Basalt Halls f1 - Gaia's Flight

Maran and Digi walked down the guild halls. Digi seemed rather conflicted, and Maran maintained a perfectly pleasant expression, even if she was rather reluctant to have a noble accompanying them. Then again, while this was completely optional...but to Maran, it felt almost necessary. They had been falling behind when it came to merits, not for lack of trying though. They only had one. There were simply not too many opportunities to achieve these merits, simply a lot of ways to make strikes...and if she didn’t keep Digi in check, they would be swamped in them...and that would not be doing their reputation any favors. “Sooo...we’re serious?” Digi asked, still looking perplexed.

“We are.” Maran said with a rather sullen tone. She wasn’t going to hide her feelings when it was just the two of them.

“We’re going to our first dungeon escorting a stuffed-shirt laced-bonnet noble bastard?” Digi asked, letting his distaste be very much known.

“...We don’t know how bad he is, but from the choice words Kara had about him, I am in low hopes that this will be pleasant.” Maran sighed.

“And on top of that, we’re going to find a self proclaimed king...and bring him back willingly?” Digi said. “Why are you even bringing me along?”

“Well...moral support?” Maran suggested. “Besides, we never had to be friendly with his minions. And willingly doesn’t mean you can’t punch him if he’s being an unreasonable ass, it just means we need to make him agree to come with us.”

“Ohhhh...I gotcha!” Digi said with a surprised grin. “Okay, this is better than I thought it’d be.”

“I’m glad. We’ll need every bit of enjoyment we can get to counterbalance the rest.” Maran said as the pair arrived at a door at the end of the hallway, where their….‘charge’ was waiting for them. Maran reached forward and gently knocked on the door.

“Come in!” A voice called out from the other side of the door. The voice was tight and silvery, but deep at the same time, enough so they would know quite well that he was an individual to take note of. Maran opened the door and pushed it open. Taking a few steps into the room, she and Digi saw their escort for the first time, seated comfortably in a chair. His name was Reuben Hetterich. Maran could spot some of his softly colored lavender fur, but his species is finally made clear when he turns the swivel chair around for dramatic effect. “Ahhh, my Hunters!” He said, sounding rather pleased with himself.  “At last.” He eyed them up and down, and then seemed a little less pleased, his eyes narrowing. “...Are you truly the ones? I expected you to seem more...capable.”

Digi was already fed up with him and marched forward. “Alright, first off, we’re not-!”

“Hold.” Maran said with a low tone and raised a wing for effect, halting Digi in his tracks and establishing a psychic connection. ‘Digi, we are technically under his command, due to the hunters having close ties with the nobles, and we are not high ranking. He can order us, and he most likely will order us, so grin and bear it, because he’ll likely make it worse if we rebel.’ She lowered her wing and broke the secret connection. Digi glared at the noble, but took his place at Maran’s side.

“Aha, how well trained he is!” Reuben said, his eyes lighting up with amusement. “What other tricks does he know?”

“Plenty, as a member of the guild who is fully capable.” Maran said with a somewhat plummy voice. “However, if there was a leash on him, I believe I’d be the only one capable of holding it.”

Reuben smiled. This was better that he’d hoped for. He could play with them...the child would be easy. Short tempered and quick to violence, just like a certain bear he knew, and then there was the Xatu, clearly the brains of the two...she even had the violent little shrew on a leash. He’d have to be a little more careful with his words around her, but she seemed to hold her pet in high regard. He could work off that. “Leash...what an interesting choice of word.” He mused aloud. “...to hold a ‘member of the guild who is fully capable’.”

“Well, some need to be held in line.” Maran said. “Shall we be off?”

“Of course.” Reuben said. “Lead the way, my vanguards.”

“Vanguard my tail…” Digi grumbled as he walked out of the room ahead of the two adults. Leaving the Hunters Guild and getting some looks from the citizens of Andalusst until there were in the caverns below the city.

“Hmph, how dirty.” Reuben grumbled and he looked around. No paved roads...just dirt, caverns, water, rocks, and Bustershoots.

“Well, we’re focusing our energy on other tasks rather than making roads.” Maran said. “If it bothers you, I suggest carpenters or construction workers.”

“I might just, if this is the path I’m going to take to Geoda.” Reuben said passively. “Or the Hunters could beat to be a little more refined and do it themselves.”

“Well, we’ve got plenty of more important things to keep us busy.” Maran said passively. “And we’re not made of money either.”

“Guys, the paths over there, if you’re done...flirting.” Digi said. He didn’t know if they were flirting, but it usually got a reaction from people. However, neither of them seemed to acknowledge what he said. “Come oooonnnnn!”

“Ah, thats the cave that was dug out by the guilds.” Maran said pleasantly. “It’s a path for those that don’t want to go through the Subseed forest.”

