The Doorway - DS Scavenge: Chapter 1

“So…” The raptor started, smiling kindly at the small stryx covered in colorful down. “Do you think you can get it open?”

The youngster tilted his head to the side, eying up the spirals and curves carved into the great stone door. The grown stryx standing around him were all looking at him expectantly. None of them were quite used to putting so much faith in a fledgling - but he was the entire reason the four of them were there. 

Zephyr, Orca, Bard, and A-Ziz were all gathered around the sealed entrance to some ruins built into the side of a mountain. The doorway stood several wingspans taller than even Orca, who towered over everyone else. The stone itself seemed to absorb all light from the bright midday sun aside from the faint greenish yellow glow emitted from the carved patterns in the stone. It flickered slowly in and out as though it was a line of fireflies. 

“I think so…” When A-Ziz finally spoke his voice was gentle but clear.. “I recognize this type of magic, but I haven’t gotten to work with it yet.”

“That’s good, right?” Bard asked jovially. “It sounds good.”

“Better to know something than nothing.” Zephyr piped in.

A-Ziz nodded carefully, shifting his gaze from the ancient door to his comrades. His attention went to each one in turn, before singling out Orca. The harpia was restless, fidgeting and visibly impatient. A-Ziz, in spite of his youth and small stature, spoke with the confidence of a bird long since grown. “I ask for your time. As I said, I haven’t been able to work with this sort of spellcraft on my own yet. This may take a while.”

Orca rolled her eyes and snorted, her feathers beginning to bristle. She opened her sharp beak to speak but was quickly cut off by Zephyr. The raptor stepped between the grown harpia and the mage. If Zephyr was made nervous by how much larger Orca was than him, he didn’t show it.

“You will have all of the time you need, small one.” Zephyr said cooly, grinning at Orca. A-Ziz visibly relaxed, his shoulders drooping. “Orca and I will do some scouting around the base of the mountain. We’ll find something good to take home, hm?”

Orca furrowed her brow at the raptor. She knew she was being placated - but was it worth causing a fuss over? The large black and white stryx thought about it, slowly allowing her feathers to lie flat again.

“Fine. Let’s get to it.” She snipped. The bag she had brought with her was empty. If there was to be a fight, it would be a fight over the spoils. Orca would fill her pockets with treasure, whether it was from the ruins or her scavenging partners. They wouldn’t be able to stop her. “We’re wasting sunlight.”

“It’s a beautiful day to forage.” The raptor carefully adjusted the bag around his neck. The smile never left his face, no matter how venomous Orca made her gaze. “We’ll make the most of it. I’m nearly positive this mountain used to be a volcano - do you see how dark the soil is?”

The irate harpia grunted in response as she pushed her way through lush greenery. Zephyr walked quickly to match her long strides, twigs cracking and leaves crunching beneath their feet. The forest was alive with the sounds of birds and insects. There was plenty to be found in the bushes and gnarled roots of the trees.

“Have fun, you two.” Bard waved a wing at Zephyr and Orca as they started to wade through the underbrush. Zephyr dared to shoot Bard an awkward smile and shrug his shoulders. Bard waited until they were far enough away that he felt he could get away with whispering.

“How good do you think their hearing is?” He whispered down to A-Ziz, keeping his eyes on Orca and Zephyr’s backs. They made no sign that they heard him, and neither did the youngling. A-Ziz paid him little mind, closing his eyes as he placed a foot against a spiral carved into the stone. Bard glanced down at A-Ziz, drooping slightly. “Ah, sorry, you’re busy. I’ll uh. Leave you to it.”

The tyto began wandering alongside the wall, admiring the long trails and swerves of spring grass green into the pitch black stone. It was artistry - every line was smooth and went neatly into the next, swooping and spiraling as if done by a master calligrapher. The indentations must have taken great skill to chisel in, as well as a significant amount of time. Bard dedicated himself to committing the spirals to memory in hopes he could use the markings to craft a very cool lyre of some kind.

