Cavern Encounter: 1/1

This spring had been unusually cold and damp in comparison to other years, heck, it had even snowed a few times!

Bleu shook the fresh dew droplets from her plumage, irritated at her soggy feathers. The night had set in quite some time ago, and it was still cold enough that she could slightly see her own breath as she exhaled. She trekked on however, as she had to reach the meeting point before midnight. Why had they chosen a spot so far away? Only the gods knew. She had only been told that her scavenging partners for the night had found a new, nearly untapped cavern. They had been eager to venture out and start excavating, Bleu a little less than the other two she’d made plans with. She’d seen a lot of these cases before; “newly” discovered areas of potential finds explored, only to uncover junk and low-value finds. Once in a while there’d be something of decent value, but more often than not it was just scrap.

Finally, after about another half an hour of walking, Bleu reached the meeting site, a small clearing illuminated by moonlight, only to find it completely barren of any life. No one was there to greet her or to hurry them along to the scavenging area they’d found. Bleu let out an exasperated sigh, flexing her toes in the slick grass underfoot. She shifted the satchel strapped to her body so that it was fastened a bit more loosely, making her way over to a fallen log at the center of the clearing. She perched atop it, waiting patiently for her partners to arrive.

The sounds of nearing wingbeats shook Bleu awake. She must’ve drifted off to sleep. Turning around, she spotted two figures backlit by the moon behind them, slowly descending towards her. She knew she should be more careful with who she let near her while out alone, but she had almost immediately recognized these two  as they approached.

One was a rather large Lycan, her head adorned with two large, curled horns. The other was a Hawk, almost invisible against the dark night sky, if not for the moon behind the pair.

The two finally landed in the clearing, approaching Bleu excitedly.

“So? You ready to go to the excavation site?” The Lycan was practically bouncing with excitement. The hawk was much more relaxed, but still had traces of anticipation in his posture.

“Mind telling me why you were so late, first?” Bleu scoffed. She wasn’t usually one to be picky, but tonight had been particularly dreary and cold, and she hated the cold.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” The Lycan looked away sheepishly. “Night and I got caught up talking with a friend nearby. We figured you wouldn’t mind.”

Night merely nodded her head.

Bleu snorted, but said nothing about it. Instead she hopped off the log and began making her way towards the excavation site.

“Come on!” She looked over her shoulder at the two in tow, who were dawdling and chattering with each other. They shot her an apologetic glance, but hurried along to catch up.

The trio pushed their way past budding foliage and sprouting ferns, through light patches of snow that still covered parts of the ground where sunlight was unable to reach through the canopy of trees. They walked until conversation topics slowly ran dry, and they trekked along in silence.

Eventually, they came to a large stone monument, one covered in vines and overgrowth, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The shapes of the monument had worn down over the time it had been out here in the elements, resulting in a more rounded, indiscernible shape.

Bleu swept away the wet leaves covering the rusted nameplate bolted to the base, but it was too faded to make out any of the words. The only thing that was legible was a name; Temperence.

Bleu raised an eyebrow slightly. That name… it was somehow familiar. She tapped her sickle claw contemplatively against the mossy surface of the monument.

“See? Isn’t this thing cool?!” Frostbite, the Lycan, exclaimed, coming up to Bleu’s right side, Night taking to the opposite side. Bleu hummed in response, still lost in thought. She could swear she knew that name…

“Well, we won’t get anything done by standing here. The area’s just up ahead. C’mon.” Night took the lead, her silky tail feathers full of twigs and dirt by now. Spring wasn’t the kindest season in terms of clean feathers. Frostbite scrambled after her, while Bleu took one last look at the rusted nameplate before following.

As they continued their journey forward, Bleu couldn’t help but ponder where she knew that name from. Was it a person? A forgotten friend maybe? Or even a place? Maybe it was just from a folktale or something, one that she’d happened to hear in her travels. She still wasn’t sure.

