Tomb of the Lost

[Pearl Dragon]

[Kira follows the man, then searches the left side for him.]

Kira remains steady as the man slowly leaned the sword to the wall and then took the offered objects.  She watched him with a small level of admiration as he examined the objects, ears perking as he addressed the disk.

"This,"  he says, and Kira flinched a little towards him when he shook and nearly dropped the object.  Her worry for him had begun to grow and push her fears aside, but he recovered and continued after a moment.  "There's a table with a slot like this. Back there."

Kira looked doubtfully up where she had come from, knowing it was going to be too difficult in both their current states to try and head that way.  She wasn't surprised when he shared her thoughts, and she nodded in agreement.  When he addressed her wounds, her eyes dropped to the ground as if in shame and she looked away towards the wall before returning to meet his as he explained something about a vial and grey liquid.  The idea of 'bleeding' something for more of this liquid was an alien idea to her, and she simply cocked her head in confusion. 

The man smiled at her, lifting her spirits just a smidge before heading through the door.  She could still hear him talking to her as she turned to join him.

"Maybe there's something-"  his voice said, before cutting off abruptly.  Kira could not see him at this point, but sharp concern suddenly gripped her.   Bounding for the door, Kira shoved her way in and made a question sort of "ah?" noise, peering around inside at the sun-engraved portal to her right and the gloomy space to her left.  The left direction was where she thought she heard her new companion and it was that way that she skulked, hands drawn to her chest and head lowered as if in trouble.  Her heart thudded in her jaw and throat, each beating a painful rhythm in sync with her torn flesh.

[NightshadeVII]

[OOC: Edge picks up the knife and is thoroughly weirded out by the text on the wall. He also isn’t having any of Marche’s bs and tells the ifrit that if they don’t do anything about his foot, as a minimum, the ifrit is only going to slow them down. He tears strips from the vest he wears, intending to use them as bandages, and once again asks Marche to sit, this time he’s more insistent, not wanting to take no for an answer.]

For a moment, Edge’s eyes lingered on the writings on the wall. This... what even was this? Men like animals, his gift, news to celebrate. Was this connected to this horrible place? It didn’t make any sense, what about this was a cause for celebration? None of what he had encountered so far had instilled a sense of contentment or enjoyment in him, quite the opposite really. However, what made him most uncomfortable was the phrase; men like animals. That could never be good. He had encountered plenty of those before, back home, and those people had been pleasant enough, when they were in control of the animal. When they weren’t, it was best to run. If this was anything like what he knew, this place was only about to get worse.

He shuddered, muttering something under his breath. That was when he saw the gleam of the knife. For a moment, he was disgusted with himself for being happy to see a weapon like this, but that was quickly overpowered by rationalization. He needed any advantage he could get in here, anything he could find to defend himself and others was welcome. An extreme case of beggars being unable to be choosers.
Quickly, he picked it up and secured it in his belt along with the other knife, as he wasn’t about to discard a weapon that could still be used. Even if this wasn’t what he had been looking for, it was better than nothing. At least he hoped that it was.

Then he turned back to look at the ifrit, frowning at the other’s insisting.

“Marchelute, sit down.” Edge said, his voice more stern now, strained by worry for the other and anxiety caused by the situation they were in, but something had changed. He sounded almost stern this time, mustering an amount of steel in his gaze that hadn’t been seen before. It was uncharacteristic, compared to how gentle his expression normal was. Still the sympathy was there, very much present in his eyes. The Darai hated to see other people suffer, and just by looking at Marchelute’s wounds, he could almost feel the pain the other felt.
“If you don’t let me bandage your foot at least, you’re only going to slow both of us down if that isn’t treated and neither of us was that.”

Edge shrugged off his vest again, and began tearing strips of the cloth to use for makeshift bandages, thankful that this was a thinner vest than the one he normally wore, making it easier to work with. Again, he motioned for the ifrit to sit down.
“I promise it won’t take long and it’ll save us time in the long run.”

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: When Sara realises what's happening, she shifts back to human form as quick as possible, hoping that stems the spread of the mould. Explains to the others what she saw, then hurries down the new hallway and tries to ensure everyone stays together.]

[kilnarak]

[ Ari glows bright. He goes into the tunnel. ]

Ari hissed as that presence washed over them, the flames flaring brighter across his back and shoulders, the Pact-brand at the base of his neck glowing white-hot. It didn't seem to do much against the unseen presence, the pressure, but it made him feel a little better at least.

"I'll-I'll scout ahead, the torch is burning good yeah? Stay close to it so you don't-don't suffocate." Ari barely waited for Sara to explain what she saw - the spreading corruption from the use of her power - before he stepped into the tunnel and began to make his way down it.

He was as careful as his current heady sense of untouchable-ness allowed and given the flame wreathed about him he wasn't especially stealthy. But that flame rendered stealth unnecessary didn't it? That flame would keep him safe.

