Entering the Aylasa Caves [GF'd]

[Niall Raghnall]

OOCThis is a carry over from the adventure 'Sometimes The Luck Spills Out Of The Shoe'. It is a grandfathered thread thus only open to Niall and Vorseasos

[Gossamer]
Meanwhile Vor and Niall had their little conversation, which Ursus was well able to follow and overhear. Niall would be able to clearly recognize The Aylasa Caves. They were famous to all knights because a goodly share of the humans that survived in Sylira had emerged from them. They had provided important shelters for humanity throughout the Valterrian and the harsh age of cold afterwards. In fact, Niall could probably ride straight to them without fail. But it was bothersome, because they were endlessly interconnected and expansive. A nest of spiderlings could be hiding anywhere, and depending on how many of them, Niall might be no match.

Once the pair had arrived and entered, Ursus would be able to follow as well. Zaira would perhaps run into the kelvic herself - or at least make her presence known to the bear just by her scent. Ursus had a choice to confront Zaira or follow the group and its follower into the caves.

Vor and Niall walked a well-trodden path up into the caves. There was no doubt they were occupied because everything was too carefully placed to make the entrance seem difficult to traverse and overgrown. Niall could tell where things had been moved to detract animals from sniffing around, and he could see that the dust was carefully swept to record tracks. Both him and the symenestra made perfect footprints in the entrance. Natural caves never did that. The entire place looked sanded to pick up tracks. As they moved deeper, they would both need solid stable light sources.

Zaira would also need a source of light. If she had one, she'd have no problems following the footprints in the dust - so long as Niall and Vor did nothing to erase them.

[Vorseasos Alisier]
Vor did not stop as they made there way into the caves, his eyes altering to see as if it was daylight. What was dark to a human was clear as day to him for even the darkest areas of the world he could see well in if just a bit fog like. The wild world was far worse then this as he moved on.

"I will be your eyes if you be my blade." He said softly as he let out his hand to the Akalak. He had no tricks or aces other then his powers and what he knew of his kind. It would be a danger but he would make sure they lived and he prayed to his god that the female was alive as well.

"I have done some math but I may be wrong. Worse comes to it we are looking at ten or more of my kind. Best hope is under five but even two will be a problem for us. You can stay here and I can see what I can do alone but I am sure your knights are looking for you and any traces of the female."

He was a bit worried, if he could fight better then his fear would be nothing but he was a sitting target and he had to rely on a person who thought he was evil. Maybe he was evil but at least he was evil with his own laws.
[Niall Raghnall]
Niall did remember the caves but knew that to enter on his own was sheer folly; especially if the spider people were nesting within. It would be too easy to stumble into a trap because the enemy could be crawling on top of the ceiling and not just crowling the floor. He had to be extremely cautious considering the race he was hunting was also acting as scout. What a fool he'd be ... a dead fool ... if this symenestra was leading him astray.

Vor offered to be his eyes if he would be the sword. Niall simply nodded in agreement. An easy comment to make if leading one into a trap. Niall would play along but had no intent of trusting this person until a reason to trust was given. Niall decided not to tell the spider man that he too could see with his infravision in the darkness. He knew how to manuveur his eyes to see the heat patterns of the walls, of his scout, and eveything else. Having this ability his whole life, he knew how to use it as perfectly as seeing in daylight. But for certain he would act as sword, the knight in training would allow him to be no different.

The last thought that made him not trust the symenestra was that they were leaving perfect footprints in the dusted floor covering. For a person attempting to be so cautious, Vor had not picked this up ... or had he known all along and was playing into the trap? Niall could not be for certain and would remain on guard. As he followed Vor in silence, he looked at all angles around the caves; in front and behind, above and below; to look for any symenestra that might be trying to lay a trap. He would fight to the end, and let his raging beast win the struggle if he were on death's bed. Niall would die a warrior and take everyone near him on death's journey.

[Gossamer]

Moderator NoteZaira is still active and playing so shes welcome to join too.

Niall picked up the fact immediately that the caves were a little too 'unoccupied' when it came to the dust on the floor. Expansive ceilings overhead, and a network of tunnels running one direction or the next. The caves had a system at each crossroad and bisecting tunnel, ancient symbols that directed those within to where the living quarters were, where food was grown, where storage was kept, and where the livestock were. The Aylasa Caves were enormous, expansive, and one could wander forever unless they followed the marks. Each yawning dropoff or cliff was carefully roped off this close to the entrance to prevent children and denizens alike from sliding off into the darkness. There were also torch holders and pots of rendered lard that could be ignited to provide light if necessary. Some had rotted away to almost nothing in the two hundred years the caves had been unoccupied... but other things had fared much better.

