.^^ Ossifrage/Murder-Bird ^^

— Raava —

The ground shifted around me easily, moving with my thoughts, and I followed the map I'd been given, making my way much deeper, as I felt the plants above begin to notice my presence. I pushed the entire tunnel deeper, and halted when I met a pit full of water.

"Hmm... anything living in that that I should go around?" I wondered.

"A few things, probably. I'd move the tunnel around it, just to be safe." Rune appeared behind me casually, making me flinch.

I nodded slowly, and backed up, sealing that passage. Rune hummed, and began marking it on the map in green, apparently for later use as a path. "Why green? Isn't that for safe paths?" I asked.

"No, White is safe. Green means treachery. I plan on using that path as a Trap. This entire shaft will be filled with deadly traps, with only one safe path. That way, nothing can sneak it's way in, because it'll be dead before it reaches the little village we're establishing." He shrugged.

I nodded slowly. "Alright... what about the people who live here?"

"I'll leave behind some trail sign." He grinned, and then froze. "Halt for a moment..." he murmured, as he bent down and picked up a small bone, cracked and cleaned of marrow.

"What? A bone?" I asked.

He hummed, shaking his head. "Might be nothing... keep your eyes upwards, I'll keep mine down. If you see any more bones, let me know."

"Why?" I pressed, standing firm.

"The markings are... familiar to me. I hope I'm wrong, or it's from a very old hunting route they no longer travel." He tossed the bone away.

"What, Goblins? That's no issue." I shrugged, and started forward again.

He snorted. "So confidant... if I meant goblins, I would have said so... either way, it's fine for now, just one bone... if you see more-"

"Like... this?" I hummed, looking at the massive pile of bones I'd just uncovered, some of which were uncomfortably close to human-size, all smashed open and half-eaten.

He frowned, his face unreadable. "We may be better off just not building this tunnel, at this point... but that likely means we've reached the dragon's old lair... you got any AOE spells?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"AOE, Area Of Effect, they're big Spells that can kill a whole lot of little enemies at once... like giant swarms of insects... or birds." He shivered.

"I... no, I do not."

"Then we'd best wait for your sister, who does." He sat down, and whistled shrilly down the passageway.

"What do you think made that pile?" I asked cautiously.

"Ossifrage, Bone-Breakers... nasty fucks; they're mostly scavengers, they grab the bones of the fallen, and drop them from great heights, in order to get the marrow inside... they then eat the splinters of bones. This is likely their hoard, their 'save-for-later' pile." He pointed at the pile of bones.

"Mostly scavengers... but you think theyll be able to kill us?" I asked. He pointed at a large horn wordlessly, sticking up from the middle of the pile. I pulled at it, and it shifted, revealing a whole Dragon's Skull. "Oh!... shit!" I shook my head.

He snorted. "Yeah. They ate the rest of him. He was 75 feet long. Now all that's left of him is what they couldn't fit out of the crevices in the roof, which is how I imagine they got in in the first place... though, how they get out, now that's a mystery... suppose they could've clawed the crevices open wider, that's possible."

"How big are we talking? And how many?" I asked.

"Anywhere from 5-10 feet tall, a flock is about twelve, usually a Baker's Dozen, with one being the Master of the Flock. Biggest and baddest one, coats it's golden feathers in the blood and dirt of its prey, stains its chest blood-red as a sign of Rank." He glanced over to the side, just as I heard my sister, Duncan, and Yeshiva... well, really just Yeshiva. The boy was a genius Mage, but the most clumsy child when it came to almost anything else, it was honestly embarrassing, sometimes.

They all came into view a few seconds later, and stopped next to us. "What's the holdup? You've been gone for two and a half hours, you know?" Dashiva asked, frowning.

"We May have hit a snag... the dragon's cave is now home to carnivores who can eat Dragon-Bones." I showed her the dragon's skull, and the new beak-marks I could see on it, which helped me determine their average size to be 7 feet tall, just like Rune had warned.

She shrugged. "We'll Deal with it. Open the tunnel."

"Or don't, because that's a very stupid idea; one that lacks even the most basic concepts of logic and planning." Rune frowned at her.

"Oh? And what would your plan be, O' Wise Master of Strategy?" She snapped.

He smirked. "I'm glad you asked, darling-"

"Fuck me he was waiting for that line." I sighed deeply.

"- my plan is simple. We raise this pile of bones into the nest, which will distract the creatures and draw them in, saving us from having to chase them when they fly away, as cowards are want to do, while we go to the other side of the Dragon's cave, and then close all the exits. Next, we then slaughter the birds while they're freaking out from the lack of light and the food pile moving." He crossed his arms, and smirked haughtily at her. "What's that I hear? Is it: 'I'm sorry for being rude to you unnecessarily, I was entirely, stupidly wrong, you were entirely, brilliantly right, let's go with your wonderfully thought out and completely non-suicidal or Moronic strategy, O' Wise Master of Strategy'?"

