A rocky start? [Open]

[Fitgain]

"The name's Wallace, Wallace Rondel," Wallace elegantly stuttered, making an iffy sort of bow. He could feel the orb of light flickering slightly, but he made no comment, his ego getting in the way of admitting that something was off, and the fear of showing weakness. What was the point of telling them anyways? It was obvious at this point to Wallace that he had the upper hand, being the only one fully decked out to survive, or was he? He wouldn't be surprised if the fox-boy Micheal suddenly pulled out a bag of holding and emptied a whole storage of food.

Wallace was too distracted by his own thoughts to care much about the small marks on the ground, brushing it off as minor canals created by water erosion and whatever the sort of deterioration that this place must've gone through, considering that its probably very old. Eventually, he could feel his nerves shouting at him that the orb of light wasn't going to keep on going much longer at the rate that the darkness seemed to be feasting upon it, so he slightly dimmed it. He quickly came up with an excuse to sprout if the rock or Michael asked why the light became darker, ready to say that his eyes were sensitive.

[Nordling]

"YES!"

Leading the way amounted to Rock carefully guiding itself a few feet above ground. It stayed within the light, no matter how it faltered, more so that the others could see it than for its own sake. Rock could see the cave pretty well, like natural. And it knew where it was going, despite being alive for such little time.

"I'm ROCK!"

It knew enough that the teeth marks weren't all that normal. Rock spotted them, and if it could smile, it would. It must be going the right direction! Teeth marks sounded just like a dastardly goblin act. Still, Rock didn't know what the goblin was, but he sounded bad, and leaving teeth marks gnawed into the floor must've been his fault. Rock proudly lead the troop, following the marks.

For some minutes, they were traveling a naturally formed corridor. It slowly curved towards the right. Stalactites hung from above, a few drops of water echoing from somewhere deeper, always deeper. Rock continued hovering along at the same height above ground, though concentrating on doing the one thing made it difficult to talk and focus on much else but floating in one direction.

So when Rock floated forwards, it couldn't warn the group of the sudden staircase. It hovered a couple inches out before realizing itself, and dropped to the floor. Unfortunately it bounced, beginning a slow roll and tumbling to the second step. The staircase twisted downwards into shadow, but in the distance, the faintest glimmer of a torch light at the bottom.

[Wrathwyrm]

We must pause for nostalgia purposes.  The Narrator just heard Courage, the cowardly dog, making that 'Yes!', for a moment there.  About as anxious, probably.  That said, after identifying himself as Rock and the other man giving a name that was...actually a name...the rock was guiding them - and himself - forwards.  This had to be the most capable random rock that Michelo had ever seen, and he knew about this one wizard tower outside of Hylop that has talking statues.  The rock was literally psychic, capable of talking in your head and propelling itself.  That takes real talent.

Now uhh...Michelo had a quick look at the teeth-marks.  This was all wrong.  I mean, sure, the goblin could have bitten the floor or something, but why would he?  A particularly-tasty grub?  This guy wasn't the sort who'd just tackle-nom a meal like a savage.  Other gobbos, sure, but this was the guy that'd been clever enough to sneak in during the Midnight Harvest - a time of transformation - and masquerade as a kid playing as a goblin.  He was too smart to do something like that.  So then, what?  Some monster?  The only other smell he was getting was the rabbit!

So, they were continuing along - Michelo had failed to notice any failures of the ball of light, since he could simply see well in the dark and used his other senses, as well. - when they came to some stairs.  Well, Michelo stopped abruptly when he noticed that there was a down and stepped back for a second.  Wallace might bump into him.  This would be important because when Rock dropped down and bounced down a step or two, it made noise...and something heard that noise.  It'd been further down, but at hearing the sound, it suddenly bounced up the stairs at a rate unheard-of by small furry animals.

The rabbit hath been found!

Michelo flinched as this black-haired thing with red eyes hopped up at a swift rate and immediately began investigating Rock.  Oh look.  The teeth in its mouth match that of the markings on the floor.  That's...not good in the slightest.  And the REALLY funny part is because Rock communicated by telepathy, he could also hear this thing, now that it was sniffing him rapidly.

WHATISIT?ITMAKESNOISE!

Very rapid thinking.  Anyway, the reason why Wallace possibly bumping into Michelo becomes important is that if he does...Michelo might fall forward into this thing.

