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 Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 2:13 am
*Cinder starts going toward the caves* I am leaving Mycroft on in the cave system I am hopeing he will be able to pick up what is living in there before they get to us. *Cin is still leaning on the bone crutch but it seems perfect for her height and she is moving at a fairly good pace even though she winces every once in a while.*
*Kasai shakes his head at Merci' when she holds out her hand.* Fauve can you tell her I am going to help out Cinder. *Kasai starts walking next to Cinder, helping her whenever he thinks he can.*
*Cin slows a bit in front of the cave entrance, the mouth is wide, but the tunnel is a little too short for the adults, Cin bends down and goes in first. Inside it is pitch black*
Sai can you turn on your flashlight. *in a moment a flashlight flickers on. Ahead of the group a passage can be seen, it has rough hewn rock walls and a dirt floor, but if you try and see farther down the passage way there are things in your way. Cin hobbles up to a pile in the cave, it seems to be made up of odds and ends. Looking over to Merci' in shock* Is it just me or does this stuff look like things that the colonists would use?
*Kasai sits watching Mycroft's sensors* There are some lifeforms up the corridor a bit, they aren't coming this way but when we get up there we are going to have to sneak by or confront them.
*to Merci'* Kasai says that there are lifeforms up ahead and that they are covering the passage way, we are probably going to want to sneak past.
*Cinder considers whether this was a good idea or not, turrning back she looks toward where they entered and is shocked to see that the entrance looks like it is blocked of, something large with black fur is laying against it. When she slows her breathing she can hear it snuffling and growling occasionally, without speaking Cin taps Merci' and points it out to her* I suggest we continue on.
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Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:16 am
'Kasai wants to help Cinder' The mask girl relayed to her guardian. Fauve didn't want to admit that she was terrified, she couldn't stop her body from shivering slightly. It wasn't so much the thought of danger, it was the anticipation of it. She was fine when faced with it, but waiting, waiting is what really terrified her. She reached down to her waist and felt the dirk that Merci had passed to her right after she had awakened. It was better then nothing. The darkness surrounded them, so dark that it seemed to even snuff out sound. Her eyes weren't ready when Kasai flipped on the flashlight, but they quickly adjusted to the dim glow. She reached around and started fiddling with the pack on Merci and pulled out another flashlight, flicking it on to add to light in the area. Her wrist hurt, and her body was still shakey from the fall, but she wasn't going to be a burden on them if she could help it.
Merci follows Cinder to the pile of things and blinks a little bit. Cinder hadn't been there for the ROUS attack, Merci hadn't really either, she'd managed to skirt it. She did know however that they had lost alot of their supplies in the attack. Looking over the crates she pulled the flashlight from Fauve and aimed it at the sides, looking for the markings that would tell her if it was the colonies supplies. The beam flitted over the surface until a smudge of red caught her eye. She aimed it back and there it was, in red markings. Merci stood up straight and looked at Cinder. "This is bad....."
"Kasai says that there are lifeforms up ahead and that they are covering the passage way, we are probably going to want to sneak past."
Merci opens her mouth to say something to Cinder when she heard it behind them. Cinder tapped her shoulder and Merci turned to see a backlit look of concern on the other woman's face. She turned all the way around and reached out grabbing Fauve's hand. The girl let out a mental yelp, and Merci jumped letting go. She kneeled down and hugged Fauve whispering "Sorry, I forgot"
Fauve had been looking back, and inching closer to the boxes. Whatever was back there was furry, sounded filthy, and honestly she didn't want to get any closer. Fauve hadn't been prepared when Merci grabbed for her, and the guardian accidentally got her bad wrist.
Merci looked at Cinder and pointed at the boxes whispering lowly "Those... look like the crates that the colony lost when we were attacked. It happened the same night you uh... crashed? Hopefully those monsters just use this area for storage. If not..... we better be prepared to get overrun, they almost wiped out the colony." Merci stood and bit her lip, she aimed the flashlight up and looked at Cinder "We could try to loot out of these, see if we can find some sort of explosives... Ashy isn't here but we have the next best thing." Merci pats Fauve's head.
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 12:07 pm
*Cin looks down at Fauve* Alright, the explosives could be alot of help but do you think you can use them without blowing us apart or making a cave in?
*Kasai starts looking around at the walls of the tunnel and the curiously stops by the pile of supplies that are laying piled up. Looking farther down the hallway he sees there are more supplies ahead. Then he investigates the pile a bit more.*
There are more things in here not just supplies. It looks like they have been scavenging whatever they can find.
*Cinder turns to Kasai for a moment* Other things? *then looks at the pile, her eyes get wide as she recognizes a panel from her ship.* Your right, but I am not sure how that can help us.
*smiles* but something else might be able to help us. *Cinder points up* Look at that, the pile doesn't actually reach the ceiling, I bet we could hide on top of one if we needed to get by the ROUS's.
Merci' I know you missed most the the battle with them but do you know anything that might be helpful to us?
*Kasai has broken into a carton labelled 'high explosives'' well Cin and Merci' talk. He then starts handing sticks of something to Fauve.*
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 10:00 pm
Fauve actually felt very confident that she would be able to handle the explosives. She and her sister play with the stuff all the time, sooo... She started tucking the sticks into her small pack. She was finally glad she would be able to do something useful. She only handled them with her left hand, her right being bandaged and pretty much usless right now. 'Explosives arn't a problem, and fire isn't either.... not with Inathe here. She reached up and brushed a finger lightly under the dragons chin. He'd reclaimed his spot upon his mistresses shoulder upon freeing Cinder. 'These skill stones might be a help too...'
Merci glanced at her charge and smiled a little bit. She was rifling through one of the crates seeing what else she could find. All the food crates looked to be empty, but there were other nice things there. She pulled out a flare set, reading the side she saw that they were for extended light. This might end up being a decent weapon too, if they could find something flammable they might be able to light the tunnel on fire.... or maybe Cinder could rig up a flame thrower.....
She glanced up at Cinder's question and thought about what she overheard the morning after the attack. "Their flesh eaters, so don't let them get to close or they'll try to tear your limbs off.. on the upside from what I heard from Haisyn during our bath they didn't have any kind of actual.... organization. Their tactics seemed simple, overwhelm with numbers. That's going to be whats really hard, but in the caves.... their numbers might not be as large an advantage as it would at first seem. If we have to fight we could set up a barricade of sorts and draw them down into an area that we have the advantage..... but still, they seemed to eat through anything. Fire might be our best weapon." Merci wracked her brain, she wasn't sure if that was it but for now it was all she remembered. "Anyway.... Sneaking past would probably be our best bet... if that doesn't work, we'll have to hope we can use the limited space to our advantage and kill them as they come." She hated to do it, but she needed to find some kind of decent weapon in the heap of supplies for both of the kids. "Help me find some weapons for the kids. Oh, and do you think you could do something with these?" Merci held up the flares.
Fauve stuffed all the explosives she could into her pack, and then looked up at Kasai. She shut out her guardian 'I'm really afraid, neither of our guardians are uninjured. What happens if we really do get attacked..... Do you think we'll make it?'
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Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:51 pm
*Cinder stops a moment looking at the flares that Merci' is holding.* I am not sure if these things will do alot of damage. From the looks of them their shouldn't be a large amount of heat put out through them. I might be able to take some explosives and make them burn fire, but they will be too hot to hold and might explode. They aren't a total lose though, we may be able to make a ring out of them or use them in a barricade to keep the ROUS at bay.
*looks at the boxes around them* I have an idea for some of these empty crates though, Kasai do me a favor and start gathering some of the dried wood from them. If we have enough we can also create small fires to keep the ROUS at bay or direct were they are going. *grabs something off of a crate higher up. *holding it up Cinder smiles at the flare gun* Now this could be very useful, I think I could rig it to shoot a fire burst out of it instead of just flares. I am going to need some of the explosives that Fauve isn't going to use though. I can combine the explosive powders of them with the flares to make the flame bursts.
*Cinder grabs some flares and a few explosive sticks, leaning back on some crates she pulls herself up. Her leg seems to be dead weight, the metal it is bound with weighing her down. Then she pulls out a knife and some tools and starts working on the gun and flares.* This shouldn't take too long. Merci' I am going to give you the flare gun to shoot off. With my leg damaged the way it is I am afraid I won't be stable enough to shoot it off. I have my blaster, hopefully that will be enough.
*starts gathering up some of the dried wood and other useful things that he finds. Going through the supplies Kasai grabs a hammer, lighter, and bits of flammable paper and wood.* Don't worry Cin I am getting some good amount of stuff that will burn.
*Looks over to Fauve* I think we will be alright. I haven't ever seen an ROUS, but we are getting prepared and we have each other if it comes to battle. Your explosives will be great and I can get some fires going *holds the lighter up as an example*
*Cinder looks over to Merci' from the crate she is sitting on.* I just realized something. I have been worried about their sense of smell...*looks around at the tunnel* They have all this stuff from the camp, so this whole place hopefully smells like we do, maybe this will give us more time if we are lucky.
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:02 pm
Merci glances up the hallway and then back up at Cin... "I'm worried that they have better dark vision then we do... and that our flashlights are going to let them know we're here, but without the light we won't be able to see what we're doing." She tried not to let her jitters get to her, as injured as they were it would be bad enough.
Fauve worked, she tried to push away her own feelings of worry and fear. She looked up and scratched under Inathe's chin, she cooed to him quietly, so that Kasai would hear but a whisper. 'Go, go my good boy, look ahead for danger. Keep us safe, keep me safe, be my eyes. Go, look, for, danger...'
Inathe cocked his head... He inched down her arm and lept off easily, his small size an advantage in the enclosed area. His membranous wings stretched out to pump the air, carrying him up the hallway to see what lies ahead of them. His eyes adjusted easily to the darkness, he found a nice little rock alcove to perch in.
Fauve looked up at Kasai and shrugged a little bit 'At least we'll know if something comes for us that way....'
Merci looked up at Cinder, "Maybe we can rig something up that we can push down the hallway a distance... mm... you know like a moving barricade or something so that we can still try and find the entrances to the pirate caves, we can run like hell if we can just get the emerald..." Merci dug through crates and started pulling them apart. She took two slabs of wood and moved over to Cinder replacing the metal on her leg with the lighter but still stabilizing wood.
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:34 pm
*sighs slightly* Thanks, lightening the splint feels alot better. We might be able to use the metal from the hoverbike on the barricade though. *looks up* If we can manage to get up to the top of the junk pile though we might have a safer way to go. *points* the piles are very close to each other, almost connected. We might be able to crawl on top of this maze that the ROUS have created, we might be able to miss the rats themselves if we are quiet and quick enough.
*looks at Merci'* Do you think it is worth the chance of falling to crawl around on the junk piles?
*sits down and watches Mycrofts screen* Fauve...is your little dragon sending you a message. Because it looks like we may be getting some company. *points down* The heat sensors are picking up something coming this way!
Merci', Kasai says something is coming this way *looks around* we need to find somewhere to hide or make a stand or something.
*hears a voice in the distance* I don't think those are ROUS's coming either.
*climbs up on some crates that have a hollow area behind them* Fauve you and I can fit back here if needed.
Merci...I am suggesting up in this instant...turn off the flashlights guys.
*Kasai's flash light shuts off obediently*
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:57 pm
Inathe tilted his head slightly, his eyes adjusted to the darkness quite well and he saw the movement of the bodies underneath him. He extended his wings and swooped back to the junk piles hissing quietly.
