Reunion [finished]

[flippedside]

*OOC: Everything sounds right on. Let Willow puzzle through some stuff about the mysterious Matt and his enemies... And I just made a ridiculously long post.


Matt caught the skeptical looks that Kaz and Willow exchanged. He was even more aware of Kaz's, {Doubtful} and Willow's thoughts on magic. Let them doubt. They would be in for a serious surprise. He only hoped the man didn't try some of necromantic magic on them all. Now that would make for a mess. Hard to kill something that's already dead...You had to use your own magic on it.

Briefly, he remembered the last time he had been this far north. Then he had been fleeing the Other...fleeing, specifically, this man and his monsters. They worked for the demon-creature that Matt knew only as "the Other." Now he was hunting the man. He struggled to remember a name, but there was none. He only knew him as a powerful necromancer with a thin face and thin frame and eyes as dark as the pits of hell.

But Matt was no longer weak and half-dead, starving and mad from torture. Now he was the hunter and the other the one who had traveled too far from home. For many years they had engaged in a brutal battle of wits and sparring, with brief moments of fierce fighting when they actually encountered one another. The last time, Matt had given him a brutal wound, driving him away. Now Matt wanted the man for his own purposes. For his own revenge.

He dragged himself back to the present. Without meaning to, the rage in his thoughts had caused his eyes to begin sparking slightly, and the air to heat. It was a mild change, hardly noticeable, but it jerked Matt back to the present. He couldn't let his emotions rule. The drawing in of heat meant that he had been letting his iron control of himself slip, and letting his fire burn just a bit closer to the surface. Dangerous, that.

He had seen so-called heretics burned at the stake, though it had been many years ago. He doubted that Willow's friends would burn him, but he didn't need them suddenly turning on him with swords and arrows. Even a wyrdragon could be killed. It just took one well-aimed arrow...And Matt had never been an expert at healing--never mind healing himself from a fatal wound.

He kicked himself, as he realized Willow was speaking and he hadn't been listening. "Allies?" Matt repeated blankly. "Oh, right." {The Necromancer, stupid.} "Yes, there are others who live out here. Wanderers. Some of the wolf packs are intelligent...There's other packs of...creatures, too. These days, most are more likely to kill you on sight, than to ask any questions."

{No trade routes through here...}

Matt glanced sharply at Willow's puzzled thought. She was right, of course. Most of those who lived in the so-called "Northern Wastes" didn't want to be found by the shape-shifters. Careful not to directly answer her question, since she hadn't actually spoken, he added, "I think they prefer to keep to themselves. Attacking strangers does suggest that." He hoped that would satisfy her curiosity. She was clever, though she hadn't yet put two-and-two together. She might yet, before this was over. Matt wondered if that was really such a bad thing.

Willow switched topics, discussing the current day's plan. "Not a problem, " he told her calmly. "I won't be shifting, either. I can make a good pace on two legs." Of course, Matt's version of "shifting" was completely different from a shape-shifter's. Appearing human was his "shifted" form. Nevermind, she didn't need to know that, either.

"Hmm. Well, he's most powerful by night and prefers to travel then, and sleep during the day, so I thought I'd attack during daylight hours. The key will be to be swift. If he has time to call up any of his spells or..."pets..." Well, we'll pretty much be out of luck. He's only a day or two ahead, so I was hoping to cut ahead of him and then cut off his ability to get to any help. Again, if he gets to allies, they'll cut us all down. I hadn't yet planned the specifics."

[Willow]

For one breath, the air in front of Willow’s mouth didn’t steam up, and the frigid air didn’t seem quite so cold on what little of her skin was exposed. Before she could begin to frown in puzzlement, her breathing was fogging normally in the icy air, which was back to its usual temperature.
‘What was...?’ She wondered, then dismissed it as Matt started to speak. She’d probably imagined it, anyway – she’d simply not seen her breath, and had imagined the slightly warmer air, or there was some random scientific explanation that she couldn’t be bothered with.

She flickered another quick grin at him.
“Well, I’m not surprised the wolf packs are intelligent,” She joked lightly, her vaguely longer and sharper canines bared in her smile as she gestured to herself, “Just as long as they don’t try and attack us, if we’re forced to go that far. I wouldn’t want to kill one who’s merely defending their own territory, though I’m curious...what made them hostile? You said ‘these days’ – they weren’t always so mistrusting, were they?” She queried, intrigued by these northern creatures.

“...they’ll cut us all down.” Willow snorted softly at that, though not quite in disbelief. More that she found the idea that these ‘allies’ would be so powerful that no one of their group would survive slightly worrying. She wouldn’t want to think that her friends and extended adopted family, as they were, were trekking away to what could be a fatal battle.
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t reach any friends of his then,” She said, as if it would be that simple, though her uncharacteristically cool tone betrayed her vicious tendencies towards anything threatening. For a moment, she slipped into the stereotypical ‘night’ shifter; cold and dangerous.

Her icily calm mood broke when Matt started supplying her with more details, making Willow nod at the plan outlines, already thinking on what information Matt had given her, her worries forgotten in her planning.
“We could try a pincer movement, if we can pinpoint his exact location. Veraz could be able to do that – red tailed hawks do live here, so she’d blend in fairly well. She wouldn’t be immediately pegged as a shifter, anyway. So, if she flies ahead and finds him, the rest of us can split into groups. Two to go all the way around him and block his path, another two to flank him, the rest to bring up the rear. Once we’re all in position, we can close in. Hopefully he won’t notice anything amiss until we want him to,” She suggested, absent-mindedly sketching out her idea in the air as she spoke.