And he wanted to see what was at the end of the tunnel. Even with the burst of confidence the fire and the powder had given him, he couldn't make himself believe it was a way out, an escape. But perhaps it was something important. It looked different from the rest of this place at least - naturally carved stone instead of the musty bricks formed by human (or human-ish) hands.

[Sharei]

[OOC: Draggo runs through the right door while dragging Cassius along and lunges for the sword.]


“The maze aims to sacrifice us, the creature wants to devour us,” Cassius answered, and went on to explain his reasoning for his choice in doors. The dragon was only half-listening, his stare on the fat blobby creatures and the notched sword they were crouched around. If he'd still had his saljir ears they would have perked up at the sight. A weapon!

"Look there! A sword," he said, drawing Cassius' attention to the sword. Now he was the one pulling the human along by the hand, his quick walk picking up to an urgent jog. He remembered how quickly the creatures had devoured Azho's feather, and he didn't want to lose the chance at something they could use to fight off the strange creatures of the maze. Thinking with that in mind, the dragon didn't try to lunge for the creatures, just for the sword. His intention was to grab it before they could gobble it.

[Marshmallow]

[Summary: Marchelute reluctantly submits to Edge's insisting and settles on the floor. Pain, shock and the grating, alien sensations in his head all mush together in his mind like a fog. But this room is starting to feel bearable. Under their weight, he sags closer to the floor, almost but not quite fully lying down on the filmy ground. If he can just rest... Just for a moment... ]



It took Marchelute a moment to notice, but the atmosphere in the room had changed. Some of the mind-numbing tension in his skull had eased. It oddly seemed to sync up with the moment Edge slashed at the crusted growths along the room's perimeter, though with the haze of shock and fatigue beginning to cloud his mind, Marchelute couldn't fathom a connection. All he knew was that, for whatever reason, the sense of unease about this chamber had lifted. With it, some of the urgency left him as well. Beyond either door was only more sickening tension, but now this place was... bearable. Practically a haven.


Edge returned. He insisted that the ifrit sit down and rest, and allow the other to tend his wounds. There was a shift in the young man's demeanor, noticable even through the blanket of shock and the lingering knowledge of pain that lie beyond it. His expression had turned harsh. There would be no more arguing.


Marchelute found he didn't have the fortitude to protest further. The ifrit rumbled something in old Persian - maybe a curse, or just as likely an acknowledgement. He sank to the dusty floor of the tomb as though his strings had been cut. The condition of his bad leg forced him to settle awkwardly, leaned to one side so that Edge could bind the blistered and melted limb.

Pain, numbness... Fatigue, shock... And those alien pangs in the distance. Everything felt so muddled. If he could just get a moment to rest, regain his strength, and try to make sense of whatever had just happened in the other room, he knew he would be able to press on. He just needed to rest, breathe.

He began to lean further, lying mostly to one side with an elbow propping him up. Beneath him, the grit and grey matter no longer felt quite so horrid. Maybe it had to do with the globs Edge had slashed. But whatever the reason, the idea of just lying here for a while and sleeping seemed... strangely compelling. Welcoming, even. A part of him was alarmed by the sensation, but that part was drifting further and further away as numb shock crept over his nerves. He just needed a rest, that was all. Surely everything would be fine if he just closed his eyes a little...

[Vaitris]

[OOC: Hau doesn't understand where the others have gone but he will attempt to follow. If he can't,  he'll call out to see if they respond or see if they've disappeared altogether.]

From where Hau was, it looked as though the others had walked through the wall and disappeared. He didn’t think anything of it at first, the angle was bad and the room was dark, it was simply an optical illusion. The smoke was biting at his eyes and his throat, making him cough, every spasm of his chest sparking pain through all of his injuries. And the scent of burning bodies choked and nauseated him, even the fox part of him seemed to be recoiling from the awful reek as his sense of smell diminished. Or it was perhaps just overwhelmed.

Hau hesitated as he came to the section of wall. Whole uninterrupted stone. No door, no passage. He was so sure just a moment ago of what he had seen, they had exited from just this point but now his brain was doubting, backpedaling, trying to fit these pieces of reality together into a cohesive whole. He reached out for the wall, testing to see if it was solid. Maybe it was an illusion, nothing but smoke and mirrors, and he could pass right through as well. Or maybe it was solid, and he was missing the mechanism to open it, though he certainly didn’t see anything that spoke of being such.

If he didn’t feel anything solid under his fingertips he’d press through into whatever was beyond. But if he couldn’t, he’d call out. “Sara! Ari! Where did you go? Where’s the door?” He wouldn’t be able to linger long here in the smoke. If there was no response he’d have to go back and try one of the other doors. There might still be a way to escape this place yet.

[okami1reeka333]

[OOC: Tis awakened~ tries to get Draggo to attack the rat. ]

He was in pain, but felt as though he was awakened? summoned? something he could not describe that felt as though he was tethered, like a dog on a leash. The pain itself he could understand as it felt more or less as though he was cold and sore, he also felt distant, detached, bitter and angry.

