Daniella remains watching in the background since no one seems to have any real life threatening injuries (except I heard that the dark elf died... so no real loss there). When people do start to come to, she suggests that if they are all finished touching the stone that is knocking people unconscious, it is time to return to the surface.
Daniel tends to the wounded, making them more comfortable, and checking in with them periodically until they can move on their own.
My head is not on straight. She seems to direct this to herself, as if realizing something or coming to some new conclusion. And my mind is all blank. There are some things I want to check, when Daniella suggests leaving for the surface.
For one, we - at least we that have tossed some things around - seem to be leaning towards either the idea that Milara just moved a piece and gained a foothold in some thing, and that was a marker of some of this... whatever. The other being that the scorpion was in some way an answer to the vial, showing influences behind it. Yoa?
So what else can we 'ask' to see if this is so? I imagine it would not provide a hint to any Gary's about where all their left shoes have gone, but maybe something more significant or relevant. The letter said to seek answers, so what kind would that be if that's what we were doing here? On the other hand... she glances over to Daniel.
My thinking has been rather returning to the marks on the letter, seared into it. I wondered - never mind, everything is speculation at this point...
She finally pushes herself to her feet where she'd been sitting rather dully for a time, patting Plen's arm if he was still beside her. Padding over to the gate, she sings to herself to listen for resonances of magic traces in an attempt to determine what manner of magic had been detected when the gate opened; an alarm, energies released, and so on...
*Quenton scratches his head with the hand that didn't touch the crystal and shakes out the hand that did.*
With at first a quizical look on his face turning into an AHA! face he says: What if... What if we got seven people who follow each of the seven to touch it at the same time!?
Prolly they would all feel warm and fuzzy from the touch of friendly hands-shaking divinity and still eventually be shaken apart by exposure, she guesses as she returns from the gate. That carving did show light shining on groups of people, though. Just not sure if it's figuratively speaking, like knowledge, you know! I wish I had some mages, too. You're in a bad way if that's me!
During his rounds, Daniel catches Acacea's look and stops for a moment next to her and Quenton, "I think, that the words the old elf spoke of may mean precisely what Quenton suggests myself. Although I find it worrisome that Milara is involved, I think it worth the risk to assemble those followers and bring them here if we can manage it."
Maybe the Aregnite would need to climb up and stand on top of it though, to be in the middle, right? We should be careful to stand in the same spots as the constelations too... Wait... Now I'm talking like a gnome! *thinks on it for a minute* But... Yeah I think it could work right? I dunno what we might get from it... or what might happen... but I think it's worth a try!
Also, speaking of gnomes, we should get that Perti fellow down here as soon as posssible, but we probably shouldn't talk to other folk about this place. Don't want a trail of folks wandering through the deep trying to find it for some pilgramage or some such. *nods sagely*
Cunno, I definitely did not mean it wasn't worth trying, only hazarding a guess at the result and putting it off for the moment because we can't do it before we leave...
*Griff gathers the larger chunks of rock and rubble from the parts of the wall that have crumbled and deteriorated. He'll ask for help in carrying if it becomes too much for his bags to hold. He intends to bring them to the surface for some bright mind to try to piece together. Also, as Kurn suggested, some of the pieces that have identifiable markings can be carefully copied onto parchment with a charcoal rubbing.*
*Griff will also use his divine and paladin abilities to search the areas for a presense of Vorax and also a presense of evil. He will pray to Vorax in private and ask for guidance from the Eternally Vigilant on this room and their findings.*
Olmae continues his watch on the only entrance to this strange cavern, weapon at the ready, expecting everything and anything.
Unless something changes it looks like the only way out ..so best keep watch
He listens to the banter, his vigil interrupted periodically as bodies get thown across the chamber. Out of the corner of his eye he notices Sophia fiddling with a vial ..mages .. well they are all a bit too curious for their own good sometimes..
Then the scorpion statue appears, the strange elf touches it and goes limp.
The more the talk swirls about him, the more he concentrates on the door .. the door.. the strange door.. marked with runes of Aragen ..the door ..