“There it is!” Frostbite buzzed past Night, padding over to a large cave’s entrance, one that was built up of smaller boulders and rocks stacked together to form a domed entrance. The actual cave itself was a hole in the ground, one leading down below the surface. None of them were sure how far it went, but that’s what they were here for, right?

“How’d you guys find this?” Bleu asked. It was way off of the known cave maps she had records of, so she was pretty sure it was uncharted.

“Dunno, we were just in the area on a separate scavenging outing when we found it!” Frostbite chuckled playfully.

“So you were goofing off and not doing what you were supposed to do, is what I’m getting from that?” Bleu smirked.

Frostbite’s eyes widened, but she wasn’t upset. She merely smiled to herself and went silent. Night simply rolled her eyes sarcastically.

“You brought the stuff we asked for, right?” Night asked, turning to face Bleu.

Bleu nodded, unstrapping the satchel from her body and placing it in front of Night. The Hawk reached inside and pulled out a large spool of rope, tying it to a sturdy tree trunk near the entrance of the cave and tossing it down into the hole.

“No idea how far down this goes, so better have a way to get out when we’re done.” She huffed, satisfied with her work. Bleu nodded, re-fastening the nearly empty satchel to her body once more. Without hesitation Frostbite took hold of the rope, backing herself into the cave entrance and letting her feet dangle over the cave entrance. Soon enough she was descending into the darkness, Bleu and Night waiting with anticipation on the surface. Only a few moments after they heard a thud under their feet, followed by Frostbite’s echoey voice.

“I’m down! It’s not too far, just a bit dark down here.”

Bleu and Night looked at each other, before taking turns lowering themselves into the cave beneath them.

Once they were in, the fresh outside air was immediately smothered by the dank cavern walls around them. While it wasn’t cold, it was still very wet, meaning Bleu had no escape from wet feathers slicking her body. Once her feet touched solid ground, she let go of the rope and looked around as best she could. Despite being nocturnal, without some sort of light source, it was nearly impossible to see in the dark down here.

“Got the flashlight?” Night’s voice startled her when he couldn’t see who it was coming from, but she reached into the satchel and pulled out a decently sized flashlight, flipping on the switch and lighting up the cave. While it wasn’t incredibly bright, it was enough to light the way. Bleu silently began taking the first steps into the cave, the others following quickly.

All that could be heard were their own footsteps, that and the occasional droplet of water dripping from a stalactite. Bleu wasn’t sure why, but this cave was strange. It made her feel… uneasy. Like something was watching them.

“Guys, over here!” Night, with her better-than-average vision, had spotted something sticking out of the wall across the larger cavern they found themselves in. She hurried over to it, tapping it with her wing talon. As Bleu and Frostbite got closer, they could see the protruding object better. It was a strange crystal of sorts, and it seemed to be emanating a faint glow. Night had begun scraping away at the wall it was stuck in, causing it to crumble in her talons as she dug. Soon enough she was able to pull the crystal from the wall, albeit with a bit of a struggle. She turned it over and over in her talons, mesmerized by the glow it gave off.

“Put it into the bag, we’ll keep looking in this direction.” Bleu opened the satchel, letting Night drop the crystal into it. The trio continued down the path near the new hole in the wall where the crystal had been, finding a few cool looking stones, rocks, the occasional gemstone or crystal, and lots of creepy crawlies, most of which Frostbite recoiled from, and that Night brought closer to the Lycan to cause chaos.

After a while, the trio began to loosen up a bit and crack jokes at each other. Even Bleu was laughing now. That mood would continue to carry them into the deeper parts of the caves, where the air began to get hotter and even creepier critters crossed their paths.

“Man, there’s a lot of bugs down here.” Frostbite shivered as they passed the near-hundredth spider they’d seen. Even Night had grown tired of chasing Frostbite around with whatever gross thing they came across.

Bleu suddenly sniffed the air, catching a strange, familiar scent. Something akin to… metal?

