It's morning now, with the mist still thick on the ground, and Alptraum and Lilith still haven't returned from their hunt last evening. This means that there is no fresh meat or water for breakfast. Ravenia makes do by boiling what water they have for a tea made from local herbs. It's bitter and tastes a bit like boiled bark, but the woman assures Tulani and Arkold that it's nutritious enough.

Tulani stretches, her wings twitching a bit anxiously as she accepts a cup of the bitter tea from Raven and thanks her politely, not finding any sign that either Alptraum or Lilith had returned. Wondering out loud, she notes, "I wonder what's keeping them."

Arkold, who apparently isn't a very good hunter despite having traveled half the world, reclines against a tree with his hands behind his head. "I'll let you youngin's worry about food, eh. Take care of your elders, an' such an' so on," he says lazily.

Ravenia sits behind Tulani and checks the progress of her healing, then comments, "You should be able to try flying in a few more days, Tulani." She sounds a bit haggard.

Blinking at Arkold with a wry smile the Sphynx puts an arm around the other woman as she sits down beside her. The traveling undoubtedly being rather rough on Raven. "Well… since they're not back yet I could see if I could catch something. I can still track things even if I can't fly yet," Tulani says while giving Raven a gentle hug.

"Well, if you think you're up to it," Raven says, casting a disappointed glance at Arkold. "Do you need any help?" she asks the Sphynx.

"Eh all right! Can't a guy dream? Some day, when I 'ave kids, I'm makin' them fetch me breakfast," Arkold grumbles as he slowly stands up. Looking around, he finds his sword and frowns at it. "Goin' to need to hunt with somethin' other than the sword, I think. Probably not rocks … Hm."

"If your children turn out anything like you, Arkold, I doubt you'd get them to obey you like that," Ravenia comments.

Arkold runs his hand back through his head-hair and nods slowly. "Maybe they'll take pity on a poor old man who's led a fine life," he suggests, then laughs. "Eh, I'll wrangle them somehow. Speaking of wranglin', why didn't I buy a crossbow, Raven? Or a- … Heh, right: broke."

Tulani chuckles at Raven's comment, patting the dark skinned woman on the shoulder before standing herself. "Well, I've got a crossbow you know… " the Sphynx points out, rummaging through a bag and soon pulling out the mentioned item.

"We'll have to roast whatever you catch, unless you also come across some fresh water," Raven reminds the hunters.

"Right… Well, shall we be off then to rustle out some breakfast?" Tulani replies wishing she could fly again – that would definitely make this easier.

"'Ey, a crossbow! Been a while since I shot one 'o those. I miss my guns, eh. Guns, see, are a bit more work, but they can shoot through a chitin shell an' keep on goin'! Plus they're loud, and flashy." Arkold walks over and picks up the crossbow, giving it a look over. "'Course, don't want to be firin' guns on the surface. The only thing you'll shoot is your hand – off."

Tulani blinks as the wolf picks up her crossbow, frowning at his mention of lack of practice. Quickly she states, "Well, please be sure not to break it, I've only got one of those," with a slightly humorous smile.

"Hey, if I break it, I'll get you another one," Arkold insists. "If you see one you want, jus' let me know. Bats has a nice one!"

Heading south along the direction they last saw the two Eeee taking, the pair of hunters set out into the forest. Despite the heavy undergrowth and general leaf litter of the forest floor, they manage to make minimal noise. Up above in the canopy the squeaks, trills, grunts and croaks of various flying animals and insects rain down, but hardly anything seems to live down on the ground.

Canting her ears back and forth at the various noises from above Tulani heaves an internal sigh; almost nothing ground-living. But with the crossbow at least they might pin something in a tree.

Arkold keeps the crossbow uncocked, to better preserve its strength, and possibly to avoid shooting himself or Tulani. He did say it had been a while. Sniffing the air, he frowns. "Dagh blasted nose, all tha' sniffin' broke it for good. Ears too. A warning, Tulani: don't sniff dust, an' don't grow old," he whispers.

