Have Yugoth and Tiavel's very first encounter

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The soft clicking of Tiavel's claws on the stone echoed through the vast caverns as the light from the lantern held in his little hand reflected off of the stone all around him. Each day exploring had brought the small fluffy moth deeper and deeper into the caverns. The normally grey stone was darker now, and took a little more work to break through. So he wasn't too concerned with digging into the cavern walls at the moment. This new, darker stone was not what captured the moth's attention. His feathery antennae perked up as he noticed what looked like ruins.

This definitely captured his interest. Tiavel loved to explore. Perhaps he would find more books, more weapons, perhaps some magical items to help him on his explorations or teach him more about this strange world he'd found himself in. The only word that came to the moth's mind as he carefully moved closer to the ruins was… Ancient. The place looked like it had once been a great city, but was now overgrown with something that reminded him of a climbing vine combined with a strange fungus. It squished wetly beneath his feet, so he tried to stick to the stone around him. There were the remains of flagstone roads and paths and crumbled walls of buildings all around. Some were more intact than others, but the place had clearly been here decaying for centuries. Placed here and there were Lanterns, obviously magical in nature, producing a soft blue light. It was enough for his sensitive eyes to see quite clearly. There were remains of burned out candles.

He saw more and more of that strange blue-black stuff everywhere, the faint light of its bio-luminescent specks giving the entire place an eerie and unnatural feel. It reminded him of stars in a dark night sky. As beautiful as it was eerie and unsettling. Strange tendrils sprouted from the dark fungal coating here and there, though he didn't go any closer to them. They made him incredibly uneasy and he didn't like how the stuff squished wetly beneath his feet. Tiavel carefully crept deeper into the cavernous ruins, light on his feet and incredibly alert. Even with his careful movement, the barest tick of his claws echoing through the ancient caves made the tendrils sprouting from the strange dark fungus twitch and move more. The sounds they made put him on edge, his antennae flicking and twitching at every sound. It was nearly silent down here, aside from the distant sound of dripping and the alien clicking of the tendrils all around him.

Despite his unease, he was curious. He jumped at a strange wail shrieked out in the silence. It was jarring, making his heart hammer in his chest. The skittered of his claws exciting every tendril that sprouted near him. They lit up as they twitched excitedly, chittering a signal to something unknown. His vision went dark, for a moment, and he thought he heard something. A low thrumming, like a dreadful heartbeat ringing out in the darkness, strange clicking echoing through the caverns in response.

Looking around revealed no danger for the moment, but he couldn't shake the unease and paranoia burning in the back of his mind. His thick fur and fluffy mane stood on end. The fear did not deter the little cream and brown colored moth. Ever curious, he made his way deeper into the strange, dark and quiet caverns. His little wings flicked slightly. Loose stone crunched beneath his feet.

The eerie banshee-like wailing sound echoed out again. Tiavel squeaked out in fear, jumping with his wings flaring out as he felt panic welling up as everything went completely dark, as if he was blinded. He couldn’t see anything, even the light of his lantern obscured, stumbling as he tried to regain his bearings as the heavy sound of a heartbeat echoed loudly through the caverns. His own heart hammered in his chest as he skittered back and away from the sound and back against a ruined wall. The darkness passed after a moment, though the heartbeat echoed all around him now. It was impossible to tell what direction it was coming from. Tiavel swallowed as his mouth went dry and every hair on his fluffy little body stood on end again. He could hear something moving in the darkness. Heavy steps, a low, rumbling huff from something huge. He held his lantern up a little higher as he peered around, when he finally saw it. A glowing swirl of blue energy in the darkness. Surrounded by a massive, hulking shape. It had large, powerful arms tipped with long, sharp claws, a thick shiny looking mane hanging over where eyes would be if it had any, and around the neck and shoulders, resembling loosely the mane of a lion. The face looked almost felid at a glance, though a closer look revealed that it was quite different. He saw the nostrils flare as it took in the scents around it, heard it's deep, heavy sniffing. It sounded as big as it looked. Its face was almost humanoid, though slightly muzzled with those almost feline traits. Long tusks jutted up from the lower jaw. The beast’s mouth was open, giving it an almost ghoulish appearance. It let out a low, clicky chittery groaning growl, followed by another low huff. It had strange boney growths on its arms and down its back and wrapped around its sides, resembling a ribcage made of something that resembled bone. The thrumming heartbeat continued, the glowing within its chest pulsing in time to the sound as the thing turned to face him. Each sound that came from thing, the way that thrumming heartbeat sound rang through the air, made Tiavel feel as if his entire body was vibrating. He felt a pressure in his ears and a dull, buzzing thrum in the back of his skull, like the vibrations one feels racing through their body when waking up with sleep paralysis. His heart jumped into his throat, but the thing didn't seem interested in him. At least, not yet. He raised his lantern to try to get a closer look at it. The lantern shook in his grip.

It sniffed the air again, turning its head from side to side. It was breathing heavily. The deep, thrumming heartbeat droned on and on. It seemed aware that he was there, it's head tilting ever so slightly as it faced him. Despite its lack of eyes, he felt like it was staring at him. Studying him. Its long tail flicked back and forth slowly.

He carefully took a step back, but a loose stone crunched beneath his feet. It sounded deafening in the stillness down here in the Depths. That was enough to cause the strange tendrils on the side of the thing’s head to twitch, raising up and glowing eerily in the darkness. It homed in on him in an instant. It stood up straight. It was even bigger than he realized when fully standing, over twice his size, thick, and rippling with powerful muscle. The thrumming heartbeat picked up tempo as it faced him as if it could see him even without any eyes. A low growl rumbled from its chest. The very air shook and vibrated. Tiavel's antennae dropped and tucked back as his eyes widened. It took everything he had to control his shaking breaths.

He took another step back, as careful and quiet as he could be. His heart hammered in his chest. The tempo of the thrumming heartbeats the creature emitted started to slow back down as it sniffed the air again, going back into its crouched position. It was aware of him, but this scent was new. The vibrations coming back to its tendrils through its echolocation were fuzzy. It made his shape harder to make out. It was just enough for curiosity to briefly bubble to the surface, to make it pause instead of attacking immediately.

It provided enough of a distraction for the moth to slowly back away. Tiavel managed to sneak back a few more steps, careful not to make the slightest sound when the squeaking and fluttering wings of a little bat made the Eldritch beast wince and stand straight with an unnatural and horrifying roar. It crackled and clicked unnaturally. Tiavel’s lantern fell to the ground with a clatter. The clatter seemed to anger the thing more. It took a breath, the energy within its stomach and chest swirling and lighting up brighter. He could feel and hear the energy building up within the thing. It unleashed a terrible roar that seemed interlaced with an earth-shattering shriek and howl, all at once, culminating in a deadly and powerful sonic boom and a massive ripple of energy tearing forth from its belly as the boney growths around its ribcage opened up to let the dreadful attack out. The moth was already running as fast as he could, using fluttery wings and little claws to climb out of the deep caverns and away as fast as he could go. He didn't see the bat fall to the ground, instantly killed from the sonic shriek, then get crushed beneath the creature’s bone-clawed feet. He heard another roar echoing through the caverns. He stopped once he was sure the thing wasn’t following him. He leaned back against the wall, trying to calm his hammering heart and ragged panting. He realized he was in his alternate form, a form he dubbed ‘Weremoth’ because of its large, beastly appearance.

He looked back in the direction he came from for a moment, got another lantern out of his pack, lit it with a shaking forepaw, picked it up in his mouth, and started to make his way back out of the cave system, thoroughly shaken by that encounter.