She paused, and fought down a surge of the urge to throttle him, then thought about his plan critically for a moment. "Sure... sure, yes, I suppose it's something like that, but less apologetic, and more appreciative of the plan... all underlaid with a heavy undertone of 'go fuck yourself with a cactus'." She smiled sweetly.

He laughed, and nodded. "Good, we just naturally understand one another so well! So, earth-Mage, let's go around this, surround it with a column of stone, and then we go about seventy feet further forward, coming up just inside the collapsed portion of the tunnel that blocked the entrance. You can begin your work bolstering the structure and closing the crevices immediately after you raise the column, spilling the bones everywhere. Wait five seconds, then you open the new entrance, and let us out into the cave to start killing. Got it?"

I nodded. "Okay, raise the column, wait five seconds, open the opening, close the crevices, strengthen the structure, got it."

"Wonderful. Let's go." He nodded.

The tension was palpable, as I worked the last seventy feet of stone, and then readied the column. "Ready?" I asked.

"Let's Go to work." He shrugged, and readied two pistols.

Duncan nodded, brandishing a crossbow. "I have no quarrel with these creatures, but if they mean us harm-"

"Fuck that noise. I do have quarrel with these Bone-Sucking bags of shit, and if you don't want their blood, I will happily take your share. Now let's move." Rune spat vehemently, his eyes blazing with the baleful light of a hunter's moon.

Dashiva hummed, and nodded. "Well, if we do have cause for their destruction, let us do so quickly, and humanely."

He snorted, but didn't verbally disagree, so I raised the column, and flinched at the Ear-Raking screeches that sounded immediately. I waited ten seconds, and then ripped open a wound in the earth, revealing a cave full of Giant, Giant golden vultures or eagles of some sort, with feathered necks and heads, oddly enough.

Rune started firing his pistols with a set of deafening, cacophonous cracks; bolts of ice and lightning began striking their backs as they swarmed the freshly turned pile of bones, on top and around the pillar I'd made. There were, at my first count, twenty-four, but that number dropped by twelve in the first three seconds, as Rune fired twelve times, and one fell with each shot.

I remembered my tasks, as one of them started to flap away, and placed a hand on the wall, sealing the crevices and plunging the room into darkness.

Duncan hummed. "This is Not an ideal hunting environment for me. I will guard the passage with my torch." He exited, and a soft glow came from inside the tunnel, as Rune put away his pistols. How he'd managed twelve shots so fast confused me, but what he did next, that took the cake.

He roared, that same roar he'd given the Gobber, and leapt on top of the biggest bird, whose chest was indeed smeared with crimson, then began ripping the creature's throat out with his teeth.

"Good gods boy, you are a savage when excited, aren't you?" I chuckled.

He spat out a mouthful of flesh, standing atop the dying bird, and snarled at the rest. "Savage? Perhaps. Unquestionably effective, however."

"Unquestionably." I agreed, as he launched himself at two more, and ripped them asunder with his bare hands. "Why you bother making weapons, if you're not going to use them, is a mystery to me, however." I added.

He spat out a little more blood. "What weapon's? I used my pistols, but they're empty, and reloading take time!" He tackled another, and gripped its jaw, lower and upper, then separated them forcefully, ripping the bird in two.

"I meant the sword." I held in a little vomit at the horrid sight. Yeshiva did no such thing, and turned one wall greenish-brown with his puke.

He paused, and looked down. "Ah... I didn't make that, my father did. It was in his workshop. I felt I should wear it, I guess, to acknowledge him in some way." He shrugged, and growled wordlessly at the six birds left, cowering together in one corner, and snapping at him to keep him at bay.

"I almost feel bad for them." Dashiva sighed.

"These murdering cunts killed and ate Faranza, the woman that helped Ophelia raise me, right in front of me, while my legs were broken and useless, and I was powerless to stop them. This is nothing more than a reckoning." He snarled savagely, and then dove into them, ignoring their beaks latching onto his skin, and their claws raking his body.

They didn't stand a chance, really, and a part of my mind wondered if coming through the front would have made a difference, as he dropped the last of them, and shook himself off, pouring magic water on one hand, subsequently cleansing his entire body.

I got to work supporting the structure, as the lanterns were lit, and the room was again bright and visible.

Duncan made his way up, and nodded. "Well, that was relatively-... what are you doing to those eggs?" He asked.

Rune raised a foot, and crushed another egg, in a small clutch I hadn't noticed. "Halting their development. Permanently." He growled, and crushed a third. "They are not a part of the ecosystem, in case you're worried I'm destabilizing the Cycle of Prey... they're magical creatures, unnatural, and viciously dispositioned. The natural ones don't get more than four-five feet tall, at the biggest, and do not hunt in flocks."

I sighed in relief. "Oh, good... If they're monstrous, and detrimental to the ecosystem, I suppose... it's still eggs, but at least they can't feel it."

"Good for you, your conscience doesn't sting." He chuckled dryly, and smashed the last one, setting fire to the whole pile, then cleansing his boots. His voice cleared, and he nodded. "Alright, can someone call over the Flyer? We need to build a landing pad on the roof, and we'll need a tester."