[Fitgain]

Wallace hadn't been expecting much to be found in the vicinity that was alive, considering the environment. The amount of unusual things earlier increased his interest, so he probably shouldn't have been surprised like he was of everything else that happened earlier, but maybe the sheer amount of expectation caused him to overreact when he saw the rabbit.

The very sight of the rabbit caused Wallace to stop in his tracks, before he could have possibly walked into Michelo.

"Holy Hell and the thirteen devils!" Wallace cursed, pulling out his crossbow and making a sort of flicking motion with it. "Not even Monty Python fought a rabbit like that!" he shouted, ready to fire a crossbow bolt. He hesitated for a second, right before discharging the weapon, suddenly aware that he had a very nice chance to hit the person in front of him, and that this rabbit could, again, be something like the rock; a most likely harmless thing that just happens to be here.

[Nordling]

A flurry of fur came hopping up the steps, pausing to examine Rock, who was absolutely not freaked out in any way no sir-eee! That telepathic squeak of surprise? Totally intentional.

The rabbit was talking! At least, Rock could hear it very clearly in its own mind, like a news interview chattering over each other due to communication delays. Rock distinctly heard the rabbit's voice, and boy was it a fast chatter. A whirlpool of thoughts, delivered like an auctioneer on helium.

Rock attempted to poke at that chatter with some of its own.

"HI! I'm ROCK! You have so many teeth! Are you friendly?"

Well, if this rabbit wasn't very friendly, this might not have been the brightest idea. But Rock was just so eager to meet all these people. It did not know real danger. At least, not yet.

[Wrathwyrm]

Ah, well, better to be taken aback than to be an affront, yes?  Wallace pulled back and Michelo didn't trip anywhere, as a result.  Even better, he also didn't fire his crossbow just yet, thus preventing the possibility that an accidental sort of shot could have taken place.  We're...not really sure how well that would've gone down, anyway.  That rabbit's dynamite!

Michelo, himself, had no idea who the hell Monty Python was, like whether Wallace knew a guy called Monty Python or that he knew an entire group of men who called themselves that.  He wouldn't know.  He was just a boy from Hylop...who was adopted...because he'd been left there after his real form of being a fox had been sealed...for some reason.

So, back to the rabbit.  Appearance-wise, it was a little black bunny rabbit, one with red eyes and a mouth full of sharp pointy teeth that it didn't have any right having.  It thought fast because its world was one of rapid motion, that little heart beating like a drumroll.  The rabbit's reaction to hearing Rock speak to it was to hop back a couple steps in surprise.

ITMAKESMORENOISE!!

And then, it notices that it has more than just Rock for company.  It heard Wallace and made a rapid-teeth-chatter noise in a sudden threat display.  Oh boy.  Wallace Rondel, man of the world, you could not have failed to hear at some point in your time in Ketra that there were many a strange beasts in the Draconi Forest, but but apart from the basilisks and the half-phoenix man, someone probably mentioned the Vorpal Rabbit Glade, which only the truly brave and suicidal tread.  Normally, they're white.  This was kinda' weird.  Also, Michelo sees this thing looking compact and dangerous, and POOF!  There's a white fox there now.  This is coonfusing the rabbit now, which may be a good thing.  Everyone can hear Rock talking to it, but only he can hear the replies.

FOX!IT'SAFOX!ANDAPALETHING!WHYISROCKTALKING?!

He's getting so confused an agitated right now.

[Fitgain]

Wallace was all too ready to make a dash. The orb of light he summoned earlier was on the brink of vanishing, and the bundle of fury that was this rabbit looked like it could bite out somebody's neck. The teeth itself was enough to discourage any advance, and as if that wasn't enough, Wallace was secretly looking for an excuse to leave. Though, again, the prospect of treasure was overbearing. He chided himself for being so greedy, but without magical instruments other than his bell, he reckoned that his later adventures would be far more difficult.

The chattering of the teeth only confirmed Wallace's fear of danger, now that he completely disregarded his previous assessment of the rabbit. However, the question by the rock made him reconsider, and with the best voice he could muster, he asked if the rabbit was out for their blood or not.

"Er, you, r-eckon, okay, uh, Rock, is the thing safe?" Wallace managed to force it out of his throat, very willing now to shoot the fox if it meant safety from the rabbit.