Lost Knife Playground Options

[King Coin]

Nobody spoke for a moment. Then Vera answered Aravi’s question. “She’s gone.”

It hit her like a physical blow. Her breathing felt constricted, and for a few moments while the others talked, she struggled to calm herself. Vera offered to look for her. Salyan spoke next, saying that she desired to look for Kayla and pointing out she would be searching already if anyone else had gone over.

She would, Aravi knew.

Darnand offered his spells to search, but also pointed out some difficulties that he would face with them.

Aravi’s breathing returned to normal, and she felt she could finally speak. “We are going to find her.” And if she’s gone, then we will bring her out. She loathed the idea of leaving her friend’s body in the cave to be eaten by vermin.

She turned and followed Darnand down the path and saw a massive chamber ahead. It was filled with water, with a narrow strip of stone high above it, leading deeper into Nirn. A small island was in the middle with a path to the water level. She reached Darnand and held a hand out to prevent him from going forward with her. She wanted a look without another person tagging along. Perhaps this time they would surprise the enemy and not the other way around.

She sneaked forward on silent feet. She skirted the edges of the walls, keeping her body in the deepest shadows, but keeping careful that her armor doesn’t scrape the rough stone.

She reached the edge of tunnel and looked around the chamber. A waterfall was on the far side; its noise would help them go undetected even longer. The ceiling rose high above her head. Lumps hung from the ceiling that gave Aravi an unsettling feeling. They didn’t look like rocks… What are they?

Another walkway was overhead and followed the edge of the chamber. She could see falmer up there. This could be tricky. At least three of them up there.

She returned to the others in the tunnel and told them what she found. Including the strange lumps. Perhaps someone else had seen these before.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla's limbs dragged as she huddled near the fire the now dead Falmer had made. She needed fuel, food, and she had no idea what could be eaten. She had nothing but potions, and she'd left her warming potions in her pack. Were she to venture deeper, she would have to kill the inhabitants, and render their expedition moot. She decided to make her way upwards.

As soon as she was warm. She peeled off her armor and set it near the fire to dry. The top layer of her skin was numb, and her lips were blue. She shivered, her body trying to keep warm. She thought about slipping her undergarments off as well, but they were light and airy, meant to not overheat under armor. The fire had been built inside a tent made of a material that Kayla didn't want to think about, and the area was warm. She would be dry in an hour or so.

Hopefully her friends would find her by then. She lay back, her head against a rock, wishing for a blanket. Instead, she rubbed her chest and arms and stomach with her hands, hoping the friction would warm her skin.

[Colonel Mustard]

"Strange lumps?" Salyan asked, in response to Aravi's report. "I can't say I know anything of the kind; you were certain they were alive, though?"

She shrugged.

"In any case, if we keep an eye on those we can easily deal with just three falmer," she said. "And the sooner we fish Kayla out, the better; that water looks freezing."

[Darkness Eternal]

Aravi was as silent and nimble as a housecat and Salyan remained behind along with Darnand. Vera barely spoke as they trekked through the dark interior of the caves and while Aravi set her gaze up, Vera looked down. Bootprints.

Not from Aravi, as she had a different set of boots than these. These left a kind of marking that couldn't of been made by metal . . . she can tell that much from the strands of fur sticking out of the mud.

They weren't the only people in the cavern.

Vera pulled an arrow from her quiver after Aravi notified her of the lumps. She followed the movements of the Falmer just above the walkway. The snow-white monstrous mer were oblivious to their presence and there was no telling how long they would remain that way.

There were only two options; remain hidden and fetch the other Mer or kill the three falmer. Vera chose the latter. If they didn't pose problems right now they would later and she was here to make sure not a single threat was left breathing or at least moving.

She turned her head over to Salyan. "They are so easy to deal with. It is better to take them out now than to do it later when they've alerted the entire cavern."

She set her arrow for a shot but didn't pull back. She looked over at Aravi. "I can take two arrows from my quiver and kill both of them. I don't want to risk the third jumping into the water . . . give the one in the far right my regards?"

[Grits]

Darnand knelt on the raised path, watching Vera and Aravi prepare to kill the three Falmer. His spells told him that the lumps on the ceiling high above were living creatures.

He had no idea what they might be. Chaurus reapers were one possibility, but they nested in crevices. He had never seen them hanging like bats.

