A Dark Dungeon. (Closed)

[moonshineTheleocat]

The stallion would be purring if he could when he felt those claws dig through his mane! So... maybe he was being overly dramatic about the save... but fire hurts! Bad! Not to mention dying by fire? He's never seen anything like it! But he's heard many oh' stories about ponies and griffons screaming out in agony, and cursing the “God of Fire” as they draw their terminal breath! Small grif over there might whine about dying in his own home! But Uncharted Treasure would sure as heck take that anyday over fire! Sides... he could haunt the home later!

Oh! Something feel's cool... firm... and almost like a grasp... wait a minute. A quick glance back, and he saw the ebony Griffon's claws on his flank with a salve. The stallion chuckled for a moment and shifted himself away from her. Right after saying something like this? Heck, she couldn't slap him for throwing out a playful joke for this.

“Hey-hey- hey now honey~, I'll pay you back however creative you want. But if it's -that- you want, it'll have to be much later, and somewhere private first! Preferably after I take ya out to dinner.” The stallion bore a cheeky grin as he turned his head away to look down into one of his bags. His horn alight as each bottle was bathed in a magic glow, and lifted up momentarily... then replaced.

“Now bout that potion... let me see... Rage, Thunderbolt, Suntrot, Growth, Abscond, Abject, Aggress....” His face quickly lit up with a smile as he pulled a bottle free with a red viscous fluid.

“Ah! Resolve!” He chimed happily. But... his smile quickly faded as he regarded the potion with thoughtful curiosity. “Strange names on some of these potions... it's like the brewer was sitting on a Thesarus one day while he was mixing them. Oh well... who needed this again?”

[tacobob]

 

“Still, not a lot of ponies can even do that.”, the black griffon watched as Dunder’s potion did its thing. Razor was as predicable as he was feisty, “Alright alright.”, she sighed, “Just remember, we have a dragon, so you will not need to charge into every battle we come across. I’m not saying to go and hide when one of those things attacks us, and you might have to defend yourself if we are overwhelmed, but try to engage in battle only if completely necessary. Please.” Zelda knew her old friend would not shy away from a fight, but she had hoped he would play safe for this mission. She wanted to say more, but she knew that lecturing him would make things only less comfortable for the group.

 

“Just make sure we have something for the old bird.”, she added, “As soon as we find the guy, he’s gonna need to be in fighting shape, or I’d never hear the end of it.” She always wanted to see the General in a real battle, and now there was a very good chance it would happen. Hopefully everyone will take notes. She nodded her head as he gave her something to do, but did not leave right away.

 

“Dunder’s potion did the job, but keep those potions ready as we’ll probably need them later on.”, a smile formed on her beak as the stallion spoke of his ‘thanks’. “Sounds like a plan, just remember one thing, I get to pick the place.”

 

It took her just a moment to return to Ironclaw Manor’s armory. After scooping up her trusty hammer and strapping it on her back, she spotted the explosives. Thankfully they were not as big as she had thought, but there was one thing that bothered her. Traveling with a gang that used a good deal of fire for combat would spell trouble for the explosives as she did not want them to explode before their time. After spending a few minutes, she spotted what she had been looking for, a pair of fireproof blankets. They probably won't be much use against dragonfire, but they would at least keep the crates safe from nearly everything else.

 

After wrapping the crates, she spotted a wheelbarrow and placed the now wrapped up pieces into it before she took control of the wheeled device and pushed it towards the library...

 

 

[Dunder]

Dunder trotted away from the two griffons. It was probably better if he shut up, he helped all he could anyway. The one on one talk between the two with the longer history would probably yield more successful results on Razor's combat behavior. After all, these enemies were more than Dunder had ever could have imagined before. The stallion pushed over some broken segments of wall to reveal an intact dust-covered bottle of wine. The cork was out, but when the stallion lifted it off the ground he could feel the liquid rock back and forth in the bottle.

Might as well.... He thought before taking a sip. He trotted over to that still crispy stallion. "Oh, it was me who needed this." The pony said as he swiped the potion from the pony's hoof. "I'll be needing this later." The pegasus said before slamming the rest of the wine down.

After a survey of the room he could see that mostly everything in the party was gone. He sighed and trotted over to the hole in the wall where Razor was. "I'll stand guard. You can sit if you please, but something tells me you won't." He said to the short griffon.

