It's The Little Things in Life[Private]

[Raylin Sunsetfeather]

Raylin shoved the older Drykas into the tunnle wall. With space to now move, she moved toward the little clay figure. The clatrops that littered the floor cut her legs though she didn't seem to care. When she finally got to the pycon, she hit the crossbow out of its hand, and grabed its throat. Then she threw it past Kayiri and out of the tunnle.

"The midgit hit Kay!" yelled Raylin. With her dagger, she quickly cut off a piece of the bottoms of her pants. Using the cloth, she wiped of the dung from the older drykas' face. "We can't have you in pieces, now can we. Eda's probably worried sick already and we don't want her anymore worried." she said with a wink.

"We need someone to pull Kayiri out! His nose is bleeding and I don't know if its broken." she yelled toward the entrance of the cave, hoping someone was still there.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Meanwhile Sam was walking back to the tents with Dymphna, content to let the hotter heads deal with the threat of the clay people while he and his lady friend made sure nothing else happened to what remained of their stuff. Still, he glanced over his shoulder when he heard the yelling. Eldon was family, and he didn't want to have to explain to the Sunkiss Pavilion that anything horrible had happened to their promising hydromancer. "I hope they bring my scimitar back," he grumped to Dymphna. They could likely get back to Endrykas unscathed on the backs of Cyphrus Striders, but it would be embarrassing to say that a hunting party of Drykas had been outsmarted by a colony of miniature clay men who were haunting the caves beneath the plains that rightly belonged to the Drykas as well. He began to gather things that had been strewn around their camp, setting things by each person's packs if he knew whose they were.

[Dymphna]

The situation was making Dymphna all nerves, and she set to chewing on her nails as she and Sam went back to camp. She visibly jumped at the sound of yelling, swooping in to her companion for protection. The young woman was torn. The screaming sounded pained, and it was only natural that the Opal Clan girl would want to jump into working the medicine that was in her blood. But, knowing the caves and caverns, there would be traps and all sorts of horrible things… As before, getting herself killed would only spell disaster for the group at hand. Or so she told herself in an attempt to sooth her nerves. Looking around the camp, she let out a heavy sigh. She stopped moving, eyes setting to frantically jump about from item to item. “My mother’s sickles…” They weren’t there! But, unlike Kayiri who was already likely getting killed by little clay men, Dymphna did not leap into action. Instead she just started to cry.

[Kayiri]

The proud warrior did not scream in pain! No, that was a woman's job! He did, however, scream. And the profanity that flew from his lips in the form of that scream was quite likely colorful enough to make every single member of the hunting group shift uncomfortably. If anyone listened, they could likely deduce that the source of the pain was a bleeding nose and an iron spike through his hand. Despite these pains, he was intelligent enough to know that he was never, EVER supposed to pull the source of the wound from the wound. To do so was to invite extra bleeding, and that was not something he wanted. The soft, unknown solid on his face was there for a few moments, blocking his vision, confusing him and enraging him further, but soon, Raylin saved him from the darkness it created by forcing him to shut his eyes. Granted, the cloth smeared the dung a little more than it got it off, but at least it thinned it around his eyes enough for him to be able to open them!

"Pull me out!?" The Drykas screamed in rage. "Raylin, keep that light near me! I'm going in to smash some petching claymen! Come here, you little sculptors! Lets see just how strong clay really is!" Kayiri set off down the tunnel again, having a brief spark of ingenuity to clear the tunnel ahead of him. Since the caltrops had only a single spike that pointed upwards at a time, he could safely brush them along, so long as he did not touch the top. Wasn't he a genius? The man put his beefy arms down in front of him, sweeping the caltrops down the tunnel like a bulldozer as he barreled down the tunnel. If all went according to plan, by the time he made it to the end of the tunnel, his arms would have swept the caltrops harmlessly to the inner mouth of the tunnel.

With the tunnel now clear, and the Pycons within reach, Kayiri's anger bubbled to new proportions. "No traps to run into now, midgets! You're all mine!" Kay's muscular, unwounded left hand shot forth, groping for one of the Pycon. "I'll tear you apart! Crush you to dust!"

