First Adventure: Search for the Children

Yi'gga never found a permanent home after bonding with Lha'hom, the undead beast cannot abide staying in one place to long. He won't admit it, but Yi'gga knows he fears Nazh-Agaa, the King of the Dead, and hopes that moving around will hide him from that pursuit. Her time here with the Standing Crows had been pleasant, but she could feel the stares burning into her back. The wives were questioning her motives for being there. The men were wondering basically the same thing from the other direction. So when Lha'hom said it was time to move on, Yi'gga agreed.

The dwarf welcomed her to his fire, sharing its warmth and asking only that she listen to his story. Telling her about the children was all it took, Yi'gga decided then and there she was going to try and track them down. Their story would be too much line her own, or worse if no one acted. The salt reward was a pittance compared to the thought of reuniting lost children to their homes. She left the messenger in the morning and made her way to their village, and present herself to the chieftain.

Seyala listened. He had long since had enough of making nightmares for these mortal kind. Now, he sought to preserve, his strength to strengthen those who struggled. "May I help to recover your children?" he asked humbly. "Who else will come with me?"

He considered what he was told, turning over the words in his mind, cautious of some pitfall or deception.

"Oie-ao, will you walk into the wild dangers with me?" he pleaded with the druid.

Sitting at the campfire but hardly understanding was Breathe, but that was not the name folk knew it as. No, all believed it to be Kragg, the simple human gatherer. But Kragg was dead. Now there was only Breathe.

Breathe was hungry. It always was. It had trouble understanding what children were. But it suspected they were taken as food. Meat is good food. Even hard meat like dwarf meat. It dimly remembered what a saurian was however. Being of such a different race, seeing them as food was likely. Breathe did. But it knew it should not eat people. At least not where other people could see it. Eating of people-meat is a great bad thing. Breathe remembers this. Pity. It was so hungry...

Again, as dusk fell and his ephemeral glow carried over the hills, a small gathering of Dwarves had come to him -- The Everlight, he had heard them whisper at times -- and again he did not understand their reverence. Their gifts, their prayers, all so strange and new to the Starling. And yet they had given him strength when he had needed it most, heart warming where once he had felt only fear and terror of this ugly, quiet world.

Tonight was another change. Where once they had kept their distance, Oie-ao speaking few words directly to them, one Dwarf and the stranger -- so unlike any of the others -- that joined him ventured closer. They were close enough so that Oie-ao's light refracted off of the Wyldling's crystal facets. Oie-ao lounged against the side of his cavern, dressed in the soft leathers and fabrics they had gifted him, his eyes turned ever upwards, watching the first of his siblings to shine up above.

And though Oie-ao did not address them at first, did not look upon them, his eyes turned ever upwards, he heard the plea spoken in desperation, in fear, in love and he lowered his eyes for a moment, waves of golden hair hiding his face.

He knew what it was to be torn from home so violently.

"Your people came to my aid when I was fading. And so I shan't forsake you when your own are lost." He let out a quiet breath, as he tipped his head back, peering back out at the Dwarven faces and the stranger who pleaded as well. A companion, he supposed, for the journey ahead. "I shall venture down to your fire before the moon reaches its height. But for now, please leave me. My siblings will dance soon and I wish to join them."

And later that evening, after his golden aura had danced over the hillsides, Oie-ao began the journey down to the Wyldling Clanfire, his steps marked by a drifting light in the wilderness.

Upon seeing the procession of volunteers to come rescue their new children, Cha-Vin-Sky, chieftain of the clan, becomes lighter and happier. He especially thanks their light and mobile deity, Oie-ao, as he volunteers to venture forth on their behalf. This autumn night was a cool one, but there was great merriment at the presence of the starling, and the other brave souls willing to help. Though this is mostly a wildbraid dwarf clan, there have been some non-dwarven additions, and the chief was happy at the thought that these clansmen felt so connected to their group that they would risk their own lives for the future of this clan.

Kragg seemed different, but he was always a strange and lonesome one.

"Welcome, all. Thank you for gracing us with your presence tonight. We wish to assess: who of you are headed on this quest for us? For those who are going, our great Oie-ao has graciously offered to assist you. What better help can you get than from a god himself? Eh? Eh?"

