[RPG] [OT] Alanna Anaris ~ An Ill-fated Search, and a Cave

[Timothy Collett]

Alanna sighs. Things seem to have slowed down again. She looks at the  
pieces of paper describing her unit, the current state of the army,  
the most recent orders....they all seem to blur in her vision.

"Gaah!" she exclaims. "This is boring. I'm going to go do something  
interesting. Sadi's half-useless, Angus is half-dead, Rakaarox is  
half-insane, and Alynna is all gone, so I'm going to see if I can  
find those blasted catacombs myself."

She leaves a note for her aide to have her men train, and not let  
them know where she's gone (which would, of course, be difficult, as  
she doesn't say, in the note, where she's gone), and sets off around  
the city of Outer Tilog, searching for something that might be an  
entrance to the catacombs.

She searches for several hours, narrowly missing being squashed by  
flying who-wants-to-know-what a half-dozen times, and avoiding at  
least four bands of roving madmen. At last, on the outskirts of the  
city, she comes to an irregular hole, out of which steam strange  
vapours.

"Well...this is the most likely-looking spot I've seen so far. Here  
goes..."

She breaks out the spelunking gear she has spent the past few weeks  
acquiring, piece by piece, and starts descending into the hole. After  
she has gone down about five feet, the cave shakes, her pitons break  
free, and she finds herself free-falling into the hole.

She has barely time to open her mouth to scream, however, before she  
realizes that something is very odd about this fall: for one thing,  
though she seems to remain in one position, the cave seems to be  
spinning around her, very fast, in all directions. The next thing she  
notices is that all the directions seem to be receding from her...

And the next thing she notices, she is lying with rock pressing into  
her cheek. The only thing she can see is a strange pink blob a dozen  
yards in front of her. She pushes herself up with a grunt, and peers  
at it. It seems to be moving away down the cave.

"What in the Pit..."

She shakes her head a few times, hoping to clear it so she's not  
seeing moving pink spots anymore.

The blob stubbornly remains.

Alanna shakes her head more slowly, in utter bafflement. Then she  
shrugs. As the only thing around that gives her any idea of her  
surroundings, she starts to follow the blob at a safe distance,  
hoping it will lead her somewhere useful.

--

"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart."
  ~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan