WormXWere Part 2 | Rated M

((Shoggoth: *slowly starts amoeba-ing him again*
Aww...What happened? I've had mental health days before, but my school doesn't have like a specific absence for them. I've heard some schools do. But, they do allow kids to sit in the nurses office and do homework if they're having a bad day.
But it wasn't something too bad, right?))

Lambda gave a chuckle as Sha-Ulud nudged him with something sharp and pointy. He wasn't scared, because he knew the leupak didn't mean any harm. The Vort stood, careful to not make too much noise with his bony feet. He dusted himself off--the floor was made of dry, dusty soil-- and carefully walked towards Svenja and the Wyrm's aura.

Their silhouettes were gone, replaced with a lumpy mound that gave small breaths like hisses and shifted with the deep, slow breathing of a sleeper. Appendages stuck out of it in the oddest places; the front, the sides, where heads should be...What the heck were they doing? Lambda had a hard time finding where Svenja ended and the Wyrm began. The Vortigaunt leaned in as close as he could, using the glow of his eyes to see. He managed to find both their heads, one on top of another, and suddenly realized. The Wyrm was coiled around Svenja! Aww...That's kinda cute. Weird, but nothing was "normal" in Lambda's life.

Lambda leaned away and looked toward Sha-Ulud, "Should we wake them?" He whispered as quietly as possible. Their breathing almost blocked out his voice, especially with the Wyrm's habit of snorting every so often.

((Sha-Ulud: *lets it happen* *is still very confused*
Do you want the long version, or the short version? Mine technically doesn't, either, but when one is needed, being sick works as a valid reason to miss school.
It was bad enough for me to still be somewhat angered about it.))

Smiling as the Vortigaunt chuckled, and didn't run away in terror from the gentle claw-poke, Sha-Ulud rose to his feet to allow Lambda space to rise from the floor. Standing still until the alien humanoid started walking towards the sleeping pile of their friends, the leupak padded softly across the floor to stand beside Lambda.

Vaguely amused as he saw the contorted heap the pair had gotten themselves into, Sha-Ulud shared Lambda's odd sense that this was a cute happening. Still smiling his half-smile, the leupak met Lambda's glowing eyes as the Vortigaunt spoke.

"Fair question," he answered by way of excusing the pause he took to think, voice as soft and low as the subtle shifting of sand in a night breeze. "Until we need the help, I say no. We should at least go to tell the trapped one that we come to free it, before waking the others. It might take some doing to wake these two..."

((Shoggoth: *eats him* *makes burping noise*
Eh, short...))

Lambda looked back at the mass of sleeping friends and gave an experimental prodding to the Wyrm's side. She didn't move at all, and showed no signs of having felt it. Yep, the two were in some pretty deep sleep. Nothing short of an angry Antlion could wake them.

"Okay. Let's go. It is a long walk down, and Lambda is not sure of the way. The Lambda took a "shortcut" when he visited the creature." He said cryptically, and walked towards where he remembered the door being. He had to keep an arm in front of him to make sure he went the right way. Sure enough, his hand brushed against the wall, and he side-stepped towards where the door actually was. This darkness would seriously hinder their progress. If only they had a light source...

((Sha-Ulud: *dead* *still wasn't sure of what was going on*
I finally had it with people either a) arguing with my presentations (which I had actually bothered to research), or b) simply talking over me when I present. Those are phenomena that occur most of the time I present, and have happening since middle school. After a presentation in my AP US History class last week, though, I had simply had enough, and, to prevent chaos, decided to take a mental health day the day after.))

Watching by the light of Lambda's eyes as the Vortigaunt poked at the mass that was the other half of the group, Sha-Ulud turned away from the Wyrm and Svenja. They would wake when they had rested, and recovered from their battles.

"I'll lead, then, Lambda. I'm used to navigating in dark, enclosed spaces," the leupak replied with the faintest hint of mystery, moving to the doorway with the whisper of leathery skin rubbing against skin and stone. "Just keep a hand on me. Are you sure we're alone with the prisoner in this city?"

((Well they're stupid. Usually the problem with presentations is that people don't pay attention and just stare off into space or text their friends.))

