ΗΑΔΕΣ (underworldly) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-10 09:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, hades, hazel levesque, maxwell trevelyan (the inquisitor) |
Who: Hades, Hazel, and a bit of Max
What: Father/Daughter Team Underworld gets the lyrium needed
When: Yeeeesterday, maybe like the 9th
Where: OC Deep Roads
Rating/Warnings: Violence against giant spiders
Status: Complete
The Deep Roads. An underground dwarven empire spanning all of Thedas, once lit and kept warm by flowing magma, the dwarves who built those tunnels praised and lauded for the geometric angles and the planning it took for centuries to complete the wonder. Then it was overrun by Darkspawn, as all good things never did seem to last - here, Trevelyan had to wonder how far the underground tunnels extended to in Orange County. Maybe just the county, and nothing beyond - but he couldn’t really tell, since it would take days, or weeks, to explore everything with himself and a couple others. Being here today though, maybe Hazel would give him a better idea by sensing the formations beneath the Earth. Dwarves were master engineers, master stonecutters, and their expertise showed in this kingdom that had once been thriving and great. Dwarves also mined lyrium - their resistance to its effects was what made them good candidates to do so; unlike other races, they didn’t possess a connection to the Fade, they couldn’t cast spells, they didn’t dream. They’d evolved to be that way. For mages, it was a lot different - Max knew he had to be careful here, and work with the substance slowly so as not to trigger some kind of overload and go into shock. Mages could handle exposure in increments, but the raw stuff was especially powerful and could be too much. However, when everything was all said and done and he had a prosthetic arm infused with lyrium, he’d be able to use his staff and aid in battle like he had before. He’d probably even be able to tap into some more Spirit abilities, due to that extra oomph and stronger connection to the Fade the lyrium granted. Now, he stood above ground at the park with the crater in it, the park which had the entrance to the Deep Roads - concealed by rocks. “Lyrium’s tricky,” he said. “I think it’s a mineral because it grows in the shape of crystalline structures, like how stellate crystals do, and looks like tree branches. But it’s also...alive. Like you could probably sense it breathing, or...some call it singing.” Hades, who definitely didn’t want his daughter going through with this by herself (and, oh, alright he didn’t mind helping either - if he had godly powers he may as well find uses for them), scratched his cheek. “Sounds weird,” he noted. “You’re not going to die if you touch it, are you? Because I could probably fix that but I haven’t actually tried yet...” “Probably not,” Max shook his head - what, that was a joke. Sort of. “I have a potion that’s a lyrium substitute. But I thought it might be good for Hazel to get a feel for what it’s like, in general.” He handed her the bottle of the bright blue liquid - an eerie glow to it, searing, like what lava would be if it was azure rather than red. Hazel wasn't afraid of doing dangerous things. Considering her dreams, she was apparently not at all against doing things that were dangerous. Being a Roman demigod sort of ensured that you were constantly in danger. She'd ended her life and her mother's to save the world, snuck out of the Underworld with her brother Nico, with no assurance that she'd be allowed to stay out, went through everything to get to Camp Jupiter, and then agreed to go with Percy and Frank to Alaska, knowing there was a chance it would end up with her being dead again. Her life seemed to be summed up by the word danger. But she had a pack with her that included ambrosia and nectar, her phone, and her dad. She was pretty sure that her dad was the most important part of her protection plan, though. "Well, if I can summon oil in the dreams, I think I can do this." She hoped anyway. The idea of not being able to help out when she wanted to seemed too much for her. She did have to take a moment to look between her dad and Max, however, before she shook her head at them. "You're both hopeless." She didn't sound annoyed, though. More like resigned. She was trapped with it, but it was possible that it was a little funny. Maybe. "Plus I'm the only one that can actually say she's died and come back from the dead here." She was determined to make it a joke, determined not to let the whole situation cause her expression to dim. She would make it funny. Taking the bottle from him, Hazel closed her eyes. It was one thing to look at it (and hurt her eyes, because that was bright). It was a completely different thing to be able to focus on the way it felt. It was different from everything else that she'd experienced. She knew what everything felt like. It was the strangest thing that she'd had to get used to. She was her very own metal detector. She rolled the bottle between her hands, not really for any reason other than to not look like she was standing still and holding onto a bottle of blue liquid. "I think I've got it," she said after a moment before handing the bottle back to him and opening her eyes. Her gaze shifted so she could look over at her dad. "Ready to go hunting?" Har har, his daughter was a comedian. But Hades was just so proud - look at the way Hazel stood there and held a bottle of blue liquid! He might have snapped a few photos on his phone if it