Not-Alone in the Dark
« continued from Into the Mire.
- Location: Collinsel Sewers
- Participants: Delilah (Stubb Spoof), Hactor, Amos, Dangeon, Frigg, Sandy, Malcolm
The storm's fury seems to be easing off for the moment. A low drumroll announces the thunder's withdrawal from combat, and only guttering flashes of light echo weakly through the circular opening in the sewer roof above. Chuckling rainfall patters into the mix of clotted sludge and waste that forms the sticky floor here and forms a swift-flowing layer of slime. It wraps around the legs of the adventurers, whose torchlight glitters off the brick walls slick with fungus. "There you are." Delilah's harsh whisper reaches them almost as soon as they drop into the sewers.
Hactor manages to smell the weasel before she speaks. "And there /you/ are! Glad we could find you in this dark abyss."
Amos is still holding the torch, turns to see the weasel with relief, "Delilah, glad to see you!" The wildcat has dried a bit and kept the torch dry and high, "We got a bit lost but guess we're all sorted out with you here again."
Dangeon wants to lean on something. She looks physically uncomfortable, standing awkwardly. She seems to relax just a little as Delilah appears though, unfolding her arms and stepping forward behind the cat. "Here we are."
A cough echoes in the chamber, and a dark shape is huddled against a sewage-lined pipe, out of which spews disgusting gunk and splatters a bit every now and then on the maid's frockcoat. Frigg is there, looking deathly ill again, too weak to get up it's assumed, and holding a golden chain and ring in her paw. The maid is saying, rather mumbling, something to herself, eyes sunken and darker than the rest of her face.
Sewage. Tiredness. Hunger. Could things get ANY better? Sandy, the recently-escaped slave, thought it could; after all, she'd been running for who knows how long anymore. Could have been days, for all she knew. Trying to avoid any possible entrances to the sewers, in case somebeast was out looking for her to haul her back in, she stumbled and slipped, making her way for who knows where. Off in the distance, she thought she could make out some light. Possibly someone coming to find her? Only one way to find out, and that was to, somehow, sneak over undetected and possibly hide behind something that might have fallen... And with her curiosity getting the best of her, she proceeded to inch along the walls, towards the group.
"Where's Angus?" The weasel maid, looking slim and elegant despite the crust of refuse that clings to her lightweight dress, cranes her neck around Amos to peer through the darkness. "Gone off on his own again has--" She pauses and holds up a paw. "Shhh..." Delilah reaches for the wildcat's torch. In the quiet, the rain continues its soft crinkling, but there is another sound, coming from somewhere down the tunnel. Even the most light-footed squirrel can't be silent in the grasping sludge of the Collinsel Sewers.
Hactor looks about as best he can, then turns to the weasel saying, "Not sure love. Was here a moment ago." He shrugs, but then goes silent, listening to. He slowly draws his blade, deciding it would be prudent to slice forst and ask questions later down here.
"Can't say I rightly know, we lost him trying to find you and found Dangeon on the way here, " Amos grunts, giving up the torch as Delilah reaches for it, "I'm sure he's fine though, he can take care of himself and sure he'll find us soon enough."
"All roads lead t'... well, the same place. And these tunnels've got to be bally more limited than roads, right? 'M sure we'll all be together soon 'nuff..." Dangeon perks her ears as the paw is raised. She half agrees with Hactor on this, and puts paw to hilt.. though refrains from drawing yet.
Malcolm is having probably one of the worst times of his life. It sticks down here. And its on EVERYTHING. Mainly, its on him and that's what's driving him mad. The young lizard is glaring up a small storm at whoever looks his way, and his eyes are constantly shifting around to see if he can find somewhere to go that is filled with rainbows and butterflies. Or the next best thing, sunlight. "Can we go now? It smells down here" he asks, arms folding firmly over his chest. He's got a talent for stating the obvious it seems and it also seems that he couldn't care less where Angus has gotten to.
