Glancing down at Pearl, Bo murmurs, "Pretty good place for an ambush, eh?" Her senses on high alert, Bo makes her way carefully towards the cavern mouth, looking for clues that Daly or others have been through here. She also looks carefully at the cavern mouth as she approaches, trying to discern more about it.
Bo carefully makes her way, looking for clues but keeping a weather eye on the gaping cave mouth. She thinks she sees traces of recent passages along the stony trail but the winds and rains of the high mountains make it hard to tell anything for sure.
The cavern entrance is clearly man-made, being nearly square and set with massive chiseled blocks. Ruins of statue flank each side and dim outlines of rust show what must have been a mighty iron gate across it. However, millennia of ice and rain has weathered almost all of this to nothing. As she gets close enough, the air coming out of the cave is warm, a welcome relief from the chilly air of the mountain.
Then she hears it. Just as she ventures right into the shadow of the looming portal, a distant voice from inside the earth. The sound of weeping and crying very faint. Pearl indicates she can hear it as well.
Wondering whether or not Daly was the weeper, Bo continued to make her way forward, into the mouth of the portal, keeping her eyes open for trouble.
Bo makes her way forward, eyes looking into the darkness. For her, the blackness was not a formless abyss, just a haze that sucked away all color and hues. Inside, the druid could see a level, flat floor, scattered with fallen rocks over many ages. The weathering seems much less inside, with nearly complete statues flanking the long passage. As she gets closer, the weeping gets louder, but it seems to be coming from deep inside, too far to see. They would have to go into the seemingly empty cave to investigate further.
Bo considered calling out, to let the weeper know she was coming. But the cave was too big and dark, and she didn't want to give away her position to possible enemies. And who knows, the weeper could be an enemy, even a distraction or lure.
Signalling Shriek to stay outside, Bo then signalled Pearl to move several feet away from her, to cover more are with their combined senses. Move cautiously, the druid and cougar moved deeper into the cave.
Shriek calls fiercely, but remains outside, perched on a high pinnacle of rock. Meanwhile Pearl and Bo edge apart and head inside. The cold, thin mountain air quickly gives way to the warm, humid feeling of the dark tunnel. The passage is clear, with no hint of breeze or air currents.
The floor is level and even, although the old flagstones are covered with fallen rocks and gravel. The walls too seem solid and whole, studded with statues of many different races, dwarf, fey, elf, even some that are totally unknown to Bo. The ceiling however, is a cracked and crevice strewn mess, a network of fissures and gaps that vanish into endless darkness.
They move forward the weeping slowly growing louder, unchaining as if the griever doesn't detect their passage. Finally, after passing a few side tunnels, they emerge into a wide areas where a few paths run together. There, on a boulder larger then most, a strange figure sits.
It is small, what Bo would consider a child but not certainly not child like. It has the slender, fully formed figure of an adult woman, with graceful limbs and long dark hair. It's dress is battered and torn, stained with mud. The skin is tinged with a soft blue, nearly looking translucent in the darkness. It is the face that arrests Bo however, that strange, ethereal face. With wide eyes, flawless skin it is...too perfect for words, but not human. A literal pool of tears surrounds the stone and the figure is weeping, shedding more tears into the pathetic puddle of despair.
Bo can tell it is a fey but not sure what kind.
Staring at the creature's otherworldly beauty, Bo felt herself to be thick, clumsy and dull in comparison. Feeling pity for the forlorn creature, Bo moved cautiously forward, and called out softly, "Hey there. Are you hurt?"
At her words, the fey leaps to its feet with a strangled yelp. Standing ontop of the rock it fumbles for a moment with a bag at its side, then rips away the cloth. Instantly the room is full of a bright, almost dazzling, glow of the now-uncovered lamp. Shadows spring into being, playing off the fallen rocks and strange, distorted walls. Pearl lets out a startled cry and jumps back toward Bo, who shields her eyes for the moment. In the bright light the fey not only looks unharmed but the strange, otherworldly beauty is only enhanced. Bo feels her breath, quite literally, taken away by the sight.
"Who are you?" the striking fey shouts, voice echoing off the stone walls. There is fear and confusion in the words.
Before Bo can even process the words, a shape suddenly drops from the ceiling. The formless, blobby shape hits the floor with a wet slap, making the fey cringe in terror. Her lamp goes flying, making the room swirl with shifting light and shadow.