He was dead damnit, why was he still here!? This got under his skin for some reason.

He also noticed he was blind, he remembered the room was dark, but he could see well enough to not trip over the shapes. This was different. He could hear though, although deafened abit from earlier, he could still hear, thank God.

but he did not trust the voices he heard. not all of them. The quieter voices he was more suspicious of then the loud ones. There was a chance the quieter ones were up to no good. . .a part of him wanted them gone, it got under his skin too. He choose to speak to running voice "Quick, don't let it get away!"

[MP]

Cassius and Draggo:
Cassius' items: burning torch, sturdy rope, scholar's note 2, half-eaten cake
Draggo's items: broken flint necklace, notched sword

Once, the dragon's foot skids once on one of the brown smears. But he moves fast - too fast for the disorganized rats. Some open their flabby mouths to bleat at him. Some bump into each other, getting in each other's way as they clutch at the sword. In a few moments, the dragon has reached the other side of the room and wrenched it from their hands.

It's an odd, tipless blade, runed along the edges perhaps meant for sweeping rather than thrusting. Too large for a human. In place of the fuller, the metal is raised in odd, regular notches. The size of the blade, the shape, matches the deep slits by the circular door exactly. 

The press of rats begins to scatter now that the dragon holds the sword. White bodies skitter between the walls and columns, fleeing toward the opposite end of the room. Many of them are bulbous and disfigured, their skins translucent and swollen with objects beneath the surface.

One in particular looks familiar to the dragon. A green shape beneath the skin of the rat's back. A feather. As he sees this, a voice - "quick, don't let it get away!" - speaks next to his ear. Cassius doesn't seem to hear. 

The rats, including the feather's thief, will soon get away. But the open door is waiting for them. A rusted key has been left in an ornate lock, and the door has been left ajar. They can see a short gloomy hallway within. Its walls are scarred with black gashes. Bones and patches of crusty gray tar litter the floor. A massive armored figure lies on its back amid the rubble, marked with the same runic symbols as the notched blade. Behind it, in the farthest wall, a hole, just big enough to squeeze inside. Nothing stops the two companions from entering the little hallway. But if they step inside to explore, the rats will likely make their escape.



Kira:
Items: king's seal, carved fragment

When Kira steps out and turns left, she finds herself looking out over a massive gallery. The ceiling is a mass of shadows, so high that nothing of the top can be seen. Columns stand along the edges of the room, with a few scant feet of space between them and the wall. Each one is carved in human likeness. Each one has its hands cupped to form a brazier, the palms full of dusty wood and pitch. Ahead of her, the floor descends in a series of tiers, ramps flanking a set of descending stairs. The upper tier, where Kira stands, is guarded by two chariots - clay horses, clay drivers- who stand at either side of the stairs. The lowest tier, at the opposite end of the room, is smeared with brown parallel streaks. There is a small door in the left, right, and opposite wall, mirroring the positions of the three larger doors behind her. 

She has that moment's glance to see as she steps out. Then an arm hooks around her chest, pulling her back behind the nearest column. The man is standing there, stock still. His arm is across her chest, keeping her from stepping further out. He shakes his head at her. A warning. Too late.

The burbat can see them too, in that half second in the open: creatures at the opposite end of the room. The first is familiar mass of hands and tangled arms, hunched and twitching - a beast she's escaped before. Beside it, a towering figure, armored and lopsided and dragging broken chains. Its fanged gauntlets and pauldrons and helmet are working and tensing over its withered flesh, consuming the figure as much as protecting it. The monsters are staring towards her end of the room. Moving forward.

A spidery patter of fingers rushes toward them. Kira can hear the panting of the many-armed monstrosity, strained, eager, echoing off the walls. Rushing closer. 

"Go - go!" the man whispers. 

A tangle of long white fingers slams into their column. The man leaps backward, putting himself and Kira between the wall and column where the grasping monster can't get at them directly. He's struggling with the notched sword, trying to bring it to bear. The hand beast has hold of it too, trying to drag it out. The yellow-eyed man is trying to lever the sword against the column, to pin it there. But the beast is so much stronger. Without warning, the man drops the sword. It clatters to the ground, a hundred spidery fingers snaking around it. The man turns to follow Kira without a backward glance at the discarded weapon. 



Edge and Marchelute:
Edge's items: chipped knife, simple knife, general's note 1
Dropped items: falconer's glove, silver chain

The small amount of bandaging is not enough for Marchelute's injuries. There are tremors through the ifrit's ruined body. Violent at first, almost involuntary. The remaining residue, though only a fine crust remains after Edge's efforts, seems to pulse in time with it. Like a leech drinking. Like a heartbeat. And then the tremors grow weaker. Farther apart. Soon, the pulsing residue is the only movement to be felt. The body is slack beneath its bandages. Edge's hands meet no resistance. No pulse. The ifrit - or what remains of him - is dead. 