The forest symphony fades a bit as the hunters come across a modest sized clearing, with only a few thin saplings scattered about and several blocky stones. On one of those stones, basking in the sunlight, is a two-legged non-sapient serpent – a Sylvanian Lindworm.

Blinking rapidly, the Sphynx watches the trees above now as well as canting her ears in that direction, whispering briefly to Arkold… "Well… at least you don't have to worry about that first one." She crouches down slightly as they near the edge of a clearing.

"Not anymore, eh?" The wolf follows Tulani in kneeling behind the brush, and he eyes the serpent as if not quite sure what to make of it. "Any idea what that is, if it's edible, an' if shooting it won't have it kill us? Never know aroun' 'ere, might up an' shoot fire or somethin'," he asks Tulani.

"It's a Lindworm," Tulani whispers to Arkold, watching it carefully before continuing, "They're a bit tough, but edible. It would just be best if we can keep it from fleeing into the trees. Got the crossbow ready? I can handle the shot if you don't think you quite remember how to use it."

Arkold hands the crossbow over. "'Ere you go," he whispers. Lacking a ranged weapon, he just eyes the worm hungrily. "I'll jus' go an' get it if you hit it."

The Sphynx smiles as Arkold hands over the weapon, whispering humorously, "Good choice, I'd hate to miss out on some meat because you… well, missed. Alright, I pin it, you go get it." And with that Tulani crouched further, lining up the Lindworm in her sight.

The bolt strikes the reptile dead center, and with enough force to knock it clear off the rock it was basking on. It lands with a thump into the long grass beyond.

"You 'ave a way with reptiles, Tulani," Arkold remarks as he stands up. Striding into the open, he heads for the Lindworm.

Just as the Jupani passes one of the stones, he feels the ground begin to give under his boot and hops back a pace before it can collapse beneath him. The Lindworm, however, is sitting out of reach in the unstable zone.

Tulani rises from her crouch, immediately ready to assist Arkold, but seeing him not in danger at the moment. "Well, your reflexes certainly seem as sharp as ever," she murmurs before coming up to look at the hole that formed in the ground and over at the area where the Lindworm is still laying.

It isn't much of a hole, so much as a depression in the shape of a boot where the grass is pressed down. This close in, however, let's Tulani notice how the few stones showing above ground seem to line up in a roughly square pattern.

Arkold's already looking down at the pit when Tulani approaches him. "Eh, see, I knew there was a catch. Life's about catches, Tulani." He reaches down and picks up a branch, then uses it to prod at undisturbed earth.

It takes a bit of pushing, but apparently the ground is only a few inches deep here, with an empty space beneath.

The wolf seems to enjoy pushing the earth in, and continues to do so while he scratches his chin with his free hand. "Some kind 'o giant pit trap? Maybe the worm dug it up? Ancient evil buried under two inches of dirt? Hurm." He prods a bit more, then kneels down. "Let's jus' make a big 'ole 'ere an' try and see what's down there once light can get in."

The Sphynx looks at the depression again before replying, "Hang on a sec, we don't know how far down it might go, or what might be in there. At least let me try and get our breakfast first."

Breakfast lays in nearly the center of the square space, six feet in from all directions.

"An' 'ow are you goin' to do that? You're not supposed to be flyin' yet, an' if you fall in I might not be able to get to you in time," inquires the Jupani curiously.

"I have an idea… And please, no cracks about how incredible that may seem… " Tulani replies rolling her eyes. Still holding the crossbow she loads another bolt into it, this one with a long thread of cord tied on. Aiming once again the Sphynx attempts to pin their intended prey with the bolt and then haul it back in with the cord.

Arkold eyes the contraption Tulani is making, then side-steps back behind a tree. "Jus' be over 'ere."