I built a ladder on one wall, and opened a small portion of the roof, small enough to cover with a trap door, then went up, leveling the roof and smoothing the stone into a Petri-Dish Shape.

Done with that relatively easily, I shot a blue flare into the sky, closing my eyes tightly and still having to free my eyes from the dark spots that permeated my vision for a moment. The flyer came up, visible at this distance, and zipped over, hovering. I waved for it to land, and stood back, watching carefully.

When it had successfully touched down, the back opened, and the copilot was there, holding a musket. "You called?" He grinned.

"Yes, this is a new base for the Expeditionary Forces, mark it on the map. The secondary entrance is the tunnel next to the Temple, which I will be shifting into the Temple soon, but that will be privileged knowledge, so don't mark it down at all." I commanded.

He nodded. "Yes, Lord Raava, It'll be done. Any work to be done down below?"

"We'll see... for now, go back to the temple, and come back at half an hour intervals." I waved, and started down the ladder.

Rune had gathered all the bones, while I'd been up there, and then all the shiny things they had apparently hoarded. "Hollow out your column for me, please?" He asked.

I shrugged, and did so easily enough, and then started on the structure of the walls, as Yeshiva and Duncan began helping him pile the bones in, and Dash began helping me as best she could, mostly by giving me access to her magic, so I could draw more at once.

The walls smoothed, visibly, as I shaped it more properly into a cylindrical cave, and expanded the sides until the outside was just a few yards away, nearly doubling the size of the cave.

Next, a second level, a ring around the perimeter, with a large hole in the middle, to facilitate seeing the rest of the cave. I deepened the cave, after everyone moved up to the top ring, and the tunnel made itself visible in the far side wall. I made that the third Ring, and moved down further, sensing the bottom of the usable mountain, before I hit nothing but Iron, Coal, Copper, and Lead Ore's, none of which I could easily manipulate. I made a small shaft, as best I could, so they could begin the mining process, but left it alone after that.

All in all, I had Six 30ft wide Rings, a 20ft wide empty shaft in the middle, and a base, totaling Seven Levels, each supported by a system of cantilevers and columns, each of which could be used for various means.

At Rune's direction, I spent the rest of the day making random, confusing paths in the tunnel, and snaking the Correct path a bit, doubling back and intersecting itself at several points, for maximum confusion. Fake tunnels branched off in every direction, all ending in pit-falls or parts of the underground lake that I'd apparently discovered, as well as leading up to the surface!... right in the middle of the Coal-Grove, or a Weizenbeast Nest.

Next, he surprised us all by pouring water onto a bean, and tossing it into the Coal-Grove, watching as it sprang to its full height, but only cleared out a very small portion of the brambles, before they worked back up to the base, and halted, the Beanstalk tendrils warring with the brambles, before winning, and eating the plant life around it for about ten feet.

He hummed, and did a few more, eventually working a tight circle around the plateau, and then directed Yeshiva and Dash to help him destroy the remaining brambles with an acid he had concocted, for this exact reason. After they brambles were gone, he had me turn the land around the plateau into Steppes, for farmland.

Soon, over the course of the full day, we had about a half-mile of flat land, with Steppes above it, and the final plateau being the only stone, and the tunnel entrance being sunken deeper, so it didn't intersect the new farming land, or the Beanstalk Roots.

"So who's going to farm the beanstalks? And how?" I asked, confused.

He grinned. "Easy. You fly a Flyer right next to it, and pull the beans into the cargo hold, a few at a time. Their oils can be used to make fuel, and the food just one of them provides, after being milked for oil, is enough for ten men; more, if you add other things to it. So it'll be worth it."

I hummed. "Alright... and the Steppes? What grows in this ground?"

"Everything, probably. I'd plant Fruit Trees, because that's probably the only thing you can't get easily, here. Or maybe use it for some Cattle... yeah, cattle would be good for the land. The natural fertilizer would be useful for the Steppe Crops and the Beans." He scratched his chin, thinking about the question critically.

"The soil is definitely rich here... how about some grass on that big swath there, along the bottom, and we cart the manure up to the Steppes, where we grow some fruit trees, some veggies, and maybe keep the smaller animals, such as chickens, as far away from the bottom as possible." I nodded.

"Or be smart about it, and put the trees at an altitude they can breathe properly, near the middle, then the cattle and poultry near the top, where their shit can roll downhill, they can be milked daily, without a half-mile hike, and the eggs can be collected with relative ease, and the bottom grassland be for the vegetables, which need to be on the bottom anyway, away from the cows that would eat the stems of the crops." He added dryly.

I grinned. "That Sounds Better. I'm not really a farmer, I don't know much about their needs. I just move the rocks and dirt into place."

He laughed, and shook his head. "Well, let's get back to the temple, and we can do more tomorrow, after we deal with the goblins, Yeah?"

Reminded of my responsibilities, I sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."