Lambda stepped a few feet in front of the doorway he just moved through. He could hear a slight scraping as Sha-Ulud's massive bulk squeezed through the space. He held out a hand and felt the leupak's shoulder (or maybe his abdomen, he wasn't too sure what he had grabbed.) pass by. Lambda was grateful for his help; he was a tunneler, and knew how to sense his way around dark, quiet places.

Sha-Ulud's question stirred a sense of dread in Lambda. He couldn't believe he forgot to check for other creatures! The Vort closed all eyes but his main one and tried to visualize what he had seen when he stepped out of his body. The huge source of power below was the only mark of life in this whole city. Anything living and animate had power; he, Sha-Ulud, Svenja, and the Wyrm. It was like what some species called a "soul"; but, not quite. It was their tether to life, and to reality. Nothing, not even the "soulless" lived without it. But, that power is also what some call "magic", and what many use in religious ceremonies. They were virtually indistinguishable. Both were present in the lower levels of the city, but Lambda could not be sure how many living creatures were hiding among that power.

"Lambda...cannot be sure. What Lambda saw was much power, and the creature. But power and life are one and the same, and Lambda only saw one living thing. However, Lambda is sure there is no other power or living creatures in the city. If something else lives here, it is down with the prisoner." He spoke, resigned.

((Unfortunately, I still have to deal with them. I get a few of those, but I'm usually so inflammatory that even those people pay attention...))

Navigating his way through the narrow, yet oddly tall, doorway, Sha-Ulud found himself very glad for his kind's uncanny ability to squeeze into impossible spaces. Pausing briefly to allow Lambda time to hook fingertips underneath the trailing edge of a ring of skin, the leupak continued to move downward, unerringly finding the half-buried ramps and occasional stairs in the near-total darkness.

As the majority of the light suddenly disappeared, and Lambda stopped walking, Sha-Ulud stopped, turning his head to watch the Vortigaunt intently. As he waited in the darkness for Lambda to finish his analysis of the mystery beneath, the leupak reached out into the darkness with his own senses, his tongue-claw cleaning away the dried blood from his nose to allow the dream-beast to smell once again. His nose cleared, Sha-Ulud visibly blanched, his nostrils slamming shut against the stench that was rising from beneath them.

"Alright. I'll keep feeling for new vibrations, because I can't smell anything else but this...stench," Sha-Ulud replied, his nostrils clamped as tightly shut as they would have against fine sand. "We should keep moving; if there is anything else down here, I have a feeling we'd be harder to find if we were on the move."

((You should talk to the teachers about this. If not, go to the principals. They're breaking the rules here by disrupting class and harassing students.))

Once Lambda stopped talking, he opened his eyes once more. He still could not see, and could only guess where things were by Sha-Ulud's movements, stray sounds, touch, and his own sense of where things are. However, he had no sense of location, since he did not explore the city, or even take a "normal" way down. So, he just hung onto Sha-Ulud's scales and hoped the leupak knew the best way down.

"A stench?" Lambda repeated. What would smell bad here? The walls seemed to be made of clay and sandstone. The floor was dirt, sand, and occasional clay. From what he knew of smells, those three materials were rather odorless, and certainly didn't smell "bad". There was nothing here to stink, other than themselves, the occasional rotting wood, and the prisoner...Did the prisoner stink? Was that bad? Coincidence?

"What does the stench mean?" He asked Sha-Ulud, silently agreeing with the leupak on the subject of moving. He stayed at the dream-beast's side, grateful for the many ramps and little stairs. They seemed to be making progress. He could no longer 'sense' the proximity of Svenja and the Wyrm. To find them now, he would need to concentrate and fall into a similar trance-state, as he did when he walked outside of his body.

((I should. It'll probably happen again soon; then, I'll at least have a current reason to be complaining. The Dean of Students has already been made aware of the problem, too.))

Deciding to answer Lambda's question as he walked, Sha-Ulud continued navigating his way down into the forgotten metropolis, walking arrhythmically so as not to interfere with his perception of motion.

"Yes, a stench. You can't smell?" the leupak asked, his voice sounding more nasal than usual. "It smelled almost like rotting flesh and plant matter, combined with the odor one finds when tunneling into too-damp soil. Decay, and putrescence, and something I can't quite describe..." Massive body shuddering slightly once, Sha-Ulud shook his head as if to try and wipe his memory clean of the foul scent.

