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Cal let out a sigh. ”Man we could have some fun with this mushroom. Alas those knarks want it more than us. Everyone jump!” With that Cal took hold of the torch and leapt forward, onto the next mushroom. Waiting for his allies to join him, Cal took the time to once again observe his surroundings. Now with the flame of the torch to shed its light before him.
”Good man. Jinx please pay attention.” Still not sure if he could trust his mysterious new companions, Cal put his faith in their need to survive forcing them to do what was needed. Cal then asked the Tengu and the woman to join him at the edge of the mushroom. Walking back from it as much as the rope connecting him and Kayden would allow, Cal then ran forward. Launching off from the edge of the mushroom, Cal aimed himself down towards the big, blue, hopefully stable mushroom. Landing safely, Cal untied the rope from his hand. ”Well I seem to still be alive. So it’s safe for the next one to jump!” Cal yelled up to his allies. ”You can pull the rope up now. And don’t forget the torch!” As he waited for a new guest to his mushroom island, Cal looked out beyond the next trio of mushrooms to see what he could see in the dim light from the torch above.
”Not at all Kayden.” Cal turned to the armed avian, his lips forming a smile once again. ”But just to be safe, I’m going to hold onto one end of the rope with you two holding the other. I’ll then jump to the blue mushroom. If I fall or it gives out it will be up to you two to keep me from becoming food for our friends down there.” Cal locked eyes with both of them as he spoke ”I trust that you will try your best, for if I perish the chance of you getting out of here becomes even slimmer.” Cal’aray began tying the rope around his hand. ”When I get over there safely I’ll release my end and one of you can take it. Then either of you can make the jump. Are we all ok with this?
”Please forgive me Miss Jinx. I'm sorry that you were hurt, but the important thing is we are all still breathing. Hopefully it stays that way when we get through this so I can buy us all a round. Until then, would a swig from my flask be a sufficient apology?” Cal said, his voice devoid of its usual good humour, holding the flask of whiskey out towards Jinx. He really didn’t mean for her to be hurt. They would all need to work together to get out of here he was sure. Having Jinx against him would be bad for them all.
Picking up the rope that had been his life saver, Cal looked down behind him to address Jinx. ”Lady, I understand that this is a stressful situation but let’s save the drinking for later. So we can get really smashed and forget all this dreadfulness!” Cal then put down his torch, tied one end of the rope around his hand, and threw the other end down towards Jinx. Looking over his shoulder at Kayden, Cal said with a sly smirk ”Sir Kayden let us get our friend up here so we can be reunited once again. Then we can deal with the mushroom patch over there.”
Cal rose to his feet holding the gold piece before him. ”I knew we’d find each other again one day.” Cal laughed and returned the piece to its pouch. He then turned to Kayden, taking his hand and bringing him to his feet. ”Now that we have our feet under us…” Cal reached into his pack. ”Let’s shed some light on the situation.” With that he lit his torch letting its flame push back the looming darkness around them.
”A big ol’ mushroom huh. Well alright then.” A little disbelieving, Cal reached into his gold pouch. Pulling out a single gold piece, Cal kissed it and muttered quietly ”Your sacrifice will not be in vain.” Calculating the approximate position of this mushroom, Cal flipped his gold piece out into the darkness. With no plink to tell him that his precious gold had been swallowed by the water below, Cal chose to believe that there actually was a mushroom. ”Ok Kayden, it’s time to test the strength of our relationship. Swing towards my voice and don’t leave me hanging!” Cal said in the direction he remembered seeing Kayden’s rope. Hoping that the Tengu would cooperate, Cal began to swing his body back and forth, holding his hand out at the end of each swing waiting to take hold of the Tengu's talon.
Holding onto his rope with what little strength he had, Cal steadied himself and calmed his mile-a-minute brain to observe his surroundings as best he could. In the near pitch black his eyes would be of no help. Fortunately his ears were as keen as his eyes and they caught the sound of ripples in the water. It was a worrying thought that something could be living down there just waiting for the dinner bell to ring, but Cal could not be sure that the ripples weren’t from Jinx crashing down in her makeshift ship. ”Miss Jinx. Sir Kayden.” Cal spoke calmly out into the abyss careful not to speak too loudly, for no clear reason to him but fear of disturbing the hypothetical creature resting beneath the water’s face. ”Can either of you see anything? Any crevices or openings in the wall? Maybe even something that could open the ceiling again?”
Enough money that he could own an Imperial class ship. Being free to go treasure hunting with his own ship. These thoughts swirled through Cal’s mind a few hundred times in the few seconds that they had come to life. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to spend on thinking about the idea of his brain being destroyed. A rope had fallen down in front of his face and the floor had begun to open out into an uninviting abyss. Cal immediately grabbed hold of the rope.
Seeing the agitation growing in the Tengu, Cal caught his attention and motioned to him in a way that could be read as ”Calm Down.”. Luckily the woman, Jinx, didn’t seem quite as perturbed by being kidnapped and held in a sealed off room. Her talk of potions was worrying to Cal yet equally intriguing. A feeling that Cal had quickly become accustomed to from his short time in this room. Perhaps they could discuss recipes after all this. ”Well Charlie I do have some questions. Firstly, you say that we’re free to leave after a simple mind scrubbing? How accurate is the scrub? Would I be assured that just this little get together would be the only thing forgotten? Or would I walk out of it forgetting I’m a lefty and only use my right hand for the rest of my life?* Because I won’t live that lie. And to the whole destroying the person if they’re resistant to being forgetful. Is that completely necessary? And finally how much wealth are we talking here?”
