind of nice. Holy mother of... There is a reason posies were shoved in pockets back then. Why oh why didn't she bring some?! "Oh. Very close, I think." She peeks down the tunnel. Hopefully they find what they are looking for soon!


Valentin || With the passageway open, a scurrying sound is soon heard, and some rats come whisking by. Valentin, aware of the rare opportunity to save himself some magical stamina, hisses a sequence of syllables and the rats are entangled with shadowy tendrils. "Y'might want t'look away, luv, bein' all for the protection o'critters. These rats are forfeit t'practical requirements" Valentin places down a few more sigils and linking arrays, and links the cryumbral structure to one of his variants of Vandon LeRouge's Crimson Chains. With a secondary circle set up, Valentin waves a hand, and the rats are brought into the second circle. With a sharpened fingernail, care of the resillience of vampiric nail structure, Valentin jabs the flanks of the three rats. As ratty blood seeps, it glows red, and the critters find themselves sorcerously chained to the ritual circle, their life energy slowiy being converted in order to fuel the ritual arrays. "Tha' should give us a few hours at least afore I have t'use me own energy t'maintain th'supports. Let's find out what this blimmin' banker wanted me t'clean up." Valentin carefully steps past his ritual arrays to confront the room from which the vile stench was flooding. "Bring that glowin' flower o'yours here, eh? Let's get a look at this thing"


Daisy is too busy trying to keep the horrid stench out of her lungs to notice any rodent blood spilling. It is like they have been made royalty of some sort bog of eternal bad odors! Poor kitten and her uber sensitive nose. With one paw covering her nose and mouth in attempts not to breathe, the other reaches up to pluck another petal from that flower in her hair. Another is plucked and then another, each one brightening that blue glow against the kitten, Valentin, the walls, and... So this is what smells so bad. "I found it," she whispers, unable to take her eyes off of the massive beast.


Valentin looks over the huge corpse, its putrefying flesh somehow enhancing its horror. Valentin nods to himself slowly. He'd been right in that the flesh would be unsalvageable. But the bones... oh yes. Those the guild could use. "Right luv, the next bit ain't goin' to be pleasant, an' y'have my permission t'escape th'area if it all gets a bit much." The coils and coils of the subterraneoun wyrm/dragonthing would take a while, but Valentin had the means and the time. He picks up the steelbox containing a breeding swarm of gravewyrms "Alright, my little workers, time t'get to work." Valentin tromps over the the bulbous head of the huge serpentine cadaver and carefully sets the box down. "Stay well away from this, Kitten. Me critters prefer corpseflesh, but like living flesh well enough." Valentin's shadow stretches out under the light of the kitten's druidic magics, and pulls down a shadowy flap from the steel cage's own shadow. A moment later, a writhing swarm of large grey maggot-like creatures come pouring out into the cavern, making a beeline for the stenchdragon. In amongst their excitedly writhing grublike bodies, Daisy would see the hiddeous teeth-filled mouths, like those of the equally hideous hagfish and lamprey. "Those, kitten, are Gravewyrms. Rare critters, they are, thought extinct 'til me an' Mistress Tenebrae located some. Now I got 'em breedin' nicely. Useful things. Can strip a human corpse o'flesh very quick if y'got enough of 'em. I reckon I'll have t'stay here a few days afore the bones'll be cleaned an' ready for me t'transport. Now I know the exact location o'the blighter, it'll be easy enough t'come back." Valentin would let the damn grubs do his work for him, and come back later for the second part of the task. A shadow sigil scratched into one corner of the cavern would allow him to find the place with great ease. For now, the stench was getting to be a bit much even for the decidedly non-squeamish butcher. "Want t'get some fresh air?"


Daisy does not have to be told twice! She stays well away from those nomming creatures, backing towards the archway their magic is holding up. "Fresh air would be nice." She'll wait for the butcher to finish up what he needs to do over there before heading back out the way they came. Well maybe not exactly. Being overwhelmed by the foulness makes the tiniest of change in scents quite easily noticeable to the kitten. Instead of taking a left towards the crazy mushrooms, Daisy turns right. This path wasn't so obvious before. They were probably too focused on the stinky dead body. And maybe still a little high from the shrooms. Regardless, a tunnel is available to them! It is kind of small though. Valentin will have to duck, maybe crawl, behind the kitten who just walks along in a sort of dreamy daze as if being lured by a tinkling whisper of a voice. She smiles back at the butcher, looking a little more giddy than one so far underground should be. "Can't you hear them?" Bouncing with excitement, she turns to dart down the corridor without worry if something is going to jump out and get them. Funny thing is, nothing does! They walk and talk and don't even pass anything that would even cause a stubbed toe. Normally the kitten would offer snacks, but she decides it is probably not a good idea this time. How long have they been walking? Oh who cares when you've got such good friends to chat with! Eventually the air clears and there are steps carved into the floor. Tiny, glowing mushrooms light the way along that corridor and... what the heck! There is even a root-esque handrail that juts out of the wall. The path turns three times before opening up to a small room with a door. Daisy looks back at Valentin as she tugs on that handle. "I wonder if your friend knew about this way." The door opens up and the kitten has to squint from all that sudden sunlight. Where are they? Seems to be a pretty valley of some sorts with trees and grass and flowers and, oh kitten! Already she's froliced ahead, giggling and springing up flowers in her wake.


Valentin follows Daisy out, making a mental note of the path. When they finally reach the surface Valentin grunts. "Damn pointyhatted git. That would ha'been an easier way in t'mark th'beastie's location. A lot less hassle, all around." Sure Valentin would have had a lot of trouble getting his meatcart to this remote and hidden little valley, but that was not the point when one was griping. "Well kitten, job well done. Now, I'm a businessman, an' I believe in tangible thanks." Valentin pulls out a little leatherbound folder with the markings of Cenril's bank on it, and rolls up his sleeves to reveal a complex array of scarified sigils carved into his arm, similar in form to those he had been using earlier. The butcher sears his signature onto one page with the delicate use of a pyrumbral flame, the sigils on his arms pulsing slightly, and presents Daisy with the paper. "A promissory note. Pop on down t'Cenril bank, an' the gold is yours." Valentin looked around. "Right, help me find th'blimmin' ponies, an' we can call that a day." And with that the two would go search for Huff and Gruff, the bad-tempered beasts charged with the task of pulling the butcher's meatcart.