Of saurids, fuzes, and other things that go: "Sssssss" [Eyvind]

[Desmodus]

Timestamp: 41 Ioannes, Era XIV PF

Eyvind had been instructed to come here, to this apparently arbitrary spot in the forest outside of Acumin. And he *was* sure it was the right spot, because not only was the bent white aspen sapling distinctive, jutting out at an incongruous angle from its erect fellows, but so also was the pair of suspicious-looking satchels leaning against a nearby rock. These satchels were to contain the "devices" that Eyvind and his guide, a certain "Rikus" or however his name was spelled, were to deliver to the tunnels of Herozzal, apparently with the intention of detonating said devices in order to seal off said tunnels.

Eyvind had received no explanation as to why this Rikus rather than himself was to bring the devices to this spot, nor why Eyvind had not had a chance to meet his soon-to-be partner-in-sapping before they were ready to head out. Apparently, nobody else in Acumin had received any explanation for either of these peculiarities, either, and any questions Eyvind might have asked about it would simply have met with exasperated shrugs from the other rangers and townsfolk. The only other comment Eyvind would get was a darkly muttered one by the dwarf Bork Valding, something about hoping that scaley git got his cloaca blown up. But that was not particularly illuminating for the Vagaran.

So. Here were the aspens, the other adventurers, and the "devices". Where was the guide?

[Eyvind Redbeard]

The red-haired man stood now in the middle of the forest. He had been told to come here to find a so called Rikus, the man who would guide him into the tunnels to the place where he was supposed to place the bombs. Taking a paper he had been given back in the Aedile's Office and examining it again while looking at the satchels he made sure those were the same. Studying the plans hadn't been easy and he still didn't know well how to place and explode the bombs. This was magic to him, dark one, but he would argue since it was being used to protect Acumin and its people.

Eyvind scratched his head as he remembered the candlemarks spent walking across the barrier, a second time. At least he was prepared for the mission he was being given. He had requested a comfortable backpack, combat rations for a cycle and a half, a longknife, a small lantern, some rope and a leather breastplate. Aside of all that he carried his sword on a brown scabbard pending from his belt and a pouch on the belt as well, containing some personal items. His tigh boots and comfortable dark clothes were all he dressed.

Eyvind Redbeard Avornmagor Björnsson was ready, but where was his guide?

[Dego Mernoff]

The morning sun was beaming down on his face as Dego walked toward the spot he had been instructed to meet the group at. Well instructed may not have been the best term, it had been more a note left with Mila at the Inn for him to report first thing this morning to this bent aspen if he wanted to join a short party of cave divers. Outside of that, he didn’t know whom he was meeting, or even what they were doing, after his last mission though, the young half elf put faith in the Aedile to not be trying to overwhelm him.

The trip through the barrier hadn’t been so bad this time, perhaps the cities patron goddess was taking a liking to the young man, or perhaps he had just been too tired to care about the absorbent amount of time it took to just enter or leave the city. There was already a man waiting by a rather large rock with his own pack on and a set of satchels sitting next to him. Was this overtly tall, red headed human his guide? Dego hadn’t seen him around the city over the recent brightnings, which more likely meant he was an explorer.

“Serale, I’m Dego, are you the leader or a follower, I got a note to meet up with a group of explorers to head down into the caves, though that’s about all I know.” He glanced to the satchels next to his new companion and started to reach for them. “Is that my gear for the caves? The note said our ranger would bring all of our equipment for the journey”

[Desmodus]

As soon as Dego asked his question, a small, moss-covered rock outcropping emitted an irritable hiss. At least, it had looked like a moss-covered rock outcropping until part of it stirred and began to stand up. "Sssss! 'Issss that my ssstuff?'" came the voice from the verdant form that now emerged into view. "Musssst Ri'i pack for everyone elsssse?".

