OH. you ended thos. :(
I am very sorry for my lack of devotion; I was really looking forward to how it develops.
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Dawna's trust into the makeshift bridge in the dark is limited, but even if she can't be seen, she won't shy away from it now. "I'll follow, wait until I am across." She hisses to the others to avoid bouncing into them.
"That is a bold suggestions, but I think just jumping across it into the darkness is a bit too bold. Let's try to find some planks and cover the hole... To do that in darkness will not remotely be safe either, but better than the alternative."
If anyone starts creating a bridge we can put over there Dawna will help.
Dawna stands a little aside to let Telthes do his work and listens into the darkness.
That would be fine with me. :)
Dawna tried her best to look grim, despite the darkness gnawing on her. Then she realized that it did not really matter how she looked so she did instead try to sound grim. "Careful, here is at least one step down, possibly a stair." With her sword she knocked against the edge of it. "I hope you can hear that. Could you..." My, that sounded stupid now. She was a bit surprised with how loud her voice sounded. It wasn't like darkness might sounds more intense, was it? "Could you count through? I want to make sure everyone's still there." Next time they'd use a rope or something. "Don't bump into me, though I don't want to fall down there." She checked whether the walls were still there left and right and then carefully started to descent. Step by step.
If it is dark to anyone there is no reason why Dawna should not go first. She taps carefully with her sword and while the noise may give her position away there is nothing she can do about it. It least the sounds may give her an idea of the environment. Every two steps she reaches with her shield for the wall.
"Nothing of this makes sense to me... but we will find out." Dawna swings her sword to test the grip, assuming she may have to use it soon and moves onwards to the only hallway left. "And whoever is responsible for this shall be punished, even in a twisted, corrupt city like this."
yes... I am working on it. Sorry. :(
Dawna nods as she looks across the room. Someone is hoarding weapons here and that someone has to do with the manipulated locks and thus with the abductions, including those of the children.
"I don't have any means to deal with that either..." Dawna ponders for a moment. "If there is magical darkness someone wants to hide something. But exploring it blindly would be too risky. Let's try another way."
Dawna makes a grim face for all the stench and the somewhat unreal situation around her as she waits for Kintal at the edge of the hallway through which he disappeared. "I wander what this all means." A locksmith coerced to provide locks with a second key and strange markings on the inside. A blue creature. Greyscale masks; a shapeless organization that sounded mostly harmless and no discernable power structure... was it yet another mask for something worse? When she did not notice Kintal anymore, the chef who was surprisingly subtle for someone who took offence in the notion that he might sneak, she followed him slowly and carefully, though she was fully aware that anyone would hear from a distance with all her heavy armour.
Dawna tries to keep her composure, even though it takes some will not to choke as she treats the wounds of a giant with flame. Then she extinguishes the torch and puts it back and follows Telthes.
As the blood flew in small streams onto the floor Dawna the conversation of this others mixed with the blood streaming behind her ears and she felt somewhat numb as she got a torch out of her backpack and lightened it at the burning one. "I don't see a way around it; a simple heal spell might not be enough and we might depend on it later on. Blue Quartz forgive us." She started to seal the wounds with her mouth closed tight and her teeth grinding. She did not like this one but if these tunnels, comparable to a fistula, would fill with blood that would not make it better, they might even spark. To heal this tunnel system would take some very sever effort.
Dawna looks in discomfort at the bleeding walls, but takes a moment to examine the remains found inside the gelatinous mass. "Pretty wealthy for someone just getting caught in something like this. No melee weapon, but a heavy crossbow." She looked a little closer at the hatpins and everything else in hopes a finding anything that may give an allegiance away. She tries to look into the darkness beyond in the room from which the cube came to figure out whether there might be anything else that was hostile. "And this blue guy came from down here?" If this detestable tunnel system was frequented by the greyscale masks and creatures like that blue thing above, they must have a way to get past this cube without having to smash it to bits or be eaten.
"For the love of the giants make a little room behind me!"
