Plots: Serious, silly, random, oh my!

[bc56]

Mountainside
"Right." Mary grabs a torch out of the fire without even flinching from the flames. She holds it up overhead. "The miners must have had canned food or something, right?" She starts off down the tunnel. "Do you have something to mark where we've been? We don't want to get lost down here."

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"Sure, I'll mark the stones." Kol offers, using his spear to scratch the halls that they pass as they look.
He's not sure if he wants to eat forty year old canned food, but they'll have to deal with what they get.

[bc56]

Mountainside
Mary, as an ex-street-urchin has no such qualms about old food. If it's canned, it's probably still good.
The duo pass by an empty rusted minecart and plenty of old tools. "There must be storehouses somewhere in here for supplies. Just look out for any signs." Of course it's not clear what those signs would look like, and beyond the flickering light of the torch, it's pretty dark.
Although maybe not as dark as it seems like it should be. One might guess their eyes are adjusting to the low light, but they've got a light source with them, and everything else is pitch darkness now that they're so far from the entrance.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"I assume that we'd be looking for mice. Or actual signs. But who knows if they'd even be in languages we know?"
Oh no Kol don't think about languages in the Nexus.
The mine is in surprisingly decent shape. Perhaps the ore simply ran out and left it abandoned instead of any disaster. Though that would make it unlikely for supplies to be lying around.

[bc56]

Mountainside
Mary shrugs. "I think we'll know it when we see it."

...

"Wait, do you hear that?"
A faint sound can be heard somewhere in the dark halls, the sound of chains scraping and clanking. It's difficult to tell where it's coming from. "Do you think we should go towards it, or away?"

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol shifts his grip on the spear, which morphs into a silvery rifle.
"Towards, but we be careful. We take a look. There's no point in sitting here all day having no idea what we're here with. If it's something bad, we try our luck with the storm." A shot or two should buy them time to run.

[bc56]

Mountainside
The pair sneak closer to the sound, which grows louder. They spot the source moving along the corridors - the problem is, it undoubtedly also spots them. It is a huge shaggy black thing, like a massive hunched humanoid, a single massive eye in the center of its head. It carries a pickaxe taller than a man and is weighted down by heavy, rusted chains. It gives a deep, angry bellow as it sees the light of the explorers' torch, but it doesn't approach. "What is that?" Mary gapes.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol moves his light behind his back to make its light less glaring to the subterranean creature.
"I think it's a cyclops." he whispers.
"Uh. Hello?" he calls to the creature since it's already spotted them. Maybe it's just an abandoned worker? He'd happily let it free if it didn't eat them.

[bc56]

Mountainside
"Poor thing. Those chains must hurt dreadfully." Mary slips closer to the cyclops. "We don't want to hurt you. We're just lost." It growls and gestures threateningly with its pickaxe. "Did you get left here when the mine closed?" Two things are clear. One, the cyclops (or whatever it is) doesn't understand what Mary's saying. Two, she probably shouldn't keep getting closer to it, because it seems somewhere between frightened and angry. However, that's exactly what she's doing, slowly advancing towards it.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol holds out his hand to Mary, dropping the torch.
"Get ready to run if this goes badly."
Kol aims down at the clump of chains and locks and fires.
And misses.
Okay but he fires again and THIS time shatters the rusted wad of chains to pieces.
Hopefully the creature will be grateful and not just eat them.

[bc56]

Mountainside
At the gunshot, the creature seems to panic and starts to run, making the next shot extra difficult.

But Kol manages it. A rusty padlock is blown apart and the mass of chains goes clattering down behind the cyclops as it beats a hasty retreat.
Mary smiles. "Wow! That was incredible!
...
The torch!"
Its fire is guttering and flickering, weakened by the sudden drop onto the damp floor. In just a moment, it sputters out, plunging the duo into utter blackness.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"Well, we'll call that a good deed for the day. I- oh shoot."
The torch goes out, and they're left in total darkness.
And yet...
"Mary? Is it it just me or can you still see, too?" It's not like his usual vision. There's not as much colors or anything. But he can still see Mary and the walls at least.

[bc56]

Mountainside
"Kol?" Mary blinks a couple times in confusion. "I... Yeah. I can see." That's weird. "Do you think this is part of the disease?" She's not sure what's going on. "If that cyclops was living down here, it must have been eating something. Do you think we should follow it?"

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"Sure. And yeah, it's probably the sickness. Dragons can see in the dark. We'll call this one lucky. We can follow him and maybe he will lead us to a lair or an exit on a safer side of the mountain." It's not like they have many options, right?
Kol folds the weapon back into a spear and somewhat tentatively goes after the cyclops.

