Asfeltas Deeps

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This is the deepest area in the cave, anyone who comes here without a torch finds himself lost for good. The only thing that can be perceived here is the sound of falling water in the distance. The air is mouldy and humid and the stone walls are ice cold. Who knows what kinds of beings lurk in these dark and forgotten places...

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Tylien entered the area, waiting for Meridian to come and light the area bit more, as it was significantly darker here than in the previous caves.

Tiae entered after Tylien, unable to see much either, and waited for Meridian to bring the torch.

Meridian entered holding the torch out, hoping to illuminate the area.

Donovan followed behind Meridian with some distance, eyes looking out in the darkened areas of the cave, avoiding the light not to lose his ajustement to the current atmosphere.

Tylien walked a bit closer to Meridian, along a wall, and kept looking at it. It stopped at some point and looked at the wall, examining it.

Tylien was interrupted by a loud rustle on the other side of the cave, a couple of pebbles were heard falling through some large distance and into water, the echos of small drops filled the darkness of the cave.

Tylien jumped slightly and its wings twitched as it instinctively wanted to protect itself. The closed nature of the caves didn't really fit with Tylien's nature, it'd much rather be on open land. It then walked closer to Meridian to see better, and reloaded the musket just in case, to be ready if they encountered more hostile creatures.

Tiae listened carefully awaiting for more indications of what could have sounded like that. She hoped they would find the ore soon.

After a couple of seconds the party heard nothing except the constant rustling of water, though they could only see about a fifth part of the cave.

"Sounds like a waterfall", said Tylien, finishing reloading the musket.

"Hm" Tiae relaxed. She looked around the cave, hoping for a clue.

Looking around the small illuminated area of the cave, Tiae found nothing.

"Hm, I think we should get back for the tournament, it's supposed to start at this time, isn't it?" said Tylien, also looking around but then fixing its eyes on Tiae.

"Uh?" Tiae said, looking at Tylien. "Yeah. I think I'll just take some of the thing we found at the previous cave" she shrugged and headed back to the Asfeltas Cave.

Tylien went after Tiae.

Meridian looked at Donovan. "So now what?"

Emerging out into the light of the torch, Donovan flicked out his tongue, licking at his upper lip before smirking. "To town I suppose. I'm sure we could get whatever we gathered identified before we get in any deeper and get ourselves killed," he spoke story, his voice echoing slightly across the empty damp caves as he waited for the other to lead the way.

"Very well," said Meridian. "Let's head back to where the green rocks were and gather some up." He turned and left for the Asfeltas Cave.

Picking up a few for himself, Donovan headed off as well, following the other to the Asfeltas Cave, keeping himself slightly in the torch’s light.

Meridian enters the deeps, holding his torch in front to see what lay ahead.

Donovan came in not too long after Meridian, making sure the creature still followed him as he lured it around with some green stone he picked around here and there.

"Are we safe," Meridian asked Donovan, remember the exholian attack earlier.

"I'm pretty sure we can take care of ourselves. I wouldn't know if we're safe though, we are in beast infested caves after all." Donovan glanced around in the darkness to make sure.

"Very well," said Meridian, "I'll take a turn at digging now." He began to pick away at the tunnel wall.

Donovan gave a nod and let out a light sigh, keeping his eyes on the darkness before returning to feed the creature.

As the scarab began taking some pieces of rock from Donovan's hand, Meridian struck the wall with his mace, the stone here was much harder and difficult to break, it was not long before Meridian was exhausted and the stone had just suffered a few scratch marks. The bloes echoed throughout the cave as loud as a troupe of screaming monkeys. Suddenly, a rumbling sound, as a long, deep, growl emerged from the darkness.

Meridian stowed his pick and put his hand on his sword. "What is that," he said, breathing heavily from his mining efforts.

Fornwing to the sound, Donovan searched the darkness with his eyes, reaching out fo his own weapons. "I have no bloody clue... do you think you're up for it or do you want to leave before it's too late?" He asked, being indifferent with either descisionsve.

"Let us leave," replied Meridian. "I have no doubt of our ability to defeat whatever may lie in the darkness, but we have a baby scarab and a load of obsidian ore to match that are begging to be merchandized." Meridian looked to see Donovan's reaction, if any. "If you are really spoiling for a fight, we can return later and deal death."

Donovan kept his eyes on the darkness and gave a nod. "Very well." He replied calmly, his eyes wandering voer to the carab and the ore. "Let's get a move on, then before they catch onto our location." With that said, he turned and began moving back from where he came, making sure the scarab followed him as he tosse the fewer green rocks he had left in hand.