Meanwhile, the shape somewhat reforms, creating an irregular mass on the floor. Bo's mind, still tumbling in confusion, notes the creature, clearly an ooze, is nothing more then a quivering square of slimy flesh. Faceless, it shifts this way and that for a moment, before heading toward the panicking fey.
The ooze glides across the floor, leaving a thick trail of noxious slime while the fey whimpers in fear. Pearl whines at Bo's side, clearly confused why they are not attacking or running.
Twice, her brain addled by both the fey's strange beauty and the sudden appearance of the horrific ooze, Bo trips and falls in panic, hurting herself both times. Meanwhile, the slimy ooze attacks the huddled fey.
But the fey rolls to the side, dodging the greasy tendril of toxic flesh protruding out from the main mass. Pealr whines away, pawing at Bo's leg. Finally, the druid snaps out of her confusion.
Coming rapidly back to her senses, Bo took in the scene and reacted. Not liking the look of the slime trail in front of her, the druid unlimbered her spear and threw it at the ooze.
Pearl responded to Bo's command, and ran at the ooze from the other side. Snarling, she lashed out and bit, tearing out a chunk of foul-tasting ooze.
Bo looks at the ooze but, in the heat of the moment, is unable to tell what type of creature it is. This is unfortunate as most oozes have unique and dangerous properties. Still, it is obvious what needs done. Bo hefts her spear and throws it directly at the unwholesome, quivering mass of flesh.
It lands with a solid hit, jabbing directly into the bulbous thing. The spear stays there, sticking straight up like a porcupine's quill, bobbing as the creature moves.
For her part, Pearl leaps across the room, dodging the foul smelling trail. The cat reaches out with a clawed paw, raking down the side of the slimy thing. Her sharp claws leave long slices in the flank of the ooze, which seeps with thick white 'blood'.
The ooze seems unconcerned for now at this damage and tries to attack the crying fey.
Once again the fey dodges aside though, tears stopped. It stares at Pearl in obvious confusion, then looks up at Bo with a questioning face.
It is hard to tell but Bo has a feeling the ooze is going to turn on her and Pearl next.
Drawing her scimitar, Bo moves forward quickly but carefully, avoiding the slime trail. "Get back!" she cries to the fey, "We'll protect you!"
The good thing about oozes, was Bo didn't need to worry much about aiming. Swinging hard, she tried to cut the thing in half.
Pearl leapt again, slashing with both front paws, yowling.
Bo slashes the slithering, disgusting creature with her blade, laying open huge wounds. Pearl joins in, her claws tearing jagged gaps in the flesh.
Once the creature tries to feebly attack but Bo bats the tentacle aside. In short order she and Pearl had reduced the ooze to a puddle of rent flesh. Other then the horrid stink, the danger seems to have passed.
The fey, having nearly climbed up onto the wall in a desire to escape, looks down with suspicious eyes.
"Who are you and why are you in my cave?"
Shaking bits of ooze and jelly from her scimitar, Bo carefully wiped and sheathed it. Looking up at the beautiful fey, Bo sketched a bow, and said, "I am Bo, and this is my companion, Pearl. I apologize for scaring you. Are you hurt?"
She was careful to stand still and look non-threatening as she spoke.
The fey looks down at Bo with suspicious red-eyes, still rimming with tears. "You didn't answer my question, why are you here? In my cave?"
It looks at Pearl closely then says, "You are going to be like the other one, aren't you? Say all sorts of nice things and promises then attack him when I have my back turned. Aren't you! Just admit it!" The fey sounds nearly hysterical, working itself into a paranoid frenzy. The tears start to flow again, "Everyone hates me!"
Wow, she has been seriously traumatized. As much as Bo wanted to question the fey about this "other one" Could that be Daly?, she knew she needed to earn her trust first.
Moving slowly away from the gooey remains of the ooze, Bo sat down, and called Pearl to lay beside her. Talking softly, she said, "I didn't know this was your cave. I was following a trail - I'm looking for somebody. I followed him up the mountain, and found the trail that came here. When I came in the cave, I heard you crying. That's all, I promise. If you want me to leave, I will. But it's getting dark outside, and I'd like to stay here. If you'll let me."
As she spoke, Bo removed the first aid kit from her pack and began tending the wounds she'd received flailing about in confusion.
The fey watches Bo with undisguised interest as the druid starts to tend her wounds, wrapping her cuts and scrapes with cloth. It feels better in the cave then the keen mountain air outside, far more protected. Bo can't see the tunnel mouth from here, but even the residual light from it has faded away.