Edge is alone in the room of empty graves. He can feel a large surge of the residue, unusually strong and nauseating, outside this room. Its source could lie beyond either one of the doors; it seems to be located somewhere between them. By the pressure in Edge's head, the residue is still accumulating all throughout the tomb. The bloom is the worst and most rapid buildup of it. His room and a point somewhere past the bloom - these are the only clean spots left. And he can feel the residue already growing back, slow, but inevitable. 



Ari
Ari's items: hunting horn, blank effigy

The passage is long, but straight, and with a level floor. A good thing. As he scouts ahead, the green flame in Ari's hand is burning lower, lower, in spite of his commands. Then, without warning, it gutters out. The sense of warmth in Ari's chest is like an old fire, fading. Cooling. Gone. Without it, the tunnel around them is dark - not the suffocating dark of other rooms. Simply lightless. The only thing to see by is the growing point ahead of him. A lighter patch of gloom. An exit.

When he emerges, Ari can see that the idol in his hand has changed. Where before it bore etched lines in its surface - the sweep of wings at its back, the curving nubs at its brow - there is only blank stone. Any details, any signs of the bond or the fire in his chest, are gone.

Ari is in a large, square room. There's a well in the center of the floor, several yards wide. It plunges down into the floor and into total darkness. This dark, like the air of the tunnel, is breathable. But the blackness of it, and the ring of raised tiles around it, gives the opening the uncomfortable impression of teeth. Of an open and waiting mouth. 

Across from him, on the opposite side of the well, there's a shadowed mural on the wall. There are two stone doors - one to his immediate left, and another in the righthand wall. 

Ari is alone in the room. Sara, Grace, and Hau have not followed, and Ari's high of confidence is beginning to fade. The only sound in the room is the hollow movement of air through the well's mouth. A shuddering sound, muffled, like the sound of weeping.



Sara, Hau, and Grace:
Sara's items: old spear, broken knife, seeing stone

Hau's items: maned pelt, human effigy
Dropped items: burning torch, rusty knife

Sara makes it only a short way before a realization stops her in her tracks: Hau and Grace haven't followed. The shifter has time to see that the tunnel continues straight ahead - that there is an exit in the distance - before she turns back for her companions.

The tailed shifter materializes out of solid stone before Hau's eyes. Yet no matter how he presses against the wall, it refuses to give. There's simply no door. No seams to indicate moving stones or secret hinges. However the shifter does it, it seems Hau can't follow. And the remaining exits are becoming increasingly hard to see. The fires Ari left in his wake may ward off the dark, but the burning artifacts are generating a choking amount of smoke that is just as deadly - a fact that is emphasized when Grace suddenly collapses. 

The Sasquatch, standing so much taller than her fellows, has lingered in the room too long and inhaled a dangerous amount of smoke. The loss of consciousness comes on with frightening quickness, leaving her helpless amid the cracking clay and gathering smoke.

Sara and Hau may attempt to drag their heavy companion. However, the cloud of smoke along the low-hanging ceiling, along with their watering eyes, makes it difficult to see the exits. And there are countless rows of statues in his path - some dangerously close to cracking, others fallen on their sides, making it difficult to drag a body over them. If they wait, Sara and Hau may risk sharing Grace's fate. Their swimming vision and the burn of smoke in their lungs indicate they don't have long.

[beastly]

Ooc:
Grace is unconscious yes. Gonna do a dying more or less.

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara stays with Hau. When she realises he can't get through the new door, she suggests for both of them to get as low as possible to avoid the smoke, try to roll Grace onto her tail so they can try and drag her out of the room more easily. Also says to Hau for him to grab the still burning torch the sasquatch had, before heading towards the hallway door .]

Sara had only made it a few hurried strides now the new hallway before she realised Hau and Grace were not with her. Ari had already run off into the darkness and for a second or two the shifter was frozen with indecision over who to go after. But, in the end, knowing that the previous room was burning and held the most danger, Sara ran back towards the room she had just come.

Good riddance.

She flinched inwardly at the venomous, nasty thought, unable to stop it before it rose. She was angry, hurting and the spotted man had been the cause of not only that, but also potentially the deaths of Edge and Marchelute, since she didn't know how much damage his firey explosion had caused. Still, she didn't want to think that way. It was a part of herself she rarely experienced, but loathed every time. Really, she hoped he would be okay, but she needed to find her other two companions and couldn't keep track of them all.

Grace had already collapsed, the room was thick with smoke, making what world lay around them hard to see. She hacked up a cough, body desperate to dispel the choking vapours permeating her lungs. They needed to get out.

