The House of the Night - Part I - RPLOG
Participants
Date
29/5/478
Log
Fenris is waiting beside a fissure down in the deep quarry, petting what seems to be a huge, purple buffalo with six legs. The fissure itself glows from deep within with a bluish light. Not an uncommon sight amongst the crystals and mushrooms down here.
As her work for Flora had found itself winding down to an end Sara had passed through the city with her few greetings to the guards and civilians on her way back to the inn and had lady luck smiled, another far more interesting job to wind down with. After scanning the board and its list of somewhat interesting jobs Sara had grown skeptical at the possibility of anything worth while.. until she had found a job that almost jumped off the board at her. "Fenris.. huh.. name sounds familiar. Cave-diving? Always fun.. sure, I'll take it." she had mumbled to herself as she skimmed over the basics.
After signing on with the guild representative Sara had left the inn behind and had quickly flared her wings wide open before swiftly taking to the skies and finding herself speeding on her way to the cave she was to meet Fenris. It had taken only a few minutes before she set down just a few scant feet away from Fenris and looked around expectantly before waving to the Tiger in question, "Hello! I'm guessing you're the one that posted the job? Name's Sara, I'd like to help you."
Kazel is the next one to arrive by air, landing elegantly a few feet away from Sara and Fenris. The avian seems largely unarmed and unarmored, only wearing some simple linen clothing. She stretches her arms and wings before neatly folding the later behind her. She quickly strides over to the couple and gives them a slight nod. "I heard something interesting and potentially dangerous might be about to happen? I am Kazel." She smirks. "So what is this about exactly?"
The young canine known as Iorek is walking over, picking up pace when he spots Fenris, smiling with his tail swinging gleefully "Hey Fenris, I made it, how are-" he stops when he realising the glow coming from the fissure "Aw sweet!" he bounds over with excitement, passing the other two with a quick "Hi!" before looking down the fissure. The young lab is wearing armour, well with the size of it and his small frame, it's more wearing him. He is also carrying a long sword and a metal buckler. His unusual red eyes lighting up with curiosity as he looks into the depths.
Zuri dashes up to Fenris as soon as he sees the friendly tiger being. The small salamander has dressed for the occasion, and is garbed in a light brown vest worn over a loose-fitting cotton shirt, and matching brown canvas shorts and hiking boots. Strapped to his back is a canvas pack, no doubt carrying various supplies that the salamander thought would be appropriate for the occasion. His right arm is bandaged from shoulder to elbow, and smells faintly of curative herbs.
He stops in front of the tiger with his signature bright smile. "Hi Mister Fenris! I'm ready to go too!" The excitable salamander looks around at the slowly gathering group, greeting each in turn with a wave. He pauses as he sees Iorek and skips over to him happily. "Iorek! I made it!" He joins the equally excitable labrador in peering down the fissure, already leetting his imagination run wild as to what might be down there.
A number of minutes after the excitable salamander arrives to the scene a really young looking plant clad in a body covering heavy cloak arrives at the scene. The nonchalant looking youth strides briskly towards the group of gathered beings, his jasmine smell wafting from his double blossom of a hair. Rokarion leans closer to the shorter salamander, whispering something before adjusting himself and waiting for the tiger to speak.
Shizuko picks her way through the quarry, the elderly feline moving with sure steps and a hand near the hilt of her sword in case of trouble. The leopardess' stripes seem particularly bright today, although that could be bcause of the deeper, dark shadows caused by being this far down in the quarry. Something subtle in Shizuko's posture relaxes as she approaches the group of people, and when she reaches Fenris she bows her head to the tiger and gives him a smile. "Hello, Fenris. It is good to see you again."
Millicent makes her way along at a leisurely gait, ensuring she'd arrive neither first, nor last, but somewhere squarely in the middle. A hand propped lazily on the pommel of her sword, and the hood of her coat tugged up. "Yes, nice seeing you," she agress with the leopard, tail flicking behind her.
Fenris gently pats his new buffalo friend on the snout and stands to address the gathered Freeswords, respectfully returning greetings as they are given. "I confess," he says, "This is a rather larger turnout than I anticipated." The big tiger waves everyone over to the large fissure. It opens to roughly double the height of the average being and is wide enough that even Fenris' buffalo could fit through if necessary, and it seems to widen out just a little way down. There is no path, of course, but the steep ground looks passable enough.
"I am not totally certain what to expect down there," he confesses, "All I can tell you is that a certain benefactor, who prefers to remain anonymous has asked me, and by extension, you, to explore this cavern and retrieve anything of interest." He stops talking for a second and looks thoughtful. "You know," he says, "This will be easier to show than to explain. Come on." The tiger pulls a coil of rope from the saddle of his beast and carefully ties it off to a protrusion of rock and tosses it down the gently glowing fissure, then quickly vanishes into the cavern, using the rope for balance on the steep surface. "Come on, then!" comes his call from below.
After the introduction is made Sara turns away from Fenris briefly to look over the rest of the free swords and gives each a wave in greeting, "Well, good meeting you all!" she exclaims exhuberantly before looking to Fenris just in time for him to begin his speech on what she could expect. As the mention of 'anything of interest' comes up Sara had begun to raise her hand as if about to ask a question, though it doesn't go as far as that before she drops it back to her side as the Tiger continues and ultimately answers her question before it's even made. "Alright, sir. Lead the way, and I'll follow." the lizard woman continues as she pulls a single pistol from underneath her cloak and follows past the two free swords just at the entrance, and down into the caverns below just behind Fenris himself.