"Would you really leave?" the fey says, sounding unconvinced. "Why do you want to stay in here anyway? What's wrong with the outside?"
Then the fey points to Pearl and says, "Why does that cat follow you around? Don't they eat people?"
Bo smiled. "Usually, I prefer being outside. But it's cold outside, and the path is narrow. I would feel safer in here for the night. However, it would be rude of me to stay in your cave uninvited. So, if you really want me to leave, we will."
Looking around, the druid said, "Is there another exit? If you want me to leave, perhaps I could go through, instead of back?"
Pointing to Pearl, she said, "Pearl is my friend. She doesn't follow me, we travel together." I think "Cougars are carnivores, but don't normally hunt people."
As if it only just occurred to her, Bo said, "You mentioned somebody else that was in here. Was that recently? I'm up in these mountains trying to find somebody, a tiefling who's run away from Godsarm. I'm supposed to take him back. Maybe it's the same person?"
The fey watches Bo silently for a long moment then says, "You can stay, if you are nice. If you start acting all weird, I'll leave you here."
When Bo asks about another exit the fey says nothing but smiles mysteriously.
At her words about the other the fey becomes more guarded saying, "It might be. I didn't talk to him very much. He promised me all sorts of nice things if I helped him then he started acting strange and attacked me! I didn't do anything he just tried to hit me with his sword..." She sniffs again, on the edge of tears. However she stops and then grins wickedly, "I took this from him."
The fey digs around in a pouch and pulls out a heavily damaged necklace.
"What sorts of things did he offer you? How were you helping him?" The fey's story seemed a bit...holey, and Bo didn't discount the possibility that she was being tricked or trapped somehow. Though how this dainty, lovely creature could be a threat was beyond her.
*
Bo's heart leapt when she saw the necklace. "May I see that please?" she remained seated, but held out her hand.
"Oh, the usual things. Money, fancy types of food, a house both in Godsarm and where he was going.." A sly look at Bo and the fey whispers, so quietly the druid can barely pick it up, "I know where he was going."
whenBo asks for the necklace the fey shakes her head self-importantly and says, "It is a trophy of my victory. I couldn't possibly give it up....for free." The words are framed to basically beg Bo to make an offer.
Bo mentally rolled her eyes as the fey displayed what seemed to be the universally fey need to bargain. Trying to hide her impatience, she kept her tone admiring and said, "Of course, I wouldn't possibly expect you to simply give up such an impressive trophy. Perhaps I could persuade you to trade it for..." she hesitated, mentally rummaging through her pack, "a bowl full of rare mountain berries? I picked them in the foothills, and had planned to sell them back in Godsarm. But perhaps you don't get much fresh fruit up in here, and would appreciate their sweetness?"
The fey eyes the berries with some interest. "Berries? What do you do with them exactly?" With deft speed the fey clambers down the rock, and reaches out to grab one of the small fruits. Seeing some of the juice at the bottom of the bowl, the fey ventures, "Do you use the liquid for some purpose? Cover your face with it or something?"
Confused, Bo said, "You eat them?" She popped one into her mouth, chewed and swallowed it. "See? They taste good."
She knew that the fey didn't need to sleep, but she'd seen them drink. Surely they ate? Or maybe just this one didn't. Or maybe she didn't eat plants.
Trying not to shudder, Bo held the bowl out, offering one to the fey. "What's your name?"
"Eat." the fey says, watching Bo down one of the berries. She says it like someone trying to remember something from long ago. "Right, eating!"" She weighs the necklace for a moment, eyeing the berries.
"My name is Shanra." The fey says, then "Deal!" and tosses Bo the necklace, while grabbing the berries. In a few moments her face is covered with sticky juice as she tries to eat them, obviously not having much practice.
Bo grabs the necklace out of the air and examines it. It was a large, rather clunky thing, all fake gold and obsidian, frankly a tad gaudy. A cracked jewel lay in the center, and there were....something like burn marks all around it, as if the jewel had overheated somehow. Bo is no expert but it is clear this was some type of magical necklace although it seems inert now.
Without warning the fey says, "Bo is a strange name."
Bo examines the necklace with interest - it appeared to be the one that she recognized from Daly's portrait. She wished she had more knowledge of magical items; she was sure the necklace would have been a clue to what happened to Daly.
Tucking the necklace into her pocket, she registered what Shanra had said about her name. Looking up at the juice-smeared fey and says, "Is it? It's not uncommon where I am from." Probably. For a moment she flashed back to the vision she'd had while drunk in the giant wheel - the child-her, and the man she'd called father. Would she ever remember her past?
