Into the Under
There I stood, considering the maw of the cave as my heart steadily quickened. I had never seen it as a thing to fear before yet now, somehow, it seemed remarkably like a mouth that might swallow me up and never spit me out again. I became aware that I was even holding my breath a little. It’s good the elders had gone…..I guess. What were they thinking? Sending me, their favorite daughter into almost sure death.
No more of this. I willed myself forward and once again stopped at the end of the daylight. One foot into the passage enveloped me in darkness, behind me was the last daylight I might see for who knows how long. I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready for eternal darkness. Yeah, sure, they blindfolded me and made me walk around and grope in the dark, but that was different. I knew the blindfold would come off. I knew I would see my people’s faces again. Who, or rather what would I wake to down, down under the earth?
They told me of evil creatures, the goblins that used to raid our village, and of icky things, slimes and oozes, and fungal creatures, and to be wary of other travelers because no one is as they seem in the underdark. They trained me in the practical use of several weapons though I had never killed anyone and now I might need to. They gave me one of the few luxuries they could provide, an everburning torch, a magically created wonder that would light my way in the darkest of darks. I had food for weeks and a vague map-like piece of parchment that supposedly led me somewhere another halfling had wandered to and from once before. Great. Yeah, ready.
Well, here it is, the day I asked for. Not the way I’d imagined exactly, but here anyhow, alone, trying to push away the uncertainties, stepping into a life in darkness. Okay, Teeny, trying to get used to that pseudonym, let’s see it then. Let’s see that plucky spirit and that impatience and those grand dreams of adventure. I’ll show ‘em. I’ll find the best for those old coots. They’ll see. Death don’t knock on this girl’s door so easy. With my hands on my pack straps I took another step, then stopped, turned to face the outside one more time and yelled,
“Thanks for everything, you crazy old coots!”
And with that and a spin on my heels, I plunged in to darkness.
After a few hours walking down, always down, I stopped to have a look at this almost a map. Where was I going again? Right, Cray, a deep dwarven settlement on the fringes of Turingard’s rule. I knew dwarves well enough as they had been through the village enough times though they didn’t speak overly much. They always seemed tired and still busy. Something important to do that frivolous halflings wouldn’t understand. Pah! What do they know. We took their money for ale all the same. Once, before I was trained for service, I even served a few of those longbeards. They thought I was cute and dainty like a small human girl. One of even tried to flirt with me, the nerve of foreign men. As if the local leerers weren’t enough. Well now I shall be the guest and we shall see if their customs are found wanting or not.
I started walking again, down the tunnels, which were partially carved from running water of long ago and partially of dwarven or even goblin crafters, sometimes very difficult to distinguish nature from nurture here. It was more or less slow going as well. Even though the torchlight provided enough illumination to see many halfling steps ahead and behind, the ground wasn’t kind and loose rocks slid about under every other footfall. Occasionally there was even a long echoing opening into gaping pits of darkness that really would swallow you up if you were to misstep one to many times.
Always, always, I was told to be looking and listening for unsuspected companions. It was all too easy, they had said, to let the darkness wrap you up in your own thoughts and your own brighter worlds until you just drifted downward with a wind of blissful ignorance filling your sails. That is when you were most in peril. Do not drift, walk with purpose, sit for a spell when you are weary, but do not get lost in thought or you are lost. I started to understand this more and more as my attention wandered further than my small ring of light. They were right to say that there is no teacher like experience. She is gracious and merciless with her instruction.
After another bit of food and a few hours more of what felt like aimless wandering though I knew I had a destination, I heard voices. It was hard to tell from where or how far away. They seemed distant and more than one, though I could barely make out a language. I now walked with all the stealth a halfling could employ and cautiously yet briskly I tailed the voices. As I got closer I could hear better the language of the underdark. I had very little practice speaking undercommon, enough to recognize it though not enough to understand clearly what they spoke of. I wrapped my fingers around my katar without knowing why. Echoes of kill or be killed rang in my excited brain. What if they were dark elves, drow? What if goblins? What if dark dwarves, the duergar? I had been instructed on the debatable societies of these unkind races and knew that my only hope other than fighting was to rely on the fact that most of the underdark knew precious little of surface dwelling halflings.
