Swords and arrows

[Lion]

Too many creatures that lurked beneath the depths of black water.  Dram was really sick of it all, but it's not like that sentiment really could be helped in a time like this.  Dram slashed at the tentacle around his ankle.  While there were many appendages to be had from the creature, it seemed they were mostly preoccupied with trying to straighten Athran for devourment.

Dram swam quickly toward the creature, wrestling away what tentacles sought to swat him away.  The edge of his kopis was freed for a brief second and stabbed down toward the hardened husk of the creature.  A muffled cry echoed through the water, and blood clouded it further like leaking ink.

[Anadwen]

The creature sunk deeper at the slash of Dram's kopis, pulling Athran down and fiercely shaking him with its tentacles. He hit the slick tentacle that held his legs, and the blade of the scimitar cut it to pieces, leaving a cloud of inky blood behind. Athran kicked into the water to launch himself higher and get rid of the pressure the water made at him.

Another sharp slash of the blade cut deep into an exceptionally large tentacle that reached after him while he swam towards the creature's head. He closed his eyes for a moment, as the water burned them, and with another couple of kicks he found himself somewhere by its large beak. The tip of the scimitar skewed into it, letting more inky black seep into the water, and it was yanked out shortly after to stab again, deeper and stronger.

[Lion]

The creature was suddenly aware of it's mortality the more the elves began to skewer and slash at it.  It suddenly tore away from Athran's blades, shrieking as well as it could under water.  It pulled away from him, fleeing for it's life, leaving a trail of black blood in its wake.  Dram's lungs were starting to hurt and he felt his head hurting from the pressure.  He could no longer hold his breath and swam back to the surface, kicking until he gasped for air, crawling back through the tunnel.

[Anadwen]

In the moment the beast started backing away, Athran pulled the blade of his scimitar back, and kicked himself up, towards the surface of the water. The pressure was pressing his lungs and ears, burning them, and he was almost out of breath.

For a while, he couldn't catch his breath when he threw himself out of the water, crawling away and forth in the tunnel, gasping for air. He pressed his arms on his chest and spat out some water, slowly stumbling away from the shore.

"I already thought that we're... Screwed up..." he muttered.

[Lion]

"With our luck, things are only bound to get worse," Dram muttered as he pulled himself up onto the stony bank once more, resheathing the sword and shaking the water from his hair.  He was starting to chafe and he really didn't like it.  "Let's just get the hell out of here.  I'm sick of water monsters."

[Anadwen]

"Only water?" Athran growled, standing up and shaking the water off himself. "I'm sick of all of them. I feel like shit, and it has hardly been a few days." he admitted. "And I'm so hungry I'd eat even a warg."

He rubbed his left arm, pressing it onto his chest, and made a few steps towards the tunnel. A trembling flame appeared above his fingers, and he used it to light the cave behind.

[Lion]

Dram moved haggardly behind him.  "I can handle the ones on the ground, at least they're a little easier to detect when they sneak up on you.  But man those creatures in the water...fuck you can barely see in all the murk.  Bah, but what good is complaining doing either of us.  Look at your arm.  You're bleeding out!"  Dram frowned that the wound was disrupted, but there was little either of them could do about it.

[Anadwen]

Athran glanced down, noticing that his arm indeed was bleeding, and his fingers were already covered with blood. He must have accidentally cut himself with the dagger that was fastened to his forearm at some point...

He sled onto the ground and ripped another piece of his already damaged shirt off, wrapping it around the cut and stuffing it between the dagger and his skin. "F***ing knife..." he snarled, wiping the blood off with one edge of his cape, teeth clenched. "I don't even know what we're doing here. All we got through this time was frozen, burned, cut, and beaten."

[Lion]

Dram was silent for the longest moment before he peered at Athran from the corner of his eye.  "For what lies inside these ruins," he replied.  "A treasure beyond wildest dreams.  Maybe that doesn't matter to you.  But it matters to me.  I told you I wasn't a petty thief.  I don't go after paltry purses and pockets filled with a day's worth of coin.  One score, one find, one hit.  That's it.  You're set for life."

[Anadwen]

"That sure must be worth a lot..." Athran muttered. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry for going off at you like that." He pulled himself back up on his feet, and grabbed what of his belongings was still on the floor. "I haven't eaten for a few days, and it's really getting onto me."

Holding onto the wall, he stepped forth into the dark, and gave Dram behind him a short glance over his shoulder. "I guess we should get going. I don't want to stay near the water."

[Lion]

"Please, let's move on from here," he nodded in agreement and lead the way through the tunnel.  It wound around them and opened up to a high-ceiling antechamber.  And before them was a broad frame and underneath that the broken chamber, piled high with bones and heavy with the stench of death.  A chill ran through Dram, but he pressed on anyway, adjusting a hand on the grip of his sword, dread filling him.

[Anadwen]

Athran cringed at the sight before him, but as he held his hand with the flame higher, another exit from the chamber could be seen - much higher and smaller than the one they stood in. A narrow path led by the wall, which then turned into a staircase, leading into the dark hole up on the wall.

"I guess that's it. There doesn't seem to be anything else." he concluded with a shrug, and stepped onto the ledge.

[Lion]

"Careful, Athan, you never know with these old ruins.  They could just fall apart around you."  Such a warning was obvious and he stepped onto the ledge and suddenly had his foot plummeted through the stone and he used his other leg to vault back toward the side wall, pressing against it.  "I guess I should take my own advice.  Let's go."  And they proceeded to walk back up the ledge and shortly reached the staircase.

[Anadwen]

The edge of the ledge was crumbling as they walked, and every now and then, Athran shot a glance at it, wondering if it will collapse any soon. The stairs seemed even more fragile, but when they finally reached the tunnel, a quite pleasant - though also slightly scary - surprise awaited in it.

By the side lay two backpacks, quite full, and obviously not older than a few weeks - they were hardly even dusty. Athran immediately bent over above them, examining their contents, and he was amazed when he found a nice load of food and water... "It's got food, and quite new. Maybe even edible... It's not more than a few weeks old. Should be good. But who could have left them here?"

[Lion]

At the sight of loaded rucksacks, Dram paused at the entrance of the tunnel.  Athran was more than enthusiastic about it and immediately inspected them.  But Dram kept his distance and he frowned at the sight of them.  Not because they were filled with unused goods, but his curiosity was stemmed more towards where the owners of those bags were.

"I don't know," Dram said idly as he stepped into the tunnel and as he did so, he felt something beneath his foot stink into the ground and suddenly the pathway behind him was closed off as stone shifted and a great rock moved into the doorway.  Suddenly there was a great grinding that echoed into the tunnel before them.  "Athran..."  Dram's eyes were suddenly wide as he noticed the wholes in the walls.  "Grab the bags.  Run! RUN!"

Dram himself snatched on up one of the sacks and began to run for the end of the corridor as spikes began to shoot out from the holes in rapid succession and with them sections of the walls were close in, bottle-necking them out of the tunnel and onto the ledge on the other side.  Dram stopped just before falling into the pit and turned just in time to see two crushed skeletons protruding from the spikes, where they'd been skewered through and hidden in the walls.

[Anadwen]

Athran grabbed the other bag, and bolted towards the other end of the tunnel after Dram. He could hear the spikes behind him moving out of the walls... As he turned his head aside when they were already out, he saw the skeletons, crushed and punctured by the spikes, and slowly glanced down at the satchel in his hands.

"At least we have some food." he uttered, and immediately reached into the bag for something to eat. The rations were slightly smashed and old, crunching in his teeth, but they seemed to be edible, maybe even more than those that he carried with him only a few hours before. It was a relief to finally eat something after a few days, and he ate it far quicker than one would have expected from someone like him. He offered the rest to Dram. "It tastes good... Want some?"

[Lion]

Dram was too busy catching his breath before turning his eyes to Athran, watching him scarf down the food like a savage.  He took a drink from his canteen and set it back to his side.  "No. No, I couldn't eat a time like this," he said, and his eyes then traced the narrow ledge as it trailed all the way up the square cavern.  Below them was nothingness a pit whose mystery Dram had no care to discover.

But above them the ledge spiraled higher and higher, with small openings to other chambers along the way.  "We got a long way to go.  You eat it.  You'll need your strength."

[Anadwen]

"There's enough for both of us, for a few weeks if we'll eat scarcely." Athran mumbled, and swallowed the last part of the ration. "Mostly things that don't really decay. Rations. Dry meat. Something that's either water, or wine..." He pulled out a flask, and opened it, smelling the liquid inside. "Yeah, wine, and seems like red. But I wouldn't drink that."

He slipped the remaining food back into the backpack, and threw it over his back. Feeling far better than before, finally able to think clearly after a meal, he studied how the ledge led spiraling up the walls of the chamber. There were many hollows in those walls... "Now which way is supposed to lead to the wall? I think this is the staircase that leads to the actual ruins... We have to find a door that is outside... That's how it was described on the map. So we need to find a way out. I'd go for one of the upper doors, and then..." he shrugged, "Then we'll have to see which one seems less suspicious."

[Lion]

"I think I've learned my lesson with that kind of thinking in the past," Dram said idly.  "Just follow the ramp."  He did so, moving carefully and being sure to secure his footing before stepping down onto it, ensuring also that anything that remotely looked like a button wasn't stepped on.  It had been too long since the last ruins he wandered into, but a good rule of thumb would be to always watch your step, and never take your eyes from the path.

They wound up and upward, the blackened hallways on either side of them proving empty and fruitless.  Soon however, they came to a larger chamber, the high roof opened up and violet flames alit torches as they made their way to the golden wall before them.

[Anadwen]

"This must be the Golden door..." Athran muttered, standing in the doorway still like a statue. "Don't go forth. You don't know what's there." he warned Dram, studying the hall, and the large plate of gold on the opposite side of it.

"We'll have to wait for an eclipse. Don't you know when the soonest one happens?" He settled down in the hallway, not too eager to enter the chamber, and put the backpack down beside him.