• Closed • [Sweetwine] Cliffs, clues and daia cubs too.

[Vega]

Part 1: Wherein our heroes sign out.

"So, yeah,"

she said,

"We're gonna go to the Golden Cliffs. I reckon we'll be gone maybe four trials an' if there's an issue I'll send Snaffle back, or Noodle. They'll let Jasper know, at the very least. A'right?"

Vega had just finished signing them out of the "administration tent" in Sweetsong. It was part of what they did and she'd explained it to Arlo. No one here was required to do it, but if they didn't do it, then no one would come looking for them if they didn't come back. It seemed entirely fair to Vega and, in fairness, everyone did it.

Then, shouldering her pack she bumped against Arlo's shoulder as they walked out.

"I'm figurin' it'll be like last time, but there's these Daia lion cubs, see."

Walking next to them, of course, was

a large dire lioness

. Next to Madam Leona, the Dire Lioness, walked an adult Constellion - Sparks, as Vega knew him, was a companion granted by Daia as her mark from the Immortal grew and both of them wanted to come along.

"An' I need to find them. I'm goin' to explore the areas of Scalv what are easier to hide in an' so I reckon this is the place to start. Also, we can get some more o' that honey an' I wanna properly explore this time, too."

She grinned at him.

"Maybe we'll kill ourselves some grizzly bees an' I can update my bee wardrobe."

She waggled her eyebrows at him and grinned. Her bumble-bee hat was a thing of delight to Vega - she didn't care how stupid it looked, she loved it for what it was and what it represented.

Arlo, of course, had not been back long. Other people might worry about them traipsing out on a foolhardy adventure so soon after he got back, but Vega didn't bat an eyelid. It was what he needed, she reckoned and, if it wasn't, he'd enjoy it when they got going. Frankly, she thought it was just what the doctor ordered and she figured it would do him the world of good.

"So, Vindecaldra gave me her effigy like I told you. But I got some well wicked powers ,"

she said.

"I breathe out this cone of flames what can give you energy an' stuff, or I can breathe out liquid metal. I can melt metal with my mitts, if I feel so inclined. I can turn liquid metal solid, an' I've got those wings. But most useful by far has to be that I can make liquid metal. Any metal I know, I can make. So, if you want another cast iron pot, qu'ama, you jus' let me know an' I'll make you a dozen."

She grinned at him.

He had the effigy of Draithidir, Vega knew, and she wondered about that. But, she figured, he'd tell her when he'd figured it outonce it's released!. As they walked, she looked around to try and spot any general issues . They'd been here before and the Golden Cliffs looked much as they had but Vega frowned just slightly. Then, she moved towards a break in the bushes around the base of the Golden Cliffs and she dropped to her heels.

"Hey, look here,"

she said. She'd spotted some tracks which seemed very out of place here.

"These are lion tracks, I reckon?"

Looking up at Arlo she raised an eyebrow. The tracks led them away from the Golden Cliffs, or at least away from the direct path. But then, the two of them were very much of the opinion that off the usual beaten track was more interesting. Motioning, she pointed to the fact that the tracks led them down what seemed to be a dark and semi-hidden trail.

With a wide grin at her husband, Vega raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"You wanna?"

she asked. She didn't have to ask, she knew, but it was too much fun not to.

Tracker for the Daia cubs: here
Golden Cliffs South: here = we're going with a Master Level everything.
Navigation: An expansive complex or maze full of ingenious traps.
Encounter: Will be from: Extreme-danger beasts, Hostile mer, pirates of the flavor crew (a high-level antagonist accompanied by other antagonists and almost unlimited numbers of flavor crew.) complex mechanical traps (Crushing walls, pressure plates that trigger precise weaponized darts and other projectiles, bottomless pits, etc.)

Sweetwine: here and Golden Cliffs generally here

[Arlo Creede]

Date

Some might say that the very idea of 'signing out', and presumably 'back in' upon one's return, ran counter to the very essence of that which ran hot through Arlo's blood. There was a distinct element of irony in the thought of any of Cassion's own spawn would even taking such measures, since he could hardly imagine his own Immortal Father doing the same. With a wry grin, Arlo pointed the tricky nature of it out to Vega, but nonetheless complied with a smile. After all, he'd only just fallen back into the word as he'd known it again, sort of, and hadn't yet regained any real sense of where he'd been, how he'd gotten there or anything much in between. So yes, it seemed sensible. Responsibilities, five children, wife...grown up stuff as it were.

