Open - Secrets Beneath Our Feet

Elysian found herself in Astorea yet again today. It was so vast that every single time she went to explore it she seemed to find something new. She had been spending most of her time training lately, so it was nice to finally be able to explore and appreciate the beauty of the game. In her real life, there wasn't too much nature to explore. Unless you considered crowded streets and skyscrapers in every direction nature. Coming here was a whole new world to her in so many different ways and she wished she could stay forever. If there was a way, she would without a second thought or regret. She supposed being able to play whenever she wanted was as good as it would get and she had learned to be okay with that.

Shortbow slung on her back, and small spectral pixie flying around her energetically, the Felis started her adventure for the day. It was pretty quiet, any new players were probably far away from her right now, otherwise she would hear them. New players always seemed to be a bit noisy, but she had been too so she didn't mind. Elysian was still considered a new player, but now with a couple weeks and a world boss fight under her belt she felt like she had some experience. Not much, she knew she hadn't even scratched the surface, but enough to get her on her feet and in the right direction. She just wanted to be stronger, faster, and more useful in battles than she had been. She wanted to be someone others could count on, she wasn't going to just keep sliding through having to be healed tons of times because she was so weak. No. She would get better and it was only a matter of time.

"So which way should we go?" She said lightly to her pixie, and the glowing ball of energy tugged on her right ear. "That way? You sure?" Another tug signaled yes, so with a shrug she turned and made her way up a slight incline and onto a grassy hill. At first she saw nothing but green, green, and more green. Why had Luna wanted her to go this way? And why was the ground shaking?

Wait.

It had started as a small vibration, but now the ground was rumbling so much that Elysian found it hard to keep her balance. Without warning the ground gave way beneath her feet and with one panicked shriek she fell through the earth. She didn't fall too far, but hitting the ground on her butt still hurt like hell. "What the-" she hissed as she slowly got up and brushed the dirt from her backside. Glancing up she noticed the gaping hole about ten feet above her. The sun was shining through, and lit up the path before her. She was inside some tunnel, and even though she had heard about these being hidden throughout Astorea, she hadn't expected to find one...well this way at least.

Ely tried to jump, but with her short height she just barely missed grabbing onto the roots hanging down. It looked like she would have to find another way out. She hoped there was another way out. If not hopefully she could be teleported out? They wouldn't make her stay down here forever right? She had always been uneasy with dark and confined places so this wasn't going to be fun either way. "Okay...here we go," she grimaced. She opened up her UI for some light and started down the tunnel. Where was the light at the end of the tunnel when you needed it?

Just her luck the Felis didn't make it far. Nope. She had been walking for maybe five minutes when movement ahead caught her attention. She thought it was another player at first and went to call out to them. That was until she noticed the glowing red eyes, the deep growl, and the sickening smell of rotting flesh. The undead monster turned on her, like out of some horror movie it began to stalk towards her. She felt frozen in place, fear pumping through her veins as she tried to grab her bow. This of course disabled her UI and she found herself in almost complete darkness. The Red eyes were getting closer, and she stumbled back. How could she shoot an arrow like this? She wasn't going to get her first death, not this way. "Stay back!" She tried to intimidate it but it didn't work. So she shot an arrow blindly and hoped for the best.

 

She hadn't intended to follow the stranger, but she'd gotten lost and heard noise, and that seemed like a good a reason as any to follow it. While she'd just finally recovered from her first death ages ago, the faerin was adamant about spreading flowers and learning things in the process. Wasn't a cave the perfect place?

When she found the source of sounds she heard, she found herself startled to find a feline fellow being attacked by something that looked awfully dangerous. The girl looked familiar, but Harveste couldn't place it. Maybe they'd met on a quest she had tried to forget? But the creature was far more concerning. She began to sing, growing a vine to wrap around it in hopes of at least stopping it in it's tracks.

Upon her head, a slime sputtered liquid and gurgled, trying to react to her thoughts, but without much luck in making sense. She simply giggled, smiling with her eyes turned upward towards her playful 'hat'. Returning her gaze to the felis, the small girl held a hand out, grinning to the stranger on the ground.

"Drip seems as excited as I am to see someone else here. We heard some noise while I was lost, so I started following it, and I'm just really relieved it wasn't a monster like it usually is. Actually, considering that, I probably shouldn't follow every noise I hear, huh? But I just get so interested in what it might be...And this time it's a friend! Or...I hope you are? Unlike that fellow, I mean."

 

Heavy steps hit the dirt as the blacksmith made her way deeper in the ruins. Thanks to a fairly unproductive start, Ursula looked for a good source of metals or ores, and perhaps a chance at finding a forgotten tech piece somewhere that could sell for a hefty price. Reaching out to her mining helmet on her head, Ursula turned on the magitech light on it as she delved deeper in the ruins. When the natural ambience of caves mixed with water drips welcomed her presence underground, she realized that at this point she was pretty far inside. In no time the ruins were quickly behind her and Ursula soon found herself lost.

Not that it mattered, — the underground wasn’t quite the tourist attraction — it at least could yield her something to sell for and earn her gold once in a while. She’d just need to… Put up with all the nasty things that could be down here. It didn’t take long for a large part of humanity to start burying their dead, and considering all the crazy things she already had to deal with while cave raiding, these tunnels were no exception.

“Ya know, I can’t get enough of raiding these places…” She muttered to herself, stopping on her tracks as the mana light of her magitech helm revealed some reagents and a vein ready to be mined. Her lips curled up in a large grin as she realized some of the crystal did not light up regardless of her helm. That meant some dark steel ore, lucky! “Howdy… I kinda needed something worthy to have delved this far anywa--” Ursula’s muttering was interrupted by a shriek not far away from her current position. Apparently someone was in need of help inside the shady and obviously dangerous underground — and Ursula thought that she was the crazy one doing this kind of a nutjob...

The blonde hurried to the general direction from whence the voices came, stumbling on a situation very unusual for her. If finding someone underground was rare enough, then two was very surprising to say the least. Her eyes were locked on the creature entangled by nature magic as she slowly approached it. “Welcome to Underground Heaven tourist park. I hope ya love dark and cramped caves!” She then attempted to hit the monster on the head with her pickaxe. If successful, a quick swing of it would clean any remnants on the weapon and tool hybrid.

“So? Whatcha doin’ around here? This ain't a place to play hide-n’-seek, ya know.” She asked to both girls before her with a smile on her face that seemed to ignore the creepy and dark environment. She wasn't exactly proud of this feat, but that's a story for another time.

 

Her arrow had failed, bouncing off the rock walls and clattering to the cave floor. She was panicking, and there wasn't much more she could do. Her back was pushed up to the cold rocks and she could literally smell the rotting breath of the monster, feel the heat of the breath brushing against her face. This was it, this was where she was going to get her first death. In a damn dark tunnel that she had unluckily fallen into? Not sacrificing herself in a giant boss battle? She didn't want to die alone, but it looked like that would be the case. So the Felis closed her eyes and waited. She hoped it was quick, she didn't know what to expect or what would happen when she died in the game. She was scared but she was also curious.

When a beautiful singing voice reached her ears she opened her eyes confused. Was this thing actually singing? No way. Of course not. She noticed vines wrapping around it, pulling it back and holding it at bay. She glanced around and found the source. The small girl looked familiar, and that was enough to put her pounding heart at ease. She wasn't alone. Ely took the hand offered to her gratefully, lifting herself up as she still kept her eye on the monster. It seemed stuck for now and it wasn't very happy about it.

"Well I'm glad you decided to follow the noise, you saved my ass and if you hadn't come I would be monster food right now." She scratched at one of her cat ears trying to calm herself. "I'm definitely a friend, but that thing," she glared at the undead. "It just wants to eat us. So what should we do with it?"

