A Quiet Adventure [FINISHED]

[Harpsdesire]

((D'awwww, he's so adorable in duck form <3 ))

"That could be." Dania shrugged, "You would need more than that to reach the grave, if the story really is true. It says the tomb is magically protected, with all the Queen's powers protecting her peaceful rest." More bits and pieces of the story came to mind the more she thought about the old tale, and with them came peaceful and warming memories of snuggling in her parents' bed as a small child, listening to stories and feeling utterly safe with her mother on one side, dad on the other.

It was almost startling when Graeme's voice brought her back to the present. "I don't mind." The day was warm enough, and Dania's fine, silky fur tended to dry quickly in the sun, so getting wet would be only a minor inconvenience. She was a fair enough swimmer, too, although not as fast or powerful as she might have been with the use of all four legs. At least she wasn't likely to drown in the pool. "What kind of a clue should I be looking for?" She asked curiously, "Like a... treasure map?

This was all very exciting, and she eagerly followed the duck, who looked somewhat less imposing in his animal form. His rank was now visible as well, and Dania was not surprised to see she had been fairly accurate when guessing that he was highly ranked.

[Lucca]

Graeme felt a little silly in his Animal form...his balance was so different from what he was used to. At one point, of course, like most Cards, it had been all he had, but that had been many years ago. And he'd barely been in this form since. Suits, if he had been alone instead of in the company of a woman, he might have just stripped down and got in the pool...after all, he could swim plenty well in Biped for as well, and his feathers still kept water out no matter which form he took.

His tail gave an unconscious wiggle as he slipped easily into the pool, wings settling onto his back and webbed feet paddling. He turned to Dania, a wide grin on his bill. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure. A map is possible. But more likely, just anything... unusual about the geography of the area. Something that might point to an underground chamber or a cave at least." Of course, it was also possible that the treasure was just buried in the ground, but from what the legend said, it had originally at least been sealed in some sort of cave or chamber.

He went bottoms up, suddenly, to get a look under the water, not thinking how strange that might look to the Rat.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania didn't enter the water as readily as the duck, instead poking around at the edge of the pool, carefully putting her weight on one rock, then another, lest any of them be wobbly and tilt her into the water. If needed, she would join him in swimming, but for now she was content to check out the drier parts of the area.

"I'll let you know if I see anything that looks likely." She informed Graeme. Dania was really getting into the treasure hunting mindset, and her gaze was intent as she scoured the rocks. One was a little sparkly, another had, on close inspection, some odd little fossilized sea creatures embedded in it, as if Avington had once, long ago, been beneath a shallow sea. That was interesting, but not treasure related... "Nothing so far."

She couldn't help but smile a little in surprise as the duck's head vanished beneath the water, leaving his tail feathers sticking up in the air. It did look a little funny-- she had seen ducks do that before, but never a Card Duck. Dania looked away quickly. It would be embarrassing to be caught looking at Graeme's bottom... even if it was, currently, the only bit of him she could see.

[Lucca]

Another thing that was obnoxious about his Animal form...because of the way he was built, it was almost impossible to dive fully under the water. How bothersome! If only he'd planned for swimming and brought his wet suit. Luckily, he didn't realize he's just given Dania a bit of a view, or he would have been horribly embarrassed. He resurfaced after a moment, looking contemplative.

"I think there might be something...it's a bit hard to tell, but it's almost as if the source of the pool is hidden. Underground. Which suggests..." He broke off, paddling a little further away from that shore...and his eyes suddenly lit up. Quite literally. They were actually glowing a golden color. "Aha!" He sniffed at the air, and grinned.

A moment later, he had dunked underwater again, and this time he rooted around with his bill in the stones at the bottom of the pool. He paddled, getting further and further from Dania, head still underwater, turning up quite a bit of mud and silt as he continued to poke around on the floor, until he was on the far edge of the pool. When he finally surfaced this time, there was something clutched in his bill. A small something that was caked in mud, but glinted slightly in the sun light.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was about to respond, but fell silent as Graeme got a strange look on his face. She was surprised to see the Duck's eyes begin to glow a bright gold. It seemed he had activated a magical ability, then quickly dove back underwater. Some kind of treasure-finding ability? That was something Dania had never seen. Most fascinating. She briefly wondered what it would be like to be a powerful card with so much magic at her disposal. Probably very nice in a tight spot. (Luckily for her, Dania's life was really quite boring and safe, and the tightest spots she got into usually had to do with dealing with an irate customer when the shop was out of a popular title.)