Meridian followed Donovan, being as silent as he could. "Donovan, should I douse the torch, or will that just attract their attention?"

Donovan glared over to Meridian. "I don't know, do what you want just shut it." He muttered, looking back ahead as he continued to move as quietly as he could.

Meridian winked at Donovan and continued walking.

The Scarab followed after the two, chewing on some ore and staring at the back of Donovan's head.

Meridian left the Deeps for the Asfeltas Cave.

Tiae entered the deeps holding up the torch to have a better sight of the cave. She waited for the rest of the group to follow.

Valarauko entered the deeps looking very uncomfortable about being in such a closed enviroment. "im a bit claustrophobic" he says to Tiae trying to force a smile.

Radhrost enters and looks around for the others and looks if there is something ahead. 

"Ow" said Tiae at Valarauko's comment. "I think there has to be an exit close, though. I hear water" she said, shivering a bit with the cold. "I say we keep walking... you don't see any exhorians around, do you, Valarauko?"

With a sniff, Üsserhadd raises a brow. "Smells worse here, damn buggers." he whispered, and then moves closer to Tiae with the light of the torch as his guide.

As the group advanced down the caves, they noticed two openings in front of them, the left opening apparently led down and a foul smell came from it, the right opening smelled better and cold air came from it, as well as the sound of running water.

Üsserhadd heard the watery sounds and felt the cool breeze, "Might be a good idea to head right, but if you're all up to it I think I'm more of a man to head left."

Tiae walked around a bit, holding the torch up, hoping to find something. "Maybe we can split in two groups", she answered Üsserhadd.

"With only one torch?" Üsserhadd replied, "Not likely unless a couple can see in the dark." The knight then folded his arms and awaited the others to voice their opinion.

"i dont think it is a good idea to split...what would happen if we are attacked by a large group of bugs?" Valarauko replied to Üsserhadd thoughtfully

"I'm not afraid of the bugs so much, there could be worse things down a dark hole." Üsserhadd reacted, then wipes his brow, "Besides, I figure we didn't get hurt much against four of them, what's a little more going to do?"

Tiae shrugged. "Okay then. Which way?" she asked, not wanting to decide herself.

"I opt for the tunnel." Üsserhadd emphasized, "Beats just hanging around here, and we're bound to find more down there than just hanging around up here or in a bloody pool." The knight pointed around randomly, not really knowing which direction had the scent of water or carapace.

"ok,as you wish" Valarauko says while he picks up his bow and quiver, and heads to the tunnel.

Radhrost thinks for a moment and says "ok a will go with you to the tunnel".

Üsserhadd held out his hands to Nathifa and Tiae. "Shall we ladies?" he said, willing to escort them further into the tunnel as a chivalrous knight should be.

Nathifa looks ahead then back at Üsserhadd. "Aw how kind of you Usser but if your scared of dark all you had to do was say so." She then winks at him and moves on ahead.

"The dark is not the issue. I've been plenty of dark places with women and had not a thing to worry about in that situation." the knight replied, having broken his aura of chivalry as he walked onwards into the tunnel.

Tiae giggled hearing Ûsserhadd and Nathifa's conversation. "Let's go" she said grinning and walked into the tunnel as well.

The Group disappears into the Exhorian Lair

Meridian entered the deeps, torch held out in front of him to illuminate the depths. Still not seeing Donovan, Meridian decided to try a couple more place before moving on to other business. He headed in the direction of the waterfall.

Meridian entered the deeps and waited for Donovan to catch up.

Trying to follow Meridian's movement through the caves, Oda moved through to join the Caerhamian.

Donovan walked up behind Oda with Lil'ly. "So tell me, human, what's your name?" He asked Oda, obviously already knowing Meridian's.

"Oda," he replied shortly not bothering to turn around and address the Dah'kin. "And yours?" he asked, directing the question at both Meridian and Donovan.

"Hmmm... Oda." Donovan repeated, moving rather close behind him. Running his head near Oda's shoulder and hair, he took in his scent before taking a few steps back to where he stood perviously. He quietly waited for Meridian to answer Oda's question and to move on ahead.

"Meridian and he's Donovan," answered the shadow warrior. "We'd better continue moving," he continued as he moved towards the Asfeltas Cave.

Razorfang walks in shortly afterwards, "I had a bit of a change of heart, I shall remain with you, " he says as he follows them towards the group.