“Would that work? Or would one of his spells get him out of it? Or his pets...speaking of which, what are they? If we know in advance, we might be able to work out which of us would be most suited to fighting said pet should he have it with him.” Willow continued, mind skimming through her knowledge of animals. Matt seemed to be giving the impression they were dangerous, so they’d be something carnivorous, probably. Possibly quite big, or powerful anyway. Poisonous?

Automatically, Willow judged the distance they’d travelled. About three or four mile?
As if she’d heard what Willow was thinking, Veraz slipped through the air to land on Willow’s shoulder.
“How far?” Willow asked the hawk shifter, smiling at her. “About another mile or so, yeah?”
Veraz nodded, making Willow laugh at the strange little bob the hawk did.
Veraz ruffled her feathers, then lightly took hold of the bridge of Willow’s nose in her sharp beak.
“I get it, I’ll stop laughing,” The teenager mumbled, trying not to move her head as she spoke. Apparently satisfied, Veraz released her captive then kicked off into the air again as Willow winced at the bite of her talons, still painful through the layers of clothing she wore.

[flippedside]

Matt smiled slightly at Willow's "fangs" remembering that she was a wolf-shifter. These weren't wolf shifters, though, and some of the wolves were massive--four feet at the shoulder or slightly more. Not something to mess with.

"Why are they hostile? Well, it's a long story. Long before my time, Rhyallia was ruled by a good emperor (heh, imagine that) who traded with some of the cities to the north. But then the shape-shifters got nervous of their neighbors and there was raiding...Fortunately, it never moved to all out war. Some of the northerners closed off the passes. Then there was civil war in the north and most of the cities were destroyed, thus the term "Northern Wastes." Most of the things that live in the north now are...strange and distorted. I haven't been here in many, many years. It's not a friendly place."

Matt wondered if his long speech was too much history and rambling for Willow. Then again, there was a lot that he was leaving out. Like what caused the civil war, and...Well, nevermind. She probably didn't care about all that.

They exchanged plans, and Matt listened to Willow's thoughts with interest. She showed, again, a sharp mind, and he wondered how long it would take for her to unravel some of the north's mysteries. They weren't going too far out of Rhyallia, but then again, it didn't always take much to reveal the truth. Of course, it was possible she would just find it all strange and never look for the true answers to some of the mysteries of the north. Even Matt didn't know much of the history of his land. He had lived at the end of the civil wars, when the cities were already moving into hiding and the passes were already blocked.

"Hm. Aye, I was thinking of a pincer movement myself..." Matt thought aloud. "With a group this size, you can do a lot that I can't manage on my own." Willow had a lot of questions, but they were reasonable. He took his time answering them. "I think having anyone that could shift into something that looks like it belongs here do so would make the group blend in better. It's hard to hide on white snow on sharp mountainsides. Possible, but hard. Anyway, the creatures the appear to "belong" could cut around in front. He won't expect that because you'll look exactly like the other creatures that naturally live here. I think I'll go to the front, too. The rest can divide up on the back and sides."

Matt considered. "That ought to do it. Especially if you have someone in the air to mark when everyone's in position. Have to be careful, though. He'll notice if a bird keeps flying back and forth overhead." Matt was faintly amused at the picture that brought; it would be very much a sign of a shape-shifter.

"I think one advantage we'll have as a group is that he'd never expect shifters to attack him. Me, yes. You all? Not so much. I think he might think he'll be able to take out any shifters that come against him...A group should throw him off. Hopefully, his arrogance will make him weak, too."

Matt was considering how best to attack the man, and what to do about pets, when the hawk, Veraz, appeared. She answered Willow's question: "About another mile?" with a bob. Matt "heard" Veraz's thought, {Cheeky teenager,} before she flew away. He smiled slightly, and then wondered what he was getting this group into. It was obvious they all cared for one another. What would they do if one were killed?

"As far as pets go, he shouldn't have any with him at the moment. The key will be to attack him before he calls one to himself. It takes work for him to maintain mind control over a pet, so he'll only call one if needed. If we can surprise him and then attack before he calls something, it should be easy to take him down." Matt frowned as a new thought occurred to him. "I take that back. If we attack in the day while he's sleeping, he'll have something watching over him. I don't know what, but it'll be dangerous."

His pets could be just about anything: from simply an apparition that warned him of approaching strangers, to a decaying wolf, to something completely strange and bizarre, like a two-headed serpent with wings. Even Matt had no true idea of what to expect. The man was clever and would throw all he had at any attackers, but what that would be was impossible to say.

"I think it's best if you left any pets for me to deal with. They can't be killed with just a sword. I think as far as attacking, just remember that he's much stronger than he looks. If you can maim him, but not actually kill him, that would be convenient for me. I'd like to question him about his master. But don't consider it necessary. He'll try to kill you all, so don't hesitate to kill him first, if needed. And he needs time and to be able to speak to use his spells, so interrupting his spells is ideal."


*OOC: More Rhyallian history for Willow to chomp on! She's going to become a regular historian herself. And more stuff for her to puzzle over, too.

[Willow]

“’Many, many years?’” Willow repeated, eyebrows raised with the beginnings of a grin threatening at the corners of her mouth. “Careful, you’re making yourself sound old,” She teased gently, though she’d listened closely. She was a strong believer in the phrase ‘knowledge is power’, so anything she thought might help her in the future to she paid heed to.

She nodded at Matt’s group suggestions, making a mental list of those that would fit into the surrounding environment.
‘Veraz, Khan – though expecting an ice bear to blend in might be too much to ask – Kaz? No, he’s a red fox, not white...’ Her thoughts continued, picking out names of those here until she had a fair-sized group.