All of the dwarves chant and cheer in approval, and then an uproar of excitement and cheering can be heard from the many dwarves who are excited and grateful at the prospect of their god intervening on their behalf.

"My name is Yi'gga. I am of no clan. Servant of Lha'hom, the Dread Horn. I was taken as a child from my family. I know well the terrors your young ones face now, and in the future. I would see them spared of that if i can." Yi'gga stands tall, but meets Cha-Vin-Sky's eyes with compassion and confidence.

Oie-ao sat just at the edge of the main gathering, his own glow a golden ring about him. Dwarves wandered in and out of it, others whispering their thanks to him. The Starling said little himself. He only observed, sitting with one leg drawn up, picking from the bowl of fruit that had been provided him.

He had traveled light from his cave, with only a small pack slung from his shoulder and the clothes upon his back. A stone knife could be seen tucked into his sash, along with a sling at his hip. All that he had, most was familiar to the Dwarves, for it was they who had gifted him with much over the many moons since he had arrived.

Oie-ao listened and watched and ponered, golden eyes trailing over each of his would-be companions in turn.

Breathe had peeled a piece of bark from the log it was sitting on. It began nibbling it. Its dam seemed sickly and hardly aware of his surroundings. It was in fact but the hunger took up all of its attention for now..

Suddenly there was food! And food! and more food! Breathe kept eating and eating, trying to fill the hollowness inside that ate at it. It almost succeeded. Then it took all the leftovers he could carry. Including the bits the others did not want such as filling bones full of marrow to suckle out!

It was enough for the hunger to subside, if even for a moment. Then Breathe came to understand the nature of the task the little people wanted done. To save the little-little people. Bring them back. Not eat them. Sad. But they gave Breathe a lot of food, so it could eat that instead. If it lasted that long. It would have to be careful not to eat it all tomorrow. Or the day after. Even though it knew it would be so, so hungry by then. Maybe... they wouldn't miss one or two of the little-little ones.

Such thoughts filled Breathe's mind as he went to sleep, for once content on having eaten enough..

The next day brought the journey. Breathe quickly ate things it could not carry before leaving. With a grimy mouth it joined the others. As they started and mentioned they were going south, Breathe noticed they were in fact, not heading south. It knew because the dam once knew. It pointed south.
"South."

"Ahhh," said Seyala uncertainly. "Beasts of prey. What does everyone else think?"

Yi'gga was shocked to see the man she knew as Kragg after all this time. He was different. Pale, distracted by something. He didn't seem to know her. It had been a long time, but she thought he would show some recognition. And the way he ate. It was disturbing to watch. She wasn't sure what was effecting him, but she would keep a close eye on him. He showed her kindness when others did not.

It was strange, seeing these new people when Oie-ao had only ever known his cave and the Dwarves who had come to visit. And these people were so like and yet unlike the Wyldlings in shape and form. The starling stood tall and willowy, ageless and beautiful and so distant. His hair was long, falling in thick waves about and just past his shoulders, emanating with the same gentle glow as his golden eyes, and his skin, the aura of him casting a ring of light out around the group. He dressed in smooth leather skins and woven cloth, a collection of shimmering crystals -- all gifts from the Dwarves -- threaded together and trailing from his sash and down his thigh. They refracted the light he cast, creating a dizzying rainbow of hues amidst their facets, clinking together softly as he moved.

"If that direction is indeed South, than South is the direction we should go," he said calmly. "I would trust in one of you, who have lived beneath the boughs of the trees to guide us. I have seen the scope and stretch of the land, but to navigate it while so immersed in it..." Oie-ao trailed off, letting the truth of him and his origin remain unspoken. From Oie-ao's perspective, it was living down here in the mud and dirt that was the oddity.

And yet his eyes were fixated upon the strangest of them -- the creature with the disgusting mouth who had only consumed and consumed and consumed.

"Tell me, strange one, do you...understand our task here?"

Davros was fairly quiet during the meeting with the chieftain. He had studied his companions - taking in their actions, the way they spoke, and possible intentions.

Davros had traveled far from his home in the Brothers Rivers valley once he had heard that there was a potential new hunt. Once given information that the Leatherwing saurian scavengers could have been the predators that have stolen the dwarven children, Davros felt a mixture of excitement and of sadness brewing within him. He had new targets yet young ones were at risk since they were far from the safety of their clan.

