[Flashback] In which there is much sand(Private)

[Keorvic]

66th Day of Summer 510 AV

Keorvic crested yet another dune, as always keeping the ocean off to his left. He stumbled at the top, and hooked his foot in some sort of grass that he had never seen before. He tried to catch himself, but failed and tumbled down the soft sand, landing in an annoyed heap at the bottom of said dune. "Isn't this magical." he groused to himself. "I shoulda drank less of that crappy beer and more of that last bit of mead" Keorvic was less than thrilled, having spent the night out on the beach. It wasn't really any of his companions' fault, but he felt that somehow they were to blame. Also he had woken up to a seagull trying to eat his eyes and a crab in his hair, which did little to improve his mood. While his nose had stopped bleeding before he had even fallen asleep, it was still swollen and hurt to breath through. He was almost certain it wasn't broken, but after having an elbow applied to it the night before all he knew was that it hurt. He stood up, coughing up sand and dusting himself off. He looked up to see what looked like an old wooden house off in the distance, up on a more level part of the beach past the dunes. "Hey!" he called out to his companions that were supposedly behind him somewhere, probably having less difficulty than he. It wasn't his most eloquent exclamation, but he had just fallen down a dune, for Laviku's sake. As that thought crossed his mind, he had a wild moment of introspection and realized that he always cursed by Laviku, but swore by Morwen. A small smile flitted across his face as he thought about the logic behind that. Nobody could rage like Laviku. Shaking himself from his reviere, he called out again. "I think I found your shack!" he called back to Akiva, actually turning around to look for her this time. "She's probably tormenting some poor crab." he thought to himself. the first time they saw Kipps playing with a crab, the night before, They had all laughed wildly as the silly cat managed to get his paws nipped several times before leaving the crab alone. However, from what he had seen of Akiva in her cat form, she was far faster than her cat companion, and many many times more intelligent. He didn't envy any crab that might get itself caught by her. with a huff, he coughed up more sand, and turned to look out over the ocean, trying to spot any ships that might be heading to the Sunberth harbor. He failed to see anything but the glare of the morning sun on the water. He heaved a sigh, and settled down onto a log that was inexplicably placed driftwood log to wait for his friends. From what he could tell from the letter Akiva had received way back in Syliras, he didn't want to explore this creepy shack without at least a little backup.

[Akiva Korvashi]

The smell of which she called putrid permeated the air, the sea was near. She could see water for miles and miles past the shore all along the horizon. The sun was still low in the sky, they had woken up early due to Keorvic being attacked by the many creatures of the sand. However, she had had no problem with them during the night, she wasn't sure about Azerix. She was still a little sleepy from the amount of energy she used up in last night's fight in the tavern, but it was really nothing she couldn't fight her way through. She was excited that they were finally going to figure out what her mysterious letter had been talking about. She hoped the treasure it talked about was a chest full of giant fish. Salmon, yes. She would love that. And maybe some shiny things to go along with it, she liked shiny things as well. Keorvic had gone ahead quite a ways, as he seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood this morning. She could hear him in the distance ahead making a comotion about something. She saw him as she came to a dune, one that he had apparently fallen down, as he was now laying on the ground, trying to get up. She frowned, her human was a bit silly sometimes. She hoped he wasn't hurt, which he wasn't, as he proceeded to stand up angrily afterward and dust himself off. She backed up a bit to get some running distance, then ran swiftly towards where Keorvic had fallen from, jumping off of the dune towards him. "Keorvic!" she yelled as she got into the air. Unfortunately, dunes do not make solid surfaces for jumping off of, and she didn't make it very far into the air before landing on the soft sand and sliding all the way down. She skidded to a stop at Keorvic's feet, wide eyed. "So skirts are good for more than one thing," she said, as the skirt had helped her to make a smooth descent. She hadn't even torn anything on her way down, which was surprising as most of what she was carrying was deadly. She stood up in a half graceful manner and turned around to make sure she hadn't lost anything. A throwing knife had slipped out of her pack, so she bent down to pick it up, dusting her backside off simultaneously then placing her throwing knife back into her pack. She faced Keorvic again. "Where's Azerix?"