Willow grinned again at Matt’s unnecessary warning.
“Don’t worry – if we want him to know we’re shifters, we’ll throw a sign at his head. Other than that, he’ll be none the wiser, unless he’s got some freakily good vision as a human,” She said, amusing herself with the image of hitting the spell caster with an out-of proportion sign with the words ‘we’re shifters!’ printed on it in big letters. Yes, Willow was still young enough to occasionally lapse back into a childish sense of humour. And?

Willow frowned at Matt’s words on the pets, though out of confusion.
“If they’re close enough for him to call them to him, surely we’d be close to them too?” She asked, then her frown deepened as she registered something else Matt had said.
“Mind control? Just who is this guy?” She asked; confusion and wariness warring on her face.
‘Mind control? Seriously? I can’t see any reason for Matt to be joking, but...mind control?’

Whilst her mind was stating its near-disbelief, Willow was automatically listening to the rest of what Matt had to say, then reiterated the main points to make sure they got past the confused babble in her head.
“Attempt to maim but not kill, kill if necessary, interrupt spells, leave the pets to you. Got it,” Willow sighed, then roughly shoved her thoughts in order as she realised the group’s pace was slowing. Those up ahead had stopped, and after a moment Willow realised they were dropping their packs and getting ready to search.

“You two stop your gabbing, the sooner we get these caves searched, the sooner we can get something worthwhile done,” Kaz called over as Veraz alighted next to him and shifted back, relieving him of her pack and searching through it for something as she chided her husband.
“Oh, leave them be, you grump. Your temper suffers in the cold, doesn’t it?” She smiled at him, while Kaz started muttering into his collar, though the light in his eyes showed that his mumblings were good-natured.

Willow rolled her eyes at the pair, slinging her things from her sore shoulders as she registered the frozen furrows in the snow, and the snow-hidden holes in the ground.
“Better get to work,” She sighed, looking with vague distaste at the semi-concealed burrows. She had a sneaking suspicion Kaz would be ordering her down one of them soon enough.

[OOC: Willow's getting majorly confused haha. And yay for history ]

[flippedside]

"Hmph." Matt snorted. {I am old, by your standards.} "I'm a lot older than you think I am," he said dryly. Fortunately, she didn't question him at length, though she briefly looked thoughtful. Truthfully, Matt didn't even remember his exact age anymore. Two hundred and...something?

Though the names that Willow thought didn't mean much to Matt, he could clearly see faces and their "shifted" selves. He left her to work out who would run in front while he glanced about. The air had grown cooler, and he noticed clouds starting to darken the horizon. Storms moved in fast in the mountains. Still, it seemed far away, so he could hope that snow wouldn't interrupt their journey. It would be irritating to have his quarry escape at the last possible moment.

He turned back to answer her question with, "I told you he was something different from what you were used to seeing. And you thought I was joking when I said he could throw you over a dozen feet. As an afterthought, Matt added, "And no, his pets aren't around. I would have noticed them."

Matt could hear Willow's worried thoughts loud and clear. She was practically screaming them, to his mind. He grimaced slightly. "Don't worry, he won't be able to have any mental effect on your group." {You shape-shifters are too dense to hear thoughts, anyway,} he added silently. As proof, no one noticed his rather rude "thought."

Matt noticed the group slowing, even as he nodded at Willow's final words. "Looks like it's search time." He couldn't help the faint sarcasm in his words. He knew they wouldn't find the Fire Stone. It would be hidden much better than in some natural cave. If that was all that protected it, it would have been found hundreds of years ago. And maybe the world would be at war again. Not a pleasant thought.

Matt waited while the others dropped their bags. He had none, only his double short swords and a long knife. But who needed weapons and packs when you were part dragon? Only...he'd never been able to shift fully, and there was none of his kind left to teach him.

Pushing his thoughts aside, he moved towards an ice cave, the sun sending slanting blue light through its roof. Matt stared down into its misty depths. "What are you going to do? Drop ropes to climb in and out?" he asked. The cave was too narrow to allow him to spread his wings. It gave him a faint chill to think about entering it.

It wasn't that he was claustrophobic, but he didn't like the idea of not being able to shift to escape, if needed. Then again, what am I thinking? I never change around shape-shifters. But the closeness to his homeland and the man they were hunting made him think more and more about how inevitable it was likely to be. Eventually, in fighting the stranger, he was going to reveal himself in some way.

Most things he could explain away. Healing, fire calling...Those could be explained as magic, though he wasn't actually a sorcerer. Not so much his appearance. He sighed, and remembered dark narrow caves and chains.


OOC: So, why is that when we RP together, we always end up fighting someone? lol. Actually, I'm really enjoying this thread because I get to tell some of Rhyallia's rather complex history. ;D

[Willow]

“So, what, is this guy a summoner as well as a spell caster and a mind-reader then?” Willow asked, though her sarcasm was down to annoyance rather than disbelief. This person was starting to sound like a bad guy out of a children’s story. An irritating one.

A sudden thought hit her, giving her another question to ask. Whichever wise entity that gifted Willow with curiosity is probably deeply regretting it now. "And these pets you talk about - would they be normal animals, or...things like those harpies in Bethany?"

“If he’s this strong, mentally as well as physically, then surely he’d be able to control our obviously inferior minds,” She sneered, kicking at a snow drift. “I’m not complaining, but you’d think that someone with that mental power would be able to override our minds. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” The wolf shifter grumbled, reluctantly, though her aggravation was cooling.

