The Fe'gan Mountains are the highest, coldest mountains Lambastia has to offer, with the highest peak recorded at 8589 m (28,179 ft). Only the toughest creatures survive here, and the trek to get to the Basantha Shrine lays through these harsh conditions. (+3 Endurance)

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Postby Jaykobell » 08/20/2017 4:46 AM

Both looked on with their mouths wide open; not that Caraway's expression could be seen. "What the fuck?!" Braith screeched upon seeing the Zipala, but Caraway was a little bit more proactive about it.

He walked over, and he slowly approached a hand to place it over Velius's neck. He held his breath. "He still has a pulse," he said as he breathed out. "He's not dead."

Braith's eyes flickered this way and that; this information was overwhelming. "How is he alive? He's not a human?" Her fur stood up. "What the fuck is happening?!"

Caraway figured Braith was irritable because of the situation, and not at him specifically. "I... I think..." He looked back down at Velius, and he brought his hand close to his hair. "I think... it's because of this." He went on to gently push the hair away; and where there would normally be an eye, a piece of shard was imbedded into Velius's skin. Mostly black in color, it also carried highlights of green and purple; the same glowing colors as the strange symbols on Velius's body that were pulsing brightly with light.

Braith gritted her teeth and frowned. "A... a shard?" she asked hesitantly.

"I know those colors."

She turned around in a flash, growling and baring her teeth. The bright Stargoyle took a step back at her aggressive display, and despite the fact they hadn't attacked them, this Stargoyle hadn't helped them, either. "Get away from him!" she snarled, and she feinted lunging for him.

"Whoa, wait!" the Stargoyle said as they took another step back. "I'm not your enemy here! I told you to get out of here and run, didn't I?" they reminded her.

As much as she didn't like to admit it, Braith knew the Stargoyle was right. She backed up, but she made it clear that if the Stargoyle did any shady movement, she would be ready to tear him apart rock by rock.

"You said..." Caraway spoke from next to Velius, "You said you know these colors?"

"Sure do," the Stargoyle said, and since Braith had backed up, they took a few steps forward to take a closer look. "That energy, too..." They narrowed their eyes. "Feels... Godly."

There was silence. Braith was about to say that sounded like malarky when Caraway spoke up first. "Velius once told me... that he got this shard from some kind of God," he said, giving leverage to the Stargoyle's words. "That he'd been killed, and then revived thanks to this shard."

"So he..." Braith paused. "He won't die? He's not dying?"

She'd expected confirmation again, but Caraway only looked down at Velius. "I think that's how it works," he said. "The shard keeps him alive, and it heals injuries to his body."

She was feeling a whole slew of emotions. She was angry, sad, nervous, upset, overwhelmed, confused; it was a mess. She shook her head. "We have... we have to get him out of here," she said; there would be time for more of this once they were out of harm's way. "Before those things come back again." Even if they had been terrified, there was still a chance for them to come back. "And you..." she added, turning to the Stargoyle. "You're coming with us."
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Postby Jaykobell » 08/20/2017 5:42 PM

The Stargoyle stared at her confusingly. “Uh,” they mumbled, “scuse me?”

“If you hadn't played games and if you had actually explained what was going to happen, we wouldn't be in this mess!” she reprimanded. “So—”

“What?” they replied indignantly. “Your stupid friend here is the one who had the bright idea to fight those Torkens!” they reminded her, narrowing their eyes. “Don't blame me for your own stupidity. It's not my fault he could've been killed.”

With the state of things, Braith was in no mood to argue with this Stargoyle. If they hadn't distracted them, maybe this whole thing wouldn't have happened. Now they were stuck in some cave that hadn't even been charted yet, and in which there truly were things that had the power to kill them.

“Um… Excuse me.”