Giant bats? In the dark he didn’t try to hide his shudder. At least they are not spiders. A moment’s contemplation brought other possibilities to mind. One didn’t need wings to reach that height. All manner of horrors might creep upside down along the rocky surface. Anything that high would be safe from the Falmer and their chaurus. But if the creatures were carnivorous and untamed, the Falmer would not allow them to live in their hive.

Darnand brought his spells to mind and hand. Stealth demanded that he refrain from casting the soul traps until the Falmer noticed them, and by then it might be too late to capture their dying energies. Still, he would be ready.

He also prepared the spell that fortified his magicka and hardened his skin. That arrow had pierced Kayla as if she had not been wearing armor. He did not wish to share her fate.

[King Coin]

"Strange lumps? I can't say I know anything of the kind; you were certain they were alive, though?"

"I have no idea. It doesn't look like any natural cave formation that I have seen. Maybe some kind of fungus?"

Nobody else had any further insight as to what these could be. Maybe it is nothing...

They moved forward without further debate. Aravi lead the way again with Vera close on her heels. Darnand and Salyan stayed farther back, but within easy earshot.

"I can take two arrows from my quiver and kill both of them. I don't want to risk the third jumping into the water . . . give the one in the far right my regards?"

Aravi nodded and set an arrow to her string.

Her arrow was released half a second after Vera's first arrow. The mercenary barely paused for a breath before her second shot was out. Aravi drew another arrow from her quiver, but found no targets. Aravi briefly marveled at the mercenary's speed and accuracy with the bow.

Her eyes followed a shape falling and hit the water with a splash. She cringed at the noise and pulled the arrow she had in hand to her cheek. She didn't release when there was no movement in the water. The target was already dead. It was one of the falmer from above.

She stood frozen, listening to every little sound she could, wondering if anything else heard the splash in the water...

[Colonel Mustard]

The splash echoed around the cave, and high up the noise reached the ears of creatures clinging to the rock ceiling. Sensitive instruments, attuned to hear a range of frequency most things would find inaudible, the noise was picked up with ease.

Eyeless heads, crowned with curling horns, swivelled from where they had been tucked between hairless chests and slick rock, turning at impossible angles. A series of clicks, at a hypersonic frequency that other creatures could not hear, sounded out, and judging from the sounds that were returned to them, the nightmares clinging to the cave roof came to a conclusion; prey, four of them.

There was a swift and silent unfurling of bodies; roundish grey lumps unfolded into a membranous wings of pale grey, two metres in their span, and long tails uncurled, tipped with dagger-sized spikes of envenomed bone. Their bodies were devoid of hair, pale and milky, thin but sinuous with flight muscles. The claws on the elbow of their wings and on their legs gripped at the ceiling, equally adept at holding onto slick rock or rending flesh, as they scanned one last time.

Satisfied that their prey was in optimal position, the seven cavern ghasts clicked a signal to each other and swooped down to attack.

This post has been edited by Colonel Mustard: Oct 13 2013, 01:23 PM

[King Coin]

Her ears strained, but she heard nothing... Wait, what was that? Something like -

Something slammed into her breastplate, hard. She found herself looking up at the cavern ceiling, gasping for breath. She could see shapes fly over her before a wave of nausea overtook her. There was a burning in her chest. She propped herself up and looked. A piece of a barb was sticking out of her chest. Later, she would reflect that her next action was very foolish, but at the time she wasn't able to think.

She took the barb and pulled it out. It left a hole in her armor. A small trickle of blood showed that it broke her skin, but the moonstone plate took most of the damage.

What was that? She thought as she got back to her feet and armed herself with her swords.

A second wave of nausea almost brought her to her knees, but she remained standing.

"I... I think I've been poisoned."

[Colonel Mustard]

Salyan

There was barely time to react before the shrieking forms of several creatures, winged and hideous, swooped down on the roof of the cave towards them. Acting on instinct, Salyan stepped back and unleashed the one destruction spell she knew, Thunder's Tongue. A booming wave of sonic force echoed up from her, knocking two of the swooping shapes off course and sending them reeling and tumbling, recovering in midair but their momentum lost.

