You follow the sign to the tour location. It leads you right up and over the cliff, and you have to fly down to reach it. The entrance is halfway down the side of cliff, marked by a huge banner reading: ‘Rocky Roads Tours’.
You enter the cave and there are multiple other dragons milling about in the large space. There is a sign saying ‘Wait Here’, preventing others from going deeper into the cavern. You turn back to look the way you came in, and see the vast expanse of ocean stretching out to the horizon.
It’s mercifully cool in the cavern. You head deeper in, lightly kicking the sand that coats the floor. You settle down to wait for the tour to start.
Right on time, two dragons emerge from deeper in the cave.
“HELLO, MUFFINS! ARE YOU READY TO WORK OFF ALL THAT DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS ICE CREAM YOU’VER BEEN EATING??? I KNOW I AM!! AHAHA!!” One of the dragons is a Ridgeback. He’s very… enthusiastic. “The name is Conrad! I’ll be one of your tour guides today!”
“And my name is Valena,” a snapper comes forward. She’s a lot quieter but just as intense. “This tour has been made especially for Thundercrack Carnival. The cavern network is out of the way and a bit... well, abandoned. Conrad and I have been exploring it quite a bit, and there are a lot of interesting geological formations as well as very beautiful sights.”
“THIS TOUR REQUIRES YOU TO WALK FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME! If you don’t think you can do that, then this may not be the event for you. If you only [i]think[/i] that you don’t think that you can do that, then come along anyway! I’ll carry you if you get tired! Also, Dulce de Aventura requires all participants to sign a waiver. Caving is a dangerous EXTERME SPORT after all; but, we’re not expecting any trouble.”
You listen as the tour guides walk you through details and get waivers to the few who didn’t sign. While waiting, something catches your eye. It looks like there is something hidden by the cave entrance. Do you:
Check it out. It could be something good!
Leave it. It’s none of your business.
[[Stay and listen->Room of Stars (A)]]
[[Take a look. This is an adventure right?->Room of Stars (B)]]
You don’t bother. Because you were paying attention to the guides, you’re one of the first people in line and one of the first to see the amazing sight as you walk deeper into the cave.
"Welcome to what we like to call the room of stars," Valena says, her voice carrying through the large domed room you find yourself in. It is easy to see why it was named that way because the the ceiling is glowing with pinpicks of soft blue light.
"The lights come from bioluminescent bacteria on the cave walls and ceiling. You can't tell from here, but the ceiling is wet, which is what allows them to grow. The water seeps down from the surface carrying enough nutrients for them to survive. Follow me and we'll take a better look."
There are stalagmites and stalactites throughout the cave, and the tour group wends between them. Valena is in the front, while Conrad watches the rear. You hear him trying to quietly chastise someone lagging behind, but he's more than loud enough that everyone can hear him. "Don't dally, cupcake! This next bit is really spectacular. You'll definitely want to be towards the front for it."
The ceiling is a dazzling array blue on black. You can't help but crane your neck backward to stare at it as you walk forward. There are striations in the bright patches where the bacteria grow more densely. You're so immersed that you barely avoid crashing into the dragon in front of you.
"Gather round, everyone. The bacteria are unique because they don't only grow on the surface of the rock but inside it as well. Let me show you."
You can't see very well at all! Do you:
[[Move closer to Valena. This sounds really interesting!->t.3]]
[[Don't bother. There's too much of a crowd. I'd rather examine all the stalactites on my own->d.3]] You sneak over to the entrance. You look around casually, but no one is paying you any attention. You quickely sneak a peak into the box someone left. There’s a pile of scones inside! You grab one for the road and casually saunter back to the front of the room. When the tour starts you casually sneak back into line.
"Welcome to what we like to call the room of stars," Valena says, her voice carrying through the large domed room you find yourself in. It is easy to see why it was named that way because the ceiling is glowing with pinpicks of soft blue light.
"The lights come from bioluminescent bacteria on the cave walls and ceiling. You can't tell from here, but the ceiling is wet, which is what allows them to grow. The water seeps down from the surface carrying enough nutrients for them to survive. Follow me and we'll take a better look."
There are stalagmites and stalactites throughout the cave, and the tour group wends between them. Valena is in the front, while Conrad watches the rear. You hear him trying to quietly chastise someone lagging behind, but he's more than loud enough that everyone can hear him. "Don't dally, cupcake! This next bit is really spectacular. You'll definitely want to be towards the front for it."
The ceiling is a dazzling array blue on black. You can't help but crane your neck backward to stare at it as you walk forward. There are striations in the bright patches where the bacteria grow more densely. You're so immersed that you barely avoid crashing into the dragon in front of you.
"Gather round, everyone. The bacteria are unique because they don't only grow on the surface of the rock but inside it as well. Let me show you."
You can't see very well at all! Do you:
(You got a scone! Eating it restores 2 hunger points. You can eat it at any time, by pinging me and letting me know. No hunger bar? Don’t worry, it’s still delicious.)
[[Move closer to Valena. This sounds really interesting!->t.3]]
[[Don't bother. There's too much of a crowd. I'd rather examine all the stalactites on my own->d.3]] Health -3
You wander over to check out one of the stalactites. You examine it closely and it looks like the rock surface is glowing in a sort of dappled pattern. You scratch a clawtip against the surface and some of it flakes off. The rock is surprisingly soft.
The floor bucks underneath you, and your train of thought is shattered. Dust hits you in the face. The floor tilts crazily, and you end up unbalancing and falling to floor, dizzy.
After waking, you pick yourself up off the cave floor. Your good wing is hurting; must be the wing you fell on. You can hear Conrad's booming voice somewhere down the cave.
"We can't leave through the entrance, not even I, though I am quite strong, can move all those rocks. Rockfalls can be quite dangerous, you know! We'll have to continue deeper into the caves. With the floor unsteady here, we should find a different place to rest. Come along, tartlets!"
You decide to:
[[Venture alone, Conrad was annoying and I'll be fine.->d.4.1]]
[[Follow Conrad. He knows the caves better than I do.->d.4.2]]
Health -2!
Although your time with Conrad was short, you decide that he wasn't trustworthy enough. You'll surely get out of this... sticky situation faster without him than with him.
Ignoring his calls, you find an opening to the left and take it. You walk down this passageway when suddenly the road divided itself into three different passageways. You take the one on the left, for it seems to be brighter than the other two. A few minutes later, the road splits, again. Once more, you pick the one on the left. You repeat this over and over again till you have to face the truth: you were lost.
The caves here are less like tunnels instead they are like a tangled ball of yarn, with passages and rooms weaving into and across each other in a dizzying, three-dimensional maze. It sort of reminds you of those delicious funnel cakes back at the party.
In this crazy place, you just keep walking forward, hoping that you'd find the exit eventually. Soon, however, you are forced to stop. The road ahead is blocked by fallen rocks.
You decide to:
[[Backtrack. I'm not touching those rocks.->d.5.1]]
[[Try to move the rocks. It's worth a shot.->d.5.2]]
You choose to follow Conrad. He knows the caves far better than you do. You’d probably just get lost trying to find your way out on your own. Quietly, you pull up to the group’s flank and fall in line. After what felt like ages of hard, cold stone against your skin and tiny pebbles sticking themselves into your feet, Conrad leads the group into a giant open area.
“All around, cupcakes!” The Ridgeback beckons the tour to huddle closer. You stand at the edge of the crowd, close to him.
“I don’t wanna frighten you, but that collapse forced us off the tour route,” Worried murmurs spread within the tour.
“Now!” Conrad raises his voice again to hush the noise. “That does not mean we’re lost. I know this is Horace’s Lake, but I can’t remember an alternate route out just yet.” He looks bashful, but continues. “Until then, we should all stay together. You got it, cupcakes?”
There is a general confirmation given from the tour.
“Alright then!” Conrad peps back up. “First things first, who’s hungry?”
The group of dragons, yourself included, give a more far enthusiastic confirmation, and Conrad is bubbly once more. “That’s the spirit! There’s all types of food in and around the lake,” he waves his hand from the lake to the grassy area behind them, “and there should be more than enough for all of us.”
He steps back some before continuing. “I’ll need some of you sweets to come help me get food for everyone else. Do I have any volunteers? It’s alright to go on your own, but not everyone can find food,” A good few dragons step forward, and Conrad smiles at them before turning back to the rest of the tour.
