Flashback Trickery on the other side of the Maw (Crypt Insatem)

[Adnaj]

Adnaj looked around but he could not, for the life of him, figure out what Crypt was talking about. Sure, he had spent years studying the tiny visual differences between microscopic cell types, identifying pathological bodily noises and developing a sense of diagnostic touch, but looking through the dirt was not his forte. To Adnaj's best wisdom, the two men were just staring at a dirt path.

His shoulder shrug was the visual representation of this fact. "Ya got me." He admitted. "What do you see there? Do we have a way to track them, after all?"

[Crypt]

"See you the prints on the ground here?" Crypt rose from his makeshift seat, tapping a series of footprints that went towards the north. "These tracks are rather deep, don't you think? Compare it to the others." Motioning to the other two sets of bootprints, Crypt shifted aside to allow Adnaj a closer look. "Consider this: is it true that men carrying heavy objects tend to sink deeper into the ground than men carrying nothing at all, or at the very least some supplies? These tracks may very well lead us to their storage area. Let us proceed, Adnaj. The insects have been bugging me constantly, and I do not wish to spend any more time dawdling here."

[Adnaj]

"Funny,"Adnaj thought. "I saw nothing before but now that you have pointed it out, yes. Yes, I can see exactly what you mean."He wondered if this is how people felt when he pointed out the touchable stiffness of a particularly tight muscle compared to another or when he tried to convey, to someone outside of the medical field, visual observations of posture and gait.

"Despite my growing anxiety to face our bandit friends, I have no special desire to stay here, either. I'm ready to clear out of here, as well."

Although quite amused at Crypt's troubles and suddenly glad for his embalmed, lifeless tissue, Adnaj had larger things to worry about than insects. Ever step that they took brought him closer to an intense battle. This waiting was eating away at him. Was this all a mistake? Was Adnaj out of place out here? Perhaps. Perhaps not, but the question and the jarring of his confidence was quite unnerving as he prepared himself to fight to the death with an unfamiliar weapon.

[Crypt]

Two bells later. Crypt raised a hand to indicate that Adnaj and Maras should stop. "Make no unneccessary noise, Crypt muttered, his eyes looking ahead towards their goal, "We are almost there. The storage area is just ahead. I see..." Squinting his eyes, Crypt crouched slightly and moved a few steps forward to get a better view. The 'storage area' was actually a small cave in the hillside, guarded by two men that were standing at either side of the cave, each with their dominant hand on their longswords. The interior of the cave was lit up by a few torches, but Crypt could not determine if there were any more bandits within the cave. "Adnaj, I'm moving in. Maras will be staying here. I'll take the man on the left, and you'll take the one on the right. Just give him a good whack on the head with the shill... shilly... wooden stick thing to knock him out cold. But wait for me to strike before you do the same. Make sure you won't be detected. I don't care how you get close to him without being found out, just do it." The Drykas started to move slowly along the wall of shrubs that hid them from the eyes of the guards, keeping an eye on the ground in front of him; it would not do to lose the element of surprise just because he stepped on a stray tree branch. Dropping to the ground as he approached the guard on the left, Crypt crept towards the unwary bandit, his head and body low in order to avoid detection, until he was only a few feet away. Transitioning smoothly from his crawl into a half-squat, Crypt drew his longsword and, in one smooth motion, impaled the bandit with it.

[Adnaj]

Adnaj crouched down and shakily made his way through the underbrush as stealthily as he was able. The clumsy Nuit in the aged body was mildly unwieldy so he began to rouse a bit of suspicion from the guards.

Fortunately, the appearance of a sudden blade through the left guard's chest proved quite the effective distraction. Adnaj then sprung from the bush, launching himself toward the bandit, club at the ready.

He didn't really know what the petch he was doing, but he did succeed in knocking the guard off of his feet. The only problem was that Adnaj didn't exactly have a landing strategy. Really, he just landed on top of the guard and then struggled to keep the guard under his control.

Due to the advantage of surprise, he had been able to catch the guard and pin him under his own weight. The problem, now, was that Adnaj's strength was waining and he wouldn't be able to raise his club in any kind of strike. Suddenly, the Nuit found himself needing Crypt to come over and finish the guard before he was able to break out of Adnaj's grasp.

[Crypt]

"Bah. Should have known something like that would happen." Crypt had dealt with his opponent easily, but it appeared that Adnaj was having trouble with the other bandit. Unfortunately, Crypt had to attend to his own foe first. The sword was stuck between two ribs, and the Drykas struggled to free it, causing a great deal of pain to the stricken man in the process. Eventually giving up, Crypt moved swiftly towards Adnaj. "Hold on, Adnaj! I'm coming!" The guard was already freeing himself from Adnaj's weak grasp, and the Nuit was unable to do much but hope to whatever Gods he worshipped that his weight would be sufficient to hold down the bandit until Crypt was able to exterminate his foe. He was losing the battle; Adnaj's kind were mostly unsuited to the rigours of close-quarters combat, having somewhat sluggish reflexes and little physical strength. Once the Drykas had reached the grappling duo, Crypt made a fist with his left hand and smashed it into the guard's face, feeling the soft cartilage give way to his knuckles. With that blow, the guard was forced to give up his fight with Adnaj. However, the damage had been done. In his struggle to escape from underneath Adnaj, the bandit had pummeled the Nuit. If Adnaj was a human, he would have a number of bruises the next day. "Get off, you bloody idiot." I'd best end this quick. We have to get the gold and mizas out of here and back at Alvadas as fast as possible before the other bandits come running. This doesn't look like a small operation - it's more organised than a rag-tag band of misfits. Once the bandit was beaten up badly enough such that he was unable to move from his prone position on the ground, Crypt walked towards the mouth of the cave, motioning towards the downed guard as he did so. "Take care of him, Adnaj. I'm going in. Shout if anyone comes in. Do you know what the container in which the gold and mizas are stored in looks like?"