When the Duck returned, grasping a small, muddy object, Dania was almost jumping up and down in excitement. The only thing more story-book exciting than a treasure hunt was a successful treasure hunt, even if none of the loot was to be hers. Still, the experience was worth it, and if the treasure was important or amazing enough, it would be a story worth telling for years to come.

In her eagerness to see what he had found, Dania ran around the edge of the pool to meet Graeme on the far side. She offered him a paw to help him over the slippery rocks and back onto dry land.

[Lucca]

Graeme grinned at Dania, as awkward as it was through what he was holding in his bill. Before he even was cognizant of her offer of help back onto the shore, he dipped his bill just briefly in the water, shaking his head back and forth vigorously enough that his spectacles slipped down (why hadn't he taken the things off?). When his neck uncurled, and he paddled over to the rock, Graeme made to hand the object over to Dania's outstretched paw. She'd find it to be a golden coin, a little worn around the edges, but still obviously valuable. The picture on it was pretty weathered and hard to make out, but might look rather like a tree on one side, with vague shapes gathered under it, and the portrait of a Feline Card on the other.

Graeme used a wing to push his spectacles back into place, hopped out of the water with practiced ease, and then leaned in close to the coin to examine it with still-glowing eyes. "Och, look at the symbols!" He let out a low whistle. "That's a valuable coin all right...that symbol hasn't been printed for years. Why, I'd wager that gold's at least three times as old as I am! Ha! And the rest of the treasure has got to be nearby! We found our clue!" Cackling a bit maniacally, the Duck waddled back over to his pack and pulled open the flap with his bill, bringing out a shovel, a pick, a lantern, and various other items useful for treasure hunting. Now that this legend had fallen fairly on the 'truth' side of the line, the hunt could begin in earnest.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania took the coin gingerly, gazing at it with wonder. How old was this treasure? It looked valuable, indeed, but more compelling to the rat was it's age: a tiny, long-hidden bit of history was laying, dripping, here in her paw. Who hid it? How long ago? What paws had held it, what lives had it touched? Was it ill-gotten plunder of pirates, or the lost dowry of an Avington beauty tragically drowned in his very pool?

If this one little disk of gleaming gold had been all there was of treasure, it would have been enough for Dania. Her eager imagination fed off the romatic thoughts of times long past, a lost age recovered with the sight of the coin. She closed her paw around it gently, then, remembering herself, offered it back to Graeme. "It's a rather beautiful clue, too." She smiled, watching the old coin reflect back filtered sunlight, untarnished by time.

And there was more to be found! The duck's cackling and glowing eyes were a bit unsettling, but still Dania helped him lay out his treasure hunting tools. "You think it's buried?" Dania asked, considering her surroundings. There was no obvious place to dig, nor any distinct landmark besides the pool itself and the mossy stones that bordered it. Dania wasn't a seasoned treasure hunter like Graeme was, of course, but she had a few thoughts on the matter. "It will be hard to dig here-- so many roots. Do you think someone would have hidden the treasure under a rock or in a cave, maybe, to avoid them?"

[Lucca]

As he had laid out the rest of the tools, (with Dania's help, luckily, blast his cumbersome bill and wings!) and closed the pack once again (scrunching up his nares somewhat at the smell of wet hat--ugh, he had almost forgotten about that!) Graeme chuckled once more, especially as he saw how Dania was staring so avidly at the coin. It was curious, he thought, because she seemed more interested in the simple beauty of the coin than it's value. Feeling this awake in him a very rare sort of charity, when she offered the little trinket to him he closed her paw back on it with a wing. "Ach, Lassie, you can keep that one if you wish. We should be findin' plenty more soon!"