"You've got me there. I've never smelled anything quite like it, either in the waking world, or in the Reverie. I don't like it, though," the leupak answered after a brief pause. "It's not a healthy smell, that's for sure..."

Padding onward into the darkness with Lambda close by his side, Sha-Ulud felt the texture of the ground beneath his feet suddenly change. Instead of gritty sand and dirt, he felt smooth stone, clean and almost polished. Shocked by the anomalous change in texture, the leupak halted completely, ears flattened as he attempted to figure out why the ground was suddenly completely clean...

((GOOOD! Now dooo eeeet!! ))

Lambda had a hard time walking steadily with Sha-Ulud. He moved oddly; going one direction, pausing, going another, suddenly walking straight, pausing again...Probably to get a good sense of the place, but Lambda was always one step behind him. The sounds of their footsteps bounced off the walls, and Lambda could get a minimal picture of the size of their current room or hallway. It varied a lot, but they were yet to be at the cathedral-like rooms, which he imagined would sound much different.

"No. Vortigaunts do not have olfactory organs. We did not evolve from creatures equipped with them. Our planet's creatures mainly use the Vortessence to hunt; seeing the life and power in the world." He explained. Sha-Ulud described the stench, and Lambda wasn't surprised. It was a combination of all the smells around here. The scents must be trapped in the city, and therefore grow stronger and form a layer on everything. Suddenly he was glad he didn't have a nose. The smell sounded horrifying.

"That unknown scent must be the creature. Or possibly the power; Lambda does not know if power has a smell." He added. Power was hard to pin down; it was the energy in the strings of the universe, popularized in humans by the theoretical "string theory." Perhaps with an extremely powerful nose, or a large power aura, could one smell it.

Lambda paused as his foot suddenly made a quiet "thunk" sound, distinctly different than the floor so far. With the little path of skin on the center of his foot, he felt the floor's sudden change, sliding his foot to get a good feel. It wasn't dirty, and not nearly as dusty as before. Dread spread like lightning through his spine.

"Something is here! Something came this way recently!" Lambda hissed and held his free hand out, ready to receive any energy in the surrounding area. With all that power below his feet, he could easily zap someone sky-high. But too much used carelessly and he could hurt himself. All Vorts participated in regular religious ceremonies with auras, power, and powerful objects, but only the skillfully trained--the priests, if you will--handled the largest jobs, like bringing a loved one back to life. They knew how to handle enough power to summon Cthulhu, if they wanted. Lambda was just a farmer. The most he could do is jump-start a generator, or zap an unruly Antlion.

((It's Saturday. XD))

Due to long years walking in the desert, where the sand slid out from underneath regular steps and unpleasant creatures could be attracted by rhythms, Sha-Ulud's natural gait was this arrhythmic one. Noticing by way of Lambda's faltering touch that the Vortigaunt was having trouble matching his pace, the leupak slowed down, and tried to adjust his gait to something more easily mimicked by Lambda.

"How... Strange," Sha-Ulud murmured, interested and somewhat confused by the concept of evolution. "Leupaks didn't evolve, you see. We just kind of appeared one day, as a result of meddling with power beyond someone's true control. We're extremely variable in appearance and ability because of that same power; if you can imagine something, there can be a leupak that resembles it," he offered, silently wondering what the evolution of a leupak would even look like. All of the thoughts helped keep the leupak's mind off of the terrifying smell, and he was incredibly grateful for this fact.

"Perhaps. You would honestly probably know if power has a smell better than I would. I don't sense what you sense in that regard," Sha-Ulud replied, his voice soft, as if the leupak was wary of the unknown power beneath the pair hearing them. Despite being a form-changing dream-beast, the eerie silence of the dead city--along with the hideous stench--was enough to begin to start unnerving the leupak.

His feet hitting the uncannily-clean floor at about the same time as Lambda's, Sha-Ulud's second reaction was not entirely dissimilar to the Vortigaunt's. Immediately, the leupak's eyes opened to their widest, and his ears began to swivel in all directions to try and pick up any auditory stimuli they could in the near-silence. At the same time, if it could have been seen, the spiral facet upon Sha-Ulud's forehead began to writhe again, the bestial power growing beneath his skin in the event he should need to fight.

"Yes, something has..." Sha-Ulud answered through gritted crystalline teeth, claws flexing in preparation for violence. "Are we deep enough to be at the prisoner's level? Wait... Don't answer that. I think I hear something..." he whispered after a moment, tilting his head to try and catch the sound as best he could.

