Catch a Falling Star

[MadEmperor]

"This... does look like the kind of thing that line about the mountain opening up to swallow the Warrior Sage could have referred to," Grav said nervously. "I don't know if we have enough rope for this; I can't even tell how deep it really is."

As they stood there, the ground quietly cracked around their feet.

[DragonSong]

"Maybe we should head back for the day," Kiara mused, frowning. "We know how to get in here now—we can stock up on supplies back in town, maybe even see if there's something Kit could do; if we had a long enough rope he could maybe anchor us..."

She heard the cracking before she felt it. Her eyes widened. "Shit—Grav, get back!"

Without thinking, she grabbed the part of him closest to her—which happened to be his tail—and yanked him back as the edge of their path started to crumble.

Her own footing was unfortunately less stable—the cracks spread in a diagonal, and the momentum she'd gotten from pulling Grav back sent her stumbling down to her knees. She tried to catch herself, and her stomach reeled sickeningly as her right hand met only empty air.

[MadEmperor]

Grav's inhuman reflexes allowed him to catch her just, but he was too late. Suddenly, the entire chunk of ground under their feet collapsed. They spilled onto the slope and tumbled down into the dark.


Grav opened his eyes and sat up to look around in the gloom. The last thing he remembered was hitting his head on a stalagmite on the way down.

"Kiara!" he called out, wincing as he felt the side of his head. Even with improved vision in the dark, he could barely see his own hand. Reaching for Brightedge, he found his scabbard missing, having been torn loose at some point. So, he started crawling around and feeling for it.

[DragonSong]

"H-here." Kiara coughed, rock dust coating her tongue. Or, crystal dust, she guessed. Was that even a thing? "Fuck, I can't see a damn thing. Don't suppose Brightedge could--?"

She started to try to stand, then suddenly cried out and went back down on one knee. "Shiiiiiit," she hissed. Then, sounding more irritated than in pain, called in the direction of Grav's voice, "My stupid red-cap-bit leg isn't fucking working. I think I hit my hip weird or something. How're you doing?"

[MadEmperor]

"A few scrapes and my head is pounding, but otherwise I think I'm fine." He kept feeling around until his hand found something metal. "Found it!"

The chamber in which they found themselves slowly lit up as Brightedge sprang to life. The small crystals growing from the ground seemed to absorb the light and begin to shine themselves. The effect spread until most of the large space was lit up like a constellation.

"Whoah... is that... an underground ruin?" In the distance sat what vaguely looked like the remains of a temple of some kind. A veritable crystal forest waited between them and the structure."

[DragonSong]

"Whoa, indeed," Kiara agreed as the crystalline forest lit up around them. She tried to stand again and managed it this time, though she was wobbly and had to leaned heavily against one of the protrusions of crystal for support.

"Hang on," she muttered, squinting at the structure in the middle distance. "Lemme contact Kit--we can't be so deep into the mountain that he can't hear me yet."

She hoped.

[MadEmperor]

Grav moved to check her leg for obvious injuries. Maybe it was just dislocated?

"Any luck?"

[DragonSong]

From the way she was standing, her hip did look like it might have slipped out of joint, making it look like she was standing at an angle despite the flat surface beneath them. She was resting all her weight on her good leg, eyes closed and breathing carefully measured as she tried to concentrate through the pain radiating out from it.

Kitten? Can you hear me?

...further. You okay? Thought I heard...

"I've got him," she sighed, a mix of relief and irritation. "Sort of. Damnit, most crystals have some sort of magical nonsense going on, even at a low frequency. I wouldn't be surprised if this place is muddling up the connection."

[MadEmperor]

"Just tell him we're fine and will call for him as soon as we find a way out or a hole he can fly into."

"But first..." He handed her his empty scabbard. "Bite down on this. Because this is going to hurt. A lot."

As soon as she did, he grabbed her leg and carefully angled it before quickly shoving it back into its joint.

[DragonSong]

"Yeah, that's..."

She took the scabbard when he handed it to her, a little baffled; luckily, she realized what he was doing a split second before he did it, so she managed to bite down on treated leather rather than her own tongue. It also helped muffled the instinctive scream somewhat.

Dropping the scabbard when he was done, she doubled over and braced her hands on her knees. "Ohhhhhh I hate you I hate you I hate you," she bit out. "Fuck. Ow. Thanks. Fuck."

She took another breath, two, then reached out to Kit again. "This...may take me a second," she muttered. "It's like shouting across a canyon--there's a weird echo, and I'm missing every fifth word."

