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[Vasin]

Never before had Vasin come up against anything just like this, not even that bear he ran into compared to the horror that they just fought. It left him shaken, its clear vicious intent obvious the moment it had attacked them. He was used to dealing with other people or even natural animals. But this thing, it reminded him of legends and stories. It was freaky, and he didn't understand it as he eyes Kelski over. He had not gotten a good look of the fight when she came in to assist him. Vasin didn't think he saw any wounds, but his eyes quickly went to her own. From just a look he knew she was also shaken like him. Not all mysteries were pleasant as this thing had demonstrated to them equally."Yeah... a big metal snake..." he said his eyes going back to the limp metallic corpse."I think..." he breathed."It has metal scales?" he said not daring to get close to it. Perhaps it was playing dead? No, it couldn't right? She got it right in the eye."It can't be... well there is no way that thing is natural." Vasin would say gesturing towards the creature.

"It's okay..." Vasin would reassure having steadied himself by now."Probably was the best thing to do in that situation. Quick thinking on your part." Vasin said nodding appreciatively."It probably wasn't used to someone beating it close up like that." Vasin said shaking his head, recalling how quickly her strikes had landed true when she had closed the distance."Thank you." he said appreciatively with the start of a smile as Kelski had called him a friend."Luckily you won't have to figure that part out. That snake is dead, and I care to explore with you for a long while more." he said glad that Kelski valued his company as a friend and as a fellow explorer."Plus, we still have a whole lot more exploring together. I don't think our cords of fate part ways just yet." Vasin said recalling how earlier she had mentioned the cords of fate. He didn't know for how long their own met, but he wanted them to stay together for a while.

Vasin smiled back now more fully his eyes to the snake and then to her."Happy to be a special case then." he said with a brief nod now cautiously approaching the snake as well, glancing down at its metallic form."Even if our trips together are short in nature, I think that our burning desire to find the unknown and to see the unseen will let us do all of that and more. Even if it is short trips." he said echoing what Kelski had told him."I mean, in just one trip we stumbled upon..." he gestured to the metal scaled snake."So sometimes right? I'll make sure to take you up on the offer." Vasin said with a nod."We make a rather good team I think." he added on. There was something about Kelski which had let him take that first step."You know..." he said rubbing his chin a little and stroking that beard."If I hadn't met you on that dock, and if you hadn't gotten me to open up... I would probably still be just there, staring off into the distance. But after I met you, I feel like the possibilities of the world opened up to me." he said trying not to sound overly sappy.

"It could be either really." he shrugged with a thought."But yeah, we should skin it so we can show others. People would just think its a drunken tale otherwise." he confirmed thinking it was a good idea."Plus, it helps to bring back pieces of explorations or adventures. Taken the unknown, and make it known to others." he reasoned though was also curious about the exact nature of the creature."Some examination should also tell us what exactly it is, and where it came from right?" he said as he watched her get the carcass into position. Vasin would squat down next to her, carefully watching the process.

Vasin watched with curiosity as she jabbed her blade into the lower belly of the snake, right up to its vent. There was a soft spot no doubt he reasoned as he watched her start to cut away. He blinked in surprise as he saw its exposed skeleton briefly glint under their artificial light."It's got metal bones? This thing is full of surprises." Vasin said before nodding at her request for help. Jabbing his fingers under the skin he would help her peel it off. Revealing more and more of its interior workings."Could try hauling it... but that might be messy... or attract unwanted attention." he would say after they had finished. He didn't mind blood, his line of work, and his living here made him rather used to it.

"Well..." Vasin started to say looking forward."It couldn't hurt to take a look around right? Maybe there could be some answers?" he said standing up."The blood and meat might attract Brats... but judging by those bones... I don't think there will be much of anything else in there. Anything alive I mean." he reasoned out but was not entirely sure himself.

[Kelski]

Kelski had to laugh at their situation. “If I weren’t here in person, witnessing this, I wouldn’t honestly believe it myself. Metal snakes… metal scales and skeletons. It’s just not natural. Whom ever heard of flesh living in metal frames? That must be a kind of lost magic I’ve never heard of.” Kelski speculated, then shook her head and glanced around. “Well… if we are going to explore, lets get on with it. Just keep your eyes out.” Kelski said pleased. She was still glowing under the compliment of Vasin thinking they made a good team. She’d had little praise in her life, and each bit people offered freely buoyed her up like a bobbing apple in the Mudway at high water.

“I don’t think you would have still been there, on that dock, If I hadn’t met you.” Kelski countered his words gently. “You have too much of a burning desire to explore. You are like me… like we’ve talked about… asking too many questions and trying hard to figure out the answers.” Kelski said, certain he still wouldn’t have been on that dock reading.

