House of Night - Seal of Fire - RPLOG
Participants
Date
18/6/478
Log
The crevasse leading to the House of Night, deep in the quarry, is unguarded - the surrounding caves are silent. The sound of the approaching Freeswords seems almost loud in comparison.
Fenris almost hates to wait for anyone else to come. The temptation to delve into the House of Night on his own is overwhelming. He runs his hands over the door, muttering the words to open it and touching a few key symbols. He restrains himself from entering alone though. He promised Cassidy after all.
Kazel is the second one to arrive. The bat lands close to the abyss and stretches out while casting a look over the area. Once she is satisfied, she steps to the edge of the crevasse and peers down into the relative darkness and spots Fenris fiddling with the door. Kazel jumps down the ravine and flaps her wings a few times for a soft landing.
Cara runs through the land at a surprisingly fast speed. As soon as she gets to the abyss, she stops for a moment in order to find the rope that was used to go further down into the abyss. Even though she may be a phoenix dedicant, it sadly does no give her the ability to fly. She smiles upon seeing the rope and she immediately uses it to climb down the abyss. As soon as she makes it to the bottom, she jumps off the rope, shakes herself to get the dust off and waves to everyone with a smile on her face.
The outer door to the First House of Night swings open silently, and the light of the crystals in the outer part of the chasm spills through, vaguely illuminating the first room. The bare, flat stone floor reaches out, but the light doesn't penetrate far enough to show the ceiling or the other side of the room - rather, it seems to highlight the fact that it is a vast, endless darkness.
Fenris looks at the new arrivals and smiles warmly. "It looks like they have decided to shake things up on us," he says, waving a hand and making three little balls of blue fire as he strides through the door, calmly looking around him at the new room.
Kazel follows closely behind Fenris and casts her eyes about the room. "It would seem so, indeed." The bat rests one of her hands on the hilt of a blade, while the other one idly feels the walls.
Cara also follows behind Fenris. After all, as strange as the kitsune is, he can prove to be rather helpful. The feline keeps her guard up as she brings out her staff from its respective holster.
The stone of the wall is cold and dry to the touch. The globs of fire succeed in pushing back the darkness, but reveal nothing - beyond their light, the inky blackness seems just as vast and endless. However, as he starts moving forward, something new comes into view - a stone spire, large enough it would take three dragons to encircle it with their arms, rises up from the floor at the edge of the light.
Fenris saunters up to the spire, a little contented smile on his face. He stops at one of its faces and lays a hand on the stone, looking it over intently. "Is there a Spirit in this place?" he asks the empty darkness as he walks slowly around the Spire.
Kazel shakes her head at Fenirs. "That would be too easy, judging from what we experienced so far, don't you think?" The bat closes in to the monumental spiral, once more letting her hand trail across the surface of the stone.
Cara stays away from the spire for a moment. "Hmm." She inspects the large mysterious object and walks around the object, with her tail moving slowly as she walks. She also trails her hand on the surface of the pillar. "I wonder if we're supposed to turn it or something." She finishes her inspection and turns to everyone else, "What do you guys think?"
Although Fenris' light spills quite a ways in each direction, the walls and the top of the cavern are all hidden by darkness - from the group's current perspective, there is nothing but shadows and the giant pillar. Only silence greets Fenris' invocation, and a closer inspection makes it seem as though the massive pillar was roughly carved from a natural feature - there is no separate join with the floor, only smooth stone at the base
"Perhaps," Fenris says in answer to Kazel, "But it is always good to be polite." He looks around the darkness and shrugs, waving at the pillar of stone. "I think up seems to be the best choice for now," he says, "Shall we?" With that he starts carefully climbing the pillar, using his bare hands and feet to scale the monolith.
Kazel shrugs at both Fenris and Cara. "I guess we might as well." She spreads her wings and lifts off, flying up the spire in a pace that is only little faster than the feline's climbing.
Cara shrugs and begins climbing up the pillar along with everyone else. As she climbs she comments, "It sure is nice to have three separate light sources along us all." She continues to climb up the stone pillar, but a thought comes to her. Will they need to jump across a chasm next?