[bc56]

Mountainside
The path the cyclops took leads to a large room. They smell the chamber long before they see it, a stench of decay wafting up the passageway. Once they get inside, they see the rusted hulk of some sort of ore processing machine taking up the center of the chamber, but the room currently seems to be occupied by fungus. A thick layer of soil that's probably mostly manure coats the floor, and the fruiting bodies of some sort of huge mold jut up from it like bizarre underground wheat. "Phew! It reeks in here, but it looks like a farm, and that means food, right? I wonder if our friend grew all this himself? Hold on." A bleating sound comes from up ahead. "It sounds like a sheep. Or a goat."

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Oh gods. He’s burning these shoes when he gets back to the dorm.
”Well, we have no reason not to check. I could really use a place to sit down for a while.”
It’s probably only been an hour, but he feels so tired and achey. But he is sick so that probably makes sense.

[bc56]

Mountainside
Maybe two hours? Three? Time is hard to judge in the snowstorm or in darkness. "Yeah. I've had enough excitement for a month already today." Mary doesn't seem to mind getting the muck on her shoes nearly as much as Kol does.
The next room is less smelly, but more noisy. The cyclops is here, apparently watching the other inhabitants, a group of six scrawny mountain goats. A low fire crackles in a crudely carved stone hearth, sending out a smell not dissimilar to baking bread. A large, round stone blocks what appears to be an exit. Mary puts her finger to her lips. "Shh. We don't want to frighten them." She's not sure what the cyclops will do if it finds them in it's home.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

"That it is, yes." Krivka gives a sharp whistle. "Open up! We're back!"

One of the gates swings open. Krivka dismounts from Zhurrk and leads him through, motioning for Kestrel to follow. Inside, she will find herself in a large, domed cave, illuminated by some holes drilled in the ceiling and a number of bowls containing a faintly glowing paste. The effect is a dim twilight, which seems to be all goblins need.

The gate through which they left seems to be on some kind of elevation, and the main part of the cavern is below it. It's filled with a number of wolves, young and old, wandering around their enclosure or resting on straw beddings. Notably, a number of pups are either located in their own enclosure or accompanying their mothers. The arrival of Zhurrk, Vulp and Vulp's sister stirs them somewhat and they pad over to the fence. There's a number of ramps through which wolves can leave the enclosure, it seems.

A number of goblins also approach Krivka and Kestrel, among whom are the two who accompanied earlier. But in the front is a very large (relatively speaking) goblin, who seems equal parts annoyed and relieved.

"Krivka!" he booms. For someone his size, he's got a resounding voice. "I wasn't sure if I believed those two wastrels when they returned with only two pups and said you had things well in hand. But you did! And you did have help. It seems I have you to thank as well, young miss." He strides forward and thrusts a hand out for Kestrel to shake. She might notice that goblins have disproportionately large hands.

"I told you my mom could do it!" calls out a voice from above. There's a ring of catwalks along the wall of the cave, lined with goblins. The one that just spoke is a young teenage girl, with light brown skin and hair in a fairly similar color.

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Following Krivka inside, Kestrel takes a small while to get used to the dim light of the caverns. But eventually, her eyes successfully adjust, and she looks around with some fascination. She also looks quite happy to see the other cubs indeed made it home safe- and just to see all the other cubs that had never escaped in the first place.

Her eyebrow raises a little at just how loud it turns out people this small can manage to be, but she happily steps forwards to shake his hand. "Thanks! Glad to help! Didn't like the idea of those cubs being out there, all alone. It was mostly just good fortune, really, stumbled into Vulp purely by chance! Scooped him up and got bitten for it, but well, it was worth the outcome." She laughs, showing the minor "wound" the cubs fangs had left in her hand. She looks up to the teenager who shouted. "You bet she did, your mom is super skilled!" She had been impressed by just how well Krivka had shown her skills in tracking, shooting, sneaking and cub-wrangling. It was was quite inspirational to the young adventurer, and obvious why this particular wolf-rider had been the one sent out to bring the cubs back in.

[Keeper]

Mountainside
Maybe two hours? Three? Time is hard to judge in the snowstorm or in darkness. "Yeah. I've had enough excitement for a month already today." Mary doesn't seem to mind getting the muck on her shoes nearly as much as Kol does.
The next room is less smelly, but more noisy. The cyclops is here, apparently watching the other inhabitants, a group of six scrawny mountain goats. A low fire crackles in a crudely carved stone hearth, sending out a smell not dissimilar to baking bread. A large, round stone blocks what appears to be an exit. Mary puts her finger to her lips. "Shh. We don't want to frighten them." She's not sure what the cyclops will do if it finds them in it's home.