"Mister Tormsil, I must compliment you. That did better than I thought it would." A grim smile shows up on her face. That thing would not stop them. Dawna throws the torch forcefully at the cube and gets her sword back out and strikes at it. If that thing is trying to dig its way into the narrow tunnel, she will carve a tunnel into it. After every blow she dodges behind her shield and gives the others as much space as she can to fire, lashing out while they reload and tries to get into a rhythm without neglecting the danger and the narrowing space.
"Let's do that." Dawna nods to Kintal. "Let me just try whether this helps..." She uses the torch and tries to carefully approach the gelatinous parasite, ready to pull back if she it shapes tentacles or anything. She is hesitant to drop the torch on the floor, though. The tunnel may already be cauterized, but it still is Blue Quartz's flesh. "Let me know when you're ready to shoot, I'll jump flat on the floor."
I strongly recommend we switch to a block initiative. Individual scores just delay the game too much. If every player posts once a day with individual initiative, the last in order has to wait for as many days as entities are in before them in initiative order and in the mean time the game looses it's pace.
"I don't think there is a door other than the hatch through which we came." Dawna spoke out loud, but seemed focused. "It looks mostly liquid, maybe it does not like fire - but everyone back, first, we need space to manoeuvre. I'll cover the retreat." Dawna puts her sword away, gets a torch out of her backpack and lighten it at Leiko's torch. She makes a room for Kintal and Milo to slip by her.
"The way Blue Quartz is cannibalized disgusts me. First the city and now this!" In the flickering light she watched the strange closing muscle. "Can anyone make out a way to open this?" Maybe it was enough to touch it, but she looked around for some... nerve end or anything to activate it.
Dawna looks a little puzzled when the fight is over before she can do anything at all. She did not take that long to get her sword and shield ready, did she? "I do have torches, but I don't have a hand free. In my backpack." She indicates a look over her shoulder, inviting the others to get one. "I think we should deal with the more immediate concern what may be down there first. We will certainly take care of Azraq." She looks a little unsure around. If anyone came into the shop right now that would look ... strange. "Let's get on with it."
Dawna was still puzzling over the strange answer from the kobold as she heard the yells and the sounds of battle. "What, by all shades of the crystals, is that?" A quick glance around tells her that it is too narrow to fight anywhere but here. The others were already on their way down, so if whatever they came across follows them, they could expect it here. If it follows them. "Hurry!" She calls out with a great deal of concern for her new friends in her voice as she readies her weapons.
That was the kind of greeting that she didn't need right now. And while she had the same problem as Milo - she could not tell whether it was a male or female kobold - she was very adapt in that kind of battle as well. She replied: "Not quite" and forced herself to smile. "I am Dawna of the Fifth Winged Hussars Legion of Amethyst and these are Milo, Leiko, Telthes and Kintal. You might say fate bound us together and we are currently trying to assist the Cult of the Quiet Hand to find out what is behind several disturbing events. We may need your assistance with disassembling and possibly replacing certain locks in the orphanage funded by the Emerald church in the palm of the left hand. The locks apparently have been tempered with, but not just to pick them. There is something more going on."
Dawna enters behind him, happy to get to some place inside. Paired with the changing perspective her tiredness makes her almost feel like having a hang. Three times she lost orientation and almost stumbled when she looked up on the ground; the actual ground that is. She nods friendly as she enters and wonders whether is a thief in the city that can pick all those locks. And if they had a way if being picked if someone did not have a key. She forces herself to keep her composure, but leaves the conversation to Milo.
For a moment she looked out the window until she figured out that he meant that eyes were the window to the soul. Not windows. Windows were the windows to the outside, she did not have to be an artist to realize that. "Indeed.", Dawna replied to Leiko. She had only vaguely realized that he stared at her - that was nothing unusual to her - and she was still trying to figure out whether she liked the compliment about her eyes. She often received compliments about her eyes from people looking at her locksmith-location. She did not really like the guy, but he was taking care of homeless children, which was a good thing. But he was also a bit obsessed with her, had a doubtful taste for art. "It's lovely. Amazing, I mean." "A bed would be a really nice place right now to be honest." She blinked twice as she realized that this might be interpreted beyond her tiredness. "Yeah, let's go. Muse or no, we wouldn't disturb an artist at work, would we." She did not hesitate to let Leiko guide her away. "We better get you out of his sight quickly", she whispered as she left. "Or you'll be his next victim. He may be obsessed with me for now, but I doubt he has a long attention span. Thanks for saving me." She sighs. "Well, splitting up did not turn out to be such a good idea last night, so we better join them going to find a lock smith. Otherwise we may have a lock smith in slices when they come back."
