Date: 18.09.2684 (03.28.10)
Location: Fog-Veiled Valley, Ierne Region
People: A'rlo, Byl (NPC), Frahnk (NPC), Jaziera, Lyuba
Dragons: Allochkath, Lucieth
Firelizards: Green Aurora, Green Constance
Synopsis: After interrogating K'rill, a small group of riders returns to see what the traps hid … and they come across another trap and a new kind of trouble.
After much interrogation — interrogation which involved many pointed threats involving K'rill's masculinity, hot tongs, and the application of the latter to the former — few details were divulged that could not otherwise have been discerned otherwise. The information was taken to the Minecrafters which, in turn, then find themselves with several hours worth of work ahead of them. Finding and disarming the traps is made slightly more difficult by the revelation of just how convoluted the tunnels are … and the fact that a paranoid bronzerider saw fit to trap nearly everything.
Thus it is that the next morning finds a much smaller group of riders gathered at the foot of the cliff, supplies handy and surrounded by the fog that eternally veils the valley.
Looking fresh and ready to go, kitted up and once more wearing her rather unflattering helmet, Jazi lounges. She's quite perky and has had the foresight to pack a large canteen of Klah, while a shoulder-bag has a pocket full of meatrolls handy. By now she's been briefed and is ready to go, peering up the cliff and into the fog with wary curiosity. "I like fog, but this is just spooky." The woman mutters vaguely to nobody in particular, arms crossing over her chest defensively. "'least we probably have time to look around today." This somewhat louder, as she casts another long look up towards where the mouth of the cave is.
Leaning against that wraith-like dragon of his, A'rlo grunts once. "At least it means the only people who found this cave are us, and the ones who were supposed to. No one else is stupid enough to try and navigate these canyons in the fog. They'd end up in the Infirmary, or the ground." He pushes off from the dragon, glancing around. "I see the minecrafters are confident enough in their work that they decided not to get out of bed for this. That's a good sign, I suppose."
Allochkath continues to be her anxious self, yellow tinging at the edges of her eyes. She's at least calm-seeming — no fidgeting at all — even if it's likely that she's fussing away a mile a minute in Lu's mind. The greenrider's equally prepared in her own way — large first aid kit, waterskin, snacks, flashlight — and also wearing the usual goggles and helm, for that matter. "Let's just hope they're as thorough as they said they were," says she of the Miners, her mouth pulling a little to a side. "He picked a good spot for whatever he was doing," she agrees with Lo, her nose wrinkling a little. "Just hope we're able to get a good look around. They didn't really give much of a report on what they found, though, and it was getting too late to finish, or so they said …" Speak of the devil … another dragon is quick to wing down to a landing moments later, a lithe brown that seems to be carrying a pair of minecrafters along. Greetings are reduced to waves for the moment until they're able to dismount.
Jaziera wrinkles her nose A'rlo-wards, nodding. "True enough," She agrees with an expression of mingled amusement and wry displeasure. "'least there's that. Good that there's fewer folks here, too. Less to get poked full of holes if things go south." Pleasantly enough, the goldrider offers her assessment, nodding. A shift from foot to foot, and she's smiling thinly at Allochkath. Likely, Keonath's offering a bolstering wash of minty snow to both Lucieth and Allochkath, but for now Jazi's focused on the here and now, herself. "Well, they do do it for a living and all. Guess they didn't have too much time, all the same…" Trailing, she purses her lips thoughtfully, then shrugs. Can't be helped! "Well, hopefully either they'll manage to finish before we get there or…we won't trip any. I'd really like to know what'n the name of sharding Faranth that man is hiding in there." Grumps she, hands on her hips now as she eyes the cliff, then the newly-arrived dragons with a nod and a wave.
"Better late than never, I suppose," A'rlo murmurs to himself. He's wearing a rather large pack himself, filled with primitive first aid supplies, stout cord for pathkeeping, flashlights and several other things. A sturdy flashlight hangs from a ring on his belt and an ominus-seeming smithing hammer hangs opposite it. Fingerless gloves cover his hands, a helmet for his head, and pieces of hardened leather cover the critical areas of his body over his clothing. Light protection indeed from any kind of explosion, but… With the arrival of the minecrafters, he's moving over to Lyuba's side. "It's your show," he murmurs to her. "I think everyone's here that's comin', hon."