He'd been more than happy to get out into the wilds. As grateful as he was that he was back among family, however much his absence still felt like a barely remembered dream, some time alone with Vega, doing something physical and useful appealed quite a lot. So he'd definitely been game, and because it never paid to go anywhere without being prepared, he'd armed himself fully and brought along in his domain sack all the things he thought he might need, and a few things besides. His diris Cara and Lyova had come along for the outing, The lioness was new, but then again there were many things new about Vega so far as her appearance and the abilities that went hand in hand with it.

But the same was true for him. including the effigy that in large part, so far as use was concerned, remained a mystery. Not completely unlike the missing pieces of his recent absence. He guessed all would come to him in time, maybe. "You know I think a full length grizzly bee coat would look great on you," he teased her and bumped her shoulder as they went. "You'll start to newest fashion craze, it'll catch on like wildfire." To be honest he wouldn't mind have a bit more of that honey if they happened across any along the way and weren't too busy fighting for their lives to collect it.

"Well if you can essentially breathe fire, I'll try to remember not to run afoul of you temper," he quipped with another grin, "but if you don't mind I think I'll stick with my old cast iron pan, or replace it myself if ever I need to. Tradition, the old fashion way, some things are sacred." Arlo would stand firm on the notion that a cast iron pan produced by this breathing out of metal would be inferior, somehow, to a pan crafted in all the old ways.

The way was familiar, however Arlo knew better than to allow familiarity give way to an abundance of ease. Quite the contrary. Still, when she pointed out the tracks, he too dropped to his heels to have a closer look. "Lion tracks, yeah. Appears to be. But possible juveniles?" he figured. "It's not the size of the paws, it's the depression, a lighter carriage, rather than a heavier one I think" The dark trail that the tracks led to was new, and to be honest there was a great deal of appeal in it's shadowy and unfamiliar nature.

'You have to ask?" Of course he wanted to. Still, it wasn't all recklessness and going in blind, so Arlo sent Lyova ahead to keep an eye out for anything that might otherwise take them by surprise. "You want the lead, or shall I?" he asked. Either way, onward. If he'd been remotely the skittish type, the way would have felt unnerving. Dark with little sunlight filtering in except in patches, trees hugging a narrow and twisting path. Rustling leaves, snapping twigs and so on. Seems like the path is getting a bit rockier as we go."[/b] Less dirt, more stones scattered along the path. Though they couldn't see far ahead, it did suggest that at some point a forest like trail might turn to something a little more challenging to traverse.

[Vega]

Part 1: Wherein our heroes sign out.

Arlo didn't like the whole signing out thing and Vega grinned at him.

"No one has to do it,"

she said. This was true.

"We only do it if we accept that, if we go missin', we'd want someone to look for us. Other than me, I guess."

Her eyes were swirls of yellowamused and violetrelieved - violet having been present since his return.

"They seem to think I'm the boss an' so I'm kind of ... I dunno."

Vega shrugged. She'd never thought about leading a place like this, really, and she hadn't expected it to become what it had. Sweetsong had grown into bigger than she thought it would ever - and it had done so quickly. It meant that there were a lot of people looking to her for leadership and Vega simply did the best she could. It was, generally speaking, ok - but she understood Darius' point of view and feeling of responsibility more now.

Grinning at Arlo, she bumped shoulders with him and said, honestly.

"I don't care if you do or don't sign in or out, Arlo. I don't care if no one does. If you don't an' you go missin', I'll come lookin' for you anyway an' anyhow,"

she knew that what she was about to say was a dreadful amount of showing off, but she couldn't help herself.

"I don't need to know where anyone's gone. If I'm lookin' for them, I can usually find them. It's jus' for everyone else what isn't as talented as we are."

They walked and teased each other and when he suggested a grizzly bee coat, she laughed.

"I were thinkin' a pair o full length bloomers an' a hat."

Nodding her head sagely, she considered it.

"Maybe under the coat? We'll need to skin a lot of bees."

