[PP-F4] Recovery of the Broken (Telrenya)

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

The majority of the players seemed to feel the full effects of the cold. Tantis and Sannae, having been the only two present that possesed the Survival skill, still found themselves shivering against the frigid air, though not as intensely as the others. The elder sister made a few quick motions to pull up her inventory, summoning a basic-looking coat into her hands before placing the item over Kitt3n's bare shoulders.

"D-do you think we c-can get it and get out f-fast?" Levande had tried to keep his own teeth from chattering, to no avail. He shared Spencer's--and likely everyone's--sentiment: wanting to go for the treasure but not wanting to freeze to death. After a bit of hesitation all around, the group decided to go for it. Once they had all entered the cavern and Kitt3n approached the frostbitten chest, the ground beneath them began to rumble. The combination of the slick floor did little to help the players keep their balance, but the reason for the quake seemed much more apparent just seconds later.

[Telrenya 0]

The massive icicles hanging from the cave entrance shuddered and swayed with the room's movement, and soon they broke off one by one, crashing down into the floor below. Rather than shattering, the razor-sharp tips dug into the ground below, blocking the players' exit. Telrenya struggled to keep her balance until the shaking had stopped, ending up crouched to the ground with her fingers gingerly pressed against the cold surface for support. She quickly turned her head with the sound of the structures crashing down, her eyes widening as it seemed they had stumbled into an obvious trap. "W-what?!" She clenched her teeth as her body shuddered, simulating the sting of the cold against her skin. Tantis had unsheathed a dagger from his belt, one that Telrenya hadn't noticed he wore until now, and promptly delivered a few quick slashes against the ice. Cardinal met his attack with a purple window that read the familiar "Immortal Object", and the man cursed under his breath.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer slowly, begrudgingly, made his way towards the frostbitten chest,but it seemed like they were not going to be getting the chest at any time soon. A small quake in the ground made him stumble, but a bigger one made him crouch down quickly, his arms out for balance as the room started to shake. Spencer looked up, just in time to see a large icicle to fall down and block the entrance. He looked concerned to the group and slowly stood up, the quaking still going on but he was trying his best to stand up. He wobbled and looked at the immortal object icon. "What the.... this was all a trap." He breathed and started to walk, but another quake made him fall to the ground, and another large icicle coming down towards him. He gasped and rolled away, the icicle hitting close to him, making him gasp and pant loudly in shock and fear. "We. Need. A. New way. Out." He said through pants and looked around the room in fear.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

"Honestly..." Sannae scoffed under her breath, seemingly more irritated than fearful at the turn of events. The quakes that shook the room seemed to come in waves, allowing them a few seconds of reprieve before they would begin again, knocking more debris from the ceiling to crash down around them. "Don't get hit... Different way... Mechanism?" The short-haired woman mumbled to herself while her golden eyes scanned the room and the players inside of it. By the end of the second quake, the young woman took a sharp breath of frigid air into her lungs. "Lev, Spencer, check for patterns. The room, environment--and anything out of the ordinary." She tried to explain the quickly-moving thoughts in her mind while she began to bark out orders. "Darling, check out that chest, would you?" She turned to look over her shoulder at the young girl clutching at the edges of the coat that had been wrapped around her. Kitt3n gave a quick nod and her small frame continued over to the frozen-over chest in the back of the room. "Tantis, damage control." Her eyes met the deep blue of the taller man and he nodded in understanding, sheathing his dagger and stepping away from the blocked-off entryway and placing the palm of a gloved hand along the side wall to support himself. "Telrenya," The woman gingerly placed a hand on the nearby girl's back as she was still crouched close to the ground. "Look out for each other," Her head tilted just slightly as she referred to the two members of the Holy Dragon Alliance. "but see if you can give our little kitten some back-up."

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya instinctively winced at the sound of the icicles occasionally crashing down around them. Although they were usually smaller than the massive structures blocking their visible exit, there was no telling how much damage the environment could do to them. Not without one of them getting hit, anyway. Telrenya couldn't tell if she shuddered from the thought, or from her body's reaction to the freezing temperatures. The blonde snapped back to attention when the other woman's voice grew louder, taking on the role of a leader that was trying to instruct them out of this mess.

