Exploration Phase Cards Drawn:
[10♣, 9♣, 6♣, 6♥]
When Brer woke it was full darkness once more; she had slept the afternoon and evening away. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and crawled carefully to the brook, slaking her thirst with the cool sweet water. The brazier far above was dimmed almost to nothing but there was enough light, particularly as her eyes adjusted, for her to make out Thud stood motionless a few feet off and the rugged terrain stretching away in front of her.
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Sleeping under a tree |
With a yawn she decided that travelling at night was a bad idea and crawled back into the hidden place beneath the tree. Lazily she practiced communicating with Thud, working to get the link between them more efficient, and just as she was starting to drift back off to sleep she checked in with Bea who was roosting in the tree above her head. There was nothing approaching, no sign of life anywhere, so she allowed her subconscious to drift off and started dreaming her dream of gigantic flying rooks...
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She had an old cutlass |
The next time Brer woke the brazier was just starting to brighten and a cool breeze was blowing down from the high ground ahead, chilling her in her nest. She broke her fast with some biscuits washed down with more fresh water and then headed on into the hills. It was hard going with lots of rock scrambles over ridges and down into gullies and by mid morning she was feeling tired. It was far more difficult because she only had one functional arm; the words of the crone who had bandaged her arm were still very clear to her "Leave the bandage on for 2 whole days, and do not use your arm, and it will be fully recovered by the 3rd morning". Fortunately Thud was proving very useful supporting her if she struggled; he was small but immensely strong and could easily carry her over short distances.
The Abandoned City (10♣)
Regular rests were very important and it was during one of these, late morning but not quite lunch time, that a slightly more regular arrangement of rocks and gullies in the next valley resolved itself on closer inspection to be a ruined city. Brer could make out buildings and the outer walls but from this vantage point no greater details than that. She traced her eyes from what she guessed was the city gatehouse and could just about make out the remains of a path; it lead zig a zag zig up towards where she was sitting. That would make a much easier descent.
It took until lunch time to cross the rough terrain between her rest spot and the road even though it was only a few hundred yards away so she took another rest, had a bite, and then began making her way along the broken slabs and cobbles of what was obviously a pretty major road in ages past. The mid afternoon light was slanting in over her shoulder when she finally reached the broken gates into the city and the quiet that had settled over the land the closer she got to it was starting to make her feel nervous. Bea had been flying scouting missions and reported no sign of life, no movement of any kind, but Brer could not shake the feeling that she was being watched by something.
Is it a grave? (6♣)
Inside the gates was a wide open space, maybe an area used as a market or a parade ground for troops. Trees now grew here, pushing and cracking the paving until it stood at awkward angles like the bones of some ancient creature. On the other side of this space were the remains of stone walls, old buildings now long collapsed into themselves. Brer cautiously made her way between the trees, again noting the lack of small creatures or even birdsong, and crouched down behind the first wall keeping out of sight of what, she didn't know. The wait stretched on until she felt foolish and with a jerk she stood and rolled over the top of the wall into the room on the other side. There was another jerk when she landed as the slab she landed on shuddered, rocked then pivotted neatly about itself, allowing Brer to fall straight through into a space underneath. With a sigh the stone returned to its previous position and Brer was in darkness, alone, with Bea sending panicked messages from above ground and Thud pounding the stone but unable to make it rotate again.
Brer was trapped!
It took a fair few minutes before Brer calmed herself enough to start thinking again; at first she beat her fists on the slab just a foot or so above her head and shreaked. Finally she ran out of energy, sat down, and took stock. She was unhurt, that was a massive bonus, but the dark was nearly total - so dark that she could not see her hand when she held it in front of her face.
Her pack was still on her back, apparently undamaged, so she rummaged through and found a match; it gave a sputtering light initially but then settled and illuminated the stone coffin that Brer was currently entombed within. No more than a few paces from where she was sat was a dark opening in the floor, a quick look revealed no stair or ladder and a cold wind rising from it. Thanking her lucky stars that she had not fallen straight down that deep hole she looked the other way and saw some scratches and marks on the wall, and the skeleton of a human, dried to a husk and so disintegrated she couldn't tell if it had been male or female. A previous inhabitant of the trap, it seems, and it did not give much hope for eventual escape.
