As Ruthlyn and Regexz rushed forward to catch the man, Ruthlyn recognized him immediately, though it was hard to believe her own eyes. She still thought of him as the young merchant she used to know, not this tall blacksmith he was now. "Raum? What on earth are you doing down here? Last time I saw you, you up to your elbows in guild business."
He put up a hand in a motion to give him a second, and Ruthlyn and Regexz helped ease him down to sit on the ground.
Regexz rifled in a small pouch and pulled out a bottle containing a red liquid. He pulled off the small cork and held the bottle out to Raum. "You look kinda thirsty, I thought this might help."
Raum took the bottle thankfully and drank the red potion slowly. When the bottle was empty he handed it back to Regexz. "Thanks a lot, uh…"
"I'm Regexz." He held his hand out to Raum to help him up.
"Raum Darkforge, good to meet you." He took the hand that was offered him and stood up, feeling quite refreshed from the potion. "Ruthlyn, I was hoping I might run into you, though I expected to find you further up in the cave, not down here with the sohees."
"Yeah, that's where I would still be if it weren't for Regexz here. The question though, is why are you down here? And what happened to you? You look like you've been in the middle of a war."
He shook his head and chuckled. "That's what it felt like. I was down there…" He nodded his head in the direction from which he'd come, which was now behind Ruthlyn and Regexz. Ruthlyn turned now and could see what he was referring to. She'd never been here, never been on the level deeper in the cave than this, and now she could see that on her own, she'd have likely never chosen to go there either. What she saw looked like a giant head of an evil demon carved out of the rock wall, with menacing eyes and a large gaping mouth full of sharp teeth. The mouth was a doorway to another stairway which led to another level of this cave.
"Why—" she started, not finishing her thought.
"Why the giant head?" Regexz finished for her.
Raum answered them. "I would say it's to keep out anyone who might otherwise just wander in. And believe me…it's a good idea."
"I've heard about those horongs. They sound tough, but—are they that bad?" Regexz was remembering how well he could handle those sohees with Ruthlyn helping him and couldn't help but wonder if he could take those little purple flames too.
"They're pretty rough. They have pretty high defense if you're using normal weapons," Raum gestured toward Regexz's daggers that were now put away. "You'd have to get something that was enchanted with the water property. Makes sense against little flames, right?"
Regexz nodded and Raum continued. "But, the horongs are not really what scares me the most."
Ruthlyn's eyes grew wide. "I've heard of the creature that lives down there. Someone from the guild I used to be in mentioned seeing Moonlight Flower once. He said that the sound of the bell that it carries with it still haunts him. "
"It's definitely something you want to avoid," Regexz said. "I've heard my share of stories too."
Raum stepped a few feet closer to the large mouth, and the doorway to another, darker world. "I was down there. I heard that bell. And as soon as I did, I turned and ran as fast as I could."
"But, why were you down there?" Ruthlyn questioned. "What possible reason—"
"Your cousin." Raum turned to face her.
Ruthlyn stared at him for a few seconds, not quite comprehending what he was saying. "Kali? What about her?"
"She's down there, she went to study Moonlight. Darian was supposed to go with her and keep her safe, but he's been so busy, and she didn't want to wait any longer. She went on her own, about three days ago…and she hasn't come back yet, or even contacted us in any way."
"That's not like her; she knows she needs to check in."
"Exactly."
"So you came down to find her?" Regexz filled in.
"Yes, and I did find her. But then I heard that bell not far enough away, and—"
"Wait," Ruthlyn interrupted. "You found her?! Well, where is she? Is she okay?"
Raum shook his head. "I don't think so. She was on the ground, face down. She appeared to be breathing, but she looked pretty dirty and beat up."
"We have to go get her! We have to bring her back up here!" Ruthlyn started to feel frantic, imagining every moment that passed bringing her cousin closer to slipping away.
"Of course we will," Regexz said firmly. He looked Ruthlyn in the eyes. "We will find her, she will be ok, I promise."