Faintly, an impossible sound could be heard echoing from some hidden depths within the aeons-dead city. Confused, Sha-Ulud listened again, only to hear the same sound trickling back to his ears. The sound was that of the whistling wind through mountain peaks, an eerie and lonely sound that sent shivers down the spine. Beneath that eldritch sound was another, more disturbing one; the sound of continuous slurping noises, like something massive and damp was dragging its way along.

"Lambda...? Do you hear that...?"

((Well, do it Monday then! ))

Lambda listened to Sha-Ulud's tale of how his species was created. He didn't very much like that idea. No one should have enough power to create whole new species without the Vortessence's permission. If someone was to exist, the Vortessence let it by allowing it to evolve from the primordial stew of life. If not, they did not exist. Created species were not natural. He shuddered, glad that Sha-Ulud was nice, and not some horrifying monster.

"No, we are not. The level with the prisoner is far below." Lambda whispered, afraid to raise his voice. He began to pull the power up to their level, slowly, like a fish being lured in. A ball of green light formed in front of his palm, sparking and flickering like electricity. Anything comes near...zap!

Sha-Ulud's last words sent a wave of horror through Lambda. He pointed his ear-like organs forward, straining to pick up any sounds. He thought he heard something, but he couldn't be sure. The dirt and dust absorbed all sounds in the area.

"Lambda does not. What is it?" He whispered to Sha-Ulud

((Now, that I can do. XD))

Noting Lambda's complete silence as he was told about how the leupaks had been created from raw dream-power, Sha-Ulud wondered if it would be alright if he asked why Lambda was so unnerved by the mode of his species' creation. Feeling the Vortigaunt's convulsive shudder, the leupak decided against asking at this particular moment, filing the question away in his memory.

"That's a problem, then..." Sha-Ulud replied, his voice beginning to take on growling undertones, his tail twitching across the bare floor. "Because something has been here recently..."

Sha-Ulud could see, out of the corner of his eye, the sphere of electric light Lambda was gathering, and was grateful for the fact that the Vortigaunt had some natural defenses. The extra light that was provided was nice, as well, helping to cast some illumination into the otherwise-midnight world.

"It's a whistling... Sounds like the wind whistling through forgotten mountains..." he whispered, the leupak's body shuddering slightly. "But there's something else... It's a dragging sound, or a slurping sound... Lambda, we're not alone. Something's coming; I can feel the movement!" Sha-Ulud's voice was growing more and more strained, as the dream-beast fought back the animal fear flooding his body, the fear that told him to run, and forget this place. "We are not alone!"

Lambda's ear-tubes moved forward and back, trying to pinpoint the sound that Sha-Ulud could hear. A whistling, he said, like wind moving through mountains, combined with slurping. The slurping reminded him of the sounds of the prisoner in the pit. Did it escape? No, it couldn't have. It struggled hard there; no way it escaped. Possibly another prisoner-creature, maybe of the same species. He tried to pinpoint the noise. He thought he heard something just out of range, slowly growing, like it was coming closer...Lambda still could not be sure.

"Maybe another of the prisoner's species. It might not be the first to attempt an escape." Lambda suggested, hoping the prisoner was an ally, and not another enemy. The creature was huge, and seemed well-equipped for battle. It would be hard to fight, especially in the near-dark of the tunnels that he was not suited for.

I was accepted as an Elder Scrolls Online Beta Player! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

"Maybe..." Sha-Ulud replied, the bone-quaking fear still running rampant through his body. "Can you check? However you saw the prisoner before, can you do it now?" His voice was anxious, but full of a strange desire to know what was truly around them, horrible or not.

Through all of this, the leupak's body was still readying itself for a fight, preparing for the moment where the first blow would come, and he would retaliate in a blur of slashing claws and poisoned teeth. Sha-Ulud could still hear the approaching creature, and the sound was doing nothing to help him relax.

((Eh... Crappy post is crappy... Sorry!
Good for you! You're so lucky!!!!!))

((Nah, tis cool!
I get three days of beta-testing! It' getting released in the spring of 2014 sometime, so this is pretty early on!))

