Helping Hrsk 2

A direct continuation from the previous segment, the lizards and wildcat get out on the road, heading for Beggar's Pass. But things are just getting started, and like any great adventure, danger awaits...

Morning comes early for the travelers. Dylan considers himself pretty familiar with the woods, having to dodge the militia and other bandits for so long but Beggar's Pass is not a name he is familiar with. He can see why since Beggar's Pass isn't so much a road as a lightly disturbed game trail leading off into the woods. Letting Hrsk guide them the scrawny ex king eventually leads them through the woods to a small valley with a small creek running through the bottom. The pine trees thin out as he leads them down the steep slope of the valley towards the creek.

Raziel looks around, trying to get his bearings. "Yes...this place seems familiar, alright. I remember coming here with Rorgan and Vannon and Lee...and I came out somewhere close to here after that episode with Luco." The feline walks confidently with his spear, letting the lizards lead. He hopes this plan is as simple as it sounds...

Hrsk explains, "There are smaller openings scattered across the land scape but..." He holds up his claws for the party to halt. With out asking what the hold up is Dylan crouches low next to a tree and peers around the corner. The clearing up ahead next to the river is small and over run with tall grass. In the side of the mountain there is a large well rounded hole in the earth. A trio of lizards how ever are making their way towards the opening from the opposite direction. They wear almost tribal wear, cloth sashes and bead armor. The leader of the pack looks odd with a black leather vest and a feathered cap on his possession. The other two lizards carry baskets of fish and one has a dead sparrow hanging by a rope over his shoulder.

Raziel crouches behind the trees as well, hoping that no one saw his grey fur in the underbrush. "Who are those...?" He whispers to Dylan - though, in retrospect, Hrsk would probably be able to answer that better. But...the lizard still seems upset about the 'murdering his tribe' thing...

The shorter but fleshier lizard turns to his red scaled companion. "Well?" Hrsk rubs at his chin for a long moment. "That is Zil. It's just a simple hunting party...maybe a good way to get in too." He turns to Dylan and Raziel, "How do you prefer to get in? If we turn ourselves over they could take us strait to Trsk...but we would be at his mercy. Or we can try to sneak in."

Raziel blinks. He remembers the last time he was tied up...in excruciating detail. "NO. No capture. I'll not be held at the mercy of some tyrant. Again..." The wildcat isn't likely to budge on this point, unless some /really/ convincing evidence shows up in the next five seconds...

Hrsk gulps a little bit at the wildcat's out burst. "Oh...kay. What should we do?" Dylan watches Zil pause at the entrance of the cave to let his men go in first before stepping inside himself. "Well, unless you can think of a better place to enter we can follow this lot in."

The lizard thinks on this, "There is an air vent up north, it is narrow though, not too bad of a climb down."

Raziel nods once. "Seems a solid idea." The cat doesn't mind a little climbing, if it means that getting in will be substantially less...violent, than last time. Though, he still expects there to be violence. That much is unavoidable....

With a nod of his head Hrsk takes off like a bolt back up to the road. If they can't keep up its their own problem. The spry lizard stops several dozen feet away from where there were and crouches down to the side of the road near what appears at first to be a simple shadow along side the hill side to the left, until he rolls onto his back and pulls himself through.

Raziel glances over to Hrsk as he takes off, and gives Dylan a tap on the shoulder before following the tribal lizard. "He's not a highly patient fellow, is he?" Raziel asks with a smirk, squeezing himself through the hole. Someone of his size probably wouldn't be able to, without the same distinctive feline flexibility...

Dylan squeezes in easily enough...after sucking in his gut. Once in side he is greeted by a poorly lit crevasse in the mountain side. The room funnels forward into a steep cliff downward. It looks like a giant maw waiting to gobble up the travelers and spit out their bones. The lizard takes a step forward and peers over the side.

Having a feeling that it would be needed here in the caves Dylan reaches behind him and produces a small torch and flint. After lighting it he levels it over the abyss and lets it drop. It falls, and falls, and keeps falling until it stops at the bottom. "Hrsk...we need to talk to you about your definition of a small climb. That...my friend, is a sheer drop and vertical scale wall into nothing!"

Raziel has a momentary feeling of vertigo, but he smashes it back down. Lashing his spear across his back, the wildcat starts to lower himself over the edge, feeling for a paw-hold with his claws. "It'll be fine..." The cat will land on his feet, anyway.

Hrsk falls to his belly and begins to climb down face first. He pauses halfway to turn back to the top. "What's wrong Dylan? Let's get going!" Dylan however hesitates at the edge still. "Um...well...I am not a climbing species of lizard...so to speak..." He looks very uncomfortable.

Raziel is already on his way down, though he's climbing in a considerably more /sane/ orientation. He looks up at Dylan. "Well, you have to find /some/ way down. Don't you have some rope, or something...?"

