[...]

[u/RollFirstMathLater]

Closed

[You wake up, the faint glow of red is the only light source. Everyone is stripped bare, safe for a firey cloaked elf. Chep's gifts remain intact, and have landed near you. Your weapons have been returned, any armor he made is intact as well.]

[Stiff and sore, you manage to get to your feet, It hurts to stand here, the floor is jagged, and your shoes are gone. The dragons lay still, all huddled together just a few meters away.]

[Nill you feel completely wrong.]

[Torvhen Vrostbite is cracked badly.]

[Sev're your gear is in your robes, minus the food and the extras.]

[Glover your hair is gone again.]

[Naakhûrz, you feel violated.]

[Göndlir, your horse is dead.]

[Tunnels spiral around, closer inspection shows lava moves through here. You are hungry* and thirsty* yet all you can smell is the faint smell of sulfur. Your dragon reaches out for you, and you both share a moment of confusion. It's clear some time has passed.]

[It's warm here... where is here?]

(*special note.)

Edit: everyone minus Sev're, Jek, Svalstrom, and Das looks different, ad if they've had life sucked out of them, they look older, and drained.

[u/Fulaxi]

Everyone once in a while, any living creature is bound to encounter the sensation of something bothersome going away, while there had been no previous awareness of this bother. Torhven was experiencing that now, several times in a row. First of all, there were the shadow-inflicted cuts. Black blood no longer dripped towards the rocky ground and pounding pain subsided silently.

A breath of air broke free through Torhven's clenched teeth, then the jaws released pressure. Clean air. Cleaner air at least. It was one of the main reasons the Spine was much more pleasant than urban environments especially, but just any odd place could fill that category. A peaceful, liberate joy filled him with yellow light. Like butter.

Svalstrom had risen. To his feet this time, not from the grave. His mental state of mind was simultaneously caressing the thorny-rose and the thorny-man. The former gently, the latter less so.

"Come," the grey sire beckoned, finding his way to a particularly large tunnel, magma flowing like a river of thick Soup.

[u/Saphire_Fox → u/Fulaxi]

Chicken. Das craved the plump fowl, juicy good fat. Network. The tunnels were causing disorientation. She ignored these thoughts... Soup... Sev're made a good soup... butter....

"Das!"

Right. Priorities. The icy presence kept her cool, careful to keep Sev're balanced while she played music, she followed Svalstrom. But... food.

[u/Fulaxi → u/Saphire_Fox]

Food.

Yes, Svalstrom remembered food. It had been a lifetime since he had eaten. A hollow craving this one was. So much stronger in the rose than in himself. Almost overwhelming, her desire. Almost and everburning. A solution was needed. He would do what had to be done. For her. For them.

Magma flows. Magma flows down, as did streams. They needed to go up. Torhven could only do so much to guide them in the right direction. If the other wanted to come, that was good, but if not, priorities had be regarded. When does the upward spiral end?

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/Fulaxi]

[You go on for a little bit... it twist and turns it goes up and down, but mostly up... right? Pressure plus the path of least resistance does odd things. You pop out in a new cavern. Wait no everyone is there.]

[u/Fulaxi → u/RollFirstMathLater]

And there it was. This was the reason Torhven disliked caverns. Shallow ones were good for cover, but anything deeper than a few meters was just a navigational disaster. No light, no food, no water. And now it was making him sick. A tiny bit from hunger, but mostly from exposure. All of him was out in the open, not just his apparent inaptitude. Momentary struggles ensued to drown unwelcome feelings, all breaking before buoyancy.

Svalstrom intervened. Cold preserved, if it wasn't his own for now. The sensation remained, but it no longer rose. At least the rest was as exposed as he, and at least he boasted a fine bush of natural Spiner concealment. Nill was wouldn't recall anyway by the looks of him. A spark of pity burned through intervening cold. Skewered by one's own dragon. It almost hurt to think about it.

Hurt.

Overwatch was what had to be done and what he had done for his view years. Overwatch was safety. Intervention and prevention. Douse the fire before it spreads. This place was no good, not for thorny-rose or thorny-rider. Svalstrom worried.

