Location: Outside Farthorpe Time: Dusk Mission: An Abominable Situation For: @phoenixashbringer
Caves are hallowed places on occasion. Places where life can be hidden and fostered, places of shelter. With the nip in the air and the crunch of the snow under her feet, Juniper is relieved when she comes across the opening off the road. It stings her to admit that she’s tired, off her game. Traveling alone is not something she’s used to, and the absence of her father by her side is something that weighs on her. Only one set of hands to hunt and gather, one set of eyes to lead the way, one set of ears to listen for trouble. It stings her to admit it, but she’s tired to her soul.
A few hours rest, she thinks. And then I can carry on to Farthorpe. She enters the cave with cautious steps, wary of wolves or bears. The cave is deep and smells of a den, of living things, but she can see no evidence of its inhabitants. No snuffles, no growls, no cubs yowling for a mothers embrace, and a coldness in the air that implies its been empty for a time. If she was better rested, she would have turned around and left again, ill at ease with the concept of being here if whatever inhabited these walls decided to return home. As it is, she’s tired enough that she takes a few more halting steps into the cave.
It’s deep. It slopes downward and seems to go far, like the mouth of the world. Her footsteps echo, crunching against the ground, and with the singular sensation of the world falling out from under her, loose their grip. She hits the ground with a loud thud, glad that no one is around to see her. And here I thought I was supposed to be graceful. She struggles upright as she fights off her winded state, looking around for whatever it was that tripped her up.
The next few moments pass as a flash and a blur, as her mistake settle heavily over her. She sees the bone she’s tripped on at the same moment that her ears pick up the shift in the air, the sound of a creature waking up from a deep sleep. The sound of a creature that may be hungry for more of its prey. She’s scrambling to her feet when the creature seems to raise from out of nowhere, and for a split second she stops, raising her hands in a gesture of peace. Her and her father rarely ever needed to do battle with a beast –– but this wasn’t a normal situation. She was food, and she was in its home. It moves faster than her tired mind can process, and she finds herself knocked swiftly back to her feet, doing her best in the situation to roll out of the way and under some semblance of cover.
She is only partially successful in her efforts, the beast clawing at a leg and her head hitting hard against a jutting rock. The sound is ripped out of her, a grunt and a scream that she might have found shameful in the company of someone else. But there is no one here to impress with strength, and she lets herself feel the pain as loudly as she likes. With what strength and foresight she has left, she twists and unleashes the most powerful spell she can manage. A thunder-wave rushes through the cave, and the creature reels back from her. Its the space she needs to crawl her way further toward the opening of the cave, more embarrassingly loud pained sounds escaping her as she moves.