Willow sighed and nodded, picking up on Matt’s tone.
“Why the council thinks we will succeed in finding this thing where plenty of others will have no doubt tried the exact same thing and have failed, I’ve no idea. Our lack of information should be enough for him to draw that conclusion himself. The only way we’ll find it is through blind luck,” She muttered, then nodded at Matt’s question.
“If they’re more tunnels than sheer drops, we’ll crawl or walk, but most of us will have to climb. Plus, the rope will stop us getting lost should these turn out to be underground labyrinths,” She said as she rooted around in her bag, tugging out a pair of shoe spikes and straps to go around her hands, small hooks attached to the stiff leather.

Once they were on and one end of a rope had been thoroughly staked into the ground, with another rope looped around her arm, she glanced once more at the hole, clearly unhappy, then sat at its edge and felt around with her feet, dislodging snow as she did so.
“You coming down this one or trying another?” She asked without looking up, still focussed on assessing the tunnel width and gradient.
Finally nodding to herself, she tossed the rope down and with a brief wave, slithered down into the blue-green depths, clothes and spikes scraping the ice, drawing thin lines through the colour.

The rope only just reached the foot of the slope, where it sharply levelled out into a rough cavern, gleaming stalactites and stalagmites protruding from the floor and roof.
The light was dim down here, but Willow could still see pretty well. The natural room itself was rather small, but the broad passage leading off it made it seem far bigger.
“Time for a wander,” She muttered, tying one end of the unused rope to the one leading back up the tunnel, and attaching the other end to her wrist in a loose knot, so she could pull free of it quickly if needed. Then she set off down the uneven, slippery path, looking for anything that shouldn’t be all this way under the ice.

[OOC: Haha, complex is right. And fighting’s fun, so it’s all good. I’m liking Matt – he’s an interesting character.]

[flippedside]

“So, what, is this guy a summoner as well as a spell caster and a mind-reader then?” Matt quirked an eyebrow at Willow's words, and then snorted when she added, {Sounds like a bad guy out of a children’s story.}

"Yes," was his only reply, summing up both words and thoughts in one answer.

Matt listened to Willow's next question and merely shrugged. "No." At the least vulture-things had been alive. These would be neither "normal" nor alive.

Willow was already onto the next topic, and Matt blinked at her sarcastic comment about inferior minds. Had she actually heard him? I need to get better at covering my thoughts. Shape-shifters could learn thought-catching, but he'd only met one man who had. Most likely, Matt had unintentionally influenced her thoughts. That happened on occasion, though not often. Certainly it made more sense than her hearing his thought voice. Didn't it?

"Trust me, he can't influence you unless you let him. He might well be able to influence your emotions. I don't know, it's never worked on me, but it might affect some in your group. Just keep your focus on the task, and it won't matter what mental tricks he tries."

Matt shrugged. He doubted a man who could control a dead animal could control a living being the same way. Come to that, he'd heard of those who used magic to mind-slave others, but he'd never seen it.

Magic was a dying art, anyway. Matt only knew how to work his innate gifts--he couldn't do real sorcery. Whether it was actually possible to mind-slave another he didn't know, but he was pretty certain it would only be possible if you let yourself get "caught." That is, be influenced by the other to the point of relying on their thoughts instead of your own.

Matt stepped back from the tunnel entrance and let Willow enter first. "Oh, I suppose I'll come down, too." He grimaced and glanced around at the rest of the group. Most had already disappeared down other tunnels. And I suppose I can't claim to be guarding the entrances, since there's nothing here to guard them from. He sighed and flexed his hands, before dropping swiftly down the rope.

Matt leaped the last few feet, landing in a loose crouch, while he quickly took his bearings. The ice coated the floor, but rocks decorated the ceiling and appeared between piles of blue-glazed snow. Willow had already disappeared ahead, but Matt was pleased to see that the light was sharp and clean, though dimmed from the distance to the sun above. Still, the snow reflected well...

What was that?

Matt wandered over to a corner, where ice had created a solid wall. Behind it, rocks loomed in a strange, half-tumbled state. He looked closer. Opaque cracks clouded the glassy surface, but he could swear he could see a tunnel. Matt considered, looked about, and then shrugged. He was supposed to go exploring, wasn't he? It probably wasn't anything, but, well, no one was around...

He took a deep breath, and then thrust his fist out, fire bursting out, to rim out and then shoot in a piercing line through the ice. Cracks appeared with loud popping and cracking. Matt gloried in the heat that shivered through his body, his own internal fire gone from banked to raging. His eyes heated, turning silver. I missed this.

With a shattering explosion, the whole wall caved in, snow and ice shattering down from the roof.

"Oops."

Matt staggered back, and glanced around. It was a bit more destruction than he'd intended to cause, but...the way ahead was clear. There was indeed a narrow tunnel behind a large boulder. Matt breathed again, focused and then pushed fire at it with both arms. The rock heated...And then exploded.

Matt stepped back and sighed comfortably. Well, that was lovely.


OOC: Avalanche! Oh, well, not exactly. Matt and Willow play well off of each other, don't they?

[Willow]

Willow frowned, pausing in her quiet walk and half-turning to look back the way she’d come. She thought she’d heard something, behind her.
She hadn’t passed any turn offs so far that the sound could have come from, so the only thing that could have caused such a noise was a sudden cave-in, which was unlikely, as it would have moved the rope still attached to her wrist, or Matt, who’d followed her down the hole.

Rolling her eyes, Willow continued on, wondering with vague amusement what her acquaintance-come-friend was doing to mimic the sound of pulling the ceiling down.
‘If he pulls this entire thing down on our heads, I’ll batter him. Or if it kills us, I'll hunt him down then haunt him for a few centuries,’ She thought, stifling a laugh in her throat.

After another few metres, there was a narrow passage on Willow’s left, still wide enough for her to get through, but it was barely wider than her shoulders.
Glancing between the two paths open to her, Willow decided on the smaller one and slightly cautiously edged into the tunnel.