Kelski glanced at the skeleton. “Let’s leave it here for now, explore further, and when we head out you can decide if you want to haul it or not. It looks heavy, but not that heavy. It’s skull, for one thing, might make a great display piece. You never know when you need to convince someone to fund one of your adventures and that might make a convincing argument in and of itself.” Kelski added, looking thoughtfully at the remains of the corpse. The meat they would have to leave. Kelski doubted either of them would chance eating it anyhow.

Meanwhile, Kelski wanted to explore what was more and more looking like some sort of crazy animal collection. She didn’t actually have a way to fly over it to scout for the ceilings were too low, but she had a good time pacing out the length and breath of what she considered a ‘facility’ and along with Vasin discovered cages and areas where various animals were kept. They found nothing else alive, but they did find evidence of other odd dead things, including larger metal skeletons of things she couldn’t even remotely begin to identify with. They found something that looked like an office of sorts, though the record books that seemed to line the shelves were all crumbling with rot and decay, absolutely unreadable. Kelski was meticulous in her searching though, and left nothing unturned or unmoved in her investigation.

In one area, Kelski discovered what looked to be a sort of insect lab. It had bottles and bottles of preserved insects floating in some sort of liquid. Some of the bottles were labeled. Some where not. But on one shelf she carefully searched, she found a big jar of what looked to be beetles that were labeled ‘Blood Beetles’. Below the title was the scraweled old fashioned common that read ‘Open in the event of a blood spill. They will consume the spill.” The jar caught her attention because the beetles looked like metal jewelcrafting workings and were not suspended in liquid. “Vasin, look at this?” She said, showing him the jar. She didn’t attempt to open it, but indeed decided to slide the jar into her backpack. It was big enough it barely fit through the mouth of the bag. “Let’s keep looking. There might be other things around. I’m going to call up magesight. Auristics is a magic you should learn too… it might lead to other things.” She added, concentrating, pooling djed into her eyes, and expanding her eagle vision and flooding it with djed. Tendrils of power drifted through the entire facility and she realized suddenly it glowed.

“Vasin…. there’s magic all around us.” Kelski said softly with wonder. She turned, exited what she thought was the insect lab, and studied the glowing all around her. “I think there are things of magic here… lots of them.” She whispered, not sure what exactly she was looking at.

[Vasin]

Vasin had been looking at a rather... malformed? Yes, a malformed metal skeleton sitting in a cage when Kelski had called for his attention. He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to animals, but this thing... it didn't look right. Like the metal had not been set properly? Bones were fused together and made droopy. Joints were fuzed in places to it retained some shape as it had in life. This wasn't just some collection, it was... experimentation? There were a lot of questions floating in his head, his eyes locked on that misshapen skeleton. Who? What? Why? Were the three main questions when it got boiled down to the bare elements."Hmm?" he questioned his attention turning to Kelski after a brief moment. His eyes wandering to the jar she had found."Blood Beatles?" he asked curiously as he came over to get a better look. This place gave him the creeps, and whoever made this place was probably creepy in return. Like that Mad Doctor in the world above. Probably someone like him right?

"I don't doubt it. Whoever... or whatever made this place must have used magic..." he said having never even really ever heard of anything like this, not even in regards to that doctor. "Probably a good idea for me to learn, especially if it lets me see magic stuff. I think you used it before didn't you?" he said recalling when her eyes had glowed before, and now watching her once more he saw the same thing happen again. As she had pulled djed up into her eyes he saw them glow. Then, an exited look came to her face and Vasin knew immediately that she had found something."All over the place?" he glanced around."Like what?" he asked though followed her line of sight over to the insect section. While Vasin was not able to see it, there was for certain something that would stand out over at that end of the place. He squinted his eyes though it was a pointless effort.

With her vision, Kelski would see something that stood out which had been hidden before. Seeping through into her vision was the telltale glow of a magic object. It was in a box behind some of the jars and underneath a stack of decayed paper. There was something in it, and to her, it was clear as day without a doubt. But to Vasin, all he really saw was what was obvious. The jars, the papers, and the rest of the lab equipment. What could be back there?

[Kelski]

At Vasin’s question, Kelski looked around. The Auristics was flaring in her gaze, the djed burning through her vision in a way that was heady and not at all unpleasant. There was power here, so much of it, that the walls oozed from it. The place was built with magic – Reimancy she assumed – because it felt a lot like her own power though she lacked Earth and this definitely dripped with it. “They used Reimancy…. Earth I think. I’ve never thought of making buildings with magic. I mean The Midnight Gem is magic, but she was not made from magic. She was given magical sentience and her magic now permeates her form. This is different. This is power set brick by brick and it feels so strong.” Kelski said, turning a slow circle.

