Closed Beginner's Guide to Finding

[Ines]

Winter 54th, 519AV

It was unusual for Nea to wander off - she tended to stick around the older cows, unlike her brother, Ivas. Ines had initially thought she had misheard Lars when he told her who wasn't coming back. And, as the keeper of the Ashta, it was her job to find them when they got lost.

Even if it meant combing every inch of the jungle.

The witch was just fine with spending time amongst the vines today, but she had a sensation eating at her that Nea got stuck somewhere particularly strange. She spent a good portion of a bell brushing and petting the Ashta, hoping that they would be able to share a hint or an idea of where Nea had gone. As her relationship with the Ashta had grown over the season, Ines had realized that they were some of the best at communicating with it. They had an almost people-like understanding, and their elephantine intelligence bled through in their Nura. It was as if they completely understood her questions. She loved to tell them her secrets while she was held up in a curled trunk.

Unfortunately for the Kelvic, they had no idea where she had gone, either. There wasn't just one missing from the heard, either - Ivas had wandered, too, and he wasn't responding to their trumpeting, the whistles, or their thunderous steps. With a tick of connecting the dots, she realized that Ivas had probably dragged Nea on some adventure and got stuck or lost. Go figure. Lars didn't mention that Ivas was missing because he wandered off and came back so much more frequently than the rest of them.

Ines would just have to find them the hard way. Lars needed the rest of the Ashta to haul logs from the jungle, so she wasn't able to bring one to help. She hoped they'd respond if they heard her whistle, but she also didn't want to make too much noise trying to find them, because she was not 10 feet tall and any sort of nasty monster could gobble her up.

On the bright side, she could ask any animals she came across if they'd seen the duo. The monkeys tended to be especially helpful when they weren't busy making trouble. The Kelvic started to pack up supplies. She wouldn't be able to use her bat form if she was going to be doing this during the day, so she had to get dressed in her long sleeves, pants, boots, and a hat. A bright red bandanna finished off the look, and after packing up food, a couple waterskins, her survival kit and a tarp, Ines was ready to go into the jungle.

[Ines]

Ines took long zig-zagging routes through the jungle closest to the Saw Mill. Every landmark, giant tree, and rock formation received a large X made of chalk. She was intent on not losing her way - she had to cover as much ground as she could today. The Ashta could be stuck, injured, or worse, and she needed to be able to help them. Losing the two youngest members of the herd would be devastating to everyone. It wasn't until it rained and she saw the same troupe of macaques the third time in a row that the bat decided to stop and take a break. She found a rocky outcropping and sat on the edge, her calves and feet dangling over. Jerky, cookies, and water was the usual fare, and today was no different. It was easy to pack, convenient, and tasty as anything meant to be taken camping could be. She could definitely go for fresh fish or fruit, but she had to pick the one section of the jungle where she couldn't find any fruit while scouring it. Go figure.

It was during a swig of water that the Kelvic noticed her legs were getting a little chilly. She could feel a slight draft, a breeze coming from under where she sat on the outcropping. She pulled her legs up and stuck her head over the ledge, coming face to face with the opening of a cave. From its position, she could even see the remnants of...stairs? Leading down into the darkness. The opening was certainly large enough for an elephant to fit through...and if anything, it looked like it was probably one of those Pavena ruins that were so hidden around the Maw. Ines pulled herself back up onto the outcropping and made her way down around it until she was standing at the entrance. The rock yawned around her like a mouth, ready to swallow her up, and she was about to go willingly. She didn't have a light source on her, but she could see pretty well in the dark, anyway. If anything, she could bring someone back there to help her. Someone with a torch.

The little bat was not surprised when, after a dozen steps, she could only barely see in front of her. The steps were wide and shallow and curved as they went down. She could hear a slight slosh of water as she went down.

Is this part of some sort of underground river? Not too much felt out of the ordinary...until she took another step after breaching the point where the light had dissipated. Every step after had a strip of something glowing, showing the way as it curved even further downwards and stopped. At the bottom, she could see the light distorted by water. The little bat was inexperienced with magic, but she knew this had to be part of Pavena. That was her go-to excuse for anything she didn't know how to explain here. Even with her thick-soled leather boots, Ines avoided touching the glowing strips on the stairs in case of getting burned, or worse.

The bat reached the bottom of the staircase, took a step into the water, and blew into her whistle. At the same time as she stepped down, lanterns lit up, showing off a path towards what looked like a glowing disc in the center. And - in response to the whistles - she could hear a distant rumble and splash. It had to be the elephants. The bat walked further through the water. It seemed to be shallow.

[Ines]

She trudged through the underground river, though the further she went, the more she realized that it wasn't so natural. No, as carved walls and pillars appearaed out of the lessening gloom, it was completely man-made. When she reached the room with the glowing disc, the bat realized it didn't reach outside at all, like she originally thought. The disc was instead a simple chandelier. It was lit up with a brightness the Kelvic hadn't seen from anything that wasn't Syna, even brighter than the light that came from the floor. It wasn't fire, as it didn't give off heat. Surrounding all sides around the disc were very slight, wide indents in the walls, like shallow alcoves. The Ashta still weren't to be seen, but she could hear them coming from somewhere close. Somewhere... past the walls.

A few more cooridors spun off from the room she was in, but the Ashta sounded too close. This was definitely a place she wanted to explore, but only after making sure the Ashta were safe. From the sounds of the splashing and happy trumpets, it seemed like they were having a good time, but where? She appraoched a wall to see if she couldn't hear them. The bat was close enough to touch the wall - when with a slight creak, it slid open. The witch jumped back and fell on her ass in the water. Walls weren't supposed to move like that! But it revealed another room - Ashta-less, but full of solid tables standing around ankle-deep in the wet. The tables held complicated looking equipment. Tubs, pots, tongs, holder-looking things, it was all beyond the Kelvic who spent most of her time around things of a simpler nature.

She crept around, careful not to disturb anything for fear of causing some insane disturbance. There didn't seem to be many, if any, plant or animal life down here, other than a few fish that scattered when she stepped near them. It was hardly overgrown, but it was definitely abandoned. She didn't quite understand, but it looked almost as if someone was in the middle of an experiment and suddenly abandoned it. Ines could hear the playing in a room nearby - the room next door! And realized she was just a few steps away from retrieving the Ashta. She felt a bit selfish. The little bat didn't want to share her discovery with the rest of the settlement yet. She probably would, but she wanted to discover its secrets for herself, first. On the other hand...well, it would be dangerous if she got stuck.

Ines turned around to leave the room, still walking slowly and carefully to not bump into anything. She watched her feet as they dragged through the water. Slowly the Kelvic made her way over to what she assumed was another room next door. She was right, and this door slid open a bit easier and revealed another laboratory, similar to the one she had just been in. Instead of everything looking as if it was mid-experiement, this one had a bit less equipment. Whatever had been on the tables was now on the ground, as all the tables had been knocked over by the juveniles. They played in the corner, picked up water with their trunks and sprayed each other and the room around them before they let out an echoing squeal.