The green being continued to rise as if springing from the very ground until it stood about a head taller than Eyvind. The reptilian creature had green, fine scales, a long, wedge-shaped head, and rather long limbs and digits; it closely resembled an anole, an anole the size of an alligator that stood on two legs, and talked.

The creature turned its head in profile towards Eyvind, peering at the Vagaran with one black eye the size of a bread-plate. "I wasss told that one human would come with red hair. Are you thisss Eyvind?" It pointed a long, green, clawed finger towards the left-hand satchel. "That pack containssss a knife, rope, a lantern, and dried meat and hardtack. I do not know why you ssssoftssskinsss bake and eat dried grassssseed, but it iss there. No armor, though."

The saurid's head swivelled towards Dego. "I wasss told to exssspect another, but no one sssaid Ri'i wasss to bring any more gear. The other sssatchel containsss the devicsssesss for blowing up the tunnelsss. You can carry that, if you like. Did you come without any sssort of gear? What did you need?" The voice, odd though it was in both accent and tenor, managed to carry an edge of impatience.

[Dego Mernoff]

Instinctively Dego retch for his rapier hanging from his left hip, his slender pale fingers wrapping around the handle as his left hand took a firm grip about the sheath. He hesitated to pull when the rock started speaking. What in the gods names was going on, it kept rising to a towering height, but the defining moment was when its saucer sized eyes opened and it addressed the human by name. Then it suddenly dawned on Dego, this was a Saurid, and apparently their ranger. He hadn’t recognized it immediately because their weren’t many saurids in NP, and then the next fact dawned on him as well. The man was not only growing impatient, and harder to understand, but Dego apparently hadn’t been brought any gear. Letting off a long sigh as his right hand broke away from the sword to cradle the bride of his nose between his thumb and index finger Dego spoke in a soft flowing voice to their group leader.

“I have brought my bow and sword for weapons, no armor, and I have a pack with some fruit and salted meat and I think a couple roles so I can make that last. Other then that though, I don’t have any lanterns or ropes or what not.”

The young half elf thought to himself about how this was going to be a long day, and now had just found out that he was in charge of the explosives… grand, simply grand. He walked over and unfastened his back pack setting it gently next to the right satchel. From it he pulled a black cloak with a hood and a small silver broach in the form of a dragon biting his own tail. Setting that aside he put the pack of bombs in his backpack, then neatly folded the cloak and slipped it back into the pack and replaced it on his back, taking care not to hinder his quiver and bow.

“If we don’t think that will be a hindrance I say we get going, those Vyssie aren’t going to wait all day. What’s the plan of attack, do we have an escape route after we setup the bombs?”

[Desmodus]

[ooc: Moving this along a bit. This shouldn't leave Eyvind too far behind.]

The green form peered at Dego with one large, expressionless eye while the young man spoke. When Dego was finished, the saurid was silent for a moment, then blinked once, a squamous eyelid lowering itself langourously over the eye, then slowly rising again. "You have weaponssss and food," it said at last, "and armor would be more hinderencsssse than help, excsssept maybe a helmet." Ri'i paused again, swivelling his long, wedge-shaped head towards Eyvind, then towards the packs, and then at last back to Dego. "There issss rope enough, sssso no matter there," he continued (it was a he, wasn't it?) "but you sssay you have no light? No torchesss or lantern? That isss bad. Two lanternssss, only three people, one musssst walk in darknesssss."

Letting out a hiss that the primates might have guessed expressed irritation, the giant anole-creature darted to the packs leaning against the tree, and pulled out two torches. "Thessse were to be our backupssss, ssshould the lampsss fail. But I will give you one, sssso that you do not have to walk in darknesssss." He offered one of the torches to Dego.

