Rashemen - RP Thread

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"Or advanced with weapons drawn," Del grumbled, continuing Jex's statement.

To the drow, she said, "There seems to be a consensus. Very well, you may come with us, but know that I will be watching you. If you dare to betray us, it will be the last thing you do." With that, Delphinae spun on her heel and disappeared into the underbrush.

 

"I thank you all, and I do believe that you had a quest on your hands. Could you tell us more?" Delinos asked,"Oh, and the wizard left a scar on both of us that has a trace of his magic, if I can sense that same magic getting stronger, we will know where to go."

 

“That settles it then. Why don't you two walk with me for awhile. I'll tell you our story. I'm getting pretty good at doing it, I guess.”

Sepp lead the newly enlarged party northeast along the north bank of the Iceborn River. They left the thick forests and came into the rolling, rocky wastelands. At a rapids, they crossed to the south bank, hopping from rock to rock. They continued northeast, then east, crossing at least twenty small tributaries. At the next creek entering the river, which was no different in appearance from all the others they had crossed, Sepp said, "This is it," and lead the group along the creek.

They continued up the creek for about three hours, the terrain getting progressively rougher and rockier. At the top of a ridge, two larger boulders blocked the path. Sepp stepped up to them and put one hand on each of them, and spoke, “Hello Roche, hello Pierre. It's me, Sepp. I'm back. I brought some friends. Let us in.” He stepped back, and a minute later the two boulders shuddered, and pivoted, creating a small space between them, big enough for halflings and goats, though larger creatures would probably have to shimmy though sideways. Black jumped through the space, and took off down the ravine behind it. Looking back after going through the rocks, Sepp called, “Watch your step on the way down, some of the rocks are loose.”

At the bottom of the ravine, it opened up into a small valley, with a rocky stream flowing through it, some smallish trees growing along the stream, and a huge granite boulder, as big as a small house, making the stream flow around it. The gentle breeze was noticeably warmer than the air in the wastelands above had been. Sepp took in a deep breath. “It's good to be home,” he said. “I don't feel any burning in my stomach, do you, Black?” Black shook his head. Sepp looked at the rest of the group, who had finished coming down the ravine. “Do any of you feel any burning in your stomach or lungs?” Nobody did. “Well, let me know if you start to.”

Sepp walked halfway down the valley, then turned towards the rock wall. A few yards from the wall, one could see a small cave opening hidden behind a rock fall. Sepp and Black went in, followed by some or all of the others.

After a fifteen foot passageway, the cave opened up into a large oval room, neatly cluttered with domestic objects, jars, boxes, chests, skins, bags, and other stuff. On the floor were three piles of mushrooms.

“NASTY TOADSTOOLS!” Sepp yelled at the mushrooms, He ran towards them, making shooing motions with his hands. The little mushrooms hopped and rolled away from their locations, leaving three, small, black, charred bodies on the floor. Sepp chased the mushrooms down the room to a small passageway in the back, where they skittered under the legs of a six foot tall mushroom with legs, arms, and eyes who had just come around the corner.

“Six-hundred-ten! What are you doing here? This isn't your territory.” The mushroom person folded his arms as the little mushrooms huddled under its legs. “I know I left, but I'm back now, and why are you using my family as food?”

“Of course I want their bodies to give life to new life, but I want them to do it outside, under the sun. You better go now, before I get really mad and do some very unnice to you!” The mushroom person and all the little mushrooms disappeared down the passageway.

Sepp went to some niches in the wall and brought three goat wool blankets over to the bodies, carefully wrapping the remains up in the blankets. “Nakia, will you help me with Drell here? Jex, can you carry Pa, and Del, will you get my Ma?” Sepp and his friends carried his family out of the cave and down to the huge rock, laying them on the ground in the sun.

“Ma, I know your spirit has been stolen away. I hope someday to find you and set you free. Pa, Drell, I hope your spirits are happy, wherever you are. Now, may all your bodies return to the earth, to give life to new-life, and live again.” The earth opened up welcoming mouths around the bodies, and took them into itself. A cloud covered up the sun for a minute, then the sun broke through and shone bright light over the slightly disturbed earth. Three small, white flowers grew next to the big rock.

Sepp dried his tears. “Thank you all for helping me do that. … Now, where should we start to look for the Earth's Heart? Out here in the valley, or in the cave depths?”

 

"Not to be rude," Delinos said trying to hide the look of disgust on his face,"but what exactly is the Earth's Heart?"

 

Black thought for everyone to understand. "Sepp must not have told you enough about it when he told you our story, but then he's never actually seen it. I have. It's a thing of beauty, about as big as Sepp's head, but made of all the precious things the earth hides: gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, rubies, gems. When I held it I could feel it burning with power from inside. I don't know exactly what it does, or what one could do with it. Maybe Atten knows more on that. Our task now is to find it and return it to the earth, to restore the balance that has been off kilter for awhile."

