Anomalous Trip (Part II)

[Dragnoxz]

After a half hour of traveling along that strange path, your proximity to Lakeland is much closer. 2,121 meters. The wolf is panting and the girl is breathing heavy.

Young Wolf Girl: “Pan-gar’t, mih’dih. Chur-fah gn’ohl.” She says to the wolf. The wolf girl morphs back into a wolf and pants for a few moments before returning to human form along with the other wolf, which morphs into a dark haired female, her facial features resembles sharp angles that remind you of Japanese anime characters, however, you can’t see much beyond the shapes due to the FLIR and darkness of the night.

Older Wolf Girl: “Help.” Her voice is strong and sounds similar to the younger one, but is deeper and weathered, more mature and without the hints of teenage squeaks. She gestures something she wants to say but doesn’t know the words. “Ein-chets. Pa-in-chets. Ker’nt ne-pa en-chets.” She’s trying to say stuff, gesturing to you up. Then she scribbles on the ground as she says things, and picks up the dirt and puts two piles of dirt together. And keeps splitting them, writing scribbles as she speaks and keeps making small piles and dividing them.

[slicsinatra]

“Up? Up?? Help is up?” I ask and point upwards.

[Dragnoxz]

Older Wolf Girl: “Koh, koh ! Ker’nt ne-pa. Ein-chets. Pa-in-chets.” She scribbles lines like as if spelling words as she speaks and combines them into a pile then separates them and writes the same patterns again, only to divide them again. “Coh. Hee’pa.” She scribbles on the ground separate scribbles as she spoke the last word. She draws a box on the ground, then a triangle and a circle. “Fal’po, Chao’po, Bel’po.” She points as she makes each one. She points at you, as if it’s your turn to say something.

[slicsinatra]

“Ahh. Well.” I scratch my head. “Are these us?” I point to the shapes and motion to us as a group. I point to me, then I draw in the sand my name while spelling it out. “C-A-L-L-U-S. Callus. That’s me.”

[Dragnoxz]

Older Wolf Girl: “Koh. Ein-chents.” She stops and squints slightly. “Callus ?” She points to herself. “Phyka.” Then she points at the younger wolf girl, “Kyka.” She waves to follow. “Callus. Help. Nal’yus.” Then she looks back. “Nal’yus. Help. Callus.” She smiles, though she looks ghostly under FLIR. “Callus. Nal’yus. Help Lan’ka Pur’donia.”

[slicsinatra]

“Callus.” I point to me. “Who is Nalyus? Where is Nalyus?” I make a questioning shrugging motion and gesture around me like ‘where?’

[Dragnoxz]

She continues to walk along the path, gesturing you to follow. They lead you further, and then you hear a distant roar of something like wind or rushing water. The sound increases till you reach an opening where there is a water fall cascading over the path. The waterfall is about 12 feet wide and is fairly loud. It looks black through FLIR, and the mist keeps the path moist. There are plants growing along the path, like ferns. The waterfall falls onto a slanted rocky area below before continuing further down the slope and out of view.

Dex check on crossing the moist area below the waterfall.

[slicsinatra]

Dex 13.

[Dragnoxz]

As you pass over the area, it feels slippery, but you manage to make it across. They lead you further and further. You pass several small streams that run off the side like mini waterfalls, and then they stop. The proximity to Lakeland is 1,682 meters, but is down and toward a massive waterfall roaring in the distant. It’s up to 150 meters wide. It cascades all the way down, at least 1,500 meters. The wolf girls go into a cave like area, which is steep. Inside the area there are off shoots, but they have you follow them. After a half hour of descending winding tunnels your proximity doesn’t respond due to the terrain. Another half hour of steep descending tunnels and you regain signal, and she is about 1,108 meters, but then you lose signal again when you go deeper. Another hour of winding tunnels down and you finally cross an area where you are under and behind the waterfall, but the proximity to Lakeland is still far, 511 meters, but she is almost directly below you but more inside the terrain. The two wolf girls are panting, and decide to rest right there, and musk the water off the rock and drink from the puddles along the path.

[slicsinatra]

“Lakeland, come in. I’m around 1000 meters from you. Can you hear me. Respond when able with your surroundings. I’m coming. Caston out.” I rest for a minute with the wolves and drink some water after I clean it.

[Dragnoxz]

You receive no response from Lakeland. The water tastes concentrated with minerals. It tastes fairly good for it being of another dimension. It’s very cold and crisp. It’s not dirty at all. After about five minutes, they get back up and start going down further. You enter a cavern network. There are many stalactite and stalagmite groups all over in various areas. Some look very old, many are new. The path you walk seems very untraveled as not much of the walls seem touched. The darkness is absolute. The wolf girls sniff their way along, but you can see fine with FLIR. They take their time, sometimes bumping into things. At least an hour passes where there is no signal, and then you have signal, and are at least 200 meters from Lakeland. The wolves get low and sniff the air and act quiet.

[slicsinatra]

I scout with FLIR and look for signs of life around us as we search for whatever they seem to be looking for.

[Dragnoxz]

There is no warm spots. They creep along as if they can’t see at all. You can clearly see the path and tunnel network, but they sniff about trying to find the way.

[slicsinatra]

I move up to assist them. If I can, since I see better attempt to take the help action.

[Dragnoxz]

They seem to know what you’re doing, so the younger one morphs into human form and grabs onto you, and lets you lead. Whenever you arrive at a fork or area where it splits to different ways, the one in wolf form sniffs the location and moves along the path that’s correct. Yet another hour and you’ve reached an area that has some illumination. There are glow worms captures in jars, which seem to be their own biosphere including water and minerals and fungi trapped inside, which have holes. The larva are glowing a blueish green, and barely illuminate the area, if you switch from FLIR to normal. However, it’s still dark. Further up, there is a hollow area with some mirrors at the ceiling, but they aren’t lit up. The young wolf girl turns a magnifying glass and it shines on a mirror you didn’t see till she touched it and redirects a focused beam of glow worm light onto it, and it reflects onto a cone mirror that splits the light onto other mirrors and some how the light is amplified throughout the cavern, and illuminates many areas almost instantly. Some of the beams of light end at a crystal shaped into a ball, which has a mirror inside that causes it to illuminate soothingly. Lakelands position is no longer showing up, but you know you must be close. There is the end of the cavern which arrives at a very old rusty gate. It is locked with an old fashioned padlock, which required a key. It’s on the indie but the bars are wide enough a human hand can fit through. The older wolf girl morphs back into a human. The younger one morphs back into a wolf.

Phyka: “Bok’ta.” She gestures you to do something about the lock.