She didn't see what happened to Darnand or Vera, but she saw one of the flying creatures swoop by Aravi. The khajiit toppled as it lashed out with a long, prehensile tale, doubling over and clutching her stomach. Salyan staggered back as one of the creatures slashed at her with curved claws, the natural weapons scoring a line across the hardened leather shoulder pads she wore, and she scrambled forwards towards Aravi, the khajiit still standing.

"I... I think I've been poisoned," she managed to gasp out.

Salyan swore, and glanced over to Darnand and Vera, then checked the air to see whatir the attackers were doing.

"Does anyone have a cure poison potion?" she asked. "Anyone?"

[Grits]

The creatures’ wings snapped open as they dropped from the high ceiling. They swooped down to attack.

Darnand’s life detection spell adjusted almost without his conscious effort, defining their forms with a pale glow rather than the indistinct blaze that had betrayed their presence at a distance. The creatures split off in a formation that suggested they were communicating. Good. Intelligent creatures yield more magicka. I did not come here to capture the souls of skeevers.

His soul trap met one and clung like a dark mist. Darnand cast his protective spell as he dove out of the way of its claws. The spell hardened his skin against the impact when his shoulder met stone floor. He rolled up in a crouch, staff ready for defense.

An explosion of sound echoed through the cavern, answered instantly by shrieks from the ghastly creatures. Salyan. Circumstances allowed only a grim smile in appreciation. Darnand swung his staff like a club as a bat-thing whipped its tail at him. Bones crunched. The barb sliced through his spell and robe, barely grazing his skin. The creature plummeted out of sight to the water below.

Aravi stood with a sword in each hand, her stance oddly rigid. Darnand heard Salyan ask for a poison potion.

The skin along his side began to tingle. Dammit.

The remaining monsters circled at the far end of the cavern. Within moments they would resume the attack. The hum from a soul gem announced that at least one was out of the fight. He cast another trap while he readied his next defense.

Darnand braced his staff against the ground and closed his eyes to help himself focus. His free hand made a gesture that allowed him to reach into the Void. His flame atronach waited there.

She roared through in a rush of heat and light. Joy and fury were the same to her. Darnand steeled himself against the contact with her mind.

Burn, she whispered. Or perhaps they said it together.

Darnand heard her start to throw fireballs as he closed the distance to Aravi.

“I know a spell,” he said.

[Darkness Eternal]

The Falmer weren't the only thing that went down. Vera had her share of fighting winged beasts . . . beasts like imps. That was about it. Nothing prepared her to face a bunch of fast gargantuan bats that happened to fall from the ceiling as if the invisible jaws of oblivion decided to belch out these nefarious creatures.

She didn't have time to react even with her quick agility and knack for being prepared. In all her research, all of her experience in the field she had never came across them before. Everything was a blur. She heard shrieking, flapping of wings and she saw Aravi standing in one position in a moment, and then she was on the floor on the next second with a barb sticking from her chest.

Vera's heart sunk to see Aravi in that horrific situation. She seemed wounded. Hurt and in pain and that in turn made Vera feel just the same. She had a growing sense of fear amidst her concern to duck and avoid the incoming onslaught of the winged cretins and that was for Aravi's safety. Afterall, Kayla might have died and she wasn't willing to let Aravi slip into death just yet. She couldn't. How else would she get the rest of her payment? Unless Darnand was willing to bend his ass in the cave and with some unknown arcane magic, squat and produce gold, she would have risked her life for a cheap pay. And she hated cheap pays.

But the one thing she cared more about money was Lycus. Lycus wasn't around, so what's left now was her own life and that was much more important.

There were four of them fighting and just then Vera thought she saw a fourth person. If she can call a female-looking humanoid figure with a flaming body a person at all. It didn't take long for her to realize the mage summoned an atronach but it did take her long to register the force of impact that sent her reeling into the cavern wall. Her head felt light. It wasn't just the force of the hit but the fact that her helmet fell of her head.

Her bow fell from her fingers and she scrambled to retrieve it when another flap of wings came behind her after Darnand unleashed a fire spell that spread the beasts throughout the cavern. Instinctively, she rolled over to her side just as it flew over her with its tail ready to pierce her back. It missed her miraculously by just a few inches before it flapped away.