“The rest of you guys feel free to do what you like. You can find food for yourself, look around, whatever. Just make sure you don’t wander off too far or go too deep into the lake,” He pauses looks down with a worried expression that makes you slightly concerned and a little afraid of what he’s going to say. “I...won’t say much, but it’s called Horace’s Lake for a reason,” he perks back up, but it seems a little forced. “You sugarcubes shouldn’t worry about that, though! You guys ready to go at it?”
Once again, the tour gives a joyful unanimous “yes” before breaking off. You go off on your own, not far from everyone else.
You take the chance to better examine the area around you. A few steps away is a massive lake of sparkling azure water. You look up to see light streaming in from a ceiling of rock pocked with countless holes. Even from here, you can tell that not even a fae could fit through, and you throw away the idea of escape. Turning your attention back to the lake, you spy the occasional darkened silhouette moving through the water and a look closer to shore finds a few dragons working to catch whatever lived in these waters. You could join them, even if only to help feed someone else.
However, something else catches your eye before you make up your mind. Far, far out in the lake is an island. The rocky outpost doesn’t seem to be very large, but you’re almost certain that you’d have to fly out to see all of it. Perhaps it holds a way to escape? Getting there would be somewhat taxing, since you’re not exactly in the best shape after the initial accident and it’s quite a ways away. Still, the possibility is there, and you very well could be missing an easy climb to the surface if you ignore it.
After some deliberation, you choose to…
[[Catch fish with the other dragons.->d.5.3]]
[[Fly out and explore the island. ->d.5.4]]
No... you aren't strong enough to pick up the rocks. Anyway, the risk of more rocks falling on top of you is too high, so you turn around and retrace your steps.
You haven’t really been keeping track of if you were turning left or right, so you aren't entirely convinced that you really are retracing your steps. The answer is probably no.
You happen to glance up, expecting to see more rock, but there is a hole leading to some sort of upper level. It is a very small gap, and there is quite a distance to climb till you'd reach the top. It might simply be your imagination, but there seems to be more light up there. You'd be able to squeeze through... right?
You look down at the road ahead, it is sloping upwards. You choose to:
[[Climb through the hole in the ceiling. Going up is good!->d.6.1]]
[[Continue onward. No reason to risk it.->d.6.2]]
Health -2!
Going backwards has never gotten you anywhere, plus you think you can see some light through the cracks. You start at the top, trying to move some of smaller rocks. There aren’t a lot of small rocks, though, and pretty soon you have to move some that are nearly a fifth of your size. They’re really heavy and hard to carry too, and you shortly have to sit down on the small rock pile you made and rest.
It doesn’t even look like you made a dent. Maybe you should just find another path. You choose to:
[[I'm done here, another path would be faster. -> d.6.3]]
[[Keep moving the rocks. I'm going to see what's on the other side.->d.6.4]]
You choose to stay with the group as Conrad advised. You saunter over to the shore behind the dragons fishing and wade into the water off to the side of them. One of the mirrors greets you cheerfully with a fish in her mouth that she removes to speak to you.
“Hey there!” She chirps. “I think we’ve scared most of the fish off here, so you’ll have to go in deeper if you want a better chance to net something.”
You nod and thank her for the advice, and you continue forward until the shore is a good distance away. You freeze, holding still and silent. Soon enough, you can feel the faint currents of swimming fish against your legs, but you don’t strike quite yet. Suddenly, you whip your head below the waves, and resurface with a meaty lyretail puffer in your jaws. You check your catch and yourself for the parasites the fish is known for, and happily head back to shore when you find none.
As you head back, a faint voice causes you to pause. Was that Valena? You strain your ears trying to listen, and you hear her voice faintly again. Now you’re almost certain that you’re hearing the snapper with the other group. If you were to follow, you might be able to find them and help them regroup with your own tour. You very well could get even more lost, though, especially if Conrad led the tour onward before you got back. However, you’d have to fly deeper into the lake, perhaps even past the island, which was still a fair bit away even after coming out this far. That’d be more than far to risk whatever Conrad was warning you about. Still, bringing the groups together could make sure that no one is left behind and be worth the risk in the end.
After some thought, you decide to:
[[Try to find Valena. Better to get everyone together.->d.6.5]]
[[Go back to the shore. Better stick with Conrad.->d.6.6]]
Health -3!
You choose to fly out to the island in hopes of finding a way out. By the time you land on the main hill, however, you’re well-winded. Flying in still air is incredibly taxing. Your stomach complains loudly and you realize just how hungry you are. As you are heading down to the water, you hear a faint voice. Looking around, you spy a tunnel on the wall bordering the lake’s edge, too far away for your aching wings. That was definitely Valena, maybe you can find her and tell her that everyone is here. Before all that, though, you head down to shore to try and catch something to sooth your gut.
You don’t go far from shore, only far enough to where you think fish would be swimming. You freeze to scan the waters when a large shape flits across your peripheral vision. Thinking you must be mad, scramble back up onto the hill and stare at the deep blue surface. You once more catch sight of whatever’s lurking in the lake, and you wonder if you should head back. You’re a bit worried about flying over the water, though. What if it can reach you?
A resounding smack drags you out of your thoughts. You manage to catch sight the end of a huge tentacle slipping off your perch and back into the water.
Okay. Okay. You take a deep breath to calm yourself, and the panic quiets some. There is some kind of giant squid or octopus or...something in the water. It clearly just attempted to grab you. You need to move before it tries again.
Your legs start to move, but a sudden grip on your tail drags you back. You turn to see the body of an octoflyer poking up from beneath the surface, and it gurgles happily. You try once again to run, but it proves futile. The octopus easily ignores you, gurgling gleefully again and starts to drag you towards the water. A surge of panic causes you to thrash wildly with renewed vigor.
It does little to halt your oddly slow descent towards the water. Three more arms wrap around you, one on your right hind leg, one on your a wing, and one around your middle, and you lose yourself to panic.
With a frightened screech, you writhe and lash out at your living binds. The adrenaline rushing through your blood gives you unnatural strength, and though your claws don’t cut the flesh very deep, the beast lets out what you can only describe as a pained gurgle and releases you. You catch what you think is an apologetic look on its face, but you don’t linger.
Thinking quickly, you launch yourself into the air towards:
[[The tunnel on the far wall. It's much closer and Valena might be there->d.6.8]]
[[The shore you came from. Best get back to Conrad.->d.6.7]]
Health -1!
You hop up, getting your claws into the edge of the hole before hoisting yourself up. You peek though the hole and it just looks like more of the same. Nonetheless you hoist yourself up and squeeze through.
The caverns up here are much tighter, though you can see them opening up a little further on. When you finally get to a point where you can stand upright, you pause to stretch and take in your surroundings. You can see a little bit of light creeping in on your right, but you can hear the music coming from your left.
You decide to:
[[Check out the light.->E.d.1]]
[[Follow the music.-> E.d.2]]
You continue moving forward. You're so focused that trip over a wire laying across your path. Intrigued, you follow it.
You crawl over piles of smaller rubble and walk around the larger piles of debris. The light starts to steadily get stronger. You continue walking until you reach the source of the light…
…and see that it leads to an old elevator. There are speakers and leavers built in it so it is relatively new in appearance, but the dust built up shows that it hasn't been used in a long time.
Taking a single step onto the carriage made it slightly sway away from you. The elevator is held suspended off the floor. Honestly, you're not sure how safe this is. You can see rust built up on the supports and everything creaks and moans as the carriage sways side to side.
It might be safe just trying to climb the old shaft. At least then you won't be caught in a cage plummeting back to the ground if something breaks.
You decide to:
[[Use the elevator. I'm already tired enough. ->E.d.3(E.d.5)]]
[[Climb the elevator shaft. I'm not trusting that thing.->E.d.4(E.d.6)]]
Health -1!
Still a little tired, you get back to work. Pretty soon you have a huge breakthrough. Moving one of the keystone rocks caused a lot of other rocks to tumble loose. You can see the other side, but the hole isn’t big enough to fit you, yet. The light on the other side is dimmer than you expected. Maybe the sun set?
It’s short work to make a hole big enough for you to fit through, but it looks like it’ll be tight, you choose to:
[[Squeeze through. Nearly there!->E.d.7]]
[[Don't squeeze through. It's pretty small...->E.d.8]]
You're sure that you can lead the other group back this way! With a mighty flap of your wings, you throw yourself out of the water and in the direction of Valena's voice. It's coming from a small offshoot of a tunnel. You land and barely keep your balance on all the loose stone. You walk silently down the tunnel, keeping your ears-peeled for Valena's voice. You hear her once or twice, following her indistinct words. You pass under wooden braces meant to keep the ceiling from collapsing inward. Eventually you reach a branching path. You haven't heard Valena's voice in a while.
