Everett loosened his sword in its scabbard and took position by the door. With raised eyebrows he asked their hosts, "Unexpected visitors?"
The gnome sighs and slides off her chair, then says in a deadpan marketing tone "Nita Cobbles, owner and sole employee of Cobbles, Bobbles, and Bows, your source of all your cartography needs" then a small woof reminders her "And Waldorph, the business's security guard"
"A messenger. Who does not want to be shot." She doesn't add her name as Janiven already identified her.
"Name's Everett, strangely enough I wasn't planning on getting shot today either..."
Nita remembers Bobbles getting one of those new-fangled 'firearms' and the eager tinkerer's utter lack of safety procedures. "It is not enjoyable" she says flatly as she retrieves a small metal shield from her hip, and fastens it on her wrist
Sanchia fells pressured to offer "Sanchia" up to the group, but adds nothing more since there seems to be raid or something or the sort underway, and the room's other occupants carry a strong whiff of criminality, regardless of what her mirror might be whispering.
She hangs on to the script with a deathgrip since it is her alibi.
A harsh voice sounds from beyond the closed door.
"ATTENTION, PATRONS OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT MASQUERADING AS A TAVERN! EVERYONE UP AGAINST THE WALL. WE HAVE ALREADY CAPTURED THE SEDITIONIST OWNER OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT--IF YOU RESIST, IT SHALL BE A WASTE OF YOUR FREEDOM!"
There's several stomping noises.
"Armigers! Get that door open!"
"S!$~." Janiven curses before running to a wine rack on the far wall and roughly shoving it aside, revealing a passage in the encroaching dark. "Everyone, this way!"
Aidonis is already out of his seat and hustling through, as is Quirri. Calseinica grabs Sanchia's hand. "Come on--we gotta go!"
"Indeed." replied Everett equally deadpan. There didn't seem any other choice but to go through the passage and step into the darkness.
Nita's eyes narrow behind her glasses. To a mapmaker, secret ways were both highly irritating and curiously enticing. Getting imprisoned by Armigers was not enticing though. So the gnome clicked at her pup, slipping her hand into his fur and let him lead her into the dark.
Impressed by the secret door, Whisper follows without hesitation.
Sanchia goes!
As the group starts to make their way down the secret passage, the sounds of heavy boots kicking at the VIP Lounge's door suddenly burst through the air--followed by the splintering of wood.
"Dammit!" Janiven curses and runs ahead of the group.
There's not a lot of time to really examine the passageway--it's mainly composed of stone that gradually descends into the darkness. The heat of the day yields to a deep chill--one not quite of the earth.
Janiven barks out a strange word in an unfamiliar tongue. In response, a sudden rush of wind fills the corridor and a deep, inky and filmy blackness fills the rest of the way.
"Come on--let's go!" Janiven starts ushering the others into the dark. Aidonis goes first--with some hesitation. Quirri swallows, looks at Cassynder and follows.
Calseinica stops cold. "Wait a minute--what just happened?!"
Whisper allows her darkvision to kick in to navigate as they approach the darkness and, in a rare act of magnanimity (for her), pokes her tail out from under her cloak to the nearest human. "If you can't see, hold on."
Everett found the dark passageway deeply unsettling, he wasn't at all sure where they were going! When the whispering one offered a tail he replied "Er... Okay, thanks."
He would have preferred a hand but a tail would do. He tried to walk forward confidentiality hoping the ground was smooth.
Nita's eyes might have been near useless at a distance, darkness did not bother them in the least. So she slipped her fingers into her puppy's scruff "my turn" she said low to let him know she'll lead for a little while. A very soft woof was his response.
Sanchia is too frightened and her thoughts too scattered to do anything but keep going headlong into the darkness.
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The tip of Whisper's tail coils around Everett's hand, perhaps not comfortingly, but nonetheless seems to be a firm assurance she will not let him get lost.
She pulls a dagger into one of her own hands, holding it close just in case she needs to defend herself.
Calseinica stumbles forward into the darkness along with the rest of the party. Janiven is the last to take the plunge--just as the thundering of metal-shod boots comes down the passageway.
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There's a brief moment of weightlessness as the party passes through. What little remains of the day's unbearable heat and humidity abruptly melts away, leaving a deep chill of the unfathomable dark.
A split second later, the party's feet find purchase on cold stone--and the tunnel opens up into... what looks like a city street ahead.
The world that greets the emerging party stands in stark contrast to the noisy, colourful city of Westcrown they were in just mere moments ago. Shadow presses down all around, chased away only by pale white lights blazing upon lampposts. Overhead, the sky is a cloudy grey, deepening to the darkest black just beyond sight. The waters of a nearby canal are eerily calm, and inky black.
The many colours the party bore moments before have faded--there is only grey, white and black. Nothing else.
You've emerged into Westcrown... yet it's a Westcrown bled of all colour. Or life.
This is the Plane of Shadow.
Calseinica whimpers in fear, clutching onto Sanchia. Quirri is looking all around her in wonder. Aidonis stares grimly ahead.
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Cassynder looks about as they emerge and takes in the strange view.
"I may not have learned much about the Planes at the monastery, but there's only one place this could be: the Netherworld," he says matter-of-factly. He looks at Janiven, his expression a mix of curiosity and respect.
"I underestimated you; you clearly have worked long and hard on your goals if you're able to pull tricks like this in service to them."
"Well, let's not start cheering just yet." Janiven grimaces and pulls a slender rod from a pocket. With a good hard whack on the nearest wall, the rod begins to glow with a pale white light.
"We need to find someplace to bunker down--I doubt those Order of the Rack armigers will stop at the portal..."
"It closes itself after a few seconds. I can't make it close any faster, I'm afraid."
Nita doesn't look washed out of color, since she is devoid of it on every occasion. She does look with interest around her, what she can see at least.
Whisper takes in what she sees, and nods at Cassynder's interpretation. Need to 'borrow' more of Igni's books and learn more about this stuff.
Aloud (if barely), she observes, "Air's drier."
She looks for a corner good for hiding.
...if Vizio's Tavern was built about eight centuries ago. Yet the streets feel strangely familiar, nonetheless. You may be able to get around this 'shadow Westcrown' if its street layout is anything like its sunlit counterpart.
Unfortunately, they all appear to have been claimed.
You notice something briefly glinting in the shadows. Something like a pair of hollow eyes.
It blinks.
"I know where we are at." the gnome woman looks around with a deep frown. She thinks about where would be a good place to hide. Quickly.
Whisper points where she spotted the eyes blinking in the shadows. "We're being watched."
Everett felt well and truly out of his depth. He didn't understand how there could be a shadow westcrown, but he knew deep down in an instinctual way that this was a dangerous place. He loosened his rapier in its scabbard and tried to keep a diligent watch.
After that moment of thought, the gnome and her dog start moving.
To anyone following, she says "Look out for the stone head of an angel representing Shelyn. Should be in the eaves of a two-story house along the canal."
To anyone not following, she turns around looking at their blurry forms through squinted eyes "Come On" she says flatly. Then turns away and continues.
It's all a bit much for Sanchia to take in, she reciprocally clutches on to Calseinica. She knows quite well where they are, but doesn't want to make any noise while talking. Besides, there's no comfort in anything she could tell anyone about the place except the convenience of matching geographies between their own plane and the shadow plane, and that's already known.