Ri'i shot out a clawed hand to intercept Dego's well-intentioned bid to pack the bombs. "Before we take thessse and go, I musssst ssssshow you two how to ssset the bombssss off." After gesturing for the other two to gather around, Ri'i reached into the satchel to produce an artifact that looked, more than anything else, like a large, flexible, thick-skinned sausage about the length of a dwarf's forearm. One end of the "sausage" pinched off into a small metal tip; the other end had a larger metal head that flared out from the body of the "sausage like a truncated funnel capped with a heavy round plate slightly bigger than Eyvind's palm. Snugly threaded through a hole in the center of this plate was a long, coiled wick. The coils were tied together by a bit of string to keep them from unwinding.

The saurid handed one of the devices carefully to Dego. It was surprisingly heavy for its size, and the sausage part had roughly the yield, consistency, and heft of a sock filled with sand, and it's "skin" felt like some sort of tough cloth. The device emitted a smell that was a combination of sugary-sweet and uninvitingly chemical.

"Every part isssss flexsssible excsssept thisss end," Ri'i began, pointing at the heavy metal cap. "It can be ssshaped and sssquezsssed into crackssss of different sizesss, ssssmall end firssst, and then the heavy end wedgessss in to keep it there."

The creature pointed at the wick. "You sssset off the bomb by uncoiling thisss wick and setting fire to the end of it," he explained. "And then running away fasssst" he completed, looking meaningfully at Dego and Eyvind. "I am told that the fussse takessss about assss long assss it takesss you to count slowly on all your fingerssss and toessss. I am told not to be nearby, or deeper down into the cave, when the fusssse hassss burnt all the way down into the devicsssse."

The saurid cocked his long, narrow head at the half-elf's last question. "I will ssshow you where I think we sssshould placssse thessse thingssss oncssse we are down there. The essscape route issss the way we came in. But the sssafe placssse for usss to run right after lighting the fussesss issss ssssomething elssss. Again, I will sssshow you when we get down there."

Delicately, he removed the device from Dego's hands and replaced it in the satchel, then handed the satchel itself back to the young man to carry. From behind the rock outcropping where he had been hiding, the Sss'ai'errlah retrieved another pack, his own, strapping it onto a harness about midway down his long, green back. "Do you have any other quessstionsss?" he asssked. "If not, we ssshould go now."

[Dego Mernoff]

Dego took the torch and nodded to the man in understanding and tucked it into his pack for now. “I will try to use it as little as possible so it doesn’t burn up right away.” Then as he retch for the packs with the explosives the young man found himself quickly intercepted by the scaly hand of their ranger guide. The large green lizard gingerly handled the floppy sausage sock and as such Dego found that he had better do the same.

Explosives were rare in the empire. Dego had heard them referenced in books and knew what they were, or rather what they did, but this was the first time the elf had ever actually seen one. It was larger then he expected, and heavier. It had a sweet smell that the youngest of the group held up to his nose and sniffed at a bit before continuing to listen to the saurid’s explanation. The device was most definitely formable, and it was boarding hard to hold onto with the combination of weight and lack of anything really solid outside of an end cap.

Suddenly as the green man was talking about the detonation of the device something struck him funny. He had been TOLD it took that long to go off. Had the supposed specialist never actually used one! A gut wrenching feeling passed over the young man and his pale skin faded a bit more. Why couldn’t Bork have been their guide here too, at least he knew what he was talking about.

After the explanation Dego took the satchel and very carefully tucked it into his pack still fidgety about his thoughts. He calmed his voice and spoke up in a soft dedicated tone as he followed the Saurid. “Uh Ri’i just out of curiosity, you have used these before right? In caves also correct?”

[Eyvind Redbeard]

The Vagaran raised his head to watch as the young man approached. He seemed green but not too green, it was good. When Eyvind was preparing to answer to his questions what had previously been a part of the landscape turned into a creature with scales. At first the red-haired man thought this to be a Dracon, like the one he had once met in Old Prime, a nasty creature that had threatened his life and would have attacked him if not by the intervention of Provost Keldon Elsdragon who had talked with said Dracon and made her calm down, or so it seemed back then. Now he saw in front of him a creature that at first had resembled a Dracon, when he stood to its full height Eyvind saw it was something completely different, something he had only heard of, a Saurid.