Do you go:
[[Left.->E.d.11 (combo E.d.15)]]
[[Right.->E.d.12]]You should tell Conrad! You head back to the group, it looks like they're all grouped up around the side of the cave for some reason. You rush up to them quickly.
"Valena took this route in one of our earlier explorations! She said it was a perfectly safe exit! Just a short dip and then you're on the other side. See she marked it here to show it's safe!" Conrad is showing a water filled hole to the rest of the group. Looking closely, you think you see some light...maybe.
"So who would like to go first?" A hesitant guardian volunteers and Conrad hands over the end of a rope. "Give this a tug when you get to the other side."
You and the others watch anxiously as the guardian dives in. There is a very tense silence as you all wait. When the rope is visibly tugged, everyone relaxes.
"Alright, just follow the rope to get out! One-by-one now, no pushing."
Pretty soon you're the only one left.
"In you go. You'll be out in no time, parfait!" Conrad gently motions you toward the hole. You look at him expectantly. "Oh- uh...me? Well, I'm...hmm. I'm pretty good at most EXTREME SPORTS but, well, ...swimming isn't one of them. SO! After you head out I'm going to see if I can find Valena. Don't worry about me, though."
Do you:
[[Go through the hole. I'm done with this cave.->E.d.9 (E.d.13, E.t.11)]]
[[Stay. I can't leave him behind.->E.d.10 (E.t.12, combo E.d.14)]]
Health -1!
Acting on instinct, you launch yourself back towards shore, away from where you heard Valena’s voice. The adrenaline helps you ignore whatever pain your wings were in as you rocket forward through the air. The shore isn’t far away now, but you are starting to feel the results of the strain. Behind you, the sound of the octoflyer following you doesn’t stop, and it drives you forward. Still, your body could only go so far on its fight-or-flight response, and the cephalopod catches up to you soon after your exhaustion does.
You flail as much as your exhausted muscles allow when one of its tentacles wraps around your middle, which isn’t a lot. You whine fearfully as it adjust its grip. You are being held very gently. The oddness of the pose flashes through your mind, but is pushed aside as another tentacle approaches you. You whine again, louder this time, and squeeze your eyes shut as it reaches out and...pets you?
You open your eyes hesitantly, and are surprised to confirm that the octoflyer is indeed simply stroking your head. Confused, you start to reach out and the arm is taken away quickly. It returns with a large fish, which you take gingerly. You realize that this must be Horace, considering the lake’s name and Conrad’s warning. You also realize that he probably meant no harm before, and guilt quickly settles over you.
You’re completely drained of energy and can only weakly motion to shore. Horace understands you, though, and you soon begin to feel the wind over your body as he rushes towards land. You’re confused as you begin to feel your strength returning at an abnormal pace, but the faint glow from the octoflyer tells you enough. Soon, you can hear the trailing voices of the tour and, most clearly, Conrad.
“Muffin?” The worry etched in his face makes you both feel bad for leaving and thankful you came back. He spies you as you approach, and flies out to meet you over the deeper waters Horace was comfortable in. He scoops you up, pausing only to give a quick “good boy” to Horace, and rushes both of you back.
“Are you okay, cupcake?” He asks as you approach land. You nod, smiling. It perks Conrad up immediately, and he’s back to grinning when he sets you down carefully on the beach before landing. He heads back up to the front of the tour and leads you over to a water filled hole. There is a rope going down it.
"If you head through here, you'll be out in no time! Some of the other's have already gone." As you watch, another dragon jumps into the water, following the rope. "Why don't you go next? That must have been quite the scare!“
Do you:
[[Go through the hole. I'm done with this cave. ->E.d.9 (E.d.13, E.t.11)]]
[[Stay, I can't leave him behind->E.d.10 (E.t.12, combo E.d.14)]]
Health -1!
Making a split-second decision, you rocket off to the hole in the far wall. You don’t look back, but you can hear the giant cephalopod following behind you. After you scramble onto the ledge, you take a breath and look back to see the octoflyer below you with that same apologetic-seeming look from before. It dives under for a moment and comes back up, offering a lyertail puffer with a tentacle that doesn’t quite reach your perch. Hesitantly, you lean over the ledge and reach for the fish. Once you grab it, you backpedal before cautiously offering a smile in thanks. This must be Horace.
When Horace gurgles happily, you wave and back up, motioning to leave. You receive a beckoning wave in return and lean down further, curious. The cephalopod lifts a tentacle, which makes you flinch slightly, but you stay put, and gently pets your head. You notice it’s the injured limb, which makes you feel quite guilty. Holding up a finger, you scan the outcrop and grin as you find what you were hoping for.
This plant is well known for its healing properties . It can make cuts stop hurting even if it got wet, and the scrapes would heal in a few hours. You pick some of it and begin mashing the plant between your teeth. Stretching your wings, you glide down and hover to catch his attention. You mime being held, which the octoflyer does hesitantly with an uninjured limb. He slowly offers his cut arm after you motion for it.
You spit the masticated plant matter out of your mouth and cover the gashes with it. Horace looks at his arm curiously after you’re finished, dunking it underwater a few times. After realizing what you’ve done, Horace gurgles happily again, gives you another pet, and gently lifts you back onto the ledge.
You wave your goodbyes and head into the cave as Horace dives below the water beyond your sight. As he leaves, he smacks the wall below you, which confuses you until you hear Valena’s voice echoing quietly from ahead of you. “Is everyone okay?”
Silently, you thank Horace. You rush forward, then walk, then crawl. The tunnel whittles down to a tight fit, but it thankfully opens back up before it gets too small. In front of you is a vertical shaft that rises higher than you can see, to what you assume is the surface. It’s rocky and a little small, but you think you could climb it without too much trouble. Off to the side is another tunnel, dimly lit by a dull green glow coming from scattered gems embedded in the wall. You can hear Valena’s voice echoing through it, and you grow excited at the prospect of finding her.
You turn your attention back to the shaft, though, and wonder if this really leads to the surface. The lake was plenty sunny, but the ceiling wasn’t open. Perhaps you should climb up to check? Your initial goal here was to bring them together, though, and you could end up alone if you don’t stay on track and keep searching for Valena. Even though she seems close, she could be leaving right now and leave you hunting for someone who isn’t there. Either choice you make is a gamble...
Do you:
[[Continue forward. I bet I can find the other tour group ->E.d.11 (combo E.d.15)]]
[[Climb the shaft. Almost out! ->E.d.16]]
Health -3!
You move closer to the group. You try to avoid pushing but you really want to see. Valena drives a pickaxe into a stalactite and you barely have time to see the glowing bits insides before you're hit with a sudden sense of weightlessness. You reflexively flap your wings, but everything is turning end over end. You don't know which way is up.
You hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of you. The pain dulls to an ache and the loud rumbling stops.
"Every stay where you are! Don't move, I will come and get you!" Valena calls, she sounds pretty far away. When she finally manages to reach you, she gives you a critical once over for injuries. Nor finding anything serious, she says, "You're the last one who got caught in the fall, follow me and we'll rejoin the others."
You follow after her. She's very insistent that you be very, very careful of your step until you get free of the rock pile.
Once free of the rock pile, you catch a dazzling light off down a side tunnel and pause. A way out? Valena is heading back to the tour group and away from the light.
You decide to:
[[Follow Valena. She knows caves.->t.4.1]]
[[Follow the light. I'm outta here!->t.4.2]]
You give up and rest your head against the rocks. The light bleeding through the cracks taunts you.
You stare at it and, after studying it for some time, you can make out that the light is coming from a wire that trails off to the west. Excited, you peer through, trying to get a better look.
The wire leads off to the left. Maybe there is a way to get to it?
You backtrack, following the wall in hopes of meeting up with that wire. You crawl over piles of rubble and walk around larger piles of debris. The light starts to steadily get stronger. You walk towards the source of the light…
…and see that it leads to an old elevator. There are speakers and leavers built in it so it is relatively new in appearance, but the dust built up shows that it hasn't been used in a long time.
Taking a single step onto the carriage made it slightly sway away from you. The elevator is held suspended off the floor. Honestly, you're not sure how safe this is. You can see rust built up on the supports and everything creaks and moans as the carriage sways side to side.
It might be safe just trying to climb the old shaft. At least then you won't be caught in a cage plummeting back to the ground if something breaks.