She considered it and decided that yes, she would look very fine in a full length bee-skin coat. She knew he was joking, but still. She shook her head though, when he said that she could breathe fire.

"Not harmful fire. If you got it full blast, you'd jus' feel re-energised an' stuff. "

She sniffed, disdainfully, when he rejected her cast iron pan and said, obviously joking,

"Please yourself. Your loss you ole preservative."

She didn't know whether she could make a pan, or whether it would be any good if she did. But it was something to tease him about and that was fun.

The tracks they came across were interesting and Arlo's comment about them being juveniles caused her to look again. She nodded at that assessment. She asked him if he wanted to take the strange and slightly unnerving path and, true to form, he asked her if she had to ask. Vega grinned at him and her eyes flooded the particular shade of greenHappy that only ever happened when she was with him. If it was anyone else, then they'd maybe have to say things but the slowly returningI'm assuming they're coming back slowly, I figure anything else would be overwhelming links they shared meant that they both knew anyhow and, frankly, Vega wasn't the type to dwell on things. He was home and that meant that they were here and thus, she was happy. It was as simple - and as complicated - as that. The rest of it would work itself out.

"Lead on, McCreede"

she said with a flourish of her hand. She made sure to be close behind him, though and she kept an eye out.

It was a good job she did.

The lion prints had continued, and there were signs that this was a well-trod path for these juvenile lions. But as they walked through the narrow, twisting path, Vega put her hand on him. She didn't speak, but she signed to him as she pointed to a large gnarly-looking tree. It was much bigger than most of the trees here, seeming to be very ancient.

"Look,"

she signed, and her finger traced what seemed to be a small - but big enough - door. It was snug and very difficult to spot but she'd gotten lucky. Arlo was as good at this as she was and she had no doubt that he'd see it too. There was a twisted knot that, once she'd seen the door was clearly just too well placed and Vega glanced at Arlo, signed her intention to him and then carefully and slowly, she checked for traps or wires which were hidden in the overgrown and dark area. She felt the usual flood of adrenaline at the circumstances and, when he was ready for her to, she pressed the knot.

And the door opened, swinging inwards to reveal a small, tight, dark but obviously constructed by mortals, tunnel. Vega grinned at Arlo and raised an eye.

Tracker for the Daia cubs: here
Golden Cliffs South: here = we're going with a Master Level everything.

Navigation: An expansive complex or maze full of ingenious traps. I'm figuring this place could lead to that?

Encounter: Will be from: Extreme-danger beasts, Hostile mer, pirates of the flavor crew (a high-level antagonist accompanied by other antagonists and almost unlimited numbers of flavor crew.) complex mechanical traps (Crushing walls, pressure plates that trigger precise weaponized darts and other projectiles, bottomless pits, etc.)

Sweetwine: here and Golden Cliffs generally here

[Arlo Creede]

Date

"Well it's not inconceivable that they'd have seen you as a natural choice. For needing someone to take charge, I mean," Arlo teased her along the way. It was jest, but one based on merit nonetheless. "I don't mind signing in. I'm sure there's a few among the group that are still wondering about my long absence. As am I," he considered, given that he'd failed so far to conjure up any reliable details when sorting through his memory bank in vain. "It won't hurt me one bit to make a note of it when I know I'll be away for more than a break or two." Not that he planned on going off on his own anytime soon.

So, bloomers and hat both, he agreed with a chuckle although she was right. That would require an awful lot of those bees in order to do it up right. Still, "Speaking of coats and breathing fire. I've been meaning to tell you about my new effigy, though at the moment I'm not sure what it's good for. Maybe because my memory is somewhat unreliable right now, or for some other reason. I met a dragon," he told her. "Draithidir. This was before the baby was born. A group of us, people I hadn't met before, were snatched up and summoned by an individual posing as Cassion. It was only myself and another who were sure enough to confront them."

In order to make a very long story short, Arlo explained that they'd become trapped with no way back, he and the other skeptic set out on their own. Things had tried to kill them, they'd met and fought alongside Edasha, they'd discovered a dragon's horde and then met said dragon herself. "My fellow skeptic was the daughter of Delroth. Natural love of her own reflection," Arlo quipped, "concerned with adventuring fashion. Stubborn, judgmental, bossy, near impossible to get along with, and very, very vain." And yet somehow they had found common ground and had worked very well together in the end. Which brought him right back to coats and bloomers. "I received a coat that can repel and protect me from flames," he said.