[Azerix]

Something awoke azerix. perhaps it was the missing body heat he had fallen asleep to or it was the sun in his eyes, but he was leaning towards the sea gull that was rummaging through his belongings rather rudely that awoke him. "GET! SCAT!" the bird looked at him with beady eyes, squawked and flew away with nothing in its beak "Scavengers...ugh...hope nothing was taken or eaten..." he placed his hand on his stomach realizing the last thing he ate was a few days ago "damn...sore and hungry.." he rubbed his muscles in his arms "over giving....it hurts...will have to attempt to avoid that in the future huh guys?" when there was no response he turned to see only marks of were bodys once laid "ohhh man where did they go?" he looked around for any signs of leaving, perhaps Keorvic writ a note or something. but nothing, it wasn't until he layed back in the sand and placed his hand into a indent that he found it, tracks, one from a large man and another from a small woman "AH HA!" he exclaimed raising to his feet his calve muscles tightening "damn it." he took a step and a limp forward "yeah no more overgiving" he turned and looked at the ocean realising he was perched "or perhaps im just getting dehydrated i heard something about muscles straining or cramping if you don't have enough to drink...hmm ill have to check into that later...kinda wish they would have woken me up though, it would have been nice to walk with them to wherever they are going...or maybe they didn't want me to come with...maybe there over there..." he shook his head at the thoguht that flashed in his head "nahhh...they got enough of that on the journey...i think..." he smirked to himself and picked up his bag checking it one last time to see if the bird had taken anything worth value, like a few Mizas or some shells he picked up last night. unfortunatly, the shells were gone "aww man those were pretty nice looking shells too i might have been able to get some mizas or something off them...oh well..." he slung the bag around his shoulders and turned, proceeding to follow up the hill stepping in Keorvics footsteps to cure his boredom. unfortunatly, he wasn't paying the best of attention and when he reached the top of the hill he continued to walk, resulting in him slipping in tumbling down the hill in a mess of sand, clothes, and hair. he tumbled down infront of Keorvic and Akiva looking up and smiling "oh hey!" he stopped, dusting off his head and clothes then standing up "sorry to sleep in was exhausted....over giving is very straining on the mind and body.." he flicked his hair out of his eyes and looked at the old house "oh man....i hope there isn't any ghosts in there...that would be a horrible to way to start the day if they're malevalent..." he sat down on the log "so is this is the meaning of the journey from syliras...bandits wolves..and a whole lot of other things...for a old shack...why did i agree to come again..." he smiled "hey....i don't suppose any of you have any left over water..."

[Keorvic]

Keorvic sighed and smiled slightly at Akiva's antics, moving to help her dust off. He still wasn't sure if she was actually that naive or if she was just very good at teasing him. it was probably a mixture of both. Things were never dull when she was around. He was treated to another view as she bent over to pick up something from the sand. As she straightened up, the sun glinted off the throwing knife and he was reminded again of how dangerous she could be. The sight of her giggling like a child as the man slipped off her knife the night before still troubled him slightly. Looking closer, he caught a grimace as she sniffed. She obviously hated the water. The ocean must be very intimidating to her. "I thought he was with you. you did wake him right?" he asked. He looked around and barely dodged out of the way of the tumbling Azerix. "He's probably not being a tease." he chuckled to himself. As the little man straightened up and began mumbling about all the problems of the world (as he was want to do) Keorvic smiled. He decided that being on the beach wasn't really all that bad, It had just been a bad night. He set his jaw and resolved to be in a better mood, and then rolled his shoulder. "Ow damnit. Laviku's BALLS I'm sore." he muttered to himself. No matter. He would persevere. "Well, It's good to see you Azerix. I have a little bit of water left." he said, tossing the waterskin towards the mage. "Right. Who want's to go touch the scary shack first?" he asked jokingly. In all honesty, he was as cagey about going in as Azerix appeared to be. there was no telling what could be in that shack. it might be nothing, it might be ghosts, it might be a hoard of Pycons that someone had managed to shut away into the shack. He had began this journey happily, convinced that there would be treasure and adventure all through it, but now that they were close to thier goal, he was worried. He shook his head, and the pain in his neck flared up. The man from the night before hadn't gone down easy, and had inflicted some damage before going down. Keorvic resolved that they would leave Sunberth as soon as this mess with the shack was cleared up. He turned to Akiva. "Are you sure that note was all the old man gave you? he didn't tell you to watch out for danger or anything? didn't give you a hint as to what sort of stuff would be in there?" he asked. He knew that even if the man had given her some sort of subtle hint, he doubted that even a domestic Kelvic such as Akiva would be able to pick up on it. It was even less likely that she would remember it several months later. He shifted his weight and felt the sand crunch under his feet. If it was something they needed to run from, this sand made for less than ideal running.

