"Nope. Can't do it anymore. Can't pretend like I'm dumber than I actually am. I should point out that, unlike the rest of the ground bound cockroaches of this smelly disease infested jungle we can actually talk to each other through thought. A trick I was pointing out earlier but everyone was too busy being upset that I somehow hacked into their minds while I point out how it's the . Funny that. And now we can act like what we supposedly are in this weird children's game called life; a cultured band of psionic beings actually using their brains."
::Still getting use to that. Anyway, what's up with all this crawling crap? Can we not find a better use of our time and abilities? I don't want to live or die like a cockroach::
A female voice echo's through Selven's head, actually loud enough to make it ring. Sammark also hears it, but more muffled, as if someone were speaking behind his back with their hand over their mouth. "Oh? What is this? Someone muscling in on my connection? Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? OH! You're one of the other ones running around with Sammark, aren't you. You should be nicer, being a grouchy puss doesn't really make you more likable, you know that right? I bet you don't get laid much, not with an attitude like that."
Connor was about to drop down the shaft where the trapdoor had been when he experienced something unique. Turning back to Selvan, he asked "Selvan, why are you echoing in my mind?" Connor always had Hero with him, a constant duality. But now there was an aura almost as strong, with a buzzing quality around it, in his head, next to his picture of his constant friend. Hero, get out of the way of Sam and Alys and start inspecting the room. Connor sent to the link to his psicrystal. That buzzing aura shifted in his mind, becoming a collection of faces - Reaghar, Alys, Sammark, even himself, with Selvan at the center.
Reaghar spoke, and the collection with the buzzing edges shifted, and Connor 'saw' the Reaghar face saying the words. No, that wasn't right, Reaghar hadn't spoke. But Connor had heard him anyway. Connor remembered the mandatory McIntyre combat training he had finished years ago. The high-ranking telepath showing the children how to talk without speaking. ::SELVAN, DID YOU MINDLINK US?:: he sent to the elfavian, making sure he put effort into the communication, as he had in class. Unconsciously he echoed the question to his psicrystal.
(-2 if sight based)
"What have we got up there?" Alys asks as she begins climbing up the ladder as well.
Unlike most of the rooms, this one still has furnishings in it. A heavy desk in one alcove, what looks like a privy in another, and two walk in closet type alcoves. A heavy wooden four poster bed (built for a small person), a desk with chairs, and some book shelves. The curtains hang in tatters, as doe the cloth on the bed.
As Alys climbs into the room, she sees Sammark leaning over a bed, looking down at a mummified corpse dressed in rags. It seems Sammark is talking to the corpse.
Alys taps the side of her head with two fingers ::You still here, Selvan? It looks like a bedroom over here. It seems safe too, well except I'm not sure what to think of Sam right now... I think I'll see if there is anything important or at the very least interesting around and then we can come back and continue the regular tour.::, she walks over to the desk, and starts searching, "So who's your new friend, Sam?" she asks nonchalantly.
The room seems to be in tatters, but from age, not from being disturbed. The mummy on the bed is a halfavian, but wingless. It looks rather peaceful, with it's hands crossed over it's stomach. It looks as if it was wearing something ornate, perhaps a formal outfit of some kind, but age has rendered it rent and discolored.
"Technically no, but for the sake of expediency just treat it as such. Though I think there's a loud ghost hooked into the network. That should be impossible given the only ones who can access it it are ones who are both willing and are allowed. Did one of you pick up something odd in here?"
"Oh? Odd? Well, I do admit to being odd. But I also don't like being ignored." The voice says with some merryment in it's voice. "It's been awhile since an elf was so directly rude to my face, well, not my face really, but it's close enough. I'll have to think on something appropriately funny but nonlethal to do about it..."
"Come now, I'm already giving her a hard enough time, breaking down her doors and disturbing the resting place of her priestess. I think she's hijacking my signal anyway, so just roll your eyes like normal and everything will be fine. She knows the layout of this place too so it might be useful to keep on her good side. There is nothing much up here. Let's move on."
"Cool." Connor said, then dropped down into the tight tunnel. Wishing his wings had more room, Connor got to the back of the line of astral constructs he had sent down before. ::What's the holdup up there?:: he sent over the link to the half-elf and the female elfavian. Connor flashed his ring's light around the tight confines, but the cone stopped at the corner turn. ::You two okay, Sam and Alys? Hero says the room is clear, but my constructs won't move forward for some reason. Nobody's stuck in the trapdoor exit, I hope?::
::I'll move when it doesnt sound like youll get me stuck in this s@*+hole. Lemme know when you've cleared the way.::
::We're fine over here. I'm not sure what the problem is with the constructs.::, Alys takes a look down the trapdoor. ::There is also a regular door here, so you might be able to take the long way around instead of using the tunnel, Reaghar.::
With a sudden rush the open trapdoor in the new room disgorged several individuals. The first flew, the astral construct's wings beating the air as it immediately went to ceiling-level and started to look around. The next three constructs climbed out and began hugging the wall that Hero was inspecting, away from the Atalantians. Finally Connor popped his head up, hoisting himself into the stone room next to Alys. His ring's crystal light shone over the room's interior.
"I'm learning the limitations of my constructs and my psicrystal." Connor grumbled to Alys, brushing cobwebs from the edges of his sleeves and wings. "Either I need to keep them in my line of sight, or I need about five more Heroes." Looking over at Sammark, Connor tapped into the buzzing aura in his brain with ::Hey Selvan and Reaghar, the way is clear now, and I just cleaned it of debris (grumble). What we have is some halfling noble's bedroom. I'm going to check it for more balls of light openings before I work on the door. Yes, it's faster to come this way, and avoid any more balls of light.::
Connor started inspecting the walls, but he also gave the bookshelves a once-over, since he read Halfling.
Connor directed the astral constructs to feel along with walls with their hands, looking for secret doors. You do the same. Check the door too. he told Hero. Unlike the psicrystal and the buzz-link in his head, Connor only had to think at the constructs. Which was a good thing. Any more representations in his mind and he could hold a carnival and start charging tickets.
The book shelves are in good shape, but the books on them are not. They are over a thousand years old, and look as if they are ready to collapse into dust at the slightest touch.
Connor does find more vents in this room.
The constructs don't find anything. They do however manage to smear the dust on the walls.
The way now free, Reaghar will follow the way they went.
as much as I hate it, I dont want to run into those elementals on my own. They really jacked up the party before I came down.
Sam checks over the remains of the priestess, mentally mumbling a half-remembered prayer because it seemed to be the thing to do before turning his attention to the door. Tired of the balls of death getting the drop on him, he takes pains to listen this time, though just for what he is uncertain.
The body is mummified from age, but there's nothing on it resembling a key. There is a heavy gold necklace with a bird emblem on it around her neck.
The door itself explains why there is no key, the door has no lock. Listening at the door, Sammark does not hear anything.
"Door seems to be clear, ready to move on?," Sam thinks to the others.
The necklace gives you a headache to stare at it while detecting psionics.
"I was about to ask that." Connor replied. ::If we're ready to move out, let me put Hero and the constructs ahead of us. I want a line of constructs to stop any balls of light coming at anyone.::
As Connor talked, and communicated, with Sammark, he both looked at Sammark with his eyes and at that buzzing array of faces in his head. That's how he "saw" something with his mind's eye. A swath of color flickered across Sam's face in the representation. Color? It was brown, like Sammark's face and beard. Connor "poked" at the color, and the swath responded in a way he could "see". It was filled with squiggly lines, like words.
The swath was elusive, always moving. Connor "reached" for it again.
Connor realized that the "words" were mindpowers. Some were already familiar to him, like the psychokinentic force he could wrap around himself, or make into a paper-thin barrier in front of him. But there were unknown powers visible to Connor as well. All had to do with the motion of energy. So Sammark's a specialist. Connor thought to himself. Wondering how the others' powers would show, Connor "looked" at the collection of faces again, this time choosing Reaghar. Reaghar had a red splotch, red like his eyes. Connor "reached" for it, and got another "read" of squiggly lines.
We can see each others' powers. Connor realized, thinking about the implications. Now he wouldn't have to purchase mindpowers in the marketplace back on Atalantia in little crystals. He had two such power stones on his necklace, for the direst of emergencies. Reaghar's ability to make tattoos of powers was priceless. But with their new link, each of them could access the others' powers. Almost. Connor sensed some of Sammark's, and Reaghar's, powers were still alien to him. Connor nonetheless wanted those mindpowers. He wanted to put them into crystals himself. Power stones were etched on the surface as well as energized along their interior lattice. Connor wanted to try making his own, when they had the time.
::Hey everyone,:: Connor sent, ::I think we can share powers now. Over Selvan's link. Without having to touch.:: Connor "looked" at Alys' face in the buzzing aura, and realized with a start she had no color swath. It would have been gold, to match the elfavian woman's hair. ::Well, some powers. If you can manifest them.:: Connor sent, a little chastised. He wondered how his own powers "looked" to the others. A white swath, to match the color of his wings?
Connor walked to the door, mentally moving the astral constructs out of the way of the door, and telling Hero to get on the one with wings again.
"Ohh! That's interesting! Does your little mental web do anything else? Allow you all to share memories? Let you all think smarter than any single one? Share skills? Does it make you grow extra eyes and limbs if you use it too much?"
"Hmmm, I wonder if the waspy elf would enjoy having blue skin? I haven't done that in awhile..."
Connor also doesn't hear anything outside the door.
::Corridor outside is silent, possibly empty.:: Connor relayed through the network, echoing the announcement to Hero. ::As soon as Selvan gets here, we can leave. The books are ancient, ready to fall apart. I didn't want to cause their destruction. I also haven't found any other hidden spaces here. So let's continue looking for Snowcoat.::
"Hang on..." Sam said, gently slipping the necklace from around the corpse's neck and taking a better look at it. "Hello there..."
"THIEF! THIEF! GUARDS! GUARDS! TOMB ROBBERS! THIEVES! SCOUNDRELS! CORPSE MOLESTORS!" A voice says in your head before it breaks down into giggles. Finally it comes back much amused, but in a calmer tone of voice. "The former owner asked me to tell you that if you're going to steal her necklace from her corpse, you can bury it for her. She prefers it be buried outside, near the hillside."
You're not quite sure how it was made, but it seems to be similar to a torq from back home that allows the person to go without sleep for a week. They sleep a day straight through unfortunately, but it's often worth it.
"Alright, alright," Sam grumbled mentally as he looped the necklace around his own throat, "We'll handle it on the way out."
After a while Selvan moves down the tunnel himself.
"Hearing" the response from Sammark, and seeing how Selvan was still taking his time, with Reaghar and Alys still looking around, Connor drew back. No one else seemed to be in a hurry to find Snowcoat the lost tiger-man. Connor liked being in an underground city where he couldn't spread his wings about as much as Reaghar, he just didn't voice it as loudly.
Well, maybe I could eat some nuts and dried berries. Connor thought to himself. He had skipped breakfast, and should eat something. At that instant, he realized he didn't have to. Another power was becoming clearer in his head. One they had taught in his childhood classes among the McIntyres. How to get soldiers to fly for days without needing food. A way to make the body produce its' own food, albeit minutely. Connor manifested the Sustenance power into himself, while everyone else was busy.
::Hey everybody,:: Connor sent through the link, ::I just matured another manifestation. I don't have to feel hungry all the time anymore. You should see if you can manifest the mindpower as well.::
"Between this and that one of us won't need to sleep of eat for weeks," Sam said tapping the necklace he had acquired.
"Ready to roll Selvan?"
"The sooner out of here the sooner we can be done with the ghosts. NEver met a living halfling before. Now I'm not so sure I ever want to."
"Oh my, he thinks I'm a ghost. That's just too funny. I'll take the growing extra limbs off the list of things I'm contemplating, it's obvious he has no idea what he's talking to." There's a long peal of laughter.
Connor ordered Hero and the first construct to open the door.
The door is opened to reveal....
...a tidy little office. Bookshelves against the western and eastern wall. A small desk with an age-warped leather bound chair behind it. Two equally time ravaged chairs in front of it, between the two doors.
The first construct hopped to the next door so Hero could inspect it for traps and locks.
The other constructs took up positions in the room, their smaller forms going under the table. "All clear. Looks like a study." Connor said, leaving the doorway open so Sammark and the others could enter.
