Beala's New Home(?)

[Buccaneer]

As Beala wandered through the city, devastation was all around her. Her suspicion and worry both grew in equal proportions as she made her way along the main street, surrounded by rubble and that faint smell on all sides. Eventually she came to the street her house was purported to be on, leading off to both sides.

The elven girl turned left, as that was the direction her house was supposed to be in. She travelled down the eerily dark and silent road for what seemed like hours but must only have been a few minutes, without meeting another soul, living nor dead. It seemed like the stench of death might have been getting stronger, but that could just have been her imagination toying with her in the gloomy surroundings.

After a while, she didn't know how long, she began getting very close to where her house should be. In her nervousness she took to looking at adress numbers where she saw them on the ground, her panic rising higher with each number closer to her own. Until she finally reached her house. Or what was left of it. For it seemed that indeed, her home had burned down with the rest of the city.

Beala entered the ruins of her house through the fire-blasted, crumbling doorway. The place was a mess. Nothing but rubble remained, except for one spot in what used to be the bedroom. A small corner of metal stuck out from under the charred remains of what was once a four-poster bed, blackened by ash and soot but otherwise undamaged by the fire. It looked to be a trapdoor of some kind, and who could know what might be under it. Perhaps the loss of her house had not been total after all, if there was some sort of hidden treasure under there. It would seem only natural, after all, that someone would hide something important under their bed...

[Beala Amaess]

Beala approached the bed with fright in her jerky movements. She grasped the frame and began slowly pulling it back so that she may get a better look at the metal. All the while her eyes and head shifted back and forth makeing sure that she was still alone.

When she had moved the bed clear of the door she examined the metal opening with inquisitive thoughts. After seeing all that had happened to this city and to her house this little piece of metal was her only hope ....of anything.

She began to wonder what could be beneath it. ' Gold , treasure, or maybe it leads to some part under the house. ' She began to move her hand to open it and reveal the mystery . Then thoughts came with no reasoning behind them other than the fear she felt from this place. ' could something lay under there that I don't want to see...' At that she pulled her hand back .

She moved back towards the bed and brushed some of the soot off of it. She sat there on the bed and tried to shake the fear before she took this experience any further. It could not be said whether she was more afraid of what she might find or what she might not find , but she was not ready to find out. She lost herself in thought . The sounds seemed to all blend together as she forgot what was happening around her.

As the sting of soot and ash in her nose came back so did she. "This is stupid, what could be down there. I have seen nothing in this city but ashes . How could anything that I should fear be down there when there is nothing up here! I'm acting like a child that is scared of the dark. I am stronger than this."

She then bolted to the door and began to open it slowly. As the darkness that surrounded her met the darkness under the door ,for the first time in probably years, she peered inside with no more fear. That had all been replaced with an overbearing curiousity.

[Buccaneer]

The door had evidently been shut or forgotten for quite some time, judging by the rush of stale, flat air that whooshed out of the trapdoor when Beala opened it. Inside was nothing, seemingly, but a ladder leading down into darkness.

The ladder was obviously old, and had been untouched for a great many years judging by the accumulation of dust upon its rungs. However, old though it was, the slight elf maiden judged that it was still sturdy enough to hold her weight, should she decide to explore further...

[Beala Amaess]

Beala's uniquely colored eyes peered down into the depths of the darkness that lay before her. Life in Acumin had , at first , seemed to be nothing but a lost hope. What she had seen so far left her with many doubts as to why she was left a house in such a troubled town. Could it be that destiny had led her here for some reason or another , or was it simply bad luck that placed her in such a dismal situation. When she had set eyes upon this burnt house she could only hope for a ray of hope to appear and show her the way. Needless to say a ebony black and seemingly bottomless pit was not what she had in mind , but it was all she had.

A chill ran down her spine as she continued staring down into the abyss. Soon the courage came to her and the beautiful elf lowered herself to her hands and knees and turned around to get into position to enter feet first. The creaking and straining of the first rung of the ladder as she slowly put her weight upon it made her very cautious as she lowered herself one step at a time. As Beala progressed deeper into the darkness only her curiousity allowed her to beat her fear and move forward. What awaited her she did not know, but she was determined to found out no matter the cost.

[Buccaneer]

As the young elf lowered herself slowly down into the hole in the floor of what used to be her house, she noticed a strange thing. She could still see, for some reason. After several seconds she felt her foot hit uneven carved stone, instead of the next ladder rung that she had been expecting.

As Beala turned around, she realized the reason that she could still see was the presence of some sort of glowing substance on the walls of what she found to be a large room. The tall ceiling explained the long trip down the ladder, and the size of the room was surprising, given the fact that it was underground. The room, however, was empty, except for the remnants of a door to Beala's right and a pile of what looked like miscellaneous junk on the floor in one corner. The doorway led to a hall that stretched away into darkness, a pile of moldering dust all that was left of the door that had once barred it. It was at least as easy to see in here as it had been outside, so Beala knew that she had no need of further light. Her choice was whether she would continue to explore this strange place under her home, or whether she would turn tail and go right back up the ladder out of fear.