With a quick nod the Daekin confirmed who he was. He was Eyvind Redbeard Avornmagor Björnsson, he was Eyvind. With another nod he walked up to the pack he had been pointed and transfered the contents to his own backpack, something he saw young Dego trying to do just to be interrupted by Ri'i. The Saurid was quick for a creature of his size and it impressed Eyvind like it would impress any other Vagaran. Regarding the bomb, well it wasn't too hard to use and it was obvious one would have to run away as fast as possible when fuse was lightened, still he didn't know how such item could be constructed, although he still had the plans for it in his backpack.

The red-haired man listened without speaking and when the Saurid took point and the group started moving approached Dego and said while patting his shoulder.

"He hasn't."

And with that the Vagaran followed Ri'i to what would be a dark journey.

[Desmodus]

The saurid did not stop gearing up while it answered Dego's question: "The redhair issss right. I have not usssed thessse. No one hassss ussssed thesssse. Perhapssss the gnomessss who built them." His pack in place, the large green creature reached behind a tree to produce a spear some eight feet long with a knotty, unfinished shaft and a matte-black spearhead of uncertain material. He then turned and waited for the other two to finish getting their gear ready, then with a terse "Follow," he set off through the woods, eastwards and slightly south.

Ri'i did not hike at the sort of steady pace that most humanoids were accustomed to. He would scurry forward very quickly for about a fifty long paces, leaving Eyvind and Dego behind so that they could just barely see him. Then he would stop abruptly, usually standing stock-still next to a tree, or crouching behind a rock, waiting for the humans to catch up. Once they did, he would usually dart abruptly off again for another short sprint, until he reached the next, apparently arbitrarily-selected tree. It was a bit like following a child playing a combination of hide-and-seek, freeze, and capture-the-flag, except the child was seven feet tall, green, noiseless, incredibly fast, and deadly serious.

Among other things, this mode of travel made engaging their guide in any sort of small talk impossible. Occasionally, the saurid would pause longer than usual, not immediately darting off to the next rock when the humans caught up with him, and he would spend a few moments peering at them curiosly, perhaps waiting to see if they had any questions or concerns. Every once and a while during these pauses, the saurid would point out some feature that lay ahead on their path: a dry creek bed with loose rocks and possible snakes, a clearing they would need to skirt, an old farmhouse that might nor not still be abandoned.

They went for a candlemark or so, and the suns by now had cleared the treetops and were slanting down into their eyes. At times it looked like the something drew across the saurid's big black eyes like a sheer veil, causing them to become blurry and less glossy.

As they got further away from the old farmsteads, the trees began to be larger, with less and less undergrowth on the forest floor. The ground here was rocky, with quite a few small outcroppings; the farmers had not cleared out here, for the soil was too thin for good farming. This was to have been the site for the next wave of timbering, to be followed by the development of pasturage, had the Pox and all the other catastrophes not cut short the townsfolks' plans. As things were, it was a relatively pristine bit of woodland.

Ri'i took one of his longer pauses in this part of the woods next to an outcropping just large enough to conceal all three of them, should the need somehow arise for them to hide out here. When the others had caught up, the saurid pointed a long green finger ahead. "There it isssss," he hissed quietly. His claw was pointing at a wide, low outcropping that had been overgrown with vines, but in which the three of them could now discern the dark outline of a hole. It faced slightly west, towards them, or at least the rock outcropping rose to the west behind it, so the suns would not be shining into the hole yet.

There was a moment of silence, and then the lizardman's wedge-shaped head jerked abruptly from one side to the next. He froze once more. "Sssssomething issss moving," he hissed, slowly and very very softly. "Ssssomething big." The humans, if they stopped to listen, would hear nothing at first, then they would hear a faint creaking noise, a bit like a house's timbers or a ship's mast creaking as it bent in the wind. Except that there was no wind, and the other trees weren't stirring at all.