.
As Gniel offers out his "Ah ha!" as the boat moves Abbas offers a hearty Well done!
"Whee!"
Startled as the boat starts to move, Tolla grasps onto the side tightly. Luckily the progress is smooth, but Tolla does not lessen her white-knuckled grip. "I really hope we don't hit any rough water, or I think I might get sick..." she trails off, squinting into the dark, moonlit horizon.
As the night goes on, the moon grows from a tiny slit into a giant full moon, going from slit to oval to full oval to full moon. And then it begins to shrink again, almost like an eye closing. At full moon, the sea is lit brightly enough to read a scroll by even without low light vision.
It takes nearly 5 hours for the ship to make it's way to the black curtain that hangs from the heavens. As the ship approaches the curtain, the group sees another dock, exactly the same as the one at the pedestal.
The boat glides into the center slip silently and stops. There are mooring points, and the boarding ramp is perfectly positioned to land on the landing platform.
About 50 feet from the tip of the ship is what looks like a solid black wall that reaches to the heavens, and sinks into the ocean.
As soon as he sees the shore, Gniel says, not too loudly though "Land ho!"striking a dramatic pose, finger outstreched toward the dock. "Heh. I always wanted to say that."
He looks around as they approach for anything that might bother the party.
The dock is utterly abandoned. It's 50 ft deep (not counting the piers) and 50 ft wide. If anything is hiding, it's invisible.
Tolla smiles a little at Gniel, but quickly disembarks, relieved to be on stable footing again. She takes a deep breath before stepping back on the boat, and starting to unload the equipment onto the docks.
Once finished, she gazes upon the enormous curtain of darkness before them, glancing between it and the ocean behind them. She shivers a little before saying, "I suppose there's only one way to go." She takes the stubs of the two torches she had fastened to the boat--long since burned out--and slowly approaches the opaque blackness before them, gesturing to the others to follow. Stepping about ten feet from the wall, she lobs a torch stub at it to see what happens.
Tolla steps up to the curtain/wall and tosses torch against it.
The torch hits and bounces off.
Seeing the torch bounce off Abbas frowns deeply. Not what I was hoping for.
The Suli purses his lips and approaches the "wall" and torch, gingerly picking up the flaming stick and holding it up as close as he can to the darkness to see if any light penetrates the surface.
The light might as well be being swallowed by the deepest pit of darkness ever conceived. There's no reflection either, it's not like a black wall, it's just black, with no features.
Gniel studies the wall closely, wracking his brain about possible explanations or similar occurrences.
"Should we...try to get through it?" Tolla asks, looking over her meaty shoulder at Abbas and Gniel. She slowly reaches a hand out, relaxed fingers inching toward the inky curtain. Just before she touches it, she flexes her hand into a fist, swallowing nervously. She extends her pinky and dips the very tip of it into the darkness.
Tolla's finger doesn't encounter any resistance. There is a mild pressure, as if she were pushing her pinky into water, but that is all.
Gniel isn't sure, but it appears to be some sort of extremely powerful force effect, one that doesn't appear to affect Tolla's pinky.
Abbas will try to push his hand with the torch into the wall.
Abbas's hand, with the torch, push into the wall. Abbas also feels a mild pressure on his hand, as if he'd stuck it under water. As the torch enters the wall, the light on it decreases until it ceases to be seen as the last bit of flame enters the wall.
When Abbas pulls his hand out, the torch, still lit, begins to throw off light again.
Abbas bounces his head back and forth in contemplation and then pushes his head and the top quarter of his torso with the torch into the black, going as far as a "stable" lean will get him.
Abbas feels pressure all over his body, where it's leaned in. It's not unpleasant, just there. He can breath fine, but can't see anything, even with the torch, pitch black.
Seeing her finger and Abbas' hand unharmed, Tolla takes a deep breath to steel herself, checks to make sure her pack and weapons are secure, then steps forward through the wall.
As Abbas pulls his head out he frowns, Seems safe... His words are cut short as he realizes Tolla just walked in...Driven by instinct the fighter follows.
"FOOLS! At least tie a rope around you so we can get you back out! By Garl, it's like they never jumped in a mysterious black curtain before"
He ties a rope around himself, hands it to Palomina and does a running jump in.
"Geronimo!"
"Your new friends are much more impulsive than you are; more dangerous to be sure, but also more exciting!"
He bumps Palomia in a playful manner as they walk into the blackness.
As people step into the curtain of darkness, all sense of sight is lost. Utter pitch black. Three long strides though, and the ground changes from smooth as glass to rough and spongy and people step into a brightly lit field of waving grass 3 ft high. Looking off into the distance, they see what looks like a wide open range land as far as the eye can see in front of them. That is, as far as they can see before another black curtain intervenes on the far distant horizon. The sound of insects is nearly deafening after the quiet lapping sound of ocean. The land is dotted with umbrella shaped trees, even the occasional small copse of trees. A gentle wind blows against their faces.
The smell of ocean disappears after a stride and a half. It's replaced with the smells of grass and dirt. Relas can smell what smells like animals in the distance, large herbivores, predator felines, and even some hyenadae.
While in the darkness, your connection to your summoner was all but pulled in two. If she hadn't been touching you, you are sure you'd have lost that connection and been sent back home.
Emerging on the other side Abbas offers a confident nod and slams his hand into his palm in excitement.
Well we should go back and figure out what we mean to take and what we mean to leave behind, but it seems that this is where we are to go?
Gniel breathes in deeply, taking in the sights and smells of the new place.
It seems like it. The curtain must keep this place isolated from the ocean area. But why? Well i'll guess we'll find out. he yawns But we should probably sleep first before we get to far.
Rations : Reduce Rations by 4.
The next morning, everyone awakens to bright daylight. The sun is three-quarters open, indicating everyone slept past dawn (given how late they went to bed, this is not a surprise). A couple of hours to decide what to take and what not to take... ...and the group can step back through the curtain again around noon. Stepping into the grasslands again, they see an incredible sight. The nighttime view sapped all the color from the world. Today... the word is Green. The three foot high grass looks similar to a scrawny wheat, but it's light green on the stalk, and dark green and black on the grain. The trees in the distance have dark trunks and bright red leaves that ripple in the wind. Far off in the distance, the group can see what looks like a herd of herbivores, each about 6 foot at the shoulders, easily bulkier than a horse.
In the sky, birds can be seen, in various sizes. From small thrush sized birds that fly in flickering blue-white clouds to giant monstrous yellow & black eagles big enough to carry Gniel off in their talons.
Gniel will get up and spend a few minutes preparing a couple protoypes, Guardian Drone and Mage Armor. Once done, he will set off exploring, with or without the others.
Well we should see the sights while we are here. Let's go exploring! he calls out behind him.
Tolla shakes her head at the gnome trundling off on his own. And here I was thinking that he was the one who was scolding me for walking off into the unknown. Tolla shoulders her pack, loaded with a few extra waterskins and a large tent, and starts after him. "Hey, wait up, Gniel. I don't want you to get yourself eaten or anything!" she shouts out. Once she's caught up, she shades her eyes with her hand and looks around. "There," she says, pointing out the herd of bulky herbivores. "Let's see if we can't catch a couple of those things. If we can tame some, they look like they'll make good mounts, or pack animals."
Tolla isn't sure what they are, but they seem to be like bison or aurochs, very large ones.
"I don't need sight to tell you that there are plenty of animals around; grass-eaters, feline predators and even some scavengers. Stick close, keep an eye out, and don't get eaten!", he says.
He stretches and looks around. "It's good to be out on the road again."
I've no talent in the training of animals. Would using them as pack animals require much? Otherwise I think we should go back and grab what we need before we commit to going to far.
Abbas raises his voice towards the gnome to be certain he hears the suli's concern.
A couple of hours to decide what to take and what not to take...
"I have the tent and the other supplies, Abbas, I think we'll be okay to camp for a night or two," Tolla says. "Speaking of which..." Tolla puts her bag down, pulls out a ration pack and removes some overly salty hardtack before packing it away again and re-shouldering her pack.
"I don't know quite what those buffalo-things are," she says as she walks toward them, "but I want to see if I can get close. Follow me if you want, but try not to spook them. We don't want them rearing or charging." With that, Tolla approaches the herd slowly, offering the makeshift salt lick to lure the creatures once close enough.
Abbas offers empty his hands as though to say "not me". Never trust me with anything but a camel. And only they like me because I don't hit them when they spit... The fighter offers a wistful laugh and looks "down" for a second before shaking his head a bit and following Tolla at a fair pace to not "spook" the animals.
As the group is walking along in the 3 ft grass, exploring, Gniel is having to hop skip every once in awhile to see over the tall grass (as it's shoulder height on him). He stops as he notices something that looks like fur mixed in with the grass about 40 ft away. About to say something, he only get's out a strangled cry as half-ton of muscle and fur leaps from the tall grass into a pounding charge that ends with it's horribly sharp teeth and claws reaching out to shred Gniel to a bloody pulp.
Order : Lion, Gniel, Abbas, Relas, Tolla, Palomia
He yells as claw and tooth dig into his body.
Gniel shifts back and presses a device to his chest, causing a force shield to appear (Mage Armor, lasts the next 3 hours)
The lion shuffles forward with Gniel, and unleashes another flurry of tooth and claw on the small gnome.
The emergency force field saves the gnome's life as it prevents the lion from getting more than another paw swipe in on him.
"Why do they always go for the little ones!"
Seriously almost dead here. I withdraw to 1 square up and 3 squares over from where Palomina is.
Gniel moves back as a full round action, leaving a trail of blood.
Tolla turns as the lion pounces on Gniel, too late to stop it from tearing into him as he tries to scramble away. Once he's out of the way, she sees her opportunity to move in. Her stance becomes relaxed, but powerful, and she takes one long, smooth stride toward the lion before turning the motion into a strong kick. As that foot hits the ground, she quickly turns again, lashing out with a second forceful kick.
The lion appears to be ignoring Tolla's frantic flailing to protect her young one.