The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Trisha/Teen Human Blacksmith POV

"Hey, thanks for escorting me… I know I said I could handle this on my own, but I appreciate the company." The young woman glanced back at Isaak and flashed a smile. It looked like Isaak needed to get out of the camp after what had happened a few hours ago. Luckily nobody blames him outright for losing that little dwarf girl, but it is bothering him.

Isaak offered a half smile as he scratched the back of his head. "No problem, besides the Shepherd warned us that noncombatants shouldn't be traveling alone in these woods. Despite it being Vitmori's territory, we're still visitors and trespassers here. It's better not to be alone lest we cross some line." He explained simply enough as his hand rested on the grip of his shortsword.

It's not like she wasn't there for the group meeting, but she wasn't exactly paying attention, if she was being honest. Right now, they were heading toward the mountain, she didn't intend to climb it, but she wanted to see if there was an opening near the base they could get into.

"Remind me why you wanted to come here again?" Isaak asked, mainly wanting to fill the silence as he looked around the treeline, spotting a deer that spotted them before it made a beeline away.

Trisha shook her head at having to remind him but happily re-explained the situation. "Well, I'm feeling restless around the camp and outside of carving wooden clubs and stone-tipped arrows, spears, and wooden shields… I… Well, I'm eager to get a forge going. I'm missing the heat, and we'll need a bunch of tools and supplies that we can't just trade for or buy, considering our circumstances… All that to say that I want to check out the mountain caves to see if there are any ores we can mine for sometime soon." She explained in a somewhat long-winded way.

Isaak was nodding along at this point, having been listening for the mere relief of there being some dialogue to combat the silence. "And what are we going to do about a light source?" He asked, only just now realizing that going into a cave probably meant little to no light, and he forgot to pack a torch.

Trisha couldn't help but snort with amusement at his apparent realization before gesturing to her hip. Hanging off of it was a torch with a strap, as well as a club with a strap and cloth binding around the grip. "I've got us covered, mister guard." She teased lightly as they reached the mountain base. Glancing from side to side, she began to walk along until she hopefully found the entrance she was looking for. "I'm surprised you're not carrying one, aren't guardsmen trained to carry a torch with them for the sheer utility of it?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Isaak huffed with mild annoyance before shrugging a bit, and it's not like he even had any armor to speak of. "Well, I didn't realize we'd be going cave diving. Torches were meant to be used by night guards, which wasn't a duty I was assigned too often due to still being a trainee." He mentioned as he mainly just followed her trail, still surveying their surroundings as if by being hyper-vigilant now, he could make up for this morning.

"Fair enough. Would you like to hold it?" She offered with a bit of a grin, having untied it from her belt and held it out to him.

He rolled his eyes but took it, though even as he strapped it to his sword belt, he realized he didn't have the means to light it. After deciding against inviting further teasing, he opted not to say anything about it.

"So… How'd you end up in the back of that cart?" Trisha asked, sounding rather sheepish as the grass and gravel crunched beneath her feet.

Isaak was pretty surprised she brought that up and averted his gaze as he decided to gather his thoughts. "I uh… I picked up the shift of another guard… I was trying to earn some extra coin. You know, I wanted to buy a gift for Miriam… That, well, that part of the story doesn't matter." He said, shaking his head a bit before looking forward again. "Well, the other guard and I had similar builds, and the helmets covered our entire face for the most part… That is to say, the guard whose patrol I picked up got tapped to report in for a raid of some kind. I was all gung-ho and eager for it too. Finally, I thought, a chance to prove myself as a trainee and show my worth…."

He sighed, his shoulders sagging as he rubbed the back of his head again. "To say it didn't go how I expected is putting it extremely lightly… The next thing I knew, a team of 6 of us guards was in the middle of the slums, approaching a beastkin quarter right in the middle of the evening. The team leader bashed the brittle door down so easily, and that's when I saw Miriam… She was just there preparing a coming-of-age dress for one of the girls in that household. The next thing I knew, she was being slammed down into the ground along with the dogkin family, hoods were thrown over their heads, and chains slapped on their wrists as the others began dragging them off. I tried to stop it, of course. I asked what they did wrong or what the charges were… But the others just looked at me oddly; even with the helmets, I could tell they were confused by my reaction. That's when the team leader approached and ripped off my helmet, and upon meeting my eyes, he seemed to understand what may have happened."

At this point, Trisha stopped walking, having spotted what looked like a cave entrance not too far ahead. However, she wanted to hear his story without interruptions.

Isaak had also stopped walking and adopted a faraway look as he remembered what had happened so vividly. "The team leader tossed the helmet over to someone else, and when I went to look to see who caught it, I received what I think was a metal elbow to my jaw. When I woke up, I was in my under-clothes and chained up with you and everyone else in those holding cells."

Trisha nods in understanding, the end of his story somewhat similar to everyone else's at the camp. "I… I see…" Was all she could manage as they walked up to the cave entrance and peered inside.

He looked inside the cave before he offered the torch back to her with vague embarrassment. "I uh… Can't light it."

At that, despite the heavy mood that had come over between them, she couldn't help but chuckle at his expense. "Don't worry; I've got it." She said gently, holding her hand out to the end of the torch. After a moment of focus, she spoke out the words of power for focusing her magic. "Candlelight." She declares with gentle familiarity. The end of the torch caught the light as she pulled away, still holding the tiny flame in her palm. "Now we've got two light sources." She mused, smiling some more at Isaak's pleasantly surprised expression.

Continuing forward with the light, she began looking around the cave entrance before stepping further into it. "Looks like this isn't just some shallow cave… It opens up further ahead."

Isaak nodded intently, but before she got too far ahead, he moved forward and outpaced her when he glanced back and offered a half smile. "At least let me do my job and escort you in here. I'll walk in front." With that, he continued along ahead of her. Though as they walked, he glanced back at her again. "How'd you end up in all this?"

She should've figured he would ask her in return after she pried into his past. "Well, uh… I'm sorry to say my story isn't nearly as dramatic or interesting as yours." She said bashfully before clearing her throat.

"Well, it'll be something to fill the silence, at least." He countered with a smirk, glancing back at her before focusing on the natural cave tunnel before them.

"Well…" She started to say before sighing a bit. "Just over a year ago, my father died of an illness. Despite us spending most all the coin we had, whatever malady that grabbed ahold of him would not be cured by any of the medicines the church could offer. So when he passed, I inherited the forge." She explained with a small amount of emotional detachment, she had already grieved and processed this. She also knew her father would probably give her a hard time if he knew she grieved for as long as she did. "Well with his passing, the notoriety of his name could only carry me so far, and soon enough, the only ones who would visit the forge would be the local butchers and chefs needing their blades sharpened or their cookware reshaped. To say it wasn't enough was an understatement. I stubbornly clung onto my father's forge, even going so far as to take several loans to keep up with food supplies and taxes." She says in a distant voice as she recalls her stresses and troubles.

Stopping and holding the flame in her palm closer to the stone wall, she scratched her fingernail against it for a moment and frowned. Unsatisfied with what she saw, she kept walking. "As anyone would've guessed, some tax collectors came. Eventually, after stopping them at the door a few times, they broke into the smithy in the dead of night and carried me off before I could properly resist, and soon enough, I found myself in the same holding cells as you."

Isaak nodded solemnly at that. "I'm sorry for your loss." He offered, unsure what else to say to all that in the end.

Trisha offers just a simple hum of acknowledgment as she traces her fingers along the natural ridges of some stone.

Isaak was about to say something else when he heard the clattering of stone further ahead in a much more open cavern along the trail of the cave path. "Hold up, did you hear that?"