The lizard growls to himself. He curses loudly enough to echo across the cave before him. Taking the slope like the feline he begins to slowly crawl his way across the cave side. By the time he is half way down Hrsk has already made it to the bottom. He picks up the torch and makes sure no one is going to interrupt them, at least from down here

Raziel arrives next, not quite as fast as Hrsk...but a fair bit faster than Dylan. "Well...that was not so bad. But can you keep your curses down, Dylan? Caves like this echo..." He tries to look ahead, using the light of Hrsk's torch.

The cave ahead is a combination of beast built ruins and natural cave. The cave around them zig zags around in odd curves and corners, but the floor is comprised of white stone. It is neither polished or made to be pretty. In fact it is possible it was not designed to be walked on at all. Dylan stops cursing until he loses his grip and falls flat onto his tail. Thankfully he wasn't TOO far from the bottom. "Ow..." Hrsk shakes his head, "City lizard..."

Raziel helps the former-bandit up, snickering, "Didn't break anything important, did you?" He lingers only for a moment, though, before returning to Hrsk, not wanting the reptile to leave him alone in the dark. Considering how much Hrsk hates him...it's not all that far fetched.

The thought has crossed his mind, Hrsk must admit. Dylan however is happy for the help. "I'm fine. All I broke was my pride." A loud crack echoes through the cave and both lizards widen their eyes in shock. "Oh dear..." Hrsk says again before the ground below them shifts. The ground is starting to rapidly disappear as if being sucked into a funnel below them.

Raziel blinks as he looks down. "You can't be serious. Hrsk, WHY DID YOU NOT TELL US THE AIR SHAFT WAS UNSTABLE?!" Granted, the lizard would really have no way of knowing, but that doesn't mean that the tiger is going to be reasonable about it. You know...as the floor collapses under his paws.

Hrsk would reply if he wasn't immediately sucked into the floor. Dylan reaches into grab the beast and hisses in fright as he is dragged down as well. "Raz! Help...!" his cry is cut short as a roaring noise deafens the area and the torch is snuffed out as it is brought into the funnel like hole appearing in the floor.

Raziel backs up as much as he can, but there's nowhere he can go with the growing pit getting between him and the way out. Besides...his night vision is good, but not perfect, and without the torch, he can't see where he's going. The feline clutches his spear tightly, and waits for the floor to give out under him...

There is only darkness and the sound of rushing dirt as it collapses into the void. This is quickly replaced by the sensation of free fall. There is a short drop as the party comes shooting out of the wall and into the room below. Dylan quickly pokes his head up out of the dirt and gasps for air. He is greeted by the sight of fellow red scaled lizards. Lots of lizards. Perhaps hundreds, enough to fill the large and spacious hall they have arrived in via dirt mound.

What stands out the most is the throne sitting upon the pile of gold and loot before him. On the throne a small lizard, red scaled with a black obese underbelly and adorned by various belts and jewels with a pointed crown on his head. The lizard steps off the thrown, jaw agape as he hisses in a foreign language. Roughly it translates to, "What...the...h-"

Raziel digs himself out of the dirt a few seconds later, having landed more or less on top of the pile. "Ugghhh...that was pleasant. How about we take the easy way in...next......time." The feline just now notices the lizards surrounding them, and after a brief spell of feeling like he's going to be terribly ill, does his best to stand on the dirt pile. Intimidatingly. It's...partially successful, as he keeps slipping, but hey, he has his spear.

He could have dropped in wearing a clown suit for all the lizards care. There isn't one alive who doesn't recognize the beast. The tribe gasps with shock at Raziel's sight and begin to back away from him. The guards that came to seize them stop dead in their tracks trying their best not to look like they were about to attack them. Spears and stone axes? Weapons? what weapons? The lizard king for his part has found himself back in the throne. He tripped while backpedaling into the chair and hisses in fear.

Hrsk is the last to recover, "Oh....my heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" THe lizard for once looks shocked at the scene before him. For a brief moment both brothers lock eyes. Fear is lost on both sides and quickly replaced by a seething contempt and hatred for each other.

Raziel nods slowly, more to himself than anyone else. They remember him. Good. They fear him enough to not try to kill them. Better. The wildcat hops down from the dirt pile, and shakes the dust off of his fur dramatically, trying to make up for the entrance. He plants the end of his spear on the ground. "Boo."

The group of lizards Raziel is facing cower in fear. Men tremble, women scream, dibbuns cry. On the throne Trsk rolls his eyes and grits his teeth. With the sight of his bother and banished ex king before him his fear has turned more into a bitter kind of hatred. He makes a low guttural noise towards his brother, "Hrsk! You dare to bring your cowardly tail back here after all you did? And you bring our enemies to our door step? What is the meaning of this!"

Hrsk makes a short yip like sound, "Cowardly? You are one to talk. You couldn't stand up for yourself if someone nailed you to the spot! I'm here to take back what is mine!"

Raziel isn't sure what the lizards are hissing and yipping about, but he folds his ears back at the sound. It's not entirely pleasant. The wildcat also assumes, stereotypically, and rather ignorantly, that Dylan knows the same language the other reptiles do. "What are they saying...?"

