Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-30921738-20180813175759/@comment-26510374-20180814225427

It had been normal at first: a cave on a hillside in the pine forest, with smoke billowing from a hole in the top, and strange but interesting scents sometimes escaping the cloud. It was just begging to be explored.

Upon entry and a bit of walking through a wide tunnel with the occasional simplistic drawing etched into the stone walls, Birdie reached the source of the smoke. It was from a bonfire planted right at the end of the tunnel, and escaped through a recently drilled, smaller tunnel stretching upwards to the surface.

However, Birdie's attention had shifted to the end of the tunnel, which she had never seen before. It widened further to a huge cavern housing an underground pool stretching as far as she could see. Stalagmites rose from the dark surface, and the ceiling was dotted with stalactites. The lisitsa was clearly deeper underground than she had originally imagined.

However, her gaze snapped back to the fire as something beside it stirred. It was hard to see in full; the front of the brown-furred beast was outlined by the fire’s glow, and beside it were a couple of small multicolored things with tentacles. Before Birdie could investigate further, the larger animal’s eye opened to stare straight at her.

Birdie and the unfamiliar animal both recoiled in surprise at the same time. Its wedgelike head turned to face her, and the lisitsa took a step back, going into a stance that meant she could flee at any moment. The beast’s tentacled things noticed her as well and turned to each other, together emitting a cacophony of garbled noises.

“Hello,” said the beast in a cautious but friendly tone. Birdie had barely seen it reach for something to its left before she bolted, scampering through the tunnel in the opposite direction. She took flight as soon as she left the tunnel and flew rapidly upwards into a pine tree, and hopped from tree to tree until she was a good distance away.

The beast hadn't meant any harm, most likely. Birdie scolded herself for fleeing before any danger had been revealed, but she didn't want to go back right away. Maybe there was danger.

“Flighty little buggers,” Six muttered, finishing setting up the trap in front of the cave. “Saw one of 'im when I first came here. Appealing appearance. I see a good profit.” After she was through with talking to one of her pet phantoms, who had reluctantly accompanied her outside, Six stood, brushed the dirt off her bag, and trudged back into the tunnel.