[@Guy0fV4lor] [hr] [hider=The definitely long overdue not even completed collab] Finn chuckled at the huntress' remark regarding his distaste for the Valtem, [color=green]"They're man-eating monsters and a mockery of the human form! You'd have to either be mad or some kind of perverse fool to see them in any other way!"[/color] Finnegan's upbeat demeanor hardened as the pair drew closer to the caves' entrance, [color=green]"That's a fair point… Even if they're desperate to feed the broodlings– it would make sense for a few hunters to have at least stuck with the Broodmother as extra protection… If heard right, two Valtem came to protect the Broodmother, and I doubt that they would leave a single Valtem in charge of guarding the young alone…. So in total its probably around four adults, the Broodmother, and an uncertain amount of broodlings."[/color] Finn stopped at the edge of the cave, speaking in hushed tone as he would peer inside, [color=green]"If you've got anything on your mind, you should say it now– Valtem have extremely good hearing so we'll have to be as quiet as possible once we're inside."[/color] “...ha.” Soyala smirked lightly at Fin’s contempt for the Valtem, though if she had other thoughts about it she didn’t share as they’d step into the cold darkness of the sea caverns. “A good hunter knows how to move quietly in any terrain.” She’d respond, moving to the edge of where the flow of water disappeared below, slowly fading into darkness as the cavern led downwards. “It’d be less worried about their hearing, and more about the echo in this cavern making everything hear us if we make too much noise. Also the issue that if they’re water dwelling creatures, then they can likely see in darkness better than we can.” She’d put her hand in the waters, taking a handful…and promptly splashing it onto Finn. “Also, we’re probably gonna get soaked. These caves flood pretty often. We’re gonna want to be out of here before the sea rises.” [Color=green]"In that case we'd better light a t–!!!"[/color] Finnegan's entire body went rigid as freezing cold water splashed down the back of his neck and trailed into his clothes; a yelp of surprise only being prevented by clamping his teeth together as to not let the sound escape. The Apostle whirled to face Soyala, his eyes only inches away from her own as he did his best to hide how startled he'd been from the sudden splash of freezing water. [Color=green]"The hells is wrong with you? Are you trying to give us away?"[/color] he hissed at the woman; his widened eyes seeming to carry a light of their own in the darkness, [color=green]"Light a damn torch if you have one. No point in risking drowning when the dark will do nothing to hide us."[/color] “You need to relax, boy.” Soyala chuckled, not seeming too impressed with his reaction or his thoughts about being given away. “Being too tense will make stalking prey hard.” Instead of a torch though, Soyala would toss Finn what seemed to be a small metal cage with glass panels on all sides, and a wick inside. A small lever was on the bottom of it, Soyala turned it on her own lamp, a shower of sparks playing inside and catching the wick on fire. “Torches aren’t gonna be useful here.” She’d retort. “Our opponents are sea creatures, and torches don’t work well when wet. Some hunters bought these from that Kitsune merchant when she passed through here last. Good for small areas and weathering the elements, but it doesn’t light as much as a torch.” [Color=green]"Don’t treat me like I’m some kid…"[/color] Finn grumbled under his breath as he eyed the lantern Soyala produced with curiosity; the device unlike anything he’d ever seen, [Color=green]"That’ll work perfectly. "[/color] the Apostle resigned with a sigh, grasping his spear firmly as his eyes scanned through the now illuminated cavern area around them, [Color=green]"Can we keep moving now? Without distractions? I’d like to be in and out before the tunnels flood next."[/color] “If you weren’t a kid,” Soyala walked by, giving him a rough push on the chest. “You wouldn’t be demanding me not to treat you like one. I’ll go first. My eyes are sharper than yours and I know these caverns better. Stay close, and don’t go running off. I [i]won’t[/i] come looking for you if you get lost.” She’d sit lowering herself to the ground and dangling her legs over the ledge before sliding herself off the ledge and onto the one further below a few feet down, a few pebbles and specks of dust joining her. “Don’t worry about noise, the waterfall will probably stop us from being heard for a bit.” She’d hop down to the second ledge, and then the third, and fourth quite quickly. He’d definitely want to move quickly, she wasn’t going to be taking her time. [Color=green]"Wai- let me– ach–! Hold on dammit!"