Player Progression Story Big Trouble In Little Vultaro

Discussion in 'Progression Events' started by Arendan, Jun 29, 2019.

  1. Arendan

    Arendan didn't see graphite

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    The remote village of Arma Villani was but one of the many mining communities that dotted the rolling hills of Vultaro. The errant Viridian Knights on their way to answer a distressing call for assistance by the village of Arma Villani. They rode with great haste, their desire to save the endangered miners augmented by the fact that if the Viridians succeeded, their Pavisa counterparts would at earliest be two days late when they would have already succeeded.

    This once lively village they entered proved itself to be a destitute and depopulated community. Reliance on a increasingly depleted mine and lack of career prospects had long given a reason for the youth to leave, and the ageing population that remained still relied on the silver that had to be delved from deeper depths.

    It was not until they visited the local church that they learned the severity of the situation. Fourty-seven miners caught deep underground when an earthquake dislodged many of the supports, causing a catastrophic collapse. Fortunately, most of the miners survived the disaster by hiding in the antechamber of the central mineshaft. The priest begged the knights to ride to the nearest city and inform local authorities of the miner's plight in the hope to gain assistance, but the knights insisted on doing whatever they could themselves, allowing one of the locals to take their horse to send a messenger.

    When the Viridian knights met with the Local Foreman, the man could hardly contain his thankfulness to the Spirit and the knights for their timely arrival. The situation was grimmer than even the priest had described it. The Silvermine was built around a central mineshaft that collapsed after a minor earthquake created major instability in the central shaft. While they tried to excavate the rocks, subsequent rockslides claimed the lives of many of the remaining miners who tried to save their comrades. Their lives would not be in vain, however, as they were able to provide provisions through a makeshift pulley system that allowed a small basket to be lowered down into the mine. To make matters worse, the threat of further earthquakes and the damages to the remaining supports threatened total collapse if there wasn’t an expedient rescue operation.

    Fortunately, a nearby cave system had crevices that connected to one of the chambers of the silver mine. Though it was known to the foreman, his remaining crew was unwilling to sacrifice more lives. Upon hearing their excuses, Louis Delmotte chastised the miners for their cowardice and promised that he would be the first to go into the cavern to save the miners.

    In short order, the Viridians were provided equipment and information that they might require for the rescue operation. The Foreman gathered the remaining miners as a support team to funnel equipment and rope for the knights, and after the local priest anointed their equipment they were ready to begin. When they arrived at the mine, their preconception of what a cave looked like proved to be a mistake. To their surprise, the cave was not a hole in the side of a mountain that you could walk into but it was rather a large hole into the ground that appeared like a bottomless pit that consumed any and all light that entered. It took little time for the Viridians to steel their bodies and minds for what was to come, and Louis Delmotte true to his word volunteered to be the first to rappel down.

    Firmly tying the rope around his waist, Louis rappelled down into the darkness by scaling down the face of the walls. The gentle curving of the cavern making it impossible to see where the bottom truly was. Yet as he descended, the Solacrox that was his light source came undone from his helmet, meaning he no longer had light to see by. In complete darkness, he continued scaling the cave and the hour he spent rappelling felt like an eternity. In complete and utter darkness he was forced to touch and feel where he was going. Louis felt the blood rushing in his ears, heard his knees creaking under the pressure and every piece of gravel and rock that came loose from the tread of his boot hitting the side of the crevice on the way down, just fading out into nothingness. His mind filled the unknown with vistas such as lights and little flashes that made him unable to tell whether his eyes were open or closed. The physically straining exercise barely allowing him to move and check. Though he no longer was aware which direction was up or down, Louis persevered through it all, praying to the Spirit to keep him sane while he tempered his nerves.

    It wasn’t until he finally reached after what felt like days that he finally reached the bottom of the cavern, allowing him to light a torch to break up the darkness of this hellish abyss. With a sigh of great relief, the remaining knights received the signal that Louis had found a safe location by a pattern of tugs of the rope. For the rest of the group, their experience was impossible to imagine, let alone prepare for. There was no light other than the Solacrox they brought, there was nothing that moved within these depths and the sound itself, or rather the lack thereof was deafening. The lack of any other light in utter darkness was a sensation like no other, like weightlessness that felt uncanny, the lack of sensory input making one feel both alone and watched at the same time.

