"The blanket has a map of Agartha embroidered on it. With Mom's lair marked. What? That's how future me found Mom's stuff with all the records and everything. In that timeline at least Chan never found it."
"That is a brilliant idea! Who would suspect that a lair would be marked on the blanket of a foundling? Maybe there is something there that can help us witht he demon?"
"One thing at a time Ryo, one at a time.."
"That is a brilliant idea! Who would suspect that a lair would be marked on the blanket of a foundling? Maybe there is something there that can help us witht he demon?"
"One thing at a time Ryo, one at a time.."
"Maybe," she agreed. "Future me didn't find anything in her timeline, but that doesn't mean that it isn't there. She didn't even go looking until after they'd fought the demon."
"But first we need to start on our network of tunnels. If we're really lucky we might find some clue to Mom's whereabouts. If she came here to watch Chan, she would have done it from underground most likely."
She stood and faced one of the walls.
"Hmmmm. That way, I think. And the nearest tunnels are......" she paced around the room. "Ah. Here we go. Ummm....You guys may want to get out of the way now."
She started pulling large boulders out of the ground and throwing them into a corner, opening a tunnel in the earth below her.
Tam grins as he gets out of the line of fire. :D
"Does Chan share your penchant for working with machinery, Aananda? Would he have any reason for raiding the storehouses with the machinery and parts?"
Tam grins.
"Does Chan share your penchant for working with machinery, Aananda? Would he have any reason for raiding the storehouses with the machinery and parts?"
"Nuh-uh."
"He always made fun of me for mucking about with 'gadgets and gizmos'. Said it was a waste of my time and talent."
She grinned wickedly. "Time to prove him wrong."
She moved another couple of boulders out of the way and then stopped.
"Okay, that'll get us into the caves. Ready?"
Tam puts some kind of visor on over his eyes, then pushes a button on the side of it. Moving his head around as if surveying the room for a few seconds, he looks back at Aananda and smiles.
"Ready. Let's go!"
Ryo glances down the hole.
"I distinctly remeber my silver dagger fell down the last hole I saw..."
"Anyway, you don't have many ways down at the moment, do you Tamrin? You can't use your magic because Chan would sense it and come after us before we're ready. So the question is.." he holds out his left hand, "do you trust me to get you down there safely?"
Ryo glances down the hole.
"I distinctly remeber my silver dagger fell down the last hole I saw..."
"Anyway, you don't have many ways down at the moment, do you Tamrin? You can't use your magic because Chan would sense it and come after us before we're ready. So the question is.." he holds out his left hand, "do you trust me to get you down there safely?"
"Um, your 'magic' evidently shows up too, Ryo. That's why we had to get the heck out of that barn so fast to come here after you pulled your little floaty stunt for Quo. So unless you have an item that grants levitation or feather falling for more than one person, we're rapelling down," as he starts pulling out a bundle of very thin looking rope and some other oddities from his Haversack.
"Did I say I was going to use magic to get down?"
He eyes Ryo critically for a moment, then shrugs and puts the rope away.
"Alright. We'll do it your way. Let's go," as he grabs Ryo's proferred left hand.
He eyes Ryo critically for a moment, then shrugs and puts the rope away.
"Alright. We'll do it your way. Let's go," as he grabs Ryo's proferred left hand.
"Now let's hope the arm doesn't come off on the way down..."
He jumps down into the hole, pulling Tamrin down with him, and slams his metal fingers into the wall to slow down their descent. When they stop, he simply pushes off and digs his fingers into the other side. The get down tot he bottom before too long, just a bit dirtier than when they jumped.
"See? No magic required." He says as he dusts himself off.
Tam spits out some dirt and shakes some debris (and an earthworm) out of his hair.
"Cute. Can't wait to see how you plan to get back up," he chuckles.
"Oh. Yeah, that's a good point. There's not much in this one, but I should remember to leave handholds in the tunnels for climbing up. Thanks. Glad you reminded me of that before I'd done all the tunnels." :)
Aananda led the way through the caves, stopping when she sensed open space above her to build another tunnel. The first few storehouses they reached were empty and neglected just like the first one, but eventually they reached one that was filled with food stores.
"I don't suppose we have any way to cook some of this rice?" she asked plaintively.
"Nope, just got a metal arm. Can't cook with it, let alone boil water for rice."
He looks at his arm, thinking about finding some way to make it a small portable stove top...
Aananda led the way through the caves, stopping when she sensed open space above her to build another tunnel. The first few storehouses they reached were empty and neglected just like the first one, but eventually they reached one that was filled with food stores.
"I don't suppose we have any way to cook some of this rice?" she asked plaintively.
"Well, I do have a cooking kit, but it's geared to feed somebody with my appetite level," he says as he pulls a small pot out of his Haversack.
