Tomb of the Lost

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara is ready for action. She says to Hau for them to run straight past to the opposite corridor, suggests to him they set fire to the mummies on the way past.]

Sara gripped her hair, shaking slightly, as she realised Grace wasn't breathing as the super was rolled off her tail. She'd wake up outside this nightmare, the shifter told herself, but still she felt a culmination of horror, sadness and raw anger at the sight of the sasquatch, dead and burned.

Not that she had any time to mourn, or even particularly register Grace's untimely demise, because something was in the hallway with them.

The mummies, their twitching bodies, were a concern. But it was the grey, shapeless thing, shambling at the intersection, turning to face them, that made Sara's blood turn to ice and steam. She was afraid of it. That the shifter could not deny any more than she could deny the need to breathe. But there was anger, too, red hot and directed very strongly in the amorphous creature's direction. Sara's skin throbbed, where she anywhere else at any other time concern for infection, for getting out of this alive, would be paramount. But right now, all she cared about was sticking a proverbial middle finger to this entire place. She'd try to survive, yes, bit more from a fierce determination to undermine the events that had scarred her so badly before. She was sick of being afraid. Sick of watching others die and being powerless to stop it. If she was going to die, at least it'd be fighting.

"Alreet, Hau," the shifter spoke under her breath, unsure if sound would attract the creature. She turned to look at him, realised how badly Hau was taking Grace's death and took hold of his face gently, making him look at her where they still crouched on the floor and not the body or the creature. "I know luv, I know, but there's nowt we can do for 'er now, I'm sorry. We 'ave tah go."
They couldn't go back, the fire would have only spread by now and the grey mould in the trove room was likely more of whatever monstrosity lay in front of them, judging by the similarities. Nor did she fancy their chances with the mummies. There had been a lot of them and their movements were only getting stronger, the two of them were likely to be grabbed and dragged down. Which left the empty pathway, straight across.

She willed Hau to move with her gaze, hoped that he would listen. But she knew, from bitter experience, just how horrific seeing death like this would be. So she instructed him, hoping that if nothing else he would listen to her.
"Reet, we're gan move straight past it, alreet? It looks slow, like, an' if it goes for ya, I'll stab it. Spear 'ead's still good." How Sara wished she could shift, but judging by what she had seen through the stone last time she had tried, she feared her powers would only feed it. "Empty corridor, move quick," she glanced towards the creature again and a note of steel crept into the shifter's voice, "-an' once ya past, like, use ya torch tah set 'em alight. Alreet? Champion."
Sara stood then, patting Hau on the shoulder and sincerely hoping he was ready.

She faced the horde and the grey creature, trying to still the tremor in her limbs. A glance at Hau; as soon as he began to move, if he did, Sara ran to follow him.

[jarahamee]

[Cassius recommends using the sword on the lock, guiding them towards it. He would break the disgusting bread in half to share it with Draggo while looking for more clues.]

"... I felt it, when...I killed that one. His humanity... It is hard to explain, but I think, things in this place are not what they seem."

He did not sound particularly proud of his achievement, and why should he? His twisted mouth grew drawn. Something that felt good in the moment does not have to be, and in its essence, it was an evil act. He destroyed that little creature for the pleasure of the act, and for his own satiation. There was no excuse. And yet it had happened in his hand. It felt good, and he had relished it.

He took a deep breath, and shook his head.

"We should be careful, I am sure, they want to do the same to us."

He looked at the room, almost wistfully. The uncomfortable presence had moved, and yet, they were not free. They would likely never be free, only accomplish acts that seemed to be fruitful. He pushed the defeatism away. There was no time for this sort of action.

"The sword fits in these keyholes. I am not sure if we need one or two, but we should try another door."

Cassius looked at the keyholes, comparing them to his swords,as if to decide, and then examined the rest of the room once more. His sharp features seemed all the more uncomfortably predatory in the light of the torch, deepening the sockets of his eyes, and the hollows of his cheeks. His dark eyes glinted from the depth steadily. Almost snake-like, and yet intent on the possibility of being.

He then reached into his bag, and brought out the revolting bread. He had definitely eaten worse. Maggot-tack at sea, and yet there was something just unwholesome about this bread. Nevermind. He broke it in half, and offered the unbitten half to the child.

"Take this. I imagine you are hungry."

[Pearl Dragon]

[When the man motions to the doors, Kira begins to grasp at his hip and urge him towards the right-hand door.  If he fell forward, she would position herself under him to keep him from falling face first onto the stone, and still try to walk him to the new right-hand door.]

Kira threw herself at the stone door, hitting it with her shoulder only to have a sharp pain rip through her as the door refused at first to budge. She ignored the pain and pressed herself, feet skidding and slipping on the ground as she pushed and shoved at the stone. At last, and more than likely with the man's help, the door began to shift. Behind them, a dark laughter echoed off the walls and the slap of hand on the ground sent a wave of chills down Kira's spine. Her panic spiked, and the moment the door was wide enough to fit them both she began to cram herself into the opening. Her breathing hitched, exhaled to shrink herself as much as she could while grasping her way into the room. When at last they were inside, she fell forward from her momentum and scrambled forward on all fours.