But, back to business. "It's likely the big cats that left the tracks are young, but they could simply be smaller regardless of age." He was leaning more towards age, however, based on their apparent gait, evidence of which was there to see in the depth and pattern of the tracks. So he led the way, and when she reached out and touched him, his gaze fixed on one tree in particular, that distinguished itself from the others due to it's size and condition.

The small door of course was of much greater interest. While Vega checked for traps and snares in their surroundings, Arlo himself studied the knot to make sure as he could that it too wasn't rigged to respond in an unpleasant way, should someone come along and press on it. "Be my guest," he said, grinning after failing to find anything more suspicious about the knot than it already was, due to it's position in the center of said door.

And then of course they were in, a process which required him to either crawl along the way, or at least move partly hunched over just as a large primate might do. "Well whoever carved this passage wasn't the big and swarthy type that's for sure." It was dark though and so Arlo summoned Lyova. "You want to light the way for us Lyova?" he asked, and of course the diri was all too happy to oblige.

Using the soft light that Lyova provided, Arlo was better able to scan their surroundings for traps of any sort. And a good thing it was, since scattered along the way there seemed to be depressions in the floor of the tunnel that looked suspiciously man made, in spite of an obvious effort to make it not so. "I think I'd rather avoid stepping on one of those, than not," he whispered, and then suddenly fell silent, listening carefully to their surroundings. "Do you hear that?" he asked Vega. "It's like a...I dunno, a murmuring sound. Like far off or muffled conversation?"

[Vega]

Part 1: Wherein our heroes jump in!

Arlo's description of Delroth's daughter caused Vega to raise an eyebrow. She didn't say anything - she didn't need to - she simply arched an eyebrow and gave him A Look. Of course, since they were once again linked and knew each other's emotions, he would know that she was nothing more than amused and - of course - teasing him because she could. She considered it her duty, in fact, to torment him as often and as much as possible. However that coat of his sounded good, she said.

"Remember when we went down into the Scalv Mountain an' fought Wilma the Wonder Weed?"

Vega said with a grin.

"That would have been handy then, wouldn't it?"

It was warm, there, she had to admit. They'd been jumping around over lava rivers and dodging fire which Wilma spat at them. Not the most fun they'd ever had.

Their journey today led them to a large tree with a suspicious knot and the pair of them were cautious. Vega considered that they'd probably matured sufficiently that they were so and she smiled to herself at that thought. Three children of their own and two who lived with them and that wasn't what made her feel mature or more responsible, she thought to herself. No, it was the fact that she took the time to check for traps. In many ways, she thought, that simply disproved her theory -maybe, in fact, she hadn't grown up at all. Either way, her thought processes stopped as she met Arlo's gaze and nodded her agreement then pressed the button.

The door swung open and they made their way in. Arlo groused about the size of it and Vega gave a grin.

"You callin' me big an' swarthy, Creede?"

It was true, she had to bend forward too - she was a slight bit shorter than Arlo, but not much and while she didn't match his muscle, this was not a place for tall folks. Lyova lit the way for them, and Vega smiled at the small creature.

"Thanks, Lyova. Oh, that reminds me. Now might be a good time to introduce you to Noodle."

If Arlo thought she was joking, then one glance at her would tell him that she wasn't. And, indeed, her

diri Noodle

appeared, wearing a cowboy hat.

"He's an extra pair of hands, basically, an' he works at the same level of skill as me. Don't you Noods?"

He nodded, waved at Arlo and then disappeared again. Vega grinned.

"He were well useful in the pirate attack. I spoke, an' he wrote what I said on the echo scroll so I could keep on fightin' but also let people know what were happenin', you know?"

Her lips pursed at that, and she considered that - of course - he wouldn't know.

"They attacked all over Scalvoris. From Haven an' Hopetoun an' Saoire's School on Faldrass to Almund an' Gunvorton an' Scalv proper. They were lookin' for the fire forged rose. You remember that rose what I touched in the burned out Inn that put the demon in my head?"

The demon that had caused her to turn all lava-like whenever she picked up a weapon and so she'd decided to run away.