As she walked, it widened slightly, dispersing her thoughts of it getting too narrow for her to continue down.
There didn’t seem to be anything too unusual down here; there was the odd skeleton of a small animal that Willow guessed had fallen down here and had been unable to get out or find food, but that was about it.

It was only as she walked past the second one that her musings brought one of her numerous pieces of trivia to the forefront of her mind.
In such cold temperatures, bodies didn’t decay. So why were there only bones?
Willow paused, then turned back to the tiny bundle on the floor.
Curious at her own train of thought, she took the four steps back to it and knelt to examine the creature.

It looked like a common arctic hare, nothing unusual there.
But the bones were utterly clean – it had been down here a long time. There were tiny nicks in the fragile limbs, and some of the bones were fractured or broken – teeth marks.
So, something either lived down here, or a predator had fallen down here the same way the rabbit had and had made the most of the unexpected meal. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be too big – she couldn’t see anything larger than a wolf bothering with a scrawny hare.

Having drawn all the conclusions she could from the small body, she stood and continued down the skinny tunnel, scolding herself for being paranoid. She had the spell caster’s nightmare pets on the brain, she told herself, and Matt had assured her they were nowhere near Willow and her friends.
That didn’t stop her from checking the positions of the knives at her belt, and that her swords still slipped easily from their scabbards. Just to be safe.

[OOC: Haha, yeah, they do. And I’m curious about this until-extremely-recently-sealed-off tunnel Matt’s found...]

[flippedside]

Matt glanced about the cavern. A few stalactites had fallen from the ceiling, but otherwise it seemed to be holding up relatively well after the explosive heat he'd generated. Maybe a bit more water puddling on the floor and running down the walls...Ah, well.

He ducked into the tunnel. It was narrow, and he had to stoop to fit inside of it. The first surprising thing that he noticed about it was that the walls were made of rock, not ice. No light entered into the narrow tunnel from above, like it did in the cave. Matt could feel rough rock under his hands, slicked in places by ice. He turned his head back behind him as well as he could and considered. Could this be the resting place of the Fire Stone? Possibly. He was doubtful, though.

Now that he thought about it, though, the ice sealing the entrance seemed unnatural--like it was purposely walling off something. A Stone? Or an enemy? Well, only one way to find out, and Matt was, by nature, adventurous. He headed down the tunnel.

The light behind him made it impossible to see ahead for very far. He was aware that anything looking down the tunnel would see him outlined by the light coming from the cavern, while he wouldn't be able to see them well. He moved forward cautiously. The tunnel dropped suddenly, and ice slicked the floor, making movement even more difficult than it had been a moment before. Then the tunnel curved, and everything went pitch black.

Behind him, Matt could vaguely make out a dim grayish light coming from the tunnel, but it was too faint and blocked too much by his body to allow him to make out anything ahead. He called a thin flame of fire into his hand, and continued on.

The tunnel continued down, winding slightly. Matt found he often had to grip at the sharp edges of the rock that speared out of the tunnel sides to keep from sliding down the tunnel. Of course, that might have been an easier mode of travel, but he didn't know what he was facing, so he didn't want to fly into it unprepared. He continued down, making an effort not to slice open his hands.

At last, about twenty minutes out from the cavern, the tunnel flattened, its walls and ceiling abruptly expanding, so that Matt could again walk upright. He widened his flame, and glanced about. The walls had been smoothed, and ice glinted in places on their surfaces. But what was most striking was the pictures painted on the walls. They were rough images, mixed with strange runes that Matt didn't recognize. Some showed objects or possibly symbols, some animals. Most showed violence and gory death.

{This is not promising,} Matt thought warily. He expanded his awareness, but there was no sign of life of any kind. Carefully moving down the tunnel, he studied the pictures as he went. None of it made any sense to him, though many showed strange creatures with fierce talons and teeth dripping blood. It didn't exactly frighten him, though it made Matt even more wary. What, exactly, had he found?

Faint movement.
Breath.
Exhale in a hissing wind.

Matt turned warily. He had the sudden sense of being watched. That prickle that told him he was no longer alone.

What...?

The tunnel opened into a massive chasm, the floor dropping away well below sight. Matt realized that even the ceiling had disappeared far above him. He expanded his light, but it seemed insignificant compared to the massive underground space. He peered down into the darkness, curling fire down far below him. The fire argued, wanting to go up, not down. He forced it, but there was still nothing to see. Just darkness.

Matt stepped back. What was this? An underground tunnel? A massive tomb? The sealed home of some sort of monster?

[Willow]

Willow’s sigh froze a few inches from her face, masking the annoyed expression she was giving the wall in front of her.
Another dead end. The thin tunnel she’d gone down had ended in a slight cavern, with no other tunnels leading off, and when she’d doubled back and gone on to explore the original path, she’d been met by this slab of ice after a quarter mile or so.

Giving the blank, gleaming face a parting glare, Willow turned and headed back up the tunnel, looping the rope around her shoulder as she walked. Time to grab Matt and explore another hole, she guessed.
Speaking of which, where was Matt? She should’ve bumped into him by now, if he’d followed her. There’d been nowhere else to go, after all.

‘Maybe he changed his mind and went to check another cave,’ She thought. ‘The faster we search them all, the faster we can start after this spell caster of his, after all.’
This train of thought made the most sense to her, and she believed it until she reached the first cavern and was met with the sight of a debris strewn tunnel that had appeared since Willow had last been here.
Melted ice dripped from the top of the entrance, and the already treacherous floor was slick with semi-frozen water.

