literature

Caving Lit 1

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Archer waved from Quebec’s back as Myrria and Sammy rode up his driveway. The large yeti padded forwards under his handler’s guidance as the two walked up to greet the other tokota and rider pair. Archer had called up Myrria and invited her over for a nice day of roaming around the mountainside- it was too nice of a spring day to not get outdoors and give some of his tokotas exercise. Quebec padded over to Sammy, nosing at the yeti’s thick fur while he sniffed down her neck, getting used to her scent while their handlers talked a bit about the weather and their going- ons, before turning the conversation to what they were going to be doing today.
“I found an arrowhead on the side of one of the hills towards Tahoe Mountain, and I was hoping that we could head out that way and see if we could look around for some more.” Archer said, and Myrria nodded.
“That sounds like a good plan, it’s a bit of a hike to get over there, and that will hopefully allow Quebec and Sammy to run off some of their excess energy.” She said with a chuckle and shake of her tail, tugging gently on Sammy’s reigns to orient him towards the hills. “Race?” She suggested, and before Archer could respond, Sammy and Myrria had already taken off, leaving both Quebec and Archer blinking before the brown barbary lunged after the yeti tokota. Quebec chased Sammy through the forest, over a few small hills, across the grasslands, and up to the base of the hills by Tahoe Mountain. Myrria slowly drew back on Sammy’s reigns, bringing the large panting yeti to a halt.
“This about the right spot?” She asked, and Archer nodded, slowing Quebec. The barbary was panting, pink tongue lolling out of her mouth, but she was alert and interested in her surroundings, suggesting that she had plenty of energy to kill for the remainder of the day. Archer wanted to give Quebec some rest, and not to mention a closer vantage point to where any arrow heads would be, so he climbed off of Quebec and let her loose, but instructed her to stay near. Myrria did the same with Sammy, and the two panting toktotas simply sat where they had been left, looking around and twitching ears occasionally while their handlers picked their way up and over some rocks. Archer wandered to the left, while Myrria wandered to the right, and it had only been a few minutes since the two had separated when she suddenly called out.
“Hey Archer come over and take a look at this!” Archer quickly scrambled over to her, and found Myrria perched on a large boulder that was beside what looked like a large entrance to a cave.
“What do you think of that?” She asked, gesturing towards the opening. Quebec and Sammy padded up behind Archer and Myrria, having been drawn by her call. Archer took a few hesitant steps inside, noting the size of the interior when his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“It seems big in here.” He said cautiously, taking a few more steps further inside. Sammy padded a few steps into the cave behind Archer, though Quebec remained standing outside, uncertain. Myrria sauntered in and looked around.
“No bones like in the movies or anything.” She said with a chuckle, and Archer grinned in her direction before whistling for Quebec. The sound echoed for a while further into the cave, suggesting that there was a substantial interior portion that went into the hill. Quebec eventually came to Archer, and he fished two flashlights out from her saddle bag, handing one to Myrria.
“Always come prepared.” He said, clicking his flashlight on and shining it around the interior of the cave. From what he could tell, the interior by the entrance was a bit damp- most likely some snow had piled up in the front and worked it’s way in over the winter, or there was water seeping through the ground that had dripped it’s way into the cave. Myrria shone her light around, bringing it to a rest so a good portion of the tunnel ahead was illuminated.
“Want to go a bit further in?” She suggested, and Archer nodded. He was somewhat uncertain of the idea of bringing their tokotas Quebec and Sammy underground, as well as himself, but the ground had a fine layer of dust, leaves, and moisture that would be easy to tell if it had been disturbed, so he wasn’t quite concerned about being able to find their way back. Myrria and Sammy took the lead, with Quebec and Archer following them further into the cave. The large tokotas’ paw steps echoed, as well as the crunch of Myrria’s and Archer’s paws on the various leaves and other assorted debris. Quebec initially glanced around warily and froze with each loud echo, but as they continued to make their way into the cave, she relaxed a little bit. Archer was getting a bit grossed out by the decaying leaves and slime that he was stepping in- he was looking forwards to a nice toweling off of his paws when he got home.
“Hey, check this out.” Myrria said, and her voice echoed down the cave, amplified to louder than she had spoken. Myrria was standing by a section of wall, shining her flashlight on it. The area was relatively dry in comparison to the ground they were stepping on, and Archer saw a pattern of alternating dark and light smudges on the wall. Walking closer, he saw them to be crude stick figures of humans in a line.
“I wonder how old these are.” Archer said, shining his flashlight on another section of wall, this time covered with large horned animals that looked similar to caribou.
“Probably a long while. Maybe folks used to live around here- that might explain why you found the arrow head a few days back.” Myrria suggested, and Archer nodded.
“Sounds about right, if folks used to live here chances are they dropped some things now and then.” He said, before Myrria continued down the tunnel. Archer decided that he’d come back, with a friend, in the near future to take pictures of the paintings on the cave wall- perhaps someone down at the historical center would be able to make some use out of the images. Quebec had already wandered after Sammy and Murria, so Archer followed, shining his flashlight occasionally on the walls, only to see the paintings in increasing numbers.
“Hey Myrria, it seems like there’s more paintings the further we go in the cave.” Myrria’s voice echoed from ahead of Archer.
“Yeah, I was noticing that too- oh wow!” She said, and Archer’s interest peaked. Ahead, Myrria’s flashlight was shining into a large opening- a roughly circular room that had paintings that decorated the whole interior- from floor to ceiling. Archer walked to the center of the room and spun in a slow circle, shining his flashlight over the walls and ceiling, seeing images and images of animals that almost seemed to move as Myrria’s and his flashlight shone onto the painted rocks. Quebec and Sammy were staring upwards as the flashlights played across the red, brown, and black colored walls, and Archer wondered if the large tokotas were able to realize that they were seeing depictions of prey. They certainly seemed interested enough in the images, but then again they could be just following the flashlight’s beams, and Archer hadn’t exactly taken Quebec and sat her in front of a piece of art before.
“Camera next time?” Archer asked, and Myrria nodded.
“Camera.”
Link to import sheet: Quebec 9506 by TotemSpirit
Link to (hunting/fishing/exploring) journal: Quebec Tracker
Items/Companions: +5% Success rate towards Exploration, Spelunking Tribe Points Catalog
Defects/Health Issues: n/a
11 HP=6(1283 words)+2(handler)+2(caving)+1(noncommissioned)

Link to import sheet: Samhain 576 by TotemSpirit
Link to (hunting/fishing/exploring) journal: Samhain Tracker
Items/Companions: n/a
Defects/Health Issues: n/a
10 HP=6(1283 words)+2(handler)+2(caving)
skulblaka-adurna
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