"It'd better not be a lone cask of wine and jerky," Lyuba remarks blandly, her brow furrowing. Like as not, it's some inside joke of some sort for the way she shakes her head. "Looks like it. Minecrafters go first, we'll follow, and Faranth help us that any missed traps are misfires, as well." She hauls herself back up onto Allochkath, motioning for the others to mount up as well — back to a single dragon up and down, if only to keep the risk of dragon-related injury down to a minimum. The minecrafters grudgingly take their place, though the green makes no move to rise until everyone else is in place as well.
Jaziera's got a myriad of random objects in her bag, one she likely doesn't even leave home without since past adventures in roughing it. She might not have been smart enough to bring a hammer or pickaxe, but she's got two good-sized knives on her belt and who knows where else, one of the belt-knives' hilts absently grasped as she watches the miners approach. "If it is, I'm gonna shardin' —" Er, wait. "Let him use those tongs." A jerky gesture at A'rlo and a shifty grin; nope, she sure wouldn't do that to anybody. Never! Mounting the green quickly, she straps herself in and absently scritches at Allo's neck, humming pleasantly.
It's only after the last of the minecrafters is up and seated that A'rlo makes the final ascent, strapping himself in and then patting Allo's flank with some familiarity. "Alright, Lu. We're all in and strapped. Let's get this show on the road. Based on what the miners said, we have a lot of ground to cover. They didn't get through the entire cave system. They just stopped after they ran out of tripwires to disarm. We should probaby be homeward bound before the sun goes down."
"I'm sure there's enough there for both of you to work over with tongs. A man's gotta be ballsy to-" and then she's coughing, clearing her throat, and turning her attention back to the ledge. Allo warbles for the attention, her head swinging back briefly to whuff at Jaziera and A'rlo and the miners before she's forced to focus again. "Either that, or they just got lazy at the end," is added, with a backwards look for the miners. It's good-natured, though, and she laughs. A solid thump is given to the green's neck and the small green is pushing off into the air — it's a bit different to lug five bodies rather than one, but the flight is relatively short and she lands nimbly enough, with only the slightest twitch of her tail to betray nervousness. The cave is just as dark as before, with sunlight being loathe to intrude overly much into those mica-shot depths. "Okay, all of you off; Allo, wait down below, just in case."
Jaziera listens quietly, thoughtfully, nodding assent. It takes her a moment to speak up, as the miners strap themselves in, but when she does it's mildly amused. "Always possible." She says with a grin back at the miners, then wrinkling her nose. "Keonath would kill me if I thought of it." After a moment, with a mournful noise, even as Allo turns back around and they get airborne. Jazi holds on tight and makes an approving noise when the green lands, quickly unbuckling herself and smiling. "You're good." She approves to the green, lips quirking. "Thanks." A salute for the dragon, and she's taking several steps back into the cave, making room for others to dismount.
A'rlo doesn't really have any comment for the minecrafters. He's not entirely happy with the situation as it is, and when Allo touches down, he's sliding off of her back in turn, eyes wary. A brief look of concentration sees him summoning a tiny green firelizard into his hand and he murmurs something to her before setting her down next to the cave's entrance to rest. Then he's snapping a flashlight on and following suit, treading after the minecrafters and scanning the walls for those tell-tale signs of silver.
"She says 'thank you'," which is bolstered with a touch of appreciative lemongrass to Keonath's mind. "The old girl's still twice as nimble as some of the kids they're training these days." Grin. Lyuba waits until everyone's off before she dismounts, freeing the small green up to drop from the ledge with her customary quickness. Which leaves Lu, the minecrafters, Lo, and Jazi … and a single green 'lizard that's soon joined by another, who's sent a little further ahead of the group like a scout.
No glints of silver to be seen yet … and the minecrafters proceed onward with supreme confidence in the work of their peers.
Jaziera watches the little green firelizard with amusement, and smiles when she's joined by another, attention flicking between their respective masters. A'rlo's silence is met with a curious 'brow lift, but then she's flicking on her helmet-light and the handheld, 'hmm'ing quietly. "I always did admire the smaller dragons. So agile!" Jazi says wistfully, smiling as she watches Allo leave. "Keo's the greatest — but." Now they're alone up here, and boy is the air around them silent! "Sharding fog." The goldrider murmurs vaguely, wrinkling her nose when the noise doesn't travel far at all. Indeed, it's only as she takes a step or two further into the cave that any noise she makes echoes at all, and she relaxes minimally.