"Of course, your metabolism will let you eat almost anything you want cooked or not. You could even eat the rocks around us if you needed to. Can't vouch for the taste, but nourishment is nourishment, right...?" ^.^
"That'll be okay," she said unconvincingly as her stomach growled loudly.
She wrinkled her nose. "Eat rocks????? Ewwwww."
"Maybe if you added some salt and pepper?" ;D
"That'll be okay," she said unconvincingly as her stomach growled loudly.
She wrinkled her nose. "Eat rocks????? Ewwwww."
"Beggars can't be choosers, hun. If you want cooked rice, we'll need to set up a water trap outside. Otherwise you're eating crispy rice. Unless you want to just dig in to them as is, of course. It would be about the same," he adds with a gentle smile. ;)
She tentatively takes a handful of raw rice and tries to eat some.
She chokes and gags. "Yuk. I don't think I can do that. Not in this form."
She tentatively takes a handful of raw rice and tries to eat some.
She chokes and gags. "Yuk. I don't think I can do that. Not in this form."
"Right. Then it's water gathering time, I guess. If we can find a stream I can rig a quick purification system so those of us with weaker constitutions don't get sick," he says with a grin. "If there's a spring nearby with a lot of rock and sand around it, then we should be able to pull it straight out and save time."
"Right. Then it's water gathering time, I guess. If we can find a stream I can rig a quick purification system so those of us with weaker constitutions don't get sick," he says with a grin. "If there's a spring nearby with a lot of rock and sand around it, then we should be able to pull it straight out and save time."She tentatively takes a handful of raw rice and tries to eat some.
She chokes and gags. "Yuk. I don't think I can do that. Not in this form."
She stood up and looked around. "Water....water.....this way."
She led the way to a small stream trickling through one of the caverns.
"Very handy ability, that," Tam says with a laugh as he pulls out another piece of hardware from his Haversack and takes a sample of the water. After a few seconds, the word 'Potable' lights up the screen in green.
"Awesome. I'll set up the kit here then, and we'll bring over some of the bags of rice and get lunch started."
"Very handy ability, that," Tam says with a laugh as he pulls out another piece of hardware from his Haversack and takes a sample of the water. After a few seconds, the word 'Potable' lights up the screen in green.
"Awesome. I'll set up the kit here then, and we'll bring over some of the bags of rice and get lunch started."
"Well, it only works underground. But yeah, being able to know what's around is pretty useful."
"I'll be right back with the rice then," she said cheerfully.
After a few minutes she came back loaded down with bags of rice, as was Master Quo.
"I'm still not sure we brought enough...."
"I'm still not sure we brought enough...."
"If you have to ask, then no, you didn't," Tam says with a grin as he starts getting the rice to a boil. ^.^
"Yeah... luckily rice gets bigger when is absorbs water... Still might not be enough. Is Aananda's appetite the reason some of those storehouses were empty? I can imagine her eating that much easily, and so can my kitchen 'staff' for that matter."
"Yeah... luckily rice gets bigger when is absorbs water... Still might not be enough. Is Aananda's appetite the reason some of those storehouses were empty? I can imagine her eating that much easily, and so can my kitchen 'staff' for that matter."
He chuckled. "Well, we never really had much extra to store after Aananda and Chan showed up on our doorstep. Makes more sense now that I know that they're dragons."
"Yeah - time to dust off that 'Everfull Larder' concept from my senior thesis at the Academy. The ecosystem I save could be your own..." ;P
"Yeah - time to dust off that 'Everfull Larder' concept from my senior thesis at the Academy. The ecosystem I save could be your own..." ;P
"Yeah - time to dust off that 'Everfull Larder' concept from my senior thesis at the Academy. The ecosystem I save could be your own..." ;P
"Yeah - time to dust off that 'Everfull Larder' concept from my senior thesis at the Academy. The ecosystem I save could be your own..." ;P
"That's a pretty good idea. I mean, feeding one of me is expensive enough, but...."
"Well, Ryo certainly seemed to think that later might be a problem. With more than one dragon to feed...." ;)
She gladly gobbled down rice as fast as they could make it.
"Four hunger purple voids to try and feed..."
*shudder*
Ryo goes back to eating the rice he manange to acquire when Aananda stopped eating long enough to talk.
She looked regretfully at the empty bags after all the rice was gone. She had made sure that everyone else got one bowl of rice, but she just couldn't help herself. She was so hungry.
"Well, that's much better. Guess it's time to find some more storehouses. I think we can clear a few more before we need to rest for the night."
"Sounds good," Tam says as he starts to break down the impromptu campsite. "Give me a few minutes and I should have everything ready to go."
"Okay - ready to go. Let's see what else we can find that'll help us."