Once the one known as Kragg had pointed the group in the correct direction, Davros moved from the rear to the front of the group. He was a tall human - perhaps not as tall as Oie-ao - but tall enough to have a certain presence to him. He was broad and wore leather pieces of padding that were from the hide of animals he had hunted previously. His long black hair was tied up in a bun with threading, although some hair fell onto his face where a large scar remained over his left eye - a memory from long ago during his first hunt. He also wore a cloak that surrounded his neck to keep him warm during colder weather and draped down to just above his knees. On his back was a bow and a set of bone arrows- beautifully crafted from the wood that surrounded his home but had dents from bite marks. At his hips were two short blades that were crafted from sharp rocks that lay on the river.

He looked back towards the party and said, "Come. Let us not waste time. Every moment matters when it comes to the hunt."

Breathe looked up slowly at Oie-ao. In fact, most of its movements were slow, as if it it was heavier than it looked. Rheumy eyes looked out from under the cowl, and its dam's face had a sickly green pallor. Otherwise it wore dirty brown robes of crude flax over thick patches of animal leathers, and leaned heavily on a sturdy but simple staff which it often used for balance, as its legs sometimes didn't step the way it wanted to..
"Get... the little... little people. Bring back... the little people... The sss... sah... saurids have them. Yes... they have... them..."

Yi'gga ran a hand across her baldpate and leaned her spear against a tree. She compared her slight form to that of the others. She stood little taller than the dwarves she now found herself aiding, but shorter than all of her new companions. Probably a result of her poor care as a child captive. Her skin was also pail, the influence of her undead patron. She wore only a simple leather poncho and skirt, and a wide belt to which a bag holding nearly all of her worldly possessions.

Before picking up her spear left at the edge of the circle as a sign of her peaceful intentions, she unwinds a beaded leather cord from her wrist, then rewinds it around her arm, above her bicep. As she does she entries a spell, chanting words of ancient power. As she does, shadows gather around. They amass in strips and sheets of saurian hide, draping themselves around her form like armor. Around her head a crest and three dire horns form a helm, resembling those of the behemoth, beastial triceretops.

With her shadow armor in place she picks up her spear and continues to follow along the path.

"Without shame, I admit I am not the best choice to lead us. I am happy to act as our emissary should we encounter potentially non-hostile beings. And I am happy to assist in any way I can with our needs, but I was a captive before joining with Lha'hom. I am not learned in the art of hunting, or foraging either."

Oie-ao listened to the strange creature's strange and halting way of speaking. There was, perhaps, the faintest furrow of his brow as he considered the one others had called Kragg. He was so unlike any other Oie-ao had viewed from above or even those he had seen down here, amidst the mud and dirt. Even his movements were strange. But after a moment, Oie-ao merely nodded with a quiet, "Very good."

The Starling looked over the rest of his newfound companions, watching as they discussed their possibilities. Though as Yi'gga summoned up her shadows, he almost instinctively spread his light just a touch further, as if some part of him recalled pushing other shadows back.

"I have already said my part, but it seems we have one here familiar with the hunt," he offered, gesturing airily towards Davros at the head of the group. He found an innate sense of confidence in the man, with the weapons he wielded, the scar across his face, the words he spoke. "How many lost souls have you tracked, I wonder." It was but a quiet murmur, more of a thought spoken aloud than a true question to Davros.

Breathe took a moment to realize they were addressing its mask by name before it appeared to acknowledge the conversation. But it remained quiet. Leading had no meaning to it. But it did know how to survive out here. It just had to eat. And not be eaten. And there were memories..
"Yess.. Gather. Hhhhhhh.. Gather... food."

It did just so, picking up anything edible. It was rather good at it. Some things it found might even be edible for the others.

Davros took the lead to guide the party safely through the environment. He continued Southward as pointed out by Kragg and used both his instincts and teachings to follow leads given to him by his surroundings.

He listened to the birds chirping, the wind blowing, and kept his eye out for any tracks left by predators, the scavengers, or anything else that may be close by.

As the party continued, Davros says to the group, "If we continue on in this direction we will reach Icehook Peaks. The children may have been taken there. Plenty of places to hide amongst the many crevices within the mountains. Tell me - how many of you have been hunting before? We have much more distance to cover, might as well get to know you all a bit better, aye?"