“You smell that?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Smell what?” Frostbite cocked her head to the side in confusion. Night looked puzzled.

Metal. Or… something. I’m not too sure, it just smells like metal. Up ahead, I think it’s coming from there” Bleu motioned towards the dark spot ahead of them, probably a new cave entrance to a place even deeper inside the caverns.

As the three approached, the smell began to get stronger. So strong that even Frostbite and Night began to pick up on it. There was even a new scent; sulfur. The heat in the caverns also began to rise as they came closer.

Once they reached the new entrance, a light could be seen around the corner of the entrance. Heat radiated out of it, causing Frostbite to pant slightly. She wasn’t used to the heat like this, no wonder winter was her favorite season.

“Shall we investigate?” Bleu turned to face the two others who simply nodded, although Frostbite a bit less enthusiastically.

Bleu was the first to enter, the heat immediately hitting her even stronger than before. Turning the corner, Bleu could see the walls glowing with ripples of magma coursing through them. Well, that’s where the heat was coming from. Probably the sulfur smell, too.

“Uh, I might hang back actually, it’s getting pretty hot.” Frostbite squeaked.

“If you’re sure, we’re going ahead to see what’s there. Could be something cool.” Bleu didn’t bother turning around to reply, she was too interested in finding out what was ahead.

Frostbite stood in place for a moment, pondering what to do. She eventually sighed and caught up with the others.

As soon as Frostbite caught up to the other two, the cavern opened up to reveal a large cave, packed with crystals and gemstones adorning the walls, and most notably the floor, which was covered with coins, weapons, and most notably, a pit of magma and molten metal at the center of the cave. The bubbling from the pit was all that could really be heard, that and the sounds of flowing magma throughout the walls.

“Holy Galyx…” Night gasped at the sight.

“Let’s try to get as much as we can to bring back, maybe it could be cashed in as scrap. These coins don’t look like anything we use, so I doubt they’re recent.” Frostbite said, examining a coin closely in her talons.

Just as the group began to sift through the piles of metal, Bleu could swear she heard something. Like a heartbeat. Looking around yielded nothing, but looking up froze her in her tracks. Two large, icy blue eyes glared back at her from the darkness above.

“Uh, guys…” Bleu nudged Night without looking away from the pair of eyes.

“What? Oh…” Night, looking up, dropped her finds. The clattering alerted Frostbite, who also looked in the same direction, causing her jaw to drop.

“What… is that?” She said breathlessly.

“I don’t know, but maybe we should just leave it alone… come on, let’s get out of here. We’ve got enough stuff anyway, my satchel’s almost full.”

Bleu began backing away slowly, but just as the words left her mouth, the eyes lunged, a huge pair of wings snapping open and descending upon them.

Bleu braced for an impact, expecting to be snapped up by its fangs or crushed under its huge talons, but it never came. Instead, piles of coins and half-melted metal objects were sent flying as the beast landed with a huge thud on the ground in front of them. It was far bigger than them, towering above them like a skyscraper. The frozen eyes never once looked away. Bleu was about to turn tail and run, but the beast suddenly spoke.

“And what do we have here? Some little vagrants have wandered into my cavern, hmm? It’d be a shame to find their faces in a missing report, now, wouldn’t it?” The voice was a female voice, but it echoed menacingly throughout the cavern.

“I-I’m sorry… we’re sorry, we were just exploring a cave we found when we came across your cavern, and, well, all the valuables you’ve got. They’re really very nice, but we won’t be bothering you any longer. We’ll be going now.” Night and Frostbite had moved behind Bleu at this point, still locked onto the large beast in front of them.

“I don’t think so. Trespassers must pay up somehow, and I’d rather it be sooner than later.” The beast lowered her head, revealing the scutes and spines all over her face and neck. Her pale plumage was lit up by the magma behind her.

“We’d just like to leave you in peace, truly. We don’t mean to intrude.” Bleu insisted. The beast took a step further towards the group, bringing her head down to Bleu’s level.