“I heard this has been sealed up for almost a decade.” Bard said, mostly talking to himself. A cricket sat on the rock in front of him happily chirping away. The stone itself was so dark it appeared the insect was floating. The stryx lunged forward without thinking, slapping his face against the stone. Bard squawked gracelessly and stumbled around, the cricket escaping with ease. 

“I’ve heard the same.” A-Ziz said calmly, the littlest hint of a smile on the edges of his beak. He kept his eyes closed and maintained contact with the stone. “But I didn’t believe this place actually existed until you brought me here.”

“Hm.” Bard tapped his bruised forehead, the feathers scruffled from slapping against the stone. “Sometimes I know a good rumor when I hear it.”

They started their expedition when the sun rose -- by the time A-Ziz summoned the others from their searches, the sun was kissing the horizon.

“I have it!” A-Ziz called out. The yellow light crackled and sputtered, replacing itself in patches with blue, radiating out from where his claws touched the stone. The other stryx scrambled to join him at his side, all of their attention fixed on the stone as it began to shake and groan. Slowly it sunk into the earth with the terrible sound of rock scraping rock, sending a cloud of thick dust up in its place. Zephyr shielded his mouth with his wing. Bard coughed and sputtered, spitting out mouthfuls of dirt. Orca seemed unaffected. Some sort of protective magical barrier had stopped A-Ziz from getting dust on him at all - it hung around him eerily.

When the stone fell away and the dust cleared, it revealed a small room embedded into the mountain. Bones lay scattered across the gray stone floor, interspersed with gadgets and gleaming pieces of metal. Orca picked her way through the debris confidently but cautiously. Zephyr was not far behind, getting deeper into the room to pick through the bones.

“What ARE these?” Zephyr murmured. “I mean, what do they even belong to? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A-Ziz carefully rose to his feet and gingerly came forward. Bard pushed some of the larger bits of rubble aside to clear him a path. A bundle of scrolls caught his attention, dumped unceremoniously on a dark wood table in a corner. The two of them waded their way through the rubble to reach it.

The scrolls were covered in enough dust to leave a cloud of particles behind as A-Ziz unfurled one. Furious scribbles and scrawls covered the page in such disarray that he could not be sure if it was an illustration or writing. Bard peered over his shoulder.

“That’s not writing, is it?” The tyto chuckled anxiously. “I don’t recognize the language if it is.”

“I’m…. not certain. I’ve never seen anything quite like this.” A-Ziz admitted. “Help me look through these scrolls.”

“I thought we were here for loot.” Orca grumbled, quickly slipping a shiny blue piece of metal into her pack. 

“What greater treasure is there than knowledge?” A-Ziz answered. He seemed earnest, though it was something Bard had heard in jest many times. Sharing a nod with Zephyr, they picked through the scraps of paper and piles of scrolls. The room had fresh air in it for the first time in 10 years; the scent of long-dead things and decaying wood lingered. If the smell ever left, the stryx would be well gone when it went.

“It’s definitely writing.” Zephyr brought A-Ziz two scrolls, pointing at a matching set of scribbles on each with the first finger of his wing. “There are repeating patterns.”

“Yes, you’re right!” The fledgling said excitedly, pulling a paper scrap from another pile. “The same combination of marks is on this one as well! Without being able to translate these I don’t know if we’ll be able to discern why they were locked in here. I’m going to empty my pack and take these with me - maybe I can get some of the elder mages to help me figure this out.”

Orca unceremoniously dropped a scroll in front of them. In red ink a figure was crudely scribbled. It was a creature that stood horizontally, leathery wings bent and keeping its front half off the ground, legs with crooked, clawed toes holding up the rest. Its face was like no stryx any of them had seen before - extremely long, with a muzzle long and flat like a beak but made of flesh. Dozens of needle sharp teeth protruded from its jaw. Its skin was loose and appeared almost tacked on. It was an unnatural combination of avian and mammalian.

“These are the scribblings of a madman.”

The stryx exchanged worried looks.

“Let’s gather what’s important and take these scrolls somewhere safe.” Zephyr offered.

A-Ziz nodded. “And come back when we know what we’re dealing with.”