Fauve moved over to the junk pile and reached out trying to pull herself up on one of the boxes. She swung her leg up and grabbed, but her hand wouldn't grip, the splint interfered to much. She felt herself slipping and she was struck with panic.
Merci reached out and caught her daughter, she pushed her up and thought quickly 'Go Fauve, hurry...'. She reached down scooping their packs pushing them up with Fauve. The closer the sound of the scratching the calmer she felt. Merci wasn't entirely sure why, except that she had to keep her head for Fauve's safety.
Fauve felt the hands push her up, gripping with her good hand she swung herself up on the box. Looking down she took the packs from Merci and pulled them up. Fauve glanced in Cinder's direction and flipped the flashlight off 'Kasai... Kasai I need help, I can't get the packs, my... my wrist...'
Merci reached out and whispered "Come on Cin... I'll help you as much as I can..." Merci took the objects they had salvaged and pushed it into the last of the packs, she shoved it up on the box with Fauve again. Merci reached out murmuring "take my hand and use it to steady yourself." The red head turned her face to the tunnel and thought she saw them moving, she'd heard they travelled in large groups. She turned back to the business at hand, calming her breathing, and trying to control the pounding of her heart.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 12:00 pm
*reaches down and grabs for Fauve, dropping his bag he is able to steady himself a bit and get a good grip on her waist. Straining slightly he pulls her up* Don't worry I have you. Come on lets get low.
Thanks Merci', with the lighter splint it is going to be alot easier. *starts pulling herself up on some crates with Merci's help.* Go on up yourself, I think I can manage from here. My arms are strong so it shouldn't be too bad manuevering. *Grabbing at some junk above her she starts pulling herself up. When she is the same height up as Kasai and Fauve she stops and leans up against a peice of metal that is sticking up. Then Cin attempts to be as still as possible.*
*noises from down the tunnel can now be heard, but instead of skitter the sound is of boots hitting the stone floor.*
Who knew that the rats on this planet would be so big, good thing we had some of the other guys with us earlier or they may have munched on us. *a squeaky type voice says this*
What are you talking about! We could have easily killed those pests off. *a gruffer voice* Besides Al one of the nasty little buggers did munch on me.
*Voice that has been identified as Al* Heh, and you say we could have taken 'em.
*gruff voice growls slightly* Let's get back to Red, I don't seen nothin' down here. Don't know why he wanted to come back in the first place.
*Al responds* He is being awful secretive about it.
*footsteps go back down the tunnel*
Those didn't sound like rats to me...
*lets herself breath once the space Pirates are back down the tunnel a ways* Oh honey trust me...they are a type of rat and it sounds like they are after the Emerald too. Have Fauve pass that on to Merci' I don't want to risk speaking just yet.
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Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:31 am
Fauve wrapped her arms tightly around Kasai and leaned on him as he pulled her up 'Thank you....' She muttered quietly.. though why she was trying to whisper when no one can hear them is anyone's guess. She got down low as the scuffle and clomp of boots came closer, but she didn't let go of Kasai.
Merci scrambled rather nimbly up the boxes considering her injuries. She managed to get out of sight before the voices floated up to her ears... Great... so now they had to worry about ROUS and.. oh geez what was that atrocious smell?! Gah didn't they bathe? Merci brought a hand up to her nose and tried to stifle it... Merci thought quietly to Fauve 'Fauve... see if you can get Inathe to follow them.. we might have a better idea of where the emerald is if we can do that....' The red head had to stifle a laugh at the thought that they might not need Inathe to follow them, they might leave a vapor trail of stench that they could follow days later.
Fauve listened as the men seemed to lose interest and turn around heading back up the tunnels. She reached out with her mind and tapped Inathe to get his attention 'Follow... Follow the men Inathe...'
