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Post by Celebes on Sept 30, 2023 12:16:56 GMT -5
Just watching Fyri made Celebes nauseous, even though the climb had not been particularly high. Maybe it was just the fumes from Roach's torch. But that queasiness was nothing compared to the stomach lurch at seeing the pine marten fall back into the void. Luckily, Stanwick was on the case, and managed to get between the careless climber and the unforgiving stone staircase.
About to say something pithy about heights, the otter was stopped by the sound the weasel's armor scraping against the block wall. Stanwick was slipping. Celebes made a grab for him, but his wet paw pads found no purchase on the warrior's chain mail. On the verge of overbalancing himself on the narrow stairs, the sea otter dug in his boots and grabbed for Stanwick's tail. Yes, Celebes was well aware of the heresy of yanking on another beast's tail, but he was sure they would understand when he pulled them up.
Except...he wasn't pulling them up. Stanwick and his load were too heavy.
"Roach, Roach, Roach, ROACH!" Celebes cried quicker and quicker as he felt his double load getting way from him, threatening to spill them all into the chilly water at the bottom of the stairway.
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cheesethief
Busy Dibbun
NOT CLUNY, DON'T SHOOT.
Posts: 27
Main: Roach
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Post by cheesethief on Oct 8, 2023 13:12:31 GMT -5
Everything was happening so fast! In one moment, Roach was watching Fyri with baited breath and excitement in his eyes, and in the next, excitement had turned to horror as the pine marten had started to plummet. The chain of events that followed was not something the rat had wanted to get involved in, either. First Stanwick, now Celebes. Everybeast, save Roach himself, was falling down the staircase!
Roach looked about frantically, but didn't move to help. What was the worst that could happen? Some scuffs, some bruises? Maybe some tumbling and then— SPLASH!— into the centuries-old flooded downstairs, which would surely poison them with germs, if they did not drown first. Maybe there was a pike down there, too, and it would eat any living thing that broke the surface. Maybe...
Roach groaned and shook his head, eyes darting this way and that for anybeast else he could shift the responsibility to. There was nobeast there, save for whatever winged creatures had come awake when Fyri swiped the gold, and the ghosts that most likely haunted the place.
Fine!
"I'm holdin' a torch, what do I do?!" Roach cried out in frustration, stomping his feet. You couldn't just set a torch down! If it wasn't for Stanwick's stupid armor, they wouldn't be in this scrape! Maybe they'd needed the shield before, but what good was it doing now? None! "Er... hold on...!"
Roach leaned the torch against the wall and prayed to the high heavens it wouldn't light the whole place on fire again. Then he raced forward and lunged at Celebes, wrapping his arms around the otter's sides and digging his feet into the ground. It hurt, and it scraped. They slowed down, but continued moving. Roach put more force into it.
"You're— SO lucky I don't hate you!" grunted the rat through gritted teeth, "It's like... huggin' a giant fish!"
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justcog
Active Dibbun
Posts: 63
Main: Stanwick the Repentant
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Post by justcog on Oct 8, 2023 20:37:01 GMT -5
Feeling his tail be seized by Celebes, the weasel would grunt as it was pulled taught. It was certainly an embarrassing moment, but at least it let him get his footing!.. almost. As he lifted his foot to get it under himself, Celebes too began to shift, making the weasel only more off balance.
"I'm holdin' a torch, what do I do?!"
"You have another hand!" Stanwick countered urgently as he continued leaning forward against his will. When Roach hugged around Celebes and began to pull on him, Stanwick would huff as he felt another tug on his tail... they were still moving. They were still moving! Slower now though! Releasing one hand around Fyri's waist and letting her legs drop onto the staircase while still keeping her close with the other, he'd then blindly reach against the tower wall, hand luckily catching on one of the jutting bricks. He halted, finally stopped in place precariously leaned far over the point of balance. He held still for several moments, very carefully releasing Fyri and making sure she was able to stand on her own.
