xibalba ♔ sublime | like a heartbeat | in its own beat

[everyredcent]

Heartbeat - Gazelle Twin 

WHO || Christos, Risa, Gaz, Ella, Katniss, Dante  [closed] 
WHAT || The Knights explore several drow raids stemming from a series of caverns in Belize
WHERE || Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre, Belize 
WHEN || March (date TBD)
HOW || Actionspam (single thread)

[ Travel to the Mountain Nature Reserve goes smoothly, and as promised, a woman who works for the park meets them and escorts them within as 'researchers', guiding them towards the area near the cavern entrances.  She speaks very fluent English and makes it clear that she's willing to put her job at risk getting them in there if it means putting a halt to these attacks before waiting for it to get cleared through red tape with the authorities.  She stops them at the cave mouth, nodding at the entrance. ]

From here, you must swim inside of the cave, and then wade up the river within for about a kilometer before you will reach dry ground.  The caverns stretch within for another few kilometers.  Will you be alright from here?

Comments

[buttholy]

[dante follows too, not doing too shabby aw yeah (climb 19)]

[sorceresslite]

[ so like

ella's climb is a zero

fucking sigh. ]

[everyredcent]

[ with a 26 reflex save, christos manages to catch her before she can fall entirely, and gives her a chastising look like YOU BOTHERSOME CHILD, but will at least fucking carry her down thataway with his own climb of 33.

the huge natural cavern below has a clump of creatures gathered near its southwest wall. two lizards loaded down with packs and crates stand at the center of the clump. three gray dwarves beside them seem to be selling wares from the lizards' packs. the customers include a pair of drow, a trio of fish-like humanoids, and a mind flayer, none of whom sport modern clothing of any sort. a ledge, about 10 feet off the ground, runs the length of the wall, and some half-dozen doors are set into the wall beyond the ledge. the cavern's ceiling is about 20 feet high. they don't seem to pay any particular attention as they climb closer, and none of them seem very on alert. ]

[sorceresslite]

[ ella whispers ] Thanks. [ as she straightens up awkwardly. ] Is this like a bizarre sort of bazaar?

[layonhands]

I think that's exactly what it is. If so, they might even realize that we're outsiders, if we play our cards right.

[sorceresslite]

Look like we belong in a sunless cave of death then? [ her nose wrinkles and after a brief moment of thought, she twists the ring off her finger, tucking it into a pocket of her dress. all the color drains from her skin, leaving a pale, powdery cast to it, and her bright green eyes turn an eerie snow white. her ginger hair remains the same, but there is something unnatural about the tiny woman, pale lips pressed into a thin line. ] Got that covered.

[buttholy]

[dante watches this with his mouth gaping open like wtf because he missed that part of ella's life, ok.] Wha — [magic??]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Yeah, what Dante said. ]

And for those of us who aren't [ dead, from the looks of things ] "magically inclined?"

[sorceresslite]

Just dinnae look... happy. [ she claps dante on the back. it's gon' be a struggle for you, son. she also looks at christos like "what do?? is this right???" because ella believes christos knows everything about everything tbh. ]

[everyredcent]

For the rest of you, the less said the better. Particularly about the world above. [ he doesn't look surprised by ella's transformation, for his part, and with those few words of advice, starts that way. ]

[anthophobia]

[Katniss just nods once. Staying quiet is what she'd prefer to do at this point, so no complaints from her as she follows along diligently.]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Likewise. Things tend to go better when Gaz doesn't open her big fat mouth, anyway. ]

[everyredcent]

[ the gray dwarves are the first to notice their approach, and eye them up suspiciously as they approach. their initial greeting is in undercommon, but they follow it up with common.

"Here to barter, are you?" ]

[sorceresslite]

Of course. [ st patrick slithers up around her shoulder and hisses companionably. ] What 'ave y'got?

[layonhands]

[ eying up the little guy, the dwarf turns to one of the lizards, indicating its pack.

"Fabrics, arms and armor, foodstuffs... what're you lookin' fer?" ]

[buttholy]

[he gave ella a sideglance 84 years ago when she told him to act less happy, but is now playing the part of trying to be inconspicuous by lurking in the back, looking vaguely surly and scuffing at the ground with his boot.]

[sorceresslite]

Food'd do me. Might take a look at your arms, as well.

[anthophobia]

[Katniss spends most of this conversation staring at the ground, though her eyes finally lift briefly to look around and then over at her companions as she shifts on her feet slightly, her attempt at hiding her discomfort not entirely successful.]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Gaz is slightly more comfortable looking than Katniss, but she's still going to let Ella do the talking, preferring to just stand in the back with her arms crossed. ]

[everyredcent]

[ the mind flayer turns to fix dark, shiny eyes on katniss and gaz, as the dwarf unloads some cheese, dried meats, and fungus for ella to look through.

"What kinda weapon you use? Knife?" he asks gruffly as christos, who slips himself slightly between katniss and the illithid. visible beyond them is a tunnel out of this area that leads down into a wide series of buildings that seem to be built here underground. only those with darkvision can make out the few sentries down there, wearing archaic looking white tabards bearing leering black skulls. ]

[anthophobia]

[Katniss glances briefly at the mind flayer, but her sense motive was garbage so she just ends up looking away again, unsure of if she should be worried or not.]

[sorceresslite]

[ zero darkvision here. ]

Yeah, how'd you know?

[ she might take some of the cheese because she's hungry and lol if it's poisoned it's not like it'll kill her. ]

[farmgirlfighter]

[ Gaz gets a 28 on spot to try and make out what's lurking in the shadows with her low light vision, but only a 15 on sense motive for that mind flayer. Which is enough to make her know it's creepy as all get out anyway. ]

[buttholy]

[dante's spot with low-light vision is a 25, so. yeah. but he sees the mind flayer eyeing gaz and katniss just fine and 20 totaled his sense motive so maybe he'll just try to sliiiide his way in front of them. so subtle. so brave.]

[everyredcent]

[ with their low-light vision, gaz and dante can both make out movement down below, at least. and the mind flayer switches his focus to him as he does so, ignoring christos.

when he speaks, its in rasping english, his voice a terrifying and unearthly sound.

"I have much more interesting items, if travelers can pay..." he says. the dark dwarves flash him annoyed looks, even as they work on getting ella her knife and cheese, and demanding a few gold pieces from her. hope she has some on her...

christos pointedly ignores the illithid, speaking to the dwarves instead. ]

This city. What is it called?

[ that draws another suspicious glance between them, but the merchant says: "This is Szith Morcane. Home of your kind." he raises his eyebrows at christos like duh bitch how did you not know that ]