Taelar
04-08-11, 09:26 PM
Taelar was going to be late.
There were some elves who concerned themselves over matters of time, but the Alrenhadil family had not been amongst them. Treasure the minutes, treasure the heartbeats, his mother had said. But do not count them. Appreciate the times when they flow past like water or fall one by one from the sky like twirling petals.
Unfortunately, he'd appreciated the quiet moments of the morning a little too keenly, and when he'd next looked to the window of his room the sun stood nearly overhead. The assembly for the task he'd set himself would be before noon, to allow them the prime hours of daylight and afternoon to strike at this infestation of vampires and werewolves. Dallying in departure or travel would result in less time to investigate in relative safety, less time to devise a way to keep the woods safe. Even worse, Taelar had very little knowledge of the specifics of the job. If he showed up after the briefing, ignorant, he could cost the whole team their lives! Stupid, stupid, stupid, he chastized himself as he stumbled through the door of the inn and out into Underwood, almost a mirror image of the feral visitor of two nights before. He did, however, manage to avoid faceplanting on the dirt outside. And while no razor-tipped implements of death greeted his exit, he winced and shielded his eyes from the sudden flood of glare.
The trees shaded direct sunlight from Underwood for quite a bit of its skyline, casting it often into twilight even during prime morning and evening hours. At the moment, however, the sun had climbed above the tallest of the boughs and shone down directly into the little community. Even as Taelar stepped off quickly towards the barracks, however, he noticed that the feel of Underwood was... different, somehow. Or more correctly, not as he'd expected, given that this was his first visit. The air seemed alive with purpose. Humble craftsmen going to and fro walked with straight backs and even strides, bearing their loads with proud dignity and assurance that they mattered. Rangers patrolled the dirt streets, their crisp footfalls echoing the discipline that Taelar remembered from the soldiers of his home. Between two houses far to his left, a woman hanging up her wash lacked the stoop to her spine and the halfhearted motions that Taelar always associated with humans taking on tasks that they hated. New construction could be seen to the north and the south. Buildings? Stores? Houses? Or perhaps more fortifications...
There was no mistaking it. This was a town that was ready. For what, Taelar didn't honestly know... but he did know that he was glad to be on this side of the barricades. Whatever the other human faction or the monsters of Haida had in store, the sort of resolve that Taelar sensed around him counted for a lot.
He broke into a light-footed trot, quickly weaving his way around a parked cart and another patrol of Rangers. His leathers, once a stiffness and annoyance that he avoided whenever possible, moved with him as easily as his skin. Likewise, he felt the slightest hint of the texture of dirt and gravel through the slightly thinned soles of his boots, connecting him to the ground. A smile stretched across his face, and he pushed himself further into a long, loping gate that ate up the ground between the Promenade and the barracks – which also bore the signs of recent construction and rennovation.
The guard at the door was the same one he'd seen yesterday when perusing the board. Dark hair, goatee, built strongly but not especially tall. He looked Taelar up and down. “Ah, right, elf. Here for the briefing?”
Taelar stopped short and offered a quick bow of his head and shoulders. He wasn't out of breath, but his blood was singing nicely in his veins. “Yessir,” he said. “Sorry I am late – time slipped up. Where is the briefing, again...?”
“In past the desk – don't mind the quartermaster, just taking inventory from a recent raid – then left, then first door on the right. I think they just started, but at least a few of the freelancers are already here.” The guard lifted his halberd, unblocking the door. “And Thaynes go with.”
“Lady's grace.” Taelar offered another tiny-half-bow and moved through, restricting his gait to a quick walk. Wisely so, it turned out – in what would normally be the reception and clerical area, there were piles of supplies about, and a single grizzled man sat in the midst of them making hatch marks on a tally sheet. The elf nodded and moved past, careful not to disturb the equipment. From the slightly lopsided nature of one pile and the scattering of bagged meats, it looked as though one recent passerby had not been so careful. Heh.
...then left... first door on the right. Even before he stepped into the room, Taelar heard a female voice. Clear, distinct, with the slightest lilt to her pronunciations of Common... his heart lifted a moment and he paused outside the doorway. It certainly sounded like – yes, it was! He caught a glimpse of the figure as she paced around to the head of a table. An elf. Not of the Raiaeran bloodlines, at least not recently – she was probably at least a one-generation native of Concordia, given the casual swagger in her step and the ease with which she bore the colors of the Rangers. A moment later, Taelar realized that her arm was in a sling, and that there was heavy bandaging across her other shoulder – visible only through a gap in her leathers that looked as though it had been torn open by a large claw. His breath caught in his throat.
