Solo The Climb

[Sayana]

Fall 85, 515 – Base of the Mountain

When Sayana woke up she was rather disoriented. Against her face was a smooth warm rock and she appeared to be lying upon a mix of weeds, grass and other vegetation. The dancer sat up quickly and looked around. She was in a clearing with trees around and the steep slope of the mountainside not too far away. Why was she here? How did she get here? Was she drugged or knocked out?

It took her several moments to recall her last memories. She had just finished her performance and she had gotten herself lost within the caves trying to get home. And then, the pool… It had been calm, eerie and she had tried to look into it yet… But then she must have fallen in. And now somehow she was here. Had someone saved her from drowning? Was that what had brought her here now?

The Eypharian quickly got to her feet but immediately regretted it. The world seemed to spin for a moment as she struggled to keep her balance and only after a full chime was she able to start walking.

“Hello? Is anyone here? Is there someone I can thank?” Sayana called and she remembered that eerie echo in the cave. Fortunately the woods didn’t echo back, but nor did anyone answer her call.

Unbeknownst to her, the eerie pools tended to send people back to their homes to wake up after a few days had passed. However, her case was rather different. She didn’t have a home. Had she felt more connected to the room at the Cubacious Inn, and those who lived with her there, the magic of the pools might have managed to direct her back there. Even if she had felt her apartment in Syliras to be home or the house back in Ahnatep, the pools might have directed her to the Patchwork Port or another suitable location. But as lost as she was and how she felt, she was randomly deposited at the base of the mountain that formed the current thematic illusion of Alvadas.

Despite the mountainous scenery of the city, Sayana had mostly gotten used to finding her way around. However now, it seemed completely foreign and she couldn’t spot any houses or shops tucked into the mountain that she might recognize. Was she even within the city? Suddenly quite concerned, the Eypharian spotted a rather large boulder and half scrambled, half climbed up onto it. Careful with her footing, she balanced precariously on top of it and peered around. Trees, trees, and a rather steep slope which she could only assume was the mountain side. Yet unlike other plateaus along the mountain’s edge, she couldn’t see any forested areas below. Not even in the distance. Perhaps she was no longer as high up as she usually was.

With that thought in mind, the dancer jumped down from the boulder and braced herself by bending her knees as she hit the leafy forest floor. She’d have to get higher so she could see. The dancer scanned the trees around her. Most she didn’t stand a chance at climbing since their branches started too high up. But there was one tree that caught her eye. It had thick dense branches fairly low and the tree itself was reasonably tall with fairly consistent branches throughout its height.

[Sayana]

It was a struggle to say the least. After several times of walking her feet up the trunk to get herself onto the first branch, she finally succeeded but had to fight through the dense foliage to push herself upwards. Squeezing through the thickly packed branches, she managed to find footholds and handholds to progress. Her hands were soon scratched up and dirtied, not to mention the sticky sap upon them. Still she struggled up and up, pulling with one or two sets of hands at the same time while finding new footholds for her climb. As the branches got thinner, she had to test each one before putting weight on it. Yet after about half a bell she was high enough to somewhat see through the forest. And what she saw, she didn’t like.

To one side, the trees were packed thickly. They sloped downwards but only slightly, and in the distance there appeared to be tree covered hills or low mountains. However, to the other side, there was a steep incline and the rocky cliff faces that could only be the mountain in which Alvadas had decided to nestle into. And where had the Cubacious Inn been when she had left it so long ago before the performance…? Her heart sank. It had been at the very summit of the mountain, and now she was at the very base.

Even as she stood awkwardly in the tree weighing her options, she was overwhelmed with the idea of climbing the mountain, the entiremountain. Would it take a day? Two days? A dozen days? But then she remembered Timothy. Tim, Andreas, Nephti… they were all at the Cubacious Inn and she had no idea how long she had been gone. She needed to get back. She needed to make sure they were alright. What sort of mother was she if she abandoned Tim and Andreas for days on end?

With that sense of urgency, the Eypharian began her decent down the tree.

[Sayana]

It was debatable which was easier: climbing up or climbing down the tree. On the way up she had been straining her arm muscles to pull herself higher and higher. But on the way down, she could hardly see where to place her feet so that they would be secure. She got just as many scratches on the way down, and some on her face and neck. Briefly she placed a hand on the left side of her neck. Her chevas mark… it was… lost. Her chest constricted as she recalled her performance. No, she mustn’t let that stop her. She had to get back to Tim and Andreas.

Yet by the time she was down from the tree, she was sweaty and her mouth parched. Water. Perhaps she could find a stream of sorts to follow. She had no waterskin but if she followed the stream’s path she could get water from it whenever she needed to. And water flowed downhill, so if she found a mountain stream of sorts, it would surely lead her up the mountain. With that thought in mind, she began a spiral path to slowly creep up the mountain thus conserving her energy until she found a stream.

She didn’t really know what to look for in a mountain stream, but water was water and she needed it now. Some parts of the mountainside were merely steep slopes that she could climb along, yet other parts were sheer cliff faces or huge boulders with no clear way up. Those she avoided and instead kept going around the edge of the mountain.