[/color] Finn stammered as he made a poor attempt to keep pace with the Huntress; barely managing to keep himself from slipping as he hopped down the ledges after the huntress. Though he was far from uncoordinated; the month-long dream had taken a noticeable toll on Finnegan’s motor skills, and despite his body being healthy as ever– more dexterous motions still felt odd and disjointed. But nonetheless, he did his best to keep up. Soyala, seemed intent on running Finn through the wringer. She moved swiftly, and as they hit the bottom of the water carved hole into the rock, she’d waste no time in moving along the smooth path. The water was only ankle deep for now, but water lines clearly indicated that later, the water would certainly be to their necks. The cave twisted and turned, and at a few points Soyala would seemingly stop as though she was trying to recall something, before heading onwards down an offshoot or some side path that required some crawling or squeezing to get through. The only constant though, was the the cave kept heading downwards, either slowly gently sloping in some areas, or having to climb down another drop carved by the constant stream of water. Thankfully, though, the caverns too seemed to grow more spacious the further down they went, reaching the old, well carved paths, and it was at a particular smaller room, that Soyala would stop…and motion for Finn to remain silent by placing a finger to her lips. “Pretty far in. If they don’t already know someone is in here, they probably will soon.” The cacophony of the waterfall had already long since faded into the background, only the occasional echo of another in the distance briefly breaking the silence. “If I remember right, beyond this crawlspace is where the cave meets a large pocket of sea water that opens to an underwater cave system. This is likely close enough to where they’ll be.” By the time Soyala had finally given pause, Finnegan’s pants had been soaked up to his knees; the frozen waters having seeped through the entirety of his boots, socks and underlayer. The slight discoordination from before changing from careful; albeit off balance, quick steps– into a stiff and awkward trudge as his breath steamed the cool cavern air. [Color=green]"Haa– Ach… Hoo.. "[/color] the Apostle panted as he leaned his weight against the wall of the cave, nodding in response to the huntress. Biting hard on the inside of his cheek, Finn slowly but surely got control of his breathing– before giving a final nod of affirmation; knuckles clenched white around the haft of his spear. [Color=green]"Hah– What are we waiting for then? Lets do this."[/color] “I’ll go first.” She’d say, getting on her stomach. “Stay alert.” With that, the huntress would squeeze through the small passageway, crawling along the cavern floor, muddy earth sticking to her clothes. No doubt if the sea was higher, this would be entirely underwater right now, so they likely no longer had much time to reach their destination if they wanted to come back out the same way they came in. Thankfully, the crawl was short. And on the otherside? As Soyala pulled herself up, she was quiet, saying nothing immediately. Finn would watch her slowly crawl against a nearby rocky wall, observing the room in front of her. She immediately motioned for Finn to follow closeby. The cavern they found themselves in, was large and surprisingly well lit with odd glowing fungi and other bioluminescent plant matter of some near alien sort, almost placed on the walls like torches. The room itself was huge, with sea water splashing against the nearby rocky shore. What neither probably expected though, was the dozens of dead Valtem laying peacefully on the ground, lightly covered with plants from the sea. Against the far wall, was a now deceased Broodmother, whose body had seemingly almost been nearly split in half. Soyala quietly turned her gaze towards Finn. “...so how does this play into your theory from earlier?” Finnegan barely managed to swallow the bile that rose in his throat as the thick smell of gore invaded his nose. Sure Finn had gutted animals before– the sheer concentration of gore in this enclosed chamber produced a nauseating stench unlike any the Apostle had ever encountered. [Color=green]"Eugh– what the fuck?"[/color] Stepping forward, Finn set his expression and hesitantly inspected the corpses under the various coverings. While the wounds across the bodies ranged from slashes, to punctures, to blunt force trauma… Whatever had killed all the Valtem hadn't been doing it for food. There wasn't a single sign the bodies had been even partially eaten. And what was perhaps most chilling– whatever had split the broodmother in half must've done so with brute strength; the ragged split being far too rough to have been done with a weapon before dragging the creature out of the water and into the creature's current position. [Color=green]"Whatever killed these wasn’t a normal animal…"[/color] Finnegan muttered as the color drained from his face; eyes drifting to the pool leading into the ocean, carefully scanning it's surface for movement. His eyes then fell upon an offshoot the led deeper into the Cavern system, creeping forward ever so carefully as he'd peer into the passage beyond. [/hider] Finn approached the tunnel leading away, carefully listening for anything that was coming this way, and something was indeed coming. Before he could get too close, he could hear it. The sounds of two people talking, clearly female just out of sight, judging from the sound of it they were slowly coming this way, their voices echoing off the walls, clearly not expecting any human to have made it to this place. “Haa…that’s another dead.” “...what do we do, Sella?” “...I don’t know, Melleph. As long as the Broodmother doesn’t leave, we can’t leave, but as long as we stay here…” “...maybe we could ask the humans for help?” “Stop with that idea already, Mell.” The one named Sella snapped. “They’ll kill us if they even make it here.” “But what about our sisters? If we don’t bring them back, if we don’t…Sella, wait…!” They were quickly heading this way, and Soyala smirked, positioning herself on one side of the cavern and readying her spear. She’d look over to Finn. “Well, this should make our job easier.” Soyala said with a smirk. “We’ll