You decide to:
[[Use the elevator. I'm already tired enough.->E.d.3(E.d.5)]]
[[Climb the elevator shaft. I'm not trusting that thing.->E.d.4(E.d.6)]]
You poke your head through the hole the light is coming from and see that it leads to an open elevator shaft. Looking straight down, you can see the elevator carriage. Looking up, you can see the top docking area, it's only a little bit above you! You crawl through the hole and start to climb up the shaft.
The shaft was smaller than you had expected. You begin to wonder how the elevator even fit through. You make pretty good work of climbing up. The rocks and metal supports scrape against your wings, though. You near the top and with one last burst of effort, you push yourself over the lip and onto the flat surface.
The path out is clearly marked, so you push yourself up and start walking. It isn't far before you are greeted with sunlight's warm embrace. A rescue crew surrounds you immediately. You hear their voices wash over you in alarm, but there it is, the blue sky. You are free.
You decide to follow the music and the pounding beat keeps you company. It's your only company until you hear some voices up ahead. You can't make out words over the music, but you hurry forward to meet them and abruptly run into Conrad and Valena.
"CUPCAKE?!" Conrad yells over the baseline. "Hey look Valena, this search and rescue party is completely useless. The rescuee found US! Ahaha! Good work, petit four!"
They surround you and Valena starts checking you for injuries. This small tunnel is very crowded now. When Valena doesn't find anything serious, she pats you on the back and smiles at you, motioning for you to follow her.
Valena leads the way, and the music volume steadily increases. Sunlight streams in from an exit, illuminating a small rivulet that crosses your path. Valena walks straight through the water and, seeing it's not very deep, you follow her. You're almost to the exit when you’re brought up short by Valena stopping in front of you.
She turns around and squeezes past you to look exasperatedly at Conrad, who hasn't crossed the stream.
"AH! HAHAHA! You guys go that way, I'll just find my own...way...out... ha. ha." Conrad's words fade out under Valena's unimpressed stare. He looks unhappily at the water and tries to stretch out his wings in the confining cave like he's going to try and fly across. "Umm..."
Valena sighs in exasperated fondness before trudging back across the river, bodily picking Conrad up, and carrying him across. Conrad makes various embarrassing noises of alarm at being suspended over water.
Valena safely sets him on the other, perfectly dry. Conrad is visibly relieved.
"Thank you, Valena! That worked perfectly!" He leans over to you and says in a whisper that isn't very soft. "I've seen her pick up an //Imperial// before.
With a gulp you climbed onto the elevator and punch on the controls, praying that still works. The safety railings automatically kick up as the lift starts to slowly inch up to the surface. The movement shakes a shower of dust free, and you valiantly fight a sneeze.
The speaker that was on the ground suddenly activates as a male voice starts to talk. His voice sounds like it has the potential to get loud, but it just sounds tired in this recording.
//"All employees are reminded to keep all claws, tails, and wings inside the open elevator at all times while the lift is in motion. To any unauthorized interns found within this district, all staff members within the area have already been been notified of your presence. Report back to your designated work station immediately for a mandatory headcount. This is to ensure safety and, more importantly, not waste employees' time by making them look for missing dragons. If you-"//
The torment becomes too much as you finally left out a hardy sneeze. It is so loud you that are left out of breath and feel a little light headed. Only after catching your breath and shaking your head do you hear the audio recording finish it's lines. Wait... did the recording pause?
//"…are stranded and hear this recording, stay where you are located and make as much noise as possible until another staff member investigates and saves you. Failure to do so will result in the guilty party's coffee privileges being redacted and the any accumulated break time transferred to a randomly selected staff member for one month's time."//
You enjoy listening to him talk, since it is the only thing keeping you company and is calming your jitters. It is much better than the ominous creaking of old machinery, anyway.
The lift finally docks at the top of the shaft and the safety railings retract. You can see the clearly marked path to the exit. Right when you were about to take the first step to leave the elevator, you hear the voice say one last, very recognizable line.
//"Now get back to work!“//
You snap your head toward the old speaker, alarmed. After taking a very long pause, you give it one final glance before you make your way off of the lift and out of the cave system. The rescue crew that mobs you as soon as you come out is a surprise, though.
Health -2!
You decide to climb up the shaft rather than use the elevator. There are just too many horror stories about dragons getting stuck in regular elevators for you to step into an abandoned one.
The shaft is smaller than you expected. You begin to wonder how the elevator even fit through. You make pretty good work of climbing up. You find that using your wings as a boost to make short hops up is the fastest way to climb.
The rocks and metal supports scrape against your wings, though. You claw your way up, trying to ignore the pain. Eventually you near the top and can see the upper docking bay. With one last burst of effort, you push yourself over the lip and onto the flat surface. Your chest heaves. You are in agonizing pain, both your wings and legs hurting from the climb.
The path out is clearly marked, so you push yourself up and start walking. It isn't far before you are greeted with sunlight's warm embrace. You immediately fall into the arms of arescue crew. You can hear their voices wash over you in alarm, but there it is, the blue sky. You are free.
Health -1!
You ram yourself into the hole, trying to get through the gap you carved out - attempting to thread the needle, if you will. Unfortunately, your thread is is more like yarn and you get snagged right in the middle. You start flailing around like a fish out of water. After a few long minutes, you give up and slump on the rocks. Soon however you feel tremors and you hear something coming up behind you. You also hear Conrad calling out to you, his voice getting louder as the shaking gets stronger. You start to panic not liking where this could lead to.
"HOLD ON SUGAR CUBE, I GOT YOU!"
He runs right over your head as he slams head first into the bolder that was trapping you. In your panic, you pull back as he keeps flying forward with a boulder lodged on his face. You pull yourself up and see the Ridgeback plus rock near an old elevator.
He's standing on top of the bolder with his long horn lodged into the front of it. As he's struggling to break free, he looks up at you with a smile. You walk over to him to see if you could help. Conrad calmly talks even as he is struggling.
"I've been looking everywhere for you! Ahaha! I'm so glad to see you're alright! Can you be a sweat pea and start the elevator up? I'll get out myself no problem!!"
Despite having is face impaling a boulder, he seems ecstatic to see you are alright. You snake around the rock and hit the controls. As soon as you hop on the elevator, Conrad's horn finally pops free.
"Right then, this will take us straight to the surface! There a makeshift rescue camp up there, so we'll have you right as rain in no time, sorbet! Hit that lever, and we'll get outta here!"
You flip the final lever and with an alarming creak the elevator starts to carry you towards the surface.
You gear up to crawl through, but then pause. The light on the other side doesn't look like sunlight now that you can see better, maybe you shouldn’t go through there. You could get stuck either in the hole or on the other side. You move away from the hole and sit down on your much larger pile of rocks. You’re so tired that it feels really comfortable, actually. Maybe you’ll rest here for a bit.
“TARTLET? ARE YOU THERE?” you hear Conrad in the distance. It’s been a long time since you sat down to rest. You thought he had left long ago. “WHERE ARE YOU, CUPCAKE?”
You call out to him, after all you’re still pretty lost. You can hear his heavy footfalls getting louder and louder until you see him skidding around the corner.
“Ah-ha! There you are, muffin. I’ve been looking all over for you. You’re the last one left.“ Conrad grins cheerfully as you. "I'm glad you don't seem to have gotten yourself into any trouble! We've been finding people in lots of crazy places. Would you like to take one of those for a souvenir? It's normally frowned upon but I won't tell." He gives you an over-the-top, conspiratorial wink.
"There’s an old service elevator this way. It’ll take us straight to the surface.”
Despite how tired you are from hauling rocks, you jump up. You’re very ready to be out of this cave.
Health -1!
You turn left. Valena’s voice get louder the more you walk. When you reach a underground river, you follow her voice upstream. There are dragons ahead! You rush forward, trying to be careful of falling off the narrow ledge.
The dragons are all lined up on a ledge on the edge of the river. You reach the end of the line in time for the dragon in front of you to give you a surprised look before passing you a rope. They motion to tie it around your waist. Sure, why not?
You loop the rope around your middle and tie it off tightly.
“Alright everyone!” Valena yells, “Lower yourselves into the river gently. The water is not very deep here. Be careful of your neighbors.”
It’s a challenge to sort yourselves out when you’re all tied together, but Valena was right about the river being shallow. You all start walking upstream, and it’s pretty easy with all of you together. It doesn’t take long, though, for the path to become much steeper and the water much faster. You can see light from outside, but it’s very difficult to hold your footing with water rushing past.
You hear a sharp splash and are yanked off your feet and under the water. You get carried with current until the rope goes sharply taught, digging into your midsection. The water rushes past you and can’t get your head above the surface. You struggle to get to your feet but you just fall hard against the rocks you are being dragged against.