Once again, almost at the same moment, a sharp stab of pain clenched in Kira's gut and she fell over once again. Her body curled in on itself as the feeling persisted, and only when it subsided did she finally unfold to weakly pick herself up. Amazingly, it was enough to take a decent edge off her blind terror. A musty scent swelled in her nose, and her eyes swept around to gaze at stacks of furs that heaped themselves about the room. Small ivory boxes, sealed black jars, and piles of polished bones also littered the room, but Kira's attention was immediately drawn to the toothy maws of the mummified dogs sitting sphinx-like on either side of the treasure. Already the entire space gave her a bad feeling, or was it the 'thing' that she was certain was now hunting them? Or perhaps the monsters outside that suddenly seemed lessened by the growing dread that had gripped her earlier.

Kira moaned, spinning around to return to her companion's side. "Door" he said, waving his arm at her. She looked up at him, eyes wide, then at the door. Although, now there were two doors. She'd completely missed it when they came in, and it could lead them further away from the monsters. The man limped forward, and Kira lurched after him. She grasped at his hip, pulling him towards the right-hand door if he was insisting on going for the door they'd just come in. It was mightily heavy and surely it would slow the monsters down. They would achieve nothing trying to shut it the little bit it had opened. She darted underneath of him as one leg threatened to fold and pushed herself upwards into his chest in case he fell forward, still pleading with him in her wordless way.

[NightshadeVII]

[OOC: After some deliberation, Edge take the path straight ahead, just in case the rubble isn’t as stable as it seems.]

[Sharei]

[OOC: Draggo complains about letting the rats get away and continues to wonder if they really are humans, but concedes to follow Cassius and helps him put the sword in the notched slot. He nibbles on the cake, commenting that he wasn't hungry until he smelled it. He keeps looking over his shoulder, not liking the feeling of being hunted.]

[Vaitris]

[OOC: Hau does not take Grace’s death well. But he’s going to listen to Sara and follow her plan to skirt the faceless monster and burn the zombies. If the creature tries to attack Sara as they pass, he’ll try to burn whatever part of it is closest to him with the torch.]

As soon as they were out in the hallway, Hau dropped the effigy and the torch to the floor and set about trying to extinguish the embers in Grace's fur, patting them out with his hands. It bothered him how still she was but his fogged mind still hadn't quite grasped the real detail that prickled his skin. All he could think was that they had escaped the smoke and the cleaner air would have to bring her around.

"Hey. Wake up." He urged, shaking the bigfoot's shoulders but receiving no response. There was a blooming panic in the back of his mind, growing stronger and stronger, a cold creeping realization that he was struggling to bury in denial. "Hey!" His voice took on a more demanding edge when she remained silent, his actions growing more shaky and desperate as the seconds ticked by. "Come on! Wake up!" This was just another cruel trick of this place, her absolutely still chest was just an illusion. Had to be. It was trying to get them to abandon her, leave her for dead when she was not.

But there was another more rational part of his brain that insisted this was real, feeding his fear and an inexplicable sense of guilt. No one should have to die here, in this darkness and this horror. He should have done more, should have tried harder somehow to prevent this. So caught up in his emotional turmoil, he didn’t realize the cold radiating from his skin or the thin frost that coated whatever he was touching.

Distantly, though, he registered the thump-thump-thump of heavy footsteps and the next sound out of his mouth died in a whimper as he spotted the creature at the head of the hallway. His grief and his fear unfolded into true terror. What he had expected to see when he shed the light of his foxfire on those shadows in the altar room, it was nothing like this. Whatever this faceless thing was, it strained his conviction that this was all somehow not a dream because nothing that horrifying should exist in reality. But at the same time Grace’s unmoving body felt very solid beneath his hands and the smell of burning flesh was very much not his imagination. He froze, caught like a rabbit in a predator’s gaze, breath rushing in and out in panicky gasps. He could feel the hunger rolling off the beast.

Hau let out a quiet gasp as Sara turned his face to hers, his vision swimming a little as tears threatened. "I know luv, I know, but there's nowt we can do for 'er now, I'm sorry. We 'ave tah go." He rolled his eyes towards Grace once more, swallowing hard, trying to brace himself. She was right. That shambling monstrosity was coming for them. And the last thing he wanted was to be the reason Sara suffered the same fate. Mourning would have to come later. He had to move. Had to, had to, had to.

He wiped a trembling hand over his eyes and gave her an unsteady nod, reaching for his things as she outlined her plan. Past the faceless creature, to the opposite corridor, set the withered mummies on fire. If that thing tried to go for Sara instead of him, he’d burn it with the torch as well.

It felt wrong to leave Grace here but he stood anyway, turning his back to the bigfoot’s body with effort. With one last look at Sara, he sucked in a breath and ran.

[MP]

All: There is a voice over your shoulder, faint, and with a troubling rasp in it. The speaker seems to be struggling, his breath hitching involuntarily. But the words are strangely calm. 

"Don't be af-fraid of the bodies. It's the dark that m-moves them. Just make l-light or dis-disarm them before it comes. It's the greys you watch out f-for. Keep away if you can. Take them apart if you ca-can't."