Vera rolled over again and grabbed her bow as if it was a part of her own flesh and blood. She looked to the cavern ceilings and with her vision of a predator she searched for the creatures that considered her prey. She aimed, she loosed and she felled one of the beasts.

Her victory was short-lived when more of them swept down at her. Loosing three arrows at once was impossible, so the only possible, the only logical thing to do was run. And she did. She leapt to the ground and decided that her helmet would be the best bet in protecting her. Without it, so would go unconscious if the creature so much as hit her. Or worse.

As she ran to grab it while Salyan asked for a potion, there was the force of impact once again. It felt like a boulder with wings hitting her. The pain was bearable, she's been through worse. Pain from a cut was small to one who experiences the shifting of bones and organs and the tearing of skin throughout the entire body.

The only thing unbearable as she got to her feet again with ragged breaths was that she tasted blood in her mouth and a moisture seeping from her head. She felt the blood. She smelled it. Her own infectious lycanthropic blood. But what she saw, though.

What she saw was a parted version of her own perfect vision. She saw Darnand, Aravi and Salyan but on one side. It was as if she held a hand against one eye while the other remained opened and unveiled by the hand. Except her bloody hands were struggling to even reach for her helmet and they were nowhere near her face.

Next came the physical and mental pain and the knowledge that her left eye was struck and . . . and lost part of her sight. She didn't dare touch the wound but she knew her eye was a bloody mess. She clamped her jaws and began to breath heavily. This wasn't good for her. This wasn't good at all.

[King Coin]

She heard the unfamiliar, but recognizable sound of Salyan’s magic. She heard the familiar sound of a summoning. The crackle of fire, and the sound of destruction magic let her know that Darnand was fighting. Vera’s bow snapped. On top of all of this was the sound of flapping wings and high pitched shrieking of these new enemies.

She couldn’t spare her friends more attention than this however. The poison coursing through her veins was taking its toll on her petit body. She felt weak and nauseous. It took her strength to remain standing, with her swords up to ward the creatures off.

One swooped at her, tail extended forward to lance her body. She slid out of the way and whirled her swords. The creature crashed with a shriek, minus its tail. Before she could confirm its demise, her sickness brought her to her knees. She breathed heavy, hoping that she wouldn’t vomit. I’m going to die if I can’t defend myself. A chill went through her. She was a liability to the rest, until she was cured. A banging of metal told her that Vera wasn’t faring well either. This disaster was only getting worse. What did I get everyone into?

[Colonel Mustard]

Shrieking and howling, the remaining bat things flitted back up, reforming themselves into a fresh wing in readiness for another swooping attack. Somehow, Aravi had kept her feet, had even killed one of the things, but it was clear the khajiit wouldn't last, while a flame atronach had sprung from thin air, probably a conjuration from Darnand and one Salyan was grateful for. Vera was struggling with her helmet and Salyan thought she could see red on the hunter's hands, but it was impossible to tell for sure.

Salyan saw the creatures rallying to swoop again, and sent a frenzy spell hissing and snarling towards one of them. It hit, and the wing lost cohesion for a few moment as the beasts turned on the member of their pack that had suddenly attacked them. It would buy them a few moments, and Salyan fumbled at her belt, downing a magicka restoration potion in preparation for more spellcasting. She kept her eye upwards as she moved towards Vera, to see if she could help or at least keep her out of harm's way; if Darnand needed time to take the poison from Aravi's wound, then it would be only her and the mage's atronach watching the enemy.

[Grits]

Darnand gulped Kayla’s magicka potion as he closed the distance to Aravi. He let the cap and vial drop to the ground as was his habit during a fight. As promised the powerful potion filled him with a surge of magicka.

Aravi was on her knees, ears pinned back in distress. Salyan had moved to assist the wounded Vera. The bard’s spell brought the enemy’s number down to three.

I shall first prevent the poison from further damaging Aravi, Darnand thought. They will not target us as long as my atronach defends—

His flame atronach twirled away past Salyan and Vera, tossing lazy fireballs as she went. The creatures angled their wings to avoid them. Their hideous heads turned as one toward the vulnerable Khajiit.

Traitorous wench. The flame atronach offered no reply. Darnand knew that while his gratitude was repugnant to her, she relished his anger. At least she has not attacked me. Yet.