It hurts, both the rocks you are being slammed against and the rope cutting into you. You manage to grab a few snatches of breath before the current drags you back under. Then as abruptly as you went under, everything goes still.
Sunlight dapples through the water above you. You get up and paddle to shore. Around you, you can see the others crawling up on the bank as well. Valena is helping the slower ones up and out of the water. The sunlight is warm against your back and wings. You are achy and hurt, but free.
Health -3!
You turn down the right path. There are a lot of turn offs and you do your best to choose the one that slopes upwards the most. You keep walking and find a room filled with rock columns. The columns look strange, more like melting wax than stone. Looking closely you see shades of purple and green shooting through the rock. It's very pretty actually.
You rest for a little bit before continuing. There are many tunnels leading off this room, and you choose the one directly across from you. The next set of tunnels is as confusing as the way you came in, with just as many offshoots. You're making good progress though. You pass an interesting series of recesses carved out of the rock. They remind you of recessed shelves more than anything else, but there's nothing but dust and more rocks.
You finally reach the end of this set of tunnels, hurrying into a large room full of lumpy rock pillars. Alarmed, you realize that this is the exact same room as before! You pick another tunnel at random and run down it. When you find yourself back in the same room again, you pause to catch your breath and fight off despair. You choose another tunnel and run down it. If you can just find one path out of here you'll be fine!
You're exhausted. You've tried so many combinations of tunnels, and the passageways are all filled with your marks to keep track of the paths you've taken. You trudge on, grimly determined to find the way out. Luckily, a lot of the paths lead to dead ends, and you can check them quickly off your list.
You barely believe your ears, when you hear Valena's voice. She's speaking steadily so it's not hard for you to follow. When you get closer, you call out and hear her pause. You're exhaustion melts away as you break into a run. The tunnels look familiar now, loose stone and support beams. You break out into the lake cavern, Valena and Conrad are waving at you from the shore.
You turn back to the hole. Perfectly safe right? "Just follow the rope and you'll be out in no time," Conrad reassures you. Loosely gripping the rope you dive in.
Underwater is darker than the cave above and it take a little while for your eyes to adjust. You can barely see a shimmering light source up ahead.
Looking downward, you can see the floor far below you, a mess of tumbled and cracked stone worn smooth over time. Small fish dart into the cracks, startled by your presence. As you curiously watch the fish, one darts under one of the largest intact slabs of rock you’ve seen down here and you are brought up short when you recognize a highly stylized drawing of the sun on it.
You resume your forward progress towards the light, and realize that it’s just a flicker appearing from a side tunnel, much too small for you to fit through. Curious, you look through the hole. There is a dark shape looming through the water and the light is emanating from some gems imbedded in it. Squinting, it resolves into a statue, mostly ruined. It has no wings and far too many eyes shining out at you in the darkness. You jerk yourself away from the hole and hurriedly start swimming along the rope.
You emerge into bright sunlight. The others from the tour are bobbing around like corks on the waves. The guardian who arrived first is still holding the end of the rope. You hop onto one of the rocks at the base of the cliff to dry off a little. Some of the others are already flying up and back to the party. You hope Conrad, Valena, and the others still trapped in the cave are okay.
You refuse to leave, and tell him about how you heard Valena earlier. He seems pretty excited about it.
"Well then! I suppose it doesn't hurt to take a quick look. Though sound can carry quite far in the caves." He gives you friendly pat on the back. "But first I have to see these others out. Who's next?"
None of the others stay behind, and it doesn't take long to get them out. You lead him back to the cave you heard Valena. "Best let me lead from here on in, pumkin pie. Just in case." Conrad takes the lead and starts marking the floor periodically with glowing, blue lines.
As you walk down the tunnel, Conrad gets more and more anxious. You pass messy piles of debris and a series of wooden cross braces holding up the ceiling before he speaks up. "I don't recognize this place at all, and the rock is different here. When Valena and I did our initial explorations, this wasn't here. Stay close."
Getting deeper, you begin to hear loud voices coming from ahead. Sharing a look, you both rush forward to meet them.
Surprisingly it isn't the other tour group. Instead, it's a fairly large group of dragons wearing emergency workers' vests. You recognize Valena with one thrown over he caving apparel.
When she catches sight of you two, she looks visibly releaved. "Conrad! I thought something terrible happened when I heard you hadn't come out yet." She starts immediately hearding you over to a rescue worker. "Let's see to those injuries of yours, dearie."
Conrad looks around in confusion. "Wherever did the others go?"
"They're already on the surface, I just came back to find you two." She calls over her shoulder at him, amused.
"AHA! Then, I assume you know of an exit that doesn't involve-" he gives a dramatic shudder, "-swimming."
Health -2!
Who knows if Valena found an exit or not. There's an exit right in front of you so its better to take it.
You flap your wings, getting as high as you can, before you grab onto the ceiling and shove yourself up into the hole leading to the surface. The rock is rough and easy to dig your claws into. You can hear the party very well from here, the noise echoing down the shaft.
You climb up easily for most of the way before you notice how narrow it has become. Slightly worried, you continue climbing, but all too soon you can't move forward anymore.
Upset and disappointed you carefully climb back down. You listen carefully, but you can't hear Valena voice at all. You turn back to the lake.
The lake is dark and still, and there are no other dragons in sight. You fly to shore, where you left the rest of the tour group, and sit down on the edge of the shore. What are you going to do now?
You are dragged from your upsetting thoughts by a tentacle waving out of the water. It's Horace! Out of desperation you ask if they‘ve seen where Conrad went, but at the sound of his name the octoflyer darts away.
You're fighting off despair when you hear Conrad's voice. "Muffin! There you are! Oh, my, however did I lose you if you're right here? Ahahah! That's just a joke!" Conrad is flying over the water to meet you, and coming to land on a rock slightly further out in the lake.
As you watch Conrad holds up hand vertically away from him. You're confused for a moment before a tentacle comes out of the water and slaps against it wetly. Oh.
They bros.
With a sigh you head back to the group. It’s not a big deal to wait a little longer. But to your surprise, when she finally collects everyone she doesn’t lead you down the path with the light. Instead, she takes you down a dark path, and it doesn’t take you long to hear the sound of rushing water.
You emerge from the tunnel into a much larger space where you can see a river rushing past. The place is huge, and walls here a very smooth. Some of the others wander over to the river. “Don’t go in the water, whatever you do.” Valena warns, “This whole area here was carved out by that river. It’s moving much faster than it looks.”
Valena looks around for a bit and you can’t make head or tails of the way she wanders about shaking her head. “If we follow it upriver we should be able to find a way out. Follow me, it should only be a little bit further,” and Valena turns and starts walking along a wide path next to the river.
That doesn’t make much sense, surely you can find a way out either direction, right? All the others start following her but honestly why should you? She caused a cave in and ignored an exit, right?
You decide to:
[[Follow Valena upriver.->t.5.1]]
[[Head downriver and look for the ocean.->t.5.2]]
You turn your back on the tour group walking down a different tunnel and head back towards the light. The tunnel almost immediately starts to slope upwards.
You follow the bend and emerge into a wide room. Strings hang from the ceiling, dripping down in long, thin strips to meet the floor. They are back-lit by softly glowing light, forming a curtain. It's only when you touch them that you find them to be made of stone.
Not wanting to damage the delicate formations you squeeze through them to get to the light. It was more than just a curtain, the whole room is filled with them, so it takes you some minutes to cross.
On the other side, you see the cause of the light and, to your sharp disappointment, it isn't the exit. Instead, laying on the floor are four jewels. Brilliant and prismatic, they shed light shot-through with color onto the cave walls.
You choose to:
[[Grab the gems. They might be useful when you get out.->t.5.3]]
[[Leave the gems. You have other priorities, like getting out!->t.5.4]]
Valena seems to know where she’s going. She confidently trots along at the front, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure everyone is still following.
The river beside you is flowing rapidly, the vibrant blue water seems to glow in the darkness, and the patterns it reflects on the cave ceiling captivate you. It is truly gorgeous. It’d almost be pleasant down here if you weren’t cold, hungry, hurt, and lost.
As you keep walking, the path gets narrower and narrower and the group is forced to walk in a single-file line to avoid getting wet. Then it’s getting steeper and steeper. Eventually, you reached a point where the water cascades down a high waterfall.
Valena is forced to stop in her tracks. She’s quiet for a moment, looking at her surroundings and the group of tired dragons behind her.