“Did I stutter?”

Bleu could now tell that this beast wasn’t some cave monster, but a stryx just like them. A big one, but still a stryx. A gryph to be exact. She had a mix of feathered and webbed wings, and was covered in scaly portions adorned with spines. Bleu truly didn’t want to pick a fight with her, she knew she could be crushed in an instant.

“N-no. No, we heard you. What do you want from us?” Bleu replied shakily.

“To return my loot and forget this cave even exists. That’s all.” The gryph snarled. Her hot breath breezed over Bleu’s now dry feathers.

“Alright, we will.”

Bleu, Frostbite, and Night all dropped what they had been holding, and Bleu emptied her satchel of the stuff she’d picked up from the gryph’s hoard.

“Good. Now, I don’t want to see any more trespassers in my cavern, nor do I want to see repeat offenders. Got it?” The gryph smirked at the shuddering group below her.

“Y-yes, we understand.” Bleu stuttered.

The gryph snorted at them before turning around, unfolding her wings, and taking off to cling back to the ceiling and watch her hoard.

Bleu and the others hurried back out of the cave, still shaking at the experience.

“Let’s get out of here, we at least have the stuff we picked up while getting here.” Bleu said, trying to regain her composure. The other two nodded skittishly, following swiftly as Bleu hustled back to the entrance they’d come from.

As soon as they were out, they quickly cut the rope off of the tree trunk, too tired to untie it, rolled it back up, and packed it into Bleu’s half-full satchel.

“Should we warn people about this cave? If too many others wander down there, they may not be as lucky.” Night asked. Bleu shook her head.

“No, we should just drop the whole situation. She’ll know it was us if she starts getting a flood of new intruders, and she’ll probably hunt us down or something.” Bleu sighed. Night opened her mouth to speak, but soon resigned.

“Alright, let’s just go home.” Night said. Frostbite hummed in response.

“Well, now we know who that statue was of.”

Bleu and Night turned to look questioningly at her.

“That statue we found in the woods? The overgrown one? It said Temperance on the nameplate, didn’t it?” Frostbite reminded.

“Yeah, why? Don’t tell me that gryph down there is what that statue is of.” Bleu rolled her eyes.

Frostbite smirked. “It would make sense, wouldn’t it? A stryx that big and mysterious would probably have some sort of commemoration around them, don’t you think? Maybe she was worshiped or something, so they built that statue. Or not, could just be a coincidence that statue is there.”

Bleu and Night side-eyed each other.

“Or maybe the gryph was named after the statue commemorating a legend? Certainly sounds like that could be the case?” Frostbite continued.

Bleu smiled. “Or it could just be some fluke thing the gods threw at us. The world works in strange ways.”

The three began heading back to their meeting spot, all the while tossing theories back and forth as to why that statue was there, and what connection it might have to the gryph they’d encountered down in the caverns.

The group soon reached the clearing they’d departed from, sitting down as the moon set beyond the horizon and split their findings amongst themselves.

“So, all in all it wasn’t too bad of an excursion, was it?” Bleu asked.

“Mhmm!” Night hummed. Frostbite nodded, gripping her share of the loot in her talons.

“Well, I think I’d better be off, got places to be.” Bleu said, turning back the way she came.

“Will we see you again? I know you said this would just be a one-time thing, but will you be around the area?” Night asked.

Bleu looked over her shoulder at the two.

“Who knows? As I said, the world works in strange ways.”

And with that, she was off, hearing the wingbeats of the other two take off behind her and fade into the distance.

Bleu

3126 words- 42

Scavenging-3

Extra Stryx-3

Personal-3

Total= 51 AP

Frostbite

3126 words- 42

Scavenging-3

Extra Stryx-3

Total= 48 AP

Night

3126 words- 42

Scavenging-3

Extra Stryx-3

Total= 48 AP

Temperance

1098 words- 20

Extra Stryx-3

Total=23 AP