• PM To Join • What Lies Below (Tio)

[Qit'ria]

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Vhalar 8th, 717
"Speech"

Qit'ria was starting to think she enjoyed this self tortured hell she put herself through. She leaned against the rail of the ship, queasy and a bit green in the complexion, clutching one of her javelins for comfort, her knuckles driven white. Having been lingering in town after selling some of the measly hides she'd acquired, she found herself being driven aboard a ship with the promise of hunting to be done. After all, this season was not going well for the Sev'ryn huntress, for some small creature was tormenting and harassing her at every turn. Almost every single time she'd get close enough for a killing throw on an unaware prey, this small creature would dash seemingly out of nowhere and scare it off.

She had no idea what it was, or how she'd offended it, but it was making her life hell. She was barely getting by with enough to eat for herself, let alone having anything worth selling. So when she'd heard a few sailors talking about a large group of 'Sea Huskies' being nearby and how they were good eating. They told her how some were used as mounts or cargo pullers around Scalvoris, but that didn't stop them from being delicious. So Qit had asked nicely, well, demanded impertinently, to be allowed to join the crew's next voyage in hopes of seeing one of these creatures, and possibly spearing one with her javelin.

She slid down to the deck, sitting there, waiting, as a sailor approached her. "Ya know, if ya wanna go sea huntin', ya need to tie a rope to that spear o' yours. Or y'all just lose it. Ships ain't able to stop or turn suddenly, and goin' back for a spear ain't worth it. Wait one second, lass." Qit couldn't help but wonder why this man was being helpful, and had no idea it was due to the pity sailors felt on those without sea legs. He returned, a small woodcarving chisel in hand. It was a bit worn from use, but still looked reliable, "Gimme a gold, an' ya can have this. Jus' use it to carve a long hole in the back end of your spear, to tie a rope through."

Qit'ria wondered how reliable this man could be, never having ever been real trusting of people. But a gold wasn't asking for much. She pulled one from her pouch, and he handed it over. "Jus' take nice slow shavings off, ya won't ruin the spear that way. Nice and slow." And with that final piece of advice, he'd wandered off. Qit sat with chisel in hand and javelin across her lap, as she made the first shave into the heft of the wood at the tail end. It wasn't easy keeping the damn thing still, until she trapped it between elbow and knee. Slowly she began shaving downward into it, not minding the small mess she was making.

As she carved away, the ship began to bustle with activity. They were only a single break from their destination, one that Qit had failed to ask about when she bullied her way onto the ship. This ship was going to Immortal's Tongue. There was much rapid discussion as they got closer, one of which occurred between a couple sailors standing a bit closer to Qit, close enough to be overheard.

"There's a series of connected catacombs under Immortals' Tongue, with shrines to Immortals no one knows about. They're called the Forbidden and they're bad, bad news."

She snorted, how bad could a shrine be? Immortals barely paid attention to mortals, weren't that important. So how could their shrines, piles of rocks most likely, be bad news. And why would they be forbidden? The whole concept seemed silly, but a bit of exploring seemed a good way to get Qit off this damnable ship. She needed ground beneath her again. She was not meant to be on the ocean. And the island wasn't that big. If there was an entrance to catacombs, she could find it. Smiling now, though with her sea sickness she looked a bit like a frog, she kept up her whittling, waiting for the ship to dock.

Receipt

Chisel, Small - 1gn

Created by Yolande

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[Tio Silver]

There was a rumour going around the university, a rumour that had practically every member of the Immortal History department whispering to each other excitedly. Word was that there was a series of interconnected catacombs somewhere underneath the Immortal's Tongue, catacombs that led to shrines dedicated to Immortals nobody knew about called The Forbidden. This of course presented a incredible opportunity to the department, for if it was true whoever was the first to find it could become famous as the discoverer of a whole new chapter in the history of the gods! It could rock the scientific world for seasons!

If it was true, of course.

