He dragged himself to his feet stretching out his arms high to the sky and yawning widely. Bard was blessed with an attractive frame, small but proportioned and naturally well groomed. He merely shook his head and his thick pale gold locks fell into place. The Elven blood that ran through his veins gave his slender, well-toned build an effortless grace in even the most mundane movements. Aside from his short stature, he was the envy of most women.
I’m not as unscrupulous as I might seem, and my advances aren’t impure. Though sometimes I must admit I go too far. My Tall Vision’s retorts grow kinder by the day, and at times seem more like flirtations. I simply continue in the same manner and wait.
“We climb the mountain today, my Enduring Star”
She stopped briefly, “Enduring Star?” She tried keeping count of every nickname he called her by, this was a new one. “You can call me by my given name.”
Insulted Bard put one hand over his heart, and one towards the sky, “What is in a name, but the very essence of love for another. How could I call you anything but what you are to me. One day I shall perfectly articulate your true name, in my heart’s eye, and only then will this sobriquet journey meet its destination.”
Barely listening Aeron nodded in response Bard’s soliloquy, “I’m leaving, catch up when you can.”
“But, our meal?”
“Lost my appetite.” She hoisted her pack on her back.
I know this fire, her mind is consumed with the quest. Another fine group of qualities; focus, determination, drive. Some unseen force beckons and my Tempered Swordswoman never flinches or falters.
Quickly he packed his belongings, scooped up his lute, and began playing while ascending the rocky trail, up the mountain.
“Aaaand on that day we merrily came to the end of our taaaale.” Bard finished with a dramatic hand flourish. He had just completed a very long, self written tale of one of their previous adventures. About to start another he cleared his throat, but instead stopped and tilted his head. Aeron, mentally preparing for more, took a few steps forward before realizing something was off. She turned to see him changing position for optimal listening. She remained still and waited for his report.
With his hand he signaled towards an opening and making no sound, he approached it, peering into the darkness. Shaking his head he turned back to Aeron and signaled her again. Studying each direction he finally signaled her to be on guard. She was grateful she wore her armor and the sun wasn’t at full peak. Bard, stood at the ready, but out of Aeron’s weapon reach.
Aeron closed her eyes trying to decipher the distant sounds, and once she could hear them clearly, she decided they must be goblins. Sword ready she moved away from the rocks, prepared for a horde. Seconds before several goblins appeared, Bard climatically strummed his lute, followed by lyrics of protection.
Relying on their greater numbers, the goblins attempted to swarm the two, separating them from each other. Bard was too quick and easily dodged their attacks, all while dramatically singing to the beat of his footsteps. Aeron hacked and slashed, dwindling their numbers. Between the two of them, Bard, distracting, taunting, demoralizing, and Aeron, quelling the horde, they vanquished the goblins before midday approached.
Bard’s song slowly transformed into a more somber tune as he weaved in between the goblin’s bodies. Aeron tried wiping the stench of goblin blood from her armor while Bard sang a song for their souls. Resigning to the fact she’d now reek of goblin stink, she concluded it might work to her advantage.
I suppose I’ll need to hit those hot springs after all. Aeron mused to herself as Bard completed his mourning song. Only after he finished did she begin rummaging through their fallen foes’ belongings. The goblins had little between them, but Aeron pocketed what she thought might be handy in their journey. ‘Sometimes the most useful things are the most overlooked’ had become an old adage she learned to live by.
“If I remember correctly, Hell’s Seal is said to grow in the most difficult and hot environments, volcano hot…” she paused, “If there are any here they were either retrieved and now live as a part of someone's bounty or...someone found a way to grow them away from brimstone and volcanic ash.”
“Bard” She barely had a moment to turn towards him when he rushed to her side, embracing her knee with his hand.
“You beckoned, my Scholarly Swordswoman?”
Aeron half roller her eyes, but ignored his advances, “Is there any way you can determine if there is a scent of brimstone in the air?”