Inathe tilted his head and swung it around to look at the masked girl.. he hissed lightly before stretching his wings out and taking to wing, following the men down the tunnels.. his keen eyesight and small size making this easy for him.
Merci heard the whir of Inathe's wings as he took off and then the movement of his small body as he flew away from them. She turned to Cinder and inched closer, in a muted whisper she spoke "Fauve sent Inathe after the men, maybe if we can see what tunnels they turned down it won't be as hard for us to find the cave we need... we should get a move on, the longer we're down here the harder it's going to be to get out." With those words Merci motioned the kids to start over to the next pile of supplies as she started over to it herself. Her only worry was when they hit an area they couldn't use the crates as cover.
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Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:49 pm
*Cin starts over to the next set of boxes and then the next. Watching the children as she goes. Her leg set shots of pain through her body as she moves. A horrible stench rises from the ground below them the farther down the tunnel they get, looking down Cin can see the bodies of dead ROUS's; they have been cut apart and shot. Whispering she points them out to Merci'*
It looks like someone else is also taking care of our rodent problem for us.
*Kasai moves quickly at the front of the group, he just wanted to get out of here, looking down he had also seen the dead rats below them and had kept on going. Hopefully the smelly men wouldn't be around once they got to the caves. Not paying attention to his footing Kasai starts to slide down. Eyes wide he looks and realizes some of the supplies he was moving across had not been as sturdy as he thought.*
Cin...Fauve...Help!
*Cin's head snaps in the direction of her boy, moving as quickly as she can she starts toward him. The area behind him is full of vast darkness and could hold anything. Cin does note as she tries to crawl toward her boy that the piles of supplies seem to have come to an end and that there is a light ahead.
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Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 2:30 pm
The stench was unbearable, Fauve kept trying to cover her nose and crawl as well. She was doing alright keeping her broken hand over her nose, it also kept her from hurting herself. Fauve had been right behind Kasai, watching him crawl and trying to follow where he was, Cinder had been after her and Merci bringing up the rear to help anyone that might fall behind. When Kasai started to slide Fauve reacting immediately the only way she knew how, she jumped forward and grabbed his hands. She however wasn't on good footing either and started sliding after him. Well this didn't turn out how she expected.... 'I'm slipping.. Merci! Merci help!'
Merci blinked at the sudden cry in her mind and saw both kids slipping down the piles of boxes and Cinder trying to scramble forward. The problem was if she pushed herself forward as quickly as she wanted to then the pile she and Cinder were on would crumble.. and all they needed was another fall, especially with Cinder's leg. Merci crawled forward as fast as she could but she saw her charge disappearing into the gloom below, following Kasai.
Fauve's eyes got wide and she refused to let go of Kasai. She tried everything to keep from sliding into the inky blackness beneath them, but it was no use, they were going down toward the most heinous smell she'd ever encountered in her life.
Merci got up by Cinder and reached her hand out, missing Fauve's leg by mere centimeters. She looked over at Cinder and put a hand on her shoulder whispering "I'll go down and get them... just stay here alright, if I yell flip on the flashlight and start shooting.." Merci starting climbing down the pile after the kids, trying to be careful and cautious.
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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:57 am
Cin watched Merci, crawl down after the children. Gritting her teeth she cursed herself for her lack of being able to do anything. If only she hadn't been such a fool with the hoverbike they would not be in this predicament. Shifting her body Cin pulls her leg around and then pulls out her blaster. She could at least provide back up if nothing else, though she hoped that they would not need it.
He was falling, that was what Kasai realized first and then he realized that Fauve was also falling. He pulled her as close to him as he could.
I won't let you go. After a only a few moments the two landed, Kasai tried to sheild Fauve from the fall. The fall really hadn't been that bad since they had slided most of the way.
Are you alright? Kasai looks around at the area they had fallen in, it seems that the tunnel sloped down severly and that there was an opening not far in front of them. Squinching his eyes up Kasai looked ahead of them in the tunnel to where the doorway was, he saw a shape there and then heard a sound... Someone is snoring, we aren't alone down here!
