Somewhere deep within the dark unknown of the catacomb-like underbelly of Saiore's Dream, a once silent, underground reservoir echoed with the sound of much coughing and spluttering as a fury, mammalian adventurer sprang back into life.
The sound rang out and bounced from wall to wall as the splitting pain in the head of one Winston Miller was matched only by the raking agony in his lungs.
Retching horribly as he expelled water from his body, he became unable to tell the difference between what came from his lungs and what came from his stomach. His throat was sour, ears were ringing and if the tears streaming down his cheeks were not enough, he was certain that he my have peed himself...
"WINSTON! By Ol' Tuk's immortal nut-sac, you're ALIVE!"
Joe's
exuberance was matched only by his relief as he sped around the recovering ferret. "Oh my immortals. I thought you were a goner for a moment then. You nearly DROWNED! I TOLD you not to god pocking around under here, didn't I? I said 'Winston, don't go poking around down there or you'll end up berried. Alive! or DEAD! I SAID that, but do you listen? Do you HECK. You go poking around anywhere you please, any time, just causing trouble and getting into trouble and who has to save you? That's right! Me! Old Joe's got to save the trial!..."Winston was aware that his companion was talking a lot, but the sound was still muffled and vague as the ringing and water in his ears subsided. The continual droning sound began to form into words as his senses finally came back and he took a large, soothing breath as he used the energy needed to talk... and nothing more.
"...I mean.
Mrs Mistoffelees
helped a little, of course, but you'd still be stuck in a drainpipe were it not for me becoming a lock pick and...""Joe?"
"Yeah?"
"Shhhhhhhhhhhh....." The sound came as if being slowly expelled from a slowly leaking bellows as he let his body simply push the air out through his lips.
The spirit pursed his lips and reluctantly acquiesced to the request as the silence rang out across the underground cavern filled with water.
There was the sound of something preening itself somewhere off in the distance. A flapping of featery wings and the gentle splashing of water...
The ferret's body was tougher than most, thanks to the forging, but nothing he had helped where being drowned was concerned and as the oxygen deprivation gradually wore off, he considered Joe's words more carefully.
"Joe?"
"Yeah?"
"'oo es Mrs... Er, Mrs Mistof... fo..."
"Mrs Mistoffelees?"
"Yeah, Joe. 'oo's dat?" The query was given in a bit of a haze as, having regained possession of his faculties, he realised that there were still things that didn't make sense and perhaps he was not yet ready to sit up and face the world.
"Oh. The duck? It pulled you from the lake before I was able to find you." The Diri explained as if this was a perfectly normal thing to have happened.
Winston nodded without moving. It was like the movement happened in his mind but failed to reach his body. "Oh. Oh-kay. Dat's nice..." He was not ready to pick that apart yet, so he just lay and waited for things to make more sense as the sound of plodding footsteps and trickling water could be heard from somewhere above his head... which while laying down meant, just off towards the shore of the lake.
"Hehe. Oh hay. He's coming around now." Joe informed the giant Mallard.
Craning his head to peer up at the approaching duck-zilla, the alchemist frowned and decided that whether he wanted to or not, the world was going to face him. Forcing his arms and legs to move before the creature reached him, he rolled onto his front and pushed himself up to his knees. He was obviously covered in bruises and scrapes if the discomfort this caused was anything to go on.
"Hi..." Winston 'replied' with a smile. He was not usually great with animals, unless you counted hunting them, even so, ducks didn't normally eat ferrets... not even giant ones... He hoped. Still, he was not even sure it was a duck. There was always the chance it was something or someONE else. "Joe tells meh dat yuh saved meh?"
"QUACK"
Winston nodded, sure that this might either mean nothing or perhaps everything. "Tanks."
"QUACK"
The ferret nodded and smiled. "Right. Yeah. Oh-kay. Giant Duck called Mrs... Joe?" More things were still failing to make sense as the world refused to conform to expectation around him.
"Yeah." The reply from the spirit was now filled with resilient patience for his companion as whatever internal world view rearrangement went on inside his head.
"'ow do you know et's name?"
"Oh! Well, it just seemed a bit rude to just call it 'hay you'. It did save your life after all." Joe replied as if it was critically important to show the appropriate gratitude in such a situation.
All things considered, this did seem reasonable to the alchemist and as the duck rearranged some of its features in a deliberate fashion, the disembodied, floating head that was Joe continued. "So I decided to myself 'Hay Joe, that duck deserves a name.' So I called her Mrs Mistoffelees. Cos, you know, seems like a great name for a duck that saved your life. Right?" He smiled, apparently very satisfied with how things had turned out.
There really was no reason to argue. The mallard had saved his life and if that didn't warrant a grand name, then its sheer size might. "Fair enough..." He replied, finally straightening himself and standing his full 1 foot in height. The Mallard still towered well above the ferret as it puffed out it's chest in what might have been percieved as pride. "Den me owe yuh me very deepest an' most profound gratitude, me gud Mallard." He gave a grand bow to the duck, which merely replied with a singular "QUACK" as it sat with a satisfied shuffling of its behind.