"Shanra, this necklace is from the man I've been following. Can you tell me more about your encounter with him? Can you show me where he went?"
The fey looks down at her with an unreadable face. "Maybe, but it might be dangerous. Would you be brave enough to go through the tunnels?" She waves at the dark caverns spreading out like a crazed warren in every direction. "We could take the Shourtcut, just like he wanted to take. Get you through the mountains much quicker...to the city on the other side. Or the other city, but both, in time.'
Shanra considers this and then adds, "I haven't gone that way for awhile."
"Did Daly take the Shortcut?" Bo asked, noticing the implied proper-noun status of the word. She was still trying to untangle the last sentence about both cities being in time.
The fey shakes her head and says, "He wanted to. He seemed in a great hurry, asking me if the caves went under the mountains. When I told him about the Shortcut, that was when he promised me so many things. I agreed but then, even though I agreed, he changed! He starts shouting and trying to hit me! I turned off my lamp and hid. he stumbled around in the dark but finally found his way back out."
The fey looks sly, "I stole the necklace when he was fumbling around in the dark. It isn't that dark to me..." Then she looks at Bo, "If you take the Shortcut you should get there right behind him! He was walking very fast last time I saw him, but the Shortcut should let you catch up!"
Bo wondered how accurate the fey's account of Daly's behaviour was. It was possible that she was misremembering, or exaggerating. On the other hand, Daly's behaviour had already been described as erratic. Perhaps she was telling the truth.
The part about stumbling around in the dark didn't ring true - surely tieflings could see in the dark. She wondered if Daly had been physically affected by whatever had happened to him.
"When you say he found his way back out, do you mean out of the cave altogether? Did he take the mountain pass?"
The fey nods, "He went back the way you came in. I'm not sure but he talked about climbing the mountains outside. He talked to himself a lot....weird."
"Are you going to fight him when you catch him?" The fey asks.
Bo felt a deep reluctance to take the Shortcut. The druid much preferred the idea of crossing the mountains outside, under the sky. Tunnels deep under kingdoms of rock did not appeal to her. However, if it meant she could catch Daly quicker, it was worth the risk.
Shrugging one shoulder, Bo said, "That will depend on Daly. I'd rather talk than fight. He has people that care about him at home. He seems to be acting against his character. I don't want to hurt him. But if I need to, I'll fight."
Standing up again, she said, "Will you guide me through the Shortcut?"
The fey consider this for a moment and then says, "I will take you." Then she gives Bo a mischievous look that reminds the druid of a small child, plotting how to raid the cookie jar. "I haven't been able to go that way for a long time. You can re-open it for me! And i Get these berries..."
Bo excuses herself to go back outside, leaving the fey alone with her sweet reward for a moment. She calls Shriek who hovers over to her without delay but doesn't like it when they enter into the cave. Clearly Shriek would be quite all right braving the high, cold mountain passes. It is snowing outside, light for now, but the dark and heavy clouds above promise more....much more.
Bo ducks back inside , and meets up with the fey again. She seems to have finished the berries and is in a good mood. She stands on her rock and says, "Just so you know, I am a lampad. The best kind of fey, of course, even though everyone hates us and is jealous." With that weird introduction, the lampad leads Bo deeper into the tunnels. her light doused. Luckily for Bo, this is no great problem.
To Bo's relief, it is obvious the fey knows where they are going. She never hesitates once at a crossing or intersection although Bo is quite lost. All the hewn corridors look much the same, many cracked and aged by time. Bo wonders who built this place and how long it has been here, if that means anything in the First World. Lampads? Her guide didn't look like much of a miner.
Time passes, how much is impossible to tell. Bo simply follows into the dark, wondering this was a journey of days...or weeks? Surely not the mountain range wasn't that large but who knew what the First World was like.
Suddenly without warning the fey stops outside an impressive doorway, carven with ornate images of flying birds and clouds.
"This is the first block. It used to just be a hall but then it started...acting weird. And those scary things came up."
Bo, not really making sense of any of this, peers inside.
It is indeed a strange room.
The chamber inside the doorway is large, maybe a hundred feet across or more. There is no floor, just a vast abyss of black space, a empty-eyed shaft leading to depths past Bo's vision. Far across that empty space, Bo spots an exit door, much like the one on her side, with a ledge around it along with some low piles of...stone? It is hard to see from here.