[Adnaj]

Adnaj was too busy being pummeled in the face to worry too much about the fact that he was loosing his grip and that he was probably going to die. Really, his mind was occupied with thoughts of pain and disorientation. He had to let go of fear but didn't let go of the instinct to let go of his enemy. Through the pain, he was ironically holding onto his assailant for dear life.

When Crypt came over and pummeled the man, Adnaj could do nothing but slump off to the side and be amazed at the fact that his ichor wasn't spilled all over the cave's entrance.

He forced himself to stand as he saw Crypt advancing.

"Yes, will do! I remember that the chest is of dark, oak construction with thin, gold layering and ivory white trappings!"

[Crypt]

OOC NoteInteresting box code. "Alright. Stand guard at the entrance. Hide yourself as best as you can. If you see men approaching, give a shout and tell me how many, then join me inside. And dispatch that idiot before he tries to call for help." Crypt freed his longsword from the corpse, and strode inside quickly. Wrinkling his nose as the smell of rancid fruit reached his nostrils once he entered the storage area, Crypt fought the urge to bend over and retch, instead holding part of his cloak to his nose in order to filter out the stench. Casting his eyes about what appeared to be a make-shift warehouse, Crypt whistled in appreciation. Maras sniffed inquisitively at a strange-looking half-collapsed pile of wooden chests, apparently unaffected by the disgusting scent. Nicely done, these bandits. Looks like they've got quite the booty from all their raids. There's a beautifully embroidered cloth over there, a high-quality battleaxe on that stack of crates... Damn, how long has this operation been going on? "Tiptoe through them flowers..." The sudden outburst of singing around the corner caught Crypt's attention, and he crouched down immediately, noting the presence of at least one bandit in his immediate vicinity. Darn, another. Very well. I'll have to get rid of him too. Just turn the corner and get him before he gets another word out. Still in a half-crouch, Crypt moved slowly towards the corner, his left hand holding his longsword, creeping towards the source of the drinking song. Leaping out from where he stood, he was met with a sight most strange and unusual: a drunken bandit, wielding a half-full bottle of what appeared to be brandy, was engaging in a mock battle with a straw dummy dressed in clothes that suited a middle-aged lady of moderate wealth. It looked like he was losing badly. "Eh? Who's this?" the bandit turned towards Crypt with a puzzled expression on his face, then grinned and spread his arms out, approaching Crypt, "By Jove! 'Tis my second! Good thing you're here. I was losing to this scum, and I might need your help before long. Now, just stay around here and don't wander off again, or I'll petching haunt you for eternity. Bemused, Crypt complied without a word, turning around and resuming his search for the chest that contained his spoils. OOC NoteHere, you can decide what happens next.

[Adnaj]

The chamber in which Crypt found himself would open up into 3 smaller tunnels. Far the right, a multitude of voices could be heard. Clearly, this is where most of the thugs spent their time drinking and brawling. A darker tunnel just looked as thought it was meant for the personal sleeping quarters for the various thugs.

The right path, however, appeared to be the leader's personal quarters. It was clearly indicated by the amenities such as wooden planks serving as makeshift stairs over rocks and divots as well as being well lit with torches along the cave wall. From the looks of it, this was a priority section of the cave.

Over the sounds of the drunken lowlife battling with a mannequin, Crypt would be able to hear two conversational voices wandering down from the common hall into this entry-way filled with weapons and practice dummies. The other two cave tunnels sounded quiet and still. He had a few seconds to prepare himself to act.

[Crypt]

"Now, where do I go..." Crypt muttered to himself. Three paths. One path he would have to take. But certainly not the one where he could hear the voices of quite a few bandits. Something more... quiet would be preferable. Two paths were left then. To the left, or the right? Which one would hold the chest? I have no coin to decide my path, so I guess I have to resort to logic. Let's go over there - looks much better than that dark, dank tunnel. What horrors lie within? I'd rather not think of that. Onwards! Noting that at least two bandits were approaching him, Crypt darted inside the personal quarters of the leader. Marvelling at the level of comfort present in a cave (as befitted a leader of a band of bandits), his gaze lingered on two especially well-polished silver candlesticks, his mind attempting to calculate the worth of the two items, before he forced himself away from them, reminding himself that the chest probably contained more mizas and gold than the silver candlesticks could be bought with. And in an alcove in the room, Crypt found the goal of his mission. Unable to restrain a smirk from appearing on his countenance, Crypt sheathed his sword and used both arms to lift it up. "Damn, that's surprisingly light. It's a small chest anyway, but it should be enough for the three of us. Time to leave, Crypt." However, things would not be as easy as finding the chest. Once Crypt had exited the cave, nodding to Adnaj and gesturing the chest he held under one arm, two bandits appeared from the side of the cave, near a grove of poplar trees. They spotted two unfamiliar figures near the entrance of the cave, who appeared to be taking some of their spoils, and they immediately became hostile. One unsheathed his scimitar, and the other drew a dagger from a sheath attached to his waist. Cursing under his breath, Crypt placed the chest down and drew his longsword. "Come on then. Let's end this fast, so I can get back to Alvadas and have some food. Adnaj, you deal with the dagger-wielding man. I'll finish off this incompetent swordsman."