Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

There were no other distractions of problems to them leaving, since cranky maid was cranky, the camp packed up. All signs of rabid werebadgers clear and safe while Cutie remained asleep in Penelope's saddlebag. No matter how much Isabelle hated him.

They didn't have any more problems along the road for 2 days, and soon hit the border, the empire's knights waiting there patiently, chatting with the neighboring Osfalan soldiers, getting along rather easily. As they approached, all 4 barred the road and waited for them to approach.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Thankfully there were no further shenanigans to be had for a good bit, two days passing as they ventured onwards, giving Isabelle the time she needed to calm down, which she would eventually do. That was probably good for them both.

There was something happening eventually though, the border coming to sight as the guards from both sides were living their lives, doing their jobs and getting along fine, it looked like. They did notice the girls as they approached though, and looked as if they were waiting for the two to get there. Isabelle was a bit cautious towards that kind of reaction, but it would not stop her from going on and seeing what it was about.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Thankfully, the girls didn't have too much to contend with over the next couple of days or so, with Penny not minding the lack of trouble really. After the border came into sight, Penny grew worried though, seeing the soldiers barring their path. "That looks worrisome, to say the least," Penny muttered to Isabelle, before looking back to the soldiers. "Um... hello there, good sirs. We're here to collect some things for my friend's master. He hired me, and sent both of us to get it for him. M-May we pass?" Penny said to them when they got close enough.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

All those crossing the border must submit to a full inspection and search, sorry ladies. One of the osfalan's said, shrugging, gesturing at the saddle-bags and horses.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

"O-Oh... um, well, I don't guess we got much choice then. Right Isabelle? Alright boys, go ahead," Penny replied, dismounting and nodding to Isabelle as she did. "So how long you guys been around here guarding the borders?" Penny asked, making small talk with the ones not searching the saddlebags.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

"It won't be good, I can tell." Isabelle replied as they approached the makeshift checkpoint and the people manning it.

The maid's hunch only proved to be correct as they were asked to go along with a check for their belongings. It would probably get hairy once the soldiers decided to bother the fancy tentacle thing in the bag. Mentally praying for a miracle, Isabelle too got off from her horsey so the guys could do their work. Raising a racket with them would not be smart, so she would have to get with it.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

The men searched through the baggage, and came up with nothing, though they did raise an eyebrow at some of the fetish gear, before shaking their heads and shrugging at eachother, waving them on through. Being Kinky was not a crime! Huzzah.

That and they never found the little tentacle monster, a quick search of their own bag later revealing the oddball had fucked off when they weren't looking at some point to tend to it's own job, leaving them in peace to continue onwards.

Now that they'd actually made it across the border, they were already in the foothills and didn't have all that far to go, just that the terrain here would be a little rockier, and harder on the horses. Apart from a minotaur trying to give a flower to a dairy cow, they didn't see anything noteworthy until they reached their actual destination a day later, a large cave entrance in a switchback canyon near the mountain pass.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Penny would make small talk with the soldiers until the search was done, a bit worried if they'd find Cutie, and what they might think about him. When they didn't find Cutie, Penny was genuinely worried about the little guy, but didn't raise any concerns just yet so as not to give Cutie away to the soldiers. "Be careful out here boys, you never know what might try and try and come up on you. We ran into some kobolds a ways back that gave us a bit of trouble," Penny told them before they headed on out again.

After moving along, and seeing the minotaur trying to give a flower to a dairy cow, giggling at the sight of it, Penny looked to Isabelle as they entered the foothills. "Well, guess we need to start looking for what we're here to find. I dunno how we'll smuggle it back through though, if it's something they might try and take at the border crossing," Penny said, looking thoughtful about that.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

There was some luck for the duo, the border people not finding anything to hassle them over. Even the tentacle thing had taken an opportunity and snuck out sometime when neither of the girls were looking, his absence probably saving them from a good bit of trouble with these guys. With everything said and done, the girls went ahead on their way, the maid bidding professional but somewhat cold farewell to the guards as they went.

After that brief stop, the wider foothills area was waiting. There were no real amazing sights to be seen, though Isabelle saw a better romance than a certain play about vampires she knew about. Given it was superior, the maid could not help but hope for the minotaur that they would find true love.

"Maybe this cave?" Isabelle reasoned, keeping the worries about the future border return trip away from her mind as they should not worry about it until it was a timely matter. Thinking about it would only cause stress, and that woud reduce their effectiveness.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Unless there was another switchback or cave system somewhere nearby, this place matched the description of the best place to find what they were after a little too well, and considering they'd been on the trail now for almost a week? Both Isabelle and Penny felt a slight sense of relief for reaching the halfway point.

Now it was just a question of getting what they were after, which was a kind of luminous fungus, then they could both get back to their respective mistresses for abuse.