Her question was answered swiftly as a blonde approached them and with her pickaxe took care of the monster with a blow to the head. Where had she come from? Had she really screamed that loud that everyone could hear her? "I don't usually but...thank you. Thank you both," she said as she wiped at her brow. "Uh well you see I was exploring up above and must have stepped on a weak part of earth because next thing I know I'm falling down and now unlucky me, I'm stuck in this tunnel," she groaned but laughed at the thought of it. "What about you? Is there another way out of here?"

@Harveste - @Ursa

 

Harveste was more than relieved when the pickaxe hit the pavement- or, rather, the monster she'd just managed to bind to the ground of the cavern. It wasn't long after that she heard the first female she'd found thanking them- though, in her mind, the faerin could only feel it mostly belonged to the wonderfully timed miner.

"Your skills with that pickaxe are really something. My only real skills are with vines and flowers. I came in here hoping to spread some greenery, actually. Doesn't a cave seem a bit more lively that way? I thought maybe people wouldn't feel as lonely if they came here if there were flowers around."

Giggling a bit to herself, she soon realized her reasoning was rather silly. "To be honest, I was already lost when I heard you, though. I can't say I remember where the entrance I used was anymore...But I know it was downhill coming in, so it'll require going uphill to find, most likely."

She looked between the two once more, noting to herself that both were tall to her, and that if they just had a Yladian they'd be a perfect quartet of all species in one go. Her small stature made her smile that much more childish as she gleamed, looking between them a bit longer and sputtering, "By the way, what are your names? It feels funny just sitting here not knowing. We should probably work together to get out, to be safe, too."

 

“Now I know that damn engineer is here somewhere, she has to be. There’s no way I could have mistaken that blonde wearing a mining helmet.” The hunter was in pursuit, just as he had planned to depart to urban areas to look for them, the opportunity presented itself here. It was apparent that Stampede had made Astorea his home, his territory and his grounds as it was no longer uncommon for players to run into his traps. In fact he was the one responsible for digging up pitfalls, bludgeon traps, tripwires and nets in deep areas of the forests as they are usually placed a hundred meters away from one of his seven hideouts. He memorized every angle, every acre and section of this forest, what animals or monsters spawn, where secret nodes are and where cave entrances are at.

In fact, @Elysian 's mishap was part of his handiwork as he covered the ground and tied it together with vines and fallen leaves underneath the dirt making it seem like good and stable ground. To be honest he had doubts about this pitfall as its highly unlikely for a random person to walk over it and fall to the caves below as this area was more or less untouched, with the exception of him.

“Thinking about it, if that hardhat was here to grind materials and approach ore nodes she would have gone to the caves, taking into account that she had gone through this road and made a hard left, she could have gone to the cave that can easily be discovered by players. There’s a total of 9 cave openings around here if she entered the forests through here.” He trailed his fingers on the open map pointing out the road she taken.

“Or perhaps she could have taken the less obvious spot and went to the cave located in higher grounds?” If only he wouldn't have lost her, he would have known exactly where she was. He needed someone like her to develop his equipment but he was obstructed by a bear who was chasing him down as he checked his inventory and mail.

“If she enters the caves and gets lost she could be anywhere and come out in one of those 9 entrances.” Unfortunately one of those 9 entrances leads right into a secret path to one of his own hideouts. Course the traps leading to it were already finished, he needs her alive to save himself the trouble of leaving Astorea.

Just as he was about to go someplace else, he stopped to turn to discover that his pitfall trap has been triggered. Could the blonde have explored this grove and have fallen in?

No way… it’s impossible, only a dumb animal would have triggered that pit. He decided to see what his trap had caught but the cave was dark and the only source of light was coming from the artificial sky above….. as well as the light of a mining helmet.

Could it be?

He lied down on his stomach and crawled forth to take a peak, just to see a party of three. A Felis, A Fae (@Harveste ) and the blonde (@Ursa )whom he was searching for. Now this was a whole new problem altogether, first Stampede doesn’t know the entirety of the cave system beneath Asoterea as he was a forest archer to begin with and as much as he would like to help her off the underground, there were two others with her.