The bolt thunks into the body of the Lindworm, and, after giving Arkold a quick grin Tulani begins to pull it in by the cord.

Arkold peeks around the corner and, seeing Tulani hadn't had an engineering disaster, steps out and watches her reel the snake in. "You should try fishing," he insists.

Grinning proudly as she handled the catch the Sphynx's eyes widen as she feels the ground start to give, and she has just enough time to let out an eep before the ground gives out beneath her and she finds herself falling. Luckily, she doesn't plummet too far before hitting an ancient set of stairs. The dry-rotted wood collapses almost immediately, but at least it slows her fall until she hits solid ground – a good two floors beneath the surface.

Now staring at empty air, Arkold slowly looks down to where Tulani disappeared. "Catches, Tulani," he reminds her in a slow, unsurprised tone. After a moment he kneels down and asks, "You are alive, eh? Tulani?"

A strained oww… and a sudden fit of sneezing floats up through the hole to meet the wolfs ears, followed by a reply of, "Urrg, I'm alright… Just managed to fall on my tail."

Arkold nods slowly, again, then stands up to look around. "Be right there, once I know where there is, an' ow' to get there. Don't move too much if you can 'elp it." He eyes the stairs now, trying to follow their incline up to his level. "Oh, 'ey, did you get dinner?"

There are still the remains of old cellar doors hanging down the sides of the hole, which apparently gave way under the combined weight of the Sphynx and serpent. The ancient stairwell is only about four feet across, but is walled in stone. Two open doorways can be seen in the light, showing a floor above the one Tulani has come to rest at as well as the one opening up at the bottom.

Tulani sits where she is for the moment, feeling around until she finds the corded bolt and the body of the worm, calling out, "Yeah, I've still got it! What can you see from up there?"

Arkold begins on downwards, then stops. "You up an' broke the steps, Tulani. 'Old on, I'll try an' see 'ow else to get down 'ere." The wolf stops at the top of the once-steps, looking around for a way he might get down without falling through floors.

The Sphynx sits tight for a minute before calling up, "Hang on a second Arkold, and stand away from the pit!" She pulls the corded bolt from the worm, gropes around until she finds the crossbow, then resets it and aims for the visible hole above her. "I'm shooting out the line. See if you can tie it to something?"

The weight of the cord when firing upward is a bit much for the bolt. It barely makes it to the top of the shaft before it starts to plummet back… but not before Arkold can reach down and snatch it!

Arkold grins in to the void, brows waggling. "I got the line, eh? I'm jus' goin' to secure it, now, so don't go an' fall through anythin' else," he yells down. Then, he's off to tie that line.

Tulani calls back wryly from down in the hole, "Don't worry Arkold! I'm not going anywhere." But she does stand to get a better look at her surroundings and see what else might be down there with her.

What light enters the shaft shows Tulani what was probably a root cellar, with collapsed shelves and lots of rotted barrels, broken jars and bottles – although some look intact.

Having been 'forcefully invited' into the military years ago, Arkold knows a thing or two about naval knots. He uses one such knot to secure the line, then walks back to where it runs down in to the dark. "Anythin' interestin' down there? Looks old, eh?"

The Sphynx goes to get a closer look at some of the more intact looking bottles and things, calling back up, "It looks like a root cellar. There's a lot of broken stuff down here, but it looks like some of jars and things are still undamaged."

"Broken, eh? Didn't fall on it did you?" Tulani can hear the wolf's laugh echo through the halls. "'Ey, I could climb down now if you want?"

"Har har har," Tulani chuckles herself, rolling her eyes though Arkold can't see it. "Sure, I'm clear of the line, come on down."

Arkold may complain about being old, but he's still in better shape than most men his age. Securing himself with the line, he begins to climb down. "Wasn't so long ago I was doin' this on an a ship – a ship made of living flesh, sailin' on a planet far, far away," he says.