Donovan turned to to the sound of the steps and moved intot he shadows once more. Squinting his eyes, he soon caught onto the feline's form. The words that followed gave out the confirmation as to who he was. "Mmmm... Hurry ahead then." Moving past Oda, he gave him a grin and disappeared into the Asfeltas Cave followed by Lil'ly.

Razorfang gives Don a bit of a friendly smile as he follows him into the Asfeltas Cave.

Oda quickly hurried after Razorfang into the Asfeltas Cave.

Entering the Deeps, Virul frowned a little, now noticing that he couldn't see a thing. Stopping his trek, he once again awaited Zarrel and tried to think out what their next plan would be to get past this place.

Zarrel entered the deeps and automaticly cringed." I can't see anything!" He yelled out." Sir Virul?" He looked around but saw nothing so he went to the nearest wall." What do we do now?"

"To tell the truth, I'm unsure." Virul replied calmly as he lowered himself to one knee and began to feel for the tracks on the ground, "Make sure to stay close, young sir, for we do not want to stray and end up duelling it out with whatever creatures lurk about this place."

Zarrel followed Virul's voice while keeping his hands in front of him. He felt Virul's hat and stopped."Okay I found you," He said as he went behind the thief just incase he won't get lost." I should've brought a torch or something."

After much looking, Virul and Zarrel heard voices coming from what seemed to be a previously unnoticed Tunnel, leading into the Exhorian Lair

"When sight fails thee, then trust thy ears." Virul said with a smirk as he headed in the direction of the voices.

Zarrel followed Virul to the Exhorian Lair.

Tiae entered the deeps holding a torch. She waited for the group to follow.

After Tiae came out of the exhorian lair, Zarrel also came out of the lair and waited for the group.

Walking into the deeps, Virul was now able to look around him, thanks to the torch held by the Caerhamian. Raising an eyebrow slightly, the thief murmured, "Not a cheerful place, hm?"

"Not at all" Tiae said holding the torch high. "Where should we go now?" she asked, looking for the exit.

Üsserhadd walked out of the lair with Nathifa and heard Tiae's question. "I figure we went left into here from the entrance and then took the path that sounded like water, or something." the knight pondered, "So... that way." Üsserhadd pointed.

"Damn you're dumb." Nathifa bickered, "We came in from there, you wanted to fight more bugs and we went the other path. Trust me on this, we can hear the waterfall that way and we just came from the other path." Nathifa then pointed, "We go there."

With a shrug, Üsserhadd agreed, "Hydrans know water, I'm just guessing." The knight then patted his sheath, "Sure would be nice if someone caught on that I picked up this sword."

Virul looked at the two of them in bemusement for a moment before looking toward the way he came. Having arrived recently, the thief's memory was still fresh and so he pointed an epee towards the the general vicinity of the Asfeltas Cave, "This direction, you say?" Re-sheathing his sword, he walked forward without a thought, regardless of whether he was going in the right direction and forgetting that there could be monsters nearby.

"Light the way, Tiae." Üsserhadd mentioned and then scratched his stubbled face. "I think I need a bath." the knight mumbled, "Bug squirts all over me." He shook in disgust briefly and then flapped his hair around like a wet dog. "Blech."

Nathifa cringed with some distance from the knight, prefering to keep as clean as possible. "I think you're right. You smell awful." the Hydran commented, placing thumb and forefinger over her nose to block the odor.

"Damn beetle and its fecal diet." Üsserhadd grumbled, "Took its jaws all over me and didn't even buy me a drink." The wounds did not seem to bother him enough to keep Üsserhadd from joking, but he did cup some of the scrapes with his left gauntlet after his shake, "Sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Okay then" said Tiae, not listening much to Üsserhadd's grumbles. She walked to the Asfeltas Cave, following Nathifa's and Virul's indications holding the torch.

Üsserhadd followed the torch bearer out of the deeps into the area of the Asfeltas Caves where hopefully the exit was waiting for them.

Nathifa followed Virul, Tiae, and Üsserhadd out to the cave she indicated. She was sure of herself and walked proudly after them.

Zarrel walked with the group with a little relief.

Aj'ale walked in and around, certainly not happy that he had to come any deeper into the cave. He made sure to remember what path he had taken so as to be able to get back. He constantly looked for any place to hide in – and if any loose tools or fire agates hit his eyes, he surely wasn't going to let them go, either. (spot, hide)

Aj'ale soon spotted a gleam on the opposite side of the cave, even with his Dah'kin eyes, he had to squint to be able to see anything in the pitch darkness.