Darnand dropped his staff and slid in to kneel behind Aravi, careful of her naked blades. “Trust me,” he said into her ear. His left arm locked around her armored waist, pulling her back against his chest. Fire leaped up from his right palm with only the slightest encouragement.

He stared past Aravi’s head at the attacking creatures. The closest began a swooping dive that would bring its barbed tail into position. The two behind banked their wings to bring their clawed feet into play. Now.

Fire erupted from his hand into a storm around them. Darnand poured his magicka into the blaze, whipping it into a circling cloak. The wind it generated blew his hair into his eyes but the heat did not harm him. As long as Aravi stayed in position the cloak would protect her, too. He noticed she had drawn her tail in and tucked it against her body. Thankfully he had not knelt on it.

Darnand could barely hear the screams from inside his roaring fire. Something was dying out there. He couldn’t tell how many.

“Aravi,” Darnand said, keeping his voice calm. “Please do not move. I would like to stop the poison. Then we can discuss how to heal the damage.”

Crouched inside the inferno, he cast the spell.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla's body trembled. Her skin prickled, the fine hairs on her body raised and standing at attention, despite the continuous and vigorous attention Kayla paid to warming her skin. She was so cold, her hair ached. The fire did a lot to help, but she was chilled to the bone. In these few short moments she had been there, she had been thinking.

She crawled to her armor, slowly with an aching body, and turned it inside out. It was still freezing, the water still dripping from it. She tried her best to wring the armor of the water, the water running down her arms and splashing onto the ground. Her teeth chattered loudly and new shivers wracked her body. Her thin, strong frame trembled harder.

Her stomach growled, and she looked around the tent, huddling closer to the fire. She propped her armor up, leaving the stiff chitin pointing away from the fire and the cloth inside towards the heat of the fire to help dry the inside. She ran her fingers through her damp hair.

Never again will I turn down a hot bath, she thought. I'm gonna have myself a large meal when I get back to-

Her thought was cut off when she heard a soft shuffling on the outside of the tent. She froze, quieting her ragged breathing. her exhausted body tensed, her senses alive again.

She heard a soft hiss, and the shadow of a Falmer danced on the wall outside. A second later, a pale, wretched monstrosity entered the tent, its steps careful, head cocked upwards, sniffing the air. Kayla held her breath, and for a moment, as the head turned towards her, her heart pounded so loud, she thought the Falmer would be able to hear her. When it turned out of the tent and crept away, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She quietly crawled over to Dawnbreaker and reached for it. She let out a gasp of surprise and pain when a hard object hit her cheek, then a slash of pain ripped across her face. She fell backwards as a cold hand gripped her throat and threw her onto her back.

She saw the blade coming. The creeping Falmer had nothing on his person besides the dinky dagger now pressed against her throat, and his loincloth. But the combination of exhaustion and the putrid stench of the Mer's breath made her want to vomit. The Falmer held her there after assessing she had no weapons in her hands. Blood dripped from the scratch on her face, though none got in her eyes, luckily. Three angry gashes from the Falmer's ragged claws screamed in anguish from her left cheek to her chin, missing her lips.

She began to look for an escape. She'd heard of adventurers coming back with tales of Falmer thralls, human and mer brainwashed to serve the twisted creatures. She didn't plan on allowing that to happen. She knew better than to wrestle the dagger from the creature. Her best option was killing in one blow. Unfortunately, that was also her noisiest option.

She took a deep breath and summoned a fireball, a new rush of will and magick coming to her aid.

[King Coin]

Trust me.

Aravi didn’t hear Darnand approach, so his voice in hear ear was a surprise. His arm slipped around her and pulled her close. What-? Her fevered mind wondered before they practically ignited. Fire leapt up around them, blinding her to what was around them. She curled into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut while the inferno raged around them. The sounds of pain and dying creatures penetrated her mind.

“Aravi,” Darnand said, keeping his voice calm. “Please do not move. I would like to stop the poison. Then we can discuss how to heal the damage.”

She nodded, but kept her eyes squeezed shut.

She felt his magic go to work on her, removing the poison from her body. Her strength was returning, the nausea receded. Her eyes came open. Darnand’s fire still whipped around them, but it was no longer overwhelming to her. She pushed herself to her feet, her swords braced against the ground. She wasn’t feeling healthy, but she felt more and more functional as Darnand’s magic flowed into her.