However the Immortal's Tongue was an undeniably dangerous place, and not that many people in the university felt that it was worth risking their lives to investigate the rumour. Tio however was not one of those people. Somewhere along the line the Immortal's Tongue had become a place he was personally invested in, a mystery that'd screwed him over one too many times, and the only way to settle his grudge was to find out what the source of the weirdness that took place there really was. If this rumor was true then perhaps these Forbidden had something to do with the madness that took place on the Tongue? Besides, fame was a gateway to fortune. If there turned out to be some truth to this rumour then there might be a chance for him to make some serious money.

And so it was that he found himself hitching a ride on a ship across to the Immortal's Tongue once again, wearing the illusion of his Eidisi alias Taelis Selvar. It was his Taelis identity that was enrolled at the university after all, and so the one best suited to be the discoverer of these rumoured catacombs. His backpack was filled with a few items he suspected may come in handy, like his spelunking and first-aid kit, and his cutlass hung off his belt in case he ran into trouble, but otherwise he was travelling fairly light. He made quiet conversation with a few of the sailors during the journey, mentioning the rumour to them in the hopes they some of them might have seen something that could help him with his search, but none of them knew anything helpful.

"Thanks for the lift guys! Appreciate it!" He shouted to the sailors as the ship landed and he hopped off onto shore, shooting them a small wave. A couple of them waved back.

"No problem Mr Selvar! Maybe you should credit us if you find your mystery shrines, send a bit of a finders fee our way eh?!"

Tio grinned up at them before he turned to walk away. "I'll see what I can do! Take care now!"

Now then, where should he start looking for these catacombs?

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[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

Qit'ria felt them stop at the docks, and she held up the javelin with the whittled hole in it. It was a bit rough hewn, and slightly off center, but it would do. She'd have to make a note to stop by a proper weapon specialist and have a few made. She could use a few more javelins anyways. Standing up, she wobbled a bit, catching herself on the rail. A sailor nearby laughed and she shot him a glare.

Then a shout caught her attention, one of the sailors yelling at a man that was walking away from the ship. She heard mystery shrines amongst a bunch of other words spoken too quickly for her to catch. This man was going where she was! How dare he?! She considered telling the man off, but then realized she knew nothing about him. Nothing but the sword at his hip.

If he were going to explore the catacombs, she could have him do the grunt work, and she could follow. Like following deer to water. She would follow him into the underground. So casually standing there on deck, she watched as he got a fair distance away, two spear throws or so, before she descended the gangplank to the dock. She tried to not seem like she was obviously watching him, occasionally casting her gaze around the small village landing. She moved purposefully, as if she was going somewhere specific, and doing what she could to keep other bystanders between herself and this man, just in case he turned around and looked her way.

When there were no more people to duck behind, she tried to act even more casual, whistling, keeping her gaze moving all about, as if she were here to see the sights, take it all in. She never cast her face directly in the direction of the cutlass wearing man, and only glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, as she kept the two spear throw distance between them. This was going to be easy. Really so easy.

Created by Yolande

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[Tio Silver]

While Tio had a knack for getting about unseen if he wanted to, that didn't mean he was particularly good at spotting other people trying the same thing. In fact his observation skills were pretty atrocious all things considering, and so it really came as no surprise that the thief never noticed he was being followed throughout his entire journey deeper into the Immortal's Tongue. The rumor had never mentioned where the entrance to these supposed catacombs was, but as the shrines to the various Immortals were the only real landmarks of note around the place then Tio decided that they'd be the best place to start looking for them, and so had followed his map to the closest ones he could find.

The first two or three breaks passed rather uneventfully for both the false academic and the silent stalker. The shrines of At'iel, Aeva, Ashan and Charmadarst all revealed no sign of any sort of underground entrance, and though they were only the first on many shrines to check it was obvious that Tio was quickly becoming impatient with how long his search was taking. As he followed the dirt path around the mountain leading up to the shrine of Ilaren however he paused, as something at the foot of the mountain caught his eye.

