"Hmmm," Kessel says looking at the vat of goo, "we have beds over there, and a bathroom over here . . . I wonder. Daire, be a dear and find out what it taste like . . ."
"Sure thing" Darie replied, and with an impish grin extended her finger towards him. "Say Ah like a good boy."
She shrugged, and cleaned off her finger after offering it to him for a moment. "Why do you think I'm any more keen on putting that stuff in my mouth than you?"
"I don't think that stuff used to be water, in fact I think whatever magic runs this place still functions, and so whatever that stuff is I think this is what it looked like when the cairn was built. I've got a feeling that it's some sort of food. I mean we got shelter and bathrooms down here . . . the only thing we're missing is food for the perfect subterranean existence."
Kayos:
Kessel tries the old dip one finger, lick the other trick to make the others think he's actually tasted the goo.
Kessel dips his finger into the vat and pops it into his mouth.
"Hmmm, sort of tastes how it smells," he says.
Kells looks at Kessel in disbelief as he licks his finger "So you think this is some sort of nectar fount? I guess it could be, but couldn't it also be some sort of wierd lubricant for the tools or something?"
With a shudder, Darie turned away from Kessel, and shook her head. "That you'd even think about doing that. All right, it probably would beat starving to death, but... not unless we find nothing else at all." She seemed remarkably squeemish all of a sudden... at odds with the tough attitude she had tried to build up for herself, and the nonchalance with which she treated blood, freshly-dressed animals and other things.
Then again, she probably had been around these for most her life, considering the Billowns slaughtered and smoked their own meat.
"Think about it Kells, these people slept, worked, and pooped down here. Do you think they left to get something to eat? I mean if they have toilets something was coming out . . . so something had to have been going in. Doesn't look very good but I'm thinking it's probably quite capable of sustaining life."
Eyebrow arched, Kells shrugs a minor agreement. "I suppose so, but it doesn't look very appealing to me. Any stories about the ancient wind folk having banquets of amber earwax?"
"Well unless you are going to sit down to a banquet of that stuff, Kessel why dont we move on?" suggests Loriel. "The smell is making me ill, I will never understand some races fascination with drowning their food in gravy!"
"It smells good enough, but the color and consistency... Yuck!" Darie agreed. "Let's just carry on. I'd rather have a few more "floating muscle" things than eating this stuff."
Not content to merely nag, she began to stroll back up the corridor, towards the strange tube. Maybe there were others like it? Who knows what else the Cairn would show them?
Kells nods at Darie and ambles behind her. "We probably should maintain the marching order, Darie. Even in areas we've already been through it would just be safer."
Kells nods at Darie and ambles behind her. "We probably should maintain the marching order, Darie. Even in areas we've already been through it would just be safer."
"That is a good point." agrees Loriel. He takes his place in the front rank next to Kells.
Kessel shrugs and quickly rejoins the others.
They'd found a possible food source and nobody seemed interested. If someone were brave enough to try the food the time spent foraging would be greatly reduced. Perhaps tomorrow he might convince Tyrion to detect poison on it to confirm Kessel's suspicions.
With a last look around, Tobin scurries after the others. "So, what have we learned?" he muses. "At least one of the windfolk lived and worked down here at one time - so I guess this isn't just a cairn. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. Also, they like making statues of themselves!"
Once we all fall into place, Kells leads the group back to the tube and rises back up into the main room. Once there he pauses to look at the sarcophagas. "So do you think that we can turn this and make a different lift tube work in one of the other corridors?"
Once we all fall into place, Kells leads the group back to the tube and rises back up into the main room. Once there he pauses to look at the sarcophagas. "So do you think that we can turn this and make a different lift tube work in one of the other corridors?"
"Well we won't know until we give it a try." says Loriel. "Let's try turning it to the right first, then left if that does not work." He gets in place with Kells and some of the others and they attempt to rotate the sarcophagus in place.
The arrow was pointed at yellow lantern. Which colour are you turning the arrow to face?
"Let's turn it clockwise," Kessel says.
Kells nods and gets into a braced position to push. "Sounds as good as any other option."
Darie stepped towards the sarcophagus, and got into position to help push it. She wasn't very strong, but she had had to carry her weight around the farm. "Alright... clockwise, one alcove at a time? Until something new comes up?"
"Sounds like a plan Darie," Kessel says as he joins in the pushing, "and remember let's not go jumping into anything until Tobin has had a chance to look it over. We've seen enough traps already to know that the builders meant business. We can't assume anything."
Clockwise the colours are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
The team slowly turns the sarcophagus to point to yellow.
"Let's have a look at that alcove now."
The team slowly turns the sarcophagus to point to yellow.
The group move the sarcophagus around one alcove in a clockwise direction, moving it to face the next lantern. After a brief moment a cacophonous creaking of stone on stone emerges from the sound beneath the green lantern.
Darie looked around, grimassing. "That does not sound good, folks?" She took a few halting steps towards the green lantern, maybe to see what the cause of the ruckus was, but it was decidedly half-hearted. "Anyone have any idea what this is? The roof is not coming down on us, right?"