[ShadowWalking18]

Many of the reproduced texts go over Ironclaw family history, and a number of genealogies of both the Ironclaws and other ancient griffon families and lines. Then there is the history concerning the event called The Fall. Apparently it was a name given by the Ironclaws to a time nearly a thousand years ago, when the Ironclaw Family faced a number of hardships, and disasters that led to their nearly total annihilation and fall from the high class of griffon society and into the shadows for years.

 

Apparently around the time of The Fall, the clan's head patron, Ospery, or Ironclaw the XXXIV, was by the accounts a total lunatic and madmen. He spent the family wealth on lavish parties and other indulgences, and alienated himself from nearly the entire clan. It all led up to the entire Ironclaw clan, save for a few close members to Ospery, to leave the castle and the clans traditional home grounds.

 

After this schisim, the records don't hold much information in regards to the castle or the family itself. Though two events can be learned: One, nearly four years after the Schisim, the Ironclaw clan faced what can only be described as a massive die off. From a clan numbering twelve hundred individuals at the time, it fell to only eighty five remaining members at the time. 

Second: The entirety of the Ironclaw family wealth and assets dropped to nothing, or vanished or untraceable. And it was at this time that the castle was left abandoned and for the next thousand years the Ironclaw family fell literally into obscurity.

 

------------------------------------------

 

Razor sighed and rolled his eyes. He was touched that Zelda was trying to keep him safe, but frankly she was reminding him too much of his mother. All the worrying...

 

...still it was nice to be worried about.

 

"I'll try my best." He said to her pleads that he keep himself under controlled and not go rushing into danger.

 

He looked at Dunder as he offered to stand guard near the tunnel and nodded.

 

"Sure. I need to get some equipment anyway."  He said and turned to leave and headed to the armory.

 

As he left the room, he turned toward Uncharted Treasure, "You. Uncharted right? Mind coming with me, I need to talk to you."

 

After that he turned and began walking toward the armory. He figured that once he got ready they should head out. This attack only made it all the more important now.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak hummed to himself as he looked over the texts. Well, the Fall hadn't been quite what he was expecting, but it was an apt name for what had happened. Still, it might be useful information at some point, even though it wasn't connected to the creatures that attacked in any way that he could see, really.

The dragon didn't respond at first when Slim spoke, simply looking over at her for a few moments before giving a snort. She had earned some respect from how she delt with the other large creature in the attack, so he decided to answer her.

"Books can hold useful information. I may not want to collect them, but that doesn't mean I avoid them." He said, looking back to the next book in his claws. "I do use my brain, no matter what impression you got of me before. The library seemed to be the most likely location for any information I may wish to know about this mission." He said simply, his voice even.

[DerpRavener]

Slim Chance paused for a moment between reading documents, surprised at the dragon's response.  True, she wasn't sure what kind of answer she was expecting.  She'd half expected him to have a sudden epiphany, say 'You're right, I don't know what I'm doing here either!' and then go stomping off to some other part of the manor.  Finding Anarak standing by this decision was a pleasant surprise, even if it did make him even more dangerous.

Hey, that would be working for them this time around.

 

Slim Chance turned back to her own research, but a number of questions lingered in her head.  As she skimmed over the documents before her, she realized she could ask a question and maybe get on friendlier terms.  It took her a moment to organize the thought, at which point she spoke up again.  “You just didn't strike me as the type to need them is all.”  She waved a hoof.  “Between the scales, the fire breath and just being bigger than a bunch of things, I get the impression dragons generally don't need the help.”  She also didn't imagine that they would care much about anything that required more than charring or skewering to deal with, but not knowing how Aranak would react to that thought, she held off from mentioning it.  She was sorta trying to make friends here, after all.

She was also genuinely curious.  This was the first time she'd met a dragon who read.  It was the first time she'd met a dragon at all for that matter, but that was beside the point.  She could ask a question and find relevant information at the same time.  “Do you read regularly then?  What got you started?”

 

It was only a few minutes before she found everything of use from her first pass.  The reproductions seemed limited, containing small range of information, but she'd still managed to get at least one thing from it.  There was a particular name, Osprey (the 34th patriarch, if she'd read correctly), who was associated first with a loss of pride and wealth, and later with the loss of the majority of actual clan members.  He was also apparently quite insane.  Though there wasn't much detail in those particular records, Slim Chance was pretty sure this was the gryphon who, allowed whatever horrible thing it was to happen, if he didn't cause it himself.

