“They sure hide their place well,” commented Esperanza after a day-long search to find the entrance to Zikeal, the hideout for worshipers of the old gods deep within the Elefas Mountain Range. Granted, the inhabitants of said hideout had good reasons to hide themselves deeply, given how the rest of the world saw them as heretics to be burned at the stake and all.
None of that made the search any less annoying though.
Unlike the previous, smaller hideout, where the members regularly went out to hunt in order to supplement what meager food their indoor farms provided them, Zikeal was a much larger hideout, and according to Ani, supposedly self-sufficient, with many large underground farms set in the base of the mountain itself. That combined with their having access to a “safer” outside via the waterways made the place far more developed than most hideouts, with Zikeal being around the equal of Agur-Bas in terms of size and populace.
All that still combines to make the entrance to the hideout on the mountain a pain to find, however. Those from the previous hideout might know the route better since the two hideouts were close enough to have frequent contact, but Ani had only heard of Zikeal from second-hand tales and notes from what might well be history for her.
On top of that, the last time people from Agur-Bas visited Zikeal, it was a delegation that went there by sea. They naturally took the waterway to get to the hideout, and as such didn’t have too much of an idea of the landside entrance’s location beyond a general location, which was shared in the eventuality that someone might visit by land.
Which still left a shitload of snow-covered mountainside to search, of course.
Even with the whole group pitching in on the search, they still hadn’t found the entrance even after a day, with as many as three false positives when they hit caverns that ran pretty deep but soon terminated into dead ends. One of the caverns even had a large polar bear-like creature hibernating inside which took offense at the disturbance and forced Val-Kas’j and Tiesya – who found the cavern – to kill it.
At least the bear-like thing made for some good dinner.
In the end, it was not until near midday the third day of searching that the group finally found an entrance that looked promising, if in a deceptive way. The cavern’s entrance was rather small, small enough that some of the taller members of the group would have to duck to enter inside. However, after a mere ten meters or so, the cavern widened, and clearly ran deep into the mountain, so Esperanza and Ani decided to investigate deeper.
Esperanza was there because she was the one able to respond best to most situations on top of being, oddly enough, the expendable one of the group despite her nearly worshiped station amongst them. After all, she was the only one with [Respawn], so it was an argument that none of the others could beat, even if some of them tried to dissuade her from time to time.
Ani on the other hand was there because she was from Agur-Bas and knew the sort of signals to give to the inhabitants of Zikeal to prove as much. Much like Agur-Bas, the locals of Zikeal would naturally be highly suspicious of any foreigners, unless they could prove their identity in some manner. The people from the other, smaller hideout had ways to do that unique to them, as did Agur-Bas.
Because the method Agur-Bas used to prove themselves was a key phrase meant to be said in the Gour-ug’rech tongue, however, they needed someone who was at least a hybrid of that race to voice it, as some sounds from that tongue were simply near impossible to replicate by people from other races. Not even Esperanza could replicate them correctly when Ani demonstrated for her, despite multiple attempts.
On the other hand, Belug-ur’ani herself, being a hybrid, was perfectly capable of reproducing the sound passably. Another two of her warriors could also do so for the same reason, though Ani chose to follow Esperanza in person while having the others stand guard on the outside. They only took the two scouts, Legisvula, as well as Dali with them.
Gordy stayed outside with the rest of the group so Esperanza could signal to her to bring the others if they did find Zikeal inside the depths of said cavern.
The cavern was naturally pitch-black, so dark that if Esperanza was still human, she wouldn’t even be able to see her own outstretched hands. Fortunately, the eyes on her new body were more than capable of seeing through the darkness. Ani was also capable of seeing through the dark, which was no real surprise considering that half her parentage was from an aquatic race that lived in the bottom of the sea where the sun doesn’t shine most of the time.
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Similarly, the scouts and Legisvula had skills that allowed them to navigate just fine in total darkness, though likely using different means. Esperanza noticed one of the scouts making quiet, clacking noises by slapping their tongue against the roof of their mouth regularly, probably using the echoes to navigate by echolocation or similar. The other and Legisvula didn’t seem to need such aid.
As for Dali, she had no idea how he navigated through the dark but the calm, sure-footed way the hound walked alongside her at the front showed that he was doing so easily.
Inside the darkness, the passing of time was difficult to tell, so the group resorted to counting their footsteps instead. After roughly five hundred steps into the cavern, it started twisting and turning, almost like a labyrinth. Once they reached that point, Esperanza took out a spool of thin rope and tied one end to a rock outcropping, letting the rope trace their path as they went into the labyrinth.