She had been asked to help Kitt3n with getting the chest open, and Telrenya felt no other option than hesitantly nodding. She didn't know the first thing about lock-picking or hunting for treasure, so her confidence in helping their escape quickly plummeted to zero. She got to her feet with shaky legs, looking over to Spencer to nervously check that her friend hadn't been hurt. She backed up towards the edge of the room until her shoulderblades were pressed against the ice-covered wall, sending a quick chill down her spine. She looked over to the girl with hair that matched her own eyes with a concerned expression. "I h-hope you know what you're d-doing..." She mumbled through shaky breaths.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer nodded to the girl and gripped his mace, looking at the room. Every quake made him look in a different spot of the room, wondering what exactly was the pattern with it, or maybe a way out. He was starting, looking over at Lev every time the quakes, watching him start to see all the of the icicles. Think Spencer think.. Hmmm what exactly could be going on with this room, there is an equation with it... Okay first timing the quakes. He stopped and listened to it, about 1 minute between each one. Okay, next, where don't they fall. He watched and ducked from an icicle, seeing that the corners were safe. "The corners! They don't fall in the corners!" Spencer yelled and moved to a corner, no icicles were forming above him, or in any corner of the cave, the cave was like a Hexagon, 6 corners that really jutted out. "Lev, Anything?" He yelled to the man.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

When Spencer called out the corners of the room as a safe area, the other players moved quickly to get themselves into a better position, save for the young brunette who was working diligently at getting the chest open and the green-haired man who was running his gloved palms gingerly over the length of the cavern walls. Levande's jaw clenched when he heard his name called out, as if regretful that he didn't have any better news to report. "Uhh...weeeell," His voice raised octave as he hesitated. "I'm preeeetty sure we're not meant to get out the way we came. Unless there's some secret button to get rid of those walls." He did little more than pointing out the obvious, but just a few seconds later a loud click sounded that was followed by Kitt3n's exclamation.

"Got it!" The girl grinned, and when the chest's lid swung open the room's trembling began to lessen. The icicles stopped raining from the ceiling, and the cold air grew still. Even so, the large barricade at the cave's mouth stood tall, and the temperature didn't show any signs of rising.

[Telrenya 0]

"Is this like a t-two-part puzzle or s-something?" Telrenya managed in a small voice once the room grew quiet. The anxiety in her chest had subsided only slightly as the quakes didn't seem to be returning, and she felt safe enough to push her back from one of the corners she'd taken shelter in. The air around her was still positively freezing, prompting the blonde to take her arms in her hands. The adrenaline slowly began to fade, and her slender frame started to shiver once again.

Telrenya's head swiveled side to side, trying to looks for some kind of clues as well. Her eyes trailed along the walls, up to the ceiling, and back to the chest that Kitt3n had opened. It seemed to have contained a small assortment of items, most of which the girl had deposited into her inventory. Before the chest had been emptied, Telrenya watched the girl pull up a tan pouch in each have that seemed to have some weight to them. "Here 'ya go!" The teen grinned as her breath continued to form thick clouds of fog in front of her face. She handed one of the pouches to Telrenya beside her, and tossed the other one underhanded towards the farther-away Spencer. The blonde took on an inquisitive look, loosening the tie around the bag to peek inside. A bundle of col sat in her palm, and the woman blinked in surprise. "Wait, b-but--"

"Ahp, ahp, ahp!" Kitt3n gave a small wag of her finger to interrupt the protests. "I'll make 'ya a deal, stick around 'till we can all find the way outta here and you can keep it." The bubbly brunette gave the two players a toothy grin.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer sighed quietly when the icicles stopped falling, but was still a tad bit annoyed that the way they had came was blocked off still. He groaned to himself and took a small step forward, before walking a bit. He stopped his approach to the other players when he got hit in the chest with a small bag of col. He looked confused at the girl, but it seemed that she wouldn't take no for an answer. He gave Telrenya a confused look and held up his hands in defeat, putting it slowly into his inventory. 