"You know, that demon of good judgement an' excellent plannin' what briefly inhabited me?"

The irony of her words was clear - she knew she'd been foolish then.

"They were lookin' for that rose. Which is stupid, because it's power is all in my sword."

She put her hand on the hilt of her sword which bore the fire-forged rose symbol. It had all happened the trial before he'd come home so she figured he didn't know.

"People died. Not in Sweetsong, because we thwapped away the pirates an' smooshed their stupid boats. But everywhere else."

She gave a slight grin.

"An' Kura's sendin' some Elements to come stay in Sweetsong for a bit. I'm goin' to train them to be less useless."

That was the plan, anyhow.

They made their way forward, and Arlo quickly spotted some areas on the floor. Looking at them, Vega saw what he meant. It didn't look quite right, although people had tried hard to make it look natural. She knelt to look more closely and frowned. Lifting her head to speak to him, to confirm what he was saying, the words didn't leave her mouth as he whispered to listen. There was a noise in the distance, although as much as she strained to hear it she couldn't quite make it out. Distance was distorting what she could hear, no doubting it. But there was something else.

Kneeling there, she had looked up to speak to Arlo and as she listened carefully, Lyova just happened to fly in the right place. The light from the small fairy caught Vega's eye and she motioned to Arlo. Pointing to the far wall, she said softly.

"There's tiny holes in that wall. Like maybe you step on these things an' somethin' gnarly pops out an' pierces your skin an' kills you dead?"

Vega didn't like this at all. This was too close to Sweetsong for her liking and it was all far, far too manufactured.

The sound continued and Vega continued to listen to it.

"Arlo, it's on a loop,"

she said.

"It's got a rhythm, like it's repeatin' itself ev'ry few minutes. Listen,"

she said. Rhythm was one of her Domains as Faldrun's daughter and this sound had a pattern.

"Well, no point hangin' about. We're goin' across. I'm goin' to dance across an' you're goin' to flickedy flack across."

She waited for his acknowledgement of what was an inevitability and, as long as he didn't disagree, that was exactly what Vega did.

One thing that had changed since Arlo had been gone was that to Vega

dancing had become, somehow, more natural for her.

So, when they had agreed and she did do it, she danced as she moved - but her movements were

also athletic, as she jumped and spun.

The other side of the trapped area and the noise was more clear. It was still hard to make out exactly, but Vega stood, quietly, and then whispered.

"Does that sound like people practicin' combat to you?"

The sound came from ahead and to the left of them. The corridor, however, also veered off to the right if they chose to go that way. Vega motioned for Arlo to choose.

Tracker for the Daia cubs: here
Golden Cliffs South: here = we're going with a Master Level everything.

Navigation: An expansive complex or maze full of ingenious traps. I'm figuring this place could lead to that?

Encounter: Will be from: Extreme-danger beasts, Hostile mer, pirates of the flavor crew (a high-level antagonist accompanied by other antagonists and almost unlimited numbers of flavor crew.) complex mechanical traps (Crushing walls, pressure plates that trigger precise weaponized darts and other projectiles, bottomless pits, etc.)

Sweetwine: here and Golden Cliffs generally here

[Arlo Creede]

Silence spoke volumes. Always had, especially with Vega. And if a face could launch a thousand ships, so the old saying went, then just one look from Vega, with those technicolor eyes of hers, could give voice to an entire archive of volumes. And still, Arlo grinned and tempted fate. "I've even got a mirror in the wake of that encounter. Her as well," he quipped. "You know, to reach out and have a chat now and then, should the need arise."

So far as he was concerned, if the need never arose, it would be more than fine by him. The woman had been impossible to get along with. But he supposed it went with the territory of being Delroth's daughter. The Immortal wasn't exactly known for his humility. "Wilma the Wonderweed, I remember it well," he said. And yes, that coat would have come in handy back then. But there they were, traveling through the tunnel, shoulders bent so they might appear to be moving like primates if viewed under any other circumstances. Noodle was an interesting character to say the least. "Greetings Noodle," he said. 'I'm sure that you, Lyova and Cara will get on famously."