wouldn’t have embarrassed the crap out of her (which he knew it would). “Ready,” he chuckled, buttoning the front of his coat - he wasn’t about to put on spandex like a caped crusader, he didn’t have the robes he favored in the dream Underworld yet (not that he’d wear those in public anyway), so regular attire to keep himself cloaked it was. Bonus? He didn’t feel the heat of the summer, or of the Earth’s core itself. Bathing in flames was like standing near a dim-wattage light bulb - barely even registered. “I’d come with you, but I can’t exactly - “ Max sighed in frustration, not bothering to finish the sentence. He could barely cast a fireball without it setting him severely off-kilter, and draining what seemed like far too much mana. It might be all in his mind, it might not be, but this mage wasn’t in any shape to be traversing the Deep Roads. Hades shook his head. “Don’t even worry. You asked the right people - what’s below the ground, that’s my domain. Our domain,” he added, fiery, sun-yellow eyes flicking toward Hazel. “We’ll be fine.” And with that, they were off. He took his little girl’s hand in his, then poof. A puff of black smoke later, there they appeared. Beneath the ground, without having to break in by undoing the rock enchantment that protected the entrance. The Lord of the Dead took one whiff of the place. “Loooootta corpses ‘round here.” Not humans though, so that was comforting. Kind of. Hazel would have been embarrassed, but more because she wasn't doing anything. Not really. Yes, she was getting a feel for it while putting her awareness of the tunnels beneath her into the back of her mind, but she was pretty sure a lot of people could do similar things in this place. Just maybe not exactly what she could do. She herself was dressed simply enough. She had a t-shirt and shorts, but she had her armor...just to keep her dad from being too concerned. She also had her sword. In a small bag, she also carried her nectar and ambrosia. Nothing was overly fancy, though. She offered Max a sympathetic look before looking over to her dad again. "Team Underworld," she agreed. It was strange to see her dad looking so...different from how he normally looked, but she remembered her dad from the dreams. He wasn't doing all that much better. Maybe a little bit, but not too much. "Definitely fine underground." When you weren't dying. As much as she wanted to say she was used to this method of transportation, Hazel was not. It made her head spin a little and she had to re-orient herself once they arrived. "How delightful," she said, allowing the sarcasm to bleed into her words. There were a lot of...well...everything in here. Her brain was alerting her to everything, so she forced herself to focus. Focus on being able to lead them around and being able to find the things that she needed. After a few moments, she turned to look at her dad again. "This way," was all the warning he got before she started walking down a tunnel, drawing her sword as she did. She definitely wasn't planning to trust anything in this place. Eventually, his skin and hair would change too - Hades knew it, they all knew it, it was just a matter of time. Luckily, having a good chunk of the magic he was capable of using would mean he could finagle something in terms of shapeshifting - though it was funny, Pain and Panic were still just animals in this world. Apparently the OC was against having true, talking imps around. Go figure. So maybe he didn’t look like he had reign over the Underworld, over the dead and death itself - but he, strangely enough, felt homey here. Maybe he really was more comfortable beneath the earth, in that whole other world. “Following you, Curly,” he assured, hand reaching out to brush fingers along the rocky cavernous walls. There was all sorts of shit growing down here, bleh. Mushrooms and ugly flowers and probably fungus, oh my. He could also make out the drip drip drip of something - water? A fountain? Blood? The adventure was finding out, the deeper they got. “Keep that sword ready, I doubt we’ll be alone down here.” Hazel could tell the way the tunnels would turn and whether or not there was a cave in. She was acutely aware of the gold and jewels that were around her, but even more so she was aware of the lyrium. She didn't know if it would negatively affect her or not, but she would figure it out. “That's why I brought it. My skills aren't what I want them to be, but I'm not planning on letting us get killed by anything down here.” Definitely not. She'd promised Nico that she was going to be safe. If anything came at them, she would do what she needed to do. “But if you have any abilities outside of exploding things, that might be helpful.” “Sorry, kiddo, exploding things seems to be all I got,” Hades quipped, but in all actuality, he wasn’t quite sure, there were likely other things up his sleeves. Fire did seem to be his favorite razzle-dazzle trick though - in fact, he’d probably say it was less of a trick and more of a natural extension of his very self or something. But he was glad Hazel was prepared. She was a warrior, becoming one he should say, and that made him proud to see her shaking off some of that doubt in herself and building up confidence. They continued along - he’d follow her lead, of course - and since he was touching the walls, at some point he discovered something adherent as opposed to the rock shards. Almost like a... “It’s a spider web,” he spat, shushing immediately when he thought he heard a sound resembling some kind of