Blinking a few times, Winston began to take in his surroundings for the very first time. The cavern they had found themselves in was, even by biggun standards, large. It was illuminated by the same bioluminescent fungi and other plants that had been in the previous crevice. The glow gave the water a eerie appearance and the sound of trickling streams and echoing, lapping water surrounded them like an omnipresent susurration of the elements.
The cavern didn't seem to be entirely natural. Certainly it had cavernous elements to it and was flooded, but there were 'walls' and evidence that floors and other periphery of 'architecture' all around them.
He reached for his
pack
to grab some food only to suddenly realise it was gone... Perhaps lost. He let out a little cuss and looked around him, suddenly a little worried. "Joe, me need tuh find me pack. Yuh seen et?" It would not be the worst thing that had ever happened to him if his had lost the pack, but it certainly would make life less convenient... Not to mention getting out of here more difficult.The Diri frowned as he looked around them briefly. "NNNnnnnno." He replied, having concluded it was not immedeatly within eye-shot and so much therefore be lost forever.
Winston let out a slow sigh as he began to mentally prepare himself for the search. "Oh-key. Well, ef need be, me cun eat mushrooms far lunch, dinna an' sencondies, bot et wud be betta tuh find me pack." He started to brush himself off and check what he did still have on him. It included the map, which was still stuffed roughly into his shirt, though a little, very soaking wet, a knife, his necklace and some other things he had been wearing. "Cun yuh sense anytin' Joe? Per'aps yuh cun find de pack?" He knew the pack was magical, even if he didn't understand what kind of magic that was, he hoped Joe might be able to locate it as he made his way towards the shore of the lake, wondering just how much water the pack could hold inside
Chest
if it had sunk to the bottom of the lake.Concentrating and opening himself up to the ether around him, the Songforged Diri
used his magic sensing ability to look for any sources of magic around them
. "Nothing..." He offered as he moved around the ferret and ruled out what he already had on him."Oh-key. Den lets start movin' around de area an' cover de shars first." The investigative Cadouri suggested as the two friends started to search for the lost bag.
The search took time and as they passed over the area, back and fourth, trusting in Joe's sense for hints and Winston's skills for closer inspection, the Diri stopped suddenly. "Wiat, I've got something!" He said, before darting over to what looked like a nest. Disappointed not to have immediately found the pack, the spirit sagged in the air slightly. "Oh. It's just a magical nest of mysterious origin."
The ferret nealer tripped as he turned at the news and scurried over to see what had been found. "A WHAT?"
As he crested a a pile of rocks, he did indeed find a small nest. It was almost certainly too small for Mrs Mistoffelees. "Wooooow! Et's magical?" He asked in disbelief and wonder.
The Diri floated over to the nest and hovered a few inches above it before shaking his head. "Oh. No. Not the nest, something near it though!"
The Cadouri scuttled over to the nest, taking a moment to ensure he didn't disturb it too much as he searched around it for the source of the magic. As he moved some detritus aside, he spotted his pack, apparently collected by the duck perhaps? "Nice one Joe! Yuh legend!" He exclaimed in his excitement as he lifted the pack and stood to check it was still OK.
As he looked back down, something caught his eye again... A crystaline stone of some kind had been covered by the bag. "Huu? Wassat?"
The diri moved in for a closer inspection. "Urg. A magical rock." He said, disappointed to have found yet another means by which for the ferret to kill himself in an Immortal forsaken cave in the bowles of Saiore's Dream.
The Cadouri however was delighted as he crouched back down. "Nat jost any rock Joe. Et's Territe..." He corrected with a smile.
He was just reaching out to collect the Well as he spotted something else, something unfamiliar. His eyes widened even further. "Joe... Es dat magical?..." He asked with bated breath.
Moving closer and looking at the newly discovered rock the spirit nodded. "Yup. Oooof... That's a more powerful to. I'm sure it's not worth doing anything with though. We should just leave. While we are still alive." He said as the higher class well stretched the spirit's limits a little and he tried, in futility, to suggest they should just play it safe.
Moving in close, the encorceller ferret studied the Well more closely as he let out a little chuckle. "Yuh know me betta den dat."
He'd never seen anything like it before and there were several of them. His hand hovered but an inch from its surface before he stopped and caught himself... Touching strange mystery-wells was the most direct path to getting blown to bits. "Oh-key Winstan. No need tuh get exploded 'ere. Let's take some time tuh work out wat et es..."
With that, he collected a snack from his pack for energy, his ensorcelling tools and began to study the two wells. Carefully he probed the raw wells, using his meditation to focus on their energies. "Dem seem very unstable... Like dem don't want tuh stay still... Ar 'ere." It was a puzzling sensation, exploring the Wells as they seemed to want to break down or change form. "Me tink we should move dese somewhere safa befar we cantinue." He said finally, much to Joe's mixed relief and regret.
Taking a
Moonglass well from his pack
he activated it to help suppress any unexpected effects of the new wells as he very carefully collected the wells and placed them into his pack, urging Chest to file them away somewhere safe.He giggled as he sat back down and munched on a sausage. "Well, dis 'as turned out tuh be quite de adventcha." He observed with a satisfied grin and a warm feeling as the food satisfied his belly.
Joe shook his head in dismay as the conclusion that this had some how gone well was offered by the ferret.
Continued here >>>