“We have to have to go up,” she sighs, taking out a long rope from her bag, “The rocks will be slippery, and it'd be bad if anyone fell in. I'm going to climb to the top and lower the rope, that way we can prevent anyone from falling.”
As Valena starts her climb, you noticed an opening just to the side that Valena seems to be ignoring.
Do you:
[[Wait your turn to be dragged up the waterfall.->t.6.1]]
[[Split up from the rest of the group and follow the side entrance.->t.6.2]]
Turning away from the others, you head downriver. The water has to exit somewhere, and it probably connects to the sea.
It’s very easy going. The floor is slippery with water, but the path is very wide so there’s no risk of falling into the river. The path is sloping slightly downwards and it’s almost a pleasant walk.
Soon, the cave starts to lighten until suddenly you turn a corner and are hit with blinding light. The river does empty out into the ocean. The waves roll into the cave through an arched opening, creating a cacophony of noise. The spar of rock you are on doesn’t connect to exit. If you want to get out you will have to swim.
You look back the way you came, worried, because the others are still trapped.
Do you:
[[Take the exit. I'll get help!->t.6.3]]
[[Go back for them. No one left behind!->t.6.4]]Health -3!
Score! You grab the gems but you immediately start to feel the same rumbling you felt in the cavern of stars. You try to get airborne but don’t make it in time before the floor falls out from under you.
You hit the ground hard and hear a sharp crack before pain blossoms up your wing. You scramble up and away from the rock crashing down where you were. When you try to move your wing the pain is nearly debilitating. You fight through the pain and manage to tuck it against you. It looks like you’re walking from now on.
Or climbing... You look up the way you came. The rock fall resulted in a slope that you could probably climb up without much trouble.
You choose to:
[[Climb back the way I came. At least I can backtrack.->t.6.5]]
[[Go down the new path. I'm not messing with those rocks.->t.6.6]]You turn away from the gems. If it’s not a way out, then you’re not interested. Disappointed, you make your way back to meet up with the group.
Its three turns later when you realize with a chill that you don’t recognize your surroundings. You are facing a two tunnel branch that you don’t recognize. You call out and then pause for a moment to see if you can’t hear Valena’s voice. Everything is dark and quiet.
There is no way out back the way you came. It has to be one of these two, which one do you choose?
You choose:
[[Left->t.6.7]]
[[Right->t.6.8]] You are safely pulled up the waterfall, but the ledge next to the river is even smaller. You all continue to follow the river. The path grows steadily narrower until all of you a walking on just a narrow lip hanging over the rushing water. The river itself has turned into a wide sheet of water flowing swiftly over the rocks underneath, a far cry from the deep, narrow stream it was downriver. The ceiling has lowered down until all of you are ducking your heads to keep from bumping it and there is no way any of you could fly.
You hear a sharp yelp and watch one of the dragons up ahead nearly pitch into the fast moving river. Those nearby were fast enough to save him from washing away. Valena hears and quickly does her best to make sure everyone is okay, but it is enormously difficult with everyone balancing on a narrow ledge.
“Alright everyone!” Valena yells over the sound of water. “The path has become too narrow but if we continue following the river we will get to the surface. We have to get into the water. To keep everyone safe, we’re all going to need to be tied together. Take this rope and tie it around your torso, then pass the loose end onto the next dragon in line.”
You aren’t entirely sure about this. It’s possible that if someone else trips, you’ll just be washed away, too. The dragon in front of you hands you the rope.
You choose to:
[[Tie yourself in. Better safe than sorry.->E.t.1]]
[[Pass it on without tying in. That's a deathtrap!->E.t.2]]No way, this is just getting more dangerous. You turn off to the side tunnel. You follow the twisting tunnels until you end up near a huge underground lake. It's a quiet place, but there's no exit you can see.
You choose another tunnel, practically at random by this point and follow it. You wonder if the others got out okay. That waterfall sure looked like a death-trap.
Running into Conrad is a bit of a surprise. You really didn't expect him here at all.
"Tartlet! Whatever are you doing so far away from Valena? Don't worry! I know EXACTLY where you need to go! Follow me," Conrad said cheerfully.
You choose to:
[[Follow him. He's a guide after all.->E.t.3]]
[[Don't follow, he's weird. Grins too much.->E.t.4]]
Health -2!
With a last glance at the cave walls behind you jump into the cold water. Fighting against the freezing cold, you head straight towards the exit. Sunlight, noises of the festivities, and the sweet smell of cakes become ever stronger. How many hours had passed since you first entered the caves? Will you actually be able to escape?
You keep swimming, fighting against the harsh waves characteristic of the shifting expanse’s coasts. You had heard rumors that these waters were littered with poison spears from the nearby Maren clans. Better not stay too long.
Exhausted, you wash up onto the shore, scrambling onto the sand. You try to catch your breath. However, there is little time to rest as you are eager to reach other dragons, and maybe find help for those still stuck in the caves. You look up, there is still a harsh cliffside to climb. You try to fly, but a stabbing pain shudders through your wings. Somewhere along the way, you must have been injured. You pace up and down the beach, looking for the best way to climb the cliff.
Eventually, you find a ladder. However, it is old and slimy, bits of it disintegrating from age. Is it worth the risk?
Do you:
[[Climb the disintegrating ladder. Safer than the cliffside.->E.t.5]]
[[Scale the cliffside. Safer than the ladder->E.t.6]]It is painful having to turn away from the sunlight, but you had to find Valena. Everyone had to get out together. You draw an "X" on the floor, hoping to leave a trail to follow. The music and cheers from the party above echo faintly in the cave. You look up and the rocky ceiling and sigh. That's when you realize that the stomping of the party is sending vibrations throughout the ground, and the rocks above you are shaking with the music. Is the ceiling about to collapse? No... it isn’t out of the ordinary for rocks to vibrate. If it is dangerous, the rocks would have come loose days ago, when the festivities started.
What do you do?
[[It's too risky. You had to get out and run!->E.t.7]]
[[The rocks aren't going anywhere. I'll just wait it out and then keep looking.->E.t.8]]Health -2!
Going back up is the only way to get out, so you start your climb up. It’s much harder than you expected with an injured wing. You feel very unbalanced.
You are halfway up the slope when the rock you are on slips out from under you, destabilizing the whole pile. You get caught once more in the rockslide, and its mad scramble to keep from getting buried.
You are nearly free of it when a rock hits you square in back, sending you spinning wildly forward. You hit the far wall with crash. Everything hurts and you need to take a moment to let the pain settle down before you blearily crack your eyes open and try to get up.
You walk, but your injured wing hangs limply at your side and any attempt to move it nearly sends you back to the floor. It’s definitely broken now. There’s no way you are going anywhere near that rock pile, but you could probably walk down the tunnel. Then again, everything hurts so it might be better to stay here and shout for rescue.
What do you do?
[[Call for help. I'm not risking getting more hurt.->E.t.9]]
[[Continue walking. I'm leaving no matter what!->E.t.10]]You look up at the room with the shining gems. There was no going back. Gathering your wits, you turn and walk down the new corridor. It is so quiet… too quiet. All you can hear is your footsteps and ragged breathing. Every step hurts, the fall injured you badly. How much time has passed by?
You reflect on the events that lead you into this peculiar situation. If only you hadn’t been so greedy. Had you not picked up those gems, maybe the floor wouldn’t have collapsed. You miss Valena, surely she’d know what to do and where to go now. But there was no point reflecting on what could have been.
“Come on muffin, don’t be scared. I’m sure this is the right way!”
Was that?
“There’s an underwater passage right over there, it should lead you to safety. Me? Oh no, I’ll stay here out of the water.”
You take a sharp turn to the left and there they are, Conrad the Ridgeback and his group, hanging around a large underground lake. You smiled widely.
“Sugar Cube! What are you doing over there? What happened? Are you injured?” Conrad trotted over to your side, fussing over your wounds, “This does not look good. We have to get you out of here.”
Conrad leads you to the water’s edge. “I was telling the rest of the group, right there, underwater, there is a passageway that will lead you to safety. Are you feeling up to it? You only need to follow the rope and it will lead right out."
Do you:
[[Go through the hole. I'm done with this cave. ->E.d.9 (E.d.13, E.t.11)]]
[[Stay. I can't leave him behind.->E.d.10 (E.t.12, combo E.d.14)]]
Health -2!
You turn left. The world spins out from under you and you are falling. You flap your wings panic, trying to right yourself. Pain burst through you and you feel your wings rip. In terror, ignoring the pain in your arms and legs you dig your claws into the rock wall.