Dylan raises an eyebrow to the feline, "That is a good question. Hrsk, care to fill us in?" The taller but thinner tribal like lizard says to the pair with out turning around, "Nothing too important. General greetings, threats, and other nonsense. He wants to know why he shouldn't just kill us where we stand, blah blah blah. One sec." Hrsk gestures to his companions, first patting Dylan on the shoulder and announcing something that makes the crowd gasp. He then taps Raziel on the shoulder making another hiss that seems to cause quite a stir.

Enough to make Trsk stand up from his thrown and shout back at his older brother. The veins popping out of his head and the vicious look on his face would be terrifying if not for his height and high nasally voice.

Raziel blinks. Clearly, they shouldn't kill them where they stand, in case Raziel succeeds in decimating their population. Again. Their reactions, however, have the wildcat more than a little confused. "Hrsk...what did you just say...?" He doesn't know how Dylan even fits into this plan, yet he seems to be part of it, now...

"Raz took the words right out of my mouth. What is going on?" The lizard king looks like his head is about to explode with pure fury. His scales bright in redness as she throws his claws in the air and turns around, stomping on the gold pile under claw. He finely shouts again to the crowd and they begin to chant, "Hurrka Hurrka!" Dylan repeats his question, more forcefully this time, "Hrsk, what did you just do?!"

Hrsk chuckles, "Well...the good news is we got ourselves a duel. Raz you will need to best Trsk's champion in unarmed combat." Guards come now and try to usher the beasts towards one of the various side rooms in the offset stone made hall that could rival the Great Hall of Redwall. If of course Redwall were over run with decay and disrepair with a giant scorpion pit in the center of the room.

"We will now be shown to the Pit of Judgment. If you defeat or kill Trsk's champion...I will become king."

Raziel looks around. But...what was the thing about Dylan? And /unarmed/ combat?" The wildcat sighs. "Not my favorite, but it wouldn't be the first time. I suppose I should probably ask who the 'champion' is now?" He starts walking towards the pit...but he's not putting his weapons in the paws of these beasts. Instead, he offers his spear and sword to Dylan. "Will you hold these...?"

Dylan takes the heavy blade and spear, "I'm sure if you are able to wield these monstrosities around you will have no trouble beating up a shrimp of a lizard!" Hrsk turns to the beasts as they walk, "I should hope so! Oh, this would probably be a good time to mention that if you lose not only your life, but also mine and Dylan's are at the mercy of my brother. He can make us into slaves, feed us to the scorpions, toss us into the great abyss...or more likely take your hide as a trophy..."

The beasts are led through a winding set of tunnels made with the same white stone which fades to an eerie shade of gold and red from the torch light. Eventually they come to what might have once been the true throne. Not nearly as large as the Great Hall but still impressive in size. A long rectangular room with pillars running down the walls, most of which broken. The far end has collapsed onto what was once the throne and water trickles freely from the ceiling into a small pool at the base of the steps. There are two stone chairs set up here across the room from one another.

The lizards chant of "hurrka" fills the room.

Raziel grumbles, "Oh, wonderful. You could have mentioned these things earlier, Hrsk." But, look at the bright side. If he's dead, he won't be subjected to the same unending nightmare as the other two! And, his grey and black striped coat would make a fetching rug, by most accounts. He shakes his head. This is /not/ helping. The cat takes a few steps towards the Pit of Judgment...

The roar of hurrka becomes even louder if possible. Dylan is forced to shout his question, "Hrsk...what is that word they are shouting?" The cheering abruptly stops. The crowd parts to let an incredibly large lizard walk through. The red scaled behemoth has muscles on his muscles and wearing skulls across the belt supporting his fox skin sash. Hrsk replies, "Hurrka...is Trsk's champion."

The large lizard glares at Raz eye to eye, then abruptly steps off to the side allowing the beasts to lay eyes on...nothing unless they look down. A small wiry gold scaled lizard stands here. He is dressed in a grey fox furred cloak, presumably from the same fox as the lizards sash, and regards the wild cat who is twice his size with a calm and placid expression.

Raziel blinks when the big guy steps aside. He...was not expecting that. "This...is Hurrka?" The cat is, suffice to say, confident in his ability to maul the beast. But not /over/ confident. After all, there must be some reason this one is champion...or, Trsk is just an idiot. Who can say? "Uh...hello." He can't think of anything better to say.

In grandiose style the lizard barely larger than Trsk unbuckles the clasp of his cloak and tosses it to the side. His body underneath is wiry but fit and trim. He begins to make a complicated flurry of punches and kicks in the air ending with a flip over the bench behind him. When he lands he slams his fist into the stone bench, breaking it in half. Hurrka shakes his head as he snarls at the wild cat.

Hrsk and Dylan both take a step away from Raz, "Yeah...have I told you how glad I hired YOU for this job Raz?"