Mist pours thicker over the ridge, swallowing the canopy until the upper rim is only a ghost line. Below it, more Utahraptors gather, their feet skittering on the black pebbles as they pace and hiss in rising frustration.
Hhannvis and the others watch from the safer cut of stone. The pack tests the cliff edge in waves, craning their heads over the drop, then snapping back from the height like they feel the Pit itself staring back.
One raptor edges too far. It jerks forward, loses courage, and flails hard in the air, all limbs and panic, before scrabbling back from the brink with a sharp, offended cry.
Huryol
They are not committed yet. The height is beating them.
Sefru
If they break and rush, they will choose the easier path, the refugees below.
Hhannvis feels the old pull of the core in the chamber behind him, a faint hunger tied to his strength. The raptors’ hesitation gives him a narrow opening, if he can move before the pack learns the basin is worth the risk.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the survivors
“I turn to run. I say we must atleast warn the survivors, and let them be ready before the raptors find a way down. With those wings they will likely try flap gliding down like chicken if they find a low enough edge to give them confidence”
FAILURE (Great Reasoning, rolled -1)
Hhannvis
We should warn the survivors, before the raptors find a way down. With those wings, they may try to glide to a lower edge first.
Hhannvis turns from the ridge and starts back along the stone shelf. The mist swallows the pack behind him, but their hissing keeps pace, shifting sideways along the perimeter instead of retreating.
Huryol
Good. If they cannot take the drop, they will hunt the rim for another entrance.
Sefru
Then the hidden chambers are in danger. We need the others alert, now.
As Hhannvis moves, a faint scrape answers from the stone beyond the wall, as if something outside has heard the warning too. The raptors remain above, but their spacing tightens, probing for a place to force courage.
Hhannvis
The maintenance ledge and the marked hollow may both matter if they start circling.
The trio reaches the darker bend toward the refuge chambers, and the first survivor voices begin to stir beyond the stone. The pack has not descended yet, but it is no longer waiting at the brink.
“I turn to run. I say we must at least warn the survivors and let them be ready before the raptors find a way down. Maybe even get some to the vault. With those wings, they will likely try flap-gliding down like chickens if they find a low enough edge to give them confidence.”
FAILURE (Good Athletics, rolled -1)
Hhannvis lunges into a run, cape snapping behind him, but the shelf is slick with mist and old dust. His first stride bites wrong, and he has to catch himself on the low wall instead of keeping speed.
The misstep costs him a heartbeat. Ahead, the stone corridor bends toward the refuge chambers, while behind him the raptors stop hovering at the brink and begin sliding along the rim, searching for lower ground.
Hhannvis
Warn the survivors. They may try to glide down if they find a lower edge.
Huryol glances past Hhannvis toward the misted ridge, then points hard at the darker wall. "Then we move before they do. The maintenance ledge may let them reach the chambers from the side."
Sefru
And if the pack finds the marked hollow, they will smell the refuge. I hear them already, scraping for a seam.
A faint grind answers from beyond the stone, closer now, as if something outside is testing the shell of the chambers. The hidden route toward the survivors is still open, but the raptors are no longer just watching the edge.
Through a crack in the mist, Hhannvis catches a glimpse of one raptor lowering itself along a slanted shelf, cautious but committed. The opening is there, and so is the danger.