A pause, as if for breath. Then:

"Don't use abilities, whatever ha-happens. 't's how most of them died."

((Ari, Sara, Cassius, and Draggo can recognize this voice as Sarkany's))



Ari:
Items: hunting horn, blank effigy

The mural depicts a monster. Claws grasp at each corner. A massive set of jaws take up the bottom half of the wall, pointing skyward. Row upon row of human figures march toward the center - soldiers and supernaturals alike, it seems from the stylized figures - and tumble into the waiting maw, weapons scattering, bodies changing as they fall. The closer the bodies are to the jaws, the more their features warp. The figures within the heart of the maw look wholly inhuman.  

A sound drifts from the depths of the well. An echo, like a bubble of water, or a falling stone. The grey face has been watching him through the door. Now, at the sound, it pulses, doughy face drawing back into its shoulders, and withdraws. The door grinds shut. Ari proceeds to the remaining door unobserved.

The room beyond is a ruin of collapsed rubble and earth. Broken bricks pile over each other, burying anything that might have once been inside. The majority of the place is impassable, but there are two cramped paths where, in a stroke of luck, the stones have propped against each other. The first leads directly ahead. The second leads to the right and continues as far as the shifter can see - an increasingly short view.

The passage is gradually darkening. And then the room. Ari feels the air growing thin. It isn't the suffocating black of before. He can breathe, thickly, as if through heavy humidity and heat. But it isn't a comfortable feeling. There's another bubble from the well, almost in response to it.



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

The simultaneous rush seems to give the lumbering creature pause. Its heavy step slows as Sara and Hau rush by, as if undecided which way to turn. It's an oddly mindless movement, sluggish, more reflex than decision. Hau feels an ominous prickle over his shoulder where he shoulders past it. But the two successfully squeeze past, and the grey monstrosity doesn't turn. After a ponderous pause, it continues forward, the thump, thump, thump of its feet stopping at Grace's body. A parting glance shows it hunched over her, pulsing as it feeds.

One of the mummies paws at Sara's ankle as she runs past. Hau's torch takes well to the skin, and the dry hand goes up in flame. It spreads along the line of mummies, all gaping and wriggling shapes. The long rope blackens and snaps. The grey vial cracks as the hand beside it burns. Grey liquid bubbles and smokes to nothing. 

A low muttering fills their ears as they push through the door ahead. They're at one end of a long, rectangular room. There are doors to their left and right. And at the center of the room, a massive figure swathed in layers of rags. The figure is hunched over something like a stained chessboard, still muttering to himself. Sara and Hau can see a bald head over the rags, white hair trailing from the skull like cobwebs. The man is still muttering, his back to them. At the other end of the room, there's a low bookshelf by the lefthand wall and a small cabinet by the righthand wall. Moving toward either would put them directly in the man's field of view. But he seems distracted over his game. He hasn't reacted to any of them - not to the noise of Sara and Hau's entry, or to the two bloodied people already in the room.

The two newcomers are standing by the lefthand door. The first is small and distinctly bat-like. Her fur is mussed and coated with dust, her leg torn with nail marks. One of her clawed hands has been degloved, leaving strips of membrane dangling off the bones of her wing, and her jaw hangs at an unnatural angle - a grisly sight. The second figure is a man, grey-haired, dull-eyed. His throat and chest are blackened with swaths of sickly flesh. It's burned through his jeans and into the tops of his legs. The worst patches are along the skin of his forearms, eating deep into the flesh - apparently defensive marks. He stares slightly through them, lines of gold-tinged blood at the corners of his mouth and nostrils, as if he can't properly see them. Not the healthiest new companions, perhaps, but at least they don't look in much shape to be threats. 



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

The cake breaks apart with an unpleasant spongy sound. Black lumps and dry crumbs drop to the floor as they eat, or mash to paste in their mouths. 

It's the most delicious thing they've ever tasted. The dry puffs of stuffing are fragrant, filling - the perfect texture. As they eat, the pair feel an odd sense of relief, headaches they weren't even aware of finally receding. Even the whisper of rats seems to have gone. If only there were more to eat.

The massive round door stands waiting for Cassius. A closer look at the keyhole slits confirms that the notched sword is a match. However, now that Cassius is closer, he can see finer detail: a circle around each slit - a groove. These circles of stone appear to be separate from the wall around them, as if the keyhole section is meant to be pushed or turned. Both keyholes appear to be identical. There's no indication which hole is meant to accept the sword. 



Kira:
Items: king's seal, carved fragment

The man makes a muffled sound when Kira presses against the rot-black skin of his chest. He rights himself, the act as much reflex as conscious effort. But it keeps him on his feet as they limp across the room.

There's a soft drip at their feet. A smear of something wet, and the faint scent of cinnamon. The man lifts a hand to the corner of his mouth. Examines the gold-tinged blood on his fingers. His eyes lower momentarily. Then he begins to talk, calmly, in spite of the strain.

"Don't be af-fraid of the bodies. It's the dark that m-moves them. Just make l-light or dis-disarm them before it comes. It's the greys you watch out f-for. Keep away if you can. Take them apart if you ca-can't."