Strangest of all though, is the ceiling. Moving across the flat surface are three...machines. Vaguely humanoid, they clatter and lurch around, walking on the ceiling. Their steps look clumsy and halting, and a few times Bo can spot a spark jump out from one when a knee contracts too quick or too slow. They do seem to be armed however, with saw-like or sword-like arms.
Looking at the lampard, Bo asked, "I don't suppose you can fly? Have you tried to go in, or across? Or has anybody else?"
The fey shakes her head, looking queasy, "I sort of stuck my arm out there, and it felt strange, like falling upward. I didn't like it."
"I can't fly." She says then, eyes going wide looks at Bo and Pearl, "Can you? That would be really neat to see!"
Bo shook her head. "Not me either. At least, not in this form."
Assessing the strange creatures overhead, and Shanra's description, Bo tried to figure out what to do. Taking a good-sized stone from the passageway floor, Bo lobbed it gently through the carved doorway and into the room with the pit.
Bo tosses the rock into the chamber, watching it arc through the dark air. It leaves her hands, and starts to head down into the great abyss.....but as soon as it crosses the threshold it does a strange thing. It starts to 'fall' upward, towards the ceiling. It gathers speed and finally hits the ceiling with a small clatter. Instantly one of the shambling machines lurches over to it, inspecting it, then going back to the pointless routine.
Bo's gut clenched as she realized what was happening in the strange room. Somehow, gravity was reversed, and everything was pulled up instead of down. Impossible to tell if it was magic, or some strange First World effect that might not be uncommon.
Putting her gauntleted hand up to her shoulder, she urged Shriek to step down onto it. She fed the hawk a few tidbits from her "snack pouch", then pointed to the strange room. "Go for a little fly, my friend," she said, then launched him into the room.
Wondering if the "creatures" were intelligent or not, she called out, "Hello! Can you hear me? We want to cross....is that going to be a problem?"
Shriek hops out of Bo's hand, then takes off. The hawk stretches his wings, clearly happy to be free to fly. Without fear he sails off over the vast black void....and then hits the invisible barrier. There is a moment of confusion as he starts being pulled 'down' toward the ceiling, and his wings get tangled for a moment. But birds are finely tuned creatures, with a delicate sense of balance, long used to shifting points of reference. In only a moment Shriek has straightened out and is flying again, only now upside-down, to Bo's perspective. he seems quite content with the state of affairs, circling down into the black abyss without a care. The strange shambling creatures on the ceiling ignore him, as they also ignore Bo's shouts.
Bo wished that they could get across as easily as Shriek could. The druid could transform herself into a bird again, but that nothing to help Pearl and Shanra. It was a shame that her transformed self didn't have the same strength that she did.
"Well, I think we have to assume that those...things...down there don't mean us well. Pearl and I will go first, and deal with them if we need to."
Taking her rope, Bo looped it around an outcrop, making sure that her knot would hold regardless if the pressure was coming from up or down. Taking a firm grip on it, she stepped to the edge of the cavern and waited for down to become up.
After tying herself firmly, Bo steps out over the ledge and into empty air. First she falls, wind blowing her short hair, falling blackness. Her stomach churns in freefall, muscles tightening in involuntary panic. Then, gravity shifts and she starts to fall 'up'. In an instant her hair is blowing the other way and her stomach does a sickening lurch, very displeased with things. Bo is momentarily disorientated as the room wheels around her, inner ear spinning like a confused top. She is going to lose her place and slam into the ceiling....
Then, something comes to Bo's mind. Not a memory, exactly, but a sensation. A feeling of being in the water of swimming for endless hours. A sense of safety and comfort, along with talent and pride. Bo realizes, she had been a frequent swimmer once, and good at it. It saves her now, giving her experience with shifting frames of references.
She keeps her head and lands, feet first on the ceiling. Rope still tied to her she looks up, toward the ledge. It is still there, Pearl looking over the edge and Shanra right behind the cat. The fey actually cheers and then shouts, "Watch out!"
The weird, shambling creatures are heading right for her, twitching and sparking occasionally. They seem slow and disorganized.
All three converge on her, but only one manages to cross the distance before Bo can react. One of its arms has been replaced by a spinning, rusty saw blade.
Horrified by the strange automaton attacking her, Bo tries to spin out of the way, but is hampered by the rope. "Pearl! Jump!" she cries, trusting in the big cat's natural grace to allow her to land on her feet.
Drawing her sword, the half-orc slashed at the rope around her waist, hoping that gravity would suddenly right itself.