I could do this dance all night

Descending from the Crust after their training meant more oppressive heat, but the smoke had somewhat cleared. A spring - hot, of course, but good, clean mineral water - had provided Hadama the chance to wash the ash from his body and clear his lungs. He was still wringing water from his hair when a Gore Crow's delighted shriek cut through the wide-mouthed tunnel they had chosen. It sounded right next to them, but a quick look around showed that they were alone.

Hadama cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, turning sharply as a second call for Eyes! followed from a different direction - though this, too, lacked an obvious source. "Sound travels strangely in these tunnels," he observed slowly. "Which direction do you think they are in?"

The tunnel they had entered branched into three separate obsidian maws a short distance away, not counting the direction they had come from, where a ruddy light still filtered in faintly from the surface.

Sah

I have never feared the storm

Sah had returned to his normal form as they delved deeper in order to splash his face with water. Even if he wasn't as affected by the ash, it was still uncomfortable now that it was sticking to his bare skin. He turned his face towards Hadama as the man spoke, hands still half-submerged.

Humming, the hybrid shook out his hands and scanned the tunnel, "Sound certainly does travel oddly here. I think it might be even more disorienting if I shift, given how much its bouncing around." It almost seemed like the raucous cries were coming from multiple directions. Taking a moment to consider the sound, he made his best guess. "I think the it's coming from the center one." If the sound seemed to be coming from multiple directions, but had one source, going in the middle seemed like a plausible conclusion.

Sah

"Mmh. It could come from all of them." He frowned, though, looking at their options and listening to the echoes. The loudest sounds did, indeed, seem to come from the middle and perhaps that meant it was the source...?

With a look to Sah and an inviting tilt of a brow he led the way to the central tunnel, ducking his head to step inside. It was hot in there, and close, but the tunnel was wide (if not tall) and the floor was smooth. They walked along it for only a short distance, however, before running into a dead end. Water filled a small chamber, smooth and without a ripple, and the back wall was as smooth and flat as a black glass mirror, looking as if something - a geologic shift - had sheared it clean in the distant past. The combination reflected even the quiet sounds from the tunnel mouth and amplified them, making it sound like an entire flock of crows was in the cave with them.

But they were alone.

"Perhaps the right hand tunnel?" Hadama suggested, bemused but intrigued at how the combination of water and stone could capture the echoes and so completely mislead them.

I have never feared the storm

Sah walked beside Hadama, dodging a lone stalactite. Thankfully he didn't have to worry about his feet as much. Otherwise, with his luck, he'd have been ducking stalactites only to trip on stalagmites. His face-slam into a rock earlier today was proof enough.

When they stumbled upon the water, the hybrid approached and ran a hand through it curiously, listening to how the sound echoed sharply when the water was disturbed, as if more crows had descended. "Fascinating." He'd never seen such a thing. Nodding when Hadama prompted, Sah fell into step with the Demi-god. "It's worth a try."

As they exited the central tunnel and veered to the right, the sound of vigorous and bloodthirsty corvids increased. Rounding a bend revealed a flock of them, hopping around on the stone and kicking bones as if playing a game. When the birds noticed the two people, the caws rose in volume, 'Eyes! Meat!" Three of the birds took to the air and headed for the two men.

Sah

Reflections and misdirection. Mirrors of the invisible, tricking the ear into believing that sound had come from one direction when really it had come from another. It had tricked them, luring them down the wrong path and presenting the Gore Crows with the perfect chance for an ambush if they had been more perceptive. Or at least given them time to prepare a defense, had they been intelligent enough to plan ahead. Such a trick had its own possibilities...

The sounds of the crows oddly decreased as they went to the right. This tunnel was rougher, the stone pockmarked by lava or water, and it had two sharp bends that muffled the sounds further along. Only the strange qualities of the other tunnels had taken those noises and strengthened them again to create the illusion of the corvids being elsewhere. It was luck alone that had brought them to this tunnel next, but that luck was... questionable.

A faint frown creased the Tidebreaker's face as the birds launched themselves at what they likely saw as prey. There was no fear in the demigod, only a reluctance to kill something that he would not eat and that was no danger to his people. But that did not mean he would allow himself to be harmed by them, either.

Moonlight swirled out around him, sending a cooling wind through the small cavern and catching two of the Gore Crows in its radius. They fell in silence so that only their echoes, back down the other tunnels, remained.

---

Magic: Lunar Blessing | Can cause a burst of moonlight in a 30 ft radius that allows allies to roll with advantage for one round while damaging enemies. May be used 2 times per thread with a 2 post cooldown.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

Sah

The Raven must be sent
before the Dove

As the birds descended, Sah used Hadama's assault to buy him time to shift. The cavern where the crows were didn't present much space for his usual magics and he didn't want to risk anything ricocheting and hitting the man beside him. As his arms turned to wings and black feathers sprouted, the hybrid met the last gore crow head on.

His raven form may have been smaller than a gore crow, but Sah had fought them like this before. Tucking in his wings to dive out of the way of its sharp beak, the Wild Thunder spread his wings wide to rise up behind his adversary. With the force of his full body weight, the raven slammed feet first into the gore crow. In doing so, he forced the bird to collide with the rock wall. The bird fell as soon as Sah released it.

Returning to his human form, the hybrid let out a heavy sigh, "Jeez." The rest of the flock seemed to wise up and started shuffling away from the two men. The clumsy display pulled a small chuckle out of Sah as he tilted his head back towards the exit, "Let's go before they change their minds."

-[FIN]

ominous controversy must precede
peace and the olive wreath