Solo Driven Beneath I

[Kelski]

Timestamp: 22nd of Fall, 518 A.V.

Kelski looked over the leather harnesses and ropes in the booth and shook her head. Crazy. This was a crazy adventure, for certain, and one she was seemingly going to go through with anyhow… and alone. Except for The Gem and the nightly dinners at home, the Kelvic was more and more alone these days. She didn’t like it, even though it was her new reality. It felt a lot like isolation and solitude she had felt during her slavery and she honestly didn’t welcome it. But at the same time, the Kelvic didn’t want to drag anyone else into her scheme, nor did she want to reveal how curious she had become about the brats with the collars coming and going.

She’d told no one about them, not a single soul, and somehow that felt right.

Kelski was used to acting on her instincts. She thought she had good ones and often they took care of her in ways logic or intelligence couldn’t. The Sea Eagle had sensible reactions to things, but in this particular case her interest was bordering on obsession. She was actually looking at climbing gear and contemplating going down into the bowels of Sunberth to follow the brats.

Inside her it was a burning need she couldn’t put into words nor could she explain if she tried. The need was multi-tiered layers of the absolute need to understand. Kelski had to know. Follow. Follow. Follow. The dark yawning maws of the half a dozen entrances the collared brats were using seemed to be calling to her, even though it wasn’t her element being deep beneath the ground going to wherever the brats were going. They meant something. They belonged to someone. And Kelski wanted to meet whomever that was. Had no one noticed before? Had no one cared? Kelski did. It was just such an unusual thing, the enormous almost monstrous sized rats called brats coming and going from the bowels of Sunberth. It made her think of the slabs, of magic, and of what could be hidden in the mines below the city.

And so, she planned, leaving a brief note at The Midnight Gem. It had stated that she might be gone a day or two, meeting with suppliers and to not worry where she was headed was safe and that she’d be back no later than four days. She didn’t even tell Ebon or Ember where she was going, and though she’d took a moment before she’d fully departed to pray with Duncan, nothing else was unusual. Kelski had started praying with the Isur because the habit made her feel better, lightened her burden somehow, and made her feel close to the Isur whom guarded her lifestyle while she was away from it.

Now though, now it was time to hit the market and see what supplies she might need. Kelski spoke to the vendor, told him she was going beneath the earth, and wanted some gear to make herself safer and traverse some of the deeper drops. The vendor seemed to know what she needed and got her a set of climbing/rappelling gear together plus a helmet to keep her head safe while she was spelunking.

Count: 541

[Kelski]

Kelski ended up with a helmet, a headlamp she could light that was filled with oil, another hand-held lantern, thick undergarments, knee pads, 100 foot of rope, a silk bodysuit, a pair of coveralls that were oiled to make them slightly waterproof, a climbing harness, thick socks, special boots, gloves, and a hand-written list of what else she might need. The first aid kit was a necessity and she purchased it in the market as well. She fit three drinking skins into her backpack of voiding, added in trail rations, dried fruit, and a change of cloth. She packed flint and steel, tinder, waterproof matches, and five sticks of wood to burn if she needed too. She added an oil wrapped journal, quill, and ink. Then, the vendor handed her elbow pads to add to her purchase.

There was also climbing gear that evidently went with the spelunking gear since the two activities were often happening hand in hand. One rappelled underground and ascended stone features as much as one walked vertically it seemed. She had two kinds of belay devices… one was a tube style and one was a assisted breaking device. Kelski had no idea how to use them, but she knew if she asked, Akajia would provide. The belaying devices both came with locking carabiners that secured them to her harness. Then she had a handful of spares that various ropes would thread through when she needed it. Include was a chalk bag with a carabiner attached and an extra bag of loose chalk as well as chalk sticks to mark her way as she moved among the mines, caves, or ruins. Kelski wasn’t quite sure where she was going.

The vendor kept handing her hardware, and she kept accepting it until she had eight quick draws, a full set of rock anchors, a hammer, two sets of nuts, and a set of slings. Kelski had no idea what the things did, but the vendor assured her if she was going to do any climbing, she’d definitely need them. Examining the items, they looked strong, well forged and in some cases – like the anchors – wicked. Kelski smiled. It might be fun after all taking this trip.

After making the purchases, she went home to leave her notes and add additional supplies.