remove this problem. Permanently.” [hider=Current Happenings] [i]The Goddess yawns, stretching and seems bored with this situation[/i] Current location: Dawn Time: Afternoon [hr] Potential Events: [list] [*] [*] [/list] [/hider] [hr] [@Click This] [hr] Jolca would give Lissa some rough directions to where she thought the Necromancer was, though also cautioned her that the person in question didn’t like visitors and set up magical wards around her home, preventing most people from getting into it without some know-how on their part. Jolca thus, handed her a small handcrafted charm that should as she said, repel any sort of illusions or at least make them more perceptible to the average human. So Lissa would head into the same forest Novak would have walked into, not too terribly long before. Oddly, despite the Yaga’s words of warning about both the wardings and the Krysa patrol, she saw nothing immediately save for some old tracks that looked like a man and some small animal, but they were quickly being buried by the gently falling snow. The only other thing of note, was a lone Krysa in the distance, seemingly marking a nearby tree with some simple carving before running off. [hider=Current Happenings] [i]The goddess throws the stick off screen, and the dog comes back…as a skeleton dog, and runs after the startled goddess.[/i] Current location: Dawn Time: Morning [hr] Current Objective: Find the Necromancer [hr] [hr] Potential Events: [list] [*] [/list] [/hider] [hr] [@Crusader Lord] [hr] “Hmph. Boringly quiet. Was hoping one of those rat bastards would look at me funny.” Jivka replied to the Mothraki. “Well, feel free to stay as long as ya want. I’m not going anywhere…well, maybe not unless one of those rats piss me off. Might do something and get dragged off to prison if I do…haaa… ” Jivka walked over to the table, putting up her feet as she’d lazily look over to Nylah. “If you’re lookin’ for something to do, we could go mug those rats. Jolca keeps trying to talk me down but we’re not gonna get anywhere just from sitting here.” “...well, I’d rather not end up on the wrong end of a Krysan arrow.” Eirhild replied. “I know they didn’t give us the warmest welcome, but maybe we could learn their side of the story?” “Heh, good luck getting them to talk.” Jivka laughed. “Yeah? You just gonna sit on yer arse and do nothing then?” “Yes, because I like being able to do that when I’m not hunting.” “...well, Nylah, what do you wanna do?” EIrhild would turn and look towards the Mothraki. [hider=Current Happenings] [i]r.[/i] Current location: Yaga Village Time: Morning [hr] Potential Events: [list] [*] [*] [/list] [/hider] [hr] [@crimson Paladin] [hr] The inside of the cabin was silent for a few seconds after Novak had spoken, but it wouldn’t take long before he could hear movement from within. A quiet hum was heard briefly coming from the door before it would slowly creak open. A pair of bright green eyes stared at him from the small slit in the door, and a few locks of chestnut colored hair could be seen hanging from the persons head though it was difficult to tell too much else as they were intentionally hiding themselves behind the door. “...how did you find this place? I had wards setup to confuse people.” Ayumi yipped happily, seemingly pleased with herself about something as the person continued. “...I want nothing. You should leave before you lead them to me. I want no part of this conflict.” Finished saying her piece the woman would quickly and quietly pull the door too…but not before Ayumi managed to scamper her way inside. “H-hey! You…whatever you are, get out of here!” The door would be left open as the person would head back inside, attempting to find the little fox that had scurried inside. At least now he’d get a good look at the person in question. [url=https://i.imgur.com/8m5ESb4.jpg]A yaga of somewhat difficult to tell age, sporting long hair and vibrant green eyes[/url]. She was dressed in a fairly simple attire, though it seemed a bit foreign to the area and what Yaga would usually be seen wearing. “You come get your pet rat!” [hider=Current Happenings] [i]A maid with a purple blindfold and a broom suddenly shows up in the dialogue box. The Moon goddess, startled, runs away while the broom wielding maid chases her.[/i] Current location: Northern Snowfields Time: Morning [hr] Potential Events: [list] [*] [*] [/list] [/hider] [@Cu Chulainn] [hr] Raelzeth looked up at Gideon, tilting her head to the side before realizing something, then shaking her head. “...cant…speak…urgh-well…” She pointed towards her throat as a strained voice came out. She’d shake her head again. “I was just…thinking how I’d gloat about it to him.” She’d manage to get out despite her weakened vocal cords and obviously now hoarse voice. “Ah? What’s all this then? Raelzeth? Ah, Gideon you’re back and…what in the sages wisdom is this?” He’d say upon seeing the beast, eyes widening just slightly as he’d eagerly walk over, laying a hand on the creatures hide. “Ain’t never seen something like this…it was alive? This is some of the highest quality iron I’ve seen!” He glanced over to Raelzeth and Gideon. “What do you want for it? I can’t just let you hand this over empty handed.” [hider=Current Happenings] [i]The moon goddess punches an oddly shaped square tree that produces an oddly shaped square block of wood which she then somehow turns into a wooden pickaxe.[/i] Current location: Dawn Time: Morning [hr] Potential Events: [list] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [/list] [/hider]