"You oka-" Stanwick started before his hand on the wall slipped, causing him to fall flat onto his face with a metallic rustling from his chainmail. He grunted from the impact, remaining still by Fyri's paws for a moment before slowly planting his hands onto the stairs as he rose to his knees... embarrassing to say the least.
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Post by Fyri on Oct 12, 2023 17:53:46 GMT -5
They say that in dire circumstances well-trained warriors experience time in slow motion. As if everybeast around them had turned into snails. Fyri knew for cert now she was no great warrior for time flew by more rapidly than ever as she went crashing down to the floor. All that occurred between her hands losing touch with the wall and her feet touching the ground went by in a blur of fur and shouts. Instinctively she’d latched onto Stanwick for dear life the moment he was within her grasp (and she in his), her paws trying to find a good pawhold on his shiny armour. He gently let her down but he hadn’t let her down, in the figurative sense. This had been the second time he’d saved her life (well, Roach’s attack probably wouldn’t have killed her but a wrong drop is never to be underestimated. Every tree dwelling beast knew that!)
"You oka-"
Fyri’s heart was still beating rapidly and the sudden clang of armour falling at her feet made it skip several of those fast beats.She leant down, paws outstretched as if to return the favour and catch him but his face had already made contact with the floor. She stood there, frozen, rather awkwardly, before kneeling down further just as he pushed himself up. They met halfway. Fyri smiled sympathetically, reaching out to steady him and as she did her palms found their way to his cheek. She could see a small scratch on his nose. It didn’t look too bad but it couldn’t have been pleasant either.
Distracted, yet feeling even more gratitude towards the weasel for protecting her once more, she acted without thinking. Time once more did not slow as the poets liked to proclaim. She was barely aware of her whiskers brushing his as her lips briefly brushed against his nose in a chaste kiss. In the blink of an eye the moment was over. It was only then, when she’d leaned back, that she became aware of it. She cleared her throat, straightened her capelet, a slight blush creeping up at her own actions, and got up along with the weasel.
“Thanks fer catchin’ me.” Her smile ended in a little chuckle when she noticed she still had the treasure in paw. “En look!” She held it up for all of them to see. “I got th’--”
BZZZZZ~
Her eyes widened. Scrambling up, she pointed behind Roach and Celebes. “LOOK OUT!”
From the alcove above had descended an army. An army of wasps.
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Post by Celebes on Oct 13, 2023 10:38:02 GMT -5
"A FISH? I ain't dinner, mat---" Celebes started, letting a spark of stressed indigence vent. They had time for that now, didn't they? The balancing problem had been solved, the treasure some Redwall Brother would be pleased with was retrieved, and Fyri was giving her hero a kiss. That was the perfect time to let off some steam. But before he could even finish opening the valve, the damsel-in-a-new-sort-of-distress screamed. “LOOK OUT!”
The scream and the angry buzz prompted the otter to whirl around. There, multiplied a thousand times by their flickering shadows bouncing off the curved walls, was a cloud of big, angry, yellow jacketed wasps. Celebes had never seen more than one or two at a time, and that was scary enough. They were as big as a mustelid's paw, with a stinger that dripped with enough venom to paralyze a warty toad! The sea otter grabbed for the torch Roach had left a'leaning, and waved it towards the cloud.
"T-they don't seem a'feared a fire!" Celebes said, a tremble in his voice as the swarm merely opened a path for the burning torch to pass through before re-closing. Another lunge forward produced the same result, and this time the swarm didn't stay steady. It started advancing. Celebes tried to back up, but there were still three beasts behind him. Why weren't they going down the stairs?! They had to move deeper into the fortress, maybe hide in a room and lock the door till...
The water. This place was flooded. Fyri had practically gone swimming when she fell, they were so close to the waterline. Maybe...maybe that would be their salvation. Celebes swung a paw backwards to strike Roach and get his attention, while he kept the torch facing forward. It had to have some deterrence value.