Bard smiled wide, “But of course there are ways, although brimstone is so detrimental to my health, for you, I dare to risk it.” He moved around, turning in every direction until he seemed stumped. Hmmm, nothing. But I cannot allow this opportunity to pass, I must show my Rare Wonder I can be trusted upon when she needs. He took out his lute and began strumming and singing. Aeron was caught slightly off guard by the suddenness of his song, but she took up her sword in case anything within hearing range decided to attack.
She was unsure, but she thought she sensed the ground rumbling ever so slightly. Then she began to hear...something, noise from all around. Soft, then louder and louder. From the crevasses of the mountain sprung lizards and snakes. Aeron stepped back until she was back to back with Bard, who was still singing his song of summoning.
“Warn me next time you do this,” she mumbled under her breath, not expecting him to hear her. She preferred to not be caught off guard.
His song changed and he put his lute away, but carried his words with melody, “My friends of the mountain, good day, good day! My apologies for this intrusion, lend us this moment to say. We search direly for brimstone’s stench, might any here have marked? Such a smell or glimpsed a plant, foreign, in your mountains’ dark?”
Bard’s melodious words were understood and the enchanted creatures ‘spoke’ amongst themselves until they had come to a sort of agreement. A slender lizard seemed to beckon to them and Bard turned to Aeron, extending his hand upwards. She raised her brow and sheathed her sword, “I will not hold your hand.”
Quickly Bard protested, “But if you do not, they will not trust you and lead us to what we seek.”
She knew this was one of his many ploys to lower her guard, but she gave in, if only to hasten their journey. Aeron clasped her hand around his and he lead her into the dark.
Bard’s mind plotted as he escorted her through black caverns that, between the two, only his dark vision could traverse unhindered. Without making a sound, he was able to alert Aeron to rocks and puddles simply by his hand’s slight motions. He looked back at her a few times and saw slight signs of worry on her face, but her heart’s song remained mostly unchanged. He smiled to himself, My Tanned Vision keeps walls as high as the tallest trees, but she trusts me with her life. I’ve never been so relied upon…. As they went deeper and deeper into the mountain's heart, he could feel her grip tighten with anticipation.
If I were to lead her every so slightly to the right, she’d slip and I could catch her in my arms. Perhaps I might steal a kiss in the dark. Only the black could see the large, devious smile on his face. He nearly did, but at the last moment decided it would be in their best interest to not chance any noise. His nose told him there were more than goblins in this mountain.
When Bard was certain they were in a safe place, he tugged at Aeron’s arm, signaling for her to bend down. He came in so close to her, if she could see she’d violently object. In the lowest audible voice he could manage, he whispered.
“My Blind Beauty, this place is safe from sight. I am going to forge ahead with my lizardly liaison, wait for me to return. If you wish to light a torch, here and only here would not give away our position. But please keep quiet, the echoes carry far.”
“Take me with you.”
“Fear not, I will scout ahead and swiftly come back to you.” She latched onto his arm. He sighed, “Your footfalls and armor make too much noise in these caverns. Please trust me.” Bard could see the frustration on her face. It morphed into annoyed pensiveness and finally into begrudging acceptance.
“If you do not return quickly I will come for you. Unhappily.”
He smiled wryly, though she could not notice. “Of course, my Tempered One.”
Quickly and quietly he continued forward, leaving Aeron behind. No longer an escort, Bard quickened his pace. He was light on his feet and fast moving in the shadows. Mentally keeping track of the twists and turns in the cavern, he raced after the slender lizard until he was lead to a hole overlooking a largely lit opening. Before making his next move, he studied each direction, listening carefully. There was something off about the large cavern, but nothing he could discern. After he was sure there were no guards, Bard squeezed through the small hole and used his rope to climb down. Remaining in the shadows he scouted the perimeter and noted the entryways. His leading lizard paused to turn back to him before scurrying through a crack near an enchanted doorway.
Bard approached the door, so this is where the brimstone is coming from? Sealed with magic, but if I can figure out the proper combination… Bard studied the door, his mind trying to remember all the language books he had read as a youngling. He was only fluent in five, and had basic understandings in many other dialects. The script was familiar, but the words were not. Finally it clicked, Infernal... Bard clicked his tongue, he was unfamiliar with the Infernal language, if it had only been Abyssal.