He prefers to have a private meeting with the engineer without any witnesses. Could she have triggered the trap? No impossible, it looked like that she had been in the caves for quite a while and probably got lost. So it was safe to assume that these two she’s talking to triggered his trap.

Then again the pitfall he made wasn't for hunting, it was for trolling but to think that it actually worked blew his mind away.

That aside, even if they were able to survive and managed to get out of there…..

…. They won’t be avoiding the Golems that had recently spawned there, and they should be staying there long.

 

Her weapon pierced through the monster’s skull and upon impact it generated a large kinetic wave that launched the monster sideways and far from both girls. “Even if ya usually don’t, ya shoulda remain away from places like these y’know? Unless yer here tryin’ to find somethin’ valuable like me. Then ‘das another story…” the blonde pulled the secondary handle on her pickaxe, pulling it back and forth — generating an oddly familiar k-chack in the process — much like one would after firing a pump-action shotgun. In response, a small compartment opened on the opposite side, letting out the consumed powdered mana, closing up shortly afterwards.

“The ground under yer feet gave in and ya fell inside the tunnel? Now ‘das news to me…” She raised her right eyebrow in surprise. “That kinda stuff usually doesn’t happen aroun’ here, ya know. Careful next time, aye? It coulda be a bandit trap or somethin’ like that.” She sighed, as if scolding the felis, right hand resting on her hips. Only did Ursa notice the second girl’s voice, one with purple hair and fairly small in size, and in response, Ursula waved to her. Considering the girl’s size and ability to use nature magic, she realized that she was likely a faerin.

“It ain’t that much, really. I ain’t like those fancy swordspeople, all I know to do is hit annoyin’ things pretty hard so they don’t get up anymore, like that monster fella over there.” She grinned, unassuming of her own battle prowess. “ Vine n’ flowers, eh? Way more prettier than a brute like me, who has to delve undergound to git my livin’, haha!” Yet, the faerin stated her actual… Reasoning for being underground. Flowers? “Ya know, uh… Even if ya did that, most people ain’t goin’ to seem the flowers, ya know? They ain’t going to survive underground either…” She explained, perhaps in an useless attempt to understand these people. Were they newcomers?

“Ursa over here.” She replied to the faerin's attempt at name sharing, “I was doin’ my usual thing. I delve underground, find what’s precious and sell it. Ores, jewels, ancient stuff, all the kinda things like that…” She sighed as both mentioned leaving the underground tunnels, she quietly backstepped, turning around and going back the way she came from, step by step. “Sorry ‘bout that but ya see… I just started delving. Gotta git something worthy of the time spent here, ya know? I’ll be leavin’ in an hour or so, so I’ll be on my way!” She stopped on her tracks for a brief moment. “Feel free to tag along n’ all that, but I advise against goin’ back the way ya came, kitty missy. I’m pretty sure it was a trap, and whoever set it up was just waitin’ for someone to get caught in it. They might even come after us, ya know?”

Before continuing on her way, she looked up, from whence the Felis came, the green light from her magitech mining helmet shining closer to the collapsed ceiling of the tunnel. “Might justta be my imagination or somethin’...” After that, Ursula pressed on deeper in the cave. She had to get her quota of ore for the day, or she’d have to pay a hefty amount of gold to the guild.

 

The blacksmith sighed in annoyance. Ursula was not fond of receiving no answer from kindness, and thus, she shrugged, turning on her heel and proceeding with her path to mine something. It would be best to find something worth the trouble of diving underground rather than trying to help people who couldn’t explore the underworld and still insisted in taking the risks despite their obvious lack of experience.

“Take care of yer butts aye? I gotta earn my livin’ and I ain’t comin’ back ya know. Good luck with whatever the hell ye wanna do in this hellhole, aye.”

Ursula turned on the light of her mining helmet once more and with loud and firm steps left the scene. Her light and silhouette quickly faded in the darkness of the underground caves in brisshall, to go knows where. Worry not, for that was just another day for the miner. Underground was as good as home, anyways!

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