“Yes, that is to be expected,” he responded to the reason she gave for being here. Though it didn’t say as much as that, as he knew why this adventurer had come. Yem wanted information and so asked for the riddle. Crossing his arms over his chest, Marquise nodded. “The more there is, the less you see. What am I?”
Yem listened to the riddle he gave, pressing her lips together in thought. There were a lot of answers that would technically be correct, but all that mattered was the answer Marquise wanted. “Is it fog? There could be a lot of different answers to this.” She said, really hoping she gave the answer he wanted. If not…that could be a problem.
Marquise uncrossed his arms and let them hang in disappointment, his head did too. When he spoke again, it was with the same calming rough speech but without smile or cheer. “This is rather… interesting answer to give, but no, that is not the answer. At least not the answer to my riddle.”
Yem slumped, seeing Marquise’s body language. Oh dear. She nodded slowly when he said that wasn’t the answer to his riddle. “Hmmm…ok. Is it rain?” She asked. She internally sighed. Well, this could take a while…oh, wait. “Is it darkness?” Yem asked with a smile.
His head still drooped, he answered, “Third times the charm. Yes.” There was the briefest of pauses, long enough for the breeze to rustle the leaves. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but i wish you all the best. I do hope you don’t go with your first instinct during this journey of yours. Good luck.”
Well, at least she managed to solve it…Marquise was right. Third time was the charm. “Well, thank you for your help.” Yem said, smiling. She waved, heading the way she was originally going. She continued to have her spear out, batting away any plants in their way.
Marquise didn’t say any more to that; keeping his eyes on the dirt, he gave another brief nod before the girl turned away from him. He suspected there would be another adventurer to undertake this journey and that she wouldn’t last long, so he stayed and waited.
The path kept at a mild overgrowth. It was still clear to see the path to follow as there weren’t very many foliage obstructions to cut down. 10 minutes later, at the steady pace she was walking, she comes to a crossroads. Which way to head; West, North, or East?
Yem kept walking, humming softly. She soon came to a crossroads, deciding were to go. Hmm…west. Ok, let’s go west. She continued walking, spear at the ready.
The path west was the least overgrown out of the three. In fact, the further along it Yem walked, the more the vines and dirt turned to hard rock. Soon she had nothing but a rock face on both sides, in front and under her feet. Still she walked… until she halted outside of a large, dark cave mouth.
Yem continued walking, quite happy she no longer had to hack at the plants. The terrain became rocky, until she reached the mouth of a cave. Hmm…at least she has a light source. With one hand resting on her spear and the other holding her lighter, she headed into the cave.
The little light from Yem’s lighter barely lit up the ground around her it was so dark in the cave. As Yem walked inside, slowly and quietly in an attempt not to awake anything, the ground reverberated. Then a deep, hollow roar followed by a gust of wind that almost blew Yem off her feet. The gust blew out the light. Standing there in the dark, she could feel what felt like a warm breath down on her.
Yem nearly jumped out of her skin hearing that roar. Well, this wasn’t good. She drew her spear, clutching the lighter. If push came to shove, she could burn the creature. She had to hold in a scream when she felt it breathing down her neck. Ok, stay calm…
The creature lifted one of it’s giant feet up and slammed it down, causing the ground to rumble so much that Yem stumbled backwards, out of the cave. (-1 stamina) Booming footsteps followed her out of the cave and into daylight.
For the first time, Yem could see the creature. It had pale, murky green skin, grostique thick yellow nails on its hands and feet, and stood three times taller than Yem herself. It only worse a tattered loincloth and a thick wrought iron helmet, which only revealed one large bulging eye and its two long curved tusks.
It was a Cyclops. A Cyclops that held a spiked knotted-wood mace, and it swung it through the air, missing Yem by inches.
Skill: 6
Stamina: 14
Yem staggered out of the cave when a huge foot came down, missing her by inches. When she saw the monster in front of her, she nearly crapped herself. She had to beat this thing. But…how? Yem had an idea, but wasn’t sure if it’d work. Well, she had to try. She’d take a page out of Odysseus’s book and blind the Cyclops. Unfortunately, she didn’t have wine to intoxicate it…looks like she’d have to use her spear. Yem changed, stabbing the cyclops in the leg to bring it down so she could climb up it.
Yem took her spear and thrust it at the Cyclops’ leg, as high as she could. The head of the spear broke skin and as Yem held on, the spear was quickly wretched out again as the Cyclops stepped back; he was roaring.
Skill: 6
Stamina: 11
Yem leapt forward, yanking the spear out of the cyclops’s leg, darting behind it and stabbing the spear in the Gastrocnemius(back of lower leg) of the monster’s other leg. She shen sprinted away in case it fell on her. Hopefully it fell…
Attempting to trample her, the Cyclops stamped his feet heavily as Yem ran around the back of him. She stabbed her spear into the back of his other leg, not as deep though. He clumsily reach behind him and pulled out her spear, which looked like a long twig in his hand. As he turned angrily to face her, he chucked her spear over his shoulder, back into the cave.
Skill: 6
Stamina: 10
Yem gulped when the cyclops didn’t fall, and instead pulled out the spear, acting as if it was a twig. He threw it behind him, and Yem began to sweat. Oh sh*t. Wait a minute…fire! She Cousteau the cyclops on fire if needed, and there’d be no risk of setting anything on fire because of the stone wall. Yem pulled out the lighter, flipping it open and singing the cyclops’s foot.
As the Cyclops pulled his arm up in the air to take a swing at her with his mace, Yem ran forward with her lighter. A burning sensation on the Cyclops’ big toe was felt and he stomped on it. Swinging his club as he did, Yem had to jump back and it narrowly missed her.
Skill: 6
Stamina: 9
Yem threw herself backwards when the Cyclops brought his foot down, narrowly missing being crushed. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but it was kinda hard to think when adrenaline was clouding your judgement. Yem suddenly sprinted behind the Cyclops, running in a circle. Maybe she could trip it.