They've reached the righthand door, and the man sets his shoulder to it, helping Kira push. A line of blood trickles from his nose. The yellowed teeth of the dogs seem to grin behind them. 

"Don't use abilities, whatever ha-happens. 't's how most of them died."

He shakes his head. 

"Shame you can't speak. You'll have to t-try, if you find others. Make sure they kn-know." 

The man lapses into silence. The troubled sound of his breathing carries into the next room. Mingles with a new sound: a low, persistent mutter. 

They emerge into the left corner of a large rectangular room. There is a stone door in the wall across from them, and a second door in the righthand wall. To their left, the room stretches away into a long open space. Kira can see a low bookshelf at the left end of the room. A boxy table - a cabinet - at the right end. At the farthest point of the room, there is a small hole in the wall, just large enough to squeeze through. But before all of this, there is the muttering figure.

He's seated in the center of the room, hunched over a stained game table. A bald skull protrudes over layers of cloth, trailing wisps of hair like cobwebs. He’s draped in so many rags that he looks more like a growth than a human figure. His back is to the doors. He hasn’t seemed to notice the companions yet, but any move toward the items at the end of the room will place them in his field of view. Perhaps it doesn't matter.

The righthand door suddenly grinds open, allowing two singed figures - a tailed redhead and a blue-haired man - to stumble into the room. Their entrance is obvious, as much as the rasping breath of Kira's companion, and the robed man can't fail to hear. But he doesn't respond. He only hunches over his game board and mutters.



Edge:
Items: chipped knife, simple knife, general's note 1

The passage through the rubble is sure to leave Edge with back pains later on. Harsh edges and rough stone push against his burned back. Tight stones force him to twist and contort in places to get by. Several times, it feels as though he might get stuck completely. Once, midcrawl, he sees a vision flicker past his eyes: a pile of furs; the flash of mummified skin and fangs; the weight of someone against his shoulder. Surely a trick of the claustrophobia. But at last Edge pushes through to the other side. A stone door is waiting for him, already open - at least, as much as the press of rubble will allow. 

Edge emerges into a brilliant light. He's in a large square room, stark white, the cracks and corners of the bricks wiped clean of shadows. The light results in a disorienting world, stripped of distance and dimension. But as Edge stares, he can begin to make out detail: the seams of a door in the righthand wall. A slight texturing in the wall opposite his own. And then there is the light. 

The light emanates from the center of the room. It's set in the center of the floor and ringed by hard protrusions - the shape of a disk, a sun. The light sears the eye. Transfixes it. Like the light off the mural, it brings Edge a strange sense of calm. Comfort. But if the mural was a candle, the disk is a bonfire. The light of it fills him with a rush of well-being. Even his burns seem bearable, the pain in them receding to a dull backdrop. It feels like nothing bad could happen here. Only...

Only, someone is weeping. It's a quiet sound, muffled - the high, lost tone of a child. It seems to come from within the light, and the the sound echoes as if down a long, hollow distance. Should Edge move, the sound cuts off abruptly, as though frightened to silence.

[kilnarak]

[ Ari wishes he had lit a torch for himself. He goes into the collapsed room and takes the path to the right. ]

Thankfully, the grey thing left him alone. He felt as if a weight left his shoulders when it withdrew and the door ground closed. It allowed him to better examine the mural at least - although the sound of bubbles rising from the well was nerve-wracking. Each burbling noise made him jump, his head jerking to look back over his shoulder. The more he looked at the well the more it reminded him of a gaping mouth. Was it what the mouth in the mural represented?

... if it was then maybe it was the source of the monsters. Maybe the source of the darkness too? But why had the monster that had peeked in the room left him - shouldn't it want to throw him into that waiting mouth? Or... perhaps the maw had other ways to draw him in. That burbling noise made the hairs prickle on the back of his neck. Was the room growing more humid, the air thicker? Ari shuddered at the thought. The room had seemed safe at first but now he was fairly sure that he needed to get out.

He had just begun to consider which way to leave when a familiar voice sounded just behind him. He froze, his breath stuck in his throat, as he heard Sarkany again. A breathless Sarkany, a voice that reminded him of the other pierced with shards of jagged metal - was that the burble of blood behind the raspy words, or was that only the well? Sarkany's voice mentioned the 'greys' - surely the creature that had just peered into the room at him. He hadn't intended to get close to it anyway, it had felt dangerous, but now he had further reason to keep away.

"J-Just make light. R-Right, but now my light is dead," he muttered to himself, shivering again. The path back through the tunnel was too dark. The path ahead was dark as well, but at least he could make out that room - rubble-strewn though it was. He decided, moving into the partially collapsed room to consider the two paths available. Left or right? Both stretched into darkness, he couldn't tell how far. Either way he would probably have to crawl. His skin itched at the thought.

After a further moment of hesitation, Ari chose the right tunnel. Hopefully, if it dead-ended, he would be able to turn back.

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara takes a moment to hug Hau in relief. When she sees the two other figures, she calls out softly, before realising it's Sarkany and running over by skirting around the edge of the room. If the hunched figure hadn't moved for them after all the noise, she hoped it still wouldn't. Asks if Hau will let Sarkany hold the figurine for a bit.]