Lambda kept the ball of electricity--and his arm--out far from him, near the middle of the room. With its light, he could see the floor and the walls. Both were bare, made of sandstone mixed with clay, and clean of the dirt just a few feet behind him. He could also see that they came from a fork; the left was where they came, and the only signs of entry were their footprints. The right was also clean of dust, as if some large, lumbering creature squeezed through the tunnel on one singular 'foot', like a snake, or those funny things from Earth--slugs. Or a globule-creature, like the prisoner... Lambda reminded himself.

"Can you check? However you saw the prisoner before, can you do it now?" Sha-Ulud asked, with worry in his voice that was usually calm and somewhat soothing. Lambda bit his lip in worry. He could, but he'd have to do it fast, which is risky. But, he should at least try, for the sake of ending their anxiety. Lambda released the electricity into the air, which send a slight shock of static electricity through him, and would have made his hair stand up, if he had any. He closed his eyes and sat against the wall, all while clearing his mind of any thoughts. He concentrated on the world around him while slowing his breathing and heart as far as possible. He imagined stepping out of his body and into a world where living things glow, and power ripples beneath them...

He managed it. Sha-Ulud next to him was aglow and visibly terrified. His glow rippled with grey streaks swaying in an imaginary wind, coming out of his abdomen like evil little embers. Lambda knew those embers would fall to the huge power source and possibly make it unstable, but he couldn't deal with that problem now. Now he needed to concentrate on the other nearby aura.

It was a rather small aura for such a large creature--a sign of little to no sentience. Lambda took small, shaky steps down the hall and towards it. The closer he got, the more he could hear that windy, slurping noise that scared Sha-Ulud so. It grew larger and more twisted the closer Lambda got, until he was twenty feet away from the pulsating behemoth.

Yes. It was the prisoner. But not the prisoner. This one was different--how, Lambda did not know. Vortigaunts have a certain sense about creatures, and even though there was no way he could visibly define how this one was different, he knew. There were more than one of these horrors, and Lambda found it hard to believe this would be an ally. Its aura was dull and small, but marked with red and amber--evil and hunger. It would kill them if it had the chance, and feast on their body. Lambda didn't mind if something ate him to feed itself, but he'd rather it happen about five hundred years in the future.

With the task complete and the threat of impending doom, Lambda quickly returned to his body. He gasped in the stifling, underground air and stumbled to his feet, falling into Sha-Ulud's side in the process.

"Yes, it is a prisoner...a prisoner...There are more than one...Red and amber...We must return to our allies. It wants to feed." He gasped out as his body struggled to return to normal. He grasped Sha-Ulud's side hard, digging his claws into the leupak's strong scales.

((I finished reading through one of our old CS roleplays... We've both improved tremendously as writers since then, let me tell you!
Lucky!! Have fun!))

Feeling the prickling sensation of electricity in the atmosphere as Lambda released the energy he had stored in his hands, Sha-Ulud positioned his body between Lambda and the source of the terrifying noises. The leupak's logic was fairly simple; should anything unpleasant show up, he would shield the Vortigaunt from harm with his entire body.

Aware of when Lambda left his body by the slight slumping of the alien's frame, Sha-Ulud shifted his weight slightly into a stance more conducive for fighting. Honestly, he didn't expect to make it out of this subterranean chamber alive; some part of him had resigned itself to the unknown, but palpably terrible, fate that awaited him in the darkness. Despite this, Sha-Ulud was thoroughly determined to allow Lambda to escape this waking nightmare, for the simple reason that others cared for Lambda, and the Vortigaunt reciprocated. In those moments in the dark, essentially alone, the leupak accepted his perennial loneliness, a small tear falling onto his segmented skin, burning a tiny pit into his skin.

Starting a little as Lambda fell into his side, Sha-Ulud turned slightly to see what news the Vortigaunt brought from the horror below. As he received the information, the leupak felt his blood run cold in his veins, and he swallowed hard against the fear building in his body.

"A-alright. Can you run, Lambda? Or do I have to carry you?" Sha-Ulud asked, his voice tense, his indigo eyes serious in the light cast by Lambda's eyes. The leupak could tell that Lambda was having some trouble regaining control of his body, as evidenced by the sharp claws digging underneath the segments that made up Sha-Ulud's skin as the Vortigaunt attempted to regain his feet.