Sandy freezes in place. She felt... detected. But there wasn't any backing off. If one of those beasts had a bow, she'd be waking up at the gates of the dark forest this time tomorrow... With no way out of this mess, she pressed herself flat against the wall, and held her breath. Perhaps they would go the other way, or walk by and not notice her... Then she could slip out of her hiding spot, and make a mad dash for it! Thinking that would be the way she'd have to go, she made sure she was concealed behind something, and waited.
Delilah's glare is if anything more stormy than anything Malcolm can muster. Just now that she's got the wildcat to quite his griping, now the spoiled tyke. "Shh!" her staccato reprimand comes, punctuated by a low rumble of thunder from the world above. Turning to stalk forward, she holds the borrowed torch stretched out before her. Her rounded auricle twitches as she holds it toward the sound, now vanished. "Mm. Can't be Angus," she says after a moment. "Goodness knows he'd make more noise than this." She curses and grabs Amos' shoulder. "Must be one of the Keepers. Come on. Can't let him get away."
Hactor makes a low growl as he marches forward with Delilah. "Whoever ya are!" he growls into the darkness, "Ya would do better to reveal yerself now and aske fer mursey. If not, then you'll soon foind we arn't tha type ta be meddled with!"
Amos ignores Mal and focuses on the sound that has their attention before it disappears. Keepers? Well whatever they call themselves he'll soon repay them kindly for Stubb's mistreatment. He hisses and grabs at the hilt of his weapon as the weasel grabs his shoulder, "Right, come along Dangy and make yourself useful!" He rushes after the weasel and Hactor. Not exactly sure what to expect but keeping close behind.
Frigg, meanwhile, can see the group and the lone slave from her position, but it doesn't register in her dazed state that she should call out, or even get herself out of this stinking mess... The maid's tail drags in the sludge, but at least her bottom and footpaws are covered enough that the filth doesn't have a way onto her fur. She shivers suddenly, and gags, but continues muttering. Besides the stench, though, and the ickyness of the sludge, the lighting and sounds are quite tranquil; Frigg's eyelids droop.
Dangeon nods. "Oy... I'm coming, I'm coming." The hare mutters, carefully drawing her sword with a quiet scraping sound. She peers ahead and quickens her pace so as not to be left behind.
Sandy tries not to snort out from the demands. Reveal herself? She was a runaway slave who was possibly avoiding beasts who would drag her back into the belly of the beast! Whoever that was that called out, they were downright bally MAD. She didn't move a muscle, and she didn't breathe... Which was a mistake on her part - if she exhaled, that would certainly be heard... Still she stood in wait, breath held and fear playing in her eyes. Mind mostly shut off to all other senses except for one... SURVIVAL.
Malcolm's eyes widen as Delilah makes that shh at him. The monitor stops for a moment. "Make me!" he blurts out, stamping along after her. No one has really 'stopped' so he trudges along after everyone, but he's moving slightly faster. "I want to go home." he growls a little bit. He doesn't even see Frigg. And even if he did, there's no promise he'd care. The kid starts to mumble, not really 'loudly' but its loud enough to annoy anyone who doesn't want to hear it. "Stupid beasts, making me come all the way down here..." there's some more mumbling, this time of things probably a kid shouldn't really say.
Delilah breathes through a clenched mouth and flaring nostrils. It takes considerable exertion for her to even keep up with the insolent little (well, big) monitor, but she does. She's careful not to dart ahead of the others, though; they're armed and she is not, at least not obviously so. "Bloody fool," she says in a venomous undertone to the others, cursing rather uncharacteristically. "He's going to get us ambushed." She snorts. "Where's his bloody father?"
Hactor is about to make another warning into the darkeness, but then Malcome crosses the line. Dubble facing, the old, grizzled tod marches through the slime to Malcome and hisses, "If you don't stop yer bloody complaining, I'm gonna make you wish you were back with that bloody black fox Anba. Now buck up and shut up!"
Amos easily keeps up with the pace set by the monitor, but has to agree with Delilah. He about pipes up to admonish the Mal but Hactor gets there first, still he adds his own scathing words, "Too right, shut your bloody yap and get behind us you bloody fool, " This is not a suggestion.
