Master Quo stops and listens to the snuffling sound as it gets closer. An shape the size of an elephant can be seen in the tunnel ahead moving closer.
"Yep, that's an armadillo alright. Hopefully it will just pass by and leave us alone," he whispered.
"Is everything bigger in the jungle?"
He glances around.
"Um, is there enough room in this tunnel for it to pass by safely?"
Ryo's glad he had some lessons involving big things trying to crush him, because he braces himself, let's his arm give a little to reduce the impact, and stops the armadillo in it's tracks... or he would have, if it's momentum didn't force him back as he pushes against the spinning creature.
Master Quo was able to use his abilities to halt the movement of the armadillo soon enough to keep it from actually crushing Ryo.
"Hey big guy," he says as he pats it on it's shell, "sorry about your shell, but would you be so kind as to roll the other way so I could get up?"
"In the unlikely event it understood me, would you mind helping here Master Quo? I'll push, you pull, it'll roll."
"Hey big guy," he says as he pats it on it's shell, "sorry about your shell, but would you be so kind as to roll the other way so I could get up?"
"In the unlikely event it understood me, would you mind helping here Master Quo? I'll push, you pull, it'll roll."
"Like you have reason to be angry..."
Ryo begins to contemplate hypnotism and it's effects on an armadillo's mind...
"You wouldn't happen to be hungry, would you?"
He wiggles under the claw and manages to wrench a bit of dried fruit Adsila had packed for him. He holds it up for the giant rolly-mammal.
Sporadically during his vigil, Tam quietly takes his own inventory of the parts in the storehouse Ryo and Quo left them in. Anything small that looks like it could be of use he sets off in a pile to look at later so as not to be distracted from keeping watch, of course... ;)
"I'm glad you've decided not to squish me and all, but could you give me my arm back and get up?"
He pushses on the oversized critter until it lets him go, then sits up and gives it more fruit while petting it and scratching it's ears to calm it down further, all the while careful to keep his arm out of it's mouth.
"You see? We're not bad or mean, just traveling through, no need to worry." He says in calm, soothing tones.
"Guess it was too much to ask for it to carry us for a bit..."
"Oh well, back to the tunnel and our conversation then."
He continues walking down the tunnel.
Master Quo smiles and leads the way towards the food storage once more.
"So, how did you end up traveling with Aananda?"
"Well, I was traveling from my home in search of my brother. He.. had a ruff time the past month, and wasn't himself. I meet Tamrin on the way there and showed him the way."
"After I stopped by a library to look up something in ancient tomes, I recieved a note from the librarian telling me where Tamrin had went, and followed him to a local tavern. He'd already meet Aananda there, and they looked like they were enjoying each other's company even then, so I let them be alone."
"I was a little tipsy by the time I decided to leave for a friend's home, and I gave Tam a business card in case he needed to contact me for whatever reason. Seeing the stat I was in, she wouldn't hear of me going alone. By the time we got to my friend's house.. it was too late. She was dead, and my brother left two warnings for us, a vicious canine and a message on the wall written in the blood of my friend."
"We managed to beat him eventually, though I lost my arm in the process. We've been going around together ever since."
"Well, sounds like you and the girl have a lot in common then. That's good. She's always had a difficult time fitting in with her peers. I used to worry about that. Should have worried more about the other one I guess."
"We should go right here," he said as they came to another place where the tunnel branched.
They continued down the tunnel for quite a ways before Master Quo stopped and looked up.
"I'm pretty sure this is the right place. Time to dig."
"Chan didn't come after us when I used my card right? If he had known a magic was being worked just before a stranger offering to help him get information, wouldn't he have at least been suspicious? I think I can help make the digging go faster and a be a bit more quiet. What do you think?"
Quo stopped to consider.
"Well, either you're right or he's toying with us. But he hasn't noticed us using psionic powers either. Maybe his detection is only good against standard arcane or divine magic. It's worth the risk at this point."
"Chan didn't come after us when I used my card right? If he had known a magic was being worked just before a stranger offering to help him get information, wouldn't he have at least been suspicious? I think I can help make the digging go faster and a be a bit more quiet. What do you think?"
Quo stopped to consider.
"Well, either you're right or he's toying with us. But he hasn't noticed us using psionic powers either. Maybe his detection is only good against standard arcane or divine magic. It's worth the risk at this point."
"Hm..."
Ryo shuffles through his cards until he finds the right one, Earth. He tosses it up intot he ceiling, the edge sticking in the dirt, and sends the energy needed to use the card's power. It glows for a moment before disappearing up into the earth and stone. There is a slight vibration, then the ceiling opens up as a stairway of stone lowers down for Ryo and Quo to walk on.
"Sometimes I wish I knew how my cards worked this way, but I usually find myself too amazed to care.."
"Huh." Master Quo scratched his head. "I was sure this was the right one."
"Maybe it is, considering there is a lone box in front of us. It's just not the one we were looking for."
"It never fails to amze me when someone thinks something so important that they make it obvious that it is. I'd prefer to think I'd hide it in plain sight among other things of seemingly greater value, instead of making it stand out like this."
He walks toward the box, looking over it while getting closer. He then uses mundane methods of trapfinding: just looking for anything that seems out of place. If it's not locked or trapped, or if Master Quo doesn't believe it to be a good idea, Ryo opens the box.
Ryo stares at the contents of the box.
"Or it could something made to look important by being the only thing in the room..."
"I can't check for magic without using Seer magic, since we don't know if Chan can detect that yet," he says as he closes the box and moves to pick it up, "so we need to get back to Aananda and Tamrin, to see what they think and for Aananda to check for an aura."
"Unless you know why a mortar and pestle are all alone in a storage room?"
Master Quo chuckled. "I always wondered where we were getting all that rice."
"It's an everproducing rice mortar, boyo. I bet it was here so the rest of us wouldn't notice. The council had very definite views on using magic as a crutch."
He chuckled some more and shook his head. "Well, how else could we feed growing dragons?" he said with a wink.
"Which means we won't have to raid store rooms for more food, which means my poor kitchen is safe... until she bores of rice anyway!" ;)
"Let's head back then, so the sleeping one can eat her fill when she awakens."
Off to one side, Tam is still keeping watch, a small pile of techy knick-knacks piled nearby.
"Hey guys. Any luck on the food front?"