    With their path paved by Louis Delmotte, the group found their companion lying on the ground, recovering from exhaustion and the tribulation that he went through. In the dark, they investigated the cave until they stumbled upon the crevice that the foreman described, although appearing noticeably smaller than they thought. Erwald Ravenstad volunteered this time before the others could, getting unto his stomach he found that there was a tight squeeze he could enter on his side that lead into a small crawlspace. He found quartz growing on the ceiling, making for a beautiful crystal display. Continuously he felt the ceiling on his back and pressing on his stomach as he went deeper in like a small world tucked away within solid rock. However, it would not be Erwald that faced the next challenge, it was the last man who entered, Markos Kaiser who began feeling trickles of water on his back. As it had turned out, it had begun raining outside and with the way the crawlspace dipped down before flattening, this place would fill up with rainwater pretty damn quickly with the only way for it to drain was the very crawlspace he now found himself in. It started as trickles before they turned into streams and began to pool up. Markos could only crawl forward on his stomach with jagged crystals pointing down from the ceiling, and as panic set in he could feel the water coming up to his chin as he crawled between the rocks. Each inch he moved forward felt so painfully slow that he felt the walls compress around him. The water was unrelenting, now splashing against his panicked squirms. And as the water rose to his lip, with him unable to raise his head any further, he finally reached the chamber where his fellow knights were waiting for him with great concern.

    The chamber they reached was adorned with stalagmites and stalactites of sediment. By now the river of rainwater meandered around the elevated rocks that provided dry land for the Viridian Knights. Auguste was first to propose a rationing system, appearing strangely insistent that he would be the one to divvy up the rations, citing that he had experience as quartermaster on a war campaign. With the whitewash water having flooded any means of exit or continuation, the group settled in to wait and conserve their supplies, including their torches and food.

    With none of the group had expected an extended stay, their rations were short-term at best, and they had to sleep on solid rock with only their arms to rest upon. In the darkness, however, Auguste Ravenstad secretly divided his own rations to his companion's portions selflessly and with no desire for recognition for he had never told any of the others of his sacrifice. It was only by chance that Louis Delmotte noticed Auguste doing so, but Louis refrained from telling the others or commenting on it.

    Secluded in complete darkness, sense of time began to falter and the knights began to worry about their own lives in a serious manner by now. Their saving grace was that the rainwater that currently took the shape of their impending doom was also drinkable. Unsure of whether hours or even days passed eventually the water subsided with Auguste Ravenstad severely weakened by lack of food.

    Theodore Vandervelde was first to hear a distant noise coming from the opposite side of the chamber. Certain that it wasn’t a hallucination the Anglian, who was a proficient swimmer proposed to find the source of the noise by jumping into the water and, see where it flowed and perhaps find entry into the silver mine. While his peers discouraged this vehemently, they could do little when they heard the splash created by a Viridian eager to find a way to escape this desperate state they were in, and against better judgement, he submerged in the stream and touched and felt his way through, cutting himself upon a jagged rock outcropping in the process.

    But his gut feeling would be proven right, he had managed to surface into one of the larger tunnels of the silver mine that was flooded. His exploit would prove to save the group, as one of the miners by chance stumbled upon the bleeding, naked Viridian.

    The four-stranded Viridians still stuck on their rock-island were shocked when they suddenly saw the glow of light in the water, followed by a loud splash of a resurfacing Theodore who had informed the miners of the passageway. After a moment of celebration, the question of how to escape from the mine was still one that was unanswered, and the possible imminent collapse of the mine gave them little time to rejoice.

    The plan they finally came up with was for one to swim and climb through the crawlspace back to the main cavern, and use the rope to pull the remaining people through one by one. By virtue of Theodore being wounded, Erwald volunteered to take up the task.

    The challenge of climbing up the crawlspace was immense, even if he was able to pull himself by the rope, climbing against the current still proved to very well be able to be lethal. With each foot he managed to advance, the more he felt like giving up, his body needing the oxygen for this strenuous exercise. Erwald closed his eyes, focusing on doing nothing but try and climb up further to escape the water, as the impending sense of dread filled him. But only seconds before he could not go on any longer, he resurfaced while gasping for air, bating every breath as if it was his last. For a few moments, he could do little more than lie in the shallow puddle of water, before duty compelled him to gather his remaining strength, and signal his companions that he was able to pull someone else through.

    Hours later the plan was proven to have worked, the process of going through the crawlspace was made greatly more manageable with someone pulling on the other side.

    Through great adversity and danger, the five Viridian Knights and the fourty-seven surviving miners were all able to be extracted from the cave in one piece with only minor injuries. To a man, each of the Viridians appeared utterly exhausted. The valour and bravery of the Viridian Order would become a local legend in this region of Vultaro, the selflessness and heroism displayed by each an example of chivalric virtue.

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