[Vanator]

Vanator was relieved that Eldon had restrained himself from retaliating agianst Kairyri. Impressed too, as an angry Drykas is not easily contained. But then Kayiri cried out, and Van moved with the others to peer in the hole, dimly lit by Raylin's lantern. She described what had happened, confirmed by a waft of a foul stench that drifted back towards the entrance. He did not want to rub it into the brash man that he brought his woe upon himself, that would only exacerbate his anger. The older horseman moved to respond to Raylin's call to pull him out when Kay bellowed again in rage. With a sigh, Vanator turned and jogged back to his tent to get a shirt and his boots while the ruckus still could be heard in the tunnel. He saw Sama'el and Dymphna head back towards camp as well. picking up items the little thieves dropped. Ducking into his tent, Vanator donned his tunic and his boots and reached for his hand ax. Missing. With a grumble he shoved his dagger through his belt and, battle ax still in hand, strode back towards the cave.

[Raylin Sunsetfeather]

"Oh no you don't!" Raylin yelled down the tunnle. It was times like this when her Inartian temper took over. She quickly crawled down the tunnle after the man. Thankfully he had pushed the caltrops out of the way, though dirt was still being smothered into her already stinging cuts.

The light was paying off. She was able to see Kayiri now. "If anything is going to be crushed to dust it's going to be your skull when the little monsters launch something at it!" she yelled at him. Really, they had no idea what other kinds of weapons they had and he was bulldozing toward them. All she wanted to do at that moment was knock him out and the drag him out of this place.

[Baku]

As Raylin moved forward without regard, she suddenly found her legs littered with caltrops, close to ten sticking deeply into each leg. While she may have not noticed the pain at that moment, she would very soon as her mobility would be hindered, her legs bleeding two caltrops pierced deeply in each thigh, three into each calf muscle, one nearly piercing into the bone of her left shin bone. Reach the Pycon she did though, as the crossbow was swatted out of the little clay man’s hands, he looked up, little eyes narrowing for a moment as Raylin’s hand shot out at him, she felt another sharp pain piercing through her forearm the moment her fingers began to wrap around, causing her muscle control of her hand to fail quickly after. “Who you think you touch Drykas woman.” the little Pycon scolded as Raylin suddenly found a small spear fashioned from an arrow sticking out of her arm. “Paws off.” As Kayiri came plowing his way down the tunnel, his arms clearing the path of the caltrops Raylin’s own light thought rush had picked up, he would find the Pycon down further, just out of his reach and disappearing behind another bend, accompany with two other Pycon in tow. Raylin’s attempt to stop Kayiri would only be marginally successful, and only for a short moment. Kayiri was larger, stronger, and less injured than her now. So now it was two, two who had rushed whether out of rage or prevention, and paid the price with injury. Others stepped back, assessed and made whatever preparations they could. With two left behind to watch over camp, now all the others needed to do was crawl down into the rabbit hole, and attempt to retrieve what was theirs. The obvious problem was space and maneuverability. Obviously the tunnels had been built with the size of Pycon’s in mind, and there was little telling what other manner of creatures laid below the earth.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon, not particularly getting a positive response from Kayiri he hoped for, finally decided to duck into the whole, though with the screams, either of pain or furious rage, from within told him that he should probably be observant. It was Dark, as one would expect inside such a small unlit place, but a way ahead he saw a figure's shadow flickering behind that lantern, Raylin's. Eldon, still, decided it best not to rush to them, since under his open palms he could feel traces of cool slick blood beginning to coat them. It wasn't his blood, he would know it if it was, but it definitely caused him to worry about his hunting companions up ahead. "Kayiri! It's Eldon, I'm coming in behind you. What is going on up there?" Eldon, thanks to the faint sparkling that shone off of Raylin's lantern, found the caltrops brushed hastily to the side by Kay. The path was mostly clear, but it didn't take a genius to realize that Kay didn't wait until after being riddled with holes to move them. As he continued to crawl slowly into the gradually lightening darkness, Eldon found his hands and knees smeared with more and more Kayiri and Raylin Blood. What good would he be if he manage to get himself stuck like a pincushion though? He kept a slow, calm descent towards his wounded allies. "Talk to me guys, what happened?"