After inspecting the door for traps, he placed his ear to it, but heard nothing on the other side. He tapped his finger slightly against the stone in various areas to test for weakness, but found none. No surprise, it’s enchanted stone. He stood in front of the wall with his arms crossed and his hand stroking his chin as he tried to decide how he’d prove victorious over the problem at hand. Sighing and shifting his weight to and fro he heard a faint scraping coming from the wall. He stopped all motion and allowed the sound to come to him. His little lizard friend’s head peered from the crack and Bard approached, leaning in, understanding the lizard had some wisdom to impart.
“Xe smidd elzyr?” His face contorted as he repeated what the lizard had whispered. As soon as the final syllable was uttered into the air, the script on the wall shone and the door revealed itself. Excitedly Bard thanked his little friend and opened the door carefully. As the door cracked open the stench of brimstone filtered out into the open cavern. His delicate sense of smell was most offended, but he desired proof that this was a valuable lead in order to satiate his reserved companion.
You might be wondering why it is so important for me to prove myself an asset. I suppose I do not, but some games are worth paying to win. My Towering Maiden desires this item and I would like to understand it’s value to her, to better understand her motives.
Bard stealthily crept through the narrow cavernous hall until he rounded the final corner and stood wide eyed at its secret splendors. His eyes glistening with elation, he quickly went out the way he came, and closed the door behind him. He was so giddy he barely heard a faint clack noise when he sealed the magic door. Just for a moment he stood to listen more closely, but only a moment’s pause. He then ran back into the shadows to fetch his Anticipating Amazon.
Aeron dejectedly followed an exuberant Bard as he very softly sang of his heroic victory over goblins and the ‘enchanted entryway.’ Only after his verse was complete could she interject, “I thought you said we needed to be quiet? Very quiet.”
“My Vexed Vixen, I have thoroughly scouted and my ears have detected nothing. Furthermore I have found what you so ardently seek, or so I believe.”
“Believe?”
His smile went from ear to ear, “Well it was a secret room, protected by magic, dark magic. And in it was a stench so unmistakably brimstonian it burned all my senses.”
She sighed harshly, although his words were ‘flavored’, as she would describe, Bard was no liar. Not outright. She nodded and whispered back, “Fine, but let us be on guard.”
He smiled in return and mimicked playing his lute and silently mouthed his new song so none could hear.
Bard triumphantly stood in front of the enchanted entryway as Aeron stood behind him, though searching the room with her eyes. Once she was satisfied she broke the silence she, herself was surprised Bard had respected.
“Alright, I am convinced.” Rarely did their adventures turn out so adventureless. “Let us see the room.”
Bard struck a pose and embraced his lute, strumming lightly, but confidently. Aeron’s eyes rolled, but she knew better than to attempt to deprive him of his dramatics. In a very melodic voice he uttered three words to the sound of his lute.
“Xe smidd elzyr.” He turned his back to the wall as the script lit up and the door appeared. Facing Aeron he bowed, “My Towering Maiden, your treasure awaits.”
She tried to appease his theatrics with a slow clap and a forced smile. He deserved some accolades, it was his hard work that got them this far, she reminded herself. But only a short adulation, “Let us enter.” She smiled as she lifted her sword. Bard mused to himself, she was trying to mask her anticipation, but her heart’s increased palpitations gave her away. His back still to the wall he preferred to listen to his companions joyous reactions as she opened the door.
Instead of the joy he had predicted, he heard a sound from her he’d had never heard in three years of travel together. It was like a scream of horror wrapped in silent trepidation. Wide-eyed he spun around to find Aeron face to face with a gelatinous wall behind the door which completely blocked the way. She stood frozen as the greenish translucent goo slowly oozed out of the doorway. He could almost see a shiver climb from the bottom of her spine to her shoulders and back down. Aeron’s mouth agape, like a marble sculpture she was motionless. Bard, confused with her uncommon demeanor, grasped her belt and yanked her backwards, onto her backside and out of her stupor. Angrily she shot a look of such disdain to Bard he thought he’d melt, though he had no idea why she was so uncharacteristically dazed.
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