 

It wasn't a whole lot to go on, but it was a start, and Slim Chance thought she could work with it.  She replaced the reproductions she had taken back to where they'd been found, and then turned to the shelves.  She was now looking for anything written by Osprey himself, hoping he would have left some record of what he'd done or witnessed.  The unicorn would likely have to get into some of the older and thus more delicate documents, but she hadn't been an academic for nothing.  She was confident she could read them without doing any damage.

[tacobob]

 

 

As the black griffon slowly and carefully pushed the wagon, she grimly pondered what would happen if her cargo would explode while she pushed it. Maybe the dragon has to sneeze and boom! There wouldn’t be enough of the bird left to bury in a pill-box. Or would that make sense? Do dragons sneeze fire?  She had heard dragon’s magic work the same way unicorn’s horn do, but instead of summoning their spells through horns, it was all done through their mouth. Weird.

 

She did not push it far before she nearly ran over her size challenged friend with the wagon.

 

“Razor, where do you want me to take this? It’s all rather terrifying. And what were you doing with all explosives in the first place?”

 

 

OOC: Sorry. Short post. RL continues to confound my creatively!

[Dunder]

The drinks were catching up to the stallion, he could feel his mind growing fuzzy, especially with the void of the hole in the wall staring back at him. Just the sight made him feel unsettled, the dark that the dark creatures were born from. He wished the others hadn't left. Especially having Zelda around would make his mind more at ease. But now it was just him and the abyss. The wine wasn't making it easy to plan, but the stallion's wings were flared. If anything was coming through, the stallion wasn't going to stick around to face it alone.

 

All he could do now was wait for his comrades to return and do whatever they needed to do. Now just sit there, stare at the dark, and wait.

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor turned and saw that Zelda had brought the explosives.

 

"Help me bring them down this tunnel." He said, motioning to the opening where the monsters had burst through previously. The dark path seemed to head down over old, dust covered stone stairs and halls. "Dunder, why don't you go get our two scholars and meet us in the hall. We're going to get this expedition started."

 

With that, he started gathering some of the explosives carefully in his claws, then started carrying them into the dark hall. The hall led down through a musty old path and stairs, which showed stonework that was probably far older then the manor itself. Razor winced every so often as he lugged the heavy items of explosive black powder, pressing his less injured wing against the wall for guidance till his eyes grew use to the darkness.

 

The hall grew even mustier and dank the farther one went in, and the rank rancid smell of the monsters seemed to mix in the air and it seemed to now extend forward without any end in sight. Though Razor stopped at one section of the hall, and began setting the explosives down in key in holes in the wall stones, and beside the walls themselves.

 

"Set the explosives around the walls here. Then we will wait for the others to get here before we move on with the next part." He said, before taking a moment to sit down and rest.

 

-----------

 

Back in the library, there doesn't seem to be any specifically talon written scrolls by Ospery. But mixed in amongst the scrolls concerning the clan finances. It seems at the time of Ospery's reign, sometime after the banishment of his family, he made large payments toward diggers and excavation tools. As well as a notable number of payments toward unspecified organizations in Equestria and beyond.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak gave no response at first to Slim's words, mulling them over in his head. Sure, the majority of dragons seemed to not bother with learning about their enemy, but he figured it couldn't hurt to know more about how to fight these things. Especially since he wasn't as big as some dragons yet. Besides, he knew he wasn't the only dragon in Equestria that read, there was at least one other.

"What got me started? I wanted to learn something. Being a dragon, it was easier to get a book and figure it out than it was to find someone willing to teach me. Besides, I am not short on time, usually." He said, looking through his current book. He wasn't finding too much of interest in here anymore, though he had found some interesting ledgers from Osprey's time in charge. What organizations had the bird been giving money too? He could guess what the excavation things were for, that was fairly obvious.

[DerpRavener]

“Can't argue with that I suppose,” Slim Chance said.  She looked up from the text she had before her, and over at her draconic companion.  His reasons all made sense.  Dragons were known to be especially long lived, and if they wanted to learn something that was usually pony or griffon knowledge it would probably be easier to find a relevant book than a individual with the knowledge and who wouldn't run away at the first opportunity.  Still, she found it as a surprise, she just couldn't figure out how to voice it without coming across as prejudiced.