"I've heard a bit of chatter around the settlement about the pirate attacks. I should have been there to help," he said with apparent regret. So much he'd missed, and he was still unable to bring much more to mind so far as memory, as he'd been when he'd first dropped back into the world as he'd known it before. Sort of. At any rate, so far as those gnarly and potentially murderous things in the wall, almost certainly put there by human, or otherwise, hands, Arlo could only agree. "Far better that we don't step on those things." It was stating the obvious, yes, but warranted the extra attention.

The sound though was a strange thing. It sounded far off to begin with, though it was hard to say for sure in a place like this where sound might carry in unexpected ways. But what Vega was describing, wasn't an echo and Arlo stopped moving for a long moment in order to really listen. "You're right," he finally concluded, though she didn't really need him to say it. "You ever hear the stories about nature, rocks, watery places, and so on, being places where memory is stored? Like spiritual, or the residue of some past event that repeats itself over and over? Residual," he said.

But then, considering the rigged walls and walkway, there was probably a more logical, and probably more worrisome explanation. "Or it's rigged that way, either by someone in the past or someone still here...in this place." Another trap, he meant. As for getting across, in fact he didn't disagree and was happy to put some of his acrobatic skills to use by pulling off a showy somersault, just for good measure. And because he could.

Once they were there, he paused to listen yet again. Combat? "It does sound like it. Drills. Which might explain some of the repetition, except that it strikes me that what we've been hearing...It's too similar to having been set to play on a loop." As for which way to go, he considered it briefly before deciding. "Well that's either sound meant to trick the ear and the senses, or it's a handful of people playing at combat. If it's the latter, I see no reason to go rushing straight into a potential fight, better to go right and skirt around them?" He chose, but since Arlo preferred to take up the rear in this instance, he gestured for Vega to lead the way.

[Vega]

Part 1: Wherein our heroes go left!!

"You're the only one beatin' yourself up about that,"

Vega said in response to his assertion that he should have been there.

"No one died in Sweetsong. No one were really injured."

That was the bottom line. It wasn't the point as far as he was concerned, she knew - and if Arlo needed to beat himself up a bit, that was up to him and she wouldn't decry him for it, it was his process and she respected that. And, of course, the reality was that people had died around Scalvoris, and they'd been injured aplenty - something they could both feel guilty for.

So, Vega focused on the here and the now. On being here, with him, doing what they did best; namely, getting into trouble.

She danced and leapt across, following in his footsteps. As she landed, she gave a grin to him, but her eyes were serious because she knew that she had to add to the answer she'd given. Because he'd been gone a lot longer than that one night.

"What matters to me, what's always been the only thing what matters to me, is that you choose to be with me, like I choose to be with you."

Her hand touched his, briefly, and her eyes were earnest, slow moving and intense.

"I can't blame you for not bein' with me when you had no choice, because that would be stupid an' I try to avoid stupid. Bein' angry at yerself for somethin' that you couldn't help is daft, but you're allowed on account of bein' male an' all that."

Shrugging slightly she pointed out what was obvious to her.

"I didn't go lookin' for you, either. I mean, I know why I didn't, I had a new baby an' I had no idea where to start, but that were a choice. You don't seem quick to be annoyed at that, but are happy to be annoyed at somethin' you can't change an' couldn't control?"

His insistence on beating himself up wasn't something she understood.

Of course - she recognised it in herself and he had pulled her out of more than one dark place - both literally and figuratively. If he needed it, she considered, she'd give him a kicking in order to force him out of such nonsense. But, for now, she needed him to know that he was enough.

They turned their attention to what was going on here and Arlo pointed out that it sounded like drills. Vega nodded in agreement. It sounded like Storm's Edge and every other time she'd experienced the military. He wanted to avoid the potential for conflict and she agreed with him, so they took the left-hand turn.

It went on and down, winding in a slow spiral and always with a feeling of descending. It was dark and oppressive. More than once, she wondered if they were moving at all or just going in circles but, after a while, she stopped. There, in front of them, the floor changed. Spanning the width of the corridor were two tiles - one black, one white. They went in a checkerboard pattern far into the distance - too far for either of them to jump. Vega looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't like it,"

she said, kneeling to examine the floor.

"It feels like a trap. It looks like a trap. But I can't find nothin'."

Perplexed, she looked up at her husband querulously.

"What'cha think?"

