Solrisa twists the dagger in a moment of fury, trying to make sure the ghoul is dead-dead. When she is satisfied, she yanks it out and looks around for anything else besides the lantern.
Fearing for her air, she swims back to the rope-column (will move on map later).
Swim check
She swims again.
Swim check
And again.
Swim check
And again.
Swim check
And again, now facing a rising panic.
Swim check
And again, now flailing at the water, wondering where Mort went!
Rae!! Sol gulps in water...
Swim check
And she finds her footing and her legs, dragging herself to the column.
"Nice work Sol, thanks! What was that you did to it?! That was really cool! Let's hope there's no more of those..."
Sol gulps for air, her lungs greedy for the fix. It takes her a few moments before she can answer Mort, her hands gripping the rope.
Sol blushes sweetly at Mort's compliment.
"Oh, I drove my dagger into its skull. I don't like killing, but that ghoul was a nasty fellow and so it needed to die (again)," Sol replies. "I told you I'd protect you, Mort. And I will. :)"
If nothing else of interest was to be seen in that room, Sol will follow Mort back.
There was a wad of clothing in the corner of the room. And you could have sworn the ghoul was wearing a ring...
"Oh Mort, look!!" Sol points back into the room. "Did you see that? I thought there was a ring and some other stuff maybe in the room! I can go back and get it unless you'd rather go? I can hold the lantern," Sol suggests.
"Really? Sure! I will go back -- here." he says, handing her the Lantern.
Carefully...
He swims back down to the entrance of the Ghoul room, peering into it -- the glowing hair clip still in his now flattened cowlick.
Ascaria dog paddles up to Sol. "Where's Mort?!" he asks with some alarm. "You didn't leave him down there did you?"
He looks on with concern, trying to pierce the depths with his limited vision.
You are able to locate the objects of interest, as Solrisa described. There is a ring on the ghoul's left hand, a signet ring of gold, with the same symbol of the eight-pointed star as the sets of red armor previously encountered.
There is a small bundle of clothes in the corner of the room, most of it shredded, then twisted together. Briefly moving it allows it to separate out, revealing a coin pouch, and a small leather case.
A black ichor flows from the ghoul, tracing a thin line in the water. Your swimming motion seems to bring it to life, as it wriggles and congeals.
"Oh hi, Ascaria, there," Sol points back into the room. "Mort when that way to finish searching the room. I killed the ghoul, don't worry," Sol says happily.
"Ascaria, look! The lantern!" Sol holds up the lantern for Ascaria to see. If and when Mort returns, Sol will swim with the others to the stairs.
...ok.
Avoiding the ichor as much as possible because -- -- Mortimer collects the perceived valuables and heads back out.
One more look. Don't want to have to come back if I don't have to come back.
He walks to the entrance of the Ghoul room once again avoiding the ichor as much as possible, and pushes off the floor back toward the surface.
Ascaria grips the rope and tries to catch his breath.
"Nice! I wonder who dragged it all the way down here?" *pant* "So what's a ghoul?" *huff* "What's it look like?" *breathe* "How does it fight?" *cough* "I'm sorry I missed it all."
Mort pops back to the surface like a cork.
"Got it!" he says, holding up the goods. "Oh, Hi Ascaria! You should have seen Sol,
she was brilliant. Having a hard time getting over the reverb of her strike. It was almost -- supernatural."
He hands the hairpin back to Ascaria.
"Thanks, for this. Let's get out of here now."
Leaving all the rope for the others, he easily follows them to make sure they all get through the underwater doorway safely.
Tynan helps the swimmers back onto the stairs.
"Sorry I couldn't dive in, but..." he looks sheepishly at the others. "I can't swim."
"How does it fight?" *cough*
Sol smiles emptily.
"Oh, did you want to go look? It tried to bite and claw at us! It was a vicious little thing, indeed," Sol mentions, pointing to the room.
* * *
Sol unties her rope from the column and hand-over-hand uses it to retreat back to the stairs. She will untie and spend a few minutes wretching dry the rope and as much of her own clothing as she can.
Sol chirps at Mort as something catches her eye.
"Oh Mort, you're still injured. We should fix you up! Maybe we should go back and rest for a bit. We could take the lantern(s) with us to keep them safe."