Dawna followed the voices of the scene and she was a bit shocked when she stepped into the room and saw a parody of herself looking back at her. It took her a moment to realize that it was not probably meant as a parody, he just had a thing for big eyes. She was seriously not in the mood for something like this right now, but it was about time to smooth things over a bit. "I am sorry for the interruption; I suppose I was not meant to see this before it was finished. I... did not realize I was that beautiful" she had to swallow hard on this. "The eyes are important to you, aren't they?" "Leiko, my companion has indeed found hints that the locks have been tempered with and I am afraid that there might be some evil at work here. This locks were meant to create the illusion of safety. I consider it our duty for the safety of your charges to ensure there is no vile form of abuse at work here. We will of course make sure everything is in order before the night falls." She tried to fake a smile as she cast another glance at the painting.
"Good morning, boys." Dawna repeated Leiko's greeting. "What do you mean a couple of dwarven maskers? A retaliation? What happened, exactly?" She sighs, and the sigh succumbs to a yawn. "I need some sleep. Anyway, we should look at the locks. If I understood correctly those markings had magical properties. Sooo... if any of you can help with that, that would be most appreciated. Otherwise we'll have to make a copy as accurately and try doing some ... research." She doesn't bother to hide how much she hates digging up evidence in books and files. "Apart from that... we could try to find an ex-member of the greyscale masks. From what I heard there is plenty of them. While most of them will probably not be willing to talk it would surprise me if there was none at all. Not sure how we're gonna do that. I can't really make a lot of sense of the greyscale masks yet. I wish I knew what they want in the first place. There is no saying whether there is only one greyscale mask organization in this city or everyone who puts on such a mask is regarded as one, or whether it is a loose decentralized network." She waves a bit erratic with her hand to the door. "Here. Behold: The mysterious bloody lock which is our only in-crystalline* clue yet. Someone make something out of it, please ... Well, sorry, I am tired." To Kintal she casts a frustrated and somewhat impatient glance, since she obviously gets him wrong. She doesn't seem particularly balanced right now at all. "You're not supposed to pick it, it's already open. Imagine it like someone used a recipe to give the lock a particular flavour. Tell me what the flavour is and it was done. I mean, I don't think one usually scratches a pattern into a lock to pick it. There is more to it than that." She looks for something to make a sketch on, so she can copy the pattern. ---
If he had this dream before it was probably not connected to the event. She wanted to ask more questions to make sure, but the boy was afraid and she did not want to bring up more bad memories. "If you see that creature ever again in your dreams, think of me and I shall come along and it. I shall protect you. Do you sometimes have problems breathing when you're not sleeping?" She put a hand softly on his shoulder. Maybe he was suffering from asthma? Or maybe there was a psychological reason why he would be afraid of suffocating?
Dawna smiled to the boy. "And I am Dawna, nice to meet you. The night when your room mates disappeared you had a strange dream. Could you tell me about that dream? Don't worry, it can't hurt you no matter what. You can hold my sword if that makes you feel safer. But be careful with it, it's sharp." Dawna kneeled down to him and offered her sword with the hilt first to him though she was ready to interfere should he try to do anything rash with it.
"Good morning Leiko." Dawna yawns but is quite content that the night passed peacefully. She badly needed to catch up on sleep and hoped that the others would appear soon so that she could go find a bed. She waited a moment if someone replied to Leiko's question, while she stepped by her side and gave her a friendly smile. "Good morning everyone. Hope you had a wonderful night. My beautiful friend here is Leiko, a muse and enchanting singer from Pearl Islands, and I am Dawna of the Queen of Amethyst's Fifth Winged Hussars legion." She paused briefly and cast another look around to get a better impression on the dominant emotion among the children. "Who of you is Jose? Don't worry, you're not in trouble. Our purpose is to protect the innocent; and in my book children are innocent per se, no matter what they may or may not have done."