[Akiva Korvashi]

Akiva searched her mind for any memory of what the old man had said. She couldn't remember a thing. The couldn't even remember what he had looked like. "Nope, no hints. The note said some kind of treasure though, remember?" That was the only thing she could remember, the promise of treasure. Thinking back, she was honestly amazed that they had even found the place. She looked down to Azerix, who was sitting at their feet. "Are you feeling any better, Azerix?" He had seemed a little off last night after the fight. A bit distant, as if his mind were somewhere else. She hadn't bothered to ask him exactly what happened, but she didn't really want to know. Disfigured people, whether physically or mentally, were a bit frightening to her. She lost herself in thoughts of last nights fight, and how horribly disfigured the three of them could have come out. She was glad they had not though, but nonetheless, her thoughts still led her to forget about Azerix and head towards the creepy looking shack settled in the rocks near the shore. Broken planks of wood lay at the ground by the walls of the shack, and the only window visible was boarded up. Other than that, the shack was surprisingly in one piece. She wondered how any structure this small could hold anything, it seemed like it would only be suitable to house a beggar, though it could possibly be bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Or maybe it had a lower level to it. She had heard somewhere or another that people lived underground during the Valterrian. Then maybe it could house two beggars. "I wonder what it was like to live through the Valterrian." She said to herself, unaware that the others had no idea what she was talking about. She came to the door of the shack, there was no handle on the door, or anything else for that matter. It was bare, and very stuck. She could not push it open, and she could not pull it open, for there was nothing to pull. The shack itself was very earie, it was hard to stand this close to it for her. The air around it made her want to run, and she wasn't sure why. It was probably just nerves though. "Can either of you open this? I can't find the door handle." She said, looking back to her two companions. She knew she wasn't the smartest of them, so they would probably have better luck than she would. She moved out of the way to let them see the door better, standing just in front of the boarded up window.

[Book__wyrm]

As it happened, the door was completely locked shut. There would be no way to open it. It was a relatively normal door, with just one oddity. The hinges were on the outside, so the door would swing outwards. The shack as a whole was quite impressive. The roof was rotting, the boards on the window were obviously nailed in hastily, and the whole shack appeared to be leaning to one side. All in all, it was quite impressive that the whole thing hadn't fallen over years ago. The second Akiva touched it, the whole thing shuddered, and groaned softly.

Through gaps in the boarded up window, they would be able to see only darkness. If they could be bothered to let their eyes get used to the darkness, what they found would be quite surprising.

[Azerix]

SORRY!!!!soooo sorry guys have been painting my gfs sisters room...

Azerix took the pouch from keorvic and gulped down what little warm water that Keorvic had given him, when he finished he whiped his lips "thank you....its good to see you alive aswell" he looked up at Akiva and smiled "me...well im fine, thanks...just a bloody nose, sore mouth....headache from hell...but hey the whispers are gone..." he realized what he said and figured Akiva didn't know what he meant "uhh....im not crazy....just...never mind..." he stood wincing at the tightness in his legs "still...cramped though...either dehydration or my muscles hate me for over giving.." he noticed that Akiva wasn't paying anymore attention and stopped talking when she walked past him to tinker with the door "well....i could burn it down...or send a boulder through it...but i don't know if my Djed is ready..." he looked at his palms smiling "then again...what's the point of having power if you can't use it...but last resort please..." he bit his lip thinking of a way to open the door. "well...lets peak inside..." he walked to a crack blowing the mixture of dirt,dust and sand off the wood and stuck his face to the glass "well....its dark" he looked away before anything could catch his eye and walked up to the door once again running his finger against the edge "no secret locks..." he curled his fingers into a fist as if to punch the door and knocked lightly...then harder, when no one answered he turned "well...it was worth a try..." he approached the window looking inside it "there is a hole here....if i get some res through it looks like it might be just in range to light it and illuminate the room...although...if there are any other ideas..." he trailed off not moving his face as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