She turned back to her task, but after a moment she realized one thing that bothered her.  “So wait, there aren't any other dragons you could talk to if you wanted to know something?” she asked.  Not finding ponies to teach a dragon is one thing, but why wouldn't one be able to find dragons?  And if that was because of something dragon thing, why did it not apply to Aranak?

 

Slim Chance shoved these to the back of her mind.  She listened for the answer, but otherwise she had a more important task to deal with.  Thus far her search had gotten her tantalizingly close to an answer, but had produced a fat lot of nothing that would actually help the group.  She grumbled to herself a bit, before moving on.

 

Slim Chance wasn't beaten yet though.  “Okay,” she mumbled to herself, “if there's nothing in fact, let's move on to myths.”  Osprey apparently wasn't the type to keep meticulous records, not really surprising given what ultimately happened, but he still had to get the idea from somewhere.  True, it was possible someone had given him the idea, and she obviously couldn't ask whoever that was.  But it still might have been recorded somewhere, as a legend or a myth or a cautionary tale.  So Slim Chance looked for those, prioritizing any written before Osprey's time and any that mentioned something 'beneath the earth', 'beneath the castle' or similar phrases.

[tacobob]

 

"Eeyup.", the black griffon replied back as her old friend gave her directions. She tried to sound calm as she scooped up her share of the explosives, but the thought of having enough explosives in her claws to blow herself to kingdom come and back did bother her just a bit. Thankfully years of working as a smithy made her strong, agile and very skilled at handling delicate items. The brave blacksmith's beak scrunched up as she caught wind of the horrible stench that appeared to grow stronger the further they went through the tunnel. "Don't understand why evil has to stink so smegging much.", she grumbled. "Even if you're a bad guy, bathing wouldn't hurt your villain-cred." It smelled like an Griffonstone landfill. Or technically Griffonstone itself. What a dump.

 

She did notice the old stonework and started to ponder its very age. It was probably older than anything she had seen in Rockwington. She did hear stories about vast underground lairs griffons and ponies could escape to when avoiding dragons, who were a bit of a bother back in the olden days. What would they have thought if they could see some guy like Aranak marching about their former hidey holes?

 

Zelda nodded her head as Razor pointed out the proper spots to lay their explosives, which she did. And once the male griffon was finished, a familiar, nagging voice popped up in her head. This voice demanded that she tell the bird to rest for a moment. Thankfully he did this without the need to tell him. "What can you tell me about this area? It's got to be ancient. Probably built slightly after the fall of the old city.", she studied the old walls for a moment and waited for the others to show...

[Dunder]

Dunder was getting worked up, sitting alone with the hole the monstrosities emerged from. The stress was steadily building up, starting to infect his mind to the point of bursting. Everything was fine until Razor came back and gave Dunder an order to go back out and get the other two who were in the library. He stood up on all fours, facing Razor, "You were just out there! Why didn't you get them yourself?!" He snapped at Razor, but when he caught sight of Zelda, he started to cool down. He brought his hoof to his face, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Ugh. Sorry. Just sitting alone with the darkness puts the mind on edge." Dunder said, scooting past the two, each step shallow and awkward. "I'll... Go...Get... The dragon and mare." He quickly scooted out the door and down the hall, not even knowing where the library was, just making suppressing the frustration more difficult.

The pegasus took off, starting to fly down the halls with ease how griffon architecture allowed. "SLIM CHANCE! ARANAK! GET BACK TO THE DINING HALL!" Dunder yelled as loud as he could as he flew through the walls. "I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE LIBRARY IS, JUST GET BACK TO THE DINING HALL!"

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor breathed slowly as he rested. He looked over at Zelda, and his eyes were tired. He looked around at the halls before answering.

 

"This hall...its old...older then Rockwington. It was built in the ages past, when griffons still fought each other for wealth and land. When warring clans and families battled to increase their hordes of wealth. It was built by my clan, sometime after we took over Castle Iron from the previous clan who lived there before. It was meant to be an escape route, should the castle ever fall. A way to sneak out valuables, warriors and the families of the clan. It stretches far underground, and goes up a ways inside the mountain to an area within the castle interior."

