Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Desert Encounter (DragonSong)

Started by Jiaolong, January 04, 2018, 10:46:50 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Jiaolong

"Where are those blasted potions?"

Ruby retraced the path he had taken from the last town, occasionally stopping to look for a faint green glow in the sand.

He couldn't believe he had lost the healing potions he'd bartered all that jewelry for. And to only find out now--half a day's journey from the last town. Just an hour before, his heart had sunken upon finding the tear at the bottom of his pack. A quick search through the goods he'd recently obtained-silks, bracelets, and perfumes-confirmed his fears. The potions were missing.

Surely they couldn't be too hard to find. It was dark, and the potions glowed!

Ruby continued walking and finally spotted a faint green glow. Finally! He'd been searching for an hour! His potions had rolled off to the side of the road and down a large sand dune, coming to rest far below him--and far off the designated path. As a frequent traveler to Essyrn, Ruby knew the dangers of leaving the road, and he had never once ignored that warning. Until now. Those potions were in extremely high demand, and one of his closest trading partners had requested it of him. He wasn't going to make this trip all for nothing.

Ruby started to walk down the long embankment and then slid the rest of the way.

"There you are!" The vials were unbroken, and after a quick check to see that they were still sealed, he placed them safely in his newly-mended pack.

A presence from behind made the white-haired man jump. He turned to face a menacing figure that had seemingly risen up from the sand.

"Oh dear..."

DragonSong

Wonderful.

Looked like she'd add "saving an idiot's life" to her list of things to do before she made camp.

With an annoyed huff, Maka slid silently down the sand dune. The creature, humanoid in form but insectoid in detail and scent, loomed over the traveler with a menacing hiss. It must have been sleeping beneath the sand, waiting for prey. The white-haired man's disturbance had woken it.

A sharp twist and her staff split apart in her hands, twin blades glinting in moonlight as she whipped them around in front of her, then cut them sharply apart.

The sand creature froze, then fell apart into three segments that she picked her way over, shaking black blood off her blades before linking them together and twisting them back into the shape of her staff. She looked down at the traveler, eyes black and cold.

"Idiot." She extended a hand. "Come on, get up. Sandcrawlers tend to live in packs, there'll be more of them soon."


Jiaolong

Ruby watched with awe as the woman made quick work of the Sandcrawler. The fight-if one could even call it that-ended as quickly as it had begun. Ruby's gaping mouth turned into a smile as he reached up to grab the stranger's hand.

"Ah, thanks for that," he said, standing quickly. He adjusted his pack and slung his long braid back over his shoulder.

Ruby glanced down at the severed parts of the monster, wondering if any of it's parts were valuable. But there were more important things to do right now-like escaping.

Ruby snapped his fingers, casting a small illusion around the two. To anyone else, they would look like sand blowing in the wind. "They'll probably still find us, but that should help a bit," he muttered, taking off into a run.

DragonSong

Hm. Nice trick.

With a sharp nod Maka took off after him, her staff gripped at the ready. "Unfortunately those things hunt mostly by vibration in the sand," she murmured as she caught his arm to slow him down. "Running isn't going to do us much good. Walk soft."

Jiaolong

Ruby slowed down, trying to pick his way more carefully over the dunes. Light thoughts. Think light thoughts. He quietly took out his weapon, a circular object with a long, pointed tip and a handle on the other side.

Apparently, his light thoughts weren't working: a Sandcrawler burst out of the ground, opening it's seemingly human mouth to reveal rows and rows of jagged teeth. It's jaw unhinged, ready to swallow Ruby's head whole. He flung the side of his weapon into the creature's face, shattering its jaw and sending dozens of teeth flying in the process. The Sandcrawler wailed, raking its elongated nails across Ruby's arm.

Ouch. This was so not his day.

Ruby jabbed the sharp end of his weapon into the creature's chest and watched it sink to the ground. But it wasn't the last of them...it seemed like the two were surrounded.

DragonSong

"Well fuck." Maka separated her two blades again and spun to put her back against the stranger's, hopefully preventing the Sandcrawlers from sneaking up on her that way. Insectoid eyes glittered in the faint starlight and that awful clattering hiss seemed to vibrate through the air.

"Don't suppose you've got any good tricks up your sleeve?" she muttered out of the side of her mouth, blades crossed in front of her body in a defensive stance.

Jiaolong

Ruby's red eyes flashed in the moonlight as he looked at the surrounding silhouettes. He backed up closer to the woman behind him.

"Let's see if this works..." he lifted his arms, wincing from the deep scratches in his arm. He hoped that wouldn't leave a scar.

What was the most intimidating thing he'd ever seen? He tried to imagine a beast he'd seen a long time ago...and as quickly as he thought it, it appeared, looming over the Sandcrawlers with a devilish look in its eyes.

Ruby didn't know what the creature was called or what it even was. But it did the trick. The Sandcrawlers took one look at the scaly mass of fangs and spikes and scurried away, diving under the sand. Ruby relaxed his hands and the illusion disappeared. "Whew...that one was kinda hard to do...what's- he stopped abruptly as the ground beneath him suddenly shifted. The sand caved in, as did everything else in a ten foot perimeter.