The pillar, though climbable, is by no means an -easy- climb. Still, progress is made. The pillar continues to stretch above to some imperceptible destination, while Kazel circles it as she flies up. The air in the cavern is thick and heavy, sluggish to respond to Kazel's magic, but it holds her aloft as she ascends as well.
Fenris is not especially fast, but he picks his handholds carefully, humming quietly to himself as he goes, that contented little smile never leaving his face. The mysterious really is his element, after all. He keeps the little blue balls of fire orbiting about, providing light.
Kazel keeps lazily flying upwards in a slow ascend as to not leave the other two behind her. She could obviously go a lot faster if she wanted to, but splitting a group in places such as this one is rarely a good idea.
Cara continues to climb up the large stone pillar. Although, the feline is used to climbing up things from her extensive training, it's still not exactly easy to climb up the large pillar. She keeps her eyes on the blue fire balls, thankful for the fact that Fenris is a kitsune, although it would have been nice to know about this earlier.
The pillar is tall. Very tall. The floor below sinks into darkness and is lost well before the end of the climb comes into sight, and at one point a crack Cara puts her weight on fractures, sending chunks of the pillar dropping into the apparent abyss below. It seems that they fall for a long, long time before the distant sound of their impact can be heard, but when Cara goes to continue her climb, the fallen rock is back in place exactly where it was before crumbling. Eventually, the group reaches a ledge at the top with an unmarked door set into a wall.
Fenris hauls himself over the edge and stretches his muscles, rolling his neck and shoulders a bit. "Well!" he says, "That was bracing, wasn't it!" He can't help but be excited that the House has made a whole new challenge to face. He looks to his companions. "Everyone alright?" he asks, only waiting a moment for an affirmative before moving to open the door. "Let's not linger!"
Kazel elegantly lands next to the tiger and smirks. "I don't know, did not seem that hard to me." She winks at Fenris before turning around to offer a hand to Cara so she does not have to pull herself over the edge by herself.
Cara gladly accepts the offer and smiles as she is pulled up, "That made a nice warm up for me." She takes a moment to stretch her legs for a bit and looks back to Kazel. "You can fly though, Kazel." At that point, the feline walks over to the unmarked door and asks, "Is everyone ready for the next room?"
The door swings open with ease, letting daylight spill into room of vast, empty night. The shadows gobble it up quickly and the light barely reaches past the ledge. The room beyond the door may be familiar however - across from the door stand three others, each bearing a stylized mark depicting an element, air, fire, and water.
"Now, now, Miss Silverwing," Fenris says, "The pillar begged to be climbed. It is only right that we play by the rules." He looks into the next room with a smile. "Ah! Here we are!" he says, striding into the room, "I hope the two of you do not mind, but I was told that I needed to meet with the Bound Flame." He walks toward the door marked with an emblem of fire and waits. "I could, of course come back another time if you wish to explore another path."
Kazel shrugs in response. "Up to you, I kinda want to see what is behind the water door, but you should not let the spirit wait, I guess. However, if we have to fight the guardian again it could be tough with only three people, though we know the trick to it now."
Cara shifts her gaze directly to the bat. "Err, what guardian are you referring to, Kazel?" The feline turns her head slightly, "Are you referring to the bats from the first time I was here?"
Fenris shrugs his shoulders at Kazel. "I understand," he says, "But I did promise the Lady a visit." He channels just a little bit of fire magic into the door, creating a flickering candle flame. "Shall we?" he asks.
Kazel shakes her head at Cara. "I am talking about a giant murderous beast we had to fight on a tiny bridge over lava." With a grin she adds. "I kinda rode it for a while." She nods to Fenris. "Go ahead."
Cara's smile slowly grows into a frown. "In that case, I better not fall off then." She sighs, and walks along with everyone else. As they walk, she whispers to Kazel, "That's rather impressive though."
The door marked with flame opens at the touch of Fenris' fire, revealing a familiar scene to Kazel - a room seemingly pulled straight from a magma chamber, the heat blistering and intense. Mama bubbles and the air above it shimmers with heat, and a long bridge stretches across the pit of magma to a door on the far side of the room. The bridge has a row of unlit torches down each side, and another row along the center of the bridge - of the four torches along the center, the middle two are lit, flames guttering and flicking in the convection-stirred wind.
