Sarchu Valley a rather interesting place. Essentially a giant trench in the ground that people use as a trade route. Jake was as usual ignoring the concept of danger and was exploring the valley alone. Relying on determination and luck to get through this valley unharmed. People had told him don't travel Sarchu alone it is full of dangers. Everywhere is full of dangers you could trip over a root in a forest break your leg and die. It's just that the danger is more apparent in Sarchu, or at least that's what Jake thought. Though other than the fact that Sarchu looked as if a giant from the heavens had cut the landscape with a knife the scenery was rather bland. It was also a desert! Jake did not like deserts the idea of dying from lack of water did not appeal to him at all. Especially since it had almost happened once before.
 
As Jake was walking he was kicking a stone along to keep himself occupied. Hmm I heard there's some weird town up north where there aren't any fights. The bard was thinking about where he was going to go next. Though these thoughts were interrupted when four men came out from behind a rock each holding a weapon looks like Jakes stupidly good luck had run out. A grizzled man walked up to Jake and said "We want yer valuables not yer life but we'll happily take both" he spoke with a thick accent. Where from though Jake could not put his finger on it. Either way the man was holding a scimitar in a rather menacing way like he was getting ready to slash at Jake at the drop of a hat. "Come now surely we can be rational about this, do I look like I carry much of value on me?". Jake was right he only had the one extremely well worn pair of clothes. Either way the man didn't seem convinced "Ya know every time someone said that ta me he was lyin, are you a liar?". This was not going well so far for Jake.

Looking down at his belt Jake considered drawing his weapon. Probably not a good idea, even if he did defeat the boss there were his three goons to worry about. So instead the bard began slowly backpedaling hoping the man didn't notice, he did. Jake turned around and began sprinting away from the men. Having the head start Jake made decent ground, that is before he tripped. However the bards luck had seemingly kicked back in and he tripped down into a cave. Well whether it's lucky is up to interpretation as Jake did escape the bandits for now, however he'd fallen down into a cave and into who knows what dangers. Also his head was bleeding quite badly, but he was alive so Jake counted that as a plus.

While her first instinct had been to go see her older sister, Yazaere had decided against it.  Traveling through the caves towards the surface seemed to be a better plan, as she knew better than heading straight into the harsh light.  The air kept getting warmer the further up she headed, and the drow wondered just where she was going to emerge.  She had been near the surface a few times, but she couldn't recall it feeling this before. 

Her thoughts were disrupted when something dropped to the ground before her.  It appeared to be humanoid, perhaps a human?  Her home had been in the deeper area of the Umbral Depths, and Yazaere had only heard tales of humans.  But she had been smart enough to pick up a human language before heading towards the surface.  Hopefully this one knew the language of Adeluna.  "You are hurt.  I can help, but I would ask help in return.  Is that agreeable?" she asked.  Her accent was musical like an elf's, but harsher in tone.  Her gray eyes were calm but sharp, and the fallen priestess was wary. 

Jake hadn't bothered to get up. He was still just lying on the ground waiting for the world to stop spinning. Which didn't seem to be happening, if it was slowing down then it was very slowly. At this point the bard took a moment to look at his surroundings, even if they were rather warped due to the spinning. The first thing Jake noticed was a person, not what he'd expected to find in a cave. He tried to focus on this person who was standing over him. It was a she, she had a sort of gray skin so not human, and pointy ears? Must be some sort of elf, of the languages Jake spoke Elvish was not one of them. Well he spoke a small amount just enough to haggle with innkeepers about room prices. Which probably was not going to come in handy in this situation.

Luckily for Jake this woman spoke to him using Adelunan a language he did speak. "As I'm not in much of a position for bartering currently I'll accept your offer". Jake pushed himself up off the ground and sat up back to a wall. "My names Jake by the way, I'm a travelling bard. What can I help you with?". Jake extended his hand to shake but he felt a sudden shot of pain come from his chest so he pulled it back.

The human's eyes wandered a bit, and she could tell that he was dazed.  Her keen ears caught an elevated heartbeat, and Yazaere had to guess that he had been chased.  That thought was reinforced by shouting voices from above, ones that sounded crude to her.  But the human accepted her offer of help, and she moved quickly to aid him.  But he got to his feet on his own.  "I am Yazaere.  A fallen priestess… but I can still help your injuries," she said, carefully finding her words.  His injury wasn't bad, but it would prevent him from moving quickly.  "With your permission? " she said.  A soft blue shimmer came from her hands, and the magic mended Jake's injuries. 

"I only ask something small.  I need a guide, or someone who will help me find a place.  There is desert above, yes?  I need to get to a place of… wild energy.  With trees and power.  I am not familiar with the surface world," she explained.  Yazaere hated the idea of asking for help from a stranger, but for the moment, it was all that she had.

Jake at this point was mostly just trying to ignore the pain and minor head trauma and just focus on the Elven woman. Her skin was gray as ash very interesting he'd never seen an Elf like that before. A fallen priestess, Jake couldn't help but burst out into laughter after hearing that. "You must have fallen pretty far to end up underground". After the caves emptied of Jake's laughter he responded to her "I'd be a fool to not give someone permission to heal my injuries. Or have an ego larger than that of the entire council of mages in Wyllmochvar".