"I have been surviving on my own for only a short time. As I mentioned before, i was taken captive as a child. I was not allowed to leave the camp, never left unattended, not even to bathe. It was only when the chieftain's wife angered Lha'hom," she indicates the horned helm made of shadow stuff she wears, "and he threatened to destroy the whole clan that my freedom came to me. As you can see I do well enough," you can see her stomach is flat but not emaciated. Her muscles are small but defined. She doesnt look sickly, but more like someone well recovered from being ill. "but I have yet to find a new community to join. I have never joined in a hunting party." Her tone is positive despite the tragic story she unfolds.

Davros looked back at Yi’gga and listened to her story.

"I see…I am sorry that happened to you. I am glad you are free now. I understand that we are all fresh faces to each other for the most part and trust needs to be built. However, you are welcome to join me in my hunts whenever you’d like. I am more than willing to share the lessons I have been taught to aid you in developing your own survival techniques. This invitation goes to all."

Davros said this with his typical serious tone and features. He did not smile, yet…behind his eyes was a genuine kindness. A look of empathy. A humanity that many hunters may lack out in the wilds.

He then looked to the rest of the party to listen to their own personal stories they may or may not have not told before.

There was something heavy in Oie-ao's gaze as it settled on Y'igga, listening to her story. "To think such cruelty brews among your kind, to steal the freedoms of your brothers and sisters away." No, he could not understand. Would never understand these strange people and their strange and petty ways. "But you had a protector in this Lha'hom, it seems." His gaze trailed up towards her strange helm. "I would like to hear more of him, perhaps when we find rest."

He looked towards Davros, moving with light and easy steps along the path the hunter forged for them. "I have never had need to hunt. The devotions of the Wyldlings brought me sustenance." Oie-ao had been introduced to them all as a God, spoken of by the Wyldings with reverence. The Starling himself had said nothing to disavow that notion, nor did he encourage it. And yet in the ways he spoke outside his long stretches of aloof silence, he clearly viewed himself as something separate from those who surrounded him now.

"But I will be curious to learn your ways."

You travel southward through a forest, with trees and wildlife that teems with various forms of life.

The foragers are able to collect a lot of berries, edible mushrooms, and edible lichens (equivalent of 10 day's worth of foodstuffs, or 2 days' worth for each person except Breathe, who consumes twice as much food).

After a couple of hours of travel through the forest, the trees stop, and there is a great plain before you, with miles of grassland. You continue southward into the grasslands, and a pack of wooly rhinoceroses are grazing in your pathway. They travel along the edge of another forest along the southern end of your vision, and they move calmly along, eastward as they graze.

As Davros sees the wooly rhinos in the distance, his instinct tells him to take a long way around them.

As you travel, in the distance, you see two mated tyrantmaws come out of the tree line and chase those rhinos, causing quite the scene as they take down one of the rhinos and start eating the carcasse.

You get to the west side of that southern forest, and walk through the trees and bushes. As you travel through the forest the sun begins to set.

You walk by a dark cave, that no one really noticed until you saw its mouth.

"That cave could make a more comfortable place to rest for the night than out in the open. Should we investigate?" Yi'gga asks the group as a whole

As the sun sets, Oie-ao's natural glow only seems to shimmer brighter, bathing the party in his light, holding the darkness and shadows of the oncoming night at bay. He was slightly breathless as they drew to a stop, the Starling taking the moment to sit upon a fallen log, if only to catch his breath. He was unused to traveling such distances.

"It will provide welcome shelter as well, should the night turn angry," he said softly, peering towards that dark opening.

Davros shook his head at Seyala's comment and replied with, "So eager to find danger, aye?"

Although he would rather continue on due to the lost time caused by the herd of rhinos - it had seemed the the party had made a majority decision to stay the night within the cave albeit against his hunter's instinct.

"As you all wish, we shall rest here within the cave. Stay on your guards. We shall stay as close as possible to the mouth of the cave. As Seyala had mentioned it could possibly be a creature's den and the deeper we venture, we may end up disturbing whatever lies within and may not end up leaving this place...in one piece at best..."

Davros looked to Oie-ao and said, "Your light will come in handy, Oie-ao. Certainly better than using a torch that can be extinguished or lost."

With that, Davros entered the cave - ensuring to take his time and made sure to constantly scan his surroundings for any dangers that may lurk while the party established their campsite for the night.