Willow stopped, taking in the new scene, from the fallen stalactites which made her glance with some trepidation at the ceiling, to the rock walls of the dark space in the ice.
Cautiously, she made her way to the freshly excavated cave, peering into the night-like darkness.
Self-preservation niggled the back of her mind, but Willow stifled it. She was built for darkness, and this lure was too much for her inquisitive nature to ignore. Besides, solid rock amongst all this ice was unusual, which was exactly what her team was looking for. She had to at least try and explore it a bit...

But the darkness, though soothing, presented a problem. It wasn’t just night-like – the night had stars and the moon to light it. There was no such aid here, and even a hunter’s eyes would be blinded without some faint light to help.
This in mind, Willow retreated and headed back up the natural slide that had led into the underground cavern, using the rope to haul herself up.

The weak sun nearly blinded her as she emerged, eyes screwed up in the bright light as she clambered out of the hole.
Someone had set up a small fire before they’d set off to search, and it was the flames Willow headed for. Grabbing a good-sized branch from the woodpile, Willow wrapped a few fat-soaked rags from her pack. Everyone carried torch making equipment with them, so the scraps she used weren’t so unusual an item.

Once she had a strong flame clinging to her torch, she headed back down her tunnel, taking care to move slower than usual to avoid putting out the fire.
As soon as she was back underground, she made straight for the cave, and was almost instantly grateful for the small spikes and hooks strapped to her shoes. Without them, she probably would have ended up on the floor within a few seconds.

Once she’d steadied her footing, she set off, keeping close to the wall as she neared the corner.
As she rounded it, the floor got the better of her and Willow clattered to the ground, swearing and clinging to the wall with her free hand to stop herself from sliding away. Yes, it would be a lot easier and far more entertaining than carefully inching her way down the way she would be on her feet, but it wasn’t safe.
Cursing the bruises she knew would be forming, Willow slowly got to her feet, feeling very much like a foal learning to walk as her long legs skittered on the icy ground, trying to find a thinner patch of ice where her shoes would have a better grip.

When she’d finally found her feet, she continued down the twisting path, grasping each projection of rock grimly to avoid other falls.
By the time Willow reached the stone cavern, she was fervently wishing she would never see another rock or cave again. Or ice. From now on, she was staying in the warmest places possible.
The strange, slightly disturbing images on the walls pulled her out of her mental tirade, capturing her attention.

An uneasy shiver came with her thoughts.
‘Who painted these things? Who livedhere to paint them?’
Suddenly, despite her night element, Willow was very grateful of the strong flame atop the torch clasped in her hand.

[flippedside]

Matt heard the scrape of metal against stone behind him, and instantly spun and put out his light. The darkness was immediate and pervasive. He crouched slightly, ready for anything, and moved back from the cliff edge.

A thought barged into his consciousness, almost ringing in the stillness. {Who painted these things? Who lived here to paint them?}

Far down, a light grew out of the blackness, and Matt could make out a lean figure dressed in warm clothes. {Willow?} he thought, perplexed. Silently, he crept forward. In the suffocating darkness, his breathing seemed loud. Or was he hearing someone else's breath? He felt a chill run down his spine, and paused to glance behind him. After staring at the torch light, the darkness seemed especially deep and oppressive. He hesitated.

Willow was staring at one of the ancient wall paintings, the flickering light from the flame casting weird dancing shadows on the walls. Matt felt an instinctual wariness arise. There was something wrong with this place. Something that probably ought to be left alone. The breathing seemed louder, like a faint hollow wind was rushing through the cave. Matt had the sense that he was about to wake something that was far better left alone.

He hesitated, and then strode towards Willow, his boots unnaturally loud against the rock. The tunnel made small sounds seem magnified by the echoes.

"Willow?" he called. He was far back from the light, and not sure that she could see him yet. "This ends in a dead end. I think we ought to go back." {Now.} He added silently, sending his own force of will in the word. There was something wrong...

Heat raced in a shimmering dance across the floor and washed over him, sucking abruptly back in a rush of air. Matt spun. There was no flames, nothing to see, but he felt the heat against his skin. Too late...

Another harsh breath of heat, this time accompanied by the rasp of metallic talons against stone walls. They were about to meet whatever it was that had been sealed off for hundreds of years. Matt hesitated, then jogged back towards Willow. He might stand a better chance fighting the creature before it climbed out, but somehow he doubted that. It was clearly climbing up the rock wall, so a cliff edge would not cause it any trouble. In the meantime, he was worried that it was a fire breather, and would roast Willow alive. It certainly showed every sign of being that way...

[Willow]

Willow turned at Matt’s voice, a sharp whirl that betrayed her nerves. She’d been too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear his footsteps, and she silently berated her lack of attentiveness as he spoke.

“A dead end? This place seemed...promising...” She trailed off, glancing again at the painted walls. Promising didn’t sound quite right to her.
She was about to ask just how Matt had blasted through a solid wall of ice to reach this place when she actually looked at him. She wasn’t sure if it was the uneven shadows her torch was casting over him, but he seemed...tense.

“Are you-?” Her concerned enquiry faded out, uncompleted as the wave of dry heat rolled over her. In a place so long locked in ice; that was definitely enough to silence her with worry. Part of her was yearning to do what Matt had said: leave, as quickly as possible. But the rake of metal on rock told her something was breathing in the dark, and when faced with something living, not to mention dangerous, staying put and standing your ground until you knew what you were facing was often your safest bet.

Too bad some pessimistic thought of Willow’s noted that she probably would have no idea what this thing was even if she saw it in broad daylight.

Ignoring that, Willow started to think, shoving her worry(fear) away to keep her mind clear. Presuming this beast was large, and by the sounds of its talons, it was both large and powerful, how best to escape it? They weren’t far from the twisting tunnel that led into the stone cavern; perhaps if they could reach that, the creature would be too large to follow?