As Sammark went past him, Connor realized they would need light. Since the sunrod had gone out, one of the crafted torches would have to work. Connor unhooked one from his backpack, holding it in front of him. He expended his psionic focus, driving the point in his head into the end of the torch instead. The wood-and-cloth caught fire, and while the flame began to widen, Connor regained his psionic focus again.
The room is cozy. There is a sterling silver writing kit on the desk, although the ink is long carbonized by age. The desk is nice, if small in size. There are remnants of tapestries on the wall, but they've long since dry rotted into crud. The old drawers on the desk are stuck, it appears the varnish has turned into a thick glue with age, nearly sealing the drawers shut as if they were nailed shut.
Connor stepped into the room behind Sammark, looking around. He handed the torch off to one of the astral constructs, mentally telling it to jump on top of the desk. Connor picked up the sterling silver writing kit, inspecting it. ::This must be the noble person's study or library. I'll inspect the desk. This writing kit may be worth a little back at the trading post. The halflings won't mind if we defray some of our costs for finding their lost underground city.:: Connor reasoned through Selvan's Net.
Bending down, Connor got out one of his daggers and his lockpicks and began carefully looking over the desk for traps and locks before he using the dagger and picks to pry the ancient wood apart to open the drawers.
Connor looks over the first drawer, the one on the top middle. The wide drawer yields to his ministrations with the lockpicks (rather easily to be truthful, much easier than he expected). He has to hit the drawer a couple of times after unlocking it to get the varnish to break loose. Then the drawer opens with a jerk, and purple gas hisses out into Connor's face. Connor begins coughing and hacking from the gas, and his face takes on a blueish tinge.
"OH! He missed the trap! Oh my, I hope he doesn't mind being blue for a few weeks." The voice chortles in amusement. "Good thing for him that Merial preferred to embarrass her acolytes who couldn't spot a trap rather than punish them for being sloppy." The voice turns sly. "Care to try your hand at it Waspy? You'd look good with blue wings..."
Connor tried to remember his meditation class on controlling his involuntary responses to bad odors and gases.
"Tell me if you find anything worthwhile." Alys says as she casually strolls across the small room, gently pushes one of connor's constructs to the side and cups a hand around her ear pressing it against the next door.
The cloud slowly dissipates around Connor's head, and his breathing returns to normal.
Connor's skin is a bright electric blue now. His hair is a bright electric orange, and the whites of his eyes are yellow. His wings have turned a violent acid green.
Alys hears nothing through the door, which does have a lock. However, the lock is set from this side, so unlocking it would be as simple as turning the lever.
Looking in Connor's direction from the door Alys's eyes suddenly widen. "Are... you alright?"
"It wou-" Connor began, but a coughing fit stopped him. He sent telepathically through Selvar's Net ::It would seem that the great age of abandonment in this place has affected the poison trapping this desk as well as the ink in the writing kit I took. Fortunate for us, and me.:: Connor took his waterskin from his side and squirted some liquid down his throat, breathing heavily.
After the poison cloud cleared, Connor went back to work on the desk. He looked it over for traps again, just in case.
Connor moves to the left hand top drawer, and begins to unlock the next drawer. Just as he begins to notice that his fingers are bright blue with pink nails, the drawer clicks and unlocks. Again, the lock seems to yield very easily.
A cloud of orange gas spews out into his face, sending him into another coughing fit.
When the cloud dissipates, Connor has grown a pair of impressive looking antlers out of his head. The antlers are black, and the tips glow in red, yellow, green and blue hues.
"Oh my! Oh my! This is the most fun I've had in decades..." The voice chortles, laughing hysterically.
Alys's head tilts to the side, her eyes still wide. "I don't think that was poison." She starts looking around a little helplessly.
Sam can hardly hold back his laughter, he takes off his pack and rummages around until he finds his shaving mirror and holds it up for Connor to get a look at himself in.
"Just stop there, mate, before you end up actually hurt."
"Tenfa, how about you illuminate us as to which drawers are trapped before I apply my problem solving techniques to everything?"
"Oh my, dear boy. She was a priestess of a trickster thief goddess. EVERYTHING is trapped, including that pretty necklace you put on."