((XD That curious mix of nostalgia and embarrassment, eh?
Yep! The play-through period is from today, 5pm CST to Sunday, 11PM CST. (Cause they're going off of EST, so for them it ends at midnight.) And let me say, I cannot tell you anything that I experience (Non-Disclosure agreement) but man, it is not hard to tell that this is a Beta test. But, it seems like it'll be a good game, and I don't usually like MMOs. It still has a long way to go, but it's kewl.))

Lambda nodded dimply to Sha-Ulud, "Lambda can run. Let us return as quick as possible. Lambda has a feeling that these prisoners have been trapped for a long time. They wants to eat now." He whispered. He was terrified; he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and hear it in his ears. He didn't sense that second creature in his first astral projection! Where did it come from? Were there more of those golden trapdoors? Were they shielded against his powers? That was possible--certain powerful creatures could easily overpower one single Vortigaunt. They were hive creatures, and meant to work in groups. Luckily Lambda had a group, but he was the only magically inclined member.

Whatever the cause, there was a second prisoner, and Lambda was sure there were more. This city was not safe. They needed to leave as quickly as possible. He and Sha-Ulud could escort the Wyrm and Svenja if needed. Lambda would put his life on the line for the others--after all, what was the worth one cog in the great machine of life? The overall safety of the group was worth more than one Vortigaunt. And, he could always be replaced by another Vort. Their memories were shared, and even though he was a whole dimension away, his thoughts and experiences would return to the hive eventually, and more of his kind will come to save them, and the other "experiments" at that horrible laboratory.

((Predominantly embarrassment. But yes, there was some amused nostalgia for the days when we thought long posts were ten lines long. XD
Alright! Have fun, dude!
I've been playing Skyrim (I blame RP nostalgia for activating Skyrim nostalgia) this weekend. Forgot how much I liked it!))

Hearing Lambda say that he could run, Sha-Ulud nodded slightly, and began to move back into the hallway where the ground was mercifully dirt-covered. "Good. Let's move, before more of them find us," he muttered, his voice a strained growl, as if he was holding back a scream, or possibly a roar. The approaching sound, and the accompanying monster, were triggering two responses within the leupak, one of terror, and one of territorial rage. Given the circumstances, neither instinctive response would be constructive, and so Sha-Ulud made the conscious decision to flee.

Making sure that Lambda still had his fingers hooked under a segment of his skin, the bony claws on the Vortigaunt's claws digging into the soft flesh beneath, Sha-Ulud began to lope up the ramps that led to the chamber they had left Svenja and the Wyrm in. The leupak was sorely tempted to transform, and to carry Lambda upon his broad back, but was fairly sure that Lambda would panic, given the circumstances. Instead, he made a mental note to offer that potential mode of transport to the group, if and when he and Lambda escaped this hellish city of monsters.

((Lol!
Skyrim's awesome! Honestly, I'd say it's better than ESO.))

Lambda felt Sha-Ulud move, tugging himself along as his claws were still embedded in the reptilian's skin. He ran alongside his ally, up the ramps and stairs without thinking of his exhaustion and soreness. They made up it up much faster than it took to go down, and quickly Lambda began to recognize the feeling of the soot under his feet and the cool, musty air brushing against him. The sounds of the prisoners died down, a merciful silence. And then, the reached their former hiding place, with Svenja and the Wyrm still sleeping. Lambda pulled his fingers out of Sha-Ulud's side and rushed to their side.

"Svenja! Wyrm! Wake up! We are not safe here. There are creatures that wish to eat us. Lambda has seen them, and the Sha-Ulud smelled them. We must leave. Wake up!" Lambda rushed and pushed against something--not sure what, maybe a shoulder, maybe those weird lumps on Svenja's chest(lol)--and shook them vigorously. The Wyrm's jaws clamped down on his arm and he yelped. Dull green eyes glared into his. She gave a warning nibble, just enough to pierce the skin but not bleed, and let go. Then she carefully unrolled from Svenja and stretched casually. She didn't know how dire the situation was, and really didn't care. She just wanted to go back to sleep.

((Yep... We've changed. A lot. XD
I can't really provide an opinion on that. Although, I can say I keep getting my controls confused between Skyrim and World of Warcraft. XD))

Despite the fact that Lambda's bony claws were literally digging into his flesh, Sha-Ulud increased his speed to that of a run, dragging the Vortigaunt along. Even as the sound of the prisoners died down, the sandworm leupak didn't slacken his pace, fairly sure that the prisoners could track their obvious trail back to the surface, and wouldn't hesitate to do so. The sound of his footfalls deadened by the now-present soot and dust on the floor, Sha-Ulud settled into a surprisingly rhythmic run, following his instincts that told him where the surface eventually lay.