 

"I believe we shoulds search the caves depths. It doesn't seem like something you would hide in a valley that is open to wandering whatevers. It seems like something you would protect." Jex said as he shrugged off his pack. "But for now we should rest for at least a few hours. It was a rough climb."

 

Nakia finds a spot to lay out food and drink and various items that can be used for pillows to sit on.

She invites the others to gather round.

 

Sepp sat down on one of the pillows, always eager to try new food and drink. "Yes, it'll be good to take a rest. I really am pretty tired. Thanks Nakia. Thanks Jex."

 

Walking to the small stream, Jex peeled of his armour. He was hot and sticky, from the days misadventures. Finding a small but deep slow area, he dove into the water. The cold water was relaxing and refreshing. After around 20 minutes, he clambered out of the water and sat quietly on a nearby stone. Wearing nothing but his breeches, he laid back and let the sun soak into his skin. Grabbing a small blade out of his pack, he quietly cut his hair, giving himself a mohawk. Finished with that, he laid back, closed his eyes, and fell into the meditation once again. He could feel his worn out muscles relaxing and rejuvinating.

 

Maron dropped to the ground, and helped herself to the proffered food and drink, drinking half a skin of water, and pouring the other over herself.

She grinned, sheepishly "Sorry, it is hot down here. My home is much colder than this."

She brushed a sodden blonde lock from her face, and shok her head furiously, sending sprays of water everywhere "Thats better."

While the others fed and watered themselves, she watched the new drow curiously.

She wasn't as fussed about them as a few of the others, (how could she be, when her boss and best friend's lover was a drow herself?) but she was still curious as to why they wanted to come with them. One thing that Lady Raven d'Malkin had taught her was that the drow are rarely, if ever, honest. Even the good ones.

 

After everyone had eaten and rested, they geared up and got ready to go. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea Jex, we'll start in the caves.” Sepp lead them back into his home. The second time in the cave, they noticed that it was gently lit by glowing fungi growing on the walls and ceiling. Sepp went to a basket and brought out some large, dried, mushroom caps. Putting one on his head, he scraped some glowing fungi off a wall and patted it onto his mushroom cap. “You might want to make yourselves a light hat too, it gets pretty dark down in the deep caves,” he said to the others. Some of them did, others didn't.

They went down the back passageway, walking about 100 feet down a gradually descending passage. It opened up into a fairly large cavern, wet with water dripping down the walls. The floor was carpeted with all sorts of mushrooms. “Wow, the gardens have really become overgrown without Ma and Drell taking care of them,” Sepp said. “Oooh, there's a good looking one.” He picked up a plump, orange mushroom, and bit into it. “These orange ones are almost better uncooked. If you're hungry, take what ever you want. All the ones in here aren't poisonous.”

Along the back wall were four passages. “Let's go down the right passage. The middle ones just loop back on each other after awhile, and the left one leads to where the mushroom people live. We never go down there anymore, so I don't think Ma would have hidden the Earth's Heart there.”

Sepp lead the group down the right passage. After going about 200 feet, he stopped and backtracked 20 feet. “Atten, look at this section of the wall,” he said, pointing to a small section of the right wall. “It looks exactly like the rest of the wall, but touch it, feel it, connect with it.” He put both hands on the wall and pressed his face up against it. “It's much younger than the rest of the wall, which has been here thousands of thousands of years. This part here is just a little bit older than I am. And it's not very thick either. It will probably let us through. Let me ask it.”

Sepp stepped back a bit from the wall and started humming. He began to gesture with his hands and a small hole appeared in the wall. It grew until it was a three-foot diameter circle. Sepp took a step towards the hole, then he looked behind him at his taller companions. “Oops, I guess it needs to be a little bigger.” He gestured some more and the hole enlarged to a three-foot wide, six-foot tall oval. “Hmmn, I guess that was useless,” Sepp said, for behind the opening was a perfectly circular, three-foot diameter passage, with absolutely smooth sides.

Sepp and some of the others walked, duck-waddled or crawled down the strange new passage. It went about 30 feet then abruptly ended in a flat, grey, metal wall. A 2 foot square door of the same metal was set in the middle of the wall. It had no handles or hinges on it, just an oddly shaped hole. It was like a circle on top, with a wedge of cheese shoved into the bottom. It was like nothing Sepp had ever seen before.

He put his hands on the metal wall. He shook his head. He put his face against the wall, then quickly pulled back as if he had been burned. “Ow! I can't connect with that metal at all. I've never encountered it before. In fact, it actually doesn't want to talk to me.” He turned to Nakia, who was next to him and examining the small hole in the door. “Nakia, do you have any idea how to open this door?”

 

Nakia examines the lock with her finger tips. Using her lock picks she begins work on the lock.

"hum, fricking lock. Very difficult. Not sure I can get it." After a little while and some sweat there is a soft clicking sound. "Aha, think that did it."