Spencer shared Telrenya's fear that it might be a multiple part puzzle and that they couldn't get out just that easier, which made him a tad bit annoyed as well, he just wanted a straightforward way to leave. "It's never that easy is it." He mumbled, looking at Telrenya. He also took a look at the rest of the guild and the room, not sure where to go from there. "Hmm, I don't know at all..." He trailed off and took a slow look around, seeing different cracks in the ice. He ran his hand along the ice and his hand got caught on a crack. He looked at it confused and pulled on it, the ice moved very slightly. He looked at the rest of the players in the cave and pulled hard on the crack, it moving a bit more. "Wait, this moves." He mumbled and pulled more, moving it almost a foot, grunting with the effort.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

Levande look like he was trying to convince Tantis to raise him up onto the taller man's shoulders when the sound of the ice moving and shifting caught everyone's attention. The young guild leader's face lit up with delight as a new path had been discovered, and she thrust her hand in the air above her head with an outstretched index finger. "Onward! A new path to follow!" The adventurous teen didn't seem fazed by the trap room that had stumbled upon. She took a moment to slip her arms through the dark gray jacket that still rested on her shoulders before dashing over to the false wall that Spencer had found. Her shorter frame slipped around the sandy-haired man, and she curled her fingers over the edge of the ice wall to help pull it the rest of the way open.

When the players had slipped through the new passageway, it was as if the harsh temperatures had vanished. The new tunnel they found themselves in was much like that of the caverns they had wandered through earlier, with several softly-glowing crystal clusters jutting out from the walls, ceiling, and floor to light their path. "Well, despite the discomfort of the cold, I would say that went rather well." Sannae offered a small chuckle. "If you two weren't already in a guild of your own, I'd have half a mind to invite you to join the Gladiolus Alliance." A soft smile graced her lips.

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya's head swiveled back towards her friend when she heard an intrigued mumble leave Spencer's lips. The blonde woman couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that left her chest, the air turning into a thick fog in front of her face as she did so. "Nice find!" A wide smile stretched across her face as the group hurried to get out of the freezing cave room.

Telrenya felt as though her spirits had been lifted after they were back on another normal path through the winding underground caves. They had managed to overcome two obstacles now, and though the blonde couldn't say that she had single-handedly accomplished anything, the sense of teamwork that they all seemed to have filled her with a sense of satisfaction. Perhaps they did make a pretty good team. When Sannae's calm voice filled the silence, speaking of a potential guild invitation, Telrenya gave a shy chuckle. "Ahh... Well, I appreciate the thought." She replied with a warm smile of her own. "It's nice to find people who honestly care about each other. That means a lot nowadays..." The last words left her in a mumble, and for a moment she regretted letting them leave her. Unsavory memories of days past lingered with them in her mind.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer felt sort of proud of himself now, he was able to get the group out of the blizzard/ trap room and into a corridor much like the ones they were walking down before. Telrenya congratulated him on finding the way out, and he gave a small smile to her before the looked around. He sighed happily and turned back to the other five people, the guild offering their thanks for helping them, and saying that they would invite them to their guild if they weren't already apart of their own. He smiled brightly at them, the offer was sweet of them, but he would never drop out of the guild that he was already apart of.

Telrenya said something at the end that pulled at his heart strings a tad bit, so he took a small step closer to her. "Well, thank you guys for helping us, and we are glad to have helped you." He placed his hand on Telrenya's shoulder, trying to comfort her the best he could even though he wasn't that good at it. He looked at the four other players, then around the area they were already in. "Where to now?" He didn't know if this was it for meeting the four of them, but also he didn't know where to go from here, but he could have sworn they had been in the area before.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

As the group walked on, Tantis could be seen towards the back of the group, occasionally pulling out his notes of map data and adding new details when they made a turn or reached a split in the path. Sannae leaned over to view the man's work from over her shoulder, examining the layout that he'd put together thus far before a satisfied smile appeared on her face. "Well, not a bad trip. Looks like we're close to the entrance we originally found, so let's call it a night." She noted to the group before straightening her spine.