After she healed him Jake got up and began to stretch. He still felt a little pain but it was much more manageable, Jake had had hangovers worse than this. "Yes indeed there is a desert above us, though its more a disgusting scar in the landscape than anything else". Jake had thus far not particulary enjoyed his time in the Sarchu Valley. "As for your forest I can think of a few places Revaliir that have those qualities. The closest however is probably the Virens forest; though first we need to get out of this cave. Which will require us getting past some none too pleasant bandits". A rather strange comment as bandits are not known for their chivalrous ways.

Jake walked over to the place where he had fallen. There was a stain of blood on the ground, most likely came from himself. Jake pulled out a grappling hook as while he might have enjoyed the challenge of climbing a wall with no equipment, his new companion might not. Jake took a second to spin his grappling hook around and tossed it up towards the mouth of the cave. After tugging it a few times to make sure it was sturdy Jake motioned towards the elf "So Yazaere shall we ascend?".

She could only give Jake a very puzzled look when he spoke of her falling very far.  Did he know nothing of the drow?  In her pride, Yazaere found it a bit hard to understand.  "Many live in the deep places of the earth.  The drow, like myself, deep dwarves, even dragons live within the depths.  And we are some of the more benign residents," she said.  It only took a few moments to mend the wounds, and the actions calmed her.  Though it did lead to more thoughts in her mind.  She had lost faith in the dark entities that her people worshiped, yet she could still call on the magic she felt was most natural.

Her head tilted to one side, she knew little of the geography of the world above, but Yazaere had already decided that it was something she would need to learn quickly.  Her eyes seemed to light at the mention of fighting bandits, it was something she could have a bit of fun with.  "Bandits, I can handle.  They cannot be any worse than deep dwarves," she said, sounding amused. 

The drow decided to humor him, and thanked him for the rope before starting to make her way up.  She heard a bit of yelling, probably the bandits that Jake had mentioned.  "How many were there?  I like to know the odds I face," she added as they ascended. 

Jake was barely to stifle his laughter from rising again upon hearing the Yazaeres confusion. "No it was just a joke you see. See you said that you were a fallen priestess and we met under- you know what nevermind". Also did she say that she was a drow interesting. Jake had only heard stories of the drow who live deep underground, where no other elf treads. Before Jake could think about that any further something came to mind. "Wait, Deep Dwarves? Who came up with that name? That is such a boring name, its like someone asked a drunk man. "Hey Steve it turns out there are dwarves that live deep underground what should we call them" "Les just call em deep dwarves" "you're a genius steve! Come on now, deep dwarves. But I digress sorry about that".

As Jake was about to begin climbing the ropes the drow woman began talking again. "Most likely, though I'd have some trouble as I'd probably die of laughter thinking about their names before they got to me. Maybe the regular dwarves came up with the name to mock them". Jake was having far too much fun with the fact that deep dwarves were called deep dwarves. At this point Yazaere took the rope and began to ascend. "I suppose I'll follow behind then".

How many bandits were there anyways. Jake's was having a bit of trouble recalling this information. It probably had something to do with the head injury that Jake had sustained. Oh wait it was coming back to him now. "There were four bandits they're still probably lurking around. Just so you know I have an aversion to combat, I prefer only to fight if I have too". 

Her eyes narrowed, drow weren't exactly known for having a sense of humor.  "The finer points of human jokes escape me.  We deal with your kind so little," she said, her voice low and humorless.  But a smirk crossed her face when he insulted the name of the other dwellers.  "I thought it easier for you to understand, humans aren't known for understanding their tongue.  The Duergar do tend to get quite insulted when people don't know who they are," she said, cold arrogance in her tone.  It would be interesting if Jake ever made his way into the deep parts of the earth.

But they started climbing, and Yazaere found herself thinking about a potential fight.  "Four, is that all?  Hmm.  Did you have something they wanted?  Or did you tell one too many bad jokes?  Don't worry, I'll protect you," she asked, a slight malice in her voice.  Sometimes there was a reason that a person was chased down, but not always.  And Yazaere still had more than a few tricks up her sleeves.  There were indeed voices up ahead, and four distinct ones to her keen hearing. 

Peering over the edge, she could see them.  Dark shapes were moving around, and she considered the muddle of words.  They were still looking for the man who had run into the cave, and it sounded like their previous hunts had been slim.  She was glad that she had retained her dark gray garments, they helped her blend into the darkness.  "Stay behind me, though a distance away.  I would wager I move more quietly.  You can come closer when you hear yelling," she whispered to the human. 

The spiked chain felt good in her hands, and the drow crept forward, towards the voices.  Two of them had their backs to the deeper part of the cave, the other two were closer to the mouth of the cave.  Perfect.  They didn't even know she was there until the spiked chain slammed into the side of the first bandit's head, knocking him off his feet and into his companion.