Cackling again, he looked around...and his eyes fell on a very large tree with deep roots, growing just behind the pool and the ground under it seeming a bit more elevated than the rest of the forest floor. "Aye, a cave indeed is what we are looking for, but after so many years, it has been covered over by time, so a bit of digging may me necessary." He grabbed the shovel in his bill, and tried to balance a lantern in his wings, and then...stopped, the oddest look on his face. Why hadn't he shifted forms back yet? Shaking his head at himself, Graeme concentrated for a mere moment and was back in his Biped, taking the shovel now in one hand and the lantern in the other. "You're welcome to help," he said, indicating a second shovel.

He went to the base of the tree, set the lantern down for a moment, and began to carefully dig between two large roots that seemed to come out at a wide angle from each other, surrounding the pool slightly. After there was a bit of a hole, he leaned down over it to sniff, and grinned. The smell of the gold was stronger, though still quite far below the ground.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was a bit surprised that the duck, who had seemed so keen on treasure, would readily let her have the first coin for herself. Some cynical part of herself tried to rationalize that it was because he was already so rich, or perhaps that the coin that had been exposed to water for years was less valuable, being more worn and damaged than it's buried counterparts. Even so, it was more than she expected, and she tucked it into the small pouch she wore, touching it reverently. It was a money pouch, but the idea of spending her only personal bit of buried treasure never crossed her mind. It was the experience, the memory of an out-of-the-ordinary day that she valued more than the coin itself, or the money it could fetch. "Thank you, sir. " She sounded a bit stiff, formal in her gratitude. "I hope we find a great many more for you." That would please him, she was sure. It seemed the already-rich coveted wealth even more than those who had barely enough.

It was a bit of a relief when the moment had passed and they were on the subject of finding treasure again. "That makes sense." She agreed, taking up a shovel at his suggestion. In her animal form it was hard to handle the tool, and before long she took up digging with her paws, which was quite effective, although some might consider it a little degrading. As a rat, tunneling came naturally to her, and she found it easy and somehow enjoyable, even though she had never had occasion to dig anything larger than a hole to plant a seedling before.

It was not long before the combined efforts of Rat and Duck had revealed a little, pitch-dark opening beneath the roots, just large enough for Dania to creep into if she wished. "Oh, wow." She said softly, peering inside. The sight of the cave made the treasure hunt all the more exciting and real, making her heart speed up with anticipation of discovery.

There was a faint smell wafting up from the cool darkness, both dank and fresh. Dania thought that the underground spring that fed the little pool must lie below. It had probably been this very water that carved out the cave over centuries and fed the oaks that towered over her head even now.

[Lucca]

Greed, as Dania correctly assumed, was Graeme McDuck's primary vice. But he was proud to say that he'd worked for every single last gold coin that he had in his vault. He'd never accepted charity, and he so rarely gave it that he had earned the degrading nickname "Scrooge" from a number of those who looked on him with disfavor. Treasure hunting, though, was Graeme's passion (besides his one true love of gold) as it was a way to earn money that many couldn't ever honestly say they'd done, and a way to explore a bit of history, as well, which the Duck had at least a passing fancy for.

But one of the things he always prided himself on was honesty. Money you cheated someone else out of wasn't really fairly earned. So on a quest like this, he would always be sure to share the wealth with whoever helped him find it. Only when he was solo would he indulge the desire to claim everything he found as his own. So really, it wasn't that strange that he'd given the first find to Dania.

He said nothing as the Rat used her paws to dig instead of the tool, as he was never one to shy away from getting his hands dirty if a situation required it, and anyone who disregarded the natural talents of their Animal nature was a fool. He cried out in delight as the cave was indeed revealed under the tree, just as he'd thought! He might normally have just dived right in at that point and used his Spade ability to see in the dark to find his way, but having company made his pause and, brushing a bit of dirt off of his coat, grab up the lantern. This was a quiet enough area that he didn't feel as if the pack would be in much danger if he left it here.

"All right, carefully now...it may be slippery." Pulling a match out of his pocket, he lit the lantern and held it into the hole to get an idea of what they were dealing with. The cave was surprisingly deep, and seemed to have filled with rubble or water in a few places, but it seemed safe enough, so Graeme hopped down into it, webbed feet hitting the rock below with a quiet -smack-. Looking back up at Dania, he offered her a hand. "Need help getting down, lass?"