"Once we get to the fork of the cave, I have a few pitons in my pack and some cord that we can use to keep our way once things get twisty," A'rlo offers quietly. That flashlight of his whips this way and that, his ears straining despite the minecrafters' pluck-filled step. "I always kinda felt lucky to get Lucieth the way I did," A'rlo offers somewhat distantly, his mind only half-there. "He's easily one of the biggest blues that I've ever seen, but that's still small enough to fly circles around those metallics in the sky. No offense, of course."
"They all have their purposes," Lu remarks, her smile going a bit rueful. "Much as Allo might want babies, she knows she can't have them … so her size and agility kind of make up for it." That might just be what she tells the green, of course, but the logic … it's there. Lyuba keeps slightly to the back, well behind the minecrafters as they trek down to the fork. "This way," they point, almost in unison. "We have some glowsticks to mark the path we could find, but the rest …" they could only get so far, it would seem. The greenrider grunts, adjusting her hold on her flashlight, and simply follows the others … at that safe distance.
Jaziera's smile is fairly serene as she peers into the cave — trepidation is still there, a slight tightness about her eyes, but she mostly just seems ready to get to the exploration. "I've a pretty good sense of direction, too." She adds onto the last, eyeing the miners with a lifted eyebrows. Clearly she thinks they're less than sane, but Jazi's steps don't falter as she follows, just carefully. A'rlo gets a rueful grin and a nod, as she sweeps the ground ahead of her step by step with her lights. "None taken. Keo's really small for a gold, but she's still shardin' big. Tries to be quick and stealthy, but…" There's an amused little smirk tugging there, for a moment, as she turns a wry smile on Lu. "Aye, they do. Keonath's the best mom you can find, but I bet it'd be sad to not be able to lay eggs at all. 'Least there's other younger dragons around to mother?" She chuckles, then is quiet for a moment, watching the miners ahead with rapt, wary attention — you know, just in case they get smithereen-ized. Eventually, though, she a frown pulls at her eyebrows, and she hrms thoughtfully. "Any guesses as to what's down there?"
A'rlo chuckles. "Can you miagine how completely overrun Pern would be if the greens had been allowed to breed like their baby brothers, the firelizards do? It'd be a plague." For her last question, however, A'rlo is jerking a thumb back in Lyuba's direction. "Besides what we discussed yesterday, you'd have to ask her. It's her would-be friend, so she'd know a bit more about what kind of work he was into. I think it's safe to say at this point that, whatever it is, it's either very valuable, very illegal, or both."
"Allo likes firelizards and children just as much; she's downright motherly to anything she sees that she thinks /needs/ a mother." There's a snork of laughter, a shake of her head, and an added, "For the better, in the end, given how motherly green 'lizards are." For the question of what's down there, though, all Lyuba can do is say, "I'm not sure, but if it's anything like the stuff he keeps in his house …"
Conversation continues and trails as the lot of them wind their way through the tunnels, lead by the minecrafters who seem to know their way about. Time passes, though it's impossible to tell just how long in the lightless, winding guts of this place. Eventually: "Hold up, Frahnk," one of the men blurts, holding up a hand. "What, Byl?" "Missed one, here," Frahnk offers with a frown and he kneels next to the device …
Only for it to be triggered when he misjudges what cord is to be pulled. The result? Rocks falling from above!
"Would be pretty insane," Jazi agrees witht the faintest of winces. "Already so many firelizards around…" That doesn't seem to displease her, though, as she's smiling, and nodding Lu-wards. "Well, there's that, then! Always something around that needs mothering. She can play with my younger son sometime, maybe. I'm sure he'd get a kick out of that." As time winds on, she steadily drinks her Klah, and by the time they pause she's looking rather well-awake and perky. Perkier, really. "Hu —" In the middle of a question, she squeaks when the shower of rocks rains down, standing as still as possible to keep less surface area, or something of the sort. "Sharding damn sharding man, going to…" Spitting out a pebble or two (how'd they get in there?), she turns to eye the others with widened eyes for damage.
When the sound of the click reaches A'rlo's ears, all he has time to do is offer a faintly uttered, "Oh…" Then he's throwing himself up against one wall and turning his head as the rockslide comes down, pebbles beating out a staccato on his helmet. When the noise is gone, it leaves him coughing hard from the dust in the air and shining his light around. "Lu!" he calls, coughing again. "Goldrider, you two alright back there?" Then he's looking ahead to the minecrafters, his voice just a little raspy. "You missed one," he offers flatly.