"Oh, did you want to go look? It tried to bite and claw at us! It was a vicious little thing, indeed," Sol mentions, pointing to the room.
"Oh yes, yes I do. I'll meet you back, just be a moment."
Ascaria swims down to the ghoulish room and checks out its occupant - from a safe distance, and only for a moment.
Not seeing much of interest, he swims back to the group as quick as he can though without much skill.
"OK then, how are we all doing? Mort? Sol says you took a hit or more down there, let me look at you."
He waves aside any of Mort's protestations, "Now look. If you're going to put yourself between us and danger, you're going to get hurt, and when you get hurt I'm going to heal you. Simple!"
"There, that should keep you going for a while."
"Maybe we should go back and rest for a bit. We could take the lantern(s) with us to keep them safe."
"I still have a little juice left, and it feels like we just got here. I say we look a little further. I'm curious to see what happens when we put the red lantern in it's spot. Let's go see!"
"I can't swim."
"That's alright -- and good to know," says Mortimer, reassuringly.
"Oh, did you want to go look? [...]""Oh yes, yes I do.[ ...]"
Well acclimated to the water at this point, Mort patiently treads water watching after the gnome, making sure he makes it safely back to the others.
"Oh Mort, you're still injured."
Eh?... He looks over himself in apparent bewilderment by Sol's observation, but before he can do or say anything -- Ascaria scolds and heals him at the same time.
"There, that should keep you going for a while."
Mortimer grunts and shrugs. "Much appreciated, Canary! I too think that we should look around more as well. Let's head back to the Sarcophagus room."
He helps anyone up the rope who may be in need.
Sol helps get the lantern back to the sarcophagus room and hung.
She will use her recently purchased torch supply to light them all.
Rae returns to the sarcophagus room with the others, uncharacteristically quiet.
"Here, let me do that." Rae offers as Sol begins to light the lanterns.
She could have been killed. Like it or not, I'm going to have to learn to swim.
"Let us point the sarcophagus to each alcove in turn and see what happens with all the lanterns lit. If that doesn't do anything new, I say we leave the sarcophagus pointed to the blue tunnel, and check out that ledge again."
He turns to Pillette, "Do you think you can find a way around the trap if it's still in force? You mentioned something earlier I think, but my memory is a little hazy. Must be the water in my ears." he grins.
Ascaria then looks to Mort, or one of the other large bodies, to help implement his plan.
Tynan joins the others in the lantern chamber, and watches for any changes which might occur when all the lanterns are lit.
I don't know if we should be excited or scared about what's to come...
He readies his short sword, and watches down each corridor in turn as the sarcophagus is turned.
"Oh Ascaria, let me help!" Sol lifts lanterns and lights torches. "This is just like decorating for Winterfest," Sol says happily.
Sol will help (or take lead) on swooshing the sarcophagus around. She will start with red.
Take 10 strength = 13 + Aid(?) = 15.
"If memory serves, there's a wolf corpse in the Yellow Lantern tunnel tube. I wonder if anything happened
to it."
He heads over to the Yellow Lantern tunnel to check it out when the Sarcophagus is pointing in the right direction.
With a little work, the collective manages to climb its way back up the Green Lantern's broken cylinder shaft. The Red Lantern makes its way back up the shaft, safely.
As Solrisa begins to renew the lights of the room, Raella takes the Red Lantern from her sister, and hooks it to the descending chain. The chamber receives torchlight, each in its turn. Soon, what once was barely overlapping light at the tunnels' end, becomes something much greater. The flickering light passes through the glass of the Lanterns, reaching the glass and metal chips embedded throughout the room's dome ceiling. The room is awash with radiance. The eye can not help but wander from color to color. Blinking causes the inverse of the color so recently seen, playing tricks upon everyone's visual senses. The distraction persists as you wander the chamber.
The coordinated effort on the sarcophagus brings it around, each tunnel to its turn. Mortimer's recent visit had left the sarcophagus positioned at the Orange Lantern tunnel.
The sarcophagus passes first to the Yellow Lantern tunnel, bringing the cylinder to rise, and open its doors to Mort, standing there to bear witness to an unmangled wolf corpse.
The sarcophagus turns again, now to Green, the Yellow cylinder lowering into the floor once more.