Kazel leans over to look down to see how deep the ravine actually is, after a few moments she grins widely as she jumps into the frissure, ignoring the rope. She is swift to open her wings and glide down, landing safely on the floor. She mutters to herself, "I knew it was a good idea to not bring my armor." She dusts herself off and summons a little flame to sit in her open hand, illuminating the cavern better, but only slightly, more importantly it helps the others spot her. Looking up to the opening, she yells, "Looking safe down here."
Iorek pats Zuri on the back in greeting, maybe not the best greeting given the proximity to the edge "Hey Zuri, goot to see you..." he pauses as he sniffs "Wow, your arm smells tasty what is that?" he looks at he bandages and then looks around the group that has formed "Oh hey Kazel's here too!" he says as he watches her glide down, just standing there a little to long before a sudden realisation "Oh, I should go down too, I think we're blocking the rope standing here..." he says to the salamander before tentatively trying out the rope to figure out his best grip before shuffling down with a couple of akward skids.
Zuri gets patted in the back, wobbling a little as he retains his balance. He gasps as Rokarion is suddenly there, the salamander clearly not expecting him. "Rokarion! I uh.. hi! Nice to uh.. see you, Mister Rokarion!" He offers him a weak smile and then clears his throat. "Woops, time to go explore a cave. Do keep up Mister Rokarion!" The salamander quickly escapes towards the fissure, following closely behind Iorek. He grips the rope with his left hand as he heads down, letting his right arm rest for now. He peers up at the labrador. "It's just from the sparring thing last night. I gotta keep this on until it heals fully. It doesn't hurt tho, so it's fine!" He smiles up at Sara. "Hi there! I don't think we've met. I'm Zuri!"
Rokarion shakes his head and follows after the group, eyeing the rope before looking at his cloak. The plant being would set the cloak to the side and move down the steep incline. Once on the ground he will would idly wait for the rest of the group, "So which spirit are you helping with this? " Came the nonchalant voice from the young jasmine, "And what are you getting out of it? Or are those questions not for answering? "
Shizuko raises her eyebrows, then takes up the rope and gracefully makes her way down the incline into the fissure. At the bottom, she takes a moment to check her gear while her eyes adjust - although, with the amount of steel she is wearing, her 'moment' takes more than a few. Finally satisfied, though, her attention moves to the interior of the cave.
Millicent carefully edges her way down the incline, trying not to slip and make a fool of herself. "Nice to meet you, too," she returns to Sara, thankful she didn't bring her heavier suit of armour today for this kind of terrain. "So... ANything in particular we're looking for? 'Anything of interest' is pretty vague."
Cara excitedly runs through the land, legs moving faster than a blur. "Late! Late! Late!" The feline pants heavily as she dashes to the meeting point. Unfortunately, due to her rush to get here, she is in her normal attire. As she manages to make it to the fissure, she stops and takes to a moment to catch her breath by slouching down. "I'm....here." As she spies the rope, she sighs, "Well, at least I can follow them." The hasty feline grabs onto the rope and begins to make her way down the fissure, eager to catch up with everyone else.
The fissure levels out into an open, relatively flat space surrounded by luminous blue crystals. It is not especially bright, but enough to make out Fenris standing in front of what is unmistakably a door! It is a huge, stone portal inscribed with all sorts of strange sigils and pictographs that seem to catch and amplify the dim light. "Both excellent questions, Mister Rokarion," Fenris says with a smile, "The answer to the first is, my benefactor is a flesh and blood being who does not want your Uncle to get his hands on these artifacts before he does, and the answer to the second is that I get exactly the same as what each of you get." The tiger points to the door. "This is, as far as I can tell," he starts, "A sealed vault left by the civilization that preceded our own. I have figured out how to open the door, but I would really rather not go in there alone. Our employer has asked that any artifacts of the ancient civilization, be preserved for him, but any more mundane treasure is yours for the taking." The big tiger turns and mutters something while running his hands along a series of symbols on the door, then watches as it swings open to reveal only darkness beyond. "I have no idea what to expect beyond here," he says, "Are you all still in?"
As she reaches the ground safely Sara presses both of her palms againt her lower back and stretches languidly before looking around. "Mmn.. a litle darker than I'd like.." the lizard woman mumbles as she reaches her still free hand into the satchel at her side and pulls a small cloth wrapped torch from inside. After giving a few meager prayers to Lady Hephestia the torch quickly sparks to life and begins shedding a bright even glow across the ravine floor. As she looks around she had noticed she had been regarded by both the salamander, and Red Panda from before and waves to each again before walking over to Zuri and nodding, "Good to see you, Zuri. Sara.." she greets before looking to her hands and noticing neither had been free. With that she returns the pistol back where it had come from and offers the now free hand as an attempt at a handshake. The hand remains extended as she looks over her shoulder to her employer as he begins talking again, just enough to catch a few brief bits, the runes, the ancient civilization, and the later question, which she answers with an exhuberant, "You bet I'm still in! Wouldn't pass this up for anything."