What exactly is the importance of that ? Why is Aragen the door ? the rest of the 7 are etched in the wall. Maybe it's nothing ..no ..with gods nothing is casual, random and Aragen is the door, Aragen the center of the star circle, Aragen that never gets involved, the ultimate observer...well I guess you be neutral but that sorta puts ya ..in the middle..
He glances at the crystal thing .. hmm,, is the light or energy going up or coming down ? does it matter ?
Daniel is busy tending the injured, Acacea looks stunned , the rest just seems ..total chaos ..Mist would love this party ..
*Zig has finally sat up from his prone position and is downing all the ale he can find to get over trauma from getting blown back after touching the strange light. The other adventurers speaking and running about seem muffled and out of focus. A bit of cheer does spring forth when he sees the shady elf drop after touching the scorpion statue. He mutters out what he can, trying to form a complete sentence:*
Get what ye can now ye may nae get ye second chance on dis
She sighs at the reminder and walks back to the gate. Could someone take one of those rock chunks to the crystal while Quenton is touching it? I can't think of anything else tangible, if that matters at all. Maybe Moustache's letter from the elf.
Listening for fading traces of something, she cocks her head to one side and looks heavenward with a wry smile. I suppose there is always time for You to slap Your forehead at my straw-grasping recklessness, but may I remind You that I haven't got anyone else to lean on here, so take pity! Also sorry for the tools, I'm afraid I've become rather intractable about my materials in my age!
She kneels then on the stone and takes a small bag from her sleeve that she pours some sand from, spreading it with her hand. Rummaging around in her other sleeve she finally settles on a pie tin and licks some of the crumbs off before pouring some water in it. As she makes her preparations she sings to herself and the sand in a melodic, fluid tongue, slipping on a delicate pair of gloves.
The pie tin filled with water, in the center of the spread of sand. She gestures, and a snatch of melody is formed in small spells: to sing her from sight, to amplify the sounds around her. Tracing patterns in the sand with a wistful familiarity, she avoids attempting to tap any links and merely uses the materials for focus and direction; these runes here, to hide, to amplify. These here, seeking, to identify. These, to chain intents together, and those, to focus on her receptacle. Her small capacity for gathered energies is filled and channeled to resonate back from shreds of magic before they are gone, relying on just-so application rather than strength alone.
A blade appears in one hand from her sleeve, and is drawn carefully over her many-times scarred left bicep. Blood is given to each pattern as she sings; sand in the water then, swirled with drops of crimson to add a measure of her own life energies. Mnyz li zny ayo ehi.
Sophia moves about the cavern on her own accord. She seems to ignore the chatter of the others. After the dark elf fall prone, she moves away from the scorpion statue and back toward the door seperating the two chambers. She carefully examines the doors, the lock and the immediate area aound the door. She takes sample of the soil and wood, placing them in small vials. She mixes some talc with diamond dust to check for magical residues and traces.
*Wincing as he moves about...Kyle looks at the various etchings until he comes upon the one of the races cooperating. He stares at it for a while as if he is trying to determine something.*
Daniel pauses in his tending, watching Acacea with more than a little concern, "Blood magic or divination, Acacea?" He asks quietly, keeping his distance.
For those observing, Acacea prepares and engages in some sort of magic ritual. It consumes her attentions for a short time and seems to end suddenly. Acacea ends up on her back suddenly as if struck, but she seems physically unharmed. Beginning to end, it all takes about a minute.
Any who are sensitive to magic notice a small burst of divine magic erupts outward from Acacea at the moment that the ritual is broken.
*Sophia can't help but laugh when Acacea gets a smack down. Its not a little snigger but a full blown head back belly laugh that lasts for a few moments until she clutches her sides and stops, half a smile on her face and returns back to what she was doing*
She claps her hands to her head as her back hits the ground and then lays there a few seconds with her eyes scrunched shut. Her bare foot probes around and finds the pie tin full of water, and she uses a toe to flip it over, spilling water across the blood-touched sand. The hands that she'd briefly held to her head are slid back to fold behind it, one leg crossing over the other, as though she decided to take a rest on the floor on a lazy summer afternoon.
Sastisfied with her exam of the door she returns to the room with the carved monoliths to examine them closer. She is still smiling when she takes a flask out of her pack and takes a rather large drink.
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Topic: Within the Chamber (Read 2406 times)