“Is it truly so unpleasant?” Reuben asked. “Some...sunlight would be preferable to this dingy cavern.”

“Well, I prefer this route, it’s more direct and generally safer.” Maran explained. They entered the somewhat narrow cavern. Digi took front, Maran was in the middle, and Reuben was at the rear. The walk was uneventful, save a few back and forth word duels. Digi was just waiting for some excuse to turn around and take the noble jerk out, any reason would do in his eyes...but then they might not get the Merit, and Maran seemed to want them to get it. Soon they found themselves in front of the massive Iron-looking doors.

“Ladies first?” Reuben offered and gave a short, mocking bow.

Maran resisted the urge to counter with ‘age before beauty’ and was about to open the door, when Digi stepped forward. “Move aside you lace-skinned wussy, I got this!” Reuben looked down distastefully at the shrew, but didn’t say anything. Well, he certainly...spoke his mind, but he was also doing the work...the door swung open with surprising ease. “Oh hey, they musta greased up those hinges!” Digi said. “Naw I’m kidding, I’m just waaaay strong.”

“Of course you are.” Maran said with a hint of sarcasm and peered through the door. The first room in their dungeon. Suddenly, a series of smaller...oddly purple rocks flew into the air and crashed into eachother, and seemed to start compressing together. It was a rather noisy affair all things considered, enough for everyone to cover their ears and Maran to grab the doors with Psychic and slam them shut. “...Well. First room and it’s already unbearable. This doesn’t bode well.”

“Ahhhh, my ears are still ringing!” Digi whined as he rolled on the ground, clutching his ears.

“Well...you all cover your ears again, I’ll check if it’s over.” Maran said and pulled the doors open. Reuben was about to raise an objection, but quickly covered again, only to find the ear-piercing noise was missing. “Well, there we have it.” Maran said with a small nod. “I think we were witnessing how Spoolstone is made.” Down on the ground below where all those rocks came together was a raw, untouched spoolstone.

Reuben stepped into the dungeon and with a quick movement, grabbed the Spoolstone. “Goodness, a souvenir...I’m sure he’ll enjoy this.” Reuben mused as he looked at the spoolstone in his paws.

“Ah. Well, enjoy your...gift.” Maran said carefully. If he wanted it, she was in no position to reject, even if she would have rather turned it into the explorer’s guild for them to use, since they have been...rather strapped for resources. Perhaps the next ones. The dungeons were plentiful as it was or so she had heard anyway.Taking a look around, there seemed to be not much else in the room honestly. It was rather small as well. The only notable thing was a locked door on the right of the room, and a doorless doorway on left of the room. “So, we go left then?”

“Why not through the locked door?” Digi asked. “Just gimmie a second, I’ll wreck it!”

“And if King Wussy is there, it’ll send a very...bad first impression.” Maran explained calmly. “We’ll go the other way. If we find a key, we’ll consider coming back for it.”

“Ehhhh...fine.” Digi said lightly crossing his arms and marching to the other doorway...only he didn’t make it too far before stepping on a small button on the floor. A series of small poison sting darts shot from the wall and pelted the shrew’s tough hide, bit it was both surprising and painful. “Agha!” Digi yelped and fell to the ground, more out of surprise than anything. “THE FUCK WAS THAT!?”

“That was a trap.” Maran said. “Perhaps I should take lead when walking into a new room?”

“Uhh...yeah. You do that.” Digi said getting back to his feet. Reuben chuckled to himself. This was just comical. Still, how to approach...would there even be a good chance? He wanted to be along with Maran before he said anything...important. The shrew might mess it up somehow. Digi marched through, now extremely determined to thwart the next trap, until he stepped on a meatroot. “Oh man!” He said with sudden excitement. “I always wanted to pull one of these up!”

“Well...go right ahead. Might be tough though.” Maran warned.

“Oh, I got this.” Digi said and reaching forward, grabbed the meatroot and began to tug viciously. “HNGH….c-come on…!”

“Having some trouble Digi?” Maran asked.

“I...no, I got this, I can do this!” Digi huffed and continued to tug at the large meatroot. “Y-you just gotta keep tugging!”

“Well...I suppose we’ll be moving on then.” Maran said. “I trust you’ll find us when you have pried that from the ground?”

“I. WILL. END. YOU.” Digi roared as he tugged as the meatroot with all his might, but they seemed to be matching in strength.

“I’ll take that as a yes. See you in a bit.” Maran said and walked past. Reuben just smiled as he walked past. He didn’t even have to say anything, and already this boy was displaying such raw anger...he’d have to remember these two next time he was bored. The shrew alone looked like he could be a few hours of entertainment...maybe if he threw him a ball of yarn or something...or a caramel. He hated caramels. Regardless, he followed behind Maran through another wooden door to a much larger...and almost strikingly unremarkable room. It was painfully average. The only noteworthy aspect of the room was the angry-looking Barboach with some bead things on top whiskers directly infront of them. “Can I help you?” Maran asked with a sweet voice.