 

Razor sighed, "It was largely forgotten about until after my family returned here years ago. My father discovered the old tunnel, and had the manor built over the old exit. And now those monsters use it to contaminate my home and the lands my clan once ruled over. I won't allow it. I'll see it caved in first." Razor said the last with a low growl.

 

"Lets go see to the others....and lets bury this tunnel so that nothing else comes crawling out of it." Razor said.

 

-----------------

 

If there were any scraps of information regarding whatever it was that Ospery was looking for. It does not seem to be in the writings of this library. Either it was hidden, destroyed or lost.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak gave a grunt of confirmation after Slim's words, turning back to the material he was reading through. Everything did seem to be centered around Osprey, but there still was not too much information that would be useful that he could find. Oh well, they could figure out what to do when they got there.

 

"Other dragons?" He asked, turning towards Slim a bit after her question. "That would require that they know what I want to know and are willing to share that information. Dragons tend to be a bit greedy, so that is more unlikely than it might sound. Trust me, books are easier." He said, turning back to his own book. It wasn't long before he head one of the stallion's voices calling for the two of them to get back to the dining hall.

 

The dragon sighed slightly as he closed the book he was holding and slid it back onto the shelf in front of him. After that, he began walking towards the dining hall, not waiting for Slim before heading there.

[DerpRavener]

Slim Chance frowned as she considered Aranak's explanation.  The pieces of it all made sense, but...it wasn't very satisfying.  If anything it almost seemed too reasonable.  It was the sort of answer anyone could give.  What's more, if it were that straightforward, why did you never hear of a dragon hoarding books, or occupying or even building a library?  Sure, one could argue that maybe the smarter ones kept themselves hidden and forgotten, but surely one of them would have been found by now.

 

She didn't get a chance to ask before they were interrupted though.  There was a faint noise from somewhere in the halls, and while Slim couldn't quite make out what it was, Aranak took it as a sign to exit the manor's library.  Slim watched him leave for a moment, but didn't follow yet.

 

It didn't sound like anything had caught fire or called its parents, so Slim chance brushed it aside for the moment.  She had a bigger issue to deal with.  Particularly, she was apparently the mage of the group.  Only problem, she wasn't much of a mage.  She was still learning,  She didn't have the experience needed to properly brute force something arcane, and might end up helpless if they ran into something she couldn't beat through cunning alone.

 

However, what Slim Chance lacked as a mage she hoped to make up as a researcher.  Maybe if she could figure out just what they were up against, or any means pony or griffon kind had used to fight them previously, she might be able to give the group a leg up.  Unfortunately, thus far all she had found was a whole lot of nothing.

She was starting to get a little desperate.  She expanded her search to anything which might reasonably contain information information on eldritch creatures, or abominations against nature/science/magic/whathaveyou.  She also kept an eye out for any books or scrolls discussing means of arcane banishment or dispelling, intending to take one or two with her if they looked reasonably durable.  If nothing else, she could try listed methods in order, and hopefully one of them would stick.

[tacobob]

 

The griffon continued to study the old hallway as her old friend spoke of the place. "Hopefully we can take out those beasties and save your dad without needing to destroy too much history.", she slowly ran her claws over a section of one of the older walls. "But family comes first. Buildings can always be rebuilt. Usually stronger, and new history can be made.", she drifted away from the wall and followed the male griffon..

 

OOC: Sorry for the short one! My inspiration levels are low and I wasn't sure what to do with this one..Since they're just returning to the others...

[Dunder]

Dunder made his way back to the dining hall after reaching a dead end. He supposed that he'd go back to the dining hall and wait for the other two. On his way back, he saw the dragon's towering figure lumber through the halls. But he saw no pony next to him. Quickly, Dunder caught up to the dragon. "Hey!" Dunder called out, "Where's Slim? Wasn't she with you when you guys went to the library? By the way, we are regrouping in the dining hall before going into the darkness where the monsters came from. Though I think Razor and Zelda went in early...for Celestia knows why."

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor could only nod, and as he went back with Zelda to the dining hall. He rubbed at his head, and his eyes as he tried to fight off some exhaustion.

 

"We do whatever it takes, to make sure more then anything else that these things don't get out. Even if we have to blow things up till their rubble, even if we have to die trying." Razor said.

 

When they finally got back tot he hall, Razor looked around for the others and waited.