When she looked up, her eyes tightened just a bit and the corners of her mouth turned down. Taelar realized that she was looking out the doorway... at him... and he had been staring in a most impolite way. Taelar coughed, dipped his head in a wordless apology, and slunk through the door. There were a few others gathered around, but the elf kept his head down, mortified. Rude to a cousin on top of everything else! Well done, Taelar. He tried to push down the color in his cheeks and concentrate on the map which she rolled out on the table before them. (http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e65/ClawOfRakshasa/erasemap.jpg)
“I was able to get a fair bit mapped before I got sniffed out by one of the werewolves on patrol,” the elven scout in Ranger's colors spoke, continuing on from wherever she'd left off. “The rest is from the most recent information we've got on the old mines. It's probably ten or twenty years out of date, and those Haidan bastards have probably moved right in and dressed up the place to their liking. Don't take anything for granted.”
Taelar's embarrasment had faded by now, pushed out of the way by curiousity. He leaned forward a bit, peering at the map, as she tapped each portion of the scrawled diagram in turn.
“Right here, with A... this is the old stone quarry. Used to just be stone for the town buildings and suchlike, until they found the metal deposits down in the deeper layers. This is the only entrance to the mines... at least, on our end. You'll be inserted just above the quarry. When I was there, they just had a pair of dire wolves... big ones, tame enough to take orders, but hungry... out there on loose patrol. They may have changed that up. Watch out for them – I managed to slip past them, but you're in a bigger group. If they make too much noise, they'll probably wake some of the sleepers and that wouldn't be good for you.”
“Here...” Her finger traced across the map to 'B.' It took Taelar a moment to realize what the odd figure intruding into the concentric quarry excavation represented. A crane? “This is the lift that was used to winch up large loads. Wood's probably rotted, so I wouldn't depend on it for getting down. It's still an option, but the long walk's probably safer.”
“Then... you've got the entrance to the mine, here, at C. There's the end of the cart track, which shouldn't be a big concern unless you're hauling someone's corpse out of there, heh? Remember, though, it's a long straight shot from the entrance into the first chamber, so if there's anyone keeping watch there, you might have to take them out. Hope there's not... because...”
The scout tapped the room to the north of the tunnel in, marked with an E. “Going out of order a bit, this is where the old sleeping quarters were for the miners. I have no idea what's gone on behind here, but there are probably at least a few of the bastards using that for their daytime rest. Kill them if you feel like it, but you'll probably tip off everyone in the mine. So... yeah, probably don't. Oh, and it could be they left that room entirely empty, but I doubt it.”
“The first place you're likely to hit lookouts in the mine itself, though, is the first chamber they excavated... here, at D. Three big pillars and some tailings piles around, if you're looking for cover, just be careful of making too much noise. Right to the south, you have the cart rails leading to the elevator to the second level of the mines... here, at F. I didn't get that far, but the elevator's just a double-winch with rope that's seen a whole man's generation of neglect—” Taelar smiled a bit, in spite of himself, at her slip-up. Or maybe she'd intended that barb. “—so it's probably just a deathtrap. Unless, say, the Haidans have shored it up and are using the second level to house troops. Would be good to check that.”
When Taelar had first swept his gaze across the map, he hadn't been especially impressed by the size and complexity of the mine. This was, of course, a little delving for a small community and its limited exports, so of course it wouldn't match the great undeworks of the dwarves and dark cousins. However, as he listened, and imagined each place – how many creatures of the night might lurk in ambush, how many might have already garrisoned themselves in preparation for a strike agaisnt Underwood – he shivered. Lady help him, he might be in over his head.
“Then you've got the long descent, here.” The elven female ran her finger from right to left down the corridor marked with an 'H.' It came to rest at the end, where the map showed another endpoint for the mine carts. “The whole thing's going down into the earth before this, but you really get in deep here. You're far under the quarry by the end of the run. And what's worse, it's a long, straight shot where a couple of sentries can mess up your day like they did mine. There's really no good place to hide. However, there may be a way around... here.”
“See, these two chambers... this was where the mine expanded after the first one was mined out, and made into the command post. They're going down, too – I is a lot deeper in than G. But there was a service tunnel between the chamber here...” She tapped at G. “And the storeroom that served the last chamber on the first level. I've got it marked out here. However... the old records aren't really very specific on where it really is. So you'll have to do some looking.”
The elf blew out a long breath, and looked up to them, brushing a few wisps of blond hair from her eyes. Taelar sneaked a look up, then busied himself studying the map.
“That's all I have,” she concluded. “Except a guess. It looked like they had done some excavation with the end of the tunnel here... at J. This may be at least one place where there are passages even further down that the miners didn't discover – but the Hadians did. May even link into the second level, or wherever these damn things are coming from. Otherwise, that's what we know. For finding out more, or cutting them off...” The scout grinned; her showing of teeth gave the expression a slightly feral edge. “Well. That's where you come in.”
Her attention turned aside, to what Taelar assumed to be her superior, as he continued to try to work through everything that she'd just told them.