The sarcophagus turns to Blue, then to Indigo, then to Violet. Again, the Violet Lantern tunnel is host to a risen cylinder, which contains the macerated remains of the wolf corpse.
Completing the circle, the sarcophagus clicks into position, pointing to the Red Lantern tunnel. Nothing sounds or rises.
"Let's try to a new wolf body to see if it still does that mashing thing." Rae offers, looking around for one of the bodies.
Solrisa helps her sister with the wolf, as necessary. She mentions that there are big beetles downstairs that might also work.
Emptying the yellow cylinder, the wolf body fully intact, the sisters trudge the carcass to the Violet Lantern tunnel, and load the cylinder as before. Within seconds, the cylinder performs the same millstone work, as the doors snip shut, and the cylinder performs its inexorable descent.
"Ugh, messy.", he says as the wolf carcass is ground.
Ascaria shrugs and looks around at all the pretty lights. Magnificent. He gets his grin back.
"Let's try the blue tunnel again and if we have the same problem, we can head down the yellow cylinder - OK?"
"I think we should be careful, that trap can be deadly. Can we get around it maybe - assuming it's still active?" he looks to Pillette for answers.
"If not, I suggest maybe just Mort heads up that tunnel. I can be at the lip, hanging on the rope, to provide support if the trap goes off again. Pillette can be with me and Tynan on the chain. You and your sister can catch him like before!" he smiles broadly looking to Sol and Rae.
"Sure, I can see if anything changed up there. Anyone hear our Resident Creep lately?"
Mortimer kicks the Sarcophagus into place pointing to the Blue Tunnel, then grabs a torch and scales the chain to the top ledge therein. Within he finds roughly where in the tunnel he anchored his crowbar last and re-aquaints the tool with the ground at an angle nearby, hook part facing the source of the would-be wind. He then ties a rope to the crowbar under the hook, measures some length less than the distance to the ledge, and ties that around his waist.
"Heeelllllooooooo?" he croons, wondering if he's still alone in the tunnel.
Creeping forward, he tries to locate the switch/tile he stepped on before that triggered the wind, to see just what it is and if there is some way past it.
Sol goes to help Mort with the climb, offering to hold a rope on the ground to pull him down should he fall.
"Mort, be careful! And if you want, I'll go instead. I don't want you to get hurt," Sol offers.
Sol, eventually too excited to wait for too long, climbs to near the lip, not quite ascending and ready to drop back down at a moments (or winds) notice.
All goes as planned, although there is no answer at present to your salutation. As you gain the corridor's widening, your eyes adjust to the flickering of the torchlight, and the subtle discoloration of the floor past a certain point, where once your foot tread and the wind doth blow. It appears that the entire floor leading to the face with the yawning mouth shares the same discoloration.
Do you step over the line?
Mortimer calls back toward the entrance of the tunnel in the event that anyone can hear him.
"Ok, I see where the floor trigger starts, I think. There doesn't appear to be anyway around it, but I think I'm going to try it for a closer look at this thing anyway. It's probably going to trigger the wind, so beware."
He waits a moment to see if anyone or anything answers. Figuring that the thing is going to be blown out anyway if the wind is triggered, he tosses his torch past the threshold into The Yawn to see if anything of further interest can be seen.
If the wind is not triggered, I guess I can just retrieve it...
The torch arcs through the air, and passes through the Yawn, illuminating a room beyond. The stone that once filled the Yawn's space is now gone, allowing passage through. You hear the torch bark against something wooden, then a pause, before you hear it likely strike something metal with a clink. The torchlight is no longer visible, and you stand in relative darkness.
Stepping on the floor, you feel the soft shift downwards, and hear the click, but no wind begins to blow.
"Well... done..." a youthful voice intones.
Sol clambers up as Mort moves up a bit, confident she can get out of his way should they need to escape.
Still damp from his aquatic excursion, Mort is immensley relieved to find that he won't have to dry off the hard way.
...Whew!
He calls back in case anyone can hear him:
"Can anyone hear me?! We're in now! I'm standing in the Wall Maw room heading in further -- bring more light!"
Sol watches Mort and his progress.