You are surrounded by long, delicate looking crystal spikes. You’ve fallen down a shaft barely larger than you are, and these spikes completely cover the inside of tunnel. Looking up, you can see the broken off parts that mark the path of your fall. You are covered in lacerations and cannot fly. Even just clinging to wall, the nearby spikes are marking you with shallow cuts every time you shift.
The razor-sharp, crystalline spikes point slightly down; climbing up would be incredibly dangerous and painful. It would be much easier to go down
You decide to:
[[Go up. I need to get back on the path.->E.t.13]]
[[Go down. I'll be too injured to get out otherwise.->E.t.14]]After some consideration you take the right path. It is one the most twisted tunnels you’ve been on yet, with sharp turns back and forth until you have no idea if you’re going the right way. When you see that same soft glow from the jewels, you realize that you’ve been completely turned around.
You’ve decided to just start over from the jewels and continue forward, but you get dumped out into a large cavern that is completely different from what you expected. There are no delicate rock formations hanging from the ceiling, instead the floor is carpeted in soft lichen. Sprays of luminescent mushrooms pop up from the floor and you are sharply reminded of the room of stars.
Walking into the room, the lichen gives gently underfoot. It is one of the softest surface you have ever stood on. You abruptly realize how exhausted you are, and the desire to lay down and rest is overwhelming. If you rested for a short while, then you would have a lot more energy to continue onward.
You decide to:
[[Rest. You'll get further with more energy!->E.t.15]]
[[Continue. I'll rest when I'm out of here!->E.t.16]]Health -2!
You loop the rope around your middle and tie it off tightly before handing it off to the dragon behind you. Pretty soon you hear the last dragon in line yelling that they’re tied in and ready to go.
“Alright everyone!” Valena yells, “Lower yourselves into the river gently. The water is not very deep here. Be careful of your neighbors.”
It’s a challenge to sort yourselves out when you’re all tied together, but Valena was right about the river being shallow. You all start walking upstream, and it’s pretty easy with all of you together. It doesn’t take long, though, for the path to become much steeper and the water much faster. You can see light from outside, but it’s very difficult to hold your footing with water rushing past.
You hear a sharp splash and are yanked off your feet and under the water. You get carried with current until the rope goes sharply taught, digging into your midsection. The water rushes past you and can’t get your head above the surface. You struggle to get to your feet but you just fall hard against the rocks you are being dragged against.
It hurts, both the rocks you are being slammed against and the rope cutting into you. You manage to grab a few snatches of breath before the current drags you back under. Then as abruptly as you went under, everything goes still.
Sunlight dapples through the water above you. You get up and paddle to shore. Around you, you can see the others crawling up on the bank as well. Valena is helping the slower ones up and out of the water. The sunlight is warm against your back and wings. You are achy and hurt, but free.
Health -4!
No way are you tying yourself into that deathtrap. You pass the rope on and ignore the hesitant looks you get.
“Alright everyone!” Valena yells, “Lower yourselves into the river gently. The water is not very deep here. Be careful of your neighbors.”
It’s sort of funny how carefully they all have to move when tied together like that. Without having to worry about the rope, you are able to move much faster than the others. You get much further ahead of them and reach a point where the riverbed is much steeper and the current much faster. You can see sunlight, though, you just have to climb up through the harsher current.
It’s much harder and slower going. Valena and the others are just behind you, and you turn to look when you hear a bunch of splashing. All of the dragons have fallen over into the river. Valena is the only one still standing and she is braced firmly against both the current and the weight of the dragons pulling her downriver. You’re glad you didn’t get involved, and you resolve to send help back for them when you get out. You turn and once again press against the current.
You are just a little ways away from the entrance so you turn to see if the others are still there or if they’ve been washed away. Valena is further upstream than you remembered and, as you watch, she takes one laborious step forward, pulling herself and all the other dragons up against the current.
Turning back forward, one of the stones shifts under your feet. It’s not much but it’s enough to cause you to lose your balance. You get pulled under water and thrown against the rocks on the riverbed. Your world spins dizzily and the sunlight fades as you get carried downstream. You struggle to stop yourself, to stand up, when you feel a sharp and painful yank on your tail. Abruptly, you come to a halt, the river flowing past you.
You still try to stand up and gain your balance, but you are being slowly pulled upstream. The sunlight appears again, and you are pulled out of the harsh current and into a much softer flowing stream. You are dragged over to the bank and Valena finally spits out your tail. You sit and catch your breath as you watch her help the others to shore.
Health -2!
You start your arduous climb back up. It’s as painful as you expected it to be. The crystals cut into your arms and legs with every handhold.
By the time you reach the top, your legs and arms are shredded to ribbons and your already injured wings aren’t far behind. You crawl out of the hole, exhausted. It’s so hard to move and everything hurts. You lay by the hole and tell yourself to get up. You pass out.
“Over here! I need the healer!” A loud voice jerks you awake.
You feel hands on you and soothing healing magics. Feeling a little better, you manage to open your eyes.
“Oh, love, we’ve been looking for you for hours. How did you ever get this deep?” Valena is standing over you looking exhausted and incredibly relived. You can hear Conrad’s booming voice in the distance. A wave of reassurance hits you at the realization that you're safe.
“Rest now, we’ve got you.”
Health -5!
You’re already injured; there’s no way you’ll be able to climb all the way up. You let yourself drop into a controlled fall. Because you are being careful and the sharp points of the spikes are facing away from you, you don’t take as much damage from them.
But the bottom of the shaft comes too suddenly. You can’t slow yourself enough to stop your fall. All you can do is watch the crystalline spikes coating the bottom rush up to meet you.
When you hit the bottom, your world goes white with pain.
When you come to, you are laying on a bed of broken spikes and too injured to move. You try to shout for help, but all that comes out is a pitiful mewl.
You turn you head and look back up the shaft, you can barely see the exit through forest of sharp spikes. How will anyone find you down here? Your last thought before you pass out is that from this perspective those spikes look a lot like teeth.
You decide to trust him and he takes you back to the lake area.
"This underwater passage way will take you straight to the outside. You just need to follow the rope. This is the way the others went." You hesitate a little.
"In you go. You'll be out in no time, Parfait!" Conrad gently motions you toward the hole. You look at him expectantly. "Oh- uh...me? Well, I'm...hmm. I'm pretty good at most EXTREME SPORTS but, well, ...swimming isn't one of them. SO! After you head out I'm going to see if I can find Valena. Don't worry about me, though."
Loosely gripping the rope you dive in. The journey is pretty short before the rope starts slanting upwards. You emerge into bright sunlight. There are some others from the tour sitting on some of the rocks by the cliff. As you near them, one of the others gives you a hand up. It looks like the others are drying off a little before flying up. You settle in for a nice soak in the sunshine. The music from the party is very pleasant.
You hope Conrad, Valena, and any others still trapped in the cave are okay.
Trust that weird health nut? No way! You are sure that the other path will get you out of these forsaken caves, after all it was heading upwards. You trotted along confidently, twisting and turning with the curves.
You were wrong. Initially, you thought that it was just a downwards dip in the path and that, eventually, it’d take you back up again. But you were eventually forced to admit that the road was taking you deeper and deeper into the caves. Your pride hurt, you made a 180-degree turn and backtracked your steps at a run. Would Conrad have waited for you, knowing that you’d eventually come back? It was unlikely, he had more dragons than just you to worry about. You groaned, why hadn’t you trusted the tour guide?
Panting, you reached the fork in the road. He wasn’t there. How would you find your way back out? That’s when you realized, down one of the paths was a glowing blue line. You ran towards it, then you saw another one a few meters along. They had been left by Conrad. The health nut would not risk you getting lost in the cave system alone.
You went from marker to marker till sunlight appeared. You were out. Conrad was sitting a few meters away from the exit, and turned to face you.
“Sugar Cube! You made it out, I’m glad. Did you see my markers?” He handed you a granola bar, “Here, eat this. It’ll help you recover your energy. You must be exhausted! Let’s get you to see a doctor, shall we?”
Health -1!
You look up at the ladder. It really does not look safe. You glance once more at the cliff-side... should you scale it? No. A ladder is always safer than loose rock. You take a deep breath and begin to climb. One step after another, you get higher and higher, closer and closer to freedom.
For a moment, your hand slips and loses its grip. Luckily, you recover quickly and resume climbing, although a little more cautiously.