Fenris strides boldly into the room, heading straight across the bridge, no sense in lolligagging. He does toss just a little bit of water magic about to help defend against the room's blistering heat.
Kazel holds Fenris back by his clothing. "One moment, Mister head over heels." The bat waves her hand into the directions of the unlit torches, while she attempts to light them with some simple fire-math. "You don't want to be out there with the torches unlit. Trust me."
Cara's ears twitch as she hears Kazel's warnings. At that point, she shifts her attention back to the unlit torches. The feline concentrates on sending a nice bit of fire math directly to the torch that wasn't likely to be lit by Kazel in case something went wrong.
The air around Fenris sizzles and steams for a moment as he gathers the moisture in the room. It becomes much more humid for a brief moment, but then the temperature immediately around the feline becomes... somewhat tolerable. With a gesture, Kazel's wave of heat sweeps along the bridge - to interesting effect. The first set of torches, left right and center, ignite immediately, while the next torch in the middle suddenly winks out. Then it too reignites as the magic reaches it, but two of the torches in the first row wink back out. The wave of fire magic continues across the bridge, torches flickering on and off in quick succession, some staying on and since of them out when the ripple has passed. Then Cara, focusing on a single torch, relights the first torch in the bridge's middle row, and the torch behind it suddenly springs to life again, as does the first one on the left, while the torch to the right winks out. After a moment, a near imperceptible giggling can be heard.
Fenris laughs happily at the trick. "Very clever!" he says, "An excellent puzzle!" He turns and raises an eyebrow at Kazel, who has siezed hold of his belt. "Please, Miss," he says with a smirk, "No need to get all intimate!" The tiger gently removes her hand and saunters ahead, stopping amidst all of the torches and looking them over carefully, a perfect, green ? appearing on the left side of his white chest fur.
Kazel rolls her eyes at the tiger's remark. "The last time we were here we got attacked when the torches were out and the beast only vanished when they were all lit. It was not like this though, they could be lit like regular torches."
Cara shrugs for a moment, "Well, we might as well get to lighting them up then." She almost starts to channel her fire magic, but she stops for a moment upon seeing the green question mark appear on Fenris' chest. "Uh, Fenris, what's that?"
There is the sound of a disembodied sigh, and then a quiet, female voice. "You gave us away, serpent. This is my domain, either watch quietly or return to your room. And the same for you two!" There is a moment of silence, and then a quiet, rumbling male voice can be heard - like it is whispering from just behind everyone's shoulder. "Yesss... put them out.... free the flames and let uss play..." but it is cut off by the woman's voice again. "A fitting trial for the Voice of the Riddler. I will be waiting." Then the room is silent once more.
Fenris stands still with his arms folded and his eyes closed for a moment, thinking through his options, periodically gaining a new green or purple ? somewhere on his body. "Nothing to worry about," he says, "Just happens when I am lining things up in my head." He opens his eyes and raises a hand. "Not quite there, but it should get things started," he says, then starts to carefully channel fire magic to light one torch at a time.
Kazel tilts her head at Fenris and just watches, the ex-soldier is not really cut out for riddling and puzzling and she does not pretend to be.
Cara begins to channel fire magic as well in order to light up the unlit torches. Her ears twitch as she hears the voices and she continues her attempts to light up the torches. Those voices are a bit annoying so it would be best to just light the torches.
Torches are lit and put out in quick succession, flames flickering in the air currents.
Fenris looks thoughtfully once more at the arrangement of the torches, then snaps his fingers and all of the ? on his body vanish as he sets to lighting and dousing torches.
Cara quickly smiles and immediately asks, "Where do you want me to light the torches, Fenris?" The feline isn't the best at solving this type of puzzle, but Fenris seems to know what to do, therefore it would be best to ask him.
Working together, Fenris and Cara light and douse torches, others flickering on or snuffing themselves out as the pair work. Finally, however, the last torch is lit and all dozen remain on. (There was a lot of back and forth OOC puzzle solving as they sorted it out.)
Fenris smiles at the lit torches, then turns to bow low toward the burning lava. "Another day, Lord Vulcanis," he says respectfully, then turns to smile at the others. "That was fun!" he says brightly, walking across the bridge.
Kazel mutters to herself, not loud enough for the other two to understand what she says. The bat follows right behind Fenris as he makes his way across the bridge.
