Cauldron, Part 11
1/23/08
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Editor's Note: This is only what happened from Jiona's point of view. What went on with Ethkin and Tass is not yet known to the rest of the party.
- Curious about how Yuathyb will respond, Jiona waits patiently for Tillandor's translation of the completely foreign tongue.
- Replying to Jiona, Tillandor says, "No, but his kind fled here to escape extinction. It was a sanctuary, before the creepers came.
Rayne looks at the remaining members of the group expectantly.
Yuathyb looks into the room to the south, then says something to Tillandor.
Rayne asks, "Jiona I have already searched your items and found nothing, Calico and Tillandor, could you please show your packs and items that I may assure myself neither of you have betrayed my trust?"
Yuathyb steps into the darkness of the southern room, vanishing from sight.
Calico pulls out her chalk and begins sketching a map of where they've been down here.
Calico, prefering to avoid a fight, spreads out a blanket and dumps the contents of her pack on it.
Rayne looks carefully to make sure everything comes into view.
* The alien voice of Yuathyb replies a short distance to the south in response to Tillandor.
Jiona flicks an ear to Rayne as she mulls over the translated answer, but doesn't otherwise respond to him. She curls her tail into her lap to idly groom at it while she thinks, watching Yuathub head off with another incomprehensible statement. "Till," she says slowly, "Did... Yuathyb ever mention how long ago he became afflicted by this Vanishing... or for that matter, did he or his company knowingly do anything here to trigger it? If it was just _being_ here that set it off...." She trails off, letting that worry hang.
Tillandor says, "He's not mentioned that, though it could well be asked on his return."
Rayne begins rummaging through the contents.
Calico resists clawing Rayne over this intrusion.
Rayne stops rummaging, then looks at Calico and asks, "Is this everything?"
Tillandor frowns at Rayne, but says nothing.
- Nodding to Tillandor, Jiona sits back again, still pensively picking at her tail-fur. She does glance at Rayne from time to time as he roots through Calico's possessions, but she keeps whatever she is thinking about his actions to herself.
Calico says, "except the 20 gold I tossed Tass to buy a lamp."
Rayne blinks.
Rayne nods slowly in realization and apologizes to Calico.
Tillandor says, "An apology is not meaningful if you'd repeat the transgression."
Calico begins packing up her gear.
Rayne responds casually, "I would gladly repeat it to make sure that I can trust those I am with when we are risking our lives."
Tillandor raises his eyebrows briefly.
Rayne looks over at Tillandor, shaking his head and asks, "Till?"
Tillandor frowns, and repeats.
Tillandor says, "An apology is not meaningful if you'd repeat the transgression."
Calico mumbles, sounding more like hissing and howls, "I practically save his life and he treats me like a thief."
Rayne shakes his head apologetically again and says, "I did not expect it to be you - but how can I in fairness search Jiona and Tass, but non other. Does that seem fair to you?"
Tillandor shrugs. "What seems fair to me is not likely of consequence."
Jiona stills a little when she hears Rayne's comment, and slowly but deliberately turns to face him. "If I understand you correctly," she says coolly, "You will trust us as long as you are free to satisfy your every suspicion? I have nothing to hide from you, but few take kindly to repeated questioning."
Rayne promises, "If more things of mine should be stolen during our expedition, it won't be a matter of searching anymore."
Calico finishes packing and returns to her map drawing, "south from here to 2 rooms, east from the one room, and a twist in the tunnel..."
Tillandor sighs.
Tillandor looks pointedly at Rayne. "I only hope we can trust those we entrust our lives to."
Rayne looks pointedly right back at Tillandor and says, "Exactly my point. I would rather search and find you all innocent than not and harbor doubt in my mind."
Rayne says, "If indeed I am to trust you with my life as you mine, I need to make sure that I can trust all of you."
Tillandor makes no reply.
Rayne sighs and stands near the door, awaiting the return of Ethkin and Tass.
Jiona's ears tilt back at Rayne's stated promise, visibly unnerved by the implied threat. Like Tillandor, she decides against replying further at this time, but does keep a wary eye on the half-elf.
Rayne folds his arms across his chest and leans against the wall.
Calico pulls out some rations, then considers, "Jiona, Till, interested in some fresh food?"
Tillandor looks up momentarily. "Not hungry, thanks."