I knew I could lie well and I knew I had knowledge on my side, but a small lonely girl in an unknown, dark land, coming upon unknown folk felt like wrapping her fingers around a weapon, if for nothing more than comfort. After all, I had been taught to kill and effectively I might add. More so I had been taught to hide and sneak and wait for the right moment. Was there a right moment in an unknown darkness? Lost in thought, lost in thought. The torch might give me away. What to do? I knew too that most underdwellers could see in darkness. The voices were getting louder though my pace had slowed. Perhaps they were coming up.
I quickly pushed back into a creviced wall and wrapped the lit end of the torch in extra clothes to hide it’s light. Louder still. They were coming up. Oh no, oh no. I’m not ready, I’m not ready. Just hide girl. You know what you’re good at. Calm your breathing or they’ll hear you and don’t forget that there are friendly travelers in the dark as well. All the same, I waited for what seemed like too long and I smelled them before I felt them pass. They were goblins I think, though I can’t be sure. They paused for just a second in front of me and I heard one sniff the air once.
“What, what? Let’s get on with it. All this talk of kidnappin’ and thievin’ and that damned old traitor witch, we’ve no time for your infernal nose now.”
“Something sweet’s gone by here, I tell you, and sweet means loot. Always the sweet smellin’ ones are carryin’ gold and interestin’ pleasantries. Are ya’ too busy for gold, fool?”
“Just hurry it up, is there something or not? We’ll get ‘nuff gold if we get on to doing this job and besides we’d’ve seen a torch if some wealthy merchant came this way.”
“Not for a dwarf, not for a dwarf. You know they walk in the dark as we. No need for cursed lights. It seems to be going up, maybe to the surface from Cray with goods for sale.”
“Dwarves never smell sweet. Yer dreamin’. Let’s go on then. If we find ‘em, we find ‘em and we rob ‘em then. Enough of this fool trackin’. Come on, it’s not far to our filthy employer now.”
“Watch yer tongue, lest you lose it says I. I don’t trust ‘im either, but a job’s a job. Fine, let’s move.”
And they passed on leaving a girl’s head swimming in fear and confusion and wondering what she’d just heard. Wait now, little Teeny, wait. Their footsteps became softer and softer until I felt it was safe to breathe normally again. What am I doing, what am I doing? Is this adventure? It is what is and now I must go down for going up means goblins in my path. I waited sitting for another thirty minutes or so until I felt sure my torchlight could be used again. There was no sense groping along even more slowly if I didn’t have to.
The light restored some comfort, if you can call, wandering in the dark comfortable at all and I looked at the map again. It was mostly useless. You might have well just drawn an arrow pointing downward and said, that way. It did give some approximation of a time to Cray which is what I wondered. These goblins seemed to be speaking of a nearish town and I wondered how close I was or if they could be referring to Cray. They had mentioned it at any rate. I was still less than a day into the journey and I had thought the town to be further than perhaps I realized. It seemed I was only another half a day to a day off.
Well, that begged the interesting question of sleeping. Would a girl sleep out in this unknown dark to be pawed and looted by those whose senses were more keen to darkness than mine? No, no, I had food and I was far from tired after that little excitement. I would walk until I couldn’t and hopefully that would land me in Cray sooner than later. The last thing I want is any goblin pawing about me in the dark. Nothing good could come of that, of that much I was sure.
Down and down and down again then. A little while back on the path and I let some pride in. I just passed my first journey’s test, hadn’t I? Clever Teeny. Teeny, Teeny, Teeny, got to get used to that name. Perhaps I have more adventure in me than I thought. For sure a toast to the old coots when I get to Cray and maybe this little excitement will pay off. Kidnapping and thieving, huh? Someone will want to know about that. Stupid goblins.