"Back, back, back up matey! Get all in the water! Hold your breaths an' maybe they'll buzz off!" Celebes cried, intending to follow the last one in.
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cheesethief
Busy Dibbun
NOT CLUNY, DON'T SHOOT.
Posts: 27
Main: Roach
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Post by cheesethief on Oct 20, 2023 1:17:45 GMT -5
Roach hardly had time to wipe the look of disgust off his face after having witnessed the kiss before the swarm had descended upon them. A garbled scream gurgled out of of his throat, yet he found himself glued in place, eyes frozen on the torch and its failed effort to fight them back. Why wasn't fire working on them!? Fire was supposed to work on everything! These wasps were stuff of NIGHTMARES!
It was only when Celebes' paw smacked into him that he snapped out of it.
"THE WATER?!" Roach cried out in protest, yet started to urge the others toward it anyway. "But we dunno what's in there! Could be snakes! Skeletons! Leeches!"
Suppose there were all of those things, or some horrifying amalgamation of them. That was the thing, though. Nobeast knew for sure what was in the water, if anything. Yet they all knew was that there was an angry swarm of wasps out of the water.
It was a gamble they would have to make.
"Fyri, Stanwick, MOOOOOVEEEE!" the rat shrieked, shoving past them and bounding in. EW, EW, EW, EW, EW! "E'rrybeast, get in!"
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justcog
Active Dibbun
Posts: 63
Main: Stanwick the Repentant
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Post by justcog on Oct 20, 2023 17:25:09 GMT -5
Stanwick was still recollecting his bearings after the frankly rather embarrassing fall when he felt a warm presence on his cheeks. Was he bleeding? He felt the cut on his snout; no, this was something else. It took the weasel an added second to fully recognize that it was Fyri in front of him.
"I'm-" 'Okay' is what he would have said if his words didn't stop in his throat. He hadn't even realized she was leaning in until he felt her lips on his snout, stunning the weasel for the second time within only a few seconds. His maw was slightly agape, as if about to speak but unable to find the words. One might even describe his look as flustered... definitely not a heroic scene with his armor, hopefully Roach would leave that detail out when he recounted the great tale to the dibbuns. Speaking of, no tale was interesting without some danger.
“LOOK OUT!”
Hearing Fyri's voice scream out, Stanwick snapped back to his senses, rising fully to his feet as he instinctively reached for his shield. It took him an added second to fully realize what was going on. If it hadn't been for Celebes distracting the wasps with the torch, Stanwick could have been swarmed!
"Back, back, back up matey! Get all in the water! Hold your breaths an' maybe they'll buzz off!"
Stanwick gave a swift nod to Celebes' order, gently nudging Fyri for her to head down the stairwell before shifting his attention to the rat.
"But we dunno what's in there! Could be snakes! Skeletons! Leeches!"
"Aye! An' maybe a rat too if ye get movin'!" Stanwick bellowed before grabbing the rat by the collar and pulling them past himself so they could make their way down as well. Just as Roach passed, Stanwick took hold of Celebes' shirt, giving a firm yank to lower their head before giving a wide swing with his shield. There was a sharp CLACK as the wood met the stone walls of the castle, fortunately with a wasp crushed in between. Only then did the weasel begin his sprint down the stairs. His breathing was rapid as he raced down, shallow too. There wouldn't be time to catch his breath before he dove into the water, swimming just a few inches under the surface. Then a few inches lower. And lower... No, that wasn't by choice, the weight of his armor was finally showing its consequences.
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Post by Fyri on Nov 1, 2023 11:14:50 GMT -5
Fyri’s innate reluctance to get into the water was overturned by the angry buzzing zooming in her ears. Thanks to Stanwick’s urging, she was the first down the stairs, feet dipping into cold, dark water. She shivered. She really, really hated swimming.
It was up in a tree where she was carefree, but down in water, no, she wasnae otter!
