songerein | Crystal Cave Exploration

Who: Alastor and Madhuri
Which: Log, Closed
Where: The tunnels around Orkili
What: Alastor and Madhuri join the search to find out what happened to the crystals that were supposed to keep Orkili's reactor stable and get a bit more than they bargained for.
Warnings: Standard Alastor warning. Will update with any additional warnings as needed.

Alastor practically skipped towards the tunnel, summoning a ball of light to better light the way more for his partner's benefit than his own. His shadow friends preferred the dark, after all. However, it wouldn't do for her to trip and twist her ankle.

He looked back at her, grin a mile wide, as his ears swiveled about to catch every possible sound. "Not the way I thought I'd get a chance to explore the Wasteland but I can't say I'm disappointed! What about you, my dear?"

He suspected Madhuri had agreed to team up with him to balance out his enthusiasm. The Orkili natives looked like they didn't know how to react to him: a mix of deep gratitude for keeping the nightmare energy from exploding outward until help could arrive and disturbed fascination from the way he'd inhaled a whole carcass (still didn't know what animal since he'd been too tired to identify it much less taste it) raw before passing out on a cot once the danger had passed.

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"Right. I'll go in guns-a-blazing." She gave him a pat and tapped into the soul crystal in her pouch. With a swift change, she moved from Sage to Warrior, complete with the furs and skins adorning her body and those clawed gauntlets.

"I would only need a moment to prepare, but we can give it a solid whack and see what happens, improvise from there."

She didn't like how it seemed so aloof. But perhaps it spent enough time being an apex predator and had never gone unchallenged until today.

"Sounds like a plan. I have a few defensive spells if necessary, but I'm afraid you're a lot more versatile." His grin sharpened into his version of a grimace. "And I doubt my claws would do much against that hide."

She manifested her hammer and grinned. "I've got you, darling!"

Then, she roared, amped herself up. Berserking came naturally to her, letting her mind sink into every horrific thought, every vengeful memory, every last bit of how she was thoroughly done with the nightmares of past experiences.

Madhuri let it power her by advancing, channeling the furious dreamotion through the hammer, and swinging it solidly.

The noctaere looked between its two targets before it charged towards Madhuri. However, it was quick a nimble, swapping from a straight run to using the crystals as springboards to change direction on a dime, claws digging deep gouges into the shiny, glowing surfaces.

It was trying to get behind her, to strike where she'd be the most vulnerable.

Swing and a miss. Oh. Oho. It's a slippery one trying to pick a time and a place... but this critter missed Combat 101 from her humble woods of Etheirys-

The tank ALWAYS makes the appointment.

She grasped the hammer in both hands and was still. Let the anger build. All she needed was one hit. One solid strike, and whatever happened was up for the Beast to decide.

Madhuri hunched, turned her head, and the shift seemed to come naturally: Any refined demeanor or prancing frills was gone with the hurl of a hand axe at the creature's feet, stagger its momentum before she was up and a whirlwind of concussive force to clock their pursuer one with a Primal Rend.

Her trick worked flawlessly.

It had dodged out of the way of the hand axe, but that had left it vulnerable to being struck solidly in the side from the attack. There was a resounding CRACK from the rock-hard skin spiderwebbing where she'd hit it.

Alastor aimed and fired a concentrated blast of sound at the spot to strike the moment she prepared for another blow. However, he was too far away to see what Madhuri would see as some of the rock chipped off from both her strike and Alastor's:

More crystal. Only it hummed with pure nightmare energy.

It got back to its feet and pounced.

...It wasn't a shell? It was- it was pure-

She braced with her hammer to take the brunt of the pounce and grit her teeth, try and drive this thing away and give herself some breathing room.

"Ah-ah-ah- no kisses on the first night!" The strength was comparable. On sheer toe-to-toe, she was confident she could handle the creature. But she'd handled enough noctaere to know that this creature- on top of being comfortable being around these crystal structures- was something alien. Even to them, who had been here for so long...

"...Deer friend, I do believe it's best we cancel this date and reconvene!"

Under normal circumstances, he'd be inclined to protest. However, with his brains still a bit scrambled and this noctaere not fitting the typical pattern...

He shapeshifted into a great red stag, running over to Madhuri, stretching his neck down so she could grab hold and swing herself up onto his back. His gait wasn't like a horse's, but hopefully she'd be able to hang on well enough.

Damn it all. She never wished to flee, either, but there was no use in dying for one's pride. G'raha would be immensely upset.

She swung on and held on tight. She tapped into her Dancer crystal to draw upon a Peloton spell for greater speed. They needed to get OUT of here!

"Thank you, darling. Swift as you can make it!"

Alastor said nothing, focusing instead on racing forward. His shadow took on the shape of a stag as well, mirroring him so that he didn't need to worry about missing a board as he followed the cart tracks back to where they'd come from. He could solidify his shadow just enough to act as temporary ground where their hooves met.

He ran as if the hounds that had torn him to shreds in life were hot on his heels. He could still hear their howls in his ears. He'd been a helpless human then. He was prey once more but at least he had more of a chance.

Crystal Cave Exploration

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