chittering. Yep, there it was again - chirp, chirp. Growing nearer, and closer, as they emerged into more of an open space - a thaig, which was once a thriving ‘community’ underground. Right when the hypothetical giant spiders (really, they were fucking huge, how could a spider get that big??) dropped straight from the ceilings, weaving their sticky and webbed death traps. Hazel almost groaned, but she decided against it as she walked on. If she had to endure the fire, she'd endure it. She just hoped that there wasn't going to be nearly as much fighting as there was in her dreams, but she was almost certain she would be out of luck. Nothing was ever easy. It was likely a good thing that Hazel had been expecting things to go to shit, because the moment her dad mentioned the spider web, she'd have probably been more focused on everything else and less on the noises. Being a demigod came with a few special upsides. Though she had ADHD in almost everything she did, it meant that she could focus on a lot of things at once and fight. Considering there were so many things to focus on, she felt that it was probably the most useful part of things. She swore in Latin under her breath before starting to fight. "I really hate being right all the time," she commented as she cut through one of the legs of the spider. "And I'll never see spiders the same again." She could cause a cave in, but she would try to figure out a method of killing things without possibly killing herself in the process. Let’s not go with the caving in of the tunnels, Hades would very much veto that. Technically, they could probably get out in time but then the whole trip would be a waste because of the lack of lyrium-doo-hickey-thing. Not that it was worth their lives (which Trevelyan would have also agreed with, no doubt), but still. The aim was to be victorious. “These are like, mutant spiders - get off,” he growled, dodging this way and that, temper being tested (and that was never a good thing). It meant fire, and lots of it - the scorching flames of Hell shot from his hands, after zinging down his arms; he basically tossed them like rings. Like a fucking fiery carnival game. Everywhere he turned though, he could sense the necroplasmic energy from the dead things all around him - spider corpses with fungus growing there, dead rats, skeletal remains of who knew what else. They looked like huge lizards but it didn’t matter - because he was the Lord of the Dead and he absorbed that necroplasm. Only for it to eject itself in concussive blasts that disintegrated the arachnids on steroids. Ew. Wow, huh, deep breath. “Alright, so I’ve got something other than explosions available.” Good to know, he thought. “How you holding up, Curly? Should we make a break for it?” Hazel was focused on stabbing everything that came near her. Even if it did mean somersaulting to get underneath them. She was not okay with the sticky feeling that accompanied the action, though. She was going to need at least fifty showers when she got out of here. It was just part of the job, but Hazel wished it wasn't part of the job. She couldn't be sure if she would rather be on a boat or here fighting spiders. It was probably a grass is always greener situation. She lunged up with her sword just as her dad spoke to her, cringing when spider guts dripped down her arm. "So gross." She wrinkled her nose before looking at her dad. "I think I'm okay. Just severely grossed out. I'm definitely wishing that there were less spiders." She was also wishing that she had Frank or Percy with her, but she didn't say anything about that. Especially since she couldn't help but be aware that her dream self had feelings for Frank. "So what's this new power I missed? Because if it's really handy, I think we could definitely use a lot more of it." The dead spiders had things on them, he could tell, but looting bodies for potential potion ingredients and shit like that wasn’t really Hades’ bag. So he motioned for them to continue, now that the threat had been dealt with - the architecture in these underground caves was top-notch, it had obviously been carved by hand and took awhile, but a lot of it looked the same. He was relying on Hazel to navigate. “I see ghosts, spirits, and can feel dead....energy,” he tried to explain. “The dead do give off a certain type of energy, I guess. Anyway, just file it under dead people stuff. And hopefully that was the last of the spiders for awhile.” When they came upon one of those fountains, what looked like a shimmering pool, he observed the ripple of the water to make sure that nothing was going to jump out at them - but it seemed relatively safe, and then tested it by flicking fingers into it to give it a swirl. Testing the temperature. “Here, wash your hands at least.” That might help her feel less gross. Hazel felt relieved by the lack of spiders. She now understood what Annabeth meant about not liking to be around spiders. Small spiders were one thing, giant ones were another. She made a note to warn Annabeth about this place and never let her near it. She would probably thank her. Unless knowing about it would make her more paranoid. Hazel also neglected to loot the bodies for anything. If asked, she'd probably say it had something to do with respecting the dead, but in truth, she really didn't want to go near the dead spider carcasses. Not at all. Meanwhile, she could easily tell where she was going even if everything looked similar. She could probably have been in pitch dark and she'd have known the