Journey to Underroot - Oct 15th, 2015

Tsuna, Brick and Glam got up early. The sun had not breached over the treetops yet, so they sky was a light, early-morning green. Brick stretched out and patted his belly. Think I’m gonna go get me some river rocks for breakfast. The Martian scuttled off to see if he could find a river. The Gernwood, although big, seemed small and inviting today. It didn’t take long for the one-eyed man to find a trail that led out of the camp and down into a small ravine. The soil became soft under his flip-flop pads he had for feet, and he was reminded how dry the soil was back home on Mars. A pang of nostalgia and homesickness hit the space trucker, but he reminded himself how important his mission here seemed to him and his new friends. The people of Aomrin need saving! he thought. A smile broke through his tentacle beard, and he continued to plod down the trail.
A thin mist pervaded through the tree tops; morning was fast approaching. Brick had walked for just a few short minutes now, and was coming across what seemed to be the start of a river, when he heard a twig break behind him. He whirled around. Nothing…But when he turned back, there was the elf hunter! Glamcatsol was now leaning against a tree a few feet ahead of him.

“Where are you going so early?” Glam asked.

“Glam! I didn’t hear ya sneak up on me! Just going to get me some rocks for breakfast! Haha, I’d invited you to come with me before if I had known yer were up.” Brick jovially came up to Glam and patted him on the back. Glamcatsol glared.

“Mhmm. Yeah, I don’t eat rocks. But thanks for the offer. I’m going to join you now."

Brick laughed a bit, and added “More for me then!” and they continued on. For a few moments, Brick tried to engage Glamcatsol if he remembered anything of the memory point, or how he slept, or if was ok after the whole dad thing, but Glam just walked cooly a few paces behind Brick and did not respond beyond “I’m alright.", so Brick went back to his thoughts. The two found the beginning of the river and Brick began to survey his morning options. He did’t feel like anything suited him, so he bumbled down the way some more. Glamcatsol took to the trees above and continued to shadow his alien friend.

Brick was confident Glam had stayed around as he finally sat down to some breakfast rocks. But when he glanced up, Glamcatsol wasn't around. He was about to shout out to find him, when an arrow landed sharply next to his hand. Appropriately, Brick scurried to a log for cover. He then used a reflective rock he had grabbed to see where the arrow came from. Oddly enough, he saw Glam, finger over his lips and motioning for Brick to come to him quietly. Brick then hurried across some stepping stones over the river and whispered angrily as he approached the elf.

"What the hell was that for??"

"I hear something down the river. Follow. Quietly."

Brick still felt that the arrow was a bit much, but Glamcatsol was already hurrying down through the thicket, quite as a mouse, so Brick let it go and followed.

After passing under a large tree that stood atop a hillside, Brick could hear the babbling of a faster part of the river. Not only that, but he thought he could hear a voice... It was weak, but he swore it sounded magical. He caught up to Glamcatsol and was about to ask him questions when Glam stopped and half-turned to Brick.

"Ssh. You're loud."

"B-bu-, I didn't say an-"

"Shut up. I'm going into the trees. Stay here."

And Glamcatsol jumped nimbly off the ground and into the arms of a nearby tree. He climbed quietly out of view, and Brick was by himself. For one, he wasn't a fan of being hushed and left, so he waited just a bit and then started in the direction of the river. Brick tried his best to stay absolutely quite, and to the best of his knowledge, he was a shadow.
Glam could hear him crunching and creaking, and he cursed under his breath for leaving the Martian alone. Better hurry, before the fool scares it off. Glamcatsol crawled and swung swiftly to the trees closest to the river. He then chose a healthy spruce tree, who’s tip teetered far above the other tree tops, and he ascended. Now he could see a bit of the Gernwood, and for a few moments he was taken aback. The horizon was drowned out on all sides by a Sea of Trees. The river below he could see, but the river was surrounded by trees that stretched up and down and all round Glam’s field of view. To the North, the trees climbed upwards as if they were a building tsunami. To the South, valleys and canyons of trees could be seen, cutting downward all the way to a distant mountain. The Dark Monument. The South Tower. Reviltore. Glam felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he tore his gaze away from that dark place. Soon, he felt anxious, and his thoughts drifted momentarily after tearing away from the gaze of the Mountain. If we have to walk that distance to get the Mask of Fire I may just bail on these guys… these Masks aren’t my priority. But as he shifted away from this thought he felt something bump in a pouch of his, and he glanced down to see the compass he had found in his dream the night before in his hand. Ok that’s weird. He felt a sudden urge to pursue the origin of this compass. And I can’t do that without some sort of guide through here. Dammit. So, for now, Glam was stuck with the gang.