Oie-ao rose to his feet and moved to follow Davros into the cavern. "My light is yours, Davros," he said easily, helping to chase back the shadows and illuminate the dark corners of the cavern. Caverns were the only safety he had known on this world, and still as he spread out his bedroll he made sure to stay within the mouth of the cave. Near enough so that he could watch the stars above, if the night sky was clear enough for it.

You walk into the mouth of the cave, the starling providing a decent radius of light. After walking a few paces into the cave, it seems like there should be cave paintings ahead, but they seem blurry to you.

There is one drawing that is very easy to recognize and discern: the drawing of a large mouth, about a human arm's length in width. It is frozen in-place, until the light touches it, and it animates, saying, "Welcome to sanctum 9*dash*2*dash*3*dash*5 of Ta-Vur, the ancient one.

"Please state your business here."

The mouth closes and stops speaking.

"We seek only shelter for the night. Our business will see us gone soon after first light."

When Davros sees the mouth begin to speak, he slowly reaches down to the handle of one the weapons on his hips, readying himself in case of any danger while Yi'gga speaks to the painting.

The mouth reanimates.

"If that is your only desire, you may walk in and head dow the hallway on the right. It is, essentially, a tunnel. At the end of that tunnel you will find a good, safe place to rest. Just don’t do anything to invite the Hounds to this place, and you will be fine."

With that, the blurryness of the walls fades, and the images on the walls are visible.

A pathway is lit with torches that poof on upon the completion of the magic mouth’s words. You walk along, and there are some really amazing and impactful images all around you. You go to a place that has hay along the stone walls of the this cave, and when you all enter therein, the space you reside in becomes opaque, and it seems you are in some magical hut of protection.

On the wall here, the magic mouth appears and says, "You may rest in this location, which is magically guarded against predators. Please note that the Hounds have been known to penetrate these barriers before.

"If you have any inquiries, simply tap the mouth image and speak your question."

"So many questions..." Yi'gga whispers to herself. She looks around for a minute then tentatively touches the mouth again. "You mentioned a Ta-Vur earlier. Who is that? What is this place exactly?"

The Starling only grew more unsettled as they followed the Mouth-painting's directions deeper into the cavern. Before, he had always slept within the mouth of a cave, the stars still visible. But now it was only stone over his head and all around.

It was little relief to him when they found the place of supposed safety. And as Yi'gga questioned the mouth-painting, Oie-ao tried to distract himself by inspecting the other paintings upon the walls.

"Ta-Vur is an ancient, powerful, noble spellskin. He seeks to undo the hold that the Blind Heaven has over our world.

"The purpose of this sanctum is arcane experimentation. Ta-Vur goes to retrieve secrets and clues from any sages and chanters that he can, synthesizes those concepts into theories, and then experiments on those theories in places such as this. He also creates special pocket dimensions to experiment in. He truly is magnificent and brilliant."

Arcane experimentation? Blind Heaven? These words made no sense to Davros as he sat on a pile of hay. He looked at all the images surrounding the party, same as Oie-ao, and directed his attention to the Mouth.

"If your mighty Ta-Vur truly is so brilliant and has any idea on whether or not he has seen a pack of scavengers carrying stolen children then that would be beneficial to us," he huffed.

"Ta-Vur has not entered this sanctum in many months. Scavengers Vow does not typically operate this far into the wild, though.

"There is a cabal of saurian spellskins who operate out of an old Dwarven keep not for from here. Could they have been mistaken for scavengers, perhaps?"

The words the mouth used were...big...and a little confusing for Yi'gga. "What is Scavengers Vow? And why would the spellskin cabal want Dwarven children?"

She wants to circle back to that comment about "breaking the hold" of the Blind Heavens bit, but that isn't the party's current goal. Perhaps later she can come back and consult with this Tar-Vur.

Seyala listens intently, keeping his face blank. None of this makes sense to him.

"Scavengers Vow is a institution, a den of thieves, led by The Rat King. Like I mentioned before, they do not operate in this region of the wilds, as far as this magical projection knows.

"This group must be using children for experimentation."