-- by Jon
No more of this. I willed myself forward and once again stopped at the end of the daylight. One foot into the passage enveloped me in darkness, behind me was the last daylight I might see for who knows how long. I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready for eternal darkness. Yeah, sure, they blindfolded me and made me walk around and grope in the dark, but that was different. I knew the blindfold would come off. I knew I would see my people’s faces again. Who, or rather what would I wake to down, down under the earth?
They told me of evil creatures, the goblins that used to raid our village, and of icky things, slimes and oozes, and fungal creatures, and to be wary of other travelers because no one is as they seem in the underdark. They trained me in the practical use of several weapons though I had never killed anyone and now I might need to. They gave me one of the few luxuries they could provide, an everburning torch, a magically created wonder that would light my way in the darkest of darks. I had food for weeks and a vague map-like piece of parchment that supposedly led me somewhere another halfling had wandered to and from once before. Great. Yeah, ready.
Well, here it is, the day I asked for. Not the way I’d imagined exactly, but here anyhow, alone, trying to push away the uncertainties, stepping into a life in darkness. Okay, Teeny, trying to get used to that pseudonym, let’s see it then. Let’s see that plucky spirit and that impatience and those grand dreams of adventure. I’ll show ‘em. I’ll find the best for those old coots. They’ll see. Death don’t knock on this girl’s door so easy. With my hands on my pack straps I took another step, then stopped, turned to face the outside one more time and yelled,
“Thanks for everything, you crazy old coots!”
And with that and a spin on my heels, I plunged in to darkness.
After a few hours walking down, always down, I stopped to have a look at this almost a map. Where was I going again? Right, Cray, a deep dwarven settlement on the fringes of Turingard’s rule. I knew dwarves well enough as they had been through the village enough times though they didn’t speak overly much. They always seemed tired and still busy. Something important to do that frivolous halflings wouldn’t understand. Pah! What do they know. We took their money for ale all the same. Once, before I was trained for service, I even served a few of those longbeards. They thought I was cute and dainty like a small human girl. One of even tried to flirt with me, the nerve of foreign men. As if the local leerers weren’t enough. Well now I shall be the guest and we shall see if their customs are found wanting or not.
I started walking again, down the tunnels, which were partially carved from running water of long ago and partially of dwarven or even goblin crafters, sometimes very difficult to distinguish nature from nurture here. It was more or less slow going as well. Even though the torchlight provided enough illumination to see many halfling steps ahead and behind, the ground wasn’t kind and loose rocks slid about under every other footfall. Occasionally there was even a long echoing opening into gaping pits of darkness that really would swallow you up if you were to misstep one to many times.
Always, always, I was told to be looking and listening for unsuspected companions. It was all too easy, they had said, to let the darkness wrap you up in your own thoughts and your own brighter worlds until you just drifted downward with a wind of blissful ignorance filling your sails. That is when you were most in peril. Do not drift, walk with purpose, sit for a spell when you are weary, but do not get lost in thought or you are lost. I started to understand this more and more as my attention wandered further than my small ring of light. They were right to say that there is no teacher like experience. She is gracious and merciless with her instruction.
After another bit of food and a few hours more of what felt like aimless wandering though I knew I had a destination, I heard voices. It was hard to tell from where or how far away. They seemed distant and more than one, though I could barely make out a language. I now walked with all the stealth a halfling could employ and cautiously yet briskly I tailed the voices. As I got closer I could hear better the language of the underdark. I had very little practice speaking undercommon, enough to recognize it though not enough to understand clearly what they spoke of. I wrapped my fingers around my katar without knowing why. Echoes of kill or be killed rang in my excited brain. What if they were dark elves, drow? What if goblins? What if dark dwarves, the duergar? I had been instructed on the debatable societies of these unkind races and knew that my only hope other than fighting was to rely on the fact that most of the underdark knew precious little of surface dwelling halflings.