Frigg hears the noises getting angrier and presses the ring and chain tightly to her chest, eyes widening. Tears dry on the dark orbs of her eyes as she sniffs and stops mumbling for a moment to listen. They seem familiar but, well, /don't/. She's not sure, and they seem a lot closer than they might be. From her spot at the intersection of the pipes, she's invariably the point at which both groups will meet, but she doesn't really know.
Sandy swallows nervously, and gives a VERY quiet whimper. She wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to hold her breath, and the beasts were getting closer... She couldn't tell if they were good or bad, but one of them seemed like he was... well, to her, annoying as sin! Had this been the past, she'd have probably gone to town on him with a whip, but she was waaaay too nervous and weak for those actions... All she could do at this moment was hope and pray.
Malcolm stares at Hactor angrily. But after a moment, he just sighs. He mutters at him once and then there's a click as he shuts his mouth. The lizard looks away, down at the sludge and then swears at that old fox under his breath, still mumbling things but much quieter. How long his 'silence' will last for though is unknown. He'll probably find something else to complain about in a minute.
A crackle of lightning finds its way into the sewer and splashes briefly across the filthy sludge. A wind picks up and whistles over the manhole openings. The sewage suckles wetly at Delilah's feet as she struggles forward, letting the orange light of her torch lead the way for the group. Terracotta pipes crawl in bunches along the walls of the broad tunnel. They dart away here, disgorge their foul contents there, dart in again here. It is this maze of conduits that confounds their search; any of the larger ones could be a hiding place, a crevice where dangers might lurk. "Keep your eyes open."
Hactor can hear some of Malcome's curses, but chossing to ignore them walks back to Delilah. He grunts in agreement at the weasel's words, but not before stoping dead in his tracks. Hehold up a paw, sygnalling for the others to stop. He sniffs the dank air, once, twice and smells something not so horrid. "Wer'e not alone."
Amos takes a glance over at Mal, who has seemingly ignored him. He's quickly forming the opinion that Mal shouldn't be here, that he should be off somewhere being looked after but he keeps this to himself for now. He'll have to have words with Angus about his son later, now he keeps behind the weasel maid and indeed does keep an eye out for the order or anyone else as they make their way along.
The wildcat stops too as Hactor's warning, grunts, "Figures."
Sandy finally reaches the end of her rope - unable to hold her breath one minute longer, she covers her mouth quickly, and exhales. Hoping it sounded further away than it should have, she takes another deep breath, and waits. Hoping her luck kept up...
Malcolm had kept walking, and he was right behind Hactor. So there's a good chance he probably just walked right into the fox, grunting and frowning. But instead of saying something, he gave a quick glance around and started to slowly back off, going the other direction, back the way they came, going to just abandon them completely, hoping no one notices him trying to leave until he's left.
Amid the sounds of sludge, which produces an immodest concert of belches and gasps as the spelunkers slog through it, a squirrel's breath is a difficult thing to pinpoint. Delilah turns a torchlit smirk upon Hactor. "Not alone, eh? I suppose you thought we were searching for diamonds?" She sniffs the air and nearly gags. "Oof. Smells like someone dropped a bit of perfume in the pipes. Smells fancy. I can't bear the stuff even when it's not mixed with... whatever /that/ is." A soggy log drifts by on a green-brown current.
Hactor cocks an eyebrow at Delilah and is about to retort when he sees the log. His eye follows it for a moment in discust, when he finally notices the young monitor. "Don't you even think about it lady buck!"
"Ya the one who brought us into this delightful place, " Amos half turns to see the monitor, frankly he thinks they'd be better off. Still, it is Angus' kid, but he obviously isn't as close to the child as Hactor appears to be. So he keeps his mouth shut on the subject, and continues after Delilah.
Sandy bites her lip even harder. They were getting VERY close to where she was hiding... Why couldn't they have ALL turned around and left? Maybe they'll just walk by her? She certainly hoped they would! Then she could make a run for it, and possibly get out of the god-forsaken sewers to start her life anew! Maybe even return to her old profession? ...Nah. Pressing herself tighter against the wall, she was doing her best to remain inconspicuous...