BOOM!! An explosion ripped Glam away from his idle thinking and knocked him back to reality. He clutched to the tree and returned to scanning the scene below. Smoke was rising from their (Brick and Glam’s) side of the river, and a figure in a mess of robes was posed on the other side of the river. Then it hit Glam, Dammit! I forgot about Brick! He took a swinging rope from his backpack, attached it to the tree, took a good glance around to access where he could swing, and jumped. The path he took brought his momentum around the tree; he swung down, back around, and back towards the river. Before he broke through the lower tree tops, he flicked the rope to break his fall downwards and send his velocity straight forward to the river. He skimmed across the surface of the tree tops, grabbed a sturdy branch and broke his forward momentum into a small velocity diagonally upwards. He spun gracefully as gravity brought him back down, and stuck the landing in a tree behind the smoke. Immediately his bow was draw and an arrow knocked back. He glanced around and saw Brick right below him, hiding behind cover and looking rather shocked. Not wishing to give his position away, Glamcatsol refrained from shouting out to Brick. Instead he attempted to send a mental ping down to Brick. Glam wasn’t too accustomed to the ability, but he attempted it and Brick looked up. But, to the friends surprise, they received another ping from a third party; the robed figure across the river was contacting them!

Sure enough, the ping was from Tsuna. Brick and Glam walked out past the sulfur pit that Tsuna had summoned in his explosion. He -Tsuna- floated over across the river and landed near them.

“So sorry about the confusion. I imagine next time, if you don’t sneak up on me, we can have less explosions.”

Brick’s hat was a bit singed, but Brick was made of tougher stuff. “Hey hey, don’t worry about it! I’m just glad you didn’t get my beard.” Brick laughed and gave Tsuna a hug, something which Tsuna wasn’t so sure about. “Maybe we should go back to camp?” Brick offered

Glamcatsol spoke up, ignoring Brick. “Pretty jumpy of you to throw an explosion at our friend here. Couldn’t sleep last night?"

“I couldn’t sleep, yes. The memory point has shown me... many things, and I have thus had much to consider.” Tsuna turned to Brick and said “I am afraid I need to spend more time out here. This forest, it should be studied.”

The elf hunter elbowed his way back into Tsuna’s vision. The expression on his face clearly meant that Tsuna’s answer wasn’t satisfactory. “Why did you leave camp so early? What were you signing?"

“I left camp so my singing wouldn’t wake you! I’m confused, why are you so concerned with my whereabouts? I was singing a spell to bring forth the magic around me, so I might make sen-"

“Shut up. I don’t trust you because of your weird, dark-ass magic. You showed up a couple of days ago, straight-up killed the guy that was incinerating people, and now you’re hiding out 'bringing forth' the magic? You almost killed Brick!”

Brick spoke up “I was actually pretty aware of his spell, like I had things und-"

“Whatever.” Glamcatsol interrupted “You know what I mean. Explain yourself. Are you an Avatar of Dkurum?"

Tsuna was glaring at Glamcatsol, possibly judging how valuable this elf really was, and whether he’d be more helpful as a pile of ash, when a forth voice rang up from behind.

“Cool your jets, Glam! Tsuna isn’t an avatar. He would have killed us by now if he was."

The three adventurers turned around to see Tof approaching them. He looked sickly and pale, and he walked with his quarterstaff as a crutch. Initially, they wished to interrogate their friend and see what was wrong, but before they could ask he said

“Don’t ask. Really, I’m fine. It’s just a bit of morning sickness. Glam, I need you to trust Tsuna. He’s a valuable member of this team and… honestly I’ve kinda been watching him since he came out here, I would have noticed the presence of Dkurum if Tsuna had summoned him. Sorry if me watching you creeps you out Tsuna.”