"Git down, git down, low as possible." She instructed to Hau, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the floor if he didn't respond quick enough. She tried to back up through the new doorway and take him with her, but a snap of cold dread and raw anger shot up her spine when she realised, as his fingertips touched the threshold, Hau was unable to follow her.
"Shittin' 'ell. Fuck this bloody place." She hissed under her breath, understanding now why he and the sasquatch had not followed when she thought they should.

Well, she wasn't about to leave him or Grace, if it killed her.

The shifter emerged back into the flaming room, talking quickly to Hau and still keeping as low as possible. After all, the smoke would rise towards the ceiling
"Reet, git 'er on me tail, can lay 'er sideways, lik-" Another hacking cough, the smoke wasn't so thick near the floor, but she'd already inhaled a fair amount. Heat prickled at her skin, made alarm bells scream inside her head. Still, with Hau's help, hopefully, the shifter tried to roll Grace's body up her tail until at least some of her laid across it. She hoped her scutes would keep the larger super in place. "Can drag 'er more easily this way. An' git 'er torch," she pointed at the fallen object, still burning on the floor, "-we meet need it, like."


Should they succeed in getting Grace at least partially onto Sara's tail, the shifter began to crawl and strain her way towards the hallway door. She didn't want to risk going the same way as Edge and Marchelute, since they might still be alive and going near to one another again would only create further damage. The hallway door was closer, marginally, than the trove door and she hoped the flame of Grace's torch might ward off the darkness she remembered back there. Dragging the sasquatch was not comfortable, for either of them. Though most of her weight was still on the floor, Grace was heavy, between adrenaline and desperation Sara knew she was going to be in for some painful, torn muscles afterwards. Not only that, with her body dragging mostly across stone floor, the sasquatch was going to be in for a number of bruises and grazed skin, but Sara hoped that between herself and Hau, they'd be able to get her out of the smoke.

She just hoped that it wasn't too late...

[jarahamee]

(Cassius will attempt to prevent Draggo from harming the little rats, but will not prevent him from grabbing the Notched Sword. He will recommend using it to unlock one of the doors.)

Cassius did not see the strange whispering rats until it was almost too late, and the young draconic being had already pounced on them and snatched up the sword. Who were these tiny scrambling creatures? He could not be sure. Maybe they were strangers, perhaps they were people he knew. Or maybe they were not people at all, but a hallucination brought on by this maze. Perhaps he had only imagined that the little creature he had mangled had sounded human, if only for a moment.

He felt the Beast's desire to chase and shake the tiny, wet creatures rise in his chest, and he grit his teeth hard in resistance. Felt the familiar grind-pop of the surfaces of his teeth against one another. A transient tensing of the jaw.

No. No more.

"Do...do not harm them. They are...humans..."

He seemed almost hesitant to speak such madness, but this place seemed to be inherently maddening of itself. He did not reach out an arm to stop the dragon, but hoped that he would listen. As Draggo wrested the sword away, he noticed the notches upon it.

"We can use this to open the doors. Hopefully we do not need two."

Cassius gestured towards the doors with the strange notches with a mangled finger. This was not a sword, it was a key. He eyed the area beyond. It seemed as if whatever had waited here had already been defeated. There was likely nothing for them there except perhaps an escape route. Maybe this was where the sword came from initially. This monster. This creature.

He wondered what was waiting for them beyond these gates. More monsters? Different creatures? What was all of this struggle for? They could not live like this forever. But for now, he would help protect the child.

[Vaitris]

[OOC: When Grace collapses Hau doesn't want to leave her behind but he doesn't think she can be moved in time. He considers trying to extinguish the flames with his ice but is surprised by Sara passing through the stone wall again. He helps move Grace onto her tail and pushes her towards the hallway door.]

Hau's fingernails scratched against solid stone, there was no door here. Was he going crazy? What was this place doing to him? He felt a sudden surge of anger and his hands tightened into fists, nails biting into his palms. This place was toying with them and with their lives. Who had created it? Why did it exist? How had they come to be here? He cared at one point, but now all he wanted to do was tear the place down, brick by brick, by any means possible.

This room had turned into a toxic oven, they had to move. The air felt like sucking in superheated splinters, grating in his chest and searing his throat. His eyes watered. He tried to cover his mouth with a hand, filter out the choking smoke as much a possible, but it was a futile effort. As though things were not grim enough already, at that moment Grace collapsed behind him. He crouched over her, found her breath coming in short, deeply painful wheezes. Too much smoke. He would suffer the same if he didn't leave now.

He scanned the room, considering options, and realized quickly how hard it would be to make it to the doors with the considerable weight of the bigfoot to slow him down. He probably wouldn't be able to accomplish such a feat without tearing open his wounds again, and there was a long stretch of clay soldiers and burning debris between them and the exit. It would take too much time. Far too much. Either he would succumb before they made it across the room, or he would have to abandon Grace.

The idea revolted him. He shoved it from his mind, it was a non-factor, it wouldn't happen. And that left only one other option he could see: get rid of the smoke, it was by far the biggest threat. And the only way he could think of to do that quickly would be to bury the flames under ice, and for that he would have to change forms.