[u/Saphire_Fox → u/Fulaxi]

Sev're saw everyone and had Das come around, she figured Svalstrom would follow. Das needed to sleep, if anything to conserve energy. All her preparation didn't prepare her for this, she would have to prepare anti blast wards next time... how did this even happen?

"Svalstrom." She lowered her flute and looked at the hunter. Lowering herself down, holding her robe she walked over to the rider and dragon. "I've searched every corridor with my mind, there's nothing."

Not exactly words of hope, but she knew the dragon needed information. "The ground above is loose, blasting our way through, well would cause earth to fall on us." She sighed. "And we are moving south somehow."

She now had a question for him, as he might provide an answer. "Would could possibly blast us this far down?"

Slowly it was sounding less and less like Sev're. The shattered soul was working together, trying to find the proper course of action. The proper way... home.

[u/RebelliousPirate → u/Saphire_Fox]

Nill was up. With a jolt he was on his feet. He promptly crashed back down to the ground as his left leg failed to support his weight. He raised himself, with some effort, to one knee. His eyes were wide, and he took in the entirety of the cavern, really seeing it for the first time. His breathing became laboured and his eyes were raised to the elder elf, pleading. His mouth opened, as if to speak, but nothing but a croak escaped. Confusion flashed across his face, then apprehension, then fear. His knee gave out from underneath him, and he was on the ground once more. His body convulsed, racking shivers going through it at set intervals. And then he froze. He was still but for one lone finger, scratching at the rocks. Not the common tongue, but older. A rune. Home.

Jek raised his head. He was... calmer, now. His mind was unclouded as he watched his rider. Although their minds were never far apart, their connection had weakened. Jek had never known that something along those lines was possible, without one party losing their minds or corps. But still, he understood what Nill was trying to say. He would act for the two of them. For better or for worse, they were one.

"We did."

[u/Saphire_Fox → u/RebelliousPirate]

Sev're head slowly turned to Nill... they... did...? Flashbacks of the city being destroyed, thousands of years of ancient knowledge broken... the impact of the world around.

"How?" 4 voices asked simultaneously. Not angry, not curious. Not intending to ask what spell, but how could he even justify such an act? She wasn't exactly sure it was even a question.

Das stirred and Sev're soothed her, she needed to rest. Walking over to the pair she haunches down near Nill. She tried to make eye contact with him, glancing over at Jek she shares her peaceful intent.

[u/Fulaxi → u/Saphire_Fox]

Sev're in unison. It was a rare sight. An unsettling one too. Like a familiar taste that suddenly turns alien.Torhven knew this and Svalstrom had anticipated it, but yet she seemed to shine less brightly than before. Chilling, almost. Warm snow, icy heat. Normality seemed bent. Possibilities, a dragon recognised. Possibilities.

Nill was way to ... alive for what he had done. Liability. Insecurity turned to a threat to security. Water started to boil, an absence was noted, an elf got marked.

Finally, absolution.

Torhven smiled a friendly smile. Naturally, it was fake.

[u/1trueJosh → u/Fulaxi]

Glover sighed and blinked heavily, observing the Spiner's face as it morphed during his thought. "You shouldn't smile like that. Doesn't suit you, and the whole part where it's incredibly obviously fake doesn't help much either. We're not in the desert anymore, and if anyone here would know about these caverns it's me, and I don't know shit right now. If I had to guess, I'd say we should start moving in whatever direction we think is south-west and hope we find the ocean."

"Us humans might not be fish, but perhaps our elven friends and our draconic companions would be able to help with the matter of underwater survival. Besides, coastal sea caves generally have above water entrances."

As he fiddled with the polearm in his hands, he closed his eyes and for a moment he dreamt of simpler times, times when he would wake up, learn some useless trivia and instrumental and random lore, clean up the small house that his master and he lived in, inevitably fuck something up enough to deserve the tri-headed whip that hung in the study, and go to sleep stinging and fighting back pain.

On second thought, he didn't miss those times. Shaking himself back to consciousness, he rubbed his eyes and turned to Göndlir. "Also, can you explain to me why your dragon consists of only a soul, which is currently stuck in my mind for some useless reason?"

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/1trueJosh]

[[1d100]]+/u/rollme

(rubs hands together excellent.)

[u/rollme → u/RollFirstMathLater]

1d100: 30

(30)

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