It had worked. It had actually worked!

Though she felt a pang of revulsion and horror at the brief sight of Grace's body as she was set upon, Sara also felt a wash of relief as she and Hau both successfully navigated past the creatures and into the room beyond. Though, when she saw the hunched figure, the shifter froze, expecting it to turn and attack.

Nothing happened. Whoever or whatever it was didn't even look their way.

Releasing a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, the shifter felt conflicting emotions welled up inside her chest; the two of them had a moment to breathe, but with the lessening of adrenaline came choking guilt, bubbling from inside as though she might throw up. Frustration. A wish that she had just done more. Done something. There was nothing else they could have done for the sasquatch, but even so, seeing that thing pulsate over her body...

Sara shuddered. She then turned to Hau and without a word put her arms gently around his shoulders in a loose hug, very much aware of their injuries but seeking some kind of physical connection regardless. It was a gesture as much for her own sake as an effort to comfort him; though a surprising resilience and stubbornness still thrummed inside her, the weight of transpired events was taking its toll. Her injuries throbbed. Sarkany's voice, again echoing and seeming so real, weighed upon her mind. She felt so tired.

But Hau's solidness was a reminder, she still had someone to protect, if she could. She wasn't going to let him down. Her thoughts turned to Ari and she hoped he was alright, that they could find him again later.

It was at about that moment the shifter looked around the rest of the room and noticed the two other figures near a second door. She flinched back from Hau, ready to fight if necessary, only to realise whoever it was looked to be in just as bad shape as she and Hau. More survivors?
"'Ello?" The shifter spoke in a hushed whisper and held up her hands, so as to look less threatening. Her eyes darting to the hunched figure, checking for movement. Keeping to the edges of the room in case approaching would set it off, Sara stepped closer to the two new figures, intending to offer help if she could. "We ain't gan 'urt ya, are ya trapp-"
Her words guttered and died. Now closer, Sara realised with a skipping heart just who she was looking at.

It was Sarkany.

Her footsteps seemed to echo in the shifter's own ears as she ran for him, the distance taking far too long even though he was hardly a stone's throw away. He was here, REAL. Earlier, when she'd heard him... All this time... A breath sucked hard into her lungs, as when she reached an arm's length the true horror of his injuries really struck home. Burns, but not from fire, more as though something had tried to digest him. Something had nearly killed him and now he looked like he was dying right in front of her eyes. A step away she reached down, placing her various items on the floor.

Sara's arms swept around Sarkany's chest and under his armpits, supporting as much of his weight as she could take, uncaring about her own seared flesh. She had nothing for injuries like this. What could she do? Her words tumbled out rapid fire,
"Sarkany. Sarkany it's Sara. It's- it's Vahi. Jesus Christ man what 'appened?" At a terrified sound and a flurry of movement, her gaze turned to the winged creature, the sorry state of her, brain jumping between distress and trying to figure out if she could move the poor creature's jaw back into position. "Both o' ya. Bloody 'ell..."
A pang of terrible guilt shot through the shifter when the winged one began to cry. She hadn't meant to scare them.
"Eee, y'alreet luv, it's alreet. I ain't gan 'urt ya."
She wanted to do more, say more to soothe, but after a moment she was focused back on Sarkany. He'd been there when she needed him and now... now what could she do? She felt a sudden, ridiculous urge to brush the hair away from his face. Tears threatened in her eyes, built in her chest, but she refused to let them spill. Still, her voice cracked when she spoke again, whispering for him alone,
"Divvint- divvint do it ya bastard. Ya jus- ya cannae let us find ya an'- an' then die."

Still she was thinking, trying to find a solution. Anything. Her head turned, caught sight of Hau and it was then she reached for the only course of action she could think of.

"Ha-Hau luv, uhm-" she swallowed, tried to settle her breathing, tried again, "Hau luv, could ya let 'im 'old ya figure for a tick, like?"
It had helped with her headache in the trove room and the kitsune seemed to have been standing a little easier ever since he'd been holding it, so she hoped perhaps it would do the same for Sarkany.

[jarahamee]

[Cassius decided to recommend trying one of the keyholes, and would see if the key turns. If it does not, he will try pushing or turning the area around the keyholes]

The bread tasted wonderful in his bloodstained mouth. How could something so horrible be so delicious? He could not say, but it seemed harmless. Then again, when was anything harmless in this world? He chewed and swallowed with the remorseless hunger of a wolf. After he finished licking his still-bloody fingers, he spoke;

"Our eyes play tricks on us here. I can't explain why, but I know that these are... people, not just animals."

He couldn't quite place it. How could something like that be true? They were so small and helpless, and even the smallest baby could fight back more effectively than those rats. Though few unarmed humans could succeed in combat with him. His body remembered the satisfaction of flesh giving beneath his fingers. It was a visceral joy he quickly buried deep in himself.

Cassius examined the slots around the door. This had the potential to need to be turned or opened a certain way. Never a good thing. Hopefully it only needed to be turned in the way that opened the doors. Like an ordinary key, but when was anything here ordinary? His muscles tensed visibly under his scarred skin as he touched the stone, as if testing it. His whole body was a patchwork of irregular scars and bruises, even in this strange dreamstate.