Finally reaching the chamber where Svenja and the Wyrm lay coiled in a heap, Sha-Ulud was relieved to feel Lambda pull his fingers out from underneath the ring segment, his skin forming natural armor once more. Following after the Vortigaunt as he attempted to wake the sleeping pair, he started nudging at Svenja and the Wyrm with his nose to try and get them to move. He was rewarded with a sleepy growl of annoyance from Svenja, who then used Sha-Ulud's shoulder to haul herself to her feet.

"Wyrm, up," the leupak ordered, his voice stern, and urgent. "Danger-hunters in the deeps, we run now." He had dropped into a form of pidgin, eliminating any words the Wyrm might not be able to understand. "We run, or we die."

((Yep! And so has Peter! He had some babies; wanna adopt 'em? *Holds up a dog bed full of tiny Arthropleuras.*))

Once Svenja was up, Lambda blindly reached for her hand, which he soon found and held tight, "We have to go, now!" He nearly shouted out of terror, but managed to hold back to a strangled yelp. He tugged on her hand and tried to direct her onto Sha-Ulud's back as fast as possible. He was itching to run now, but he barely remembered the way out, and he knew Sha-Ulud would be faster. Maybe he should get on the leupak's back too...

"Can the Sha-Ulud hold two on his back?" He asked, finally in control of his voice again. Meanwhile, the Wyrm looked offended at the leupak's orders. She wasn't one to be ordered around. But, his words held true, as her fine-tuned nose picked up some disturbing stench on the leupak and the Vort. She grunted and stood again, ready to run at the signal.

((He had babies...? Kinda, yeah, but I'm afraid the various...things running around in my head currently would eat them...))

Feeling bony claws wrapping around her wrist, Svenja resisted the impulse to claw at the grabber, assuming correctly that it was Lambda. Sniffing the air once, her unusually-mobile ears flattened to her head in terror as she caught the eldritch scent from below. "You don't need to tell me twice, Lambda," she replied, her voice holding a strangled sound, like she was holding back a scream. Hopping up onto Sha-Ulud's back, she tried to find the best way to hold onto the reptilian creature, before hooking her fingers under his segments.

"Yes, Lambda," Sha-Ulud answered, a strained half-smile visible on his face. "Get on. You'll need to keep your head down when we go through the doorways; wouldn't want you to hit your head." He was shifting from foot to foot in his anxiousness, desperately wanting to be gone.

((Well, not him, but one of his many girls in the grotto. He's quite famous in the millipede community.
But they're cute! They curl around your hand/grasping appendage. :3 And if anything eats them, they'll die from the natural poison, like a Monarch larva, or ladybugs.))

Making sure Svenja was balanced on Sha-Ulud's back, Lambda let go of her hand and climbed onto the leupak, right behind Svenja. He had a much harder time getting on, since his legs weren't meant to move like this, but he soon got himself into a good position, and once again dug his claws into Sha-Ulud's segments.

"Okay, we're ready." Lambda said. His voice was trembling again. He could feel the power beneath their feet shifting. More prisoners were coming.

((Aaaah. His progeny, then.
D'awww! *wonders if snuggling one would be a good idea*
Which reminds me; I found some sandworms that someone put into my closet; you want one?))

Waiting until he was absolutely sure Lambda had his fingers hooked underneath a segment, Sha-Ulud wasted no time once the Vortigaunt declared himself ready to go. With surprising alacrity for a creature of his considerable bulk, he charged for the door, flattening himself to the floor as he clawed his way through to accommodate his passengers.

Exiting the room in which Svenja and the Wyrm had slept, Sha-Ulud took the weather-worn ramp that lead to higher ground. His massive claws were giving him greater traction now, as they sank into small cracks in the stonework beneath his feet, allowing him to practically launch himself up the slope. If he hadn't been worried about crushing the ramps, he would have shifted into his vermiform body, which traveled much faster for long distances than he did. Given the delicacy of the stonework, however, Sha-Ulud decided against a transformation.