Vega asked, fairly sure that Arlo would, at the very least, have some ideas.

Tracker for the Daia cubs: here
Golden Cliffs South: here = we're going with a Master Level everything.

Navigation: An expansive complex or maze full of ingenious traps. I'm figuring this place is it! This could be the last bit of that and lead to the encounter?

Encounter: Will be from: Extreme-danger beasts, Hostile mer, pirates of the flavor crew (a high-level antagonist accompanied by other antagonists and almost unlimited numbers of flavor crew.) complex mechanical traps (Crushing walls, pressure plates that trigger precise weaponized darts and other projectiles, bottomless pits, etc.)

Sweetwine: here and Golden Cliffs generally here

[Arlo Creede]

Date

It was always the preferred method for getting on with it, Arlo had always thought. Focusing on the here and now, and he agreed with her. The problem in this case, at least for him, is that it was more of a challenge where there were elements of the past that he simply could not remember. He'd sorted through his memories, and he'd tried. Then hoping it would simply come to him of it's own volition, he'd made a concerted effort to leave those elusive memories alone, and let the bits and pieces come to him as they would. They hadn't, and he was trying to come to terms with the idea that he might never know exactly where he'd been during his absence, how he'd gotten there, or why.

Didn't exactly sit well, but it was what it was. "You've always been my choice", he assured Vega as he'd reached out his hand in order to catch her, should she need it, when she hopped across the abyss that had put itself beneath their feet. "You were my choice from the first time I saw you. No matter how hard you tried to put me off back then," Arlo added with a grin. "There's no place I'd be but with you." And that was the thing that made not remembering so difficult. Past though, and this was now.

The path they'd chosen to take in an effort to avoid any unwanted confrontations, at least those they weren't quite ready for, seemed to wind further down into the earth and Arlo, being much more inclined by nature to prefer the outdoors, began to feel a sense of the walls closing in, though he was sure that they weren't moving at all, but the path only growing more narrow in some places and wider in others.

The tiles were interesting though and gave him something else to focus on. He knelt down beside Vega in order to have a closer look. "Yeah, me neither," he agreed. No, didn't like it one bit. As for ideas, Arlo considered it a moment in silence, assuming they intended to keep moving forward instead of turning back the other way. "Too far to leap, it may be a puzzle of sorts. One safe to step on and the other not. But is safety hidden in white, or black?" A riddle maybe in need of solving, and Arlo wondered if Vega wanted to hazard a guess.

"Or," he said, his gaze traveling from the tiles on the floor, to the walls and then higher to the ceiling. They weren't completely smooth, though close. There were little nooks and crannies, miniature shelves..."Climbing hook and rope?" he suggested as a possible alternative. "I've got at least that in my bag in case we'd come across a cliff in need of climbing. We could always swing a hook and see it we can catch it on something secure enough to hold our weight, then swing across both tiles?"

[Vega]

Part 2: Wherein our heroes meet Bob's cousins!!

He was fooling no-one. Not her, not himself and not ... Vega thought about it and then spoke, good-natured teasing.

"You' know, not even Bert believes you an' yer easy-breezy lemon-squeezy"

Vega said, referring of course to the stuffed toy which shared her side of the bed. She was always his choice, though, and she knew that. There was no doubt in her mind and she didn't need to worry. Arlo was there when he was there - and if he wasn't that wasn't something she was going to stress about. The only time she would be concerned was if he was choosing to not be there - that was something else. It hadn't been his choice, so it wasn't worth fretting over.


She chuckled slightly, though.

"I weren't tryin' to put you off. You were too young to understand, that's all."

It had been a long time since she'd teased him about his age, she thought. Of course, these days by virtue of weirdness, he was older than her. Still, he'd been eighteen arcs and her twenty - it had been enough of a difference that she felt justified in tormenting him then.

"Well, that's jus' like you, Creede innit?"

Vega grinned at him.

"I give you two options an' you take the third. Marvellous."

She grinned and nodded at him.

"That makes sense to me. Lets swing across an' avoid all the tile gubbins in it's entirety"

It was easy enough for them - for him, in fairness - to get the rope in place and swinging across was straightforward. Once they had done so - and with the associated acrobatics required - they managed to get across. As soon as they landed, there was a change in the air around them. It was stale, but there was also a scent of decay and Vega looked at Arlo with some concern in her eyes. Because, if there were things decaying down here, then there were things.