If they stayed here, all that awaited them was death. It was best to find new paths and move forward, and forward they had to go. A path someone else had tread would get him nowhere. 

"Here. Try turning it. If it doesn't turn, I'll try to push and turn the stone disks." 

He was not sure which one needed the sword, so he chose at random, and hoped such choice did not bite him in the back. It was always possible, even if he did tend to be a lucky man in love and war. Luck did not last forever, and neither did brute strength. 

[Pearl Dragon]

[Kira gets the bejeezus scared outta her as Sara rushes to them and is now losing her shit by the door they'd just come in.]

Kira was relieved when the man regained his balance and continued towards the door she'd hoped. Together, they began to push at the door and the man spoke to her as they worked. Every so often, Kira looked up at him with terrified admiration. Some of what he said made some sense to her, mainly his advice about the dead bodies and the shadows. She'd already encountered the sheer strength and horror of the dark when it had nearly taken her arm. The 'abilities' she was uncertain of, and as he commented on her speechless state, she once again looked down in shame.

At long last, the door was open again just enough to let them through and Kira pushed her way in. Once inside, she grabbed the door and began to pull it more so the man could get through as well.

Just then, a muttering reached her ears and Kira spun on one heel to see what it was. A lump formed in her throat when she spotted the aged figure seated at some kind of table in the center of the rectangular room. She reached instinctively to the man, grasping again at his hip as if to ask a question. Her eyes wavered on the figure and then past the figure at two new individuals that entered the space as well, humanoids from the look of it. Now her panic had begun to build again, not trusting the situation. The red-headed human whispered, her skin a blistered, painful red that set Kira's nerves on edge.

There was a moment when they all sort of stared at each other, Kira pawing at the man and watching the others intently. Her heart thudded in her ears and jaw, then seemed to leap almost up her throat when the female rushed forward in a dead sprint. Kira blurted a shriek of terror and practically threw herself backwards. She spiraled, dropped to the ground on her side facing the door and then began a mad scrabble towards it on all fours. The door was still open, she could make it and go back-

But the man!

Kira grabbed the door and swung herself on the other side of it before turning back to call desperately to the man. A cold drop of fear fell heavily into her stomach as she watched the blistered creature grab onto the man with her entire body. She called out to him, a fresh flow of tears now welling in her eyes as she watched her one and only companion swept into the figure's arms. Her cries echoed in the space, seemed to hang in the stale air, desperate and full of despair. She didn't want to be alone again, but what could she do? Her burs could work again, but in her mangled state her fear held her rooted in place. All she could do was keen and cry from her place behind the door, pain forgotten and trembling all over.

[okami1reeka333]

[OOC: Fighting the wanton murder n mayhem. Tries to tell Cassius that if he can find his body, there are potentially useful items on his person.]

The more he tried to question the morals of why he was doing and saying what he was, it became more and more painful. As if someone was holding his limb and pressing him into an exposed electrical current. Questioning his actions became more combative against the foreign lull of cold malice. But what can he do to help the two- waaait. . . he died with items on his person- well, in his bun. . . .

So he moved to try and talk to the more reasonable-sounding of the two who were still present. " Hey, if you can find my body, theres items on it that could help you, Just. Please be careful. " His little orange flame flickering as he tried to not just scream in utter pain as the flame itself manifested its light deprived form.

[NightshadeVII]

[OOC: Edge is worried about the crying for a whole number of reasons. Quietly and carefully, he moves around the room, examining the disk from all angels but keeping a safe distance from it, trying to find who or whatever is crying. Carefully, he says he won’t hurt whoever is crying.]

For a moment, Edge was completely blinded, the room he had come into standing in such a stark contrast with literally anywhere else. All he could see was the bright, white light, wrapping around his field of vision, enveloping it in a single flat colour. It was as if the world simply ceased to exist for a moment, even though Edge could still feel the ground beneath his feet and the blisters across his body. That kept him grounded. A thought flashed through his mind, that this light, so much stronger than anything else he had encountered here, would kill him, right then and there. But nothing happened, or rather, the exact opposite happened. The light soothed the pain of the burns, bringing with it a sense of calm and ease, almost weightlessness, and compared to the claustrophobic pressure of the hallway he had come from, it was a welcome change.
In the last room where this kind of light had been present, the Darai had been too preoccupied to truly notice it, but now that he felt it in full, without distractions, a short, relived purr rumbled in his throat.

That’s when he heard the voice over his shoulder, rasping and speaking of something he referred to as the darks and the greys. Could the greys be referring to the pustules he had seen all over the place? In that case, what were the darks? And why would using his abilities kill him?
He felt the urge to just drop to his knees, hold the sides of his head and catch his breath, ground himself fully and try to comprehend the situation, everything was getting more and more confusing by the moment. It was a maze that he could barely navigate, much less manipulate, he hadn’t gotten any closer to finding Faolan or a way out of here and he had almost been killed twice. The only person that actually understood him had died and he couldn’t interact with other people trapped in here, if they even were here at all. He didn’t notice how his breath had quickened, but when he did, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying not to panic. He couldn’t assess whether that worked or not.
But that was when he realized he wasn’t alone. He heard the crying of what sounded like child, and yet, now that his eyes had adjusted to the light, he couldn’t see anyone in the room with him. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. This could be anything

Heart pounding in his chest now, Edge looked around for a source of the crying, it seemed to be coming from the disk, but how could that even work? Carefully, to make as little sound as possible, he took a step forward.
The crying stopped instantly, as if it had never been there to begin with. It was the reaction of someone or something frightened, or something that wanted to come off as frightened. The Darai had no intention of blindly trusting this crying sound, despite how it had torn at his empathy. This place was treacherous, and he couldn’t be too careful here. Slowly, he moved around the room, examining it and the disk from all angles in an attempt to see if there eve was a source for the crying at all.