oocWEAK! Sorry, I didn't really know what to put. :|

[Kayiri]

His glorious tactic worked! The tunnel was cleared of the spiked menaces, allowing all who sought to enter safe passage down its narrow confines! The man's ears burnt in rage as scanned the new room he had entered, assessing the threats, assessing the dangers that lay within. Heavy breaths were drawn by his heaving chest, as blood seeped around the caltrop that penetrated through both sides of his hand. Finally, the enraged warrior's heavy breathing began to slow, his heart with it, his muscles relaxing ever so slightly. The threat of immediate danger was over. His enemies had routed. He could retreat and mend his broken wounds, then set off with more thought, more planning, more friends. Their weapons would be theirs once more, even if he died in their retrieval. Eldon's voice echoed through the tunnel, breaking the eerie peace the man had found himself in. "What is going on up there?" The words seemed hectic, and with good reason. A small laugh found its way out of Kayiri's lips, a small laugh that grew into a laugh that one would expect to come from a man rolling on the floor, reveling in his own instability. The sounds he and Raylin had made coming down the tunnel must have made it sound like a warzone! A huge cave system, filled with clay-men armed with massive weapons, battling them honorably, without these cowardly traps and cloak and dagger techniqu-

Wait, Raylin! His eyes fell upon her wounded and battered body, examining the caltrops that protruded from her legs. A sad frown played across his face as he crawled over on his good hand and knees to her, placing his good hand on her shoulder when he reached her. "Stay with me, Raylin," he demanded, giving her a shake or two, turning back down the tunnels, hearing Eldon's voice again. This time, he actually responded, probably much to the older man's comfort.

"We drove the cowardly midgets back! We are alone, but both wounded. I took I spine through the hand, and she has more spines in her legs than I arrows in my quiver! I'm going to need your help to move her!" he cried out to the man, shaking Raylin yet again, sighing deeply. Then, he broke into quiet muttering, the details of which Eldon could not make out. When Eldon finally reached them, he spoke out again, this time making a reasonable request, considering the feces smear across his face. "Water. Do you have water? I need to wash my face. I can't tolerate all of this shit any longer. Don't tell the others, or I'll have your head," the Drykas inquired desperately, adding the threat in case the other man found his situation the least bit amusing.

After being aided or denied, Kayiri set about moving Raylin, shouting down the tunnel in his booming voice. "Hey! We're coming out with wounded! Make way!" Green eyes met Eldon once more, as he spoke gently. "I only have one good hand, so I'll support the poor girl's head and keep it from bouncing around if you can lift up her lower half and drag her out of the tunnel behind you. Does that sound fair enough?"

It was almost funny, how timid the man had become after his boiling fury mere moments before. His inhuman, incontrollable bouts of rage had gotten him hurt, and even almost killed him, countless times before, but they had never gotten anyone else hurt, never gotten anyone else filled with more pieces of iron than an archery target. That was hard for the man to deal with, the guilt of knowing that his reckless behavior had been paid for in blood. Not just his blood, but the blood of a woman he had met not a ten day before. Oh, how cruel the world could be. Kayiri looked down at Raylin with sad eyes, grasping the lantern lightly in the fingers of his right hand without curling them, so he would not disturb the caltrop that rested within his palm, sending searing jolts of pain through his arm every time it moved.

Maybe this was a lesson from the world to work on his temper.

[Raylin Sunsetfeather]

It wasn't till then that the pain really sunk in. Raylin had been trying so hard to keep Kayiri from hurting himself that she had forgoten about her own body. It wasn't untill Eldon had asked what happed that she looked at the ground undernieth her. There was blood everywhere, and it couldn't all be from the older Drykas' could it? She turned her head and looked behind her to see the caltrops that stuck out of her legs.

She started to feel light headed from all the blood loss, her skin had started to get pallor then it already was. Raylin could feel Kay's hand on her shoulder telling her to stay awake. She gave a small nod. Pain constantly surged though her body though she stop herself from screaming. The main reason she didn't scream though was because she didn't want to say a word. Why, she didn't know, but she felt the need to save her breath.

She could her the two men planing to take her out. Raylin was happy about this, the small space was begining to make her feel squished, like a apple in a juice press.