Aj'ale glared at the gleam determinedly and moved towards it, but being very careful so as to not run into any surprises on the way. (move silently, spot)

Aj'ale easily made it over to the other side, where, embedded deep into the rock, he noticed some 7 red gems.

Now Aj'ale just needed a way to get the gems and alas, he had none. So he just tried to memorize the place they were in, and tried to figure out whether he would need to go back and take his chances with the creature or if there was some other clear way out.

Aj'ale heard the sound of running water on the opposite side of the cave, it could be an alternative way out, or an underground river which spelt certain death.

Thinking it wouldn't be too dangerous to check it out, Aj'ale advanced carefully toward the sound of water.

Once again, Aj'ale entered the deeps and had to squint around to see things. He shook his head a bit, thinking how well the others must've been able to see there. Then again, the cat could just smell her way around. "This way", he said idly, mostly to keep the others informed about his whereabouts.

Al'tul entered, and followed Aj'ale's voice as best he could. "Tell me..." Al'tul wondered, trying to refresh his memory about the quest, "What are you putting effort into accomplishing within these deep hollows?"

Entering just in time to hear Al'tul's question, Zahra blinked in the darkness and paused a while to let her sense of hearing and smell take over. "Gems, if I recall. Quite a few of them, apparently."

"Here they are." Aj'ale moved toward the light gleam and eyed the seven gems he'd spotted the last time. He grabbed the pick and started hacking away at the rocks, attempting to detach the gems from it.

Aj'ale wasn't exactly a miner, but after the first two gems he started to get the hang of it and managed to get the gems. The local populace didn't seem too interested about their activities.

"Wonderful." Al'tul said, still showing his normal stoic expression and had his eyes pace back and forth around the deeps. The reasons their entrail covered bodies did not attract a swarm evaded the understanding he had about how such simple creatures acted. "Let us be on our way." the corrupted Terran proposed, "We are not in condition to fight a hive."

Aj'ale pocketed the gems, satisfied with having gotten them out more or less properly. "Follow me." He spoke as he got up and headed back the way they came. "So, will we be picking up that exhorian shell too?"

Al'tul followed Aj'ale, pleased that the mission was nearly complete and he would receive a reward for the escort. He then plodded off, back towards the Asfeltas Cave.

Following the two, Zahra was relieved to get out of the deep dark.

Al'tul arrived in the Deeps, aware that this was likely the best location to find some of the Skarradian Black Ore. He looked around for Ke'rehl, to see if his Dah'kin eyes could be of use in this dark waste.

Tylien entered as well and didn't really try to do anything else except not panic and not fall down while walking.

Ke'rehl entered the deeps, and quickly resorted to using his dah'kin eyes to scan the immediate area in case they were surrounded by exhorians or a glint of black ore caught his eye. (Spot)

right behind them was Su'mayi who was being careful not to trip and bump into others. She stayed close as much as she could.

Ke'rehl looked around, and the place was dark even for him. He didn't see any black ore glimmering around, nor did he see places where it might be a good idea to dig.

"Can't see shit." Ke'rehl whispered in irritation.

"Useless." Al'tul replied, and then the corrupt terran called out for Tylien, "Your experience with magic opposing of mine, does it provide an answer?" Al'tul knew that lighting a flare in the deeps was like begging to be attacked, but it was a moment that called for it.

"Not as such, but together with red magic, I can create light that lasts long enough." Tylien took out a magic potion and drank it. Giving Ke'rehl a glance, it started casting the spell Sunlight. It raised its hands in the air, swinged around once and brought its hands down in a flick. Doing all that, it also said: "Sun, shine!" in the old Planetarii language, which all of the present people knew.

The cave was fully illuminated by sunlight! For Ke'rehl, the light was too bright, even.
The people could now see the cave in detail: plenty of green and yellow fungus grew here and there and the generally gray stone had some blue and green tints to it in places, as well as some vague glints of shine in a few select places. They could see a couple of insects retreating to whatever hole or shadow they could find. In some parts of the wall, there were several small holes and cavities. While some of them made turns or went deep enough for the light to not reach into them, some of them were fully illuminated. They were either empty, contained some insects or even small eggs. Besides the obvious two exits, there were two hollows that seemed to be tunnel-like, but weren't properly illuminated because they took some turns.

"AH!" Ke'rehl shouted, and covered his eyes with his arm.

"Excellent." Al'tul responded to the brightness of the light Tylien conjured. He took a moment to immediately search for any black ore in the surrounding area or even imminent dangers that might be lurking about. (Spot)

Al'tul couldn't see anything either, the place seemed to be full of nothing but rock, earth, dirt and fungus. There didn't seem to be any kind of good places to dig either.