Cara walks across the bridge along with everyone else and despite the heat, she asks, "Fenris, who is Lord Vulcanis, and who were those voices that spoke earlier?"
The door opens easily, onto a very small, cozy cottage's interior. The heat vanishes almost immediately on entry, restrained to the cottage's hearth, and there is a table taking up most of the floor space. The table is just large enough for five people, and one seems to be seated there already. "Inside, inside, dearies," a robed Creator woman of middle years says from behind the group, ushering them in and closing the door. The table is set for tea.
On the other side of the door, already seated at a table in Hephestia's little 'cottage,' Cassidy sips on her tea. "What an interesting place this all is," she says to no one in particular, tipping her top hat towards the group. "Hello there," she says, smiling along with her mask. "Small group today."
Fenris smiles, bowing to the Creator woman. "Hephestia," he says with a smile, "Lady Solacious! What a pleasure!" He looks back at Cara. "They are Spirits, Cara. And we are today's entertainment."
Kazel courtseys to the spirit as she once more meets Hephestia. "Greetings Lady Hephestia." The bat rolls her eyes as she spots Cassidy already in the room, and does not even bother greeting the noble after what happened between them the last time they were here.
Cara looks around at the entire area in surprise. "What is this p-." She stops as she hears the big cat's answer, "Oh. Well, if they wanted me to attempt to entertain them, they could just ask though." As she turns around, her eyes widen at the sight of the masked fennec, "Cassidy?! What are you doing here?"
"Having tea," Cassidy says, folding her legs and nodding at Hephestia. "Courtesy of our hostess. Sorry I couldn't be there to help with any challenges or trials you happened to face. I took the shortcut, it would seem. Hi, Fenris."
"Cassidy and Kazel have already passed the Trial of Fire, and have already received their boon for doing so, so when she came to the door I let her straight through," the Creator woman - correctly identified as the spirit Hephastia - replies. "Come, take a seat," she offers. "Cara, Fenris. You passed a test of courage and a test of wits, and have thus passed my trial. As is the ancient tradition, you may request one boon. Most of your immediate predecessors requested an item from my forge."
Fenris smiles at takes an offered seat at the Spirit's table. "While I would be grateful for anything from your forge, I have come to ask for the seal of fire from this House of the Night," he says, "Though it is an honor just to share your table."
Kazel gives the spirit a nod and too takes a seat at the table. The bat crosses her legs and leans back on the chair, contend to just watch and listen for now.
Cara begins to open her mouth in surprise. "Um, I-I don't know what to say, Lady Hephastia." The feline takes a seat on one of the free chairs. "This is really quite the honor, but I don't know what to choose." At this point, a thought comes to her, "Um, Lady Hephastia, since you've been around for so long, could you tell me a bit more about the Craige?"
Cassidy listens quietly for the time being, finishing her tea and setting the cup down before tipping her mask fully down over her face once more. Eventually she hums and gives a little nod. "Yes, at some point I'd like to ask someone, someone that knows, what the significance of these things are that Vasht desires."
Hephestia frowns faintly, then takes her seat and makes sure everyone has their tea - it is the strong, bitter tea of fire flowers mulled with a blend of cinnamon and other spices to make it pleasant and flavorful, and quite aromatic. Then the spirit sips from her cup, contemplating. "You do not know what you are asking for, child of puzzles, and I will tell you what I told your friends - a seal may not be gathered on someone else's behalf. If Vasht or his servant wishes one of my seals, they must come get it themselves. If -you- truly wish my seal, then tell me what purpose you will use it for." She smiles, then nods at Cara. "The Craige... they troubled us long ago, as well. They are one part element and one part life, and several parts malicious hunger. I will answer a question or two as your prize. What would you know of them?"
Fenris nods to the Spirit and sips at his tea. "I ask for the seal, Hephestia," he says, and looks around at those gathered, "I was there when the Craige returned to our world and I intend to be there when they are banished. I plan to use the seal to help bring that about. But all I can do is ask for it. It is yours to give."
Cara clears her throat for a moment and takes a deep breath before asking, "Okay, the first question is how did you stop them long ago?" The feline takes a sip of the tea and sighs, "This is some of the best tea that I've had, Lady Hephestia. The last thing that I need to ask is what use one of your seals would have in stopping them?"