He knew that what he did next was dumb, very dumb, but he had done so many dumb things here already. Still he glanced at both the doors, trying to figure out which one he could get to fastest. In case he needed it.
“I’m not going to hurt you...”, Edge spoke softly, desperately hoping he wasn’t angering something with this.

[Marshmallow]

[Marche haunts Edge, oooo~ Attempts to give Edge some helpful tips, but isn't entirely lucid at the same time.]


As Edge contemplated the light and distant echo of weeping, a flame flickered into existence. It glowed with a faint emerald light, that shifted yellow at its center. It hung in the air silently like a will-o'-the-wisp, hovering between Edge and the brilliant central light. The flame gave off no heat, nor caused any pain, despite how eerily similar it was to the blasts of green fire that had seared Edge - and ultimately killed Marchelute. It just... existed. It swayed slightly in the air, as though buffeted by a breeze, but was otherwise motionless.

His awareness was like an old thread, faded and fraying. There were things he knew now, things he felt - and things he could no longer grasp, things he couldn't remember. But this place... was important. A mournful, wounded sound drifted from the flame's heart, sympathetic to the weeping that echoed from the light.


"He fell... He fell such a long way..."

Marchelute's voice whispered from the flame, from the corners of the room, from just beside Edge's ear. Hollow, weary, grieving. He mourned that he had fallen too soon to do what needed to be done.

"We have to finish it. There's... still time..."


The tone of his ethereal voice shifted abruptly. His focus turned sharply to Edge, an expectant weight in the air. Where before his voice was merely a whisper, a distant rumble, now it was clear.
"You can't reach on your own. Without my wings... But, maybe, if you find a rope, you could climb down there. Fix it. Fix this. We have to..."

[Vaitris]

[OOC: Hau is shocked that the plan worked. He gives the effigy to Sarkany as requested then tries to calm Kira down.]

Hau was dumbstruck. They managed to pass by the creature without incident. Not that he doubted Sara, he was actually developing a great deal of trust in her, but there was only so many things a person could control for. But a last minute glance behind had proven the beast had other things on its mind as it crouched over Grace's body, doing something that filled him with disgust and a fresh surge of guilt. It was a small relief when they could finally close the door on the whole scene, but he knew the image would linger with him for a long time to come.

This new room was surprisingly still and quiet, devoid of any threat except perhaps the old man immediately in front of them. Hau felt Sara stiffen defensively next to him, even as he did the same. But there was no movement, no acknowledgement, no hint that the wizened head was even turning in their direction. There was just the muttering, almost soothing in its softness.

For a moment, the sudden quiet and the absence of any immediate need to flee left Hau strangely on edge and uncomfortably purposeless. Like he was missing whatever new danger they should be responding to. Then Sara’s arms were around him, breaking the spell, and he returned the gesture as gently as he could. “Holy shit.” He whispered, still grappling with disbelief.

It was over her shoulder he spotted the other two strangers near the left-hand door. More lost souls. Hau’s mind flashed back briefly to the dark room he had first found himself in, recalled the numerous muffled movements and quiet voices. Were all of them in here somewhere being tortured just the same? Sara, at least, seemed to recognize one of them and as she hurried across the room he followed more slowly in her wake. The shorter of the two figures, some sort of bat creature, gave a shrill cry of fear and scrambled back towards the door. Hau went rigid at the sound, head snapping back to look at the old man in the middle of their room but it was hard to say whether he heard or cared.

"Hau luv, could ya let 'im 'old ya figure for a tick, like?"

This close up the other man looked awful. It was a surprise he was on his feet even with the help he’d been given. Without hesitation, Hau handed over the figurine. His fingers ached now that his hand was empty, he hadn’t realized how tightly he’d been clutching it before now.

Then with another thought he put the torch down too, hopefully out of the way of anyone stepping on it, and crouched down to approach the shivering bat creature. “Shhhh.” He whispered. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He tried to look as non-threatening as possible, holding up his empty but blood-stained hands. Hopefully that wouldn’t upset her more. If she couldn’t understand what he was saying, this couldn’t appear good to her. “We’re lost here like you.”

It was hard to say what had set her off to begin with, but Hau hoped he could calm her enough to quiet her. Her fuss might catch the old man’s attention, but it also cut Hau to the quick. He couldn’t not try to do something. She was absolutely terrified. Though, considering where she currently was, she had very excellent reason to be so.