way it bent, if there was a magical trap. Apparently not if there was a collection of dangerous spiders. "Well, that seems normal. You are Hades." She wondered how different her dream dad was from her dad outside of them. Probably fairly different. "I really hope so. I'm not prepared to fight that many more." A pause. "Well, I am, but I'd rather not." Once her dad had made sure the water didn't seem overly dangerous, she moved closer to it, moving to wash at least some of the spider grossness off of her. "I officially hate spiders. Annabeth was right about them." “Not much to like about gigantic spiders,” Hades agreed, with a rumble of a laugh. He waited for Hazel to feel at least a little cleaner before pressing on, back through more of the twisting rabben warren, what was once an empire. And he’d get back to following her, remaining alert - it was possible that arachnids that had been doused with magical gro-juice or whatever weren’t the worst of what was left in this mysterious network of tunnels after those who originally inhabited them moved up to the surface. But he’d hope for the best, however. A little optimism wouldn’t hurt. “When we get there, just - “ He didn’t know shit about lyrium, but from the way the mage had described it, it seemed far too dangerous to fuck with even for those who were of the more godly persuasions. “Don’t get too close at first? I’ll figure out a way to port it back up there.” Once she felt a little less gross, she turned to look at her dad. “I’m not going to get myself killed for a second time.” She paused, nose wrinkling slightly. “Sorry. I mean...I promised Nico I’d be safe and he’s already upset with me for doing this. He’s acting like he isn’t, but I know he is.” She wished she didn’t feel like the annoying younger sibling sometimes. But she’d deal with it and Nico would feel better about it when she came back and proved she was just fine. But it was time to move. She had a feeling that staying still for long would be worse than moving around. She let herself focus again before starting to move forward. “But you be careful, too. I really don’t want to be responsible for you or anyone else getting hurt.” “Why is Nico upset?” Hades asked, brow furrowing. Discord between siblings wasn’t uncommon - if Bianca was around it’d be even worse, because when you increased the number of kids you henceforth increased the potential for catfights and loving familial bitchslaps - but that didn’t mean he liked when any of the kids were upset. “He’s just worried about you? Or he wanted to come too?” But Hazel would be fine - she was looking out for herself, and she had the abilities to take care of herself in turn. It was good that she saw it, felt it deep within too. Her father had never anticipated she’d be so skilled with a sword, and yet here they were. Granted, he never anticipated he’d be able to teleport either. It seemed like she’d led them to the right spot (as if there was any doubt), because when Hades rounded the corner he could almost hear the thrum and pulse of...well, it was something. The twisting, spiraling blue glow to the branches was unmistakable as well - kind of a captivating sight, a captivating song. He whistled, in awe. “Nice.” But still stepped forward, in front of Hazel, to go first further into the cavern where the lyrium grew. “You think he’d mind if I tried to turn it into other stuff first, instead of bringing it up in its raw form like this? I’ll be careful though, promise.” “Because he’s worried. I don’t think he wants to be here.” She knew that he enjoyed being with Will. Hazel was happy for him that he’d found someone that he liked and that liked him, but she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they weren’t growing apart a little. She pushed the thought out of her head and bit down on her lip to keep herself from sighing. She could talk to Nico when this was over and make sure they were okay. When they got closer, Hazel could feel it before she even heard anything. Still, she stopped before she got too close. Even if her dad hadn’t warned her not to get too close, she’d have known better than to get too close after what Max had said about it. If she’d had no one else, she’d have used her abilities to pull it from the ground. Of course, it would involve knowing where it was from above. She knew she could summon things from the ground, but she didn’t know from how far. It was amazing to look at, though. It was strange how something that seemed so pretty was so dangerous, but then it was the same with flowers. Or so she’d learned from the television. Sometimes beautiful things were the most dangerous. “Do you think that’s going to do anything? Can you make it the other stuff first?” She took a step back, clearing her throat. “You can try if you want. I know I can’t do anything with it outside of pull it out of the ground or sense it.” “Might make it easier to handle, and not so volatile,” was Hades’ theory, stroking his chin as he observed the neon glow to the lyrium. Physically, he felt fine - so far, anyway. “Probably, like...uh...transfiguration. Or something.” His magic was the omnipotent kind, there in the Underworld - and he didn’t really even know how to measure it, couldn’t write down steps for ‘spells’ he used or anything. It just was. He had a whole chamber of bits and bobs, potions and brews, and he’d spent however long hunkered down in his hellish basement making all kinds of things. Was it the same here? Outlook, hazy. Generally, he’d just sort of been experimenting with