You're almost there, you can smell the cake. Is this freedom? Yes. Before you know it, you stumble over the cliff's edge, lying on the soft ground. No one seems to notice your sudden arrival, but that doesn't bother you much. You are safe.
A few hours pass and you are in the infirmary getting your injuries treated by a curious looking fae when a battered looking Snapper barges in, "Brian! I have you seen-?."
Valena stops speaking abruptly when she sees you. After a pause, she smiles in relief, "I'm glad you're alright. How are you feeling?"
You have a short conversation, where you assure her that you are okay. After which, with a small nod to the fae, Valena walks out.
It is a few days later that you find out that Valena had spent hours wandering around the cave trying to find you, after all, you had never told her where you went off to.
Health -4!
The rocks are definitely safer, there is no doubt about that. Now to hope your childhood days of mischief would help you out. You start to climb the cliff, digging your claws into the rock. It is near the top when you slip A rock under your hind legs comes loose, causing you to slide half way down the cliff before being able to regain your grip.
You wince in pain. Is that... blood? Upon slipping, you scraped your entire belly on the rocks. The pain is excruciating.
You look down... there is no going back now. Gulping you look back up at the sky.
One step at a time, you are getting closer and closer. You can smell cake. Is this freedom?
Before you know it, you stumble over the cliff's edge, lying on the soft ground. No one seems to notice your sudden arrival, but that doesn't bother you much. You are safe.
A few hours pass and you are in the infirmary getting your injuries treated by a curious looking fae when a battered looking Snapper barges in, "Brian! I have you seen-?."
Valena stops speaking abruptly when she sees you. After a pause, she smiles in relief, "I'm glad you're alright. How are you feeling?"
You have a short conversation, where you assure her that you are okay. After which, with a small nod to the fae, Valena walks out.
It is a few days later that you find out that Valena had spent hours wandering around the cave trying to find you, after all, you had never told her where you went off to.
Health -2!
Nope, nope, nope. You did not sign up for this. You take an 180-degree turn and start running towards the ocean and exit. With leap you jump off the rock ledge and into the water. Midair, you see some rocks come loose from the ceiling and smash right were you had been.
You hit the water, immediate dive deeper, and swim for the exit. You hear a sharp whump of a rock hitting the water. You hope these rocks don't land on you. You hear the sound of more rocks hitting the water until you are swimming through a minefield of underwater, falling rocks.
You can't avoid being hit by them, but you do avoid being trapped. You are straining very hard against the waves and current, fighting to make it clear of the cave.
You break out in to open water and sunlight streams down around you. You swim toward the surface to get some much needed air. Breaking the surface, the sound of grinding stone hits your ears and you turn back to the cave you exited. It's is collapsing in on itself, burying the exit. Exhausted, you crawl up onto a beach at the base of the cliffs. There's a ladder going up, but you're much too tired and bruised to climb up right now. Instead, you rest and let the sunlight wash over you.
Health -7!
You decide to keep calm. The rocks will hold up, just like have for years. You start wandering toward the exit when the first one rock shakes loose and nearly hits you. The crash nearby sends you sprawling. Another rock falls and barely misses your head.
You scramble forward but another rock tumbles loose and sends a searing pain up your leg. You leg is trapped and trying to pull on it sends you reeling with pain. You can't move, can't do anything but watch the rocks bury you.
When the everything is still you are alive but partially buried in the resultant rock pile. The pounding beat from the party is even louder. You call for help, but how will anyone be able to hear you over the loud music?
Health -1!
You call for help. You’re so tired and hurt that you need to rest often, but you’re determined to keep shouting and be found.
It doesn’t take long for you to lose track of time. Everything is so dark and silent that you could trick yourself into believing that you’re the only dragon left on Sorneith. You have never felt so lost and alone, and it’s hard to stay hopeful.
When you finally hear an answering cry, hope shoots through you like electricity. You sit up sharply and jar your injuries, but you’re too excited to notice.
“…it up! I’m coming! Nearly there, darling. Just keep shouting and I’ll be there soon.” Valena appears at the top of the hole you fell though. She handles the rockfall easily and is at your side in a moment.
“Oh, love, what happened to you?” She’s looking over you worriedly. “You’re wing is definitely broken. Can you walk? Give me a sec and I’ll get you patched up enough to move.” Her movements are very efficient as she binds and bandages your injuries.
As she does so, she speaks into a device at her shoulder, briskly. “I’ve found them. We’re down in sector D. They’re injured but they can walk. We’ll meet you by the river, bring a healer. Over.” You hear Conrad’s affirmative on the other end.
When she’s done, she helps you stand. “Come dear, learn on me. I know the way out, it’s just a little farther and then you can rest.”
Health -1!
You can’t stay here, it’s dangerous. You get up, ignoring your injures, and head down the tunnel on this level. It’s a dark and lonely path, and at one point to have to crouch down and squeeze under some very sharp crystal spikes. You settle down to rest by an underground river. The surrounding cavern is wide enough that you can follow the river upstream.
You’ve only been following the river for a little while, when you hear a bellowing “HULLO?!” over the sound of the river. It’s Conrad! You yell as loudly as you can manage in your injured state, and hear his voice coming in your direction, still yelling.
“I HEAR YOU PETIT FOUR! I’M COMING.” Conrad skids around the corner into your line of sight. He catches sight of you, charges over. ”Oh dear, you’ve really had it rough, haven’t you, cupcake? Don’t worry, as someone who is VERY INTO extreme sports I am VERY GOOD at first aid. HAHA~! It should do until we get you to the healers, anyway.”
He’s grinning down at you and you can’t help but compare it to the beginning of the tour. It looks very forced in comparison.
It doesn’t take him long to patch up your injuries. He pays special attention to your wing, making sure it is safely splinted to walk. He’s very gentle.
Once he’s done, he holds up a finger in a ‘shh’ motion and turns away to talk into a device he pulled from his pack. He walks away and starts speaking quietly. “Valena, I’ve found them, and patched them up. I’m going to take them up-river.” Softer, he says, “Valena…they’re in bad shape. The sooner we get them to a healer the better…Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”
He turns around, smiling again. “Come now, tartlet! You’re nearly at the end of your ordeal, just a little bit farther. Would you like me to carry you? It’ll be FUN! Don’t worry: I LIFT.”
He keeps up a monologue all the way to the exit, successfully distracting you from your injuries.
Health -4!
A little nap couldn’t hurt, and you aren’t going to get such a nice place to lay down later. Laying down is like sleeping on a cloud, all gentle softness and support. You drop off to sleep almost immediately.
The soft murmur of voices slowly drags you to consciousness. You peel your eyes open and immediately have to close them against the bright sunshine. You don’t feel rested at all and even achier then when you went to sleep. When you open your eyes, you are stunned to see that you are laying in a hospital bed surrounded by various, mysterious equipment making strange clicks and whirring noises. The lighting outside indicates that it is late afternoon.
Next to your bed is a low table absolutely covered with desserts, flowers, and cards. There’s another table near the window covered with papers and other office supplies, nearby Conrad and Valeana sit talking quietly to one another.
“There shouldn’t have been anything beneath that cave, let alone another entire cave system! It wasn’t on any of the surveys and Stormcatcher knows you and were all over that place for months!” Valence hisses insistently.
“I know, Valena, I know, but did you see the how smooth the ceiling and floor were in most of the lower areas?”
“Yes, I get it, sea caves take a long time to form. We should have noticed!”
“Yes, but some areas-“ Conrad continues insistantly.
“-were rough!” Valena finishes before continuing grimly, “Someone was digging there. No wonder-”
“CUPCAKE!” Conrad is standing up an grinning at you brightly. You can clearly see the tension drop off them, Valena’s pinched and worried expression turns to a relieved smile.
“Good morning, darling. We’re very glad that you’re finally awake.”
Health -1
Now is no time to be resting! You shake off you tiredness and continue walking. The exhaustion comes back almost immediately though, and you try to ignore how inviting the floor looks.
You open your eyes. When did you close them? You’re still standing, but only barely. You realize you’ve stopped walking and jerkily take a step forward. It’s hard to stand because you’re legs feel like they’re going to slip out from under you. There is no way this is natural.
You can see an exit ahead of you and stumble towards it on legs that are barely able to hold your weight. You keep losing track of where you’re going because you keep forgetting to open your eyes.
You hit the floor just short of entrance and have to cover the last few steps at a crawl. The air here tastes cleaner, and soon you are well enough to stand back up. You follow the path on wobbly legs and reach an underground river. You hear voices in the distance and stumble towards them eventually collapsing onto a surprised Conrad and Valena, who came back to find you.