[King Coin]

The flames of Darnand’s fires receded, leaving an afterimage in Aravi’s sensitive eyes that temporarily blinded her.

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on their side this time. No shrieks of enraged flying… things could be heard. Not even the rustle of a wing.

Darnand must have timed it right. Divines know, he saved me.

His magicka cleansed the poison from her body. His fire killed the remaining creatures.

As her vision slowly recovered, she saw Vera kneeling on the ground, her hands on her face. A chill swept through Aravi when she saw blood dripping from Vera’s fingers. It’s her eye.

Aravi went to her and kneeled. “What happened? How bad is it?”

[Darkness Eternal]

Vera removed her hand from her eyes and it still felt as if the hand was there. There was no vision from that injured eye. She couldn't see. She was blind. At least she wasn't a cripple.

Salyan came to her, evidently knowing something was amiss with the Imperial huntress. Soon after Aravi followed, and knelt down to ask what had happened and how bad was the condition of the injury.

She kept her head down while her ears tried to pick off the sound of the monstrous bats. She heard nothing at all. Darnand and his spells must have made short work of them.

She blinked and the pain flared in her skull. She winced and breathed, nearly touching her wounded eye in hopes to stop it. It was agonizing.

Vera looked up to Aravi to reveal her left eye. It was black and bloodied and instead of one perfect member like the other, it was just a mass of scarred tissue with yellow within. By all means, her left eye was gone. "I'm can't see with this eye."

She wasn't too worried, though. Not as much as she should be. "It'll be fine," she said, with a hopeful voice.

Though she's never had this sort of injury before, she wasn't certain for sure. Scars and cuts often healed with time. Flesh wounds knit themselves closed only if she was in her other form. If she was injured in that form, and she consumed another person . . . she would be healed. But now . . .

Now only a powerful spell could restore her eye, but with time she could fix this. There were other things to worry about. "We must press onward."

[Grits]

Vera sounded optimistic about the state of her injured eye. Darnand was no healer, but it seemed quite serious to him even at a distance. Unfortunately he had no expertise to offer beyond what a simple spell or potion could do. Seal the skin over the socket and stop the bleeding. Between the three of them he was sure that Vera, Aravi, and Salyan could more than handle it. His regret over her loss would have to wait. He pushed those thoughts aside until later.

“I see a way down to the water,” he said, pointing. “I shall search for Kayla.” He cast his water strider spell as he jogged down to the water.

His spell made the lake’s surface feel springy. He moved carefully so as not to trip over the small waves caused by the waterfalls. Life signs glowed under the water when he renewed and strengthened his detection spell. None of them could have been Kayla.

Slaughterfish, he realized when they began to surface and bite at his feet. Wonderful. He quickened his pace.

After the search he rejoined the group.

“She is not within this cavern,” he said. Then he pointed toward the far side of the cavern where a raised walkway led to tunnel-sized openings. “I expect she has been washed into an underground river in that direction, either alive or dead. I found the opening under there. Even the surface current is strong. Additionally if her body was still here in the water, the slaughterfish would be gathering to feed. They are not doing so.”

Darnand sent a longing glance at the cave-flyers’ corpses. With Kayla missing he would not spare the time to examine the bodies.

He looked to Aravi for direction.

[King Coin]

Vera reacted to Aravi’s voice and looked up at her. She moved her hand from her face, and Aravi couldn’t help but flinch. Vera’s eye was destroyed.

“I can't see with this eye. It'll be fine.”

Darnand announced that he was going to search for Kayla. Aravi nodded to him and turned back to Vera.

“We must press onward.”

“We must. But I don’t know if you should come with. Your eye is gone. Nobody here knows the magic needed to repair an injury like that. My magic would seal your wound, which would only guarantee the total loss of your eye.”

Darnand returned and reported he didn’t find anything to indicate Kayla’s whereabouts. Dead or alive.

Aravi sighed. This was a catastrophe. Her better judgment told her to turn around now. A member was lost, another seriously injured. I can’t leave Kayla without knowing.

“Anyone that wants to turn around now, may do so, but I am going to find Kayla.” She looked at Vera. “I can’t make you leave, but you risk much if you remain with me. You will be at a disadvantage in any fights, and you may not be able to repair your eye if you wait.”