“No it’s alright I guess, thank you for vouching for me. But, I mean, I came out here basically right after the memory point. Have you been up this entire time?"

“Yeah… don’t worry, I just usually have more Wir’elm to help me stay healthy when I stay up all night. I’ll be fine. I’m going to go get some soon before the others wake up, so... yeah.”

Tof sat down on a log and packed his pipe half-full. Brick got his pipe out and sat down next to Tof. As the two strangely-colored men lit their pipes, Brick asked a question.

“Do you need help getting this… what was it? Wrylem?”

Tof grinned “It’s Wir’elm, but yeah good try. Yeah no it’s ok. I’ll just go get it and come back."

Glamcatsol now spoke, after becoming very quite since Tof showed up. “I wish to come with you. Sorry, let me restate that. I’m going to come with. I want to learn more about the Gernwood. Like this Wir’elm, what is it? Didn't you give us some last night?”

“Yeah, it’s harmless! I promise.” Tof said, “And I guess I can’t force you to not come. And, hell… whatever, I’d appreciate the help. We won’t be going far."

"What is it exactly, this Wir'elm?" Glam had pulled out his tobacco and was crouching some way from the log. Tsuna had gone off to inspect the sulfur pit he had summoned, but still seemed to be lending an ear to the conversation.

"Well, " Tof coughed and cleared his throat. "It's kinda just the water of the Gernwood. It's said to be one of the many ways Zirina brings her escense to her people. In practice, it's a violent healing potion. It'll heal just about anything, but the more painful the wound the more painful the stitching back together. It's a life saver though, and that's why it sucks that we've run out."

Tsuna returned and pulled out his pipe. Brick generously offered his hoverboard as a seat.

"If you wish," Tsuna said between hits "go back to camp and rest; you very much look like you need it. If you tell us where it is, I'm sure we can find this source of Wrylem-"

"Wir'elm." Tof corrected

"Wir'elm... that you know of." Tsuna take another hit and hummed the smoke ring a small spell.

"That's very kind of you." Tof said, "and you are more than welcome to come if you wish, it's just I must go. Sleep is not an option for me right now."

"Why not?" Glamcatsol asked.

Tof paused, beads of sweat began to form as he stared emptily at the ground. Brick saw his distress and spoke up. "Hey man, leave Tof alone. He's gone through a lot. The guy almost died on us, remember?"

"Yes, actually I do remember that, Brick. It was my father that almost killed him. I think, excluding Tof, I might be the one most likely to remember that moment. Now, Tof, back to my question. Why can’t you sleep?"

Tof’s expression shifted just a hair when Glamcatsol asked him the second time. For just a brief moment, he seemed to get furious. As if he was about to explode. But just a nanosecond later he stood up, breathed in and out, looked at the elf, and said “I’ve been having nightmares. I don’t want to sleep because they’re pretty bad. I’d really just like to get going. Satisfied?”

“No.” Glam said.

“Well, that’s a sure shame, friend. I’m leaving. Are you guys coming?”

Tsuna and Brick followed quickly, giving Glam a mean glare as they passed him. Glamcatsol hung back for a bit and then started to follow their footprints after they had left. He’s hiding something, I know he is. He and Tsuna. Dkurum and Illimane have to be hiding among us… and if I can’t figure out how then they will have the upper hand when they strike. I will not let that happen. I can’t. He continued to murmur to himself as he followed the path of his friends.

Tof, Tsuna and Brick continued down the river, eventually breaking off from the river and trailing up a path that seemed to be taking them back to the camp. For a while, they were quiet, but Brick interjected soon after they left the river.

“Hey, Tof… I wanted to apologize on the behalf of Glam. He didn’t have the right to be a dick like that to you, but I mean we’ve all been a bit spooked since last night, ya know? I mean Tsuna here almost blew my hat straight to hell!”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks, you don’t have to worry about it. He’s trailing us and he can probably hear me right now, but let’s pretend he can’t.” Tof goofily winked at Brick and Tsuna. He then added “I understand that he’s spooked. I understand that we’re all a bit spooked. Hell, I’m so spooked I can’t sleep. But avatars of Illimane and Dkurum aren’t as subtle as he thinks. Or at least I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. Anyway, I was kinda a dick to him too, but I really feel like shit so… Well…” Tof then lifted his head back and shouted "Hey! Glam! I apologize!”

