When Ekan awakes, the two wander aimless through the already explored rows of books, flipping through random ones.
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Ekan turnes his stumble into a run, making it to the doorway.
Ekan runs for the door as he stands up, looking quite rediculus as he half-runs/half-stumbles away from the sphinx, trying to avoid creating a straight line with the direction Jazaka ran.
Ekan tries to twitch his fingers and toes.
"Hmmmm....maybe....but some of those seem rather forced."
After a long silence where Jazaka and Ekan contemplate the riddle Ekan hesitently tries, "How about this: since we are talking about death metaphorically, then daybreak could represent new life and new life can not happen without death. Then midday is the middle of one's life and also a time when one realizes that they have lived more years than they have left, thus leaving them focusing on death?"
"If we take darkness to me metaphorical for death, that could 'end the cold' that some feel shortly before they die. Still does not help with the daisies...but what if we think of everything more metaphorically with death?" "Every dawn begins with the death of night. And dusk begins when you start seeing the death of the day. I'm not sure of the next part, but aren't daisies something that are said to often grow on graves? Already got ending the cold before death. It's definitely not in the sun. And since anyone can die on any day it is always around."
"This is a nice one. Very poetic. A very nice balance between the uplifting first few lines and the darker mid-to-late lines and a final line that brings the tone up some. Although riddles are not usually something I have much of an interest in, I appreciate the beauty in this one."
"What is your favorite riddle?"
"A pair of dice - one die has six faces with one through six eyes on each side-21 total. So a pair has 12 sides and 42 eyes." After getting an inquiring look from Jazaka he adds, "I...uh...had some...let's say 'less then reputable'...friends as a boy."
Ekan looks confused for a moment then, mutters "I don't think hydras have more than two eyes per head..."
Ekan looks confused since he couldn't follow what the sphinx says but shrughs at Jazaka's jesture. "um . . . uh . . . What has 12 faces and 42 eyes?"
"If Jazaka's riddle is so simple, why haven't you answered it? It wouldn't be polite to her for me to ask a new question while she is still waiting."
Ekan continues thinking with a scoul on his face.
"Riddles aren't exactly my thing. Give me a few minutes to think."
Knowledge check to remeber the riddle the Androshinx was giving them when J and T ran away:
After watching his friends run away from the bigh-and-scary-but-not-THAT-sary beasty, Ekan sighs and tells it "Uh, just give me a moment...I'm sure we'll be right back." as he jogs off after his friends. He follows them, first catching up with and then trailing Thangardt. "What do you two think you're doing? Maybe that creature can tell us where the arena is if one of you two intellectuals answer its question. So can we go back now?"
Rolling his eyes at Thangardt, Ekan continues brining up the rear as the three make their way around the ginormous pile of books.
Although he's feeling better after drinking Jazaka's potion, Ekan still feels fairly beat up, and figures that Jazaka doesn't really look any better. So he begins looking for signs of anything that might bother them if they were to stop for awhile to rest.
[muttering]"Why would anyone want their armor to be shiny? Much to easy to be seen"[/muttering]
Ekan shrugs and explains about the extremely important book that they must look at because it's actually relevant only Thangardt needs to deal with the traps protecting it because it's so important.
Feeling better, Ekan pulls the mutilated book containing the pill out of his pack and shows it to his companions, "I found this on one of the shelves back that way. Any idea what it's about?"
:
sickened round 1/2
When it becomes clear that his companions can't hear him, Ekan makes a mental note of where this is and continues his search for them, heading down the () right passage that continues forward.
Ekan's eyes light up upon seeing the book, "Ah, now this is what we need!" But his expression quickly turns to annoyance at the double traps preventing him from getting to it. "I think Thangardt mentioned something about being handy with traps when he and Jazaka were talking earlier." He looks around as if he expects his companions to appear out of thin air just because he needs them. He tentitively calls out, "Thangardt...Jazaka...I found a book here that we must look at. It seems you were correct to come this way first". If there's no response he'll try repeating himself several times, getting a louder each time.
Ekan scowls at both the mutilated book and the mysterious pill and mutters to himself "perhaps Thangardt or Jazaka can make something of this." He leaves the pill in the book and puts both into his pack, intending to show it to his companions as soon as he finds them in this maze. With his companions not having made any significant amount of noise in the last few moments, he soundlessly continues along the () western passage, this time with significantly more attention paid to his surroundings.
"What's this now?" Ekan takes Lawefulle Good? Improveth Thy Outlooke On Liffe With Theesse Simple Triques, intending to quickly flip through it.
When he sees that his companions have not yet come back down the ladder, Ekan sighs and slowly climbs up the ladder.
Upon reaching the top, Ekan takes a moment to scan for signs of which way his companions went.
After waiting a few moments at the bottom of the stairs to convince himself that there is nothing of immediate interest down here, Ekan quietly makes his way back up the stairs to see what's taking his companions so long.
Ekan gives an exasperated sigh and mutters to himself "Well, if they're going to go off exploring, I may as well scout ahead." He begins sneaking down the stair case. If he sees anything odd or potentially threatening he'll take a few moments to examine it more closely at the edge of his vision before getting close enough to examine it closely.
Ekan rolls his eyes and grudgingly waits at the top of the stairs for his companions to join him.
Ekan quickly assumes that they are clearly supposed to take the staircase down to the arena and heads towards them.
"Or perhaps it's intended as a test to see who is truly committed to reaching Valhala and who just wants to play around." he mutters just loud enough for the others to hear as he leads the way forward. Ekan tries to quietly make his way through the rest of this room and into the tunnel beyond, though his companions soft conversation just behind him makes that ineffective. He stops just outside the next chamber to look around.
"Now if we can finally move on?" he says annoyedly.
"Really? Why must you continue to play with these stupid toys?"
"Hmph. See nothing. I don't know what you two are all flustered about. Now can we continue on to the Arena?" Ekan grumbles as he climbs back down and impatiently waits for the others to finish screwing around.
Ekan grudgingly climbs the sculpture and slowly trudges to the center to scowl at the dice for a second before picking up one of the four-sided dice and quickly rolling it.
Ekan turns around and lets out an annoyed sigh, waiting for his new companions to stop playing around and continue onwards.
Ekan scowles at Jazaka and begins to protest "The La-"
"Then I suppose we must announce ourselves to them," Ekan says matter-of-factly as he steps into the room. The statues's unexpected movement has an unnerving effect on him that is clear as his voice catches in his throat. uh, we, um, that is to say we...We're looking for the Areana. Is...eh...this the right way?" he manages to get out as he takes a few more tentative steps into the room.
"See Thangardt, this isn't so bad. We're already closer to the ground and at this rate we'll be on it in no time any you'll have to find something else to grumble about."
"There's some strange red glow up ahead" Ekan says softly back to Jasaka as he motions for her to slow down. Then he begins to slowly make his way to the point where the tunnel widens.
"I am inclined to agree with her lady-lizardship" a young man with eyes that seem to crackle with lightning says calmly. "Our final trial must be at the end of that tunnel. So if you would kindly get up off your, I expect incredibly hairy, ass, we can all proceed toghether. Or the lady and I can go alone if you would prefer to stay here to complain..." he trails off his last though as he begins to walk towards the tunnel entrance. |