Tylien decided to look around as well. It didn't really know too much about digging, but at least it thought it had sharp eyes. (Spot)

Tylien managed to peek into a little hollow near to a few holes in the wall, seeing a good spot to dig.

Looking into the hollow for a moment, Tylien finally said: "I think here might be something... I am not sure though, mining isn't my expertise."

"We need only a handful of the ore, Rizzo is a master of his craft." Al'tul answered Tylien, and walked over to the hollow. The glinting areas in particular held interest, and so the corrupted terran drew on his knowledge of the earth to see if he could locate the black ore. (Search)

Unfortunately Al'tul couldn't find anything with such a superficial brushing about, but the place still seemed like it could reveal some ore if dug a bit.

"Stand Clear." Al'tul said, then looked at his heavy flail, "I will strike it with the best intention of not creating a cave in." The corrupt terran made sure the node was not a valuable part of the cave's support structure, going on his terran instincts and green intuition. With a few wind whistling spins of his heavy flail, Al'tul took one step closer and pummeled the wall in hopes of dragging out some black ore.

Al'tul smashed at the wall and the cave didn't collapse; in fact, the people barely even felt a shake. A somewhat satisfying spot of the wall had crumbled, and dirt now covered the immediate surroundings.

Once again, Al'tul scanned the wall for signs of black ore. (Search)

Tylien thought Al'tul's method was a bit too violent, but it too went to poke around with the debris in the hope of finding the ore. (Search)

Going through the dirt and rock pieces, Al'tul didn't find any definite blocks of black ore, though he could see some dust and tiny pieces that looked like they could be black ore.
Tylien, then again, managed to detach just the right stone from the pit and revealed a rather good source of ore.

Smiling behind its veil, Tylien showed Al'tul the rock and then said: "It seems this was a good spot. Will you smash it again?" Tylien then moved some dirt and dust out of the way of the black ore source and took the small bits that had some black ore in it. "That flail doesn't seem to be the most precise tool for this job, though, but it does work."

"Precision is for archers." Al'tul replied, "I am not an archer." Winding up a second swing, Al'tul loosed the heavy flail against the cave wall, hoping to gather more black ore from the wall in the same manner.

Since their methods were a little unorthodox, it took the group a somewhat long time to gather a sufficient amount of proper ore. They were done eventually nevertheless, and no creatures had been interested in the smashing and noise in the cave.

"Enough Ore, I would imagine. Our supplies are in good order as well, we should be able to continue the quest." Al'tul reasoned, "I believe there are pitch demons on the mountain, if Rizzo gave correct instructions. They are our next encounter."

"Pfft. I've fought one of them before." Ke'rehl butted in, "Nothing but sharps and scales. Not very dangerous at all."

"Yes. Who shall carry it?" asked Tylien. "I do not possess a container."

As if a torch had suddenly been lit over Ke'rehl's head, the dah'kin pulled out the bottle emptied from the potion he gave to Su'mayi Qing. "Give me the rocks, I'll see if I can't cram them into this thingy." Ke'rehl answered, "Then I'll tote the load from there, feathers."

Tylien couldn't help but stare speechlessly at the Dah'kin, in total disbelief.

Al'tul sighed, and lifted his heavy flail back to his shoulder, "Insolent servant." The corrupted Terran turned face to Tylien and apologized, "Forgive his crudeness, he'll be punished later."

"What?" Ke'rehl blurted, "What did I say?" After squinting his eyes at Al'tul, he strutted over towards the crushed ore and stuffed it into the bottle. Ke'rehl then began to rhetorically comment, "Servant my ass, I'm just here until I get my payment. Makes me wish I was still with..."

"Silence, enough of your whining. You'll get your reward, and for that you will be a servant." Al'tul scorned.

Unfortunately all the ore didn't fit in Ke'rehl's bottle.

"Bugger." Ke'rehl commented, seeing a few spots of ore left.

Al'tul grunted, stuffing the remaining ore into his cloak.

Al'tul could easily fit the rest of the ore on his cloak.

"I fear I do not know how long this light spell lasts," said Tylien, looking around the still illuminated cave. "But we can leave now, can we not? Which way shall we go? From here we'll end up in the ...Rysallean woods." Tylien shivered a bit at the memory of what had happened there the last time it was there.

"Nonsense, back the way we came and up the mountain." Al'tul replied, "Pitch Demons do not reside in Rysallis."

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Head towards the Waterfall Caves
Back towards the Asfeltas Cave