Her paw clenched around the statue she’d stolen from the wasps as the impromptu panic rhyming continued in her mind. It calmed her somewhat, even as Celebes and Roach joined her, driving her further down the steps until the water was level with her shoulders. From the look on the rat’s face, she wasn’t the only one who dreaded going any deeper. And so she postponed the moment her head would have to go under for as long as possible. She was no fish, or amphibian, or water loving beast like Celebes - she was at a practical disadvantage even if she happened to love getting wet: she simply could not hold her breath for quite that long. Even bobbing for apples as a dibbun had been frustratingly challenging for her. Just another reason pears were better; you didn’t need to bob for those! It wasn’t until Stanwick dove into the water that Fyri had no choice but to take the final dip. She took a deep breath and submerged. The buzzing in her ears contorted and morphed as it fused with the gurgling rushing noise of water. Their prize still in one paw, she tried her best to hold onto the steps. It was a lot harder to do when there was this fluid force surrounding you, pulling at every fibre of your being, trying to whisk you away from your anchor. At the same time, her body wanted to float upwards - where wasps no doubt eagerly awaited, stingers at the ready. Panic soon loomed at the edge of her mind when a current right next to her threatened to take her down further. She carefully opened her eyes. All colour left her and she barely stopped from exclaiming aloud. Stanwick, he was sinking! With a few futile swipes of her paws she edged closer to him and managed to grab his … shield? She wasn’t sure but she soon felt what Celebes had but moments earlier on the stairs as she was dragged down with him. Her panic increased tenfold and realization dawned on her that if she held on, they’d likely both drown. Frantically, she located Celebes in the water but to her dismay, he was out of paw’s reach. She thought rapidly, ignoring the pain of her arm being stretched harder and harder by Stanwick’s weight. Bubbles escaped her muzzle as she grit her teeth and then, remembering the tale that had taken place in these selfsame depths, started wiggling her hips so hard she was thrashing about like a fish in a barrel to get the otter’s attention.
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Post by Celebes on Nov 3, 2023 20:07:02 GMT -5
Amidst the general chaos unleashed by the irate insects, Celebes has little time to keep track of his companions. He had ended up in the water through little agency of his own, helped along by Roach's yelling and Stanwick's more direct measures. There was something so much more intimidating to the otter about many, many tiny enemies, than just one big one. The big one was just that, a big one, he could only be in one place at a time. These angry buzzers could be anywhere, everywhere at once. A cloud of jellyfish was a lot more intimidating than a shark.
The torch sizzled angrily as Celebes dropped it in the water, plunging the tower into darkness. It would take a few minutes for everyone to get their night vision up and going, and Celebes hoped that counted for the wasps. Their buzzing certainly did seem less focused and more scattered about, but it was hard to tell if that was anything but wishful thinking. He was reluctant to ask if everybeast was doing alright and giving them a renewed target.
He felt around in the water, and felt a rat's paw. They were so much different than a mustelid's, see. About to pull him over so he could whisper in his ear, a sudden current buffeted his chest. Somebeast hadn't just jumped in, there were no splashes! Releasing Roach, Celebes felt under the water. Nothing, but the current was stronger. He took a breath, dived, and swam a length down. He grabbed something soft. It was an arm, or a tail. And it was pulling him down. Someone was sinking. And fast!
Acting quickly, the sea otter went back up for one more quick breath before diving back down, careful not to hit the stairs that were the floor of this dirty pool. He groped around once more, and found something metal. It was Stanwick's armor, he discovered after feeling around and eventually ferreting out the weasel. He pulled up, using the walls for leverage with his back paws. The weasel was heavy, unnaturally so, and though Celebes was pretty strong for an otter, this weasel must eat a lot, and Celebes was forced to lift him less than straight upwards. It was a diagnoal line, and the sea otter had a hard time orienting them back to their air hole. He felt around with his head, his whiskers, and even occasionally a paw, but all he felt was water and wall.