Mountainside

The goats are a good sign. To have found goats the cyclops must have a way to get out of here. Maybe if that exit goes to the other side of the mountain there won't be a blizzard there.
"Do you think we should knock?" he whispers to Mary.

[bc56]

Mountainside
"On what? There's no door." Mary opts for the next best thing. "Um... Excuse us?" The cyclops turns to look, its eye showing confusion and maybe a little fear. "We'd just like to pass through. Could you open the door?" She makes wide, sweeping gestures towards the blocked exit in hopes of showing what she wants. The cyclops remains impassive.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol makes a show of slinging the spear over his shoulder. He slowly sidesteps around the room to the stone block and taps his fingers against it, then makes a pushing motion.
His fingers make an odd noise against the stone. Have his nails gotten longer?

[bc56]

Mountainside
Longer, harder, and sharper, it would seem. Maybe even enough to leave marks in the stone if he presses hard enough.

The cyclops blinks. Winks? He rises from his seat and crosses the room to the door and heaves the stone aside. Light and cold wind pour into the cavern.
The snow appears to have stopped, so the pair can see clearly their position for the first time. Just outside, clinging to the cliff face, is a rickety structure of wood and rusty metal, looking as old as the mine itself, which juts out into the air. A quick glance down reveals a sheer drop for an immeasurable distance. Mary leans out and gasps. "Are we on a flying island?" It looks that way, and several others can be seen not too far away. The cluster of islands seems to surround a snow-covered mountain peak. "How are we going to get down?"

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol's jaw drops. A flying mountain? And it seems they really did manage to walk through the whole mountain to the other side. He looks down- and something else catches his eye.
He holds up his purple, scaly claws for Mary.
"Well, at the rate we're going we'll have wings by Friday." he jokes weakly.

[bc56]

Mountainside
"It'll be sooner than that, I think," Mary replies regretfully. "We need to find a mirror." Her hands up to just past her elbows and her legs up to her knees are covered in inky black scales, and if Kol watches closely, he can see the scales spreading. "Have you noticed? We seem to be changing faster and faster since we got here." Her ear-fins twitch nervously.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"I almost think I'd rather we didn't. But we shouldn't assume the worst. Maybe it's just external stuff and it's not going to get into our bones or anything."
It's already gotten through their lungs so they probably shouldn't hope that but what else can they do?
"I guess now that we know our friend here is nice enough we could look around more."

[bc56]

Mountainside
"Right. Maybe there's a lift down to the ground somewhere?" The two leave the cyclops' cave again, and he rolls the stone back over the exit to prevent the goats from getting out. "And maybe we'll find the storeroom so we don't need to steal his food when we get hungry." They set off mostly aimlessly into the tunnels. The mine feels much less unwelcoming and much more comfortable now.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

Kol waves to the cyclops as they leave.
"Sure. That'd be nice.""
They set off into the dark. Where they probably walk for a fairly long time, but shouldn't have any serious trouble navigating. It just comes easily to them. But still, it's hard to make out exact details in the dark and Kol is terrified what might be happening to them that they can't quite see.
Eventually they pass a large wooden sign in the shape of a basket, pointing left.
"Hey, Mary. You don't think...?"

[bc56]

Mountainside
"That probably leads to the storeroom. Let's hope there's enough food, I'm famished!" Mary doesn't like this darkness all that much either. She can feel her skin crawling and she's pretty sure it means she's turning more scaly by the minute. The passage indicated by the sign leads to an old wooden door. She tries the handle, trying not to think about how her claws scrape gashes into the soft wood as they brush against it.

[Keeper]

Mountainside

"I hope anything in there's still good." Kol helps push the door open with his shoulder if Mary can't get it open.
He, himself, tries not to think about how he can't feel the wood surface against him as well as he should, as if his skin was much harder...

[bc56]

Mountainside
After so many years, it's unsurprising that the door is stuck. But the pair together can force it open without much trouble (their shoulders don't even hurt afterwards, which, given their current condition, is more concerning than fortunate).
The storeroom is just a large rectangular chamber packed with shelves. Cans of food mark one section, but others are taken up by tools, lanterns and fuel, and even blankets and bedrolls. None of the shelves seem particularly well stocked - they probably were chock-full when the mine was in operation, but now there room is at well under half capacity. Nothing looks like it's in good condition, but beggars can't be choosers. Mary starts looking through the cans. "We've got tinned pork, tinned beef, sardines, tinned peaches, dog food," she makes a disgusted face, "Beans, more pork, and whatever that is I think it's gone bad," she picks up one can that's leaking foul-smelling fluid and throws it out the door.