Cin heard Kasai tell them that there was someone sleeping in the tunnel and tried to grab after Merci' to tell her. Missing her as she went after the kids, hopefully she thought Fauve will tell her.
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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:27 am
Fauve blinked a little when they hit the ground softly, she was kinda on top of Kasai since he'd moved to take the brunt of the impact. She couldn't help the small smile that they were both alright 'Thank you Kasai, I'm fine...' Thats when she realized she heard breathing... and not to far away from them either... Her head jerked up toward the sound, every now and then you could hear the reverberation of slight snoring. 'Merci.. Merci be careful there's something down here... we're not in danger yet.. be quiet....'
Merci slowed herself down and tried to be more careful about choosing her footing... She felt the ground under her and balanced her weight evenly along her feet. She turned slowly, but in the dark she couldn't see the children... Silently she spoke to her ward 'Fauve.... I'm on the ground.. where are you?'
Fauve heard Merci and looked down at Kasai realizing she was still on top of him, she scooted off of Kasai and pulled him up so she could still hold his hand. 'Merci followed us down here... we should listen for her...' She turned her masked head around and tried scanning to see if she could see some kind of an outline or... She thought she saw her and tugged on Kasai pointing.. 'I think thats her.. I don't know if I can climb back up those boxes...'
Meanwhile.....
Inathe was happily following the two mysterious men down the tunnels. Inathe landed on a slight rock outcropping in the wall, watching them as they stopped for a break. The little dragon wasn't sure how long he should follow the men, but they were really entertaining. They were a study in opposites, one was larger, though Inathe knew he wasn't as large as the Scagg person. The big man was walking with a limp, obviously injured. The other, Al or something, was more reasonably sized, shorter and his voice squeeked enough it bothered Inathe's ears.
Al tapped his foot rather impatiently before nudging his compatriot. "Come on get up... ya know Red isn't going to want to wait for us all day. He's Prolly already found wha'ever he's lookin for and 'eaded back to civilization by now."
The larger man heaved a huge sigh and got painfully back up to his feet "alright, just my leg. Blasted rats musta done more then I thought originally..." He tapped his fingers on his leg and glanced up and down the tunnel, "so which way..."
Al started muttering again and then slowed down... he nodded and pointed down another branching tunnel.. "Down 'ere..."
His partner snorted and started down that way, his voice echoing against the walls as he grunted to Al "Yer memory is amazing... always making things into songs helps I guess..." Al didn't respond.
Inathe spread out his membranous wings and swept them downward getting himself airborne. Following the two of them as silently as a shadow.
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:06 pm
Kasai shifted slightly, carefully trying not to bump Fauve's arm.
I don't think we will have to get back on the boxes. I don't see anymore boxes or piles of stuff around here, I think we may be at the end of them. Looks over toward the snoring, we need to get rid of the sleeping guard though. Hopefully this means that he is guarding an important spot or something and soon we will be able to get out of here.
Kasai rubs Fauve's back reassuringly as he says the last part about getting out of the tunnels.
Cin sits on top of the boxes still, worrying over what might be happening to the others.
Sai! What is going on, are you ok? What is down there?
I am not going to have time to answer if you keep up like that.
Cin puts her hand over her mouth to keep herself from letting out a yelp fo joy. I was just very worried about you, I am so happy you are alright; go ahead and talk I will just listen.
We didn't fall very hard, slid most of the way. It is dark down here but I see a passage up ahead looks like light is coming from it. Wherever it leads it might be important since there is a guard by the door. Now before you freak out...the guard is asleep. Oh and Merci' is coming to get us.
Cin starts looking around, she had a feeling that she was going to have to get down off of the crates since they didn't go any further. Looking around she found some old burlap - that she hoped would soften the fall if she needed to get down to help quickly.
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