There's a hiss of pained displeasure as one of the heavier rocks *thuds* on one of Lu's feet, but she misses the bulk of the rockfall — with the exception of dust and pebbles, neither of which are worth more than a sneeze from her. "Sharding- Lo, I'm going to get your tongs when we get back. And if you try to stop me-" she trails off ominously, her words reduced to a growl that might be far too familiar to other people in her past. "I'm fine. Gonna be limping, I think, but," she wiggles her toes and nods, satisfied, "nothing's broken here."
Frahnk and Byl look aghast, pointing at each other but unable to spout of some kind of excuse or apology or anything else. "Wasn't our shift," Frahnk begins; "Didn't know they didn't get here," Byl ends. It's all for the better, though; there's just a lone curve of rock ahead and when the pair move forward and sweep their lights in, there's a gasp. No words; none at all.
Jaziera's answer is a wave of her hand and a scowl, still muttering obscene, thoroughly unpleasant things under her breath. "M'fine. Are you?" She eventually says, eyeing the bluerider, then Lu, closely, light flickering faintly with the swirling dust. "Bet he won't stop you." She grumbles. "If he does, I've got some." A frown for the greenrider's foot, but as long as she's not bleeding profusely or sporting broken bones that's probably a good sign. Casting a last worried glance back at still-undeclared A'rlo — presumably, though, he'd say so if he were injured, so the goldrider heads on after the others. When her light flickers around, the younger woman frowns, blinking rapidly. "What the…?"
A'rlo's response is much the same when he comes within view of that section of the cave, and for a moment, he can say nothing, his light playing over every vast and sundry surface. "By the egg," he breaths. Then, a bit louder, "Smuggler…thief?" Cautious footsteps take him further into the room, looking around. "Lyuba, there's…enough wealth in here to build your own Weyr. My ores and anvils, this must've…I can't imagine how long he's been stockpiling some of this here…" He walks over to a tapestry, touching it with his fingertips. "This style was all the rage when I was a boy in the 'Reaches…"
The greenrider trails after, moving slowly and with just a slight limp. But, when Lu sees what the others see, her expression flicks from confusion to shock to, "… I'm going to kill him. That lying, son of a-" one of the minecrafters clears his throat, while the other motions back, "I'll head out and hail the rider that brought us. We need to report this." Obviously. The other crafter just shakes his head, "He must've been disarming all those traps and rearming them when he left every time he brought stuff." Lyuba, for her part, is just gape-mouthed and alternating between wonderment and anger. "Least he could've done was give me something for my birthday," is all she can think to say, though.
Jaziera's amazement is tinged with all but palpable irritation as her 'light flashes across crate and barrel alike, lingering on the tapestries with faint awe. "How — how would somebody even managed to —" A shake of her head, and she rubs the back of her neck, moving closer to the goods curiously. "By yourself?" She asks back towards Lu, lips pursing. "Want me to come with? And shells, you're right…shardit, how did he manage not to blow himself to bits?" She asks with mild amazement, poking at one of the crates. A beat, and she's grinning sheepishly, shaking her head. "He could've. Awful old codger." Mutter mutter, as she eyes the tapestry A'rlo's looking at. "How could you even smuggle stuff like that? Shells…"
"Over the years, if you hone your craft," A'rlo ventures, slowly working his way around the room. "Shells, without ever having to work a decent job, he could devote all of his time to doing something like this. And the man's no spring chicken anymore, so it's not like he hasn't been at this for awuile." He moves to stand in front of another one of those full-length tapestries, leaning in to study it intently. "The craftsmanship of this is … phenominal. He wasn't just pinching things, he was pinching NICE things. I mean, look here, look at-" And that's about where it ends. A'rlo leans his weight forward, fully intending on bracing against the wall, and a moment later, he simply vanishes from sight with a cry of pain.
"Patience. He was /that/ guy in our weyrling classes — you know the one, that fellow that's always up extra early, doing everything to perfection. Not to say Allo and I weren't the same, but he was more of a bronzerider's bronzerider about that kind of thing than any I'd ever met. Should've been a Weyrleader, for all of that, and yet … he sets himself to do /this/." Somehow, she sounds conflicted — whether to continue being angry or somewhat envious of what's been amassed. Her hands rest on her hips and Lyuba just scowls, looking around yet again while she picks out shapes in the dim lighting provided by their flashlights. "Should get Aurora and Dignity to light those up there. Chumm's lucky if he can get his tubby butt off the counter." Idle thoughts, offered up to cover for the darker ones that are no doubt rattling in her head. And then, "Jays! Lo, you alright?" Her tone could also be translated as 'what the hell is going on?'