his powers as he was pushed into the scenarios that called for them - maybe he should start actually trying to practice regularly, but anyway. Now was good practice. He started with two of the long branches, focusing with his hands on either side of the crystals - then, at the top of those branches, they began changing. Dissolving, disintegrating, a puff of smoke - another poof - and there it was. Lyrium, in powder form. “Well, I’ll be damned - “ A joke, he kind of was anyway, “...it worked. Do you have a place to put this, like room in your pack?” Hazel nodded. She didn’t know if changing it made it less dangerous or not, but she’d go with it. If her dad thought it would be okay, then it would probably be okay. She hoped. Still, she stayed a bit back as she watched her dad go to work changing the lyrium from the blue branches and into a bit of powder instead. Opening her bag, Hazel pulled out the nectar and ambrosia, unhooking the little bag and handing it over to her dad. “I think you can probably store it in there. I already have everything else in a bag and a bottle.” She didn’t really mind giving up her bag for it. They couldn’t really hold it in their hands. That was kind of ridiculous. “How much do you think we need to get?” They could fit a whole bunch of shit in the pack, and carrying this dangerous stuff in their hands definitely seemed like a gamble. Hades would transform it from its raw form first, pretty as it was. “As much as we can stuff in there?” he suggested, dumping the powder inside. Then he thought about what other forms the substance could take. Basically, he went with a whole variety because it was the spice of life. Not only the powder, but also kind of a jelly - maybe it was like a poultice, something you could smear onto things - and tablets, and then another few jars worth of a thicker sort of brew. “It sounds weird,” he noted, lifting the now-full pack up to his ear. “Like it’s humming. I mean, I noticed before but now it’s just more obvious.” Either way, it was kind of creeping him out. Onward! “Ready to get out of here?” he asked his daughter, because they could either go back the way they came and kill more spiders or teleport out. The latter option seemed a lot cleaner. Hazel just watched as her dad changed it into all sorts of other things as she wondered exactly how it worked. She almost wished that she could do things like that, but she wasn’t sure exactly how she was supposed to figure that out. She was almost certain that she didn’t have too many other abilities. Unless she’d just not dreamed about them yet. When he mentioned the humming, Hazel stepped a little closer. “Yeah. It is a bit odd, isn’t it? I’ve never seen anything like it. Heard anything like it either.” A quick nod was her first response. “Yeah. I think we should get out of here. I don’t fancy running into anymore spiders.” That was all it took - confirmation - and then escaping the underground caverns was a go! Shifting the pack to his shoulder, Hades reached out to grasp Hazel’s hand (at least she had kind of an idea how this would go) and then the black smoke curled through the air, the only rapidly depleting evidence that they’d even been here. They appeared up above ground a second later, the same place where they’d entered. Only to find a very concerned Max sitting on a rock, waiting, and nearly chewing a hole through his cheek in worry. “Are you two okay??” Hazel was more prepared for the change the second time. It was thankfully not as disorienting the second time around. When she spotted Max, she gave him a bit of a smile. “Nothing we’ve probably never dealt with before. Probably.” But even as she said it, she found the nearest patch of grass to wipe her spatha off on before putting it back in the scabbard. “Giant spiders. I need about ten showers. Otherwise, I’m fine.” She held up the bag of ambrosia and the bottle of nectar. “I had things to help any sort of injuries. Demigods and gods only, though. Don’t try to eat any of this.” Offering him another smile, she asked, “So are you okay? You look like you’re just this side of having a panic attack.” Hades gave a hearty laugh, a deep rumble under his breath, at the expression on Max’s face. Mostly, he was just awed that they’d actually done it - impressed too, don’t get him wrong. “Well, I’m grateful for this and glad you didn’t have need for the demigod and gods-only type of healing. The spiders, yeah - “ He winced a bit. “They’re not my favorite part of the Deep Roads, to say the least. But I’m fine, I was just anxious up here unable to help.” That wouldn’t always be the case though - he had the lyrium, he could work on the risky undertaking that was engineering a prosthetic infused with the substance. Despite the dangers faced, and the dangers ahead, he actually felt...better, somehow. Hopeful. “Team Underworld,” Hades added, patting Hazel’s shoulder. “...yep, Curly. You do need a shower.” That arachnid stench! Oh, well, point of the whole thing was that they’d done some good. Felt good to do good, as the Lord of the Dead was discovering. Just don’t talk about it too loudly. He had that reputation to uphold, still. “I guess it could be worse. I’ll never trust spiders again, but...that’s the price you pay, I think.” She shrugged slightly. “But now you can relax. We’re okay. We aren’t dead. Just let us know if you need us for anything else.” She gave him a bright smile. “But if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go home and shower. Good luck with your arm and be careful.” |