The last thing one wanted to do when holding one's breath was to panic, and Celebes knew that. But he also knew that his lungs were beginning to burn. And he had fresh air, Stanwick had been down here longer. Things were getting desperate. Celebes considered leaving him behind to reorient himself, but who knew if he'd be able to find him blind again. So Celebes pushed on, following the rising of his buoyant belt to know which way was up until...
"GAH!" Celebes cried as he broke the surface of the water. "Golly matey, you're heavy in...that..." Celebes said, pulling Stanwick up...and realizing there was more mustelid attached to him than one. Feeling double the set of limbs than he should, and with night vision slowly returning, he realized Fyri had been attached to Stanwick. "...pine marten."
Taking deep breaths between his relived laughs, Celebes was about to speak up again when he realized something. It was stone quiet in that rock tower. What...what happened to the buzzing wasps? They couldn't have disappeared from their air pocket...! "Roach...?" Celebes said tentatively. Had they come up in a different spot?
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cheesethief
Busy Dibbun
NOT CLUNY, DON'T SHOOT.
Posts: 27
Main: Roach
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Post by cheesethief on Nov 14, 2023 21:13:01 GMT -5
It was awful being in the water, and even more awful being yanked in by Stanwick. Still, Roach kept his head under, and his eyes screwed shut. He wasn't a swimmer, never had been, and could feel himself losing air not ten seconds after going down. Maybe it was for this reason that he did not notice all the things that were happening around him. For one, he couldn't see with his eyes closed, and he had no intention of opening them. All he could really tell was that the others were moving around, and that somebeast touched his paw at some point, but wasn't that normal for creatures trying to keep afloat against a current? When at last Roach could not hold his breath any longer and felt like he was going to burst, he shot to the surface and heaved air into his lungs. It took a few moments for his senses to adjust, but he could tell almost immediately that the swarm had retreated, calmed down, or at least had not noticed him yet. He hadn't been attacked herein, anyway. "Let's all agree t' never do this again," the rat muttered to himself, rubbing water out of his eyes and shivering. They were all going to catch a cold, weren't they? He turned back to the 'group', scanning the murky depths for them, a grimace on his face. How could they do it, staying under for so long? "Think it's safe now," Roach mumbled, wading in further so he could get their attention and get dry. "Think the swarm's gone." He reached around in the water, but his paw made no contact with anything, especially not any of his friends. With a frown, he tried again. Still nothing. He started paddling forward somewhat and kicked out with his hind legs, but still, nothing. That was when he started to worry. They couldn't have just... disappeared. Did they all decide to leave him? Was this some sort of prank? "You lot think you're awful funny, eh?" he remarked. "CELEBES! Fyri! Sta..." NO. No. He wasn't desperate enough to call Stanwick's name, even though the resounding silence filled him with anxiety and the weasel's voice would have been a welcomed presence. Maybe they really were gone. Maybe there was something in the water that got them, or some kind of vengeful spirit had snapped them out of existence, just like that. Nerves getting the better of him, Roach's breath hitched. "Celebes!? Fyri?!" Why did whatever it was that got them spare him? Did it want him to tell other curious explorers to stay out? That was when Roach's eyes went wide and all color drained from his face. It was a voice. Muffled. Echoey. Very, very faint... and it was calling his name."Oooohh, no!" Roach screamed, splashing out of the water and up the stairs. "NOOOOO!"
He was never coming back.
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justcog
Active Dibbun
Posts: 63
Main: Stanwick the Repentant
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Post by justcog on Nov 30, 2023 21:20:58 GMT -5
Once the weasel hit the water, he couldn't help but close his eyes as hw as enveloped by the cool water, a shiver running down the length of his spine. He grit his teeth as he bared the shocking cold for a moment... well, perhaps more than a moment. He wanted to gasp, to shout! But all that filled his maw was water. He coughed, sputtering under the water as what was already an icy darkness around him grew more and more oppressive. He felt some sort of tugging, something yanking. He tried to reciprocate, but his body felt sluggish and slow... and heavy, far to heavy. Maybe he should rest a moment to recover, no? Yes, just rest a moment to catch his breath.
