F
Fox of Spades
Guest
A collab between @Fox of Spades and @Haru Nyan
The Blood That Binds Us
Chapter One: The Goblet
The Middle of Nowhere: En Route to the Ruins
Sunlight filtered through the trees as the dirt road before them stretched endlessly. There wasn't a person in sight, and it looked like there wouldn't be another village for several miles. As much as Kaz hated to admit, they were lost in the middle of nowhere. "Hey, Yvette? You used to be a pirate, right? Can't you look at a compass and tell us if we're going the right way?"
It had been half a day since they'd left the Broken Bard—a cozy tavern on the outskirts of a small settlement called Edinburg—but they'd yet to reach the ruins the archaeologist had told them about. The man had spoken of giant stone slabs covered in moss and ancient symbols, of century-old monoliths erected to form temples for the Gods. All of these, he said would be found once they were deep enough in the forest. Once they found these landmarks, all they would need to do was continue north until they reached a cave. They would recognize it immediately because of the crystals that shone a soft pastel blue, or at least, that was what the man had promised. It sounded like something out of a bard's tale, and the gold and glory that probably awaited them fueled Kaz's desire to find the ancient ruins the man had marked on their maps.
The archaeologist had introduced himself as Peter Crowe, artifact collector extraordinaire. He worked at a museum and found one of their flyers on an Adenturers for Hire post-it board. He immediately sent for them and hired them to find some sort of golden goblet. The details he'd given were shady at best, but he'd offered such a generous amount of gold, that it had been impossible to say no. It was the first decent request they'd received considering most of their quests involved menial tasks such as delivering letters or guarding caravans that were left alone a good 90 percent of the time.
Their first big adventure—their ticket to gold and glory. Kaz grinned from ear to ear at the thought.
"Of course I can!" The raven-haired woman feigned a smile as she looked at the young man, then made a mocking gesture with her hands."Do you see a compass? Do you have one? No? I thought not, so get moving." Yvette's expression turned from happy into deadpan as they trudged through the rugged roads leading towards their destination. The woman couldn't help but walk warily, even the outskirts of a nearby town would have its own fair share of creatures, so it probably wouldn't have hurt anybody to keep a weapon ready.
"What kind of pirate doesn't have a compass?" Kaz teased.
"The one that gets shipwrecked with the rest of her crew, now less talking and more exploring." Yvette sighed in an annoyed tone, glancing at Kaz with an unamused look on her face.
"Fair enough," Kaz laughed as he pressed the smudged map even closer to his face. "Hey, Nik. You've been around. Do you reckon you know where we are?" Fighting he could handle, navigating... he was decent, to put it kindly. "Jeez, the guy could have been more specific." He spent another second glaring at the map before he passed it to Yvette. "What do you guys think?"
Yvette hummed as she looked at the map and the mark that had been left by the archaelogist, she began to talk to herself and pointed at the mark. "This is our destination." That was easy enough to figure out, but where the hell were they on the map? The forest was starting to look like a maze or labyrinth with its sheer size, but the wench had an idea to keep track of their location. "How about we create landmarks of our own so we don't get lost?" Unsheathing her sword from its scabbard, the woman looked around for a tree that stuck out like a sore thumb, something that was easy to identify even amongst all the flora and fauna. Approaching a tree that had some noticable fruits growing out of it, the woman slashed once and twice, carving an "X" shape on the trunk. "There, that should help us."
"Good idea, Yvette. Did I tell you how wonderful you are?" Kaz spent another moment sweet-talking her before he continued down the road. "Peter said it wouldn't be far, so we should be there soon. I wonder why he wants this goblet so much?" Sure, it would probably be pretty to look at and display on a mantle but the man was offering quite the hefty sum of gold. Kaz wasn't complaining but something about the whole quest just seemed a little... odd. "You'd think it's cursed or something," he joked. "Maybe we should take it for ourselves and sell it to the highest bidder? There's got to be some other archaeologist out there who's looking for it too if Peter wants it so badly, right?"
The Woods: En Route to the Ruins
"It should be somewhere around here," Xandra complained as they walked pass the same boulder for what felt like the nth time. The compass they'd brought along had stopped working as soon as they stepped into the woods and she couldn't help but feel as if something sinister were afoot. The forest was eerily quiet, so quiet that it was lacking the sounds of birds, insects, and the usual wildlife. "Is it weird that I get the feeling we're not alone here, Cyrl?"
"Probably just a bunch of poor sods who thought they were alone in the forest...Bah! Must've been too poor to afford a tavern." Cyrlden grunted as he glanced at his surroundings, Xandra wasn't completely false however, he could've sworn just a few moments ago he could hear some semblance of nature moving about and doing this and that, but there was nothing...It was eerie and it felt ominous. "I'd keep yer guard up if I were you."
"Of course," came the curt response. Xan had been a state mage for barely a year, several years less than Cyrlden, but she was careful and observant and she wasn't about to let her guard down just because things looked peaceful on the surface. "Let's hope it's nothing," Xan turned to the armored men and women trailing after them. "Lieutenant Falkner decided to send us the new recruits." She didn't blame the woman of course, it was a simple scouting assignment. They'd been tasked to look for anything out of the ordinary and report back should they find anything strange.
The bushes to her left rustled loudly as one of the younger recruits leaped out from behind them. "Sir Cyrlden! Ma'am Xandra!" He yelled, his face flushed and his helmet far too big for his head. He sputtered when it slipped down and covered his eyes, but that didn't stop him from saluting.
An amused smile wormed its way onto the woman's face. "At ease, soldier."
"I saw footsteps in the woods," he reported. "The tracks were fresh."
"Is that so," Xan arched an eyebrow then turned to Cyrlden. "I'm guessing we ought to check on that?"
The older man furrowed his brows, weighing his options. If anything, it at least confirmed that him and his soldiers weren't alone, and if he was right, the foreboding atmosphere must've come from these unlucky bastards. With a simple nod of his head, Cyrlden asked the young recruit to lead them in the direction. With luck, it would lead them into the ruins.
"This way, sir, ma'am!" The young recruit pointed southeast and quickly scampered off to lead the way. Slowly, the entire group followed until they disappeared into the foliage.[/HR]
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