Chapter 3: Sleep

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

Redhold, once a thriving city but now a pile of smoking rubble. The Dranglings had left along with Bahamut, but that didn't mean the ruins were any safer as there were several places where unsteady buildings were on the verge of collapse. People were roaming the piles of broken stone and wood, calling out for loved ones that couldn't make it out in time and crying when their broken bodies were unearthed. 

As the Little Lady came alongside the only dock left, the crew hastily laid out the gangplank and pushed Marlow off, wanting him gone as soon as possible, saying he'd just get in the way of them as they began to unload relief supplies.

The Captain's daughter didn't even spare him a glance as he was shoved off, glad to finally be rid of the pest that had been hounding her for over a week.

Marlow had been fortunate enough that he'd never truly seen devastation. The buildings themselves were each a sight to behold. Aghast, he could do little more than stand there on the docks, stupidly, ogling each skeleton of a structure. He found his legs working by themselves, found himself moving towards the ruin. He watched a woman desperately chucking rocks from one pile to the next, calling out a strange name. He saw many like her, many that simply wailed by themselves, and saw the broken and battered souls that had survived whatever had happened here and were left with nothing and no one but their own bodies. Many looked like they had not slept for weeks, or hadn't eaten for years.

Marlow went towards where the conversation was, still finding himself dazed in this surreal catastrophe. He couldn't find the words to ask, couldn't find a question to put into the words if he could find them. So he simply listened.

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

The conversation in question was being held by some of the surviving parents and one of the only guards to actually stick around after Bahamut decided to wreck the place. 

"My daughter is still missing!" one mother cried.

"My son is missing too!" Yelled an anxious father.

"Please, calm down everyone," the guard said strongly, "We're doing the best we can and there aren't enough of us guards to search everywhere. I suggest finding a place to sleep for the night and looking again tomorrow."

"Has anyone seen my father?" A young man called out, eyes flashing in every direction. They landed on Marlow who was standing at the edge of the group, and he lunged forward, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Please, sir, have you seen my father? I've looked everywhere but I haven't been able to find him."

He heard same conversation as the actions of the people, as if each person were singing the same tune of grief, just in different stages of the song. He said nothing and listened to the desperation of two parents who had not accepted the likely fate of their children. He found his shoulders grabbed by a young man, his eyes hollow with grief, his eyes stained with tears.

Marlow, in his infinite wisdom and long-lived ability to empathize with others, opened his mouth and spoke the gem that was brought to his mind first. "He's probably dead. ", he blurted. "You should probably move on and go live someplace else.", compassion was not his strongest suit.

Even though he'd just arrived, and the grief present was so strong that it had a smell, he found his eyes wandering for food, water, trinkets, anything he could take and sell to someone else with a fabricated tale that increased its price. Even the man who gripped his shoulders was not exempt and Marlow's eyes quickly searched his pockets, too.

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

The boy flinched away from the young Sithaer, doing his best to forget the cruel words as he returned to the crowd around the guard. 

Some of the others frowned at Marlow's callous words. True they might have been, but that was no reason to break someone's spirit.

The guard noticed Marlow's roaming eyes and frowned inside his helmet. Marching over, the tall guard towered over Marlow, looking down at the half-Alfeir with narrowed eyes. "Don't go causing trouble for the locals, boy. Our hands are full enough as is without having to deal with wannabe thieves."

As the guard turned back to the crowd, an object glinted in the sunlight. No one else could see it except Marlow. It didn't shine like a gemstone, but it was quite eye-catching. If he wanted to get it, he would have to pull very hard.


*Mod Note*


This is a moderator challenge, if you want to find out what it is you'll have to use the challenge dice.


Be warned, more than 1 failures will draw the guard back and incur a penalty. 


It will take 2 checks of the challenge dice to unearth it. One roll per post please.

Marlow put on his best innocent look as the guard gave him shit for being truthful and for being the trailer trash he'd grown up as (In Marlow's eyes).  He'd just arrived and already he was being told what to do and not to steal and not to get in trouble. This place blew. Marlow's face might have been cowed, but his spirit roared an immature indignance. At least, according to Marlow...

He spotted something shiny and went to investigate, taking a roundabout route until he felt the guard's eyes off of him. He bent and began to pick at a rubble pile. He prepared his fingers to start picking at a different pile, and prepared an innocent excuse in his mind, something that would make him look good, like thinking he heard the plea of someone trapped.

The member 'Overly Shedding Chocobo' has done the following action : FFMSL Dice

---

'Challenge' :

Result :

He did, he did see something. He worked a little harder.

The member 'Overly Shedding Chocobo' has done the following action : FFMSL Dice

---

'Challenge' :

Result :

He banged his finger on a sharp rock and stuck it in his mouth, suckling at the sore as he discreetly pulled out a ...

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

The item in question was longer than expected. It was a fishing rod.



Unfortunately, as soon as it was unearthed, an old man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed it. "Thank you so much, sonny! I'd been looking everywhere for this! Now I won't have to worry about how I'll find food. Here, have some Gil as thanks." 

Soon after taking it, the old man disappeared, not giving any time for Marlow to respond.

You have received: 50 Gil 

*Congrats on succeeding in the challenge, you have earned 250 exp.*

Marlow's anticipation was wet on his lips as he eagerly drew out a shiny...stick? Pole? Horse-buggy part? Mechanism? Ooooh, a fishing-

Marlow found his hands empty and money placed in them. In truth, it was a great snatch, and he felt almost jealous of the man's skills thereof. He looked at the money and pondered how long he could eat with it, and then realized he'd find no food vendors in a ruins!