Once at home, Kelski added in a small tent, another tarp, and then piled in a bunch more firewood since her backpack could take the volume. She brought a small folding table to help her writing, a map case, and parchment to create a map with. She tucked a rolled blanket, pillow, and a few more pairs of socks in the backpack as well.

It was all she could think to take.

Extra lamp oil, all of her daggers, and her crossbow and the bolts and arrows she had also went in. Since she had the ability to load up the backpack and have it weighed only 15 lbs.… she took advantage of it. She could live out of her backpack for double tendays or more at a time. And that was more than enough for her. She was ready to go. There was just one more thing to do.

Count: 534

[Kelski]

Kelski tapped her link to The Midnight Gem and slowly built the communication between them up. She showed The Gem the brats with collars that were vanishing into the mysterious underground carrying goods and foodstuffs. She revealed her burning need to follow - almost a drive -that she couldn’t shake. The Midnight Gem was worried, reflected back falling rock, monstrous things in the dark eating her, and the Kelvic wandering alone lost forever in the bowels of Sunberth. Kelski laughed, filing the link with confidence. She was a Nightstalker. Darkness didn’t worry her and since she was favored, no walls could hold her. She’d take chalk to mark her way in secret symbols and do what she could to make it easier for her to find her way back.

The Gem fussed, but in the end the creature that it had become wished her luck and asked her to hurry back. It kept sending her picture after picture of Kelski returning with the sun, happy and healthy. The Sea Eagle didn’t know If the building was trying to manifest this as fact or if it was telling her that was what it wanted to see come the sunrise. Either way, Kelski reassured the building she would be fine and quickly finished her preparations.

Dear Family,

I’m going on a short trip that will keep me away from home for a day or two. I will definitely be gone overnight, maybe for a second night. I’ve left instructions with Sastiva at Goldfingers in case I do not return in the allotted time. She has a complete explanation of where I’ve gone in scroll sealed in wax that she can present to Kynier, Ebon, or Duncan in case I am unable to return. Do not worry. This is a divine mission and I trust in the divinity.

Kelski

Once that note was left, Kelski was quick to write out a complete explanation of her whereabouts, what she was doing, and how she was tracking the brats beneath the city. She gave as specific of a location as she could where she planned to enter the underground and a brief explanation of her chalk marks she planned to make to mark her trail and aid in her mapping. Then she sealed the whole thing with a bit of wax, imprinted with her jeweler’s mark, and dropped it by Goldfinger with a brief explanation to Sastiva as to where she’d gone. When she was writing out the instructions, made a second copy – for she’d learned to be redundant – and dropped that scroll by Kaltiz’ place with instructions to the Skull Crow Kelvic to not open it unless she disappeared. He looked worried, but she shrugged and said she was just being cautious and that everything should go smooth. She also told him to seek The Midnight Gem if he needed anything while she was gone.

Thankfully no one was home. It let her get her stuff together quickly, leave her note, and slip out. It was getting late, dark even, and Kelski had to hurry to stake out one of the entrances she had picked as the ‘most likely to descend’ before full dark. The Kelvic took to the streets, trying to look as casual as she could, heading towards the No Man’s Land Tavern.


Count: 551

[Kelski]

Kelski found the streets quiet, though she knew in Sunberth that sort of mood didn’t tend to last. Sooner or later something would happen – a riot, a robbery, even a rape – and there would be an end to the peace that the city seemed to reflect back towards the Sea Eagle as she made her way across town on her self-appointed mission. Silent rain fell, more of a silver curtain than big fat drops that disrupted everything around them. She walked lithely, avoiding the growing puddles and glancing up at the sky which appeared angry. The weather felt like it was on the verge of a change, though the Kelvic didn’t pay it much mind. Underground, the weather would mean next to nothing unless it was going to flood, and whatever would flood in Sunberth had long since done so with all the rain the city had received.

She skipped two streets over, almost to her destination, when the sky opened up and a flash of burning light fell from it. Almost on top of her, something hurled from the sky like a angry god’s wrath, and slashed down, cratering the earth half a block from her. Kelski froze as the denizens that were out and about scattered, wanting no part of the incident. But on a mission, curious, and needing to go the direction of the damage, Kelski approached. The crater was ten feet wide, about half that deep, and at its center glittered a stone. It didn’t look or smell hot, nor did it look particularly magical. Kelski summoned djed to her eyes and looked with auristics, filling her vision with power. It had a peculiar aura, but nothing that looked dangerous or even…. Hot.