"A ship made of living… flesh… ew… You really have done just about everything haven't you?" Tulani mumbles as Arkold makes his way down.

"Never fell into a root cellar," Arkold replies as he hops down into the basement. Walking over, he puts a hand on Tulani's shoulder and peers at what she's looking at.

"Doesn't look like there's too much here," Tulani states, looking around. Seeing the worm still on the floor, she picks it up and dusts it off. "I've still got the fresh meat though."

Arkold sniffs. "I think this one must be wine – better save it." He reaches over and tucks a jar under his arm, patting it carefully. "Wouldn't wan' some disreputable type to come and steal it."

"Mm-hm… Riight," Tulani whispers in a humorously mocking tone. "Well… I don't think whoever owned this cellar will mind, seeing the state it's in. And any provisions are pretty much good ones," she finishes, pulling a few more of the unbroken jars from the leaning shelf.

"Let's stack these up by the line, an' then check that other door," Arkold suggests. He snatches up a few more wine jars, then begins walking back towards where he climbed down. "Glad you're not hurt – an' good job findin' food!

"Thank you Arkold," The Sphynx chuckles, "I have to keep my elders fed now, don't I?" she remarks, taking a point from earlier before following to stack the jars she had relieved the shelf of, as well as the slain Lindworm.

After placing his take down, Arkold nods. "We elders appreciate you youngin's fallin' through the earth for us. I'll 'ave to regale you wit' more of my stories later, as a reward," he tells Tulani. Then, he nods towards the untried door. "'Ey, you wan' to fall though that too?"

Tulani chuckles and pats Arkold on the back. "How about if we see if it opens first? I think my rear end has taken enough punishment for the moment, after falling two stories."

Arkold looks down, raising an eyebrow as he examines Tulani's rear end. "I can check tha' for you?" He makes pinching fingers.

Tulani makes a flicking motion with her tail, lightly slapping Arkold's hand before replying wryly, "Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll be fine without your help on that." Chuckling, the Sphynx cautiously climbs up to the other door in the shaft, taking a look at it.

"If you ever need help wit' that, let me know!" Arkold winks at Tulani, then climbs up beside her to examine the door.

"Since you fell through the last one, I'll go first, eh," the wolf says before stepping inside. Just in case, he limbers his blade and rests his hand on the hilt.

Tulani readies her crossbow as she follows Arkold in, bolt in hand, just in case.

The 'upper' room is fairly bare, but also has the look of a storeroom. There are moldy chests, rotting boxes and sacks of what may have been grain or flour.

The Sphynx starts poking about the chests and boxes, looking for anything that might be useful.

Arkold sweeps his gaze across the room, then nods as he walks in. "'Nother store room, looks like dry storage for, eh," he kicks a sack lightly, " … flour. Chests might be good, too. Place must be old if the structure above isn't even a ruin."

Tulani says, "I wonder what was originally here? It might have been a home, an inn, who knows."

"Could be, could be. Lots of foodstuffs in storage, so a home or inn sounds like a good bet. My favorite kind of inn, too – a stocked one," says Arkold. He begins making a circuit of the room, stopping at a different chest than Tulani.

"Yeah, they did have a lot in storage, doesn't look like they took much of it away… " the Sphynx's tone darkens just a bit, as people don't usually leave this much behind. She isn't sure if she wanted to know what happened to the place, so instead concentrates on trying to find something useful – by opening the box she was currently looking at, and revealing a chest full of shrunken heads.

"I 'ear that. Course, aroun' Sylvani, you never know what'll chase you out of house an' 'ome," the wolf remarks. Using his foot again, Arkold tries to kick the chest lid open, causing the chest to fall apart and spill a collection of severed hands over his boot.

"Gah!" Tulani utters sharply as she jumps back from the box of heads, almost falling on her tail again. Seeing the contents of Arkold's box spill across the floor, the Sphynx swallows several times to regain her composure.

