Dillyweed | Röl / Söl

It was Röls first campaign together with others. He was typically on his own, at the very top layers. He could feel how his heart beat hard in his chest as he moved in the middle of the group. It was exciting. Thrilling. He could hardly contain himself. But he had to contain himself. He had to show off that he was worthy of being invited again. He had to show all the other three that he was someone you wanted as a team-mate. Someone who would get invited to the next campaign.
Söl on the other hand kept his place at the back of the line. He had been in a campaign recently but with the recommendation from Gerard he had been invited into another campaign almost immediately. He was considering if he should stay for a while on the surface but eventually decided to join in the campaign. At least there was no Solas in this team that he knew.

Suddenly, as they had been walking for a while a loud cry was heard in the corridors. Everyone froze. It sounded exactly like a Courser but you couldn’t hear anything in the scream. There were no words, not even the word help. Söl had an idea about what it could be but before he had the moment to explain Röl, who was probably the greenest of all of them, started to run towards it.
“STOP.” Söl was surprised by his own voice but Röl had actually stopped in the middle of his step and looked back at him annoyed. Everyone looked at him with various confused looks.
“We have to help them!” Röl said with an annoyed snort.
“It’s not a courser.” Söl tried to explain it. “It’s a mimic. You can hear it in the scream.”  Another ear pitching scream carried through the tunnels and all the other Coursers in the team looked at each other, awkwardly.
“How?” Röl said with a clear unconvinced voice. “How do you tell?”
“The scream is the same each time. There's no difference because it’s mimicking one scream.”  A cold feeling crawled down Röls spine as another ear pitching scream could be heard again. He heard it now. He understood what Söl meant. But it felt wrong. Someone could be scared and scream similar enough. He wanted to help.
“So we’re just leaving it?” He looked at the other two Coursers, he didn’t want just Söls opinion.

406 words

AberrantKapro | Strohmeier / Senbonzakura

Strohmeier was what most would call a natural born leader. Very few things phased him and he always stood his ground, calm, collected, and analytical. Despite being the leader type, he usually kept towards the back, this time squeezing the pitch black courser between the bay dun, Söl, and the steel blue snowcap, Röl. He kept a close eye on their surroundings, it was quiet, almost too quiet. In Strohmeier’s experience, this kind of deafening silence was never a good thing. His beloved pet fox, Micke, also took notice of his change in behaviour since the silence fell, and snuck along, low to the ground. 

Sure enough, it didn't take long before a bone chilling scream could be heard. He froze, as did the rest of the group. Röl had started to sprint towards the scream but before Strohmeier had time to react, Söl had already told the newbie to stop. He approved of this very much, and was happy to see that Söl was on his guard. He was definitely proving to be a worthy dungeoneer who deserved a place by his side.

Senbonzakura was, however, not as easily impressed. He came from a wartorn clan, where you at times had to be ruthlessly cold to survive. He had lost count of all his brothers and sisters in arms that had fallen, the amount of times he himself had to end lives to prevent a slow and painful death. A scream for help meant nothing in his lands. Though that did not make him any less cautious, as Söl said, it was more than likely a mimic, looking for a quick meal out of unsuspecting adventurers such as Röl. “So we are just leaving it?” Röl had asked in desperation and Senbonzakura’s almost piercingly yellow gaze locked in with his innocent blue eyes.

“Whoever that scream originated from is no more.” the pale madder champagne said. “While yes, it does sound like someone could be very much alive, considering it shrieks identically each time as Söl said, there is nothing we can do but find their remains. If there are any left behind, that is.” he bluntly added and looked over to Söl and Strohmeier while doing his best to shut out the screaming that kept echoing in the background.

“As far as I am aware, the two of you have more adventures under your belts. This is a very good thing. I may not have been in the dungeons until recently, but war and suffering has taught me enough.” Senbonzakura said, doing his best to sound as motivational as possible. He looked back over at Röl, the most inexperienced of them all. “This is a perfect opportunity for a young and eager adventurer such as yourself to learn a thing or two about survival. We are happy to teach you and have you observe why we do what we do. I will however tolerate no carelessness. If you risk our lives, I will not hesitate to put you in your place.” he snorted, hoping his threats would maybe keep Röl from being so naive to the dungeon’s inhabitants. 

520 words