“Thanks, me too.” Glamcatsol said from ahead of them. They turned around and there he was, approaching from seemingly no where. “The mayor caught us off guard our first night here. I just don’t want to make that mistake again."

“That’s fair. But trust is important in this group.” Tof said to the elf as they embraced in a manly fashion. “I believe you and your friends have been chosen by Zirina to carve a path in the growing darkness. So trust your friends, Glam. They may just end up saving your life.”

“I have one last question. It’s an honest question, promise.” Glam blurted out.

“Hey!” Brick interjected between the two. “Don’t we deserve an apology too, Glamcatsol? Especially Tsuna here."

“Yeah, sure. Sorry I was a dick. I do that."

“Alright.” Brick said. Tsuna murmured something quietly under his breath, which was a little frightening.

“That question?” Tof said, as they all started back down the path.

“If Wir’elm… it’s Wir’elm right?” Glam asked

“Perfect.” Tof replied.

“If Wir’elm is Grenwood water, couldn’t you just have used some of that river water?”

“Ah! Yes, I guess that is a bit confusing, isn’t it? You see, my village calls it Gernwood water -or Gernwater- but technically it’s root water from the Gernroot, or Underroot, whatever you wanna call it. Anyway that’s why we couldn’t do that, and it’s also why we are here!”

Tof stopped confidently in the middle of the path, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, as there were no distinct features or suggestive landmarks that one would assume there to be. The three warriors with him looked awkwardly around, and then at each other, and then back at Tof, who (for lack of a better description) seemed to be ‘dancing at a bush’.

“It’s a good thing you showed up when you did, Glam.” Tof remarked as his dance got weirder. “If you had waited you may not have been able to find us."

“I could find you.” Glam said defensively.

“Yeaaaaah.” Tof hummed as his dance got feverous and specifically directed at a bush in the ground.

Tsuna could not help himself, and finally asked “What in the good hell are you doing?”

“Opening the root door!” Tof said between heavy breaths.

“Ah yes… of course.” Tsuna said, deciding to simply observe and see what happened next. Brick had already reached that decision and was sitting on a nearby log, eating a leftover breakfast rock and occasionally glaring at Glamcatsol, who would glare back in slight jest.

Finally, after a good five minutes of dancing, the bush seemed to show some interest, and one of the branches of the bush started to snake back into the ground. Then, from where the branch had vanished underground, a hole opened up, about a meter in diameter once finished. The three warriors gathered around the exhausted green man.

“Impressive! Why’d it take so long?” Brick asked.

“And it leads to the Gernroot?” Glamcatsol tacked on.

“Well, ok yes to your question, Glam. This leads to the Gernroot, which is where we will find the Wir’elm well.” Tof said. “And it took so long cause I wasn’t really doing the dance right. I feel like doo-doo, remember?”

“Ah yes, yes. My apologizes.” Brick said.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get down there. I’ll go first to show you.” With this, Tof grabbed one of the branches of the bush and whistled at it. It then began to grow, and Tof tied a little loop at the end of his branch. He stuck his foot in the loop, and then used the branch to begin repelling down the side of the hole. Right before he jumped, his friends almost held him back because they did not believe the branch would hold his weight, but as he began to lower into the hole, they accepted that it must be otherwise. Glamcatsol volunteered to go first. He did exactly as Tof had done, and then began to repel down after him. Brick offered Tsuna to go before him, and Tsuna did so. He was a bit cautious about throwing his weight onto the branch, but upon discovering that the branch was surprisingly strong, he calmed down and descended. Brick, on the other hand, didn’t trust the bush in the slightest (even after watching the procedure three times he wasn’t sure if he quite got it). So out came the hover board and Brick descended after his friends. As soon as he passed down through the hole; however, a small bright light went zooming past him, up and out of the hole. And then it closed, leaving them in darkness for just a few seconds. Soon, the darkness passed and Brick could see his way down. Yet he was slightly distracted as he eye became adjusted to the dim light of the astounding cavern he found himself in.