DragonSong

"Fuck!" Maka swore again as the sand was suddenly sucked beneath her feet. On instinct, she grabbed the man around the middle and twisted her body so as they fell she landed under him, connecting with what was probably stone with a sharp, painful, "Huff."

Jiaolong

Ruby had closed his eyes as sand came raining down in every direction. The fall to the ground hurt, but it wasn't as painful as he would've thought. He tentatively blinked and looked down.

Oh.

"Er, thanks for breaking my fall," Ruby said, scrambling off the stranger. He looked up at the newly made hole they'd fallen through, the opening far too high to reach. Upon closer examination of his surroundings, he could tell he was in a long hallway of sorts...dilapidated stone walls disappeared into darkness, and there was no sign anything had been here for a long time.

Ruby held out his hand to the woman who was probably hurting from the not-so-pleasant fall. "Need some help?"

DragonSong

With a groan, Maka pushed herself up onto her elbows and glared at him, but she took his hand. Staggering to her feet, she looked around.

"Alright. Where the hell are we?" She rubbed at her hip, which seemed to have taken the brunt of the impact of the fall, then glanced at her companion. "You alright?" she asked- a little belatedly perhaps, but it had been a long time since she'd really done more than basic social interaction.

Jiaolong

"I'm fine, thanks to your wonderful cushioning ablitites," the white haired man joked. "As for where we are...I have no idea. But it sort of reminds me of a story I heard along the road...that there's some sort of ancient city beneath the sand."

"Ah, I'm Ruby by the way." He stared at the woman's hip. Maybe he had something in his pack that would help with that.

DragonSong

She scoffed and turned in a small circle. "You got a light?" she asked brusquely, not bothering to answer his question as she took two steps cautiously out of the circle of moonlight cast down through the hole they'd opened up in the ceiling when they fell.

"Maka," she added without so much as turning her head. She prodded the sand and stone with a toe, testing the ground. "My name is Maka."

Jiaolong

"Well, Maka, I do have a light." Ruby dug through his pack, which he was happy to find completely intact, for his small lantern and some flint. He struck the rocks together and lit the tiny wick, hoping it would be enough until they got out of this mess. The flame slowly grew, lighting up the stone walls around them.

"Wow," Ruby breathed, red eyes glinting in the fire light. "There are tons of carvings in these walls...I have no idea what they mean, though." He shook some sand out of his boot and dusted the rest off his clothes, pulling the pac over his shoulder once again. "Should we explore that corridor?"

DragonSong

"Mmm..." Maka frowned as she peered into the gloom, then back up at the hole over their heads. Eventually, she shrugged and huffed, "Well, we're certainly not getting out the way we came in. May as well look for another exit."

Blades bared and held at the ready, she jerked her chin over her shoulder at Ruby. "C'mon, and stay behind me."

Jiaolong

Ruby held up his lantern to the walls, examining them as he followed closely behind Maka. A stinging pain on his arm reminded him of the scratches from the Sandcrawlers. With a sigh, he grabbed the lantern's handle between his teeth and reached in his pack for some spare cloth. "So...what were you doing out in the desert tonight?" He asked, voice muffled as he wrapped the cloth around his arm. Blood slowly soaked through, and he frowned.

DragonSong

"Walking," she responded curtly. The muffled quality of his voice had her pausing and glancing back at him.

She felt a rather unwanted twinge of guilt and turned toward him, taking the lantern and setting it on the ground. "Lemme do that. You're just going to pull it wrong the way you're going about it." She unwrapped the rather sloppy bandaging and started winding it more tightly around his arm, careful of the wound.

"What were you doing out there, then?"

Jiaolong

Ruby let out a small laugh and watched Maka wrap up his arm. "Thanks. I've never been good at this kind of stuff." He sighed. "You've already helped me three times today. If any of the potions or things I'm carrying are to your liking, you can take something as thanks."

"Anyway, I was just coming back from Essyrn. I had to pick up a few things—they have the best spices, you know—and I dropped some rather important things on the road. I find them an hour later and then I ran into you. Or, I guess you ran into me." He glanced down at his arm, now expertly wrapped up. "It's a beautiful place, but not so pleasant a stay. They don't really like people who look like me," he shrugged. He wondered if he was saying too much, but it was nice to talk to someone other than his trade partners.

DragonSong

Maka smiled a little ruefully. “Don’t much care for people who look like me, either,” she said softly.

A little louder, she added, “I was escorting a merchant caravan to the city gates. I don’t linger in the oasis if I can help it though.” She tilted her head at him, paused for a moment, then turned and continued back into the darkness of the ruins.

“Keep up- you’ve got the light.”

Jiaolong

Ruby quickened his pace to match that of Maka's, holding up the lantern a bit higher.

He couldn't shake this bad feeling he was getting...like something else was with them in the darkness. Faint footsteps confirmed his fears. But it sounded more like claws against stone.

"Hey," he whispered, "something's behind us."

DragonSong

Maka froze. She turned slowly, blades crossed defensively in front of her body. "Unless you've got a hidden weapon, get behind me," she whispered.

There was death here. She could feel it.

Damnit.

Tags: