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Chapter 1, Scene 4 Act , Scene 4 • 05/20/2014
Tunnels of the Mad Caves
Flint reluctantly let go of the door, which slammed shut behind her. She decided not to test to see if it were somehow stuck just now - that would be too obvious, and since nobody seemed to know how this door worked anyway, she needn’t take the blame for it. It wasn’t really her fault anyway - she’d gotten the damned thing open, hadn’t she?
She couldn’t see what was so extraordinary about the room at first, other than that it was a room rather than a hole in the stone. It was lined with stone bricks and sported a low vaulted ceiling held up by simply-carved pillars.
And then, when the door went shut, and Romarn’s staff promptly went out completely. Romarn willed it back to life, only to have it flicker it back out again.
Whoever’d built this cave seemed to like that trick, and he found it more than annoying. Stupid party tricks, he thought grumpily. As if I can’t deal with illusions and diffusion spells.
Everyone, though, noticed what Skri-Skri had been excited about. The room was not completely dark - rather, it was lit faintly by the pale blue glow of runes on three of the pillars, spelling out the following:
ᚷᛟ ᚨᚹᚨᛃ ᛞᚹᚨᚱᚠ
Flint (youKitKatReed) moved • 05/20/2014
The room beyond the door was smaller than she’d thought it would be … a lot smaller. The fact that Romarn’s staff wouldn’t stay lit wasn’t helping matters, either. The only light came from those ominously glowing runes on the pillars.
Flint nervously tugged at a stray thread in her fingerless leather gloves. Up until now, the caves had been spacious enough that they hadn’t bothered her, and there had always been a direction to move … even if it had been in circles for awhile. Here, it didn’t look like there was anywhere to go except the direction they came in … and she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to draw attention to that. So, for all appearances, they were trapped.
“W-what do those runes say?” she asked the others. Her voice sounded small and thin in the confined space. The sooner they got out of here, the better.
Skri-Skri (youAntinomian) moved • 05/20/2014
Skri-Skri feels at home in the small dark room - like a stone-paved burrow of sorts. Being used to low-light levels helps too; the glow from the pillars, despite being only low and dim, is enough for him to see well enough here.
“Cosy” Skri-Skri says. “Tastefully appointed. Skri-Skri like decorating choices.”
The narrator continued the scene • 05/20/2014
Shay squinted his eyes, and scratched his head. They runes were old, but looked vaguely familiar.
Skri-Skri (youAntinomian) moved • 05/20/2014
Skri-Skri looks at the runes, then at Shay squinting at them.
“Is message of your people? Or is message to your people? Probably say ‘go ‘way short people’ at you or something. Magic Peoples unwelcoming like that.”
Shay Deepstone (youShaitan) moved • 05/20/2014
“Ah hink Ah min’ some ay those runes…” mused Shay. “Ah recognize a rune ‘at describes th’ min’ an’ one ‘at describes pain, fear, ur discomfort”
He glanced around at the others. Thankfully his dwarven constitution makes him much more resistant to mental attacks, if that was what the runes did. His companions on the other hand…
“We will probably be braw. Jist keep yer wits abit ye an’ dornt gie in.”
Shay Deepstone (youShaitan) moved • 05/20/2014
Shay chuckles at Skri-Skri’s translation.
“Ack, if it was a simple message, Ah woods hae bin able tae reid it an’ if it was a simple message, it woods hae either bin an insult against th’ taa folk, a drinkin’ sang, ur somethin’ glorifyin’ auld deid men.”
Zantiln Erasmus (youEwokonfire) moved • 05/23/2014
Zantiln focused hard on his sorcery. If Romarn’s subtle light couldn’t illuminate this strange room, he’d have to try. But how to do it without demolishing it completely in the resultant explosion? He’d have to try to contain the blast somehow, focus enough to keep it within his hand. It had to be worth a shot, right? And if it worked, it would make him look very good in front of the others.
Zantiln tried with all the focus he could muster. He struck a spark off his hand, and concentrated on nothing but that spark, to somehow turn it into a flame. It was working, he had it going, it was working! He could feel the pressure building up, but he could contain it, he could do it, there would be no explosion!
It almost worked. There was a small blast, enough to make the others jump but not enough to cause any injury or damage, and for a brief second there was a flame in his hand and the room was brilliant with light. They could see everything, the runes, the pillars and even some details on the rock walls.
Then it went out again, and the room seemed even darker than before.
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