"Hey!", he jumped to his feet and ran the way he thought the man had gone. He hadn't really gotten a good look at the man, and he couldn't spot anyone who had a fishing rod, so the best he could do was to follow the person who seemed to be walking closest to Marlow's proximity and away from his direction.

He felt conflicted between losing something that seemed to have been of high value, losing a way to eat, losing a possible source of income (selling fish to hungry residents who had nothing else to buy with their money? Ka-ching!), and an old man who'd surely lost everything else, probably knew how to fish quite well, and obviously was a great master in the arts of thievery. Oh, how much he could learn from someone who took it right out of his hands while he was looking at it. A last part of Marlow just wanted something to do besides loaf around this place full of sad people. The aimless grief produced such a sense of boredom in Marlow that it was depressing.

TL;DR: Marlow searches for the old man.

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

The man Marlow was following led him down a dark alleyway that appeared to remain intact, for all that the buildings attached to the walls on either side for ruined. By the time Marlow reached the alley, the man was gone. The only sign that anyone could have been there an open sewer access hole. No light could be seen within, the the fading rays of the setting sun making it harder to see as they cast a glare. A scrabbling noise could be heard coming from the hole along with the clinking of metal.

Marlow heard the sounds of metal scrabbling and assumed that the man had gone underground through a manhole. He didn't like the idea of leaving the surface, but assumed that the tunnel network couldn't be too extensive anymore considering the damage on the ground. While he didn't want to follow the rats, he didn't want to stay in the city ruins, he was weary of the guard, bored, and for the sake of searching for food, he would try just about anything.

Marlow noted the setting sun and how poor the light was underground. He looked around and discovered he wasn't the only one. A guard a distance away was preparing wood chunks, dipping them in wax, tying a moistened fabric, and lighting them. Each torch he gave to any citizen who asked. Marlow approached and was given a torch like anyone else. Pleased, he returned to his manhole.

The steel stairs downwards were rusty, treacherous, and wet. One hand held the rungs and the other held the lit torch against the nearest rung so he wouldn't burn himself. Once below, he surveyed his surroundings, taking time for his eyes to adjust.

He kept an open eye out for rats. He was quite hungry, he doubted he'd be seeing any of those relief supplies in his belly, and he doubted there was anything else around.


TL;DR Gets a torch, goes down the manhole, watching for rats to catch/roast/eat

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold

The tunnel was dark, Marlow's torch casting light about him that sent some of the subterranean creatures scurrying to get away from it. Aboveground, a guard was walking past the alley when he noticed the open sewer hole. Shaking his head, he went over and closed it, making sure it was secure before moving on. "Someone could fall in there if they're not careful."


There wasn't anything of value near Marlow, but the sound of clinking metal could be heard further down the tunnel, followed quickly by the sound of scrabbling feet. Suddenly the ground shuddered, a layer of dust falling onto Marlow as a stone here and there fell into the water.

No city wanted thieves, creeps, or young men crawling their sewage tunnels - put simply, anything that did could be up to no good. He winced when he heard an authoratative voice and the metal grating sound like so much rust being scraped away as the manhole was put back into place. The oxygen he had been so freely enjoying was now suddenly and abundantly stale, and the only light came from his torch.

Above him, bits of the ceiling fell, mostly dirt and dust, and probably from the guard walking above him.

He took a deep breath to calm a slow-growing anxiety of being alone in a dark place that could easily become his tomb, and continued forwards, following the metal sound. He hurried, trying to catch up to whatever it was.

TL;DR: He hurries forwards; flavor text.

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold
Sewer System

The tunnel eventually led to a large dimly lit room, the the only light coming from a nearby sputtering torch that looked like it was on its last legs as it flared and declined at uneven intervals. On the surface, the sun had set, the moon slowly rising into the sky. A screech pierced the night, causing any still outside to stop and clutch at their ears it was so sharp.

Back in the room, the loud scrabbling of feet could be heard, and it seemed to be coming closer. Soon enough, the source stepped into the light, revealing a small hedgehog. It had strange spines covering its eyes but they had no impact on its movement as it shuffled forward.

Marlow was glad for his own torch as he found one nearby that seemed sporadic. He knew little of torches, only that the unreliableness of this one would grate his nerves. The sewers seemed darker than they had been and Marlow felt as if his body was telling him it was night and soon he would be laying down to sleep. About this time of day, on the streets, he'd begin looking for a safe, warm place to spend the night.

He heard what he thought was a bat and instinctively covered his ears, singeing a bit of his hair in the process.

In due time, a walking sea urchin approached and his boyish nature took over. He found a stick nearby, picked it up, and attempted to poke the hedgehog. He couldn't help it, it just seemed so spiny he had to see what would happen.

Chapter 3: Sleep

Redhold
Sewer System

The hedgehog didn't take kindly to getting poked with the stick, and with an angry screech it began to grow to the size of an ox, towering over the kneeling Marlow. It howled into his face, spittle flying everywhere (but mostly on Marlow) as it bared its sharp teeth.

Due to the vibrations caused by the Hedgehog's cry and its shifting, something came loose and rolled to Marlow's feet.

It was a human-shaped skull.

*Fight imminent, you have one last post before it starts.*

Marlow's face was surprised for a few moments when the creature became angry, releasing a serious case of saliva everywhere. And then he was excited, giving a laugh. "That was AWESOME!", he happily exclaimed. "All that spit, and then that emo goth skull, so cool. I bet you'd be a fun pet, too! I could name you spitty. No, chompers. No, spikers! Yeah, spikers!", Marlow continued to babble excitedly.

But he kept a wary eye on the undomesticated creature in case it decided to attack.