When last Tio had walked through these parts the mountain had been bare, devoid of anything but steep, smooth stone. Now though there were cracks across the mountain's side, cracks that, although natural looking in appearance, meshed together to form a pattern eerily similar to that of a spider's web. The biggest of these cracks began in the centre of this web and travelled straight down to the ground, growing wider and wider, until at the point where it connected with level ground it was just big enough for a person to squeeze on though.

And in front of that crack was a metal grate.

Tio approached the grate curiously. The grate itself was clearly very new, made from clean, strong iron, but was not made in quite the right shape to fit into the crack. There were marks across the walls where the tips of the bars had scraped across them as somebody pushed it into place, but by the looks of things whoever had done it had done a poor job. What could be so important to cause someone to hastily bar this place up? And who, for that matter, had done it?

Deciding that the only way to find out was to take a look for himself, Tio grabbed hold of the grate and pulled as hard as he could. There was a little bit of give, but whoever had pushed the grate in had obviously been stronger than he was, and so the Yludih couldn't remove it alone.

"Well... bugger." Tio muttered to himself, eyeing the darkness beyond the grate warily.

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[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

It was too easy. For a few breaks, Qit'ria followed the man, not even needing to be stealthy or casual about it. He was an oblivious rube. It was so dull and boring, that there were times she purposefully moved into where she assumed he could see her out of the corner of his eye, just to make faces, wave her arms about. And still, the man didn't notice. How dense could someone be? Would the only way he'd notice her be if she smacked him in the back of the head with the flat of her sword?

She sighed, annoyed at how... boringly easy this was. She followed him from shrine to shrine, paying no attention to the structures, the offerings therein, nor to the followers that just wanted to preach the good word. She had no need for immortals, no desire to meet them, to gain their favor. Immortals were just people with extraordinary powers, but still people. And people were evil. They destroyed this world, tried to prove that nature was weak, and they were strong. No. She didn't align herself with these pompous beings.

She watched as their journey brought them toward the mountain. But she paused as the man paused. He was looking down at something. It seemed to be metallic, like a door to a cage. She watched him try and pull it up to no avail. Annoyed at this pathetic man, she rolled her eyes, and let loose an exasperated snarl, stomping over to him as she drew her javelin. "Move, colochieit!"

Shouldering past him, Qit jammed the shaft of the javelin into the gaps in the grate, then pulled it the spear toward her. It bowed, for javelins were a bit flexible, and she grunted, crouching down to let the downward pull of the ground help give her strength. The javelin bowed no further, and with a slight screech, the grate shifted, popping loose of its hole, though just barely. She pulled her javelin free, staking it down in the rocky soil next to her, dropping to her knees. She pushed the grate forward, inch by slow moving, heavy inch.

Once the hole was opened, she stood up and looked at the man. "We look same thing. Share find. Equal. Or I stab you. Deal?" With a thin line of a smile, and a nod, Qit yanked her javelin free of the dirt, and stepped over the hole. She kept her arms and legs tucked into a straight line as she fell, but gave her knees some bend. Darkness zoomed past her briefly, before she the ground collide with the bottoms of her bare feet. She tried to crouch down as she landed to cushion the blow, but was a bit slow and she fell forward flat on her face. She quickly scrambled to stand up right, realizing they were in a tunnel of some sort, that led in two opposite directions, both dark, both heading down hill.

"Come now!"

Only now did Qit'ria see the foot and handholds carved into the rocky soil of the hatch she dropped in from.

Translation

Coloskivi chieit (Broken branch) > Weak armed person > Colochieit

Created by Yolande

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[Tio Silver]

There were several things that Tio had expected might happen to him on his return to this island; he might be attacked by moss-zombies, struck by lighting, or even fight a bonafide follower of Lisirra. But sometimes it was the simpler things that caught you off guard the most. And that was why he was so surprised as an unfamiliar woman came out of nowhere and pushed past him, shouting what sounded like an insult in a foreign language, and proceeded to rip the metal grate he was struggling with out from the cave mouth with a javelin. Had she been following him? And if so, what had she planned to do following him with a javelin like that?