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Buried alive |
Once she had calmed herself again she lit a second match and investigated every inch of the space. There was nothing else to see. Outside Bea was letting her know that the night was drawing in and there was still no sign of any other living creature. Thud had stopped beating the ground and was now trying to smash the stone with his Rookling magic but though he could disintegrate every other slab in the room, the one above Brer was impervious.
As she sat in the dark, the second match having burned down to her fingers (and anyway she didn't want to use all the air up, though the hole appeared to be providing a breeze) Brer felt the cold starting to seep into her bones. She could not work out how to escape this stony tomb. Going down the hole would be tantamount to suicide while the stone above was not moving no matter what she, or her friends above, tried. Eventually she fell into a shallow and very troubled sleep.
A friend when you're in need... (6♥)
She was jolted awake by a shout from Bea - she had maybe been asleep for an hour and was cold and stiff from laying on the hard stone. But what was it Bea had shouted? Bea was no longer in range, or wasn't replying, which made the panic rise even further.
After what felt like hours, but was more likely only a few minutes, the welcome intelligence of Bea intruded once more into her mind "WE HAVE FRIEND!" and then a mental image of a ghostly figure dressed in a blue flowing dress walking through the ruins ahead of Bea. The girl, for it appeared to be human, approached the place where Brer was trapped (recognisable for the damage that Thud had done to all the flagstones) and knelt next to the one remaining whole stone. After a pause of a few seconds she pressed in one particular place and stepped back. There was a groan, a creak and a sigh and the stone rotated again. Without giving it a chance to swing back Brer grabbed the edge of the hole and hauled herself up, rolling away as fast as possible from the trap. There she lay for a few minutes before sitting up and looking over at her mysterious saviour.
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Natalya |
There was something very ghostly about the figure, revealed as she was in the dim light of the nighttime brazier; she had very very pale skin and bright red lips with golden hair that was blowing in the breeze, flowing out like a living creature. Her clothing was very strange looking, certainly like nothing Brer had ever seen before, a beautiful blue with some designs sewn into one side. She had a very thick belt around her waist but her hands and feet were hidden inside the robe, for robe it was - not dress. She was stood now, no longer kneeling, and looking calmly back at Brer. There was no threat emanating from her, in fact Brer felt instinctively safer and more at home than she had for a long time, maybe ever.
Finally the silence was broken by the newcomer: "Hello, traveller. You are lucky your flying Rookling found me. I do not visit this old place very much any more and I doubt there are any yet alive who could have opened the TombTrap for you. Lucky indeed". Her voice was low, calm and musical. "What brings you here, and wherefore do you go?"
... is a friend when you need it (9♣)
Brer took a deep breath and then answered with complete truthfullness; telling the lady (whose name was Natalya) about the Flying Rook that Brer was hunting, in the hope of learning more about Bea. She described the adventures she had already had, and showed the map given her by the friendly villagers. Natalya took it all in calmly, interupting only a couple of times to clarify some points, only looking slightly surprised during the tale of Brer's personal mission.
Finally the tale was told and silence returned. Brer did not feel like questioning this stranger and other than her name Natalya had given nothing away. The pause continued for so long that Brer felt herself starting to drift back to sleep. Then quietly Natalya spoke. "I know of this Dragon Rook of which you speak. I myself have seen it. It was far from where we are now but not always; indeed the ruin you see here is its work. I am the sole survivor of this tragedy, none of my kith and kin are yet alive. It is a great evil that you hunt, an evil that will destroy you and everything you know if you fail to defeat it. And there are greater than you who have attempted such a feat. Far greater...." Natalya's low voice drifted into silence but then began again, more strongly. "Yet you have the flying Rookling; this is something I've never heard tell of. And your luck is strong - stronger than maybe even you realise. Maybe it is time..." Again a pause, this one longer, but when she began talking once more Natalya also stood and beckoned to Brer. "Yes. I will come with you. Maybe my return to this fated place was not so random after all. Come, let us set off at once; we must sleep outside the city gates for I fear the ghosts this place yet holds". And with that she walked, almost floating her steps were so small, out of the building, across the courtyard, and through the gates. Brer scrambled to get up, gather her stuff and follow.
Maybe her quest had just taken a turn for the better.
Links and Credits for pictures:
Asleep under a tree: https://www.deviantart.com/blacklbutterfly/art/Sleeping-Under-The-Tree-430609298
Buried alive: https://www.deviantart.com/bleistiftmensch/art/buried-alive-818294174