The Forgotten - 1/3

The air hangs heavy and pungent, not an unpleasant smell but an oddly oppressive one. Like the smell of a centuries old terrarium that had finally been opened to the sun; green and fresh, yet stale and unfamiliar. Otho wrinkled his nose, fighting against the sudden urge to sneeze. Oh what an abhorrent sensation, and one that would likely continue to plague him on this musty journey.

“So if we are to gain favour with this clan, we must steal from the others?” Otho’s ears twitched as he was pulled back to the matter at hand. Cailu was padding ahead, with Mari at his side. The albino Vayron cocked her head slightly in query, looking up towards their new companion, “Doesn’t that seem rather… counter-intuitive?”

Cailu gave a small half-shrug, “Well, you don’t necessarily have to steal, you could always help the younglings with some pranks.” He gave an awkward half-smile as he surveyed the group. “That’s ah, a bit less malicious?” 

Even in the dim light, Otho can see the furrows adorning Mari’s snout. He glances to his side where his last companion matches his step, gently bumping his side to catch his ear with a whisper. “Cailu doesn’t know his audience.” 

Otho gives Grizz a small smile in return, “No, I think he does,” he breathes, “He’s positively sweating bullets.”

The two paused in their trot to regale the pair in front of them: Cailu who was desperately trying to come up with a fool-proof justification, and Mari who was becoming more and more exasperated with his feeble attempts to rationalise his plan.

“Come Pothos,” Grizz nudged him playfully, “I think this is where we take the lead.” and with that she lunged forward, easily catching up to Mari and Cailu, “Tag, you’re it!” she purred, barely giving time for Mari to register her presence before she shot off deeper into the caves.

Mari let out an indignant cry, whipping her head around to face Otho as he joined the leaders. The glare she gave him would give any Reosean pause, Otho knew however, that these were always empty threats. 

“Come on Mari, just some harmless pranks and we’ll have some friends for life!” and with that he bounded on. He couldn’t help but smirk as he heard Mari’s steps behind him, each footfall punctuated with a verbal protest. Cailu followed the group gleefully, chattering away without a pause to breathe. 

By the time the three caught up to Grizz she was already surrounded by a group of Haedian younglings, two of which were eagerly showing her what could only be described as… bombs? Otho snuck a glance at Mari who was caught between catching her breath and hyperventilating at the sight of children handling volatile explosives.

“-paint powder bombs!” piped up one,

“And tripwires!” the largest of the children twirled a length of string between his claws, pulling it taut.

“So we have a plan,” Grizz looked down at the younglings with a mischievous grin, “You two,” she gestured to the two with the paint powder bombs, “Let’s get those set up over the main thoroughfare the Brutes use, you,” she turned her attention to the third, “you get that tripwire planted, if we do this quick enough we can catch them on their next patrol.”

She whipped her head round to her two Vayron companions, “Mari!” Her abrupt bark caused Mari to clamp her jaws shut, stopping her lecture before it began, “You’re our lookout. Cailu, we’ll need you to help reach the ceiling. Otho, you’re with Tripwire.” Otho nodded and looked down at the eager Haedian,

“Come on, come on! Just up ahead there’s a crossroads, we can run the tripwire across the stalagmites!” With that the group sprinted off down the passage, emerging into an open cavern. The cavern was decorated with glowing crystals of various colours, each expertly surrounding a passage entrance, of which there were numerous. 

“One, two… six… twelve… I-I thought you said this was a crossroads lolnot a maze!” Tripwire looked up at the Vayron with a hint of confusion,

“It is a crossroads, each of those passages goes somewhere! Some come right back here, but most go somewhere; that’s what a crossroads is!” he grinned and tossed one end of the tripwire to Otho, “Yellow crystals.” he stated, and scampered into his chosen tunnel, expertly slinging and looping his end of the tripwire around a crooked stalagmite.

Otho trotted after him, mimicking the younglings method on the opposing stalagmite as the rest of the group set about their designated tasks behind them. It wasn’t long before Mari was corralling them all with hushed whispers, ushering them back into the cavern and behind the cover of rocks and rubble.

“This is a terrible idea, they’re going to kill us!” seethed Mari as Grizz bumped her side,

“Calm Mare, it’s only harmless fun.”

Her sentence was punctuated with the sounds of a muted explosion followed by a cacophony of coughs and splutters.