He looked at her in wide-eyed shock as she turned to him and said in halted sentences that they should work together to find what they were looking for, or else she'd stab him. Judging by her appearance and accent he'd guess that this lady was a sev'ryn, and the fact that she could move a grate he couldn't suggested she was tougher than him. There were certainly worse people he could partner up with, and if things went pear-shaped it would be nice to have a half-decent fighter on the team, but the death threat was worrying. What was it with sev'ryn and threatening to kill him anyway? Clearly something about him rubbed the children on Moseke the wrong way.

"Well... when you put it like that, how could I say no?" He replied warily, eyeing the sharp-looking head of the javelin nervously. "Partners in crime it is then!"

The sev'ryn jumped down the hole in the ground first, and landed flat on her face with an audible thunk. Tio couldn't help but snicker at her misfortune as she scrambled back to her feet and shouted for him to hurry up, and made a point of using the handholds to climb down in an exaggerated fashion. Unfortunately his attempts to be a smart-ass backfired as the over-the-top movements caused his grip on the handholds to slip, and with a short scream he too fell down to the ground and landed flat on his back.

Winded by the fall, he lay there for a couple of seconds and stared up at the light coming down from the hole. "If-... If anyone asks, we both jumped down this hole perfectly, with back-flips and everything. No one must know of what happened here."

When he finally picked himself up, Tio dug through his backpack and produced a oil-soaked torch and tinderbox from his spelunking kit. Soon he had the torch burning brightly, and picked the direction headed towards the shrine of Ashan to lead the lay down it. The tunnel was long and winding, and covered in thick brown roots that clung to the place like cobwebs, so once it became obvious that they might be walking for quite a while Tio started to grow bored.

"So then, if we're going to be a team we should at least know each other's names right? I'm Taelis, Taelis Selver. Maybe you've heard of me? I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm kind of a big deal at the university. Nine out of ten students vote me the most likely person to destro-... actually never mind that. So what's your name? And what bring you to hunt for these catacombs?"

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[Qit'ria]

Qit'ria snorted in her laughter, seeing the man laying there on his back after falling off the ladder. He deserved it, she'd heard him snickering at her having fallen over. Listening to his words, words, still snort-giggling while staring at him not having yet moved, like a man resigned to his fate there on the ground, she found herself nodding in agreement. Qit found herself in mirth following that, thinking that while she was paired with a fool, he was an amusing fool at least.

"Well meet, Taelis Selver. I no hear of you. I no like city much. I call Qit'ria. I hope you no hear of me. Cattercombs sound fun, so I go."

Qit'ria walked with the humorous man known as Taelis, through the cobwebs, through the dirt clods, the worms, led by the soft, warm glow of his torch. She was relaxed, perhaps overly so. Her javelin was held low, instead of at the ready, her footsteps not as silent as they'd be if she were focused. Her guard was down. But her eyes weren't. As they approached a corner, she could see flickering shadows, subtle moves of light playing on the walls, ones that weren't from Taelis' torch.

Her hand shot out, to stop Taelis from walking further. She brought the hand to her lips, a finger upright, signaling to be silent. Qit'ria then moved her hand to Taelis' torch, pressing upon the shaft to lower it, slowly and smoothly. The light it gave off barely shifted upon the corner wall. Qit moved against the left wall, and nodded for Taelis to head to the right. She pressed her back to the wall, and slowly, silently crept along, making sure to watch for her own shadow.

When she reached the corner, she peered around, seeing a short corridor that opened up into a large room. From her vantage point, the large room held a massive shrine of flowers, a monocle covered in them, with a brazier hanging from the ceiling above it. And there was a man dancing around the shrine. He wore a crown of flowers, a skirt of flowering vines. He leapt and swirled and jumped about, his sweat glistening upon his skin. In one hand, a whip with a chain of flowers hanging from the handle. In the other, a heavy wooden cudgel, with flowers carved into it.