Standing at the front, Levande twisted himself around, sliding his hands into his pockets as he walked backwards to face the rest of the players with a small smirk on his lips. "Well, then why not a truce? Err," His expression contorted into one of thought as soon as the word left him. "Like...guild-friends?" The half-finished thought left his mind when the reserved man with pale, sandy hair spoke up.

"An alliance." He offered the word his spear-wielding companion was looking for, which resulted in Levande pulling a hand from his pocket to give a snap of his fingers and a grinning agreement in reply. Sannae offered Spencer and Telrenya an inquisitive smile. "Not a bad idea, honestly. Here," She swiped her hands in front of her while she walked, and within a few seconds a friend request from the chestnut-haired woman appeared in front of either of them. "If you want to consider it, just send me a message sometime."

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya hadn't realized that Spencer's presence had drawn closer until she felt the careful weight of his hand upon her shoulder. The blonde woman's chin tilted upwards to look towards him as he did what he could to comfort her, and in response a gentle smile grew on her face. After a few moments of conversation, Cardinal displayed Sannae's friend request in front of her, and she gladly accepted the offer. "Oh, well, I'm sure the answer would be yes, but I'll ask our guild leader about it." A bright smile lingered on her features. After all of the distractions and camaraderie over their small adventure, Telrenya had nearly forgotten about all of the negative feelings she carried with her just hours ago.

With her thoughts trailing back to their ginger-haired guild leader, Telrenya realized she hadn't contacted him since she went out to try and find Spencer earlier that day. She felt a twinge of guilt for not letting Jomei know they were okay sooner, but as she didn't want to try and type out a message without slowing down the group, she made a mental note to contact the Irishman just as soon as they were back on the surface.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer smiled and leaned against the cave walls. He realized that they were in the area they were walking through, pretty close to the entrance where Telrenya and Spencer had came through. "Thankfully we got out of there." He mumbled and looked at everyone else. They were starting to have a conversation about their respective guilds, and even suggested they have an alliance of sorts between the two of them. Spencer perked up and nodded, it actually sounded like a decent idea. Their guild was slowly starting to grow and become an actual guild, so gaining some people to help them out would be very nice indeed.

"Sounds like a great idea to me." He smiled and accepted the friend request that was sent to him. He looked at the group of four, then at Telrenya. "Maybe we should get going? I know I missed out on the guild meeting, but I'd like to leave these caves." He chuckled a bit and looked back at Telrenya. "Sorry about missing it again." He felt less depressed and sad about him being a low level. He knew those feelings were still there, but they were less prominent now and manageable. He looked down the corridor and saw the exit. "The exit is right over there." He pointed down the corridor and upwards, some light coming in.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

The five other players nodded practically simultaneously when Spencer suggested they leave the caves. "As much fun as that was, I think we're all rather exhausted." Sannae gave a sigh, clearly the least adventurous of the small guild group. Even Kitt3n had lost a bit of her bubbly edge, worn out from the various traps they'd gotten themselves into throughout the long afternoon.

As the group followed the path down to the empty room that Spencer and Telrenya had originally dropped down into, there was something very different about the otherwise barren space. Seemingly risen from the smooth stone floor, a narrow staircase led from the ground to meet the small opening in the ceiling. Thinking nothing of it, the small guild carefully ascended the stairs one by one until they reached the exit.

Emerging on the other side of the frozen floor, Levande and Kitt3n were each one to let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Too much adventure?" Sannae teased with a hand placed on her hip, prompting her younger sister to give a pout over her shoulder.

[Telrenya 0]

"Same here." Telrenya said in agreeance, a hint of eagerness in her voice to get back to they safety of town. Their expedition through the caves had done well to distract her and keep her mind off of the more troubling topics lingering in the back of her mind, but she was looking forward to the thought of a sweet drink in a warm tavern in Snowfrost.