Raum looked at Regexz and tilted his head. "We have to move fast then, that creature was nearby. If it finds her…"
"How do you know that's not what happened to her in the first place?" Regexz asked him. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what happened, or what could happen. Let's just come up with a plan and do this." He added, "There's no way, even with three of us, that we could take on Moonlight."
"Well, first of all, I have something that might help," Raum offered. "I don't usually do this until I know someone and trust them, but since you're going to help us save Kali, I have to trust you now after having just met you. Darian lent me this to bring down here, to help me find her. I think you can make a lot more use out of it." He handed Regexz a dagger with an ornately carved handle, the blade of which glowed a slight blue. "It's a gladius that is enchanted with the ice property. As I said before, it's the best to use on horongs. We already know you can take the skeletons and the archers, since you two have been doing fine here, right?"
Regexz nodded, still staring at the gladius Raum had handed him, turning it over in his hand, admiring it. He looked up then and said, "Those are no problem, and with this, horongs may well not be either. Raum, can you remember where you found her once we get in there?"
Raum nodded. "I can find my way back, but that's where Moonlight was."
"We will obviously have to do this without an encounter, if possible, and get out as quickly as possible. Ruthlyn, you have the warp portal skill, right?" Regexz asked her, starting to formulate a plan in his head.
Ruthlyn nodded, "I do, but—" she dug her hands deep into a small pouch that hung at her side and pulled them out empty. "I don't have any of the gemstones that I need to cast the portal."
Raum let out a quick, sudden, "Oh!" He jogged over to a large boulder near the stairway and reached behind it, pulling out a small wooden cart. He looked into the cart for only a second before finding what he was looking for, which he picked up. He held his hand out to Ruthlyn and she saw five sparkling blue stones sitting there.
She smiled. "Still a merchant after all, hmm?" She held her pouch open and he poured the gemstones into it. He then reached back into his cart and brought out a handful of small, thin, paper-like items.
"Fly wings," he explained.
Regexz held up his hand quickly and said, "I have a few—"
Raum
interrupted, "And now you'll have more than a few. If we run into
trouble down there, we fly to safety and regroup. We won't be any
help to Kali, lying hurt on the ground next to her."
Regexz
agreed and took the wings.
Raum pulled one more thing out of his cart and handed it to Ruthlyn. She looked at the bottle filled with purple liquid.
"Grape juice?" she guessed.
Raum nodded. "We're going to be relying on you a lot down there; if you run too low on energy, drink some."
"Thanks a lot, Raum," Ruthlyn said, then looked anxiously at Regexz. "So what's the plan?"
Regexz started explaining. "The way I see it, we play to the strengths we know we have. As soon as we get inside, Ruthlyn, you shoot us all a boost of speed, and whatever else you think is necessary. We proceed quickly and cautiously toward where Raum saw Kali, killing horongs and whatever else finds us on the way. With this bad boy," he fingered the handle of the borrowed gladius once again, "none of that should be a problem. If everything works out, we'll find Kali, grab her, and get out without any trouble. But, if we do run into Moonlight Flower, best thing I can think of is this. Raum, lure the creature away while Ruthlyn and I find Kali. Ruthlyn will do what she can for her here, while I keep any monsters off her back. Raum, lose Moonlight and come back to us as soon as possible; use some wings if you need to. Then we'll all just get out of here with one of Ruthlyn's warps. Sound ok to everyone?"
Ruthlyn nodded, feeling unsure of her ability to help in this situation, but only for a second. She pushed that thought away quickly, reminding herself that this is, after all, what she was built to do.
Raum nodded as well, adding, "I'm glad I bought this chain mail last week; I'll need all of the defense I can get."
Ruthlyn smiled and Regexz chuckled. "You'll do great. And with Ruthlyn's Increase Agility cast on you, Moonlight shouldn't even be able to touch you. All you'll really need to do then is keep your eye out for horongs and skeletons. If you can dodge them, you'll be home free."
The three stood looking at each other for a few seconds, each one thinking over their own role in this rescue, and looking for any possible holes in their plan. Ruthlyn was the first to speak.
"Let's do it," she said, rubbing her hands together. "The sooner, the better."