Every time he flipped, he'd snap the whip with a sharp crack. Every time he leapt, he bashed an imaginary enemy's skull in. Qit'ria summoned Taelis toward her with her hand, for he needed to see this as well. She wasn't sure what to make of it, so perhaps he might. Was this man a priest? A guardian? A devoted follower? And of who? Qit'ria purposefully stayed ignorant of most immortals, save Moseke for her family honored her.

[Tio Silver]

Tio's suspicions about his new friend's race were confirmed when she introduced herself as Qit'ria. While he couldn't claim to be an expert on Xanthea, Tio did have enough common sense to notice that all the Sev'ryn he'd met had names with apostrophes in the middle. Perhaps he aught to learn a bit about Sev'ryn culture some day; it might reveal why so many of them seemed to feel the need to point sharp objects at him.

As they continued along the tunnel Qit's hand suddenly shot out without warning and forced him to halt. He looked at her in obvious confusion, but when he noticed the finger she had to her lips in a gesture of silence bit back the question on his. Silently he crouched down by the right side of the wall, and taking care not to step on any twigs or anything else that'd make noise crept forwards quietly down the tunnel. When he reached the corner he too poked his head around it to get a look at the large, flower-filled room before them. And with a mixture of shock and confusion his attention was immediately caught by the weirdo dressed in flowers dancing around the place with a whip and a cudgel.

"What the fu..." he breathed, before remembering that they were supposed to be being quiet and cutting himself off. He'd been expecting to find something weird and dangerous down here, but a semi-naked flower man dancing threateningly wasn't what he'd had in mind. Who was this guy? And why was he here? Surely this guy wasn't the forbidden Immortal the rumors were about?

Qit didn't seem to know what was going on either, and so Tio realised that their only options were to go back and pretend this whole thing had never happened or... talk to him. Both options seemed pretty unappealing at the moment, as by the looks of things the flower-man was likely going to whip him or bonk him on the head when he noticed him, but going back empty handed after all the effort he'd put into getting here seemed like a waste. How bad could a crazy half-naked man be anyway? Maybe he might turn out to be interesting?

With a touch of trepidation Tio stepped out from behind the corner and into the room, giving the flower-man a wave. "Hello there! Enjoying your... um... dancing? I don't mean to be blunt or anything but... why are you dancing in an underground flower cave?"

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[Qit'ria]

Common Text
Xanthean Text
Kashehino Text

The man turned with a sinister glare at Tio. Then his dance changed. His arms pumped up and down like a madman rowing a boat. Then he began hopping on one leg, while kicking out to the side with the other. Then he switched legs and repeated, hop dancing toward Tio and Qit'ria. He began eliciting a whining, shrieking noise, his eyes held wide and staring at the interrupter on his approach. He continued forward far more quickly than Qit'ria would've expected one while dancing in such a fashion.

He stopped in front of Tio, a few nose lengths away from him, still hopping and scowling and whining. Qit'ria had already removed a javelin from her back with her free hand, torch still hidden from the man around the corner. Then the dancing man stopped, stood rigid as a board, staring down Tio with great intensity. Then he burst out laughing, so hard, he fell to the ground clutching his ribs.

"You should've seen your face mate! Almost pee your pants eh?"

His laughter resounded through the caverns, before he finally calmed down and stood up. He held both of his weapons now in his left hand, and stuck out his right, "The names Perisprinkle. I'm a dancer. You found me down here trying to come up with a new routine, one dedicated to Ashan. It's not ready yet though, hence why I didn't want anyone to see. You all wouldn't mind keeping this to yourself right? Wouldn't want any other dancers to steal my moves."