He wasn't sure when that breath finally came, only that it was impeded by ragged coughs and the involuntary expulsion of water from his stomach. Stanwick weakly floundered about for a moment as he greedily gulped at the air, hacking between breaths as he wiped water from his eyes with his free paw. He blindly reached out, paw coming to grasp at a jutting stone from the wall to keep himself afloat as he attempted to regain his bearings.
"I-" The weasel started, only to be interrupted by another coughing fit. He squinted in the darkness, vision already impaired by his somewhat lackluster eyesight. He saw one shadow... no, two. Only two? He tilted his head, letting some water flow out before hearing the otter's voice.
"Roach..? ROACH!" Stanwick exclaimed as he looked around in a momentary panic, water splashing around in the dark room, likely only adding to the confusion with the limited sight available.
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Post by Fyri on Jan 22, 2024 13:44:14 GMT -5
The darkness that had engulfed her mind more and more had almost completely overtaken her, to the point that she was barely aware of how her body was dragged, pushed and pulled along, until suddenly it got expelled by a blissful breath of, well, not exactly fresh but air nonetheless. As most creatures would, she gasped in a loud and dramatic fashion when her head broke the water’s surface, her lungs eagerly sucking in the damp, stale, musky air she now found herself in. The first thing that greeted her ears were echoes of the word “ROACH!”. Since there was no response from the rat who bore that name, Fyri naturally chimed in as well, “Roach! Roach?” For a moment all beasts were silent and only the sound of the water sloshing against their bodies and the walls was heard. Nothing. She looked down at the water, a horrible thought threatening to overwhelm her. She gulped then forced herself to utter a more positive conclusion. “Mebbe he came up somewhere else? We donnae ken how far en wide these tunnels go.” She tentatively moved away from her otter anchor and reached out to feel around with a paw, the other still firmly clasped around the golden paw she’d gotten from the alcove. She didn’t need to reach far to find a wall. She tried another direction and soon enough another wall. “We shoulds get outtae this cold water first ourselves.” She reasoned as her paw went up along the wall to the low, smooth ceiling. “‘Fore we ge– Aha!” Her sentence got cut off by a triumphant little whoop as her claws slipped into a suspiciously straight gap. She followed it, around, around– no asquare! She pushed up and the small part of the roof moved up. “Over ‘ere!” She beckoned them over in the now not-so-dark darkness. “There’s a hatch!”
She put both her paws beneath it, their hard-earned prize squashed in between, and with a grunt of effort pushed it open; first a crack, and then, as if she'd found the right angle to push, it flung open upwards, bathing them in light. It was hard to tell if it was bright or not as to her eyes that had been covered in darkness, it was intense either way.
Without thinking, wanting to actually SEE something and, more importantly, wanting to NOT be wet anymore, she flung the prize up there and heaved herself unto the unknown but dry space above.
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Post by Celebes on Jan 29, 2024 15:23:58 GMT -5
Dazzled by the light, Celebes squinted against Fyri's silhouette as she wriggled her way into the glowing aperture. "Hey hey, matey" Celebes said, putting a paw over on the panicking Stanwick. "It's a'right. I'll stay down 'ere and Fyri can get you up!" he suggested. He knew that if the situation were different, were he on the end of a long tree branch in his own personal brand of fear, he wouldn't want to be left alone on the end. The sea otter was unsure the weasel would manage his way up were he left down here last.
Distracting his own nerves by helping others, Celebes called up to Fyri. "Hey, catch Furry!" the otter called up, before turning to Stanwick. He reached under the struggling warrior's chin to unbuckle his helmet, yanking it off before he could protest and tossing it up the hole. "There, that'll keep the part above water that matters. 'ere, stand on my shoulders and Fyri'll grab your paws."
Celebes pushed against the side of the wall to brace, though he could only do that so well while treading water. No firm footing to be had in this...flooded cellar?
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