"Mort, you've passed the wind!" Sol cheers. "Rae, look! Mort passed the wind!" Sol points at Mort, a place to which Rae can't see yet.
"We need light to see in the dark space."
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Ascaria refreshes the light on his hairpin and climbs the rest of the way up the rope and into the tunnel. He walks to Mort, stepping gingerly as if his weight might somehow trigger a trap that Mort's didn't.
"Watcha got Mort?"
Pillette and Raella remain in the prismatic chamber, tending to Thistle, and maintaining watch for any errant wandering troubles.
Meanwhile, Mortimer hails his companions, bringing Solrisa, Ascaria, and Tynan to investigate the wind tunnel more thoroughly.
Standing in front of the giant stone Face, covering the full ten-by-ten foot surface at the end of this tunnel, the glow of Mortimer's torch can be seen beyond. Through the gaping mouth at the end of the hallway is a long, dark room with no floor. A three-foot-wide beam of petrified wood spans the chasm, leading straight ahead into darkness.
About ten feet below the beam, countless iron spheres the size of large oranges form an irregular floor, but it’s impossible to tell if they represent a wholly solid surface. It at least supports Mortimer's torch.
The northwest and southeast walls are covered in a honeycomb of geometric patterns. The featureless stone ceiling extends about twenty feet from the wooden beam.
Sol marches to the end of the save walking, just before the wooden beam.
She uses her mother's eyes to cast about in the dim light, looking for things of interest.
A severed hand can be seen by the light of the torch, in between several iron spheres.
"Pretty lady..." A youthful voice catches the back of your neck.
Sol turns her head to address the voice.
"Mort! You ca---...oh," Sol's voice changes as she doesn't see Mort near.
She looks for the source of the voice.
Tynan looks at the geometric patterns on the walls, trying to determine if they are merely decorative, or perhaps conceal some sort of linguistic meaning.
No obvious source of the youthful voice is forthcoming.
The patterns seem to pay respect to the symbols you've seen earlier, but no meaning arises from its study. These patterns are very dense, lending to overlapping shadows from light sources in the room.
"Mort! You ca---...oh,"
Mortimer turns to Solrisa.
"What? Did you need me to do something?"
He sees her turn in distraction, scanning the area around her in search of something.
"Oh -- oh! I think you might have heard our Resident Cree --" he cuts himself off abruptly deciding that he's unsure if the disembodied voice is actually hostile, "Resident Spirit. What did he say to you?"
"What did he say to you?"
"He called me pretty," Sol says confidently. "But he didn't mention anything to help me out here. I wouldn't want to get hurt here...what should we do?" Sol asks the air around her.
She puts her fingers to her lips to indicate she wants silence.
She listens with her elven ears.
Directly in front of Solrisa, now audible to all, a youthful, boyish voice gains strength in answer to her question.
"Just a little farther... Then we can talk proper..."
It sounds as if it's retreating down the length of the beam...
Sol looks, squinting her eyes to see, for the sound of the voice.
"Rope! I have rope!" Sol gets out her rope and restrings herself, offering the other end to Tynan and Mort.
"It seems to like me and I like it. Let me go," Sol says.
With her shield off, she slowly and carefully walks across the beam. If she feels it is unsafe or moving, she will drop to a crawl.
Ascaria watches with some trepidation as Sol goes off into the darkness. He watches the rope play out and wonders what trap's maw will clamp down on Sol in this hallway.
"What do you see?"
He edges to the edge next to Tynan and Mort and looks down at the spheres that make up the floor.
Tynan takes the end of the rope from Solrisa.
"If you'd like, I can cross this. You did a lot underwater, after all. I'll leave it up to you though, since he thinks you're pretty."
Sol smiles sweetly at Tynan.
"I'll go. It will be good to know if he means us harm or if he is true and needs help finding Pharasma's embrace. This will tell us."
Sol walks/crawls on the beam.
"He called me pretty,"
Is it wrong?
"Tynan, I got this," he says, nodding toward the rope. "We shouldn't let her go it alone -- we'll never hear the end of it if Rae ever finds out. Go with her! You too, Ascaria, if you wish, just leave me a torch please..."
He prepares to anchor himself at the edge of the petrified wood walk, attempting to entertain himself by casually studying the decorative stonework around him.