 

OOC:(( Short, cause we near a transition into the castle.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak suppressed the urge to groan in annoyance as one of the ponies came to talk to him. One thing he had to hand to these ponies and griffons, they seemed to have no qualms about being alone with him. Of course, they had to be tough when facing what they were, so it was to be expected a bit.

"Back in the library still, I assume. And yes, I figured as much from your yelling earlier." The dragon said simply, not breaking stride or even looking at the stallion as they moved towards where they were supposed to be meeting up. He still didn't want the injured griffin with them, more because he didn't want the bird slowing them down or becoming a liability. Still, the dragon had to admit the bird was determined to see this through.

[DerpRavener]

Nothing!  Absolutely nothing!

 

Slim Chance gritted her teeth.  There wasn't a single book or scroll referencing the creatures they fought recently, let alone what might have been uncovered from down below.  It left her feeling...vulnerable.  She was the only one of the group that wouldn't really be able to live up to her role.

Well, maybe vulnerable wasn't quite the right word.  She enough wits that she felt she could probably at least get out with her life, if it came down to it.  But for the client at the very least, Slim Chance wasn't sure if he knew when to give up, when not even pride was worth it.  She had no intention of abandoning the group, but if they ran into some nameless monstrosity which couldn't be set on fire or had its head bashed in, they'd be doomed.

 

Slim Chance stood up.  There was nothing for it, she wouldn't be able to find what she needed.  She resisted the urge to kick the table she'd been sitting at in frustration, having too much respect for this venerable old room and the knowledge it contained, even if it wasn't any help to her at the moment.

The unicorn considered her options.  Even if she couldn't make the difference between success and failure, she couldn't just abandon the group.  She might not be a capable mage, but she could still help.  If nothing else, she knew how to get out of tight situations.  Should the worst happen, she might have the best chance of making it out with their story.  She didn't think it was a great option, but the sense of purpose it provided was rejuvenating.

 

Hope or not though, if this was what it sounded like they couldn't afford to take any chances.  Slim Chance knew they weren't strictly speaking allowed to send letters, but she'd thought of a workaround.  'Borrowing' some ink and a piece of blank paper, she jotted down a brief summary of what had happened, concluding it with a recommendation to quarantine the area if nothing else.  When she was satisfied with what she'd written, she picked up a book, choosing one of the first one she herself looked in, and slipped the letter inside.  She even went so far as to leave the book poking out a bit when she placed it back.

Slim had mentioned where she was going to a few ponies.  If she didn't turn up eventually, somepony was certain to come looking for her, and start their search the same way she did.  Then they would hopefully know what they needed to.

 

With her contingency in place, and what seemed to be no books worth searching for the task at hoof, Slim Chance decided that she was finally done in the library.  She stepped out into the halls, and slowly made her way to where group last sat.

[tacobob]

 

 

“Erm.”, Zelda was not too keen on the dying part as she was rather happy with the whole breathing thing. “We are most certainly not going to turning over any perches today.” the black bird stated firmly. “And there is going to be only one ending for our little adventure. Your dad saved and those horrible monster things, squished!” She knew one day that she would die, but the blacksmith knew it was going to be because of some evil puddings! “We’ve got a dragon. We’ve got a Dunder and magic using unicorn, I have a very big hammer. An’t nothing gonna stop us!”

 

The now very determined griffon followed her friend back to the hall and noted that everyone was there. Except for the mare..Where was she? Zelda was about to open up her beak to ask when she spotted Slim Chance as she emerged from the library.

 

"So we're all together now.", she was very good at pointing out the obvious. "So boss-bird.", she turned to Razor, "What's the next step?"

[Dunder]

This dragon needs to drop the 'tude. Dunder thought. Of course he would never say that to the dragon's face, but Dunder would like to think that he would. So silently he flew alongside the dragon until they reached the empty room that still looked like a warzone. "So we wait here."

 

All while Dunder waited, he had to resist staring into the dark passageway. His imagination of Razor and Zelda alone was running off with him.  The temptation to gallop down into there had to be supressed, so he scavenged up another bottle of wine, popped the cork and started to chug away. He drank enough so that when Zelda and Razor came back, it'd take him a few moments to notice.

He stood up after Zelda talked a bunch at them all and voiced his agreement. "The next step is probably going into that hole, right?"