Maybe things which ate them.

Vega didn't speak, but she signed to him. Their mutual ability to use Common Sign had come in handy more than once.

"It's stinky in here," she signed. Her nose twitched as she closed her eyes and breathed in more deeply. Then, her eyes opened again. "It's a familiar smell, but it can't be right, Arlo. They don't live here. It smells like that..." her hands hesitated, and she spelled out - badly - the letters. "S.P.U.R.R.M.U.R.L.U.R..... oh, bun that. The big bloody thing we called Bob in Desnind. Remember? It smells like Bob."

Of course, "we" calling it Bob was something of an exaggeration on Vega's part, but the smell being it? Well, she was convinced that it was a spulmokawarta or, as she called it a 'spurmalurmawumpa'. And, as she signed the word Bob, from down the corridor, in the dark, came a low, deep growl.

And then another.

Tracker for the Daia cubs: here
Golden Cliffs South: here = we're going with a Master Level everything.
Navigation: An expansive complex or maze full of ingenious traps. Wootie- done!

Encounter: Will be from: Extreme-danger beasts, Hostile mer, pirates of the flavor crew (a high-level antagonist accompanied by other antagonists and almost unlimited numbers of flavor crew.) complex mechanical traps (Crushing walls, pressure plates that trigger precise weaponized darts and other projectiles, bottomless pits, etc.) We're just starting this bit! Feel free to throw more monsters in!

Sweetwine: here and Golden Cliffs generally here

[Arlo Creede]

"Probably not," Arlo agreed when she told him that not even Bert would believe him. Especially if his delivery could remotely be described in such a way as Vega had just done it. He grinned and shrugged, conceding the point. "I'll admit I've never really managed well to pull off breezy or sqeezy either one." Besides, it was a bit of a fruitless exercise anyway, attempting to revisit, and in some way atone for, a past that for the life of him, he really couldn't remember anyway. At least not enough of it to make any difference. The only thing that he did know for certain, was that he'd never have chosen to go and remain away from his family in such a way. Knowing that would simply have to be enough.

As for back then, when they'd first met? He scoffed. "I understood plenty at that age. Might have made you blush just thinking about it. You were only playing hard to get, that's all." How the tables had turned had been something entirely different, the thing that ended him up now, older than she was if one was actually counting. He remembered that quite well and the impulse that had compelled him to consume a potion offered to him by a complete stranger no less. Impulses of youth. That's what had done it.

"Path of least resistance," he said after testing the rope they'd be swinging on, and before actually using it himself. "Probably the one with the least number of awful things waiting in store for us, were we to cross in some other way." At any rate, he was more than capable enough of swinging safely across that uncertain patch of tunnel floor. As was Vega. But he'd nonetheless be waiting there with open arms to catch her when she landed.

It was like crossing an invisible barrier. Suddenly stagnant seeming, with the smell of rot and death in the air. Arlo frowned, cutting a face at the unpleasant and disconcerting smell of it. Yes, it was stinky, he agreed, signing back to her. But...Bob? Arlo frowned, sniffed the air again for good measure, almost gagged in the process and had to agree. It smelled very much like Bob, now he thought back on it.

It wasn't just the smell though that concerned him, if in fact a distant cousin of Bob's was roaming these tunnels with so many twists, turns and shadows to hide himself in. Smell was the least of it, and at least it might enable them to smell him coming. Bob had been ugly, strong, tough as a boot with as nasty a disposition as Arlo had ever seen. The growl was also concerning. Would have been had there only been one. But from the sounds of it, the change in cadence and tone....Glancing at Vega, his signing gesture was accompanied by an expression that as good as implied a question or suggestion. Two, maybe? She was as capable as him of knowing just what direction the growls were coming from.

And of course some folks might have thought it might be wiser to do an about face and leave, right quick. Except Arlo thought that the things were already aware of their presence, could easily already be watching them from the shadows, and were as likely or not to pursue them from behind if they did turn their backs. Arlo slowly, quietly pulled his sword from it's sheath and shot a look at Vega. Forward, or backwards, his expression seemed to be asking.