Telrenya gave a shake of her head at Spencer's apology, offering the man a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure they'll just be glad to know you're okay." The corners of her mouth stretched a bit wider. When the players came across the staircase leading up to the small trapdoor, Telrenya blinked in slight surprise, giving Spencer a sideways glance but quickly shrugging it off as the other players went ahead towards the exit.

She had to resist the urge to just fall back into the piled snow resting on the ground once they were back above ground. The time of day was always a bit difficult to discern on the wintry floor, but a quick glance at the corner of her interface told the woman it had been a few hours since she first set out in search of her friend, and well over an hour that they had spent seeking adventure. Instead, she settled for a relieved sigh while her arms stretched up over her head. She looked back to the sandy-haired man and offered him another small smile. "I'm probably going to see if Jomei is home in Taft. You're welcome to come, if you'd like?" Her head tilted an inch or so to one side, curious to see if Spencer would accept.

[Spencer 0]

"I'm definitely all for leaving these caves." He chuckled a bit and heard Telrenya's acceptance of his apology, knowing that he was also going through his stuff. "And Tel.... I'm sorry." He had no idea what exactly to say to her about all of what she was going through, but he was hoping his small comment would should that he truly did care about what she was going through. 

When the group saw the stairs leading to the trap door, it was confusing to him no doubt. They fell through that hole only moments ago, so it was pretty strange to just walk up to the trap door, open it, and leave pretty easily. The group entered back up to the main ground and Spencer blinked rapidly from the light change, and shivered from the temperature change. Spencer got out his common umbrella and opened it up, holding it over his head and Telrenya's to stop the snow from falling.

Spencer looked at Kitt3n, tired and wanting the adventure to be over, and over at Telrenya who asked him if he wanted to accompany her to see Jomei. He bit his lip and stood there for a moment before he nodded, feeling as though he should apologise for missing the meeting and act like everything was fine. "Sure sounds good to me." He paused and looked at the others. "Well. I'm glad we all met one another, but I do believe it is time for us to be going." He smiled and waved to them all, taking a small step back.

[Gladiolus Alliance 0]

Sannae gave a mutual nod at Spencer's and Telrenya's farewells. Each member of the Gladiolus Alliance gave a short goodbye of their own, be it a wave, nod, or short word. As the two groups separated and the ragtag band of four began to make their way through the snowy fields, Sannae was once again the one to break the silence. "Well, that was something. At least we managed to make some new allies out of the whole ordeal." She offered, filling the silence during the trek back to their 'headquarters' on the sixteenth floor.

"They were nice. I like them." Kitt3n responded simply, the fatigue draining what would have normally been a cheery, upbeat tone to her words. She still held onto a smile, and Levande chimed in shortly afterwards. "So is this like our first official guild alliance? Are we gonna start training to be legendary badasses on the frontlines?" The green-haired man joked with a grin.

"That's where your mind jumps to? Honestly..." Sannae quickly criticized with a small sigh.

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya waved towards the guild as they took their leave, blinking when she turned her attention back to Spencer to realize that he was holding his signature umbrella over both of their heads. Her smile grew wider, both in appreciation for his gesture and in response to his agreeance to going with her to see their own guild leader.

As they walked back to Snowfrost, Telrenya occasionally pulling up her menus to check the map data she had available, she decided to fill the air with some brief conversation before they would reach the quiet city and the teleport plaza at its center. "I'm sure it'll still take some more time for things to go back to normal." She kept her eyes forward and slightly lowered as she spoke, her soft smile carrying the slightest bit of sadness now. "I've been thinking about going to the Monument of Life, when I'm ready. I... If I can help it, I don't want any of us to stay hung up on all of that. I think it'll only keep hurting us, and stop us from reaching our goals." Telrenya bit down on her bottom lip, gnawing gently against the skin while she picked out the right words for what she wanted to say next. "Hopefully my head isn't too high up in the clouds, but... I've thought about how I'd really like to stay friends, after all of this. If we can." She felt almost too embarrassed to cast her glance over to Spencer, keeping her eyes forward while the faintest tint of pink touched her cheeks.