Following that train of thought, how best to get to the tunnel? Make a sudden run for it, hoping to take it by surprise, or slowly edge towards it, to try to avoid presenting a full-blown hunting scenario?
Willow herself was biased; as a wolf, if a creature stood its ground and didn’t run, its chances of survival instantly went up. Other animals didn’t behave as such, however, so Willow had no way of predicting what this creature would do.

At a loss, Willow glanced to Matt, to see if he had any ideas. She tilted her head back a few degrees, towards the tunnel, her eyebrows raised questioningly as her free hand drifted silently towards her swords. Move or fight?

[flippedside]

Matt reached Willow as she tilted her head back towards the entry and raised questioning eyebrows. {Back?} Good idea.

Matt nodded. "Go first. I'll follow." He skimmed the walls and size of the room quickly. If necessary, he had room to fly, but it would be tight if the monster was large. That was not ranking as the best strategy in this case, since he didn't have a desire to be knocked out of the air.

Matt backed up cautiously, thinking that it had been decades since he'd fought any real battle. Shape-shifters could battle furiously, but fighting them was vastly different from fighting an outlander. He could win against most shifters because he was faster and often crueler. This fight, however, was not guaranteed. He moved back towards the tunnel.

More hot air rushed against Matt's body, this time causing his skin to burn slightly from the unnatural heat. Matt glanced uneasily at Willow, seeing the torch blow backwards and then rush inwards on the sucking breath, almost blowing out. He willed it not to die. Fortunately, it didn't, quite.

What to do? Shifting would give him an advantage against the monster, but not so much against Willow. Of course, he could win in a fight against her (you couldn't really say that it would be a fair fight), but shape-shifters were often very prejudiced and apt to act unpredictably. Could he count on her to stay on his side against the monster, or would she turn on him? Only one way to find out...

"I will have an advantage in this fight if I...change." {How to word this!?} "Er..." He'd kept his secret so long he didn't know if he could reveal it now.

Oh, crap...

{HUNGRY.}

Suddenly it was too late. The scrape of talons against stone was much closer, a massive creature of shadows and darkness cresting the cliff edge. Matt could feel it pressing against his mind.

{HUNGRY.}

It's sightless eyes fixed on them as it breathed in deeply, sucking in their scent and pulling the torchlight out. The darkness was oppressive.

{BLOOD SCENT. FOOD.}

Its thoughts were mangled but strong. It hadn't eaten in a very long time, had slept silently for...Years? Centuries? Matt sensed that the creature had no sense of time.

And I had to wake it. Stupid, stupid...

Its talons rasped as it moved closer. Well, surviving this monster was currently a much bigger threat than anything Willow could throw. He stripped off his crossed belts and shirt, giving his wings room to move, and then called fire into his hand. He couldn't draw fire from space--it had to start somewhere against his body before he could move it out. He drew one short sword with his right hand, and then sent a rush of flame at the creature, hoping to get a good look at it. He was more successful than he would have liked.

It was hunched and roughly human-shaped, though at least twice as tall. It wore a ragged cape and half-rotted clothing. Long reptilian hands and legs jutted from its body, ending in harsh, black talons. Beady red eyes stared out behind a long muzzle with scraggly fur at the end. A long tail dragged across the ground behind it.

It reached out and "caught" the fire, and then threw it back at Matt. Matt threw up a shield of flame, feeling the heat scorch his flesh. He still had his human form, which had the unfortunate effect of feeling heat. He shifted, letting his wings snap out from his back.

Matt sighed, faintly. Now the giant walking crocodile and he were on slightly more fair terms. Slightly. He decided that the tunnel would be too slippery to attack from, and the thing was long and narrow, and so could possibly make it through as well. Matt settled down to fight.

He paused to glance at Willow. "Well, I don't think we found the Fire Stone." His eyes had turned solid silver-blue, his pupils black and dilated. "Guess you know now that I'm as much of a monster as that thing." He shrugged, and turned to fight the hungry beast.

[Willow]

Willow nodded slightly, starting to slowly retreat backwards, a quick glance over her shoulder showing she was going in the right direction before her gaze went back to the concealing darkness the creature was swathed in.

Noticing the effects the rhythmic billows of hot air was having on her torch; Willow cradled it closer in an attempt to protect the flame. She did not want to be stuck in here, utterly blind. A few years ago, she would have had no choice in the matter, but since she’d regained her sight, Willow had grown a little more reliant on it than she would have liked.

Matt’s words once again broke through her half-automatic reverie, and she nodded, missing that the use of the word ‘changed’ implied something other than normal shifting.

Suddenly, any thoughts were whisked out of Willow’s mind with the light of her torch, now killed as the blackness ploughed in to envelop them.
Willow’s mental coherency returned in a barrage of silent curses as she froze in place, feeling, for once, very like the deer as it realises the danger only feet away, far, far too late.

The instinctual panic was brushed aside for a moment as her pupils automatically contracted to specks then flooded outwards a little to focus on the sudden flare of fire that turned Matt into little more than a silhouette.
It also, ‘unfortunately’, Willow’s mind supplied as her eyes went to the sight in front of her, showed the creature’s appearance.

Any previous nightmares she’d had had nothing on this creature. Clichéd, she knew, but now she actually realised that the overused sentiment was one hundred percent genuine.
Had Willow been any weaker than she was, she might have just shut off her mind and refused to believe any of this was happening, to try and shield her mind with denial. The temptation was extremely strong now, but seeing as that route would most likely get her killed, she resisted and continued backwards a step or two, though her assessment of the beast had already told her that it was slim enough to follow her into the tunnel, trying not to think about how Matt was conjuring up torrents of fire to attack and defend with, nor how it would feel if that monster caught her.