I knew I could lie well and I knew I had knowledge on my side, but a small lonely girl in an unknown, dark land, coming upon unknown folk felt like wrapping her fingers around a weapon, if for nothing more than comfort. After all, I had been taught to kill and effectively I might add. More so I had been taught to hide and sneak and wait for the right moment. Was there a right moment in an unknown darkness? Lost in thought, lost in thought. The torch might give me away. What to do? I knew too that most underdwellers could see in darkness. The voices were getting louder though my pace had slowed. Perhaps they were coming up.
I quickly pushed back into a creviced wall and wrapped the lit end of the torch in extra clothes to hide it’s light. Louder still. They were coming up. Oh no, oh no. I’m not ready, I’m not ready. Just hide girl. You know what you’re good at. Calm your breathing or they’ll hear you and don’t forget that there are friendly travelers in the dark as well. All the same, I waited for what seemed like too long and I smelled them before I felt them pass. They were goblins I think, though I can’t be sure. They paused for just a second in front of me and I heard one sniff the air once.
“What, what? Let’s get on with it. All this talk of kidnappin’ and thievin’ and that damned old traitor witch, we’ve no time for your infernal nose now.”
“Something sweet’s gone by here, I tell you, and sweet means loot. Always the sweet smellin’ ones are carryin’ gold and interestin’ pleasantries. Are ya’ too busy for gold, fool?”
“Just hurry it up, is there something or not? We’ll get ‘nuff gold if we get on to doing this job and besides we’d’ve seen a torch if some wealthy merchant came this way.”
“Not for a dwarf, not for a dwarf. You know they walk in the dark as we. No need for cursed lights. It seems to be going up, maybe to the surface from Cray with goods for sale.”
“Dwarves never smell sweet. Yer dreamin’. Let’s go on then. If we find ‘em, we find ‘em and we rob ‘em then. Enough of this fool trackin’. Come on, it’s not far to our filthy employer now.”
“Watch yer tongue, lest you lose it says I. I don’t trust ‘im either, but a job’s a job. Fine, let’s move.”
And they passed on leaving a girl’s head swimming in fear and confusion and wondering what she’d just heard. Wait now, little Teeny, wait. Their footsteps became softer and softer until I felt it was safe to breathe normally again. What am I doing, what am I doing? Is this adventure? It is what is and now I must go down for going up means goblins in my path. I waited sitting for another thirty minutes or so until I felt sure my torchlight could be used again. There was no sense groping along even more slowly if I didn’t have to.
The light restored some comfort, if you can call, wandering in the dark comfortable at all and I looked at the map again. It was mostly useless. You might have well just drawn an arrow pointing downward and said, that way. It did give some approximation of a time to Cray which is what I wondered. These goblins seemed to be speaking of a nearish town and I wondered how close I was or if they could be referring to Cray. They had mentioned it at any rate. I was still less than a day into the journey and I had thought the town to be further than perhaps I realized. It seemed I was only another half a day to a day off.
Well, that begged the interesting question of sleeping. Would a girl sleep out in this unknown dark to be pawed and looted by those whose senses were more keen to darkness than mine? No, no, I had food and I was far from tired after that little excitement. I would walk until I couldn’t and hopefully that would land me in Cray sooner than later. The last thing I want is any goblin pawing about me in the dark. Nothing good could come of that, of that much I was sure.
Down and down and down again then. A little while back on the path and I let some pride in. I just passed my first journey’s test, hadn’t I? Clever Teeny. Teeny, Teeny, Teeny, got to get used to that name. Perhaps I have more adventure in me than I thought. For sure a toast to the old coots when I get to Cray and maybe this little excitement will pay off. Kidnapping and thieving, huh? Someone will want to know about that. Stupid goblins.
-- by Jon
posted by Abram | 9:13 PM
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