The door swings open to reveal another small door behind.

"Ayee! Must be something here.!" She examines this lock. "Sorry Sepp, this one I can't open. There has to be a key somewhere." She begins searching the area but doesn't see any hiding places just smooth wall.

 

The Earth's Heart had to be here! Where else could it be? Sepp's heart was thumping in his chest, he could feel it burning with excitment. When Nakia said that she couldn't open the second door, his hopes failed. All of this for nothing? Yet his heart was still beating and burning.

No, it wasn't his heart, it was something else. He reached under his mail shirt and into his vest pocket. The hot, vibrating thing turned out to be Pa's fancy case of thieves tools, which he had put there to remind him of Pa. He pulled it out and opened it up. Inside, one of the small tools was glowing and shaking. He picked it up. It was made of the same, unknown grey metal as the wall. He felt it pull towards the second door.

He let it drag his hand towards the second door and slide itself into the hole. There was a small flash of light and a loud click, and the door opened upwards, revealing a 2 foot cube. There was the Heart!

No, it was just a hole in the metal floor of the space, about 9 inches wide, and a little irregular. The sides appeared burned. After about a foot of metal, it turned back to the stone of the passageway. The hole went on a gradual slope down, down, down. He stuck his head down the hole, but his shoulders got stuck. He backed out.

"It looks like the Earth's Heart has somehow left this space that Ma and Pa left it. Maybe it was trying to return itself to the earth all by itself. The hole is too small for me, even for Black, to crawl down. Unless one of us can become really small, I don't see how we're going to find out where it's gone."

 

Delinos though hard.

He did have a shrinking potion that he had made that he had never tried. He wondered if he should offer it. "I should get them to trust me, but what if it doesn't work?"he thought.

"I have a shrinking potion!" Delinos blurted. "I've never tested it, but what other choices do we have?"

 

Nakia stares at the hole then marches over to Delinos.

"Give me the potion but i'm warning you if I die I'll come back to haunt you to the end of your days!"

She drinks the potion. Nothing happens.

Suddenly she hunches over moaning. When she straightens up she is looking at a much taller Sepp. Her clothes are much too big.

She removes her armour and give it and her equipment to Sepp. Rolls up her normally tight fitting under outfit and proceeds to crawl down the tunnel with two daggers stuck in a rough belt.

She has managed to fit her dark glasses so she can see out of one lens but the tunnel seems empty. It is suprisingly smooth and straight.

Suddenly she sees what might be light and removes the glasses. Yes there is faint glow ahead of her. Moving cautiously she arrives in a large cavern. Large to her anyway.

As she moves into the cavern she sees the mushrrom creatures. They seem to be staring at something but some turn and look at her in a bewildered way.

Maybe they think she is a child halfling. She moves slowly past them and sees what they see; a large stone shaped like a human heart. It appears to shimmer and pulsate. As she gets close to it the mushrooms shift and she gets the feeling they are unconfortable with her being so near.

She stops and starts talking to them.

"I am a halfling, kin to Sepp and his family. We need to take this stone to where it belongs. If we don't there will be great trouble. Please let me have the Stone. It is called Heart of the Earth."

She continues in this vein for awhile and finally a very large Mushroom comes over and 'stares' at her then 'bows'.

"Okay, I think that means I can have it." She touches the Stone. It feels strange, alive somehow.

 

The largest mushroom person picked Nakia up in one hand and set her down away from the Earth's Heart. He puffed a cloud of dust at her head. She coughed a couple times, but them felt a presence enter her mind.

"I am ONE. You may not take The Creator. Others have wanted to take The Creator too." It pointed at a row of dwarflike figures standing along a wall, covered in purple dust. "They killed us, and we killed them, and we still have The Creator. We will not let it go. Now go. If you try to take The Creator again, we will kill you."

It picked Nakia up and put her next to the hole she came out of.

 

"Oh great more mental stuff."

Nakia thought hard at the large mushroom.

"If you can read my mind you will know I tell you the truth. If the Stone is not returned to its proper place there will be great trouble for all of us. A large group of evil creatures are seeking the Stone. Gesed, Sepp's brother, says there are at least 100. They have mages and clerics as well as being well armed. Look into my mind and see what I know. The Creator needs to be in its own place in order to create for all. Please I beg you help us."

 

"Sepp, can you see down?" Delinos, surprised he was actually talking without being asked.

 

"We have already fought a large group of creatures that want The Creator for themselves. They die. We die. The Creator creates more of us. More of them come. That is the way. I have spoken. Now go." The large mushroom person turns its back on Nakia and moves towards the heart.

 

"I lost sight and sound of Nakia a long time ago, Delinos," Sepp said. He sent out his senses. After a minute he said, "Nakia is still alive and well. More than that I can't tell. I'm sure she's fine. She really knows what she's doing."