It was giving her ideas… tons of ideas. If someone could build a stronghold like within the earth, why couldn’t one build a stronghold next to the sky over looking the sea. It would be so comforting, so secure… especially if one made it from one’s own hands with one’s own power. Kelski twirled around, momentarily distracted, seeing how the past mage had put together the stones of this odd place, fitting them brick by brick and shoring up the place. It wasn’t so much that he’d crafted stone. It was more that he’d transmuted stone to air, carving out the space with magic, then decorating the walls so they looked as if they were assembled instead of carved. It was a beautiful odd effect. And Kelski loved it.

She nodded to his question. “All over the place.” She said, then glanced at him when he asked her what she meant… like what indeed? Kelski began her search and simply started pulling things off the wall, out of drawers, and piling them on a nearby table. She found the box behind some jars and underneath paper far too rotten to read. She set that on the table along with what looked like folded cloth, and another bundle that looked like four rods that she found on a dusty shelf behind her. There was also a second magical globe that she took for herself and added to her bundle.

Glancing around, Kelski shook her head. “There’s old magic here… magic that has been sitting for a while.” She added, moving around and putting a few more things on the pile. She and Vasin could divide them up later. There were two or three things apiece, for sure, enough to make their trek into the underground complete.

“If we take these things, Vasin… I think we should take them and leave. The magic here makes me uneasy. I think it is why that snake existed. I’m not sure now it was made, but rather I think it was changed as a product of its environment. So too might other more horrible things exist as well.” Kelski said softly, thoughtfully, concerned now.

It was so rare to find places – especially old places – that existed like this. Kelski felt like they were almost somewhere holy. At first she had thought it some sort of collection of animals, some sort of zoo, but now… now she wasn’t so certain.

“This place… its old, magic… special. I don’t know what to think.” Kelski said, fear creeping into her voice. Taking the items that glowed with magic made her feel a little like a thief, but there was no one here that used them and indeed hadn’t been for a long time. “This isn’t stealing is it?” She said, the words so utterly out of place in or below Sunberth as to sound like they were uttered by someone who had lost her whit completely.

“It might even affect us if we linger.” Kelski added, growing more and more uneasy the longer they stood in the strange underground remains of a time long past. At first it was fun looking for the unusual and exploring. But now… she wondered if she hadn’t been foolish. The metal snake should have been their first warning. But this… this wasn’t what they came for. They came to map the underground below The Midnight Gem. This was a diversion they hadn’t expected or anticipated.

“Vasin, I suggest we grab the gear and leave this place. Take these things or not, we should get a move on and count ourselves lucky surviving the snake. The longer I am here, the more ill at ease I am. Maybe its because we are underground and I cannot see the sky. But I suspect it is far more than that.” She said, looking at him as if she wanted confirmation on her unease.

[Vasin]

"Someone made this place with magic?" Vasin questioned looking all around himself. It kind of made sense, he wasn't sure what magic was capable of, but he supposed if one could build a place with magic then they would."Looks like you were certainly right then... Mages are under the nose of Sunberth... Or well, just below the surface. Aside from you I mean." Vasin rubbed the back of his head. Though, he was sure that whoever was down here or whoever had been down here was not the most friendly of people. Being a secret mage in sunberth and hiding in the tunnels? Or maybe he was being too judgemental. He glanced back at the metal snake. Or was he being too judgemental? All those skeletons...

Vasin followed her over to the table watching as she reached back pulling out a box. Vasin couldn't sense anything from it, though as she then pulled out a folded cloth and a bundle she seemed to be picking these out with purpose."Are those magic like the key?" he would ask curiously as he looked them over. What could they be? What could they do? Vasin had no clue as to what their purpose could be at this point."Old magic?" Vasin questioned more quietly than before as he watched the items piling up."This place certainly seems... old..." a glance at the dusty tables and rotting paper confirmed this for him. But, it looked like they were accumulating a small pile of loot. Like, true adventurers. A feeling of completion began to creep up beyond the uneasy feelings he had.

"That isn't a pleasant thought... so agreed." Vasin said with a quick nod."This place gives me the creeps too..." he said confirming it made him uneasy too. He didn't know how to view or even sense magic, yet there was a thick feeling of unease in the air."Maybe with a more thorough look though..." he shook the idea immediately away. The likelihood of finding answers... while it was there... he didn't think it was a good idea to stick around."Nevermind."

"Maybe... depends if the owner is alive or around..." he would muse."I wouldn't worry too much about it..." he said pausing as he looked over the items once more."If there is something innate about this place then... maybe... I don't know." Vasin didn't have answers, only questions about this place."But yeah, let's grab and get out of here. I think we've had enough adventure today..." Vasin would start to gather some of the items that they had collected to help carry it out. Once they had Vasin was ready to follow her out of there. Of the loot collected two items of note were a lamp and a golden glove. The lamp was peculiar being in the same of a globe with a series of vents in it. Vasin hadn't seen a lamp like it before. This was the Explorer’s Globe. The Glove was what appeared to be a falconry glove made of thick gold tanned leather. This glove was the Golden Retriever.