The party had to go down the main corridor initially, but when they got a bit deeper in there was a choice. As they went deeper, the sound of flowing water was evident and the chamber they were walking along ended at a river. Canoes were stored on both shores, nothing more than hollowed out trees. To either side of the riverbank slightly following the river but not in the same tunnel, large chambers lead off, clearly marked. They could board hollowed out canoes and traverse the Aylasa river to go deeper into the mountains, or walk one of two main tunnels that were marked 'living quarters' and 'livestock'. Nothing gave away the presence of anything being out of the ordinary or of anyone having visited the caves in a good long time.

[Niall Raghnall]

Niall took his time as he entered the caves noting ever type of marking that he could and attempting to place it into memory. If things got ugly fast, he knew he would have to leave in a hurry, and these markings could be the ticket to a quick exit. There was a moment of fear within the conscious of the Akalak which only led to excitement.

'Be ready my dark brother; we may need you to lead this if things get to crazy.'

'I am always ready little knight wanna be; to handle the slaughter when calm and collect won't do'

It always irked Niall whenever Iwyn insulted the life Niall had chosen to lead, but he held his resolve knowing that any out lash towards Iwyn was precisely what his dark twin was in need of to control them on a permanent basis. Niall had given all of himself to Wysar to aid him in that struggle, so that he would be the more disciplined soul and have control forever. Wysar had taught him that it was essential to allow Iwyn his moments in order to handle things better.

At the waters edge of the river, Niall felt a moment of ease. The sounds of the water within a tunnel system were loud enough to make the noises he and Vor might make even while attempting to remain quiet. This moment wouldn't last as they went deeper in the tunnel system, but he would enjoy it right now while he could.

"We should follow the tunnels through the livestock. I assume this woman was taken for food which you had confirmed earlier, so it makes me rethink what livestock might mean to your kind. Hopefully we will have a smaller chance of encountering large number of foes at once."

Niall did not speak with disgust or angered emotion when saying 'your kind'. He simply meant that what they were walking into was of the same race as Vor was. Niall would continue to trust this Symenestra so long as he continued to act in a way that was deserving of this trust.

'You're weak, Niall. If I sense one single ounce of a trap, I will gut that creature whether you trust him or not! I'll not let your weakness kill me in the process.' Niall ignored his dark twin and kept walking.

OOCAll words spoken within the bright yellow is a conversation in his mind with his dark half and are not hearable by anyone else

[Gossamer]

Two or three twists into the Aylasa and Voreasos had disappeared. One moment he was there, then the next he simply wasn't. Niall was left standing all alone. It wasn't unlike the Symenestra to completely vanish in the darkness, but that he'd done it without the Akalak's keen eyesight picking it up said a great deal. If Niall halted, he'd hear nothing but his own near silent breathing. There was no scuffs on the floor, no signs of any passing. In fact, his earlier observations were true. The place looked deliberately dusted to conceal activity.

But that might not matter. The Symenestra often took to the walls and ceiling within their homes and close to their nests. The pathways across the floor might not mean anything at all. But when one looked up, there should be pathways, easily cleared routes on the walls or along them above the ground floor making passage for the creatures fairly easy. And if Naill did so, he'd see a ledge that ran parallel to the ground that twisted to the right up ahead, following the right hand fork in the pathway up ahead. The chamber the cave system lead too looked smaller on the right than the left, but that did not necessarily mean anything.

Niall had several options. Follow the pathway from the ground... try to reach it himself - which might prove more difficult than he imagined - or fan out and systematically search all the forks trying to be as thorough as possible. Any of the three means were possible. He could go right, left, back, or take to the walls or start sketching out the cave system - creating a detailed map and checking every inch of it completely.

The problem was, if the woman was food, he might not have time to do so.

[Voreasos Alisier]

Voreasos did not say anything as he moved with the fighter. His words would had been empty no matter what for he knew his race. He did not have any words of hope due to the fact food would have been the best bet. If she was not food then she would be forced into bearing his race and that was always worse then death itself.

One second he was with Niall and then he was not. He moved a bit ahead in the twist and turns and found himself along the walls moving upward inside at faster speeds as if he was a bird. He knew he would have to deal with that later yet right now he had to hurry and track anything down.

His body moved deeper in the tunnels with ease, the darkness smoothing out along his eyes as if he was in sunlight. His claws leaving small marks along the rocks as he let his body move. Thoughts returning to him from his childhood on how groups were handled. They would be in the deeper areas in such a way that humans and such would have a hard time finding. Why be on the ground when one would just be waiting in a web watching.

"Come my brothers let me find you..." He said yet the words were not in any common words. The words were of his own native tongue as he licked his lips on the thoughts coming to him of "food".

(OOC: Sorry for the long wait, I will keep the posts up on my end)