Sayana heard the stream before she saw it. The fresh babble of water drew her in and she sighed with relief as she caught sight of the water. “Thank Makutsi,” she murmured softly. However, when she neared the mountain stream there was something odd about it. The water was flowing uphill instead of downhill. “Of course, Alvadas…” The Eypharian shook her head at the odd illusion but when she reached down with cupped hands, she was still able to scoop up the cool refreshing water and bring it to her lips. The Eypharian drank deeply and with new energy she continued her climb up the mountain, now following the stream.

[Sayana]

The climb was manageable at first. The slopes were steep and she felt the burn upon her thighs as she climbed, but much of it was grassy or forested slopes. For some of the steeper sections she often grabbed onto a branch or tree trunk to give her that extra pull to get her footing right. The stream guided her and the water tumbled upwards upon the rocky riverbed. Every so often she’d find a flat place to rest and she’d quench her thirst. Sometimes she’d even splash cool water upon herself since despite the cool fall season, the effort of climbing made her hot and sweaty.

After about a bell, she started to feel her stomach rumbling. No, that could wait. She had to get to the top. And once at the Cubacious Inn she could eat all she liked. With new determination she forced herself from her short rest and continued upwards.

The mountain slopes got steeper and more rocky, while the trees became more sparse. Sayana had to start assessing various rocky patches and sometimes veered away from the stream to continue her climb. At one tricky place she found herself gripping at the barest handholds on a rock and she had to make use of all six arms to crawl, scale, and scramble up the side of the rock. Her hands were becoming sore and at this rate she’d develop callouses on her palms and fingers. But Tim needed her. Andreas needed her. She had to keep going.

There was a ledge within arm’s reach that looked like it might have just enough of a platform to climb up onto. Placing six hands upon the ledge and holding on with her fingers she tested the strength of the rock before straining to pull herself up. Her arms burned as she pulled. Just a little higher… She managed to get one elbow onto the ledge and then another, her feet scraping against the side of the rock trying to help her upwards. With a bit of momentum she swung one way and the swung her legs up and over the ledge. The moment she got her legs up, she rolled her body over and lay panting on the flat ledge looking up into the sky.

Her legs were sore, her arms were sore, and… Syna was setting. Sayana was now high enough that the trees didn’t impede her view and sure enough, the bright rays of Syna had turned red and she was descending into the horizon. Time was running out.

[Sayana]

Sayana forced herself up and with a hard face she looked at the next obstacle the mountain posed. The next ledge was much like the first but even higher up, but she saw no trails or paths to go an alternate route. She’d have to jump in order to grasp the edge of the rock with her fingers. Her first try was in vain. When she jumped, her fingers of her high hands didn’t even reach the ledge, let alone her other hands. She paused a couple of ticks to catch her breath, then bent her legs and leapt with all her strength. Her high hands caught hold of the ledge and she pulled herself just enough so that her other hands could share the burden of her weight.

But as she hung there against the rock face, she started to doubt herself. Did Tim really need her? He’d been distant ever since she had bought Nephti. And what about Andreas? Despite the loving care that Sayana provided, the babe always seemed to prefer the company of Timothy. And Nephti? How did she know that the young Eypharian hadn’t run off already? Why was she even trying to be a mother at all? She obviously couldn’t care for Andreas on her own, that was why she had bought Nephti.

Sayana hung there, her arms straining under her weight. She was no mother, she was no wife. Cheva had cast the lacun mark upon her and through some twisted magic she had found herself alone at the base of this mountain. Did the god of illusions not wish her to be reunited with her family? Or was it because they were no real family of hers? She was alone. Bitterly alone in this world. Her fingers started to slip one by one upon the ledge, but she no longer cared. With a thump she landed on the ground. The mountain had defeated her. Yet in some ways, she had already been defeated.

With a heavy heart she began her descent. Syna was setting and she needed to find some sort of shelter. The mountain would not provide that. Only the forest might.

[Sayana]

Climbing down was easier but not without its hardships. A couple times Sayana scraped legs as she jumped carelessly down certain portions of the mountainside. She didn’t care and her exhausted body was doing just enough to keep going. She needed shelter and rest.

As soon as she reached the more wooded areas, the Eypharian started looking for a relatively flat spot to build some sort of shelter. There was a patch just large enough and it had a couple of trees around it. She spotted a large branch and hauled it over with tired arms to lean up against one tree. Alone… She was going to spend the night alone. Perhaps more than anything that clenched at her heart.

Snapping off smaller branches she started laying them against the main branch. It was rather like a lean-to construction and it was the best she could think of with the overarching sense of loss that gripped her. At the end she dug out the leaves from inside to make more space and piled leaves along the edges to help keep it warmer. There were a couple of branches here and there with pine needles on them, and she leaned them up against her make-shift shelter to try to provide more warmth.

At last, she went inside and tried to snuggle up in her dark cloak, yet the ground was hard and it was certainly no longer summer. She was cold, hungry, tired, but most importantly she had lost hope.

[Fable]

Sayana

Skills

Climbing +4
Acrobatics +3
Tactics +1
Wilderness Survival +3
Planning +1
Investigation +1
Endurance +3
Land Navigation +2
Philosophy +1

Lores

Traversing Mountainous Terrain
Wilderness Survival: Building Basic Shelter (Coniferous Forest)

Rewards/Consequences

None

Notes :

Struggle! Very lovely. Sayana's swings of mood are a good read, keep it up!