Malcolm blinks. And then goes back to having that personal rain cloud back over his head. The lizard shakes his head and sighs. His arms fold back over his chest and looks as if nothing had happened, aside from getting into that argument. His muttering continues, and goes back to being as loud as they were before. But now, he's keeping his distance from everyone, still looking for that moment he can slip away unnoticed.
Delilah presses onward, disregarding the fancy smell for the moment. "There's another hole up ahead. If our little spy plans on escaping, he'll likely try to go through there." Sure enough, the bricks have fallen away in a spot that now draws nearer. The weasel approaches it. After passing a largish pipe, she stops. "Well, well." Delilah holds out her torch. "I think I found our spy." Suddenly bathed in light , huddled in the shelter of the pipe, is Sandy.
“Ah ha, got’cha now missy, who are you?” The wildcat demands, glaring at the squirrel maid, “Are there any others and don’t’cha make any sudden movements, “ He holds his sword in a threaten manner, having pulled it free as Sandy appeared into sight.
Time felt as if it had stopped for Sandy. When they saw her, and one of them even seems to threaten her... She just broke down. Crying from fear and from being found, she buried her face in her paws, now feeling as if she was about to get drug right back. "P-please, d-d-don't take me b-back t-to master! I w-want to be FREE!" she says, amidst sobs and hiccups. She was too afraid to tell them anything at the moment...
Malcolm had kept enough distance that when they finally discover Sandy, he's got more than enough space to just leave. And that's what he does. He turns and shuffles through the sludge, but then he stops dead in his tracks. He spots Frigg up ahead on his path. And then he looks to the group. "Eeeh." he grumbles, turning and leaving. But then he stops. And huffs. The monitor turns and shuffles towards Frigg again.
Delilah looks down at the bedraggled squirrel with the merest hint of pity in her eyes. "I don't think she'll be giving us much trouble." She chuckles dryly. "If she's a Keeper, I'll... I'll eat my jewelry." The weasel bends down to look at the squirrel. "Has any other beast passed this way?"
Amos puts away his weapon as it becomes clear indeed that the squirrel maid poses a threat to no one here at least. He approaches her, looking over the squirrel maid as he looks her over, “Looks like an escapee, don’t’cha worry missy we ain’t gonna hurt you, “ He gives her a smile, flashing white sharp teeth at her, “I ain’t no one’s master, I’m her boss but otherwise I’m just Amos and you would be?“ He motions towards Dangeon who is still following along with them, his tone clearly shifted to be more soothing towards the squirrel maid.
Sandy looks between the few beasts that had came across her. She was trembling like a leaf and quite hungry, too... After a quick wipe of her eyes to get the tears out, she finally felt like she could reply to their questions. The wildcat's attempt to calm her down had some effect too, as she soon enough stopped trembling so much. "I... I'm S-sandy... I-I'm pretty s-sure I'm t-the only beast in t-the sewers... R-running away f-from my m-master..." she whimpered out, before giving the group a pleading look. "Please, t-take me with you? T-to freedom?" she asked earnestly. She thought she might be out of her mind for asking a motley crew of what appeared to consist mostly of what she considered verminous-types for help, but at this point? Anywhere was better than the sewers.
The weasel quickly appears to lose interest. "Well, you may be lying or you may be deaf. I'm quite sure they came this way, and the kid's found someone too, by the looks of it." Delilah smirks. "Either way, I'm sure she'll manage on her own." With that remark, the fearless leader tramps onward to the hole, carrying the light with her.
Not wanting to lose Delilah again, Amos quickly advises the squirrel maid, “You look like you can walk, we trek after dangerous beasts but you’re welcome to follow as long as you keep out of our way and keep your mouth shut, “ He then quickly moves to catch up, moving towards the hole.
Sandy wasn't surprised whatsoever that her plea for help went completely unheeded. She figured they were still a bad lot... Though the offer to follow as long as she was quiet sounded good to her. She didn't care who or what they were after, and she was used to keeping quiet around others of higher rank. Without a word, she ran to catch up with the group. It was now or never.
Well, out or not, Malcolm wont just leave her there. He picks Frigg up and puts the mouse over his shoulder and trudges off after everyone else.