“You can turn back from whence you come, wench!” The Barboach commanded. “This dungeon is own by King Wu-urk!” He was cut short as an invisible force grabbed his throat.

“Name calling is quite rude.” Maran said, maintaining her sugary sweet voice. “Your words interest me though...the king is here?”

“Y-you’ll never get to him, he’s guarded by our cap-” The Barboach gasped and was raised into the air and dropped, landing badly.

“Get your king then, I’d like to negotiate.” Maran said with a small smile. “Of course, we don’t need a messenger when we could just go ourselves…” To add effect to the passive threat, one of her wings took a smooth, metal sheen. The Barboach wasted no time fleeing from the room through the doorless doorway, pushing his Barboach ally aside and into a Stealth Rock, and into the room beyond. He was out of sight from there. The Stealth Rocks bashed against Barboach Captain’s helmet and knocked him clean out. “...This is fun.” Maran said with a small chuckle and proceeded to follow after the frightened servant.

“Most certainly.” Reuben agreed. The enemy was just toppling themselves at this rate. It was such a pathetic display that it was almost surreal. It had been such a long time since he’d encountered anything to incompetent...ah, to crush them in his palm...but he was a busy mon, and he had places to go, so he’d refrain this time. Wouldn’t want to mess up his fur. Pushing the door open, much to both their surprise, the rooms walls and floor, even the ceiling was a crystalline structure. Stepping inside, her talons made a gentle ‘tink’ sound against the gem floor.

“King Wussy Whiskey Montgeomery Mudsuckery Sedimus Munge the fourth.” Maran pronounced and then took a bow.

Both his servant and Wussy himself looked quite surprised that she used his full, formal name. “Well, I see manners aren’t completely lost on you guild folk.” Wussy said, sounding exceedingly pleased. “Have you come to pay your tribute to me?”

Maran honest enjoyed the many benefits of being a psychic type...pulling a name from a panicked servant’s mind was child’s play. “Actually, the Hunter’s guild would like to extend a formal invitation to host the king within our halls and negotiate a proper toll.” Maran said. “Of course, you may decline this as you please.”

“M-my lord, you mustn’t believe then, this is-” The Barboach pleaded urgently.

“Silence.” Wussy said elegantly. “I shall consider this offer...who is that behind you?” Wussy asked, noticing Reuben. “A general?”

“No my lord, a noble from the city as a show of our honesty.” Maran said. “None other than exclusive members have the right to meet with you after all.”

Wussy’s arrogantly grin could not have been wider. “I shall come to this ‘Hunters Guild’!” Wussy proclaimed. “Servant, push my cart, we go to Andalusst!”

“Y-yes my liege…” The Barboach said, sounding defeated and push Wussy’s cart out of the room.

Something small quietly floated out of Wussy’s cart and under Maran’s wing as the king and his servant left the room. A key as it was...and what would you know, the next door over was locked. Before unlocking it, she noticed a stray spoolstone behind where Wussy was. Was that his little treasure? Well, she needed a third resource as it was. She scooped it up and unlocked the next door.

“You’re an excellent flatterer.” Reuben said passively.

“People tend to get carried away with themselves if you stroke their ego.” Maran said.

“Maaaaraaaannnn!” Digi called out as he raced into the room. “I got it!” Digi proudly held a massive Meatroot over his head and there was a Fleshcap on top of that. “And there was a Fleshcap in a room with a sleeping Barboach with a bucket on it’s head that I did NOT dent the bucket with my little fists.”

“Well...good for you.” Maran said and pushed the door open. The room was about the same size as Wussy’s, but nowhere near as fancy. There was a Barboach guarding the door and a strange rock formation in the room. “Alright, let’s-”

“DIBS!” Digi roared and throwing down the meat substitutes, charged at the started Barboach, leapt into the air, bodyslammed it, and then began to relentlessly pummel it.

Maran simply didn’t have words...but quickly grabbed and pulled of Digi. “No. We….that was excessive.”

“I got it’s blood on me.” Digi said, looking at his little fists.

Maran sighed. “Really? Well...I suppose we don’t have to talk our way out of this one. Take your Meatroot and Fleshcap, we’re leaving the dungeon.”

“Yooou got it!” Digi said and hopped out of her grasp, picking up the discarded meat substitutes. “Open the door, my hands are full and I don’t wanna headbutt it.”

“Of course.” Maran said, and walking over to the surprisingly grand-looking door, pushed it open, leading the trio out of the rather unusual dungeon.