[MadEmperor]

Grav nodded and walked around the area as she worked on her connection. Gods, the place was beautiful: the glowing crystals lighting the cave like a sea of stars, the crystalline forest, the patch of geodes just sitting there to be taken like loose treasure, all of it.

Curious, he picked up one of the strange stones. The crystals were pristine, but the stone had a strange, scaly texture. And the shape was odd, but he couldn't say how.

[DragonSong]

"Alright. He's not happy, but he's got the message. He's going to start searching topside to see if there might be another way down here," Kiara said after a little while. Then she noticed that Grav was holding a strange crystal, and limped her way over--he may have popped her hip back into its socket, but it was still sore as all hells.

"Whatcha find?" she asked as she got closer.

[MadEmperor]

Grav held it toward her. "Some kind of geode, I think. A lot of them, in all sorts of colors, just sitting there." He brought it closer to his face for a better look.

Then an eye opened in front of him. "Gah!" he shouted, dropping it like it might bite him.

[DragonSong]

"What in the hells--?!"

Kiara jumped back, reaching for her dagger automatically.

The strange crystal creature seemed to unfurl in the air so it hit the ground with four splayed feet, then skittered toward the thicker clusters of crystal columns, sparing a moment to hiss at them as it went.

Kiara gaped. "What the fuck was that?!"

[MadEmperor]

"Don't ask me!" He shuddered from the surprise as he  watched the creature run off behind a column. "It looked like some kind of freaky lizard."

The other "geodes" unfurled into strange lizards of varying crystal and scale colors. Without the surprise, they were actually kind of adorable. Adorable like... babies.

[DragonSong]

"What even...?" Kiara blinked, staring at the little creatures. "I didn't know anything could live down here, let alone..."

One of the lizard-like animals skittered toward them, then abruptly changed direction to circle around to their left. She snorted as it arched its back and seemed to expand the scales on its tail, like a startled cat--or like Kit used to do when he was a hatchling.

"Easy, little guy," she found herself cooing as she knelt. The animal scampered back, but when she didn't pursue, it stopped and eyed her curiously. "There ya go," she murmured. "See? We're not gonna hurt you. Sorry Grav here threw your friend--you gave us a bit of a fright."

One of the other little crystal critters chirped and skittered halfway up a spear of quartz that thrust up from the cavern floor, cocking its head as it seemed to be trying to get a better look at them.

[MadEmperor]

A third one scampered close to Grav and tasted the air. It chirped and skittered up to him as he knelt. He put his hand out, and it smelled him again before cheeping happily and climbing straight up his arm.

"Well, hey, little guy." The swordsman smiled at it as it settled on his shoulder. "Gods, they're so cute it hurts."

[DragonSong]

"I think I'm in love," Kiara agreed, smiling at the little creature as it curled up in the crook of Grav's neck. She chuckled a bit and noted, "I think they like you."

Sure enough, two more of the creatures had scampered toward him, tongues flicking out to scent the air around his boots. One tentatively placed a splay-toed paw on the toe of his boot and chirped up at him demandingly.

"I've never seen anything like them," Kiara murmured as she watched. "Do you think...I mean, the Tears have supposedly been down here a long time. Do you think it...made them, somehow?"

[MadEmperor]

"Who knows? I mean, there are always weird critters underground." He carefully picked up the one begging for attention. "Did I say weird? I meant precious, yes I did," he cooed.

Grav looked over just in time to say, "Oh no," before finding him buried under an adorable tide of lizards. "Help!" he laughed. "Too much cuteness!"

[DragonSong]

Kiara burst out laughing, moving forward to start pulling the cheeping critters off of him. They didn't seem to mind overmuch, giving a peep or two of protest as she lifted them up, but settling easily once they realized she was simply moving them to the ground and not taking them away entirely. A few of them even nibbled curiously at her fingers, or pressed closer to the warmth of her hand.

"They really like you," she chuckled as she peeled one off his arm only for it to scramble back up his leg and make a new perch on his shoulder. "Alright, babies, yes, you're very cute, but we...have to..."

Her smile faded as she happened to glance up and went very, very still. "Grav," she hissed. "I think...they are babies..."

Clinging to the crystal wall of the cavern above their heads was another gem-encrusted lizard--only this one was easily the size of mountain lion. It gave a shivering, rumbling growl, revealing that the cute little needle-teeth on the smaller ones would one day get to be about the length of Kiara's thumb.

"Oh. Shit."