Kazel shakes her hand and the now obsolete flame vanishes. She gives both the cave and the door a short examination and walks up to the later. The avian puts on her spectacles and stares at the door for a moment, then shrugs. She gaves a lax wave to Fenris, followed by a, "Of course I am still 'in'." She quickly gives the area another short survey, before returning to the group, giving a nod to Iorek and walking up to to Zuri. "I apologize again for yesterday, but do you really think it is a good idea to go adventuring with your arm like that?" The avian frowns slightly and twitches her beak.
Iorek when he gets to the bottom of the rope, starts staring in awe at thhe glowing blue crystal, he snaps himself out of his stare while Fenris is talking and looks like he's almost jumping in anticipation as the door opens, tail batting off the unfortunate person standing nearby rhythmically. He notices Sara light up the torch "Oh, I should have brought one of them... could hold it in my shield hand" he mimes the action again losing concentration "Hmmm... though I'd likely burn my fuur off id I tried to guard while I did so, that's a drawback... Oh! Maybe I should get a light on my shield, that would be... Oh right, danger.. game face." he tries to look stern, which comes off almost as bad as a puppy that growls at an onion he just realised he doesn't like the taste of. He moves up towards the door, figuring his armour would make him a good poin man, but secretly hopes noone suggests it and someone else volunteers as he tries to peer into the darkness.
Zuri accepts Sara's handshake, smiling brightly. gawps as he looks around. "Woah, ancient civilization? Sealed vault? Treasure! I thought we were going to explore a cave? Not that I'm complaining. This is getting better and better!" The salamander stays close to Iorek, smiling brightly as he regards the room. "Do you think there will be traps here? I bet there will be! I'll keep an eye out for them. I'm good with those!" The excitable amphibian strides towards the front of the group, inspecting the masonry in front of the with a critical eye. He smiles back at Kazel. "No apology needed! We should have set the ground rules, and probably asked for permission. And the arm will heal."
Rokarion nods at Fenris, "So I see." the plant being states idly as he takes out his trusty notebook and a pen before ge moves closer to the doors and begins inspecting them, "Similar rune design but still obvious differences. A different dailect perhaps." he comments on the runes as he begins to to copy some of them, "Interesting. I don't recall ever mentioning my family name to you Mister Fenris. I wonder who told you that little tidbit this time." Rokarion added idly, tone monotonous as usual while he remained focused on the runes. % r % r The plant being does stop for a moment as he hears Kazel and Zuri talk but resumes quickly after.
Shizuko tilts her head and gives Sara a look, although she is smiling. Then her attention moves back to Fenris, and she inclines her head. "Of course I am still in. This is the sort of adventure that makes my heart race, that reminds me that I am still alive." Grinning wide, the leopardess begins moving forward, pausing at the threshold to wait for Zuri's all clear before she presses forward and takes point.
Millicent rolls her shoulders, resting a hand on the hilt of her sword. "Sure I am. I see no reason to back out now!" She says, bringing up her free, metal-clad hand to tug back her hood. "This is just getting exciting, after all! Even if I came here expecting cave diving in the more literal sense."
Cara yells out, "Yep!", as she is the last to make it down the rope. As she lands on the ground, her legs bend in order to readjust. After she straightens herself up, she waves to everyone around her, "Sorry for being late." Her ears twitch for a moment and she smiles a rather large, toothy grin. "I managed to overhear you before I landed and I'd certainly enjoy hunting for treasure." The feline's tail swishes through the air as she suddenly perks up from the sight of the familiar faces. "Sweet, Sara, Zuri, and Plantman managed to show up for this." At that point, the feline begins to move with the rest of the group, but stays in the back just to keep everyone else comfortable.
"I hope you can forgive me for not mentioning the vault in my posting," Fenris says, "My patron, would rather it not become especially public knowledge until we have secured it a little." He gives them all a solemn look. "I fear that I will not be joining you on this trip," he explains, "Someone has to stay and keep watch. Be cautious! We don't know much of anything about the First Race. I will be here waiting for you when you return." He fingers a pocket. "And hopefully not to provide medical attention, alright?"
Inside the door is darkness until Sara lights her torch, revealing a small anteroom and a closed portal, though it does not look hard to open, it does not even appear to have a locking mechanism. It ought to just slide aside. On the walls are a collection of bas reliefs of strange figures. Gods or demons or something like, no doubt, since each of them seems to be very different from the others. Unless the first people were even more varied than the current inhabitants of Promise. There appears to be an inscription on the door leading forward.
Even as the group watches, the symbols on the door writhe and twist, forming into legible words!
Bring not the vulgar day into the House of Night!
As she pulls her hand back from Zuri Sara turns about to face the door and the glowing runes around it, after finding the runes too difficult to read and giving up on it before it had translated, Sara turns to find the other doorway which gets an even longer look over. After placing her palm on the once hidden doorway the lizard woman gives it a shove, testing its durability, and whether it had been unlocked or not.
The second door slides easily aside at Sara's touch, the sound of stone grinding on stone loud in the underground. The light of the single torch reveals only a short stretch of stone floor. At least until someone passes the threshold.