She looked back towards Kessel "Or should we turn it back?"
Kessel squints as he listens to the sound.
"Maybe something's jammed?" he suggests, "maybe we should let it work itself out? No idea here really. I mean we don't want to break anything but if there's something here we don't want to miss it either . . ."
"Are you sure?" Darie looked doubtfully back towards the sarcophagus, which seemed to have settled into its new position. Maybe this was some kind of trap, and the builders had decided that bringing the place down on some intruders was worth protecting their secrets?
Before she could voice that horrible idea, though, her common sense prevailed. Someone had previously tried to loot the place, so most likely the passage they were now waiting to open had been tried before as well. No reason to get too worried.
"Yeah," Kells agrees, "We've come a ways, I would hate to leave off now. Let's check out what happened. Maybe just another lifter/lowerer device." He picks up the everburning torch in one hand and his hammer in the other and walks toward the green lanterns tunnel.
"Wait, let's not go charging in there just yet, let's wait and see. If those noises don't stop in a minute or so I think we should shift this sarcophagus to a different color before we walk down there to investigate. I don't think the cairn is going to collapse or anything, but that particular tunnel might not be safe."
"yes . . . any moment now . . . those noises will stop . . ."
The sound continues for several seconds, getting louder and louder until the floor under the green lantern collapses. All falls silent, but only for a moment as soon a skittering sound fills the chamber and a living geyser of beetles bursts from the newly created shaft. The undulating blanket swarms towards the group leaving a thin coat of bright yellow acid in their wake. Behind the beetles emerges a horrible creature the size of a dog with six sharp legs sprouting from a central body that is little more than a disgusting eye.
Darie saw the surge of insects, and stopped thinking. Watched as it rolled out of the ruined elevator shaft, and knew this was not the time to be timid. There were too many of them. They looked fast, hungry, mean and perfectly willing to eat them all alive. The beetles were rolling towards her, probably would get her and bury her under chitin.
"Torive Igne Va..." she whispered, five fingers of fire. Spread out her hands before herself. Throughout her whole body an unnatural heat spread, exploding out of her fingers in ten plumes. She did not take the time so survey what damage she had done. She just ran, hoped to join the others. With some luck, the swarm would recoil from the fire a little bit.
Scatter and regroup. KC's words made sense - Tobin had seen swarms of insects devour a crop in seconds, and knew that trying to fight them was futile at best. Moving swiftly, he retreated from the beetles, looking for a way to engage the eye-creature behind them.
Kessel, Tobin & Darie scatter, when they glance back the swarm is looking a little more disorganised and scorched. Clacking annoyed sounds escape them.
Kells reaches back into his backpack and pulls out a vial of viscid liquid. He hauls back and throws it. When the glass dashes against the floor it erupts in a flame of alchemist's fire. He steps back toward the sarcophagus.
Kessel will use bard song. He will move to put the sarcophagus between himself and the strange creature.
Darie saw Kells and Kessel remain behind the Sarcophagus, and cursed. Why weren't they running for the exits? They... couldn't expect...
"TORIVE IGNE VA!" she screamed on top of her lungs, and send another set of fire plumes into the closing insects. "Why are you sticking around?! Kessel! This is not!" She was too frightened to form coherent sentences, but the power coursing through her was also intoxicating. And at the same time, she knew she could not possibly let her friends stay behind. She knew this for a fact more than ever before in her life.
"TORIVE IGNE VA!" she screamed on top of her lungs, and send another set of fire plumes into the closing insects. "Why are you sticking around?! Kessel! This is not!"
"Why am I sticking around?" Kessel asks in surprise, he gasps as Darie doesn't move and the bugs close in, "You get back to the exit! I need to help Kells and Loriel guard our retreat! Everyone else use whatever ranged weapons you have!"
Between the alchemist's fire and Darie's spell the swarm is soon all burnt to a cinder or in the process of scuttering away to hiding holes. The 'other thing' meanwhile scurries onwards, apparently angry over the death of the other insects. Making angry chittering sounds it focuses it's rage on Kells and agressively follows the paladin.
Darie was breathing heavily, and as the swarm dispersed, came to a halting stop on the sarcophagus. Both her hands pushed solidly against the coffin lid, but not attempting to move it. "That should do it. Do you manage the big one?" She asked, actually somewhat out of breath - and still battling quite a few conflicting emotions. The exhilaration of power. The shame and guilt of "slipping" into it. The sincere loyalty in these friends, unlike what she had felt before.
Kells pulls his hammer back up and situates it to help keep the thing at bay. He makes a half-hearted attempt to smack it, but misses. He calls back over his shoulder "Take flight, my friends. I'll try to keep this thing held back."
The things scrabbles desperately to hiut Kells, but thankfully the paladin is ready for the attack and defends himself well, the blow glancing off of his armour, producing an annoyed hiss from the thing.
With an unsettling gurgling noise the thing collapses in a heap on the floor leaving the party safe once more and with a huge hole in the floor from where the vermin came from.