Something scraped the stone behind him and he whirled quickly. "Sara!" He blurted, more a cough than an actual word. He was shocked to see the redhead materialize again. He glanced behind her, expecting to see Ari as well but no one else emerged from the stone. "Where'd you go? How... That's a solid wall." Some of his fury yielded to relief when she reappeared, confirming what he had thought he had seen earlier and easing the worry that he was losing his marbles. But at the sight of her, bloodied and burned, anxious concern filled him instead. There was nothing to be done about that right at the moment however.

"Reet, git 'er on me tail, can lay 'er sideways..."

Hau nodded sharply, wheezing too hard to speak, dizzy from the intense heat and smoke inhalation. He braced himself against Grace, rolling her onto Sara's tail as instructed. His back and his shoulder blazed with pain, his arms trembled, but he shut it all out and focused only on the task at hand. As he saw Sara point herself towards the hallway door, he tried to object. "The door... came through... closer." Some of the words were washed out, the sound stolen by the burning air in his throat, though if she looked she'd see him motioning towards the wall-door. But the redhead was determinedly set in her course so Hau decided to follow her lead, selfishly and deeply grateful to not be abandoned. Hastily, he gathered up the torch in the same hand that held the effigy while he used the other to help push, trying to move them as quickly as possible.

[Pearl Dragon]

[Kira bolts for the left smaller door in the hope that the monsters won't fit. She ushers her new companion too with 'hurry up' noises.]

A ceilingless gallery opened up to Kira as she creeped forward looking for her companion. Her eyes scanned the columns along the edges, marveling fearfully at their human likeness. She inhaled again to make another questioning sound when suddenly an arm wrapped around her chest and pulled her backwards. Her breath came out in a startled warble and she spasmed in the man's grip as he held her still. Her eyes rolled up at him, terrified at first but then utterly relieved when she saw who it was. Still, her breath came in short panicked bursts and the man could probably feel her racing heart fluttering in her chest. Although, her stomach drops as she sees the shake of his head and look on his face of warning. Something in the dark began to move, and Kira's breath stopped completely in her chest as she spotted the two gangly creatures making their way towards her and the man.

And one was horrifically familiar. Kira choked back a sound of utter panic, grasping at the man desperately as the creature who had broken her jaw rushed forward.

"Go- go!" The man whispered, when suddenly white hands slammed into the column. Kira unlocked her frozen limbs and scrambled out and away from the creature and the column. She could hear the thing grabbing and wrestling with the sword, at least until it falls to the ground in a clamber of metal and stone. Kira looked back at the man, bleating at him in a 'hurry' sort of way. She turned again and sprinted towards the left smaller door, hoping against hope that the creatures wouldn't fit through. She had barely caught a glimpse of the other monster as well, and didn't like how it looked any more than she had the first. Her pain was momentarily forgotten in the new rush of adrenaline, and she ran as fast as her feet could carry her for the door.

[Sharei]

[OOC: Draggo is stopped by Cassius' warning but tries to reason with him. He takes a few steps in the rat's direction]


The sight of the feather was like a slap to the face. He nearly abandoned his sword entirely to go after it, a hound with the bloodscent in its nose. But the unfamiliar weight of it, his unwillingness to abandon his weapon, and Cassius' warning gave him enough pause to consider what the human was saying.

Humans? he thought, a rush of anger and disappointment taking turns in his brain. No way! He took a few steps toward the retreating rats, and the expression he gave Cassius was somewhere between disbelief and exasperation.

"But-!" he said, hauling the heavy sword another few inches. "Look at them - that can't be humans!" he protested, gesturing with one hand in its fleeing direction. "And it's getting away with my feather!"

[NightshadeVII]

[OOC: Edge beats himself up for Marche dying, and sits to process it for a bit. After paying his respect, he takes the dropped items. For a moment he considers going back to help Sara, but remembers that his presence will only hurt them. Instead he decides to open the other door in the room, the one they didn’t come through, to see what lies behind it.]

[kilnarak]

[ Ari has some concerns about the fire dying. He stays in the room with the well and tries to call back down the tunnel to the others. ]

The farther he progressed down the passageway, the worse he felt. Why had he thought going alone was a good idea, again? And worse, why were his flames guttering? They flickered, their warmth dying away from across his shoulders, bare sparks in his hands, and then nothing. For a moment he was sure the dark would seep in around him, flooding like water to choke him. Could he make it back before it swarmed down his throat? But there was light ahead, dim though it was.

The light was closer than the way back, so he continued toward it until he emerged from the tunnel into a large square room with a well. He hesitated at the tunnel's mouth, peering around the room - nothing immediately appeared dangerous, though he kept imagining something would claw it's way out of the well - slick black hands or maybe spindly bone-white, tangled hair clogging the water. He shuddered at the thought.