Kazel slowly follows Sara into the room in her typical striding pace. As the doors open, she stops and narrows her eyes at the corridor and signals the group to wait a moment with a handsign. Her eyes wander around the room once more to make sure it is secure, before casting a small ball of fire, about the same size as the flame of a torch, into the corridor, where it slowly moves forward, illuminating what is ahead.
Iorek follows along behind Kazel, seeming to not want to go passed her without her approval, his vision keeps darting between her and the area ahead where the fireball is going, his paw tense as it sits nervously on the hilt of his sword. He also seems to look back at Zuri and Fenris for reassurance.
Zuri paces back to meet Cara, smiling brightly at her. "Come join me at the front miss Cara! I think this place might be full of traps and such!" He walks around towards the other side of the group, keeping an eye out for anything out of place. His gaze meets Iorek's and he smiles brightly, giving him a thumbs up. He peers down the hall. "Wow, using a tiny fireball as a torch. Clever! I'll have to remember that one..."
Rokarion looks around nodding his head as he mentally notes Fenris's avoidance of the question. "Spirit figures. Standard Ancients architecture. They were a deeply religious folk oflr perhaps the spirits were really important in their lives on a more practical sense, we are still not sure. Noticing the inscription the dull plant lets out a hmm before moving to Zuri's side. Already forming an idea of what they will face soon. Rokarion idly places a hand on Zuri's shoulder as he begins to cast a calcified flesh spell on him.
Shizuko makes a small noise as she looks over the carvings before the door, then murmurs and bows her head. "The Gods of the First Ones," she comments, then moves into the next chamber, steps light and posture wary. Her ears perked, she begins peers about, ready for the next part.
Millicent gives a nod to Fenris and a wave farewell as she turns to follow the others in, taking the whole thing rather casually. She was certainly no scholar or historian enough to fully grasp how... Impactful all of this was. It was just another adventure, to her!
Cara promptly takes out a rather intricately crafted sabre. If anyone were to look at it closely, they would notice a sapphire with antlers inscribed upon it. The feline walks closer to the front and stands next to the salamander. "Okay, it's best for me to be careful so that things don't go horribly wrong." She shifts her attention to the jasmine and grins before commenting, "Nice to see you prepared as usual, Plantman." She takes a side glance over to Sara and Kazel and grins, "Flame wielders are always welcome in cave exploration."
The free floating fire ball does not go far from it's caster, but then, it does not need to. It lights a large room, but the floor of said room only extends a few feet from the door, dropping off into darkness! Distantly, the party might be able to see a distant platform in the shadows that mark the far side of the chasm. The room is not wide, only just wide enough for the party to all crowd onto the platform that makes up the whole of the floor in this room.
As Kazels fireball passes by her Sara's eyes only light up as it sputters into life and floats off. The excitement of figuring out what the hallway had held without the danger does soon pass though as it fades just as soon as it's casted, though she still smiles at the attempt before giving Kazel a pat on the shoulder, "Was a good attempt anywa--.. h-hey!" her sentence briefly stopped as Millicent passes by, "S-stop! It's a trap!" she shouts to the oblivious Red Panda as she continues on, pointing quickly to the ceiling as something had moved, hoping she had been quick enough. Being futher careful however, Sara had reached her still free hand to the pistol she had stowed away earlier and pulled it out, ready to fire just in case that movement had turned out to be something hostile.
Kazel examines the room quickly while the light lasts, memorizing it as well as possible. Suddenly her eyes go wide, she signals the party to stop once more and she lunges forward. She too has seen the movement, but is not taking any chances. A hand rises into the direction of the movement and a beam of icy air shoots from her hand, heading to where she saw the movement.
Iorek hesitates as he's not sure what good his sword will be at the possible creatures he spots in the shadows. He readies his weapon but waits just outside the large room until there is something more useful he can do. "I thing we have company on the Ceiling, watch out."
Zuri giggles as he feels Rokarion's spell coat him in a protective layer. "Tickles!" He smiles up at the jasmine, and is too distracted to see whatever movement or traps are up ahead. He blinks as several members of the group shout out in alarm and quickly he drops into an alert stance, stepping forward to peer at what's ahead. "Woah!" He exclaims as he sees the room ahead, and especially the seemingly depthless chasm that spans it. "That's going to be a problem..." He peers up and around, trying to spot whatever it was that the others saw. His left hand is already holding one of his blades, having moved like lightning. His right hand slowly moves to the hilt of his other blade, noticeably slower than its counterpart.
Rokarion idly glances Cara , "I didn't prepare. I wasn't planning on coming in the first place, and further more I have a name." the youth nonchalantly answers back before moving into the new room, looking around before spotting movement on the ceiling. "Interesting, temple guards of sorts." he says to himself as he keeps jutting down notes on his book. Rokarion moves ahead, attempting to 'step' on the void. Noticing no change, he moves back and adds more notes.
Millicent did not, in fact, keep walking past the group. She was following the group! And so, she had stopped behind the others when they did. She gives Sara an odd look, brow raised. "I'm not going anywhere," she says with a frown, ears flicking.