"Certainly, have a rest." Dawna does not seem to be all to happy with that, but she's alright with it.
"Hmm... alright. I don't think there is anything to be done here for now. So it's gonna be a long night, I suppose. You don't happen to have a deck of cards or a few dice? Or would you like to tell me about your family?" She smiles. "I must admit that I was a bit selfish when I asked you to join me, I didn't want to do this without good company."
"Pattern? What does that mean? Is that a security feature of the locks or has it been applied when the kids were taken?" Dawna speaks with lowered voice, so she will not wake the sleeping children and looks a little puzzled.
"I think that anyone capable of walking on the side of buildings is capable of using magic to open any mundane lock." "... and close it afterwards?" Dawna asks around and considers. She doesn't really know a lot about magic. "Well, it's gonna be a long night. I am gonna post myself in front of one of the rooms..."
Dawna listens to Tashykk patiently and smiles encouragingly on occasion. While she is not sure she likes the way he stares at her, she certainly does like the way he is wax in her hand. She looks at the paintings and tries her best to memorize the looks of the missing kids. Since she has no particular trust in Tashyyk's artistic ability she rather tries to memorize particular marks, hair colour and such things. She twitches a bit at being addressed with "man", even though it was probably just a colloquial expression, neither Leiko nor she were men. And very clearly not. "That nightmare Jose had... did he remember it particularly well? Has he had nightmares of that evil gnomes before or was a story of such a gnome told the evening before? Is he suffering from a breathing disorder - asthma or so? And the kids that disappeared... how did they feel about living in an orphanage? I mean were they the kind inclined to break out?" She is a bit surprised about the quality of the locks. In a place like this she would have rather expected locks that were virtually painted onto the doors. "I will need to have a look at the sleeping halls, but not while the children are sleeping in there. That can wait until the morning. What do you think, Leiko?"
Dawna nods politely to the elder sister. "I prefer to spend the night there either way, I would appreciate a commendation from you. Did I understand that correctly, that there are more people missing throughout Blue Crystal City? Not just only children?"
"Loosing Onyx was something that should never have happened and showed us how vulnerable we can really be. But, whatever remains there, I don't think it still turns to the crystal giants, but to the aliens and their magic." She shakes her head as if to shake off the thought. "So you cook for large amounts of people as well? Doesn't quantity make quality suffer?"
Which will it be then, Lady Paladin? Oh, if that's still an option we shall leave.
Oh, all right then. I think I got Leiko wrong.
"Thanks." she smiles as she inhales the promising smell. "You are indeed a genius with making delicious food." She does struggle with herself whether she really eat all of it, though. It is delicious, but she is used to controlling her appetite in order to remain an exemplary paladin. "Have you ever worked for the court of Amethyst before? I've never been to the Pearl Islands myself, but recently I've travelled quite for on myself. Before that my greatest adventures were scouting and exploration missions at the borders of the swamped forests on the onyx peninsula. There were times I wish I had but a dry field ration but had to eat whatever I found." It seems she remembers that time with very mixed feelings.
No, Dawna and Leiko have decided not to leave after all.
For a brief moment Dawna looks straight at Leiko and considers. "I'll stay with you then. I just hope nothing bad happens in the mean time." She takes her sword, shield and backpack, as well as the gloves of her armour off.
I was not going to track the Greyscale Masks down, not tonight, just go to the orphanage. If there is anything to be found out at night I will, but it doesn't seem likely. I was waiting for a reply from Leiko.
Dawna ponders about this for a moment, if everyone and everything can be a Greyscale Mask and then not again, what are the Greyscale Masks then? Did they have a power structure? "This Greyscale mask may be yet another mask. I mean, it is a mask, but more deluding than it seems." She stands up swiftly and rearranges her armor with its brand new dents.
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