Jiona eventually stands back up, and moves over to Tillandor, murmuring something that doesn't carry beyond his ears. Following that, she considers Calico's offer, then nods appreciatively, accepting it. "I will take a little, thank you."
Tillandor nods to Jiona.
- Responding to Calico, Jiona replies, "Oh, you don't have it with you? ...Tempting, but probably best to wait. We're kind of on a schedule," she remarks with a gesture towards the doorway Yuathyb left through. "If we're down here for long enough, we'll have to go up to resupply anyway."
* You hear a light snore coming from the southern room.
Calico nods, "I only had 3 days rations when I came down here, which would be less for you big folks."
Calico dashes over to listen closer at the door.
- Not being able to blush through fur, Jiona still manages the facial features to approximate the expression of embarrassment. "That's more than I have on me," she admits, then looks up in surprise when Calico dashes off.
Calico peeks through the door.
Calico turns to Jiona and Tillandor, "Looks like Yuathyb is taking a nap."
Jiona nods to the cleric, and sits back down again near Tillandor, continuing to wait patiently for the return of Ethkin and Tass.
Yuathyb snores restlessly in the other room.
Tillandor lies down, his head on his pack.
* A heavy click and clinking sound reverberates through the underground halls of Jzadirune.
Calico sits and almost munches the rations she almost started a bit back when she's disturbed by the sound.
Jiona sits up straighter, her ears perking forward at the noise, not even realizing that she's taken a tighter grip on her spear. Now alert, she listens closely for any additional noises.
Rayne reaches back to grab the handle of his sword with his right hand, looking about.
Calico tries to determine whether the sound came more through the door or the passage west.
* The sound continues shuddering through the underground city for a few more minutes.
Calico nervously returns her rations to her pack, and stands in preparation to move.
Calico eyes an escape path out of the underground city, past Rayne if need be.
Rayne is no longer blocking the exit.
Jiona watches the doorways intently, but otherwise doesn't move from her sitting position. This place is full of bizzare noises, and while they've been creepy and startling, they have not yet been proven dangerous.
* The sound stops as abruptly as it had begun.
Rayne waits for a tense few moments, then after nothing apparently bad happens, releases the hold on his sword.
Calico says, "if not for the Vanishing, that happening too often would have emptied this city as surely."
Calico returns to her delayed snack.
Jiona points out, "This city is largely empty now, at least by what we've seen so far. When it was fully occupied, such noises may well have gone unnoticed, or simply ignored. We just don't know what they mean." She glances at Tillandor, and mentions, "Perhaps another question for our acquiantance?"
Tillandor raises his head from his pack. "Hmm? Oh certainly, certainly."
Calico pokes her head back through the door.
* Yuathyb is nowhere to be seen.
Calico says, "Till, Jiona, our new friend appears to have run off."
Tillandor sits upright. "I... hope he hasn't faded."
Calico says, "a guide would make out task much easier."
Tillandor grimaces.
Jiona fully stands, looking perturbed, and goes to look in the other room herself. She also takes some time to sniff for his scent, trying to determine if he perhaps just wandered off for a short while.
Jiona stands there for a few minutes, clearly sniffing the air, then calls back to the others, "It smells like he went farther south. Shall some of us follow him? Or wait and see if he comes back on his own?"
Tillandor says, "Well, he said he'd be back soon."
Calico says, "wait, we don't want to be gone when the others return."
Calico, on a whim, looks for the light crossbow left from their second battle down here.
Jiona nods to the others, and returns to the main room to wait. "At least he doesn't seem to have disappeared completely," she says with clear relief.
Yuathyb pads quietly into the room from the south. He's looking a bit more transparent than last you saw him.
Tillandor sighs, visibly relaxes, and speaks a bit to Yuathyb.
Calico asks, "Did that thundering have something to do with the vanishing?"
Calico searches her remembered studies for any clue.
Calico says, "Tass and Ethkin better get back with help soon, or we may not have our guide for long."
[About two hours have passed since Tass and Ethkin left]
Yuathyb chats with Tillandor.
Jiona nods to Calico, appearing worried, and watches Tillandor as the two chat, hoping to get some idea of what he's being told by Till's expression.
- As Tillandor speaks with Yuathyb, he seems mostly to be asking questions.
Tillandor frowns, and asks another question.
Yuathyb seems to be not terribly happy. He appears to be explaining.
Rayne has disconnected.