[Kelski]

Kelski nodded at Vasin’s words. He very well could be right. She carefully unslung her backpack, divided up what she had, and slid her half of the loot into her backpack. It looked to be a cloak of some sort dripping with magic – or at least that’s what the cloth turned out to be – a set of four crystalline spikes, and a beautiful and expensive ring that glowed with magic. She’d examine the items later, for certain, and determine what they were. They folded down neatly into the backpack next to the jar of magic beetles. The place literally deserved to be combed through thoroughly for magic items, but Kelski didn’t feel right about lingering. They’d loitered and fought and looted and now it was time to go.

“I’ll teach you Auristics, Vasin. You really need to know how to see this stuff if you are going to explore anyhow.” Kelski said, securing her backpack and gesturing him to hurry. She strapped the thing back on and started walking… threading her way out of the building and onto the ‘street’ back towards the snake they had killed. When she got there, she spent a few minutes hacking off the metal skull and shoving it also into her backpack. She wanted to keep it to have proof of the story… that it had happened and that they had killed a snake down here. It would smell up her backpack, for sure, but it was worth it bringing the treasure out. Vasin, even, might want it one day. Kelski would keep it safe until then, until they had a time and place to display it properly maybe together.

With that task done the pair walked out of Sunberht’s underground together. It wasn’t an easy walk, nor was it a short one… but they kept at it and persisted, coming out just where the entered and having yet a bit more of the whole place mapped.

[Kelski]

G R A D E S

Kelski

Organization +1, Leadership +5, Auristics +5, Spelunking +5, Navigation +4 (underground), Teaching +5, Wilderness Survival +3 (underground), Tracking +4, Investigation +5, Logic +2, Morphing +1, Dagger +2, Acrobatics +2, Body Building +1, Leatherworking +1, Scouting +2

Planning: Taking a Trip Below Ground, Organization: Organizing Gear, Auristics: Scanning A Companion For Magic Items, WS: The Rules of Exploration, WS: Marking Your Pathway Underground, Vasin: His Father Had a Beard, Vasin: 23 yo, WS: The Smell of Snake, Snake: Metal – Daggers Can’t Penetrate It, Leatherworking: Skinning A Metal Snake, Metal Snake: Fighting And Killing One, Auristics: Buildings Built With Magic,

Note: Bag of Agates, Metallic Snakeskin, Metal Snake Skull, Magic Cloak, Magic Crystalline Spikes, Ring of Transference, Bloodbeetle Jar, Explorer's Globe

Vasin

Planning +5, Organization +1, Socialization +5, Observation +5, Spelunking +5, Navigation + 3 (underground), Wilderness Survival +3 (underground), Interrogation +5, Animal husbandry +1, Investigation +5, Logic +3, Cartography +1, Tracking +3, Psychology +2, Longsword +2, Acrobatics +1, Unarmed Combat +1, Scouting +2

Planning: Taking a Trip Below Ground, Organization: Organizing Gear, WS: The Rules of Exploration, WS: Marking Your Pathway Underground, WS: Don’t be Overconfident, WS: Remember your turns – front and back, WS: Don’t’ panic, WS: Look forward and backwards so you know what both routes look like, Spelunking: Kelski’s Mark Meanings, Spelunking: Cave Exploration, Kelski: Knows the man that made the brats, Kelski: Lived in Sunberth less than a year, Animal Husbandry: Finding and caring for a strange mule, Kelski: Encourages his Dreams, Gilthas: Mage Who Created Brats – Post Val Eth, Anja: Appearance and Mannerisms, Gilthas: Cursed To Remain Below Sunberth, The Chavena: The Realm of The Record Of Our Lives, Chavi: We each have one – record of your life, Dreamwalkers: Can Access Chavi, Kelski: A Mage, Kelski: How She Got Inducted To Reimancy, Morphing: Magic of Transformation (Kelski knows it), WS: The Smell of Snake, Kelski: Ex-Slave, Psychology: Memory Games: How To Play Them, Metal Snakes: Fighting & Killing them, Kelski: Doesn’t Like Humans, Kelski: Considers Vasin Her Friend,

Note: Vasin given a climbing kit by Kelski, Tack: White Mule found and recovered + Halter and Mule Pack Saddle/Bags, Giant Cat Skull – Sabretooth, Zoo Key, Explorer’s Journal, Golden Retriever, and Explorer’s Globe.


Anja

Animal Husbandry +1

VAsin: Appearance and Mannerisms, Kelski: Exploring Underground Found a Mule, Tack: Appearance and Mannerism

PM me with questions or concerns.