Cara watches as the fiery avian send a large amount of icy air directly to a single point. The feline promptly frowns and after hearing Iorek's advice speaks in an annoyed tone. "Okay, no." The feline realizes that her sabre is useless for this situation, therefore she does something rather unexpected from her normal actions. The feline concentrates a nice bit of fire and air math directly into her fingers and swipes her hand in the direction of the ceiling, sending out a large wave of burning air directly to said section.
Shizuko raises up a hand to try and warn the rest back, but seems to be far too late. The older leopardess sighs then, and shakes her head, keeping a wary eye on the chasm and the inky darkness. "Must we kill everything before we know what it is?" she asks quietly, although her guard remains up.
Kazel's icy attack is met by a minature rain of glittery black SOMETHINGS that tumble from above along with a sudden screeching, chittering sound as the ceiling starts to heave like a storm at sea! The door back to the outside slams closed, shutting Fenris out and the rest of the party in! By the light of Sara's torch, whatever the things on the ceiling are are hard to discern clearly. Then Cara sends a blast of heated air skyward and the undulating sea bursts into motion and a swarm of flapping, flailing beasts descend on the party, chittering and screaming!
As the blasts of magic assail the once hidden creatures and the very ceiling itself comes alive with the screeching of the bat creatures, Sara gulps audiably and looks to her pistol and its single shot, she'd be hardly useful with just that. Though still she does eventually pull the trigger into the cloud of creatures and returns the weapon to its once hidden spot just in time to turn her back to the creatures and their attack and take on a turtle-esque stance, leaving them bouncing harmlessly off the protective chainmail covering her.
Kazel grimasses as the creatures are scared up, she was clearly planning for a single, bigger opponent. A move from her hand sends five quick fiery arrows into the mass of beasts, though nobody can say how many of the swarm are getting hit by each splinter of her spell. Suddenly feeling something on her back the avian quickly turns grabs between her wings and pulls one of the creatures off herself. She holds firmly onto it as while using her other arm to shield herself from other incoming dangers.
Iorek seems to panic and flails around in the small atrium "Creators! Get them off me!" as he slaps at the winged creatures on his armour with his shield hand, momeentarily oblivious to the goings on around him.
Zuri lets out a loud 'ack!' as the flapping dark thing wooshes past him. The agile salamander is quick on his feet, sidestepping as it dives past him. Instincts kicking in, the salamander is already twirling with his gleaming sword as he clears from the bat's path, a horizontal slice with the exquisitely sharp weapon aimed right at center of mass. His other hand clutches on the hilt of his second blade but doesn't draw it. Too slow.
Rokarion keeps on his sauntering pace as he walks around the platform when the swarm attacks. Almost as soon as the creatures close in to the plant he does an undramatic tiny job to the front allowing the group to hit the ground he was standing on a second ago. A small sidestep and another group is evaded, the plant being turning around and inspecting the arachnid/bat creatures. He continues doodling on his sketchbook as tge fight goes on. "Don't you know that violence solves everything around here Miss Shizuko." Rokarion says dryly, "A rather unfortunate side effect of working as mercenaries I suppose. I would not know myself. " he adds. Surely he could help, but he sees no reason to aid in senseless violence.
Shizuko takes a quick step and a twist as the swarm descends on her, growling as the cave-spider-bats claw and scrabble at her clothes. She draws a pair of short, heavy swords with a quick fluid motion, and begins moving them in swift scything sweeps as she seeks to keep as many of the things off of her as she can.
Millicent grimaces and ducks low, tugging her hood back up and covering her head with her metalshod arm, trying to make as unassuming a target as possible, so that perhaps they'll leave her alone, at least.
Cara manages to avoid getting harmed by the bats, but sadly they get stuck in her hair and clothes. "Gah!" The feline instantly begins waving around her sabre as she tries to get the annoying bats out of her clothes. The bats in her hair just annoy her endlessly and she tries to wave them away as well.
The winged horde hardly seems to thin at all, even with the combined efforts of the gathered freeswords. They swoop and screech at the party, their multitudinous legs scrabbling at armor and exposed flesh and their glossy, black eyes and glittering fangs reflecting in the torch light.
As the bat hoarde continues its assault Sara flails her arms about helplessly, swinging that torch of hers in an attempt at batting her attackers away. Finding it to be useless Sara utters a loud curse before pulling a blade and taking a couple experimental slashes at the air infront of her. It only lasts for a few moments before something in her brain finally 'clicks' and she comes to a startling realization; the flame, these things were apparently attracted to it, and only really seemed to follow it around. With an audiable gulp and a soft prayer that her idea had been correct Sara had tossed the torch into the crevase infront of her and returning the room to its dim state.
Kazel's eye twitches as the neck of the creature in her hand is broken and another one is pulled out of her head plumage, thrown onto the ground and squished under her talons. Her yellow eyes narrow and the people closest to her might feel a slight shiver. She pulls her hand back and pushes it forward, but suddenly stops as Sara's torch flies down the abyss. Instead she wraps herself in her wings and covers her face with both her arms.
Zuri regains his combat pose after slicing at one of the bat-spider-things, just in time to spot another flurry of the creatures swoop down towards the group - and towards him! He nimbly dodges one, and ducks under another. He smirks smugly. "Ha, too sl-!" His sentence is interrupted by a third bat-thing as it slams into his face and latches on. He tumbles down onto the floor as he wrestles with it. "Get off! Get off!" He says between gritted teeth as he tries to get a grip on the thing and peel it off his face. His precious sword clatters onto the ground next to him.