The exterior of the cave was unguarded by anything, and the tight walls of the switchback shielded them from anything that wasn't coming up along the same path they'd taken, it was a pretty safe little valley. They had torches, and rope they could use to avoid getting lost provided they were diligent about lining their path into the cave.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

The cave was fairly cavey-looking, an average member of it's type by all accounts from the initial looks that Isabelle got from the entrance, and given how the entrance was set up, it looked like there would probably be no ambush from behind, assuming they had not been tailed by something.

"We should probably mark our path with something. I'll make sure to memorize the path, but it'll probably be best to play it safe around this kind of cave. Who know what lives in those depths..." the maid commented as they were about to move on inside. She would refrain from lighting a torch until the natural light got too dim for them to properly make things out in the cave, which was probably not too far in there.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Heading into the caves, since this seemed to be the place, Penny led the way inside, and kept a close watch out for anything. "Aye, I can use my dagger to make a scratch on the wall or something," Penny replied to Isabelle. "And yeah, who knows what the hell we'll find in here," she added as she got them a torch out to carry, waiting to light it until they couldn't see anymore from the outside light to spark the thing.

"I'll bet there'll be some bats or something in here. I don't like bats honestly," Penny said, shuddering as she thought about bats.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Heading into the cave and determined not to get themselves lost, Isabelle would notice the cave floor itself was clean, as if something or someone made a regular habit of sweeping, the walls were likewise cared for. No dust, no moisture. No fungus of any kind would grow this close to the sunlight, and not anywhere that someone attended this place. About 30 feet in, they found remnants of a campfire and a broken sword before their path options forked in 3 directions, all 3 tunnels curving out of sight not 20 feet down, and all of them heading steadily down into the earth.

And a bat landed in Penny's hair and decided it was happy there.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

The duo made their way inwards with all the due carefulness, Isabelle making notes of the suspicious cleanliness with her maid eye as they went. The imminent campsite proved that there was someone living in the cave at one point, but it was not quite as clear if the neatness was due to them or some odd cleanliness-loving monstrosity that made the place look as good as a cave could.

"So, where to first? And, while I don't judge your choice of hair accessories, I think we are better off without that right now." the maid would ask, not having much in the way of a best first route as the paths looked similar in all aspects, including the neatness.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Penny giggled as the bat landed on her head, and reached up to pat the little thing's head, scritching it a couple of times before glancing over at Isabelle. "Looks like someone's camped here before us. And a broken sword indicates that they... probably lost a fight at some point," Penny said softly, using her rangering skills to look over the area and see if there were any tracks or markings leading down any of the tunnels, while Isabelle spoke again. "And, I dunno which way, but if we find tracks or a trail, might not be a good idea to follow it... maybe, but it's up to you. Barring that, I say the far left passage," she went on to say, as she combed the campsite.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

There was no trail indicating much of anything, and Isabelle turned out to be correct in her private musings as several small blue slug like creatures that used long tendrils to move around, the creatures themselves no bigger then her hand, slid out of small holes in the tunnel walls, and began... cleaning. They were sliding along the ground, leaving pristine, untouched stone behind them. Likely they ate just about anything they could get, including dust and stone, and were just... slowly carpeting the area.

But they couldn't handle wood, or even steel as several reached the campsite, leaving it's contents untouched and unharmed save their current state. They were given no real clues as to how to continue. It was onwards into the darkness while Penny scritched the bat, who calmed down after several moments, chirping and then fluttering off.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

Getting a reply to the thoughts she had rolling about in her head, Isabelle observed the bizarre snail things get to their work. As she followed them, the maid almost wanted to get them some tiny maid head-dresses, but it would have kinda went against their current job, so sluggy headwear would have to go for now. With there being no real indications as to what direction might be the one to sneak into, the maid would stick to the idea that Penny had and take the leftmost passage, getting some torchlight to go with them as it was getting too dark to see shit in the corridors.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

"Bye little friend. You be good out there okay," Penny said softly to the little fuzzy bat, waving bye to it, as she noticed the slugs all over the cavern. "Now... that is interesting indeed. Doesn't look like they eat metal though, or wood. You'd think wood would be easier than rock," she went on to say about the slugs, watching them continue their work before retreating into the walls.

With that, they headed down the left path, Penny got a torch herself, to light the way for Isabelle, to make sure that they maintained a good source of it, since it'd be pretty tough to see without any light. She hoped that those slugs, whatever they were, weren't hostile, or at least not overly so, if they turned out to be. "So, you think whoever was back in that camp, was looking for the same thing we're looking for?" Penny asked softly, just to break the tension of the silence around them more than anything, as she led the way down the left path.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

"Who knows? They just might have. I wouldn't know if there's anything else of note to be found here, so it could be a safe guess to assume so." Isabelle stated her opinion about the camp and the missing inhabitants before the two of them would move on.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Flailing Helps! Really! (Flayer and Guan)

The left most fork didn't hold any real surprises until they reached it's end. And upon reaching that end, they found a large swirling maelstrom of water where two underground River's met, and then emptied into a mass of tunnels that had to spiderweb the base of the mountain range. It was an awestriking sight, looking down at that hungry, churning, boiling whirlpool, the sound of the water deafening in the large cavern.