Yuathyb says, "Kazmojen."
Tillandor makes calming gestures, and continues to speak.
Tillandor nods.
Tillandor speaks more, and the word 'Kasmojen' can be heard.
Jiona continues to wait patiently, seeming to pick up on the impression that Yuathyb is distressed by something. The word doesn't go unnoticed to her, either, as it was mentioned in relation to both a 'well' and a 'fortress' earlier.
Tillandor repeats in the common speech, "Kazmojen is our enemy."
Calico rests against the wall and listens, keeping watch for any new arrivals.
Tillandor turns to his companions. "I do not know who or what Kazmojen is, but he commands many dark creatures. Including the creepers, I believe."
Yuathyb shivers.
Tillandor says, "There is a good chance he is responsible for chasing Yuathyb and his people from their home in the deeps, and he certainly bars the way back."
Tillandor says, "The mechanical noises that have assailed us periodically are the sounds of the passage being opened and closed."
Jiona's interest sharpens, and she listens closely to what Tillandor reveals. "It would seem, then, that this Kazmojen is also behind the theft of the children. What of his 'well' and 'fortress'?"
Yuathyb sits against the wall, his elbows on his knees.
Tillandor says, "The well is the passage between Jzadirune and Yuathyb's home."
Calico says, "then that's where we need to go, when our friends return."
Tillandor says, "I can only guess that the fortress is Kazmojen's home."
Yuathyb looks up at the mention of his name. His expression behind the cloth covering his mouth is rather inscrutable.
Jiona nods her agreement to Calico. "Still, we will have to heighten our guard. This sounds rather more... organized, than I was expecting, or hoping for."
Calico says, "the door could be a problem. Unless we can find a key we'll have to wait for it to be opened and rush it."
Jiona shows a bit more teeth in her grin to Calico. "Oh, I don't imagine such a door would be expecting me."
Jiona adds, "I just can't do that to _everything_ we run across."
Calico eyes Rayne, "His sword looks like a promising prybar to keep the door from being closed properly if need be."
Jiona looks... profoundly skeptical, and that's putting it mildly. "Feel free to make that suggestion to him," she primly informs the cleric. "Preferably when I'm a safe distance away."
Calico considers a moment, "ahh, yeah."
Yuathyb hums a strange tune to himself, watching the stairway.
Tillandor idly studies in his spellbook.
* Ethkin and Tass come stomping down the stairs, with a young cleric in yellow robes following closely behind.
Tillandor stands up.
Kristof turns to Tillandor, "Ahhhh, my star pupil. Never met a wizarding student with such interest in religion..."
Calico turns to the newly arrived cleric and nods.
Kristof asks, "How has post-graduation been for you? Have you settled into any important position in the city yet?"
Jiona stands up again at the sound of footsteps, and nods politely to the unfamiliar new arrival.
Tillandor says, "No, nothing yet. Though at present I am, with these others here, doing some work for Jenya."
Kristof shakes Tillandor's hand, "You still thinking over my offer? Pelor welcomes servants of arcane backgrounds as well, you know. I could use a hand, especially someone as talented as you."
Tillandor asks, "Do you know of her?"
Ethkin senses about for Yuathyb, "Where's Yooahtheeb?"
Tillandor says, "We should not be distracted by pleasantries though. This man is in dire need of your help."
Tillandor gestures toward Yuathyb.
Kristof says, "Ah, Jenya. What did she offer you that Pelor could not, I wonder? Well, their building is certainly more impressive than ours... but we are just a small shrine, not really a temple."
Tillandor smiles. "Work close to my heart."
Kristof asks, "Ah yes, the friend of yours... um... where is this person?"
Kristof looks around the room, a little confused.
Tass is taken aback by how much Kristof talks.
Calico quietly watches until she may be of help.
* Yuathyb is nowhere to be seen.
Ethkin prays you Kord, Cuth, AND Palor that they weren't too late!!!
Calico peeks through the door to the south.
* The room to the south is empty.
[Six hours have passed since Ethkin and Tass departed and returned]
Ethkin blows all his Spirit and tries to sense... ANYthing.
Jiona's ears flicker upon the realization that their guide has pulled another vanishing act - hopefully not a permanent one! - but she has Yuathyb's scent pretty well memorized by now, and attempts to follow it again.
Calico tries to catch Yuathyb's scent.
DM slams on the brakes.