There's more of that hard coughing from dust before, curiously enough…a bit of that tapestry begins to glow from behind. "Bloody damned secretive…There's another room back here, Lu, and if you think what's out there is impressive…" There a momentary grunt of pain before, "I think I twisted my shardin' ankle when I fell, and…" Then he stills and the light moves away from the tapestry. "Oh…bones of the earth, you stupid, irresponsible…Lu! Lu, you better get back here! Either the air in this cave is getting to me, or…" There's a heavy sigh. "Sweet mother of…Lu, he's got a crate full of Fellis and Thread knows what else…"
Jaziera nods slowly, a frown still pulling as she pokes around one of the crates, frowning thoughtfully. Shiny, shiny shiny stuff — and none of it she can have! "I shardin' guess so." She mutters faintly, eyeing that tapestry with curiosity. "Ah, yeah," A little smile quirks on the goldrider's lips. "I only was because Keonath would have nothing less. Some people, though…you just never know what they'll come up with. Even with all the good influences…" Here, she sighs, a little wistfully — seems that Jazi's somewhat torn, too. Maybe a little envious! Shhh. "Good idea. I bet it's pretty in here with proper light." She murmurs with a little smile, then turning back to examine that tapestry by firelight once more. A thoughtful 'hrrrm' offered, before she's taking a step forward — and the bluerider is diasappearing? "Shells and shards —" A cut-off squeak, as she paces forward warily.
"What a fine pair we are," is quipped by the greenrider, "you and your twisted ankle and me and my bruised up foot. Go figure." Snort. The greenrider makes her way over, slanting a look askance ot Jaziera with a nod. "Things … just happen. It's just strange to think of the 'what should have beens' and look at the 'what ares'." She mentally digs for something or another and comes up with, "Maybe another time, I can't remember quite where the man kept his stash of firestone in his house." The curtain is pulled back just as A'rlo's announcing what he's found and her mouth flattens. "That's going to the Hall," she replies, head shaking. "But where-"
While the others are exploring near the tapestry, Frahnk — the crafter left behind — is poking around the bookshelves and utters a startled, "Books and records here! Looks like-" riffling can be heard "-manifests. Documents. Like he was tracking where this all came from and where it was supposed to go."
"Maybe he meant to give it back," A'rlo shouts sourly. He's leaning heavily on a patch of the wall when Lyuba and Jazi finally find him, favoring his left food. He gestures to a crate off to one side. "It's in there. I'm not any kind of a botanist, but I remember how the stuff smells. Burned my arm pretty bad several turns ago and they gave me some of that stuff to take the edge off. Never forget the smell of it." He grits his teeth a moment. "Lu, you have to tell the healers to destroy that stuff. It might be pure, but Thread only knows what might have been done to it. And how in the world did he manage to get so much of it when the healers are so tight-fisted with it?!" He gestures to the miners across the way. "Maybe the answer is in there. All I know is, I think we're a bit in over our head here."
Jaziera giggles quietly, a touch strained, as she adjusts her helmet faintly. "Should probably get something for both of 'em, soon. Don't wanna aggrivate them or anything." She murmurs. Seems somebody's been listening to her healers — and never mind that Lu's a healer. "Yeah," A sigh for the 'what ifs', and a slow shake of her head, as she stares into the space behind the tapestry. "I'll have to come back with you again. This is…" The goldrider shakes her head, then eyes A'rlo with concern. Her lips twist a little as she eyes the crate, then harrumphs quietly. "Nasty-smelling stuff, isn't it?" She grumbles, then nods slowly. "Shells, that's probably right. Never know." Then the younger woman's eyeing the miners and their bookshelf, eyes narrowing. "Shells, books too. I can't even…"
"Oh, I'm sure he meant to give it all back. To other people," is her guess. Lyuba grimaces a little for what she sees in that smaller room — things of much more worth than outside, that's for sure — and then she's looking to where the other fellow snuck off to. "We'll have to get all that stuff to the Weyrhold at least. Let the Weyrlord and lady sift through it — most of this probably belongs to people who'd like it back." She lifts a hand, rubbing at her face and just … stands there for a moment. "We'll have to come back. We're going to have to haul all this back out of here and that's not going to be easy — how /one/ man did it-" she trails, making a face. A grim face. "This isn't the end of it. Not by a long shot."
