Liam slowly descends into the cave, taking careful sideways steps to avoid slipping. He is surprised at how warm the air is, expecting it to be cool as his stone prison below ground in Esterstone City was. A grassy coloured moss grows along the top of the cave like a snake, occasionally hanging down as if waiting for prey. The natural light from above fades after the first bend in the cave, a yellow orb of light floating in his palm keeps the shadows at bay.

The ground is mostly the same stone material as his surroundings, perhaps slightly smoother after being worn down. Liam notes some occasional scratches gouged into the stone. There is passage to his left, the rougher ground indicates it to be a newer section. As it seems to be curling off to the left and not going any deeper, he ignores it. The air gets steadily hotter as he ventures deeper, he starts to see faded scorch marks on the walls and floor now.

“Must be from whatever used to live here, or perhaps there was a battle” he thinks to himself. He stops for a moment and takes out the gloves. He then wets a piece of cloth and lays it around his neck. Between the gloves and his cloth, the heat is a lot more bearable. The young adventurer continues to avoid the smaller side passages and moves through the wider part of the cave as it spirals lower. The moss growing above has taken on a reddish hue and seems closer to a spikey vine. He sees various plant life growing from the earth and walls. Orange and white spotted mushrooms pepper the floor, a sunset coloured vine extends from the wall and edges into the ground through solid stone. However, there is nothing that looks like the lava root.

A scratching noise stops Liam in his tracks, he pauses and tries to listen but is unable to locate the source or even the direction. After a few moments the noise stops and he continues deeper, now with some apprehension in his stomach.

Warm sweat dripping off his face, Liam stands before a Y shaped fork in the cave. With no information to go on and both paths seeming just as safe or dangerous as the other. He picks the left path randomly. It curves off in t he opposite direction and a few moments later he sees the end of the cave. Liam raises his hand and throws the floating ball of light from his hand. The overpowered through quickly flies from his hand, missing his intended target and latches itself to the top of the cave. “Good enough” he thinks to himself. Not seeing any obvious movement, he walks end, there are several thick plants growing out of the walls and floor. They seem to be at various stages of growth. Bending down he examines one.

Lava Root

The slowly moving and thin red lines throughout this root indicate that it has several months of growth before maturing.

Frowning he scans the area for a better specimen. After a few moments he sees the best of the bunch, he bends down and tries to unearth it. Grasping it in his glove covered hands he pulls with all his might and fails after several attempts. After a few moments to catch his breath and take a sip of water he tries again. This time slowly willing his mana into his hands, he feels it trickle from his stomach, up through his body and down his arms. With renewed vigour he is able to wiggle it out from the solid stone. It is charcoal black, the thick red veins throughout seem to flow like a swift river of lava.

Lava Root

A fully grown Lava Root, it has absorbed a tremendous amount of mana and is highly valued in several professions.

Smiling to himself, he removes takes out the herb pouch and secures it inside, there is ample space for several more so he gets to work.

Clothing sticking to his skin with sweat, Liam sighs as he snaps the latch of his pack closed. He stands up with a groan and stretches. After a few minutes of gathering from a crouched position his muscles feel a bit stiff. As he walks over to the orb of light which has faded quite a bit, a glimmer of something catches the corner of his eye. He picks up the orb renews its strength with some willpower. At the corner of the cave there is a large nest. With a pounding heart he moves to very end of the cave. The nest is littered with old animal bones, most of which are snapped in half. Several dark forest green scales lay on the stone ground beside it. He lowers the orb of light, purging any secrets the nest may be hiding. A small red gemstone lays partially covered by some scales, Liam bends down and picks it up to examine.

Ruby

A stone formed by extreme heat and pressure; it can be used for many crafting purposes.

Delighted with the windfall, Liam stows it into a separate pouch of his travel pack. He starts to make his way out of the cave. As he reaches the Y fork, a scuttling sound alerts him to the presence of another lifeform. Turning to his left, Liam is greeted by a pair of black reptilian eyes, it has a narrow head and meter long, scale covered body. Liam freezes and quickly covers himself in his light bending cloak. He examines the creature.

Drakul Lizard Whelp

A young member of the Drakul Lizard species. They are powerful monsters which live deep in hot and dark places. Their scales are surprisingly durable and flame resistant

A forked tongue slithers out of the creature’s mouth, tasting the air. Suddenly, clawed feet scammer as it lunges forward.

With a quick sidestep he avoids the initial charge, drawing the white dagger with his right hand Liam squares up to the lizard. The creature takes a breath and opens its mouth. A column of red flame extends out, moving much faster than the earlier attack. Panicking, Liam floods his body with mana. Dancing tongues of fire slowed down considerably as they raced towards him. Liam dances to the side of the flame and against his better judgment, approaches the lizard from a diagonal. The roaring fire attack drowns out his footsteps. Knife drawn he makes a downward slash towards the creature’s neck. Behind him the fire continues to blast the cave wall at a fraction of its normal speed.