Yes. He was in far over his head...
There were some elves who concerned themselves over matters of time, but the Alrenhadil family had not been amongst them. Treasure the minutes, treasure the heartbeats, his mother had said. But do not count them. Appreciate the times when they flow past like water or fall one by one from the sky like twirling petals.
Unfortunately, he'd appreciated the quiet moments of the morning a little too keenly, and when he'd next looked to the window of his room the sun stood nearly overhead. The assembly for the task he'd set himself would be before noon, to allow them the prime hours of daylight and afternoon to strike at this infestation of vampires and werewolves. Dallying in departure or travel would result in less time to investigate in relative safety, less time to devise a way to keep the woods safe. Even worse, Taelar had very little knowledge of the specifics of the job. If he showed up after the briefing, ignorant, he could cost the whole team their lives! Stupid, stupid, stupid, he chastized himself as he stumbled through the door of the inn and out into Underwood, almost a mirror image of the feral visitor of two nights before. He did, however, manage to avoid faceplanting on the dirt outside. And while no razor-tipped implements of death greeted his exit, he winced and shielded his eyes from the sudden flood of glare.
The trees shaded direct sunlight from Underwood for quite a bit of its skyline, casting it often into twilight even during prime morning and evening hours. At the moment, however, the sun had climbed above the tallest of the boughs and shone down directly into the little community. Even as Taelar stepped off quickly towards the barracks, however, he noticed that the feel of Underwood was... different, somehow. Or more correctly, not as he'd expected, given that this was his first visit. The air seemed alive with purpose. Humble craftsmen going to and fro walked with straight backs and even strides, bearing their loads with proud dignity and assurance that they mattered. Rangers patrolled the dirt streets, their crisp footfalls echoing the discipline that Taelar remembered from the soldiers of his home. Between two houses far to his left, a woman hanging up her wash lacked the stoop to her spine and the halfhearted motions that Taelar always associated with humans taking on tasks that they hated. New construction could be seen to the north and the south. Buildings? Stores? Houses? Or perhaps more fortifications...
There was no mistaking it. This was a town that was ready. For what, Taelar didn't honestly know... but he did know that he was glad to be on this side of the barricades. Whatever the other human faction or the monsters of Haida had in store, the sort of resolve that Taelar sensed around him counted for a lot.
He broke into a light-footed trot, quickly weaving his way around a parked cart and another patrol of Rangers. His leathers, once a stiffness and annoyance that he avoided whenever possible, moved with him as easily as his skin. Likewise, he felt the slightest hint of the texture of dirt and gravel through the slightly thinned soles of his boots, connecting him to the ground. A smile stretched across his face, and he pushed himself further into a long, loping gate that ate up the ground between the Promenade and the barracks – which also bore the signs of recent construction and rennovation.
The guard at the door was the same one he'd seen yesterday when perusing the board. Dark hair, goatee, built strongly but not especially tall. He looked Taelar up and down. “Ah, right, elf. Here for the briefing?”
Taelar stopped short and offered a quick bow of his head and shoulders. He wasn't out of breath, but his blood was singing nicely in his veins. “Yessir,” he said. “Sorry I am late – time slipped up. Where is the briefing, again...?”
“In past the desk – don't mind the quartermaster, just taking inventory from a recent raid – then left, then first door on the right. I think they just started, but at least a few of the freelancers are already here.” The guard lifted his halberd, unblocking the door. “And Thaynes go with.”
“Lady's grace.” Taelar offered another tiny-half-bow and moved through, restricting his gait to a quick walk. Wisely so, it turned out – in what would normally be the reception and clerical area, there were piles of supplies about, and a single grizzled man sat in the midst of them making hatch marks on a tally sheet. The elf nodded and moved past, careful not to disturb the equipment. From the slightly lopsided nature of one pile and the scattering of bagged meats, it looked as though one recent passerby had not been so careful. Heh.
...then left... first door on the right. Even before he stepped into the room, Taelar heard a female voice. Clear, distinct, with the slightest lilt to her pronunciations of Common... his heart lifted a moment and he paused outside the doorway. It certainly sounded like – yes, it was! He caught a glimpse of the figure as she paced around to the head of a table. An elf. Not of the Raiaeran bloodlines, at least not recently – she was probably at least a one-generation native of Concordia, given the casual swagger in her step and the ease with which she bore the colors of the Rangers. A moment later, Taelar realized that her arm was in a sling, and that there was heavy bandaging across her other shoulder – visible only through a gap in her leathers that looked as though it had been torn open by a large claw. His breath caught in his throat.