The idol felt different in his hands, no longer warm. When he looked down he discovered that it had changed. It no longer looked like a crude statue of Marchelute, instead it was smooth and undefined. That was... worrying, but he couldn't focus on it. Couldn't wonder what had happened to his mate, what he might have done. Sara had said the fire-light had made him see-through, had he made him vanish altogether?

He shook his head and glanced back down the tunnel, but it was only dark back that way. He couldn't see the room he had left, the fire on the statues or Grace's torch. He didn't want to go back that way but...

"H-Hey! Hey can-can you hear me!? Th-There's light this way and-and more doors! It-It looks safe!"

[okami1reeka333]

[continues to urge Draggo to attack the rats.]

He listened for what was going on. . .what did they mean human? . . not human? But something about the whispering voice still unsettled him. he did not trust it at all. So again,he talked to the now rebelling voice. "hurry, It's getting away!" he started. . .but why does he want it dead? or gone? well, if it leaves, maybe he can be left alone? figure out a way to free himself.

Although, why does he want it dead? That really did not sound like him. . .

he contemplated this but as he started to question the morality of this, if the 'monster' was a person or not, he felt the soreness of his wounds grow worse and worse in seething pain. Why was he hurting more?

While he was in amidst of this, an orange flame that casts no light manifested within the room . . . Small in form. Abnormal in nature.

[MP]

ALL: There is a cold, familiar pang in your gut, black and imperative. Not once - twice, from opposite ends of the tomb. The ancient, hungry presence, an aimless dread before, now curdles into something directed. Eager. Hunting.

It knows where you are.

((Sara and Hau can feel it from the room behind them. Ari can feel it from the door to his left.))



Sara, Hau, and Grace:
Sara's items: old spear, broken knife, seeing stone, toasted sasquatch
Hau's items: maned pelt, human effigy, burning torch

By the time the group makes it clear of the burning statues and reaches the door by the far corner, they are in pitiful shape. Sara's skin is lobster red from the heat. Embers are catching in Grace's fur. Soot scratches in their throats, and fresh headaches pound at their temples. The door, a pitiless block of stone, seems so very heavy.

Thankfully, Hau has fared somewhat better than his companions. His burns are less severe, the pain of them already receding a little. His lungs, as stale air rushes in from the hallway to fill them, seem to recover more quickly. Thanks to his efforts and his strange resilience, the door finally opens, allowing the trio to escape into the intersecting halls.

Unfortunately, Grace shows no signs of reviving. The embers have blossomed into small green flames, scorching through the fur and into the flesh beneath. All to no response. There's no rise and fall to her chest. No pulse. Only a heavy thump, thump, thump that has nothing to do with the Sasquatch.

The intersection is different from how they left it. The curtains have parted. The alcoves are open. The mummies, still crushed together in leathery rows, have spilled partway onto the floor, their bound arms reaching as if to crawl the rest of the way out. But as the survivors stare, one twisted neck snaps around; one withered face twists to stare at them. The mummies are beginning to animate, a wave of movement following the thump, thump, thump.

Something tall and shapeless is coming out from the righthand passage on heavy steps. It has the grey, crusted texture of residue. The same pulsing skin. But they don't need the lens to see this, or to see the spots of grey dust that bleed out from its feet. It's moving toward the left hall, its steps slow and deliberate. Then, as it reaches the intersection, it turns.

It has no face to see them. No eyes. No nose. No jump or change to its demeanor to indicate that it's noticed them. It simply turns toward the group, the way a plant grows toward the sun. The steady thump, thump, thump fills the hallway, moving towards them. Hau can feel mindless hunger, pulsing, pulsing, so strong that it's almost a voice.

The creature is towering, bulky, but slow. The group may be able to squeeze past it if they're fast. The opposite hallway is clear. The left and right passages, though filled with squirming mummies slumped partway out of their alcoves, also have some room for movement. There's a roll of vellum lying several feet down the lefthand passage; a vial of grey liquid lying several yards down the right. It's just a matter of which way to go.



Cassius and Draggo:
Cassius' items: burning torch, sturdy rope, scholar's note 2, half-eaten cake
Draggo's items: broken flint necklace, notched sword

That moment of hesitation is a moment too long. In the time it takes the dragon to look to his scarred companion and away, the rats have reached the far lefthand door. They wriggle and squirm, pale bodies stretching and flattening impossibly, and then vanish beneath the seams. Their whispery laughter echoes in the vast confines of the room and fades. Now the two are alone in the gallery. The door before them lies open. The circular portal waits. The creeping presence in the distance is still there, still moving, but is slowly changing directions. They can feel it turning aside, heading somewhere to the right as one faces down the stairs. For the moment, it seems Cassius and the dragon are reprieved.

In the absence of the threat, the first feeling to come back is hunger. The cake's rich odor is a constant backdrop, warming the air as if it's freshly baked. The sight of the fallen crumbs and the lumpy bitten mass is enough to set the jaw aching with a fresh rush of saliva.