Liam’s perception of time speeds back up normal, his knife bites into the creatures back, missing his target. Without warning a tail lashes out and he is sent flying, he hits the ground with a thud, fortunately the impact is softened by his travel pack. Blinking stars out of his eyes, Liam gets back up.

The creature seems to be confused, unable to see through his invisibility trick, a tongue emerges once again, and it bounds forward. His white dagger sticks out from the lizard’s back, bright red blood leaking from the wound. Running out of options, he extends his hand, desperation fuels a pathway through his body and solar energy answers the call. With a silent prayer Liam closes his eyes and focuses his willpower.

A thin lance of yellow light emerges and rockets toward the charging monster. A skid can be heard, and he opens his eyes. The lizard lays dead before him, its eye blown apart from the solar attack, the scales on his head remain intact.

Drakul Lizard Whelp defeated. You gain a small portion of its Spiritual Power.

1,300 SP

Blinking in surprise at his incredibly lucky shot. A wave of tiredness hits him, and his body feels a lot heavier. With a sigh he turns away from the corpse. While it was probably worth some money if skinned correctly, Liam has no idea how he would go about doing that, it is also unsafe in the cave to start dragging the heavy corpse all the way to the surface.

A few moments later Liam has finished his water and caught his breath. After removing his dagger and wiping it clean, he sheathes it and starts making his way back to the surface.

Several minutes later as he slowly ascends through the cave Liam can hear skittering claws, they are getting closer. He blankets himself with light bending powers once more and crouches down into a crevice at the wall. Pressing his back into the wall as he makes himself as small as possible. He holds his breath while two lizards run past his position, they are easily two times bigger than the whelp he slew minutes before. Without waiting too long and once he feels that it is safe to move again, Liam continues make his way toward the surface. Far too tired to maintain focus on invisibility while moving, he cancels the ability. He stops at each part of the cave when the paths diverge, listening for movement, fortunately he does not run into any other trouble.

When the sun hits his face for the first time in a few hours he breathes a sigh of relief. The unease which had being building up seeped out of his body after returning to the surface. After consulting his map Liam heads back to Eternia, offsetting his course slightly so he can stop by a river. Peter did not bother to write out the names of most landmarks, only filling in what was necessary on the quickly drawn map. Liam brought up his status while travelling at a walking pace.

Body

4++

Mana

2/23

Spirit

Light(Foundling Stage)

Condition

Exhaustion(Minor)

At a clearing by the river Liam dunks his sweaty clothes in the water and leaves them out in the summer sun to dry. He drinks some of the refreshing water and refills his waterskin. After a quick dip for himself too the youth snacks on some of his rations and begins to meditate under the sun, which is slightly past noon. Solely dressed in his under things, Liam sits with his legs crossed and focuses on the feeling of the sun warming his skin. Pondering the connection between light and heat, he imagines that same energy moving through his arms and warming up his stomach.

A while later the sound of voices snaps him out of the exercise. He quickly dresses and prepares his pack, scanning the wood line for movement. Two boys emerge from the shadowy forest. One has the scraggly beard of a boy playing adult and the other has beady dark eyes. They are both taller and wider than Liam, their clothing is dirty from travel but without holes or tears.

He waves in their direction as they notice his presence. “Oi oi, what chu doin round these parts then?” The bearded one asks “Just stopping off on my way back to the city, I was parched and had to refill my water” Liam replies, holding up his bulging waterskin. A smile forms across the bearded face “Ahh no worries laddie, no worries a’tal. I’m Jay, and this un’ ere is Revy. We are ehh, assistants of the headsman. We just need some coin for the river tax so, if you can just hand over three pieces of silver then we can be on our way” His country accent seemed to disappear and became more formal halfway through his statement. After he finishes speaking the young man holds out his hand. Liam frowned to himself, having never heard of a river tax before. He decides to test the waters “I wasn’t aware of a drinking tax, I’ve also got no money on me unfortunately. Could you point me in the direction of the headsman, I’m sure I can explain this to him”. A hard look crosses the duo’s faces “Not to worry, I reckon whatever you have in that pack should cover your debt.” They start to make their way over to him.

Positive now that they are trying to shake him down, Liam quickly stowes his water and starts to run away. He turns his back to the duo and begins to sprint. Before making it three steps a massive wave surges from the river and crashes across the land, sending him painfully to his knees. The beady eyed boy is also bending over, panting in exertion after the hydromancy feat. His partner in crime picks up where he left off. A vine snaps up from the earth as Liam begins to rise, it thwacks into his shoulder and he spins back to the ground. Blinking to clear his eyes Liam rises once more. A thick whip of water is snapping toward his legs from the front. The vine has also risen again and is whistling toward his neck this time. With a desperate thought Liam brings forth the small amount of mana he was able to recover and floods his body.

The deadly attacks in front of him have slowed down considerably, tiny details like drops of water flying out of the whip become apparent to him. He dives forward, two hands extended out in front of him. The vine is avoided completely, his feet just graze the edges of the whip from below as he tumbles forward while finishing his roll. Time speeds back up and Liam breaks into a sprint, glancing back for just a moment to see two stunned faces. They take chase but quickly give up when they realise that he is not going to slow down.