ooc: Collaboration between
@LVL1337N00B,
@Noctis the Devious &
@Peregrine
[Ophanim Hayyoth]
"The dungeons of Barvelle," Ophanim's voice trembled as he said that. Clenching his fist even tighter the Avian shifted his eyes over the two, gulping a little as he tried to reason for a way out.
"I... no, ... The dunge-... Barve-" his sentences broke up and never finished, frustrating the man. He knew what he wanted to say, but his mind couldn't form the proper sentences to explain.
"Secrets, there are secrets in the dungeons," Ophanim finally managed to choke out, fear striking him in the gut that he might have said too much.
[Artorius Cale]
"Secrets, you say?", Artorius asked, his brow raised,
"Valuable secrets, perhaps?"
The rogue rubbed his chin in a brief moment of mock contemplation, as though he hadn't actually already decided.
"You'll want someone watching your back as you delve into the deep, dark tunnels, yes? I can't say I have anything better to do..", he said with a smirk as he walked past the avian, in the direction he'd been headed. He glanced back at Amara, jerking his head in a gesture for her to come along as well.
"This ought to be interesting."
[Amara Desini]
Amara, as much as she wanted to be thrilled by the new development, hesitated. It was hard to imagine herself willingly wandering down under the earth were tunnels confide the space. No fresh air, no open skies-- far from her normal prowling grounds. But the look Art gave her had her quickly deciding she didn't want her inner thoughts escaping.
"Yep," she quipped. "It should be really interesting," she grinned ear from ear and shifted the pack on her shoulders. She was tempted to draw her bow but stopped herself and contented herself with knowing her hatchet and dagger were at her sides, occasionally brushing her fingers over the weapons.
[Ophanim Hayyoth]
The nonchalance the man replied to him, and the suspicious moves of the female, Ophanim wondered if he could trust them.
"It is..." he mumbled a little vaguely, not answering to either of them as he was too distracted with his own plan of escape.
"I'm sorry." Ophanim's voice never rose from a whisper. Taking a slight step back, he had his aux come out, moving it near to his chest to prepare for the advent. Though he could only 'lock' one person to their spot, the Avian had assumed himself to be faster than the man, and thus decided to freeze the female that was with him. With every intention to put his plan into execution, Ophanim didn't think that he would be awfully out of balance with each movement backwards.
[Amara Desini]
Amara turned at the distant tone the avian's voice took on and her eyes caught something.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, thrusting her hand towards him. Her breath caught when his aux began to glow with the talltale signs of an advent and mentally cursed. That was all she had the time to do. The avian teteered at the edge of a shaft just as she felt her muscles lock into place and she couldn't even do anything to prevent herself from falling forward, sending them both sliding down the chute.
[Artorius Cale]
"Shit", Artorius muttered as he swiped at the Tavarkian's arm and missed, quickly realizing he'd doomed himself in doing so when he felt himself slipping. The young man tried to steady himself, but to no avail. The curse was repeated when each attempt to correct his footing caused him to slide around more, until finally he fell face-first into a puddle and down the same chute as the others. The putrid smell in Art's nostrils had his eyes watering and his face discolored, and when he collided with the others he immediately lost the contents of his last meal.
[Ophanim Hayyoth]
Ophanim had hoped to go down the dungeons, but never in the fashion he did now. Sliding down through the thick, smelling substance the male pressed his lips and eyes to each other in all his might, not wanting any of it to enter in any way. Though he could only hold in his breath for so long, and with another weight on his chest the Avian felt all the more pressured to breath, unwillingly taking in a deep breath from his nose.
It was fortunate that the slide down didn't take too long, for he would surely have released the content of his stomach if it did last any longer, as his back hit the ground, slamming the air out of his lungs. The force and weight in which he landed was enough to make him see stars for a while, blinking to himself before he pushed the female on top of him away. Slipping and feeling around the Avian clumsily tried to get up, his arms waving around in the air in the hope to grab something to pull himself up with. Trying his hardest to breath as little as possible, for it was too hard to ignore the smell.
[Ethelwen]
Only a few tunnels over, Ethelwen was knee deep in a sewer blockage, fishing with a large pole to try and dislodge whatever was covering the drain. But the construction of the tunnels meant that, as soon as the three unexpected visitors crashed into the tunnel, it sounded as though he was standing right next to where they landed. Ethelwen nearly dropped the pole, catching it scant inches above the muck. He let out a relieved sigh, before turning away. What had that been?
It only took a few moments for curiosity to overcome him. The sewers were generally a quiet place, with few disruptions. He waded his way carefully down the hallway, trying to pinpoint where he had heard the noise.
A couple of wrong turns later, and he finally found the noise. Three people were standing in a dry corridor, looking entirely out of place. Ethelwen couldn’t restrain a faint laugh.
“What are you guys doing down here?”
[Amara Desini]
...59...60... Amara sighed as the advent wore off and flexed her arms, shooting an annoyed look at the avian.
"Men, they can never seem to look where they're going," she huffed. She made a face at her ruined new clothes and quickly dug out her mother's salve from her belt pocket. The root her mother used to make it had a particular scent. It wasn't sweet, more like... fresh. She wiped her hands off and lightly smeared the creamy substance under her nose. Who knew such a small thing could make a big difference? She offered some to the Art and then to the avian, both who obviously never been in such gross circumstances.
"Well," she began, keeping an eye on how much each person used.
"If you must know Mr. Feathers decided a nice walk in the bowels of Barvelle would be an awesome way to spend the day. Art, being bored, randomly thought being a sword for hire would be so much fun. As for me, I'm in it for the fame and glory, as you can probably tell." Amara grinned and made an exaggerated hand motion over her front.
"Amara Desini, please to make your aquaintance." Instead of her hand, she offered him her salve. He was probably used to the smell but any one could use a pick me up.
[Artorius Cale]
"Sword for hire?", Artorius asked, taking a dab of Amara's salve and applying it as she had. He paused for a moment, surprise evident on his face as he no longer felt the urge to gag with every breath.
"I don't recall asking for payment in exchange for my services", he said, shooting a smirk Amara's way,
"But if you insist, I wouldn't say no to a drink or two at the tavern later."
"But for now, we could use some directions", he continued, turning his attention to the anima,
"Our evasive and.. Oddly familiar friend here" - he pointed a thumb toward Ophanim -
"wants to delve into the deepest parts of this city."
[Ophanim Hayyoth]
Shifting a little at the glare he was given, Ophanim reluctantly struck his hand out towards the salve, following the example as the rest without making much of a sound. The rest seemed to be more comfortable talking, so the Avian had figured that it was better to leave it to them. Besides, he didn't want to reveal too much about the reasons why he wished to go down the sewers, still wary for any possible spies.
"Ophanim Hayyoth," he mumbled, slipping his bag off his shoulder. He was fortunate that it didn't fall off, but he worried for the content, sighing in relief as he opened the sack. At least he hadn't lost the most important part of his work. Yet.
However, just as he felt relieved he stiffened up again, his eyes shifting over to the stranger that had joined their group.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, wondering what other business someone could have down below the ground.
[Ethelwen]
"I work here," Ethelwen replied, still staring at the odd trio with a bewildered expression.
"But you certainly took a very... unusual path down." Ethelwen let out a sigh. It looked like his work wasn't going to get completed today. Again.
"Come on," he said, gesturing down the tunnel.
"I'll take you back to the main tunnels. It is easy to get lost down here if you don't know your way around."
With that the group followed the stranger, moving through excrement before finally reaching somewhat cleaner grounds.
“There you go,” their guide said. The three wanderers let go of a sigh in relief, happily breathing in fresher smelling air.