[Beala Amaess]

Beala was intrigued by the lighting in the room. Her curiosity raised to new heights as she took a moment to study the walls and see what was making them glow. When she was satisfied she approached the pile of materials. She didn't think that there would be much in there , but after losing everything she was desperate to acquire something.

As she finished inspecting the pile her eyes drifted to the door , her hands still feeling through the junk. That , she knew , would be her next destination. As her mind raced over what might be beyond the door she realized this time , when there was a new place to enter , she was not afraid. Beala had become to excited to be afraid and she felt her heart beating irregularly fast with anticipation.

[Windhaven]

OOC: Hello. As you might have noticed, Buccaneer has become a former staff member. I apologize for the inconvieniance that this might cause to the thread that you are currently involved in, but as I will be taking it over, I will try to keep things flowing smoothly. Please feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns you might have. Thanks for being flexible and I look forward to continuing this thread with you.

Windhaven

IC: Beala approached the light giving substance with extreme curiosity. Having never seen anything like it however, she also approached with extreme caution. As the young elf neared, the glowing object became more clear in shape. The object was made up of an orange substance that seemed to sway slightly in the windless room. Coming to a stop directly in front of the strange luminescent object, Beala was shocked to see that it appeared to be made up of a jelly like substance and had hair like fibers spreading out into the air around it. Too unsure of what she was dealing with, the blonde haired elf decided it best to move on to the pile of "junk".

Splintered wood from broken chairs and tables as well as decaying parchment made up the bulk of the pile. Shattered glass and bits of sharp metal grazed over Bealas hands as she rummaged about, but luckily she was able to withdraw her hands unscathed. Her search had proved fruitless in it's yield of useful items. The one thing that did strike her as odd however, was the language that was written on the discernable pieces of paper that she had come across. It was a language that she had never seen before and considering her surroundings, the young elf started to wonder what lived in the subterranean chamber and whether or not it still occupied it's neglected residence.

Gazing at the darkness beyond the archway, Beala began to second guess her discission to venture down the hole as faint scratching sounds came forth to greet her.

[Beala Amaess]

ooc: Hi windhaven , sorry it took me so long to post. After not getting a reply from buccaneer in so long I fell out of the habit of checking Alleria. Anyway I cant wait to see what u have in store for Beala.

The beautiful elf grabbed some of the papers with the strange hand-writing and folded them neatly placing them in her pocket. She would hope someone could help her translate them when she made it out.

The scratchings startled the lady elf and she rose to her feet eyeing the door. Beala approached the dark passage slowly , the fear in her growing once more , but not over taking the curiosity that surged through her being. " Hello.....is anyone there" She said hoping for some kind of distinguishable answer. She quickly looked for anything that could be used as a weapon , before whatever had made the noise could come through the passage.

[Windhaven]

OOC: No problem about the delay, I am too often guilty of lulls in my own posting. I will be checking in on this thread about every other day however should you wish to post more frequently. Well that said, let's have a little fun...

IC: The tingling sensation of fear crept up the back of Beala's neck as she wait to see what could be coming up the dark passage. A broken table leg that she had seen amongst the pile of "junk", rushed to the forefront of her mind as she searched for a weapon. The scratching noise grew louder as the uninvited guest neared the the room.

When it finally came within lights reach, the young elf thought that she had triggered the curiosity of a guard dog, but was shocked to quickly realize that the creature was no dog, but rather a knee high rat approximately six feet in length. Pausing about the entryway, the mammoth rat sniffed around searching for the sent of the unfamiliar in the all too bright chamber.

[Beala Amaess]

Beala rushed back to the pile of junk and lifted the table leg holding it tightly in both hands. She paused, in shock, for a moment. " AHHHHH.....A RAT!" She had always had a certain fear of rats, but she never thought her one of her worst nightmares would come true. Her mind raced in thoughts of horror, 'Its only a nightmare...it has to be a nightmare.....how could a giant rat actually stand before me. I have to collect myself I can't die here not knowing what lies ahead!'

Beala stared into the eyes of the giant mammal. 'Thats it,' she thought, 'the light, its blinded from coming into the light, it must be.' She leapt at the creature, her table leg, held over her head, aimed at the skull of the rat, as she swung with all of her strength to impale it.

[Windhaven]

True enough the light was causing the giant rodent difficulties in seeing what had caused the unusual commotion in the neglected chamber. This was made further evident as the creature lunged unsuccessfully at the elf as she retreated to the junk pile in hopes of retrieving a weapon. Finding the table leg, the frazzled elf pulled herself together and decided to take the fight to her disoriented foe before letting it's eyes adjust to the light.

Beala lept into the air, bringing the table leg down with the weight of her, hoping to impale the skull of the freakishly large rat. Training and experience were not on the beautiful elf's side but luck and determination was, for although her strike was off target, it was lethal none the less. piercing the flesh just behind the base of the skull, the table leg slid into the rat with ease. The rat responded by quickly jerking away from the elf, but that only proved to tear open the grievous wound further as it tore the table leg from Beala's grasp.

Blood soaked the floor as the wounded creature struggled to flee and it was only able to take a few steps before collapsing to the ground. It would no longer roam the subterranean chambers below Acumin, but with it's death Beala was given a moment to pause and consider what other monstrosities might lurk below the ravaged city.