Emperors Will be done Pt17

Thanks for being patient everybody. I have been busy with work and been working on another client's website. Certain priorities had to be shifted for a little bit.

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Want to give a big shout out to and her drawing (from memory I might add) of Xin & Randall [link] . Amazing work again, SFD. You deserve more Llama Badges for that!!

The votes have been counted, and it was a good one:
40 voted for them to move upstream and get what they had been looking for.
29 voted for moving safely downstream in hopes of finding more plants safely.

The choice is at the end of the next part:
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Wading into the river, the water had been waist deep. The smooth rock surface below the water was slippery. My boots didn’t help, nor did the hoofs of the Tau, but Xin looked like she could handle herself on situations like this. Kai’Faan had a larger issue. The water seemed to be winning the battle between Kai and it. Even with me helping, he was pulled down a few times, and I had to pull him up. It looked like he was not made for things like this.

Pointing East, we began to move upstream. I could hear the sound of someone or something coming from the path that we have we had arrived earlier from. I couldn’t tell what it was or how far it was away from the noise of the burbling water flowing past me. The acoustics in the caverns had distorted these mysterious noises as well. I swear, if these are those squighounds I thought of earlier, I’ll lose it. I have already dealt with them once before.

Kai’Faan said something to Xin, and she turned off the light disc she was holding, and he switched off the holomap. It was pitch dark now. I couldn’t see a thing, but Kai kept on giving Xin some quiet instructions. The faintest glow coming from Kai’Faan’s optic implant was the only thing I could see. I’m guessing his optic implant made him see in the dark.

I kept on moving along the stream, with no point of reference, and I could tell Kai’Faan was getting weak from the strain. At least he was doing some of this on his own. Thank goodness for the rest, but I don’t know how much further we had to tread upstream. It wasn’t fear that drove me, it was frustration. Kai’Faan kept slipping and had slid underneath the water level a few more times.

Darkness, running from foe, last surviving member of my family, dying companions…..I guess this is how I will see my last days…….

EAT IT FATE!!!! I am doing this right. Emperor’s Will or not, I will see this through. If only to see Xin’Vauk’s smile on her face one more time. I only remember seeing it once days ago.

I picked up Kai’Faan with all I had left in me, and carried him. I could hear Xin’Vauk pause in the water to see (or not to see) what was happening. She waded over to help me, but I just whispered back, “Move it, we need to move!!!” She turned back and began to take point again. How far do we have to wade down this river? The current was getting stronger on some points, and some parts got deeper than desired.

I need some solid ground. Above water to boot. “Fight this Randall. You can’t end this now.” Pulling Kai’Faan over my shoulder, I began to feel the edges of the underground river walls through the blackness. I swear, we all fought this river for about an hour. Then the walls soon gave way to a subterranean shoreline. We quickly waded out of the water, and I softly laid down Kai.

With his optics giving off the only light, Kai’Faan gasped, and spoke to Xin as if he rehearsed it. He must have witnessed something with his optics that we hadn’t seen yet. She lit up the light disc just slightly to illuminate the area we have occupied. The scene was extraordinary. This little pocket within the cavern was filled with slimy roots that covered the ceiling above us.

Looking round a bit more, I noticed that these roots had pods that clustered around stalagmites and stalactites. These plants must have been nurtured by the nutrients and minerals that flowed from the ground above. The smell was very pungent. I couldn’t describe it, other than a hint of seaweed.
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