She stopped involuntarily again when Matt shifted. For a single nanosecond, Willow was curious what his animal shape was.
Then the impulse from her eyes reached her brain, and she dismissed a further microsecond of thought that he could simply be partially shifting into a bat form. Bats didn’t have scales or lizard-like tails.

When Matt turned to speak to her, Willow took in his altered face and gleaming eyes with her own wide green-ringed black ones.
She barely managed some semblance of a nod at his first observation, but stopped the signal of agreement with his next words. The creature skulking near the hole was certainly monstrous, and Matt’s new appearance was frightening, though she would never admit it later, ‘If I survive this,’ the part of Willow’s mind that was still working added, but as scary as it was, it wasn’t like he’d become a different person. His voice had been the same, and he had shown no desire to attack her, though Willow knew the beast from the pit was by far the prevalent threat here.
Still. Matt was Matt, and though she’d only known him for all of two days, there was a vague trust there.

Her earlier words to Kaz came back to her, when Matt had first approached their camp. ‘well, there’s been a few instances where he could have killed me and didn’t.’ That hadn’t changed, and as aware of Matt’s new – real – form as she was, it only gave Willow more evidence Matt wasn’t the ‘monster’ he had called himself.

Deciding that she might want something a bit sturdier than a sword should the creature lunge for her, Willow kept hold of her now-useless torch, guessing it had one decent hit in it as a club before it broke, and drew a sword with her right hand. The creature could follow her anyway, and Matt seemed to be preparing for a battle rather than escaping. And Willow would be damned if she would run and leave someone else behind to fight.

[OOC: So, Willow’s going to give Matt the benefit of the doubt...for now. But a full-blown freak out might be in order later, when they’re not in danger of becoming some ancient creature’s long-overdue next meal...depending on how long this fight goes on for.]

[flippedside]

Matt was half-aware of some Willow's thoughts, as she struggled to take in the monster and assess his new--"real"--shape. She was frightened, but then, so was he, so he couldn't judge her for that. More than that, he wasn't paying too close of attention. The monster's thoughts battered against his mind, threatening genuine mental harm. He tightened his internal "shields" deflecting the violent thoughts and images that were being forced on him. It was much more difficult than it should have been.

He thought briefly back to the wall paintings, wondering if they had showed something useful. Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing bizarre, almost reptilian looking mages making sacrifices and casting powerful spells. There had been war and death...and others fighting with magic, with...Wait, had he seen an image of someone using a pale blue stone? Was this creature that old?

Matt didn't really have time to think things though, but he realized that someone with the ability to use powerful magic would have skills far beyond his own. But sacrifices would also mean that this thing used blood to work magic--and possibly to extend its life to impossible lengths. So, it was reasonable to assume that it was weak...Well, weak comparatively.

He shared his thoughts quickly with Willow. "I think it needs blood and sacrifices to work its magic. Right now, it's hungry. If we can keep it from drawing any blood off of us, it'll stay relatively weak...I think. I don't know much about blood magic."

He glanced at her. "Move further along the wall to the left. I'm going to go right, and we'll see if we can pin it between us." He paused to relight her torch and then...faded out. Technically, he wasn't invisible. He was using his own magic to make his body appear to be part of the background. He didn't know if it would affect the monster or not, since the creature seemed to be hunting them with its nose more than its eyes. Still, any trick was worth trying.

Matt slipped silently across the floor of the tunnel to the opposite wall, and then lept into the air with a heavy whoosh. There was no way to hide any noises he made, but he didn't worry about that too much, catching onto the rough stalactites high in the ceiling and holding on, spider-like. He watched the monster carefully.

The creature had paused when they separated to opposite sides, turning its head back and forth, while its muzzle wrinkled, sniffing them both out. It continued on, rapidly shrinking the distance between them with the endless scrape of claws on stone. These weren't animal claws, though--they rasped against the ground with the sound of metal filing away a rough surface. Matt had already decided that getting on the wrong end of those claws would mean almost instant death.

Now, as Matt crouched against the ceiling, his body twisted in a silent effort to keep track of the reptilian monster, it paused again, sucking in a deep breath as it struggled to find him. It seemed to know that he was in front and above it, but it couldn't quite figure out his exact location. Maybe endless sleep had made the thing senile. At any rate, it acted temporarily confused. Matt wondered if it suspected a trap, but then it continued forward, honing in on Willow.

Perfect, he thought, allowing a tight smile to cross his face. He was careful to keep all of his thoughts shielded.

Matt watched the creature pass underneath him...And then dropped, sword extended. The creature paused and looked up, but there was nothing to see. Still, it sensed something wrong, and shied away, thrashing with its claws. Matt jerked his wings out just in time to avoid being cut to shreds, and then slammed his sword sideways with both hands. The weapon cut off a finger, and then sliced into the monster's neck. The heavy scaling of the beast kept the sword from going deep enough to do any real damage, though.

The beast howled, and swatted, and the furious thrust of his sword kept Matt from being able to twist away. He went flying across the room and slammed into the wall, streaks of blood already marking his chest and stomach. He blinked, his form abruptly appearing as he stopped using his magic. Matt had just enough time to heal the crack on his head and lunge to his feet, when the monster was on top of him.

"Attack, Willow!" Matt hollered, hoping she understood that as long as the monster had its back to her, she had a chance to get it.

He didn't have more time to think, washing the ground in front of him in fire, and then blocking quickly with his sword. He dropped and chopped up, slicing deep into the monster's gut. The beast tried to rip his head off, and he had to drop his sword and roll away to save himself.