The mouth pauses for a few moments, and then says, "If my calculations are correct, this would be a good finding to share with the master. When he returns, I will be relaying the information to him. If you all wouldn't mind, if you could please report back your findings in that area, I would be very appreciative. Master rewards those who relay good information and intelligence as to the experiments of others, and I am sure he would be interested in knowing about what their experiment was, why it was done, and what the results were."

"Experimentation? Then we must head to the Dwarven keep as soon as dawn breaks. Those children are at the mercy of thieves and cannot defend themselves. That is dishonorable - the Scavengers Vow and the Rat King must be dealt with and disposed of once the children are back in the safety of their homes."

Davros' tone was one filled with anger and frustration. He was a hunter. His life was guided by a code of honor, and those children did not have the strength nor the skill to protect each other from the thieves. What angered him further was the fact that those children had their entire lives ahead of them. They did not deserve to be experimented on and potentially be crippled to the point where they cannot go on.

"And what would your master be doing with this information? I think whatever is happening in the keep should never be spoken of again. There is no use in letting those experimentations be released into the world. Corruption is surely to follow it..."

Seyala says nothing to the mouth. He does touch Davros on the arm: "I am going outside for a moment."

"I will accompany you. Better to stay together in these strange places. And one more breath of night air will help settle my nerves befire sleep." Yi'gga says and prepares to follow the other warrior.

The Mouth had a great deal to say, and none of it made any sense to Oie-ao. Though none of this made sense to Oie-ao. And as much as he would have liked to followed Yi'gga and Seyala out into the fresh air -- he hated these walls all around him -- he was far more curious as to what the mouth had to share.

The man stepped up alongside Davros and pressed a hand to the wall. "You mentioned the Blind Heaven," he started, eyes slipping past the mouth and once again over the paintings over the wall. The Heavens were what he fell from, after all, though he spoke only his question, and not the protests forming in his mind. "What is it you mean by the 'Blind Heaven' and their hold?"

Seyala steps out of the cave and turns to Yi'gga.

"I do not trust this place," he says with an urgent gesture into the cave. "That strange moving painting of a mouth says many things I do not understand. It says the place is somehow protected against predators. The only protection I know against predators is to be the bigger beast. I think it is not a safe place to be. Do you understand me?"

As the Mouth explained that its master would prevent such experimentation from happening again - Davros still couldn't trust its words. It was a speaking mouth, after all, that they just came across by a sudden chance.

When Seyala and Yi'gga left, Davros listened to Oie-ao's question and waited for the Mouth to respond. He certainly had nothing better to do and did not wish to leave the others regardless of their capabilities of defending themselves.

"I do understand. There is far more to this place than we can see right now. But I know a little of magic. It is possible that we were told the truth, but I don't fully trust this Ta-Vur character."

"Let us maybe stay inside the opening of the cave, but not so far into there as the moving mouth painting lured us. It feels uncomfortably like the brightly-colored gullet of a snake in there."

"Perhaps that is wise. I will go back and inform the others what that we are doing so." She returns to the room and conveys Seyala's concerns at a low whisper, hoping the mouth doesn't listen when not spoken to directly.

"Our companion is nervous about staying in this magic room, and I don't think he is completely out of line. Perhaps we should all keep closer to the entrance?

Not wanting to be separated from all of the group, Seyala comes with Yi'gga and nods agreement with her take on his words.

"As you wish."

Davros stood up from the hay and followed the two back to the mouth of the cave. Once there, Davros says, "You all rest. I’ll take first watch."

There at the entrance, he put his bow and blades on the ground next to him, even untying his hair and letting it fall into a wavy flow.

Davros looked at the stars that filled the night sky and reflected on all his adventures until now. He thought back of his time at home. It had been so long since he had left yet he could still remember the smells of cooked fresh meat, the laughter of children and the adult villagers. The wind flowing through his hair.

This then made him think of the missing children. He could feel that they were lost, scared, helpless. At least, so he thought.

They had to get them back. Back to their home to experience a life that was full. Full of experiences that Davros had missed so much.

Yi'gga dismisses Lha'hom's armorand takes off her hides and lays them out on the floor. It feels strange to expose herself so much among strangers, but these strangers have dedicated themselves to the same cause as her, and given her no reason to mistrust them. Still, old habits are hard to ignore. Her back is pressed against the wall and her spear lies next to her, hand upon it, ready just in case.

"Sleep well everyone. May your eyes be as sharp as a daggertooth raptor, Davros."