"Hrrm," Arkold utters as he eyes the pile of hands at his feet. A brief silence follows, then he "hrrms," again, nudging one with a foot.

The hand makes a rude gesture. Probably a coincidence

Tulani swallows thickly again before speaking to Arkold in a quiet voice, "Please don't do that Arkold." She points, indicating the proddings of his foot.

Arkold's brow shoots up at the gesture, and he nudges the hand again – just in case. "I'm surprised they didn't bring their 'lovely collection' along, Tulani. Did you see-" he glances back, eyes the heads, then grimaces and nods, " … see you did, eh. I think 'inn' is out." He frowns, now. "Whut? This?" he nudges the hand some more.

The dismembered limb falls apart.

"Yeah, inn is definitely out, and now I don't want to know," the Sphynx replies and then 'Urks' sharply once more as the limb falls apart. "See! I asked you not too."

There's something odd about the far corner of this room. Part of the wall has collapsed, making something of a slope towards the ceiling

"I'd rather it do that than get up an' try and give us the finger," Arkold insists. He leaves the other hands alone, then heads over to another chest. "I'm a bit leery abou' drinkin' tha' wine now – jus' a bit. Eh, I'll give it a shot. Can't make wine out of fingers – eh? Eh? Eh."

Tulani nods very faintly to Arkold, replying softly, "Just be careful." She edges a little bit at a time towards the collapsed part of the wall, curiosity taking hold, but still holding her crossbow and a ready bolt.

It looks like the wall just collapsed from a tree root pushing the stone in over time.

Arkold boots another chest, peering at the contents once again. "Find anythin'?" he asks, his kick revealing a chest full of leather-wrapped bundles.

The Sphynx relaxes a bit but stays wary, examining the slope of the collapsed wall towards the ceiling. "Nothing new aside from the recent gruesomeness."

"I found some, eh, bundles of … " Using his foot gain, Arkold tries to nudge a leather wrapped bundle open. "Glad I wear boots, eh?"

The leather is actually pretty sturdy, so the packages stay wrapped up tight.

"Hnuh, pretty tricky." Arkold kneels down now, reaching to undo a package with his bare hands. "If some fingers an' an ear attack me, give 'em hell Tulani."

"Leather?" Tulani murmurs, looking up from where she had been examining the tree root pushing in the stones. "Alright, I've got your back Arkold… " And she does indeed come to stand nearer him, watching around the room for any movement.

The bag opens to reveal… bars of soap.

"I think this is … eh … " Arkold picks up a bar, then sniffs it some. "Yeah, soap. What's soap doin' with heads and hands? Guess you 'ave to be clean, whut wit' hackin' people up."

As the contents of a bag showed to be bars of soap, Tulani almost has to laugh, exclaiming, "This certainly has to be one of the more eclectic collections I've seen." She then frowns in thought. "Err… Arkold? Some soap is made out of animal fats and things… I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps you could make soap out of people too… " she says quickly.

"Ugh," Arkold groans, dropping the soap. "People soap. It's one of them … counter-dictory … ideas. More you get clean, the more you're dirty." He shakes his head and begins roaming around the room again, looking for something new. "People soap. Never needed to see tha' in my life," he can be heard to mumble.

Tulani also finds herself moving about, swallowing her disturbed feelings for a moment to find and open another box herself.

This time the box if full of moldy blankets.

"I'm goin' for a box. I 'ate to say it, but chests are lettin' me down today," Arkold announces, then he tries to pry a box open.

Arkold's box if full of… more boxes, the labels long faded.

Slightly relieved to have opened at least one box that didn't have something in it that made her stomach churn, Tulani looks over at Arkold. "Boxes of boxes… What's next?"

Arkold gives the boxes a stare, as if they were intentionally trying to vex him. "Oh sure, more boxes. Want to 'elp me go through these," he asks Tulani. Then he grabs a box and tries to open it.

The first box is sealed with wax, and reveals a bunch of well preserved cigars.

Tulani looks around briefly before coming over to assist the wolf in opening boxes inside a box, picking a small one up and pulling open the lid. She uncovers a box of xocholatl Eeee statues. They look like depictions of Inala.

"Odder and odder… " the Sphynx murmurs, holding up one of the xocholatl statues, "Well guess who… I believe we've seen these before?" She finished holding one up for Arkold to see.

"'Ey, yeah! That overgrown bunny 'ad 'em. We ate a few." Arkold's brow quirks. "An' don't think abou' that too 'ard."

"On the brighter side: cigars," Arkold adds, holding his box up. "These go in the 'saved' pile."

"Trust me… I'm not… Cigars? Well, if you want to keep them." Tulani replies, quickly pushing away any thoughts she had begun having and finding another box to open.

The next one has little carved dolls with gigantic feathery poofs of purple hair.

Arkold puts his new cigars aside, then grabs another box to open. "So, eh, the bunny rider may 'ave lived 'ere. Smokin' cigars an' … choppin' people up. Drinkin wine … "

Tulani just gives the dolls an odd look and a shake of her head, before opening another smaller box. "Err… maybe… "

"Makin' chocolate dolls, an' … " Arkold eyes the purple-haired dolls, let's his mouth hang open as he seems at a loss for words, then he just shrugs and says, " … other craziness."

Next up at first appear to be preserved eyeballs… but are actually a hard candy.

The wolf also pops open a box, curious now.

Squinting at the jar of things that seem to be looking back at her, and on closer inspection, not, Tulani grumbles, but sounds interested, "Yep, definitely craziness… "

Each box has some sort of luxury item inside, from candy to bottles of perfume to one box that has an ale-sized bottle of white fluid.

Arkold picks up one of the luxury items and turns it over in front of his eyes. "'Ow did these people get this ort o' thing, anyway? Even in Rephidim this sort of merchandise is 'ard to come by. Maybe we're lookin' at a bandit hideout? Some kind o' emergency shelter," the wolf considers aloud.

There's even a cosmetics case.

Tulani idly looks at the odd collection of things they had amassed… some of which looked harmless, and many of which she didn't trust. "Well, judging by the pile of hands I can think of a few ways whoever it was got some of this stuff. And bandit sounds like a good possibility… though I don't know if bandits keep shrunken heads and dismembered hands regularly.

"Good point. Bandits with some kind o' dark backin', then. Plenty o' that aroun' 'ere," replies Arkold. Putting his box of goodies aside in his 'to save' pile, he reaches over and opens another box.

The last box contains packets of large white tablets. Something Arkold recognizes as water purification tabs.

Arkold holds up the box to show Tulani. "These are water purification tabs. They use 'em to purify water, an' as such we'd better bring 'em back. Never know when you might need this stuff," he explains. "Oh, 'ey: we're out of boxes. Time to move on."

"Yes, yes Arkold, I know, I've seen them before, on airships I've worked on," Tulani replies with a good natured smile before continuing, "Well then, let's get what bits we're taking to the line and see how we can get them out of here.

"Alright, we can always come back an' get the rest," the wolf agrees. Standing up and gathering his treasures, Arkold then heads for the door.

Tulani made sure to grab the body of the slain Lindworm and a couple jars from the lower level to take with them when they leave.

Since Tulani's injured and burdened, Arkold offers to clear the path to the surface. He reaches where the roots have caved in the wall and begins trying to dig upward with his hands.

Several pounds of earth, worms and assorted debris shower down on Arkold, opening up a big enough hole to crawl up through.

"You break down, I break up, an' together we're a great team," Arkold remarks as he climbs out. Reaching back, he helps Tulani pull the rest of the supplies out, then offers to help her out as well.

With all the supplies out of the hole Tulani reaches up to accept Arkold's hand, squeezing her wings close to her body as she climbs out herself.