Kira:
Items: carved fragment, king's seal

The mass of hands is panting, starting to claw through the columns after them, and it seems they might not make it. Kira's companion runs at an odd, pitching angle. His breath comes in rattling gasps. But the two creatures behind them seem to be at odds with each other. The armored monster rattles laughter, and the tangle of limbs turns to face it. Kira can hear the slap of its palms on stone, the rasp of its nails, as she and her companion reach the lefthand door and push. The stone is frighteningly heavy. Frighteningly slow. Her companion doesn't seem fully able to push. But at last, a sliver wide enough to squeeze through. The two spill through to the other side.

They're in a small rectangular room - a hunter's trove, it would seem - stacks of furs lying in haphazard piles, small ivory boxes, sealed black jars, and piles of polished skulls and claws. The little trove takes up the back half of the room. There are two shapes lying spinx-like on either side of the treasures, their bodies black-skinned and emaciated, yellowed teeth grinning through lipless jaws. Two mummified hounds. A clay statues watches the room from the back wall, one hand curled around empty space, the other clenched around something small and soft.

Kira's companion has paused by a pile of pelts, not leaning so much as tipping into them. The tremors are back, and worse now. The rot-like flesh on his throat, his chest, his limbs, is slick with an unhealthy sheen. He has to try several times before the rasping word takes shape.

"Door," he says, waving a hand at Kira in a weak shooing motion.

There is the door behind them - the one they came through, which leads to the gallery and the great doors and the beasts. But there is another door in the righthand wall, just before the treasures start, made from the same blank slab as the normal doors of the tomb. It isn't clear which one the man is referring to, or what he even wants her to do. His gesture is aimed at nothing, as if he can't see what he's waving at. The man starts to move, perhaps to do it himself, and has to stop as one leg threatens to fold.



Edge:
Items: chipped knife, simple knife, falconer's glove, silver chain

The lefthand door opens to nothing short of a ruin. Walls and ceilings have collapsed, broken stone and piled dirt and debris burying anything the room might once have held. Cracked bricks lie against each other, forming natural tunnels where they prop each other up. Most are haphazard and treacherous looking. But through some luck, there are two navigable paths. One leads straight ahead from the open door. The other, much longer looking, leads to the left.

Unless Edge wants to take his chances with the bright room and the fire, there seem to be no other paths out of the grave room.



Ari:
Items: hunting horn, blank effigy

Though Sara was there at his side when the flame went out, there's no sign of her now in the dark. Ari's calls echo down the tunnel. No one answers. Nothing stirs. Not in the tunnel, at least. But as the sickly pang rolls over him, as the sense of presence rises within the tomb, there is a response. A slow grumble of stone. A wet, claylike scent.

Something is at the leftmost door. Something has pushed it open and is looking through the gap, grey and crusted. Towering and faceless. It pushes the door a little wider. Wide enough to expose the spotted shifter. To expose a view of the well.

The door opens this much. And no further. The crawling, predatory sense rolls off the grey mass in waves. The faceless shape seems to strain forward as if scenting. Pointing. But it makes no move to enter. It stands utterly still so motionless that, if not for the pulsing crust of its skin, it could be mistaken for a statue.

[kilnarak]

[ So long as the gray thing doesn't come in, Ari will spend another round in the room, examining the mural. If he notices it coming past the door, though, he's gonna book it to the other door (and if it doesn't budge he'll try to go back the way he came). ]

Ari waited after he called out, waiting for a response, for... something. There was no answer, no matter how he waited, and he felt a prickle on the back of his neck as his hairs tried to stand on end. There was something in the dark, surely - something watching him, something waiting to pounce. He backed away from the yawning throat of the passageway, a little nearer the well.

The sound of stone grinding against stone made him jump and his gaze whipped toward the source. One of the doors was opening, a damp earthy scent wafting through it - was someone coming? A friendly face, or a living shadow? It proved to be neither. The thing that pushed open the door looked like some sort of worm or slug, faceless and grey and wet.

He flinched away from the thing, circling around to put the well between himself and it. It made him very uncomfortable, and for all that it didn't have a face, he felt like it was keenly aware of him, like it was hunting him. But for whatever reason, it didn't move beyond the doorway. Perhaps something in the room repelled it? Ari hesitated, uncertain of what to do about this. He could go back the way he had come - although that passage was disturbingly near to where the slug-thing was. Or there was the other door - if it would open, but who knew what lay beyond it?

He needed more information. But it seemed... safe? So long as the thing didn't come in. Ari made sure the well was still between he and the creature, then turned his attention to the room again. He examined the mural - perhaps not as closely as it deserved, given that he kept glancing back to make sure the thing didn't move past the doorway. If it came at him... then he'd bolt for the far door. And if that didn't open, maybe he could keep the well between himself and it, and then run back down the way he had come from.