Odd.

The Kelvic blinked her vision clear, started down the small crater, and picked up the rock at the bottom. She looked it over carefully, unshouldered her backpack, and slipped it into the magical bag. Then she scaled the other side, and continued on her way to the ‘entrance’ she decided she’d access the underground with.

Kelski had no experience tracking, but she’d had plenty of time to have studied the brats, both hunting and eating them back when she’d been starving as a Sun Birth’s slave. And later, when she’d discovered the collared ones and had been tracking them. She’d staked out the entrance and watched, spending bell upon bell lurking, learning the comings and goings of the beasts. They’d always exited their underground lairs empty pawed and had returned burdened with whatever they’d scrounged. And there were more than just three. There were dozens with collars. Kelski had lost count of how many she’d witnessed personally wearing a collar and dragging back supplies.

It peaked her curiosity enormously to the point she’d lost sleep trying to figure out what they were up to and who they belonged to… or at least who or what they were feeding. Because they had to be feeding something – supplying something – for she’d not only seen them carrying obvious foodstuffs, but metal, scrap, and even once a bundle of leather. As odd as the doings of the brats were, Kelski knew there was a greater secret here and she was determined to find out what that secret was.


Count: 542

[Kelski]

Maybe the answer was that it was other brats… and they were smarter than anyone gave them credit for. If that was the truth, Kelski wanted to see for herself. After all, she’d been eating the things for quite a while now and that meant she might be killing intelligent life. Also, she needed to know because sometimes when the pork or beef or salmon ran as low as the coin, brats went into the stew at The Gem. And she certainly wouldn’t feed her family other people. So, if the brats were other people, she definitely needed to know.

The entrance was reached finally, and the Kelvic paused at its yawning maw. Sunberth was equipped with multiple holes leading to the underground… old sewers, mind shafts, and even tunnels that had been dug more recently. There were even basements to collapsed houses. This entrance looked more like it had been there a while and had been enlarged from what it had been originally. Kelski studied it, trying to determine if it was actually more than a ventilation shaft perhaps leading to the mines. She simply couldn’t tell. There was too much debris, human garbage, and the well-trodden paths of the brat to know anything was actually a given.

Kelski paused, took a knee, and gazed unafraid into the bowels of Sunberth. She’d have to crawl through to go from here, but the space beyond looked to open up. The entrance was just underneath the ruins of a building that had long since collapsed. It was either an old cellar or a basement that had a wall blown out. On her knees, she bowed her head and said a quick prayer to Akajia.

“I walk forth into the darkness of Semele’s world ignorant but with the burning desire to remedy that. I hope I go with your permission and blessing. If you would, send me a guide, one of your shadows that might help me along the way for I bring with me unfamiliar equipment and a noted lack of skills to safely descend steep terrain if I must. Send your voices to me to keep me company along the way so I am not alone in my own head. Thank you, Night Mother, and know that I go for you… to uncover a secret only you might have foreseen.” She said, rising slowly and then inching her way forward.

Kelski half crawled half crabwalked through the narrow opening that lead into the earth. She took a moment to light her lantern on her helmet then slide it onto her head securing the chin strap. Once she was past the entrance, the woman could stand straight again so that is where she began putting on her gear – knee pads, elbow pads, checking her equipment, and sliding on the harness with its accompanying tackle and bag of chalk in case she needed to climb.

“Nightstalker.” A voice said softly, quietly, female in its tone. Kelski turned her head, saw a lithe shadow a bit deeper than the dark around it separates itself from its background and approach. “I am Naska. The Dark Mother sent me to be with you… as you go below. I cannot interfere. However, I can offer advice.” She said darkly, her rich alto voice filling the space that Kelski had scarcely had a chance to look around yet.

Continued in: Driven Beneath II


Count: 561

[Kelski]

G R A D E S

Kelski

Planning +3, Investigation +4, Climbing +2 Architectrix +1, Tracking +2, Spelunking +2

Climbing: The Gear Needed To Descend Into The Mines Safely, Climbing: Assembling A Climbing Kit, Brats: Locating Where They Are Coming And Going, Akajia: Praying For A Guide

PM me with questions or concerns.