Rokarion idly walks towards the closed exit before one of the sneaky monsters attaches itself to his cloak. Without missing a beat, the plant being held his book and pen in one hand before grabbing the small creature and inspect it from a closer angle, giving it an experimental squeeze just to see how soft was its chitin.
Doing her best to protect herself, Shizuko's blades keep sweeping and flashing. Her blue fractal stripes begin to slowly dim, although it is slow work, especially with her most of her focus on the swarm of unpleasant cave-beasties trying to distract her.
From her kneeled over position, as soon as Millicent feels the thing clinging to the back of her coat, she waits. Waits for the torch to go over the edge, and if it didn't move to chase it, she was going to roll over onto her back to try to crush it with her weight.
Cara groans loudly from the aggravatingly rude bats. The feline stays silent and continues batting at the annoying bat in her hair. She takes a deep breath and notices the torch fly off into the distance. That's odd, considering that there might be no way to get through the place unless they could somehow see in the dark now, however she still continues to throw off the last bat.
The torch flutters and sputters until it is lost in the darkness, some of the spider bats swooping after it briefly. The swarm continues to flap about, but the distant creatures have started to return to their roosts. The nearby creatures seem to be interested only in Shizuko and Rokarion now! The little monsters have abondoned any other perches.
As soon as the torch had passed into the gaping crevase only a few feet away Sara gripped tight onto her sword and looked to the remaining bats swarming around her allies. "Creators above! Will these things stop swarming?!" she knew it was the light that kept them, but honestly she wasn't sure what would be safer, losing the last remainders of light near an abyss, or risking the bats. Figuring the first choice to be the worst, Sara continues hacking away at those tiny pests.
Kazel peeks up between her arms and sees the creatures retreat for the most part, she seems to relax, but keeps her fighting stance just in case.
Zuri finally wrenches the spider-bat out of his face, or at least it seems to let go. He sputters and rubs his nose in disgust. "Ugh! Pleh!" He stands up, still rubbing his nose as he looks around. The salamander's eyes widen as he sees Rokarion being swarmed by one of the creatures. He dashes towards his good friend, trying to grapple with the bat-thing to pry it away. "Get away from him!"
Rokarion idly squeezed the helpless monster in his hand another time before he raised an eyebrow at the dashing Zuri. Rokarion let go off the spider bat, letting 'his savior' grapple with it before turning around to see another renewed wave coming for him. Standing in front of Zuri, Rokarion draws a circular shape with his finger as he solves the equations in his mind, forming luminescent glitter around him. Every creature coming in close contact of the plant being seems to be stopped by some kind of field, its only indication are the sparks that appear each time a monster collides with it and falls fried to the floor. When the attacking wave is finally left all ruined on the ground, Rokarion allows his shield to subside as well as his glow, opening his book again, "Just as expected. Constructs, attracted to light, most likely attempting to keep it outside of the temple. So only 'true' supplicants can pass unhampered. Obvious by now to which spirit this temple is dedicated to." Rokarion states as he continues to jut down notes, "Are you ok, Zuri?"
Shizuko lets her dodging weave carry her behind Rokarion, so the things chasing her run into the plant-being's shield as well; she uses the brief respite to focus and concentrate, and her own stripes finish fading. "Mmm. Charming. But if this is a temple of the voracious shadow, why have all of the others at the door?"
Millicent stands back up and stretches, patting down her sleeve. "I'm glad I'm not all glowy," she says, flexing her fingers and glancing around. "So... I guess we just have to try to find our way without much light, huh. Unless we want to fend them off the entire time we're here."
Cara manages to hear the words of everyone else, but unfortunately has to wait. The feline can't just help them out now. After all, she can barely see in the ever increasing darkness and there has to be a way to get through this without light. If only the bats would just follow a source of light that would make it easier to see and allow them to move along. The feline could attempt to fling a fire arrow or two, but with the lack of sight, that might be a problem. The feline groans from this issue and yells out, "Is there anyone who might be able to see in the dark?"
Fenris the chittering and flapping subsides as darkness takes the chamber and the grinding of stone on stone behind the group seems to indicate that if the party so chose, they could go back the way they came. The darkness is still. Even the bat things have gone silent.
With the last source of light extinguished, and her becoming as blind as a bat in the pitch black room, Sara had done the only thing she could do at the moment and stuck her arms out wide and felt around, her wings left twitching just incase her step had left her plummeting into the nearby pit. "Creators.. I hope Fenris had better luck than we did.." she mumbles as she had taken the odd and careful step forwards and towards that grinding, "Uh.. a-anyone have any ideas on how to proceed? I.. uh.. I have no idea what's here.." her question adressed to anyone in earshot.
Kazel exhales and her pose relaxes. The avian folds her wings behind her and stands straight, squinting into the darkness. "Well we should probably not make light again. At least for now." She pause a moment, recalling the layout of the room. "I could fly over to that platform thing we saw earlier, see if there is a lever or button or something, else I am out of ideas."