Cal’s eyes were wide and he struggled to keep the false smile on his face. The Red Hand. Cal had heard the name only twice before. Both times had been when visiting the Rogue’s Guild. Both times the person who spoke it did so as quietly as they could (a very rude thing to do when certain Half-Elves are trying to eavesdrop) and would constantly look over their shoulders, expecting a dagger to slide into their backs. Naturally this intrigued Cal’aray and he would clandestinely investigate the dark guild whenever he wasn’t busy looking for buried treasure. What he found explained the fear he had seen in the eyes of those two who uttered The Red Hand. Hopefully he could call on some of that knowledge now…
As he once again dove into his mind palace to find anything juicy on these Red Hand fellows, Cal attempted to keep them busy. ”Well you Red Hand folks sound like a laugh to work with, but let’s discuss the nitty gritty. First off benefits. Do we get any?” Cal punctuated the question with a laugh that he hoped didn’t sound as obviously forced from nervousness as he thought it did. As he spoke he began to move away from the bookcase and towards the creepy picture, glancing at his fellow Red Hand hopefuls. ”I mean look at this one!” Cal exclaimed trying to inject some audible sympathy in his voice as he motioned towards Jinx who seemed to be trying to do a handstand in one of the chairs. ”She may be dead within the week if her medical bills aren’t covered.” Cal laid his hand on his heart really getting into the acting. Finally he reached the painting and subtly attempted to look behind it for any secrets…
A grin spread wide across Cal’aray’s face. Recently whenever Cal would approach a book case there would be a small hope within him that it would hold the slightest bit of information on the Monkey King. More specifically something that could help him find the pirate’s lost treasure. This find could be everything he needed. ”Hope this is a good read.” The disembodied voice that seemed to be speaking into his mind soured the moment. The grin wiped from his face, Cal turned his head towards the creepy painting. At the same time he attempted to slip the book from its home on the shelf and conceal it within his coat.
With his treasure secured, Cal felt more determined than ever to get out of here. ”Mae govannen, Charlie. What can we do for you today?” Cal asked the room with a well-practiced false smile while making no move to sit down. Instead the Half-Elf moved to the side of the bookcase and put as much force as he could into shifting it.
Unable to find anything of use in his memory to suggest how he ended up in this craziness, Cal focused on his surroundings. The irregularly positioned bookcase and oddly off-putting painting instantly caught his attention. ”If there isn’t a secret passage behind either of these I’ll eat my hat.” ”Well I have no idea how I got here. So next item on the agenda; getting the hell out of here. So Sir Tengu and uhhh… Jinx? Start looking around for a hidden passage or something.” Cal ordered, slowly moving closer to the bookcase. ”Oh and yes I have a name. If we get out of here, I may tell you it.” Reaching the bookcase, Cal’aray made sure to keep both of his intriguing roommates in sight with his dagger ready if any of them made a move. Definitely, a difficult position to maintain while intently scanning every inch of the bookcase. The Half-Elf’s free hand began to run over the bookcase itself, searching for some give that could suggest a switch. His eyes held on each and every book on every shelf looking for anything from disturbed dust on their spines to a hint in their titles…
”OWWWW” The pain from this insane girl’s bite was short but intense and instinctively Cal pulled his hand into his side. To compensate he bared his teeth and held his dagger out horizontally in front of him, trying to look as intimidating as possible. As this woman now stood before him, Cal realised that she was a Tiefling! Any other time Cal’aray would be consumed with a need to ask this mad-woman every question he could think of about her race. Right now the poor Half-Elf’s mind was fighting with his survival instinct but he filed the request away in a corner of his brain for later. ”This is madness. God I need a drink!” Ignoring her comments on his chicken-like taste, Cal’aray focused on the Tengu’s words. Unsure whether this was some trick it was true that he was having trouble remembering the night before. ”It can’t be true. How could I be kidnapped?”. Pushing his brain as hard as he could, Cal attempted to keep the intruders in his vision while simultaneously examining the room around him for anything of importance and racking his brain for any memories of the day before.
Cal’aray took in everything of importance of the Tengu watching him in a matter of seconds. A part of his brain niggled at him trying to get him to remember what he had read about the avian race. Letting some synapses fire to recover any pertinent information, Cal's main focus fell on making the most of his advantage over the other intruder.
Without taking his eyes off the Tengu, Cal pulled a dagger from his boot and slowly went to the woman now face down on the floor. ”Please miss, let me help you up.” the Half-Elf mocked leaning down and putting the edge of his blade to her throat. Pulling the woman to her feet by her ridiculously coloured pony-tail, Cal positioned himself to have his back to the wall behind them and the girl between him and the alarmingly armed Tengu. ”So Sir Tengu, Madam Madwoman. May I ask as to why you’ve ruined my nap?" |