When she looked up, her eyes tightened just a bit and the corners of her mouth turned down. Taelar realized that she was looking out the doorway... at him... and he had been staring in a most impolite way. Taelar coughed, dipped his head in a wordless apology, and slunk through the door. There were a few others gathered around, but the elf kept his head down, mortified. Rude to a cousin on top of everything else! Well done, Taelar. He tried to push down the color in his cheeks and concentrate on the map which she rolled out on the table before them. (http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e65/ClawOfRakshasa/erasemap.jpg)
“I was able to get a fair bit mapped before I got sniffed out by one of the werewolves on patrol,” the elven scout in Ranger's colors spoke, continuing on from wherever she'd left off. “The rest is from the most recent information we've got on the old mines. It's probably ten or twenty years out of date, and those Haidan bastards have probably moved right in and dressed up the place to their liking. Don't take anything for granted.”
Taelar's embarrasment had faded by now, pushed out of the way by curiousity. He leaned forward a bit, peering at the map, as she tapped each portion of the scrawled diagram in turn.
“Right here, with A... this is the old stone quarry. Used to just be stone for the town buildings and suchlike, until they found the metal deposits down in the deeper layers. This is the only entrance to the mines... at least, on our end. You'll be inserted just above the quarry. When I was there, they just had a pair of dire wolves... big ones, tame enough to take orders, but hungry... out there on loose patrol. They may have changed that up. Watch out for them – I managed to slip past them, but you're in a bigger group. If they make too much noise, they'll probably wake some of the sleepers and that wouldn't be good for you.”
“Here...” Her finger traced across the map to 'B.' It took Taelar a moment to realize what the odd figure intruding into the concentric quarry excavation represented. A crane? “This is the lift that was used to winch up large loads. Wood's probably rotted, so I wouldn't depend on it for getting down. It's still an option, but the long walk's probably safer.”
“Then... you've got the entrance to the mine, here, at C. There's the end of the cart track, which shouldn't be a big concern unless you're hauling someone's corpse out of there, heh? Remember, though, it's a long straight shot from the entrance into the first chamber, so if there's anyone keeping watch there, you might have to take them out. Hope there's not... because...”
The scout tapped the room to the north of the tunnel in, marked with an E. “Going out of order a bit, this is where the old sleeping quarters were for the miners. I have no idea what's gone on behind here, but there are probably at least a few of the bastards using that for their daytime rest. Kill them if you feel like it, but you'll probably tip off everyone in the mine. So... yeah, probably don't. Oh, and it could be they left that room entirely empty, but I doubt it.”
“The first place you're likely to hit lookouts in the mine itself, though, is the first chamber they excavated... here, at D. Three big pillars and some tailings piles around, if you're looking for cover, just be careful of making too much noise. Right to the south, you have the cart rails leading to the elevator to the second level of the mines... here, at F. I didn't get that far, but the elevator's just a double-winch with rope that's seen a whole man's generation of neglect—” Taelar smiled a bit, in spite of himself, at her slip-up. Or maybe she'd intended that barb. “—so it's probably just a deathtrap. Unless, say, the Haidans have shored it up and are using the second level to house troops. Would be good to check that.”
When Taelar had first swept his gaze across the map, he hadn't been especially impressed by the size and complexity of the mine. This was, of course, a little delving for a small community and its limited exports, so of course it wouldn't match the great undeworks of the dwarves and dark cousins. However, as he listened, and imagined each place – how many creatures of the night might lurk in ambush, how many might have already garrisoned themselves in preparation for a strike agaisnt Underwood – he shivered. Lady help him, he might be in over his head.
“Then you've got the long descent, here.” The elven female ran her finger from right to left down the corridor marked with an 'H.' It came to rest at the end, where the map showed another endpoint for the mine carts. “The whole thing's going down into the earth before this, but you really get in deep here. You're far under the quarry by the end of the run. And what's worse, it's a long, straight shot where a couple of sentries can mess up your day like they did mine. There's really no good place to hide. However, there may be a way around... here.”
“See, these two chambers... this was where the mine expanded after the first one was mined out, and made into the command post. They're going down, too – I is a lot deeper in than G. But there was a service tunnel between the chamber here...” She tapped at G. “And the storeroom that served the last chamber on the first level. I've got it marked out here. However... the old records aren't really very specific on where it really is. So you'll have to do some looking.”
The elf blew out a long breath, and looked up to them, brushing a few wisps of blond hair from her eyes. Taelar sneaked a look up, then busied himself studying the map.
“That's all I have,” she concluded. “Except a guess. It looked like they had done some excavation with the end of the tunnel here... at J. This may be at least one place where there are passages even further down that the miners didn't discover – but the Hadians did. May even link into the second level, or wherever these damn things are coming from. Otherwise, that's what we know. For finding out more, or cutting them off...” The scout grinned; her showing of teeth gave the expression a slightly feral edge. “Well. That's where you come in.”
Her attention turned aside, to what Taelar assumed to be her superior, as he continued to try to work through everything that she'd just told them.
Yes. He was in far over his head...