Cassidy nods at Cara. "Yes, I've already had my reward for completing your trials, but I am curious, as well. These are apparently important in stopping the Craige, which is my primary concern with the world, right now. Whatever helps, helps, but I'd love to know the whys and hows."
The spirit rises from the table and moves to her cottage's fireplace, collecting a small box from above the mantle. "In the old days, before the Life Court fractured, there were no Callers." She returns to the table, opens the box, and takes out a sheet of parchment and what looks like a stick of red wax. As she holds it, it melts, dripping onto the sheet. "My siblings of the Elemental Court, and our brethren of the Life Court, were worshipped by the people of this world, and although we had many priests and acolytes and supplicants, we distributed our favor as we saw fit, within the bounds of the rules we set for ourselves. Kendrac's Callers were... exceptional. Bold. Risky. Mortals, granted the smallest fraction of his power and the authority to compel him to visit, any time, any where." She pauses as she judges there to be enough wax on the parchment, sets the stick aside, and pulls a small, embossed hammer from her box. She presses it into the wax, then waits for it to harden. "The seals are... obsolete, now, in most cases. A Caller bears our Seal by default. It is a token of our authority, usable once. A boon owed, as it were, and none of us care to be in anyone's debt."
"As to how, it comes down to doing things in a place that no mortal can easily reach. If you have been in the serpent's sanctum, or the Dreamer's court, you know the place I am referring to." Hephastia gestures around her cottage. "The Houses of Night sit in the shallowest parts of our domains. All of us, all of the spirits, came together in the domain of the Craige's Emperor and we poured our might and our power into trapping him there, in the furthest reaches. Then we sealed his children off in the depths of the world. After the fracture we amended our laws, and we spirits can no longer take such direct action without the consensus of all awoken spirits, but... I could see what Vasht is doing. With a Seal, properly awarded through the ancient customs and the old ways, assistance may be compelled despite the new laws." She frowns, then passes the parchment to Fenris. "But it would not be safe for any of us. Please do not use that, except as a last resort."
Fenris watches Hephestia go about her work with great interest. He takes the parchment and its seal reverently. "I will guard it well, Lady," he says, "And I hope never to use it. The seals are a backup plan. I hope that we can get the courts to work together for a common goal, if only for a moment."
Cara nods her head in return, "I thank you for explaining things to us, Lady Hephastia. After all, I value the information more than anything else. It could help in saving more lives and that matters to me greatly." A twinge of regret made its way into the back of her mind. It's really too bad that she didn't know about this earlier. It would have been very helpful and it might have caused certain events to turn out differently.
Kazel nods to the words of both spirit and tiger, silently sipping on her teas andd pondering the words.
"I see," Cassidy says, closing her eyes to ponder the words. "Yes, we're hoping the spirits will all agree to work together. I do not think many of the spirits would be happy to see us all gone, replaced with the Craige. There would be no more callers, certainly. And I don't fancy being wiped out, to be sure."
The spirit gives Cassidy a warm smile. "Losing everyone was bad enough the last time, and I am growing fond of your race." She inclines her head, then looks over at Fenris, then to the rest of the group. "Good luck. When you are ready to depart, the door will return you to the entrance of the House of Night." With that the spirit rises from the table, with her box, and vanishes.
Fenris sighs as the Spirit disappears. "Always such short visits," he says, "It's the same with all of them." He sips at his tea, then sets aside the empty cup. "Many thanks, everyone," he says, "I hope you will continue to help. I am sure there is much more for us to learn in the House of Night."
Kazel nods at Fenris and stands up, putting her hands on her hips. "Alright then. I am going to take my leave." With that, the bat makes herself on the way out of the door and the House of Night.
Cara begins to think for a moment, "I wonder if I might be able to speak to Heior at some point. I think I might be able to see him at the arena back home." The feline immediately follows Kazel on the way out, "Wait for me!"
"There most certainly is, Fenris," Cassidy says as she starts to stand. "This is a very interesting place. Thank you for letting me in, though," she adds to Hephestia, adjusting her hat. "It was nice seeing you again. I always did think you were among the more pleasant spirits to be around." She gives a little bow and starts for the door. "I have someone I should go meet up with, though."