Both of them turned to look at Caraway, who was still keeping close to Velius. “What my friend Braith is trying to say is that we don't know this place; we were requested to come here and map these cave channels,” he explained. “We need to finish doing this, but with our friend injured like this, we're vulnerable.” He noticed Braith’s face contort into a grimace when he referred to them being vulnerable.

“You live here, and you seem to know the place,” he went on. “Could you please come with us? We just want to finish this map, and then we'll leave you be.”

The Stargoyle listened carefully. They looked at that silly bird beak human as he spoke, and they considered their options. Those Torkens might just be quiet for a while now that they'd been given a good scare. The fox girl wasn't very delicate or tactful, but the little bird one seemed nicer. Besides that, the Zipala looked in horrible shape. If they got ambushed again, Godly protection or not, he might not survive receiving such intense damage again.

And after considering all that; helping humans was kind of their thing.

They sighed. “Fine, fine, I hear you,” they said, and they looked at Braith. “Lucky for you your little bird friend is nicer than you,” they said dryly, and Braith snarled.

“B… bird friend?” It still surprised him when people referred to him that way, but it was understandable.

“What's wrong with your face, anyway?” the Stargoyle asked, tilting their head. “Never seen a human like you before.”

“It's a mask,” Braith scoffed. “That's not what his face actually looks like.”

“Oh,” they mumbled quietly. It was a bizarre look, but humans were strange to begin with; so they didn't push the issue.
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Postby Jaykobell » 08/20/2017 5:46 PM

“Okay, well, now that that's done,” Braith said, “Caraway — get Velius on my back.” He looked confused at her inquiry, and so she clarified, exasperated, “Put him on my back and strap him with the rope he packed, so he doesn't fall.”

He hadn't expected Braith to offer herself as a carrier; even when they were traveling, she always refused to let them ride on her back. Giving it some thought, however, they had no other option; it wasn't like Caraway could carry an adult Zipala on his shoulders.

“All right,” he agreed, and he worked on gently grabbing onto Velius's body.

The blood soaked his clothes and made the body a bit difficult to hold on to. Braith cooperated by coming closer and laying down so Caraway wouldn't need to lift Velius up too much. He started by putting the front of his body on first, and then he pushed up the rest. He was just small enough to fit perfectly on Braith's back.

Once Velius was on, Caraway took away the bag he'd been carrying. He pulled out the rope and wrapped it around both Velius and Braith. When it came time to tighten it, though, it proved a little difficult. “Um.”

“What?” Braith huffed. “What are you waiting for?”

“Um, excuse me… Uh,” he said as he called out to the Stargoyle, and he stopped when he realized he had no gender nor a name to refer them by.

They had been patiently waiting this whole time. When Caraway addressed them directly, they simply replied, “Pyre. Just Pyre.”

“Oh. Um, Pyre, could you please help?” he asked, and he showed them the rope between his bloodied and slippery gloves. “My gloves are too slippery to tighten the rope; and I'm sure you could tighten better.” Being made of rocks, their jaw had to be terrifyingly powerful.

They didn't understand why the little guy couldn't just take off his gloves, but the clever boy had worked some sort of compliment into his request. That was one way to win Pyre’s help. “Sure,” they agreed, and they walked over to Caraway to grab the rope in their mouth.

“Thank you,” he said gratefully. “Just a nice tug so he won't fall, but also loose enough that it won't choke the two of them.”

Their empty eyes would've rolled some if they had had some kind of pupils. This simple task had suddenly turned into some complicated equation. But they pulled slowly, and Caraway supervised. Once it was just right, Caraway motioned for Pyre to stop. “Perfect,” he said as he tried the rope. “Is it okay, Braith?”

It wasn't the most comfortable setup, but that was regardless of anyone's best efforts. Carrying dead weight on your back was never pleasant. “It's fine,” she said, and she carefully got up on all fours. His body moved a little, but the rope was doing its job.

“Let's move,” she said, and she motioned for the other two to start walking. She could only hope this cave had little left to explore, and that they would be out of there soon.
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