Qit'ria was at a loss for words. Surely there had been a loss in translation with what this man had said. She stepped out from her hiding spot and planted herself next to Tio. The man looked at her, "My my aren't you the scowling one? Keep doing that with your face and you'll have wrinkles for your fortieth arcday." He offered his hand, but Qit had none to spare, and shook her head at him holding out her weapon and torch as an explanation.

"What brings you lovely pair down to my hideaway? Looking for an exciting spot to worship Syroa?" He stuck his tongue into his cheek as he said that one.

Qit'ria didn't understand the euphemism, "No. Look for Forb Hidden Shine. You know where?" She shook her spear a bit menacingly at the man.

He just smiled and walked back toward his area, "Well I don't know of any forbidden shrines, per se. Come come, we can figure this out." He entered his shrine area, and Qit'ria followed. The man sat down at the base of the monolith, gesturing to the space in front of him for them to follow suit. Qit didn't trust the man, but obliged.

"I don't know these caves too well, but I do know of some other shrines that people go to, ones they don't want to be seen worshiping. I can show you the way if you'll do something for me." At this he grinned mischievously, "I have a few more outfits like mine, over there in that bag," gesturing at a backpack leaning against the wall, "Dance with me to honor Ashan, and you have yourself a guide. After all, it's not every day a gorgeous couple like yourselves plops down in my lap."

And with that, Qit's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped a little. She really must not be understanding this man's Common, and looked to Tio for help.

[Tio Silver]

Dancing was not something Tio had ever imagined could be scary, but the sight of a fully grown man in a flowery tunic wielding a hammer and a whip whilst hop dancing towards him, shrieking all the way, was the most nightmare inducing thing he'd ever seen. And he'd been attacked by frickin' moss-zombies for fate's sake! Scrambling to draw his cutlass, Tio settled into a fighting stance and was full prepared to hack into the weirdo's face when the stranger thankfully stopped his advance and dropped to the floor in laughter.

"Well, at least we now know why this place was barred up..." He whispered to Qit, eyeing the weirdo pointedly. Clearly this guy was completely insane, and barring him up in these caves had been the safest course of action for everyone.

But eventually the peculiar fellow calmed down, and introduced himself as Perrisprinkle, a dancer trying to come up with a performance dedicated to Ashan. The fact that he wasn't a deranged dance-murderer after all was a relief, but Tio reckoned the guy still had a few screws loose to have pulled a joke like that. Then again most artists were a touch crazy, so he shouldn't really be surprised; after all he himself was a keen actor and his sanity had been called into question once or twice before. Deciding that Perri was harmless after all, Tio sheathed his sword and allowed himself to relax a little.

He followed when Perri walked over to the monolith, though remained standing when he motioned for them to sit since the stone floor didn't exactly seem comfortable. As the flowery dancer told them about the secret shrines and offered to guide them if they danced with him, a look of delight spread across his face like clouds parting to reveal the sun, and when Qit'ria looked at him in disbelief he nodded his head enthusiastically to her to indicate that yes, she'd heard him right and yes, they should definitely do it. Music and dancing had become hilariously fun for him for some reason ever since the spark of necromancy had been grafted into his soul, so dancing in exchange for and guide seemed like a win-win situation to him. Before Qit had a chance to say anything however Tio looked back over to Perriwinkle and declared "We absolutely accept!"

And then, in a single, fluid movement that was too well executed to have not been practiced before, Tio grabbed the shoulder of his robe and pulled it upwards. The sash that served as his belt unknotted itself, and in the space of a single moment Tio had gone from fully dressed to standing unashamedly in his underwear, his discarded robe fluttering down gently to the ground. Long blue hair hung down across his back, hiding the demon-wing tattoos that marked him as one of Syroa's chosen, and with his hands on his hips and his dramatic pose that looked like the kind of thing a superhero would do Tio laughed a hearty chuckle that reverberated powerfully through the chamber.

"Now then..." Tio announced, pointing his arm up into the air and striking another overly-dramatic pose. "LET'S DANCE!"

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