It took them what felt like hours – and definitely thousands of steps to navigate their way to the exit, using the rope to indicate the path back. At that point Ani ordered the two scouts to stand by in the area, one at the entrance and one at the exit of the labyrinth, to make sure that the rope wouldn’t be tampered with after they had left.
Esperanza, Ani, Legisvula, and Dali continued deeper into the cavern complex until they reached a large cavern that was easily at least thirty feet tall and twice as wide around a thousand steps later. Also awaiting them in that large cavern was a half-encirclement of clearly nervous and worried people, most of whom were hybrids.
From her [Soul Sight] Esperanza could tell that these people were likely the inhabitants of Zikeal, given how some of them had the telltale purple threads woven around their souls, clear signs of being worshipers of Oldies. It seemed like they had found the right entrance after all, which only took them nearly three days of searching.
“Who are you? Why have you sought our hidden refuge?” asked a middle-aged hybrid man who sported some of the most epic sideburns that Esperanza had ever seen in her life. The man was tall and burly, with some part of his parentage clearly from a Ma’Varok, but the strong features and prominent tusks instead framed his face in a sort of savage gentlemanly way, oddly enough.
That he was also clearly a fourth tier who was on the combatant side led Esperanza to believe that the man likely had some clout amongst the inhabitants of Zikeal, considering how highly Ani was thought of in Agur-Bas.
“Peace, cousin,” said Ani in a placating gesture as she raised one of her hands with her palm open and laid the palm of her other hand over her heart. “We hailed from Agur-Bas to the south, in search of others who still followed the ways of old, the teachings of the Deities of Yore,” she continued once the burly man waved his hand and made his men lower their weapons. “We have important news to share, for the times are changing.”
Even as Ani said her words, she gestured using her eyes towards Esperanza and Legisvula, practically telling the burly man to [Identify] them. The burly man caught on to her gesture and likely did so, given how his face suddenly changed to a look of shock for a good moment before he managed to recollect himself and regain his calm.
“I… see what you mean, cousin,” offered the man after a pause where he tried to arrange his words properly. “The elders and the priests will need to see this for themselves, I fear. If I may, I shall offer you and yours the hospitality of Zikeal in the mean time. Is that acceptable?”
“Belug-ur’ani of Agur-Bas, daughter of Ever’a-len, accepts your hospitality, cousin. May the Deities of Yore bless you and yours for this kindness,” replied Ani formally to his offer. “Would you mind waiting for a little while? There are more to our group still waiting outside and we would like to invite them in as well to partake in your hospitality.”
“Certainly, cousin. Go ahead,” replied the burly man with a nod.
Esperanza simply sent a telepathic message to Gordy outside the cavern telling her to lead the rest inside. The group outside noticed Gordy’s reaction and quickly followed her into the cavern, where Gordy led the way, following the traces of Esperanza’s group until they ran into the scout Ani left behind to look after the guide rope by the labyrinth’s entrance.
The group took the scout in and took the rope with them – in case someone else accidentally found their way into the cavern, no reason to let them have it easy – as they traversed the labyrinth to its exit, where they took in the other scout waiting there as well. From there it wasn’t long before they reached the large cavern where Esperanza’s group and the people from Zikeal awaited their arrival.
“Greetings, Honored Ones,” said the burly man with a polite bow once everyone had gathered. From the movement of the man’s eyes, Esperanza assumed that he had likely used [Analysis] on the rest of the group as well, which would show him the unique classes belonging to the [Progenies of Yore], likely serving as more than enough of a reassurance for the man in question.
“I am Abr-Niz, Seneschal of this humble settlement named Zikeal. I wholeheartedly welcome your blessed presence amongst us and would like to invite you to enjoy the best hospitality our humble place could offer,” said the burly man with a formal, almost flourishy bow. “If the Honored Ones would please follow me inside?”
“Lead the way,” said Esperanza. With the eight [Progenies of Yore] standing behind her and clearly deferring to her, as well as Dali and Gordy sitting at her flanks, it was obvious just who was nominally in charge of the group, and Abr-Niz gave a deeper bow towards her before respectfully gesturing for them to follow.
The burly man led them through the dark caverns with sure steps, past some fortified areas that Esperanza figured would likely be hellish for invaders to get through. The locals had clearly prepared for the eventuality that someone hostile might be looking for them and had turned some areas of the cavern leading into their settlement into killing fields and choke points suited for defensive battles.
Judging from how Abr-Niz and the rest of his group twisted and turned as they walked through a broad cavern, she guessed that more than a few spots in said cavern were likely trapped as well. The defensive preparation might have looked rather paranoid to some, but it was understandable when she considered how for these people, most of the world was their enemy and wanted them dead.
After around five thousand more steps, they emerged from the cavern into a much larger cavern complex that had many people living in them. Zikeal spread out before their eyes.