Zuri flings away spider-bat-thing that was trying to latch itself onto Rokarion, unaware that the jasmine was in control of the situation. The small salamander clings onto Rokarion himself, hugging around his waist as he looks up at him in the pitch-blackness that the room has become. "I'm okay, Mister Rokarion.." He turns around to where he heard Sara's voice from. "The passage closed behind us, we have to proceed, somehow." He smiles towards Kazel's voice. "We could fly across, true.. but it will be difficult without being able to see. I think.. I think we need a clever plan of some kind." He looks up towards Rokarion again.
Rokarion idly pats Zuri's head before turning around and moving in a straight line towards the platform's end, once more attempting to step on the void, and amazingly enough, this time it appears to work. Rokarion idly takes another step off, thus ending up on whatever the void materialized as 'ground', "Knew this was how it was supposed to work." Rokarion idly comments, "Simply step off the platform, do be careful with the first step if you don't seem to be 'standing' on firm ground then remain where you are." he answers, "Also the Ancients would always put statues and figures of a lot of their spirits in each building, but the biggest statue would usually be for the spirit that has the temple dedicated to it." the young jasmine answers Shizuko.
Cautiously, Shizuko begins inching "forward" towards the other end of the room, using her memory of the room to guide herself towards the door. "Mmm. I see," Shizuko replies, although her tone is quiet as she listens for further movement from the guardians.
Millicent tugs the larger sword from around her back, scabbard and all, and uses it to test the ground in front of her as she makes her way after Shizuko, ear flicking. "We'll make it through. Just need to work on our patience."
Cara hears the Jasmine's words and carefully walks off the platform. To her surprise she manages to land on a solid peace of ground. Then, an idea comes to the feline based on the platform. She speaks carefully, "Maybe, maybe this is supposed to be a straight line, but let's just walk slowly okay."
The hoard of beasties above remain silent in the pitch dark and the ground is surprisingly solid! One would almost imagine that the pit had been an illusion all along! Except for the part where the torch fell. And fell. And fell.
Soon, the party finds themselves bumped against the far wall! The door must be close. Just feeling along the wall ought to get everyone out of this room!
As the group figures out just what they had been missing, Sara looks in the direction of the clatter of footsteps as well as the scraping of the pandas sword against the illusory platform. Figuring she had gone this far, she had turned away from the door she had entered from and had begun walking towards the rest of her allies, her wings still ready to swoop herself to safety should one of her feet not find solid ground. As she finally reaches the edge of the room Sara's hand reaches out and presses against the rocky surface of the wall opposite the door she had entered, if only for a comforting feeling, to know she had been safe.. ish. "So.. it was the light all along?" Sara asks, ".. well.. I.. uh.. I'm sorry for bringing the torch in.." her own pitiful apology finished Sara returns to her searching, surely there should be a hidden spot, just like the first door she had passed through.
Kazel slowly follows behind the group, once more really glad that she is not wearing her plate armor. Wings spread, she makes her way across the path, her talons digging into the unfamiliar ground a little with each step. When she reaches the wall she drags her hand over it and stays still for a moment, listening for and trying to feel any air streams that might give away a hidden door, but stays silent as she is clearly out of her field of expertize.
Zuri clings tightly to Rokarion's side as they traverse what was just moments before a gaping chasm. The normally confident salamander trembles like a reed as he replies to Cara. "It's okay miss Cara, none of us knew.. well.. most of us didn't know.." He smiles up at Rokarion.. then pauses. "Huh.." He looks in a different direction, towards the side of the room, then back at Rokarion, tugging on him gently.
Rokarion feels Zuri's tug and nods his head as he changes directions towards the location were the tugging sensation was leading them, "Very well, just keep your light sources down for now." he says as he keeps walking with the salamander clinging to his side.
Shizuko slips one of her paired short swords back into the scabbard, using her hand to feel along the wall now. "I remember the door being this way," she says quietly. "And you are fine, don't worry. You were hardly the only one putting out light - I didn't think -I- would be compared to the sun, at least."
"I... I think we're close?" Millicent guesses, "And yes, quite alright. It's only wise to bring light to a dark place in -most- cases, I guess. In any other case, it would've been a great thing indeed. I saw the inscription on the way in and figured maybe we shouldn't bring light, but I didn't think to mention it."
Cara begins to feel a strange calling as she sheathes her sabre. A warm feeling that seems to invite her over. This is a strange feeling and she walks along toward the same wall that was opposite of the entrance to this room. Although the feline still tries to be careful with her inspection of the wall, and this situation normally goes against all of her survival instincts since it doesn't really trust most of her senses. The feline manages to fake a happy attitude but calls out, "Go to the wall that is opposite the direction of the entrance. Everyone, it's okay. After all, none of us are dead."
"And Rokarion, I know who you are. I just like calling you Plantman."
It is still eerily silent in the dark room, but nothing seems to get in the way as the group gropes their way across the room and the far wall. Shizuko is the first to find her hand on the latch of a door. Rokarion, feeling along the wall with Zuri at his heels and any following him find that the wall just goes on and on. It seems like the room should have ended by now.
With her own blind, helpless searching of the far wall offering no real progress Sara cals out into the darkened room with a pitiful, "Anyone here find anything yet?" before she moves closer to the other sounds, "Creators I dislike this area.. it's starting to wear on me and my sanity.." she could later be heard grumbling, "Damnable bat creatures, why'd they have to hate the light?"