[Akiva Korvashi]

Akiva watched as Azerix analyzed the door and windows. She pictured him pulling his head back from the hole with something sharp sticking out of his face. She shook her head, clearing the image from her mind. "I know, why don't we try to pry it open?" she said, taking one of the daggers she had found the night before from her pack. "It really shouldn't be that hard, I mean look at this place, it's a rotting old shack, how hard can this wood be?" She didn't want to break the entire shack, just the door. She was almost desperate to figure out what was inside, they had travelled almost three months to get to this very spot with the promise of a reward. She hoped that there was fish involved. She loved fish. Thinking about it more though led her to imagine ghost fish, she wasn't so sure that those would taste very good. Thoughts of the haunting fish swam through her mind as she held the dagger up for them to see. "I'll use this, or one of you can, but I'll try first. I don't think this should take much effort at all," she said, fairly sure the shack wouldn't resist much. Taking the dagger in both hands, she inserted it between the doors frame and the door itself and began to try to pry it open, but stopped short, turning to the two men. "You know, we haven't really discussed the rewards. What will we do with it, how will we split it? What do you even think it will be?" she asked, deep in thought now. While it was nice to imagine that fish would be the reward, somewhere in her mind she knew that that wasn't reasonable. Most humans talked of mizas when they spoke of treasure and rewards, so that would likely be the case. "Or what will we even do next...? Where will we go? Will we stay together?" She contemplated aloud, unaware that she was spilling her thoughts out into the open. "Never mind that though," she said, realizing what all she had just said. "Let's get this door open," she said, handing the dagger to Keorvic.

[Keorvic]

Keorvic also wondered what they would do if some sort of reward lay hidden in this shack. He was far more worried about some sort of trap lying hidden. regardless, he took the knife, and after a few false starts, started cracking the boards loose from the window. It was more difficult than he thought it would be, as the knife was really too short to get any good leverage on. He turned to Akiva. "Don't you have anything longer than this? I could almost make better progress just bashing these off. in fact..." he trailed off and handed the knife back to Akiva. He unslung his pack, and pulled out one of his spiked gauntlets. "You'd think I'd learn to just keep these on around these two," he thought wryly to himself. After he finished strapping on the single gauntlet, he turned back to the window. about a fourth of the boards were loose, and there were more holes. He aimed carefully, weary of bringing down the whole shack with his next blow. "Wouldn't THAT be a great boast? 'I once flattened a house with a single blow!' hah!" he almost laughed to himself. Gathering his wandering thoughts, he leaned in and tossed his fist forward, not as hard as he was capable of punching, but enough to knock loose one of the boards and crack most of the rest. setting his shoulder, he threw one more punch and shattered the rotting wooden boards of the window. The shack swayed and creaked alarmingly, but still stood. satisfied, he stood back to allow some sun into the hole he had created, and peered inside.

[Book__wyrm]

The door was secure from Akiva's attempts to open it. The house shook slightly, but apart from that, nothing budged. The hinges of the door, however, squeaked slightly, then settled down. They were brownish with rust, and the bolt seemed to fit poorly. The top most bolt was actually halfway out, and it didn't seem like it would take much to get it out.

As Keorvic smashed open the boards, the group would find something surprising. The boards, it appeared, had been covering not only the window, but a sizable amount of wall as well. The actual window was very small, not much larger than keorvic's head. Akiva, in her cat form, might be able to fit in, but no one else would. They'd have to find another way in.

As light streamed into the house, the creature within darted to the furthest corner of the room with a yowl, and hid under a drawer. Even if keorvic strained his eyes, he would only see a luminous pair of slitted eyes.

The rest of the room was very similar to the exterior of the house. Old, ugly, and beaten up. There was an old, moth bitten rug on the floor, full of hole, with no distinguishable colors. The drawer that the creature had taken refuge underneath was on it's side, propped up by the edge of a broken table. Debris littered the room, and there seemed to be nothing that was still functional.