Kazel sighs as she can't make out anything and just follows behind Shizuko. One hand on the wall, she still holds out her hand to feel for airstreams but it is moot at this point. A frown is drawn on her face,not that anyone could see it, and she is clearly getting annoyed with the situation.
Zuri is a bit too far in the side of frightened to be impatient, or annoyed. He vocalizes. "Come on, come on... where's the exit.. it has to be around here.." He latches onto Rokarion at all times, one hand brushing at the wall. "Mister Rokarion.. " He starts to inquire. "This feels like another part of the test. Is there anything about. uh.. whichever spirit lives here.. that might give us a clue? Okay, he or she doesn't like light, what else?"
Rokarion stops for a minute as he hears the whining of the rest of the group, "Well if you are all getting paranoid we can come back later." he answers as he continues idly walking to the side of the wall, "Nothing I can think of is applicable here, since there was no mention of any other inscription. Perhaps we must come on a certain period of the day?" he answers idly, keeping on his brisk pace.
Quietly chuckling, Shizuko tries the door. "Come on, everyone. Where is your sense of adventure?" she chides quietly. "Aren't we having fun?" She seems to be in rather high spirits now, despite being clawed and assaulted by cave-bat-spiders earlier.
Millicent nods at Shizuko's words, slipping her sword onto her back once more. "She's right. Show some spirit! So it's a little dark and there were weird bat things. That's nothing I'm sure a bunch of Freeswords would run from."
Cara realizes that following along the current route might useless and growls angrily. "Okay, something isn't working out here." The feline stops and calls out, "If any of you managed to find a way out, please direct us to it right now." The feline immediately whispers to Sara as well, "I hate this room too."
As soon as Shizuko opens the door, light floods the chamber! Only now both pit and monsters are gone! As are Rokarion and Zuri! Beyond the door is a small chamber. In the center is a raised dais with a wide altar of some kind on it. On the altar is an arrangement of gold and jewels, and in the center is some sort of wooden plaque, about the size of a being's hand. It bears an unfamiliar symbol on its surface. The far wall of the room is blank. Looks like the end of the road!
Meanwhile, Rokarion and Zuri find that their path is also suddenly lit! They are standing in an open room with a raised dais in the middle- Oh! Look! The rest of the party is on the other side of it! Off to the left is a door like the first that lead into this strange place.
Zuri sees the exit and looks back towards the group. "Hey everyone, look, there it is!" He hops up excitedly. "There it iiiis! Creators be praised, let's get out of this place!" The salamander starts turring Rokarion along.
Rokarion looks around as the room lights up before finding himself in the large room with Zuri with his teammates on the other side. Rokarion idly walks directly towards central altar with Zuri, beggining to inspect the wooden plaque, book in hand as he transcribed the symbols down, "I wonder if the treasures are some sort of trap..", the plant being adds.
Kazel eyes the treasure for a moment, before shrugging. "It probably is. And it does not look like there is anything of any worth that goes bejond coin. I got enough of that." She twitches her beak. "But hey, if one of you wants to grab some, feel free." She grins and shrugs again.
Cara brings a finger to her chin as she thinks, "Hmm, that's odd. Most of these temples have more rooms and defenses. Could this just be a small bit of the area's fortune?" The feline begins to think for a moment and calls out to the Jasmine, "Rokarion, I think I agree with you on this matter. We might have to explore this area on another day once we get a better idea of what we're dealing with."
As the door is opened and the room is suffused with bright light Sara raises an arm to protect her now unfocused eyes against the sudden flash, "Damn!" the lizard shouts as she is momentarilly blinded. It doesn't last long however before she blinks away that lack of vision and looks around at the newly discovered room, "Huh? This it? The place we were sent to look for?" she continues as she takes a few steps into the room, eyes going wide at the sight of the treasure just laying there. After a few careful steps towards the altar with an outstretched hand, forgetting everything else Sara nearly pockets the treasure for herself before pulling her hand away. Knowing this area, it would most likely have been trapped. Looking instead to the plaque nearby Sara presses her hand to her chin and utters a brief, "Hrm.." before reading whatever the plaque had written on it out loud.
Shizuko freezes for a moment, her ears folding at the sudden bright light and her eyes narrowing. After a moment though she straightens up, and nods her head. "Well, then. And yes, I imagine so." She approaches the altar, taking in the details of the wooden plaque, then blinks and looks around as she hears Zuri. "What? Where are you?" she calls.
Millicent blinks and shields her own face at the bright light, bending over a little. "Agh, that's bright," she says, trying to blink her eyes into adjustment. "Ugh. What happened?" She asks, looking first at Shizuko, then around for the others.
After an examination of the room, it seems that the treasure is ready for the taking, and strangely, after passing the illusory wall, Rokarion and Zuri find that it is quite solid from this side! There is nothing for it but to go back and tell Fenris what happened.
Fenris listens thoughtfully as the others explain, looking over at the resealed door and turning the little wooden plaque over in his hands. "Looks like we have a lot to learn about this place if we are really going to delve in, huh?" he says with a smile, "Thank you all again for your help!"