[MP]

Ari:
Items: hunting horn, blank effigy

Rocks jab painfully against Ari's back. Pebbles sting at his palms. The tunnel turns up at a back-cracking angle. Veers down again. At several claustrophobic points, it seems like he'll be stuck in the rocks completely, or pinned by a shifting stone. But at last, he reaches a door in the rubble. There's just enough room to set his shoulder to it and wriggle through.

The shifter finds himself in a small square room. There are alcoves in the walls all around him, each occupied by a life-sized human statue. The blank clay eyes stare inward - fixed, it seems, on the square altar at the center of the room.

The altar's surface is marked with a circle of shallow slots. Some are filmed with normal dust. Others hold the stumps of tiny stone feet, which resemble the base of Ari's own figurine. At one point, the altar must have held a full set. Now it stands empty. Oddly expectant.

There is a stone slab in the alcove across from Ari's own - the only other door. However, it's not the only exit. In the center alcoves of the left and righthand walls, there are holes behind the statues. From what Ari can see of the interior, the walls of these two passages are rough, uncut stone. They look as if they've been dug out rather than built.



Sara, Hau, Kira, and Sarkany
Sara's items:old spear, broken knife, seeing stone
Hau's items: maned pelt, burning torch
Kira's items: king's seal, carved fragment
Sarkany's items: simple knife, human effigy

"It's alright."

His voice carries, more by virtue of its calm than any real volume. Sarkany wipes the blood from his face. Rights himself to accept the figurine. A fresh tremor runs through his frame as his fingers curl around it. But with Sara's help, he steps forward. Holds out his hand, figurine and all, to Kira.

"They're friends," he tells her. "And that one - " He nods at the muttering figure, his voice now pitched to the group, "- doesn't m-move, as far as I've seen. Come on."

A small, inviting beckon to Kira with the figurine. He offers her a pale smile. "If this does help, l-let's see if it works on us both, hmm? We can each keep a hand on it."

He's a good liar. Only Sara, supporting Sarkany, can detect the tension in his frame, or feel just how much he's relying on her to stay upright. At least the bleeding seems to have stopped. And his voice has steadied somewhat. He addresses the shifter in an undertone, for the burbat's sake.

"It's good to see you, Vahi. All things con-considered."

He looks at her, looks over Hau, taking in their burns.

"You ought to use it too. Your statue. I felt m-more greys around. Big crusty things. And none of us are in condition to fight." A rueful smile. "N-not that I recommend it. Their touch is a bit corrosive, it turns out."



Cassius and Draggo: 
Cassius' items: burning torch, sturdy rope, scholar's note 2
Draggo's items: broken flint necklace

The notched sword slides neatly into the slot. As it sinks to the hilt, there's a heavy clunk from deep within the stone. A resistance, and then a give as something locks into place. Should Cassius try to take the sword back, he finds it locked in the stone. But the movement turns the sword. And as the sword turns, the keyhole and the circular section of wall turns with it. The mechanism is incredibly heavy. Hard to turn. But slowly, slowly, it turns into place. The keyhole stops at the horizontal position with a second heavy clunk and refuses to turn farther. The stone circle sinks deeper into the wall, leaving a hollow beside the door. The echo of it booms across the room.

And nothing happens. The sound fades over the gallery. The central gate stands as silent and still as ever. The two companions are left with one notched keyhole, unturned, unfilled. It seems that a second sword is required.



Edge:
Items: chipped knife, simple knife, general's note 1

There's no response to these reassurances. Not even the weeping. But as he nears the light, Edge's voice echoes strangely. It rebounds off the stone, as if he's calling down a long empty space. He's close enough to see detail - to feel it beneath his feet. Now his eyes are adjusting. And he can see that, at the fringe of the disk, just beyond the circle of raised stone, the floor falls away. Not a disk - a well.

The depth is hard to determine, even this close to the edge. The source of the light, whatever it is, is strong enough to fill the hollow and wash the entirety of the room, removing any chance of gauging by sight. Without some means of testing the drop, there's no telling how far it is, or what might wait at the bottom.

[kilnarak]

[ Ari puts that effigy on the altar then decides to try the stone slab door. He doesn't intend to go through if the next room looks dangerous or collapsed, though. ]

Ari felt panic welling up in his throat each time he felt he might become stuck, the rocks pressing down all around him. When he finally found the door at the end he pressed against it as hard as he could - worried that it may be stuck, that the crawl was for nothing. But then it ground open inch by inch, and he was able to pull himself through into a blessedly open space.

The room was small, yes, but after that crawl it was welcome. Hell, at least he could see the close walls, they weren't lost somewhere in the dark. Now if only he could curl up in a corner and will this nightmare away.

Ari spent a few moments just breathing, stretching and checking to make sure he still had his idol, the horn, was still in one piece. He was glad, for the moment, that he had given away the rusty knives - they surely would have stabbed him in the crawl here. He wondered if his body healing itself would count as a 'power' given the hungry nature of this place - knowing his luck, it probably would.

He finally got up to look around the room, taking note of the statues, of the altar, of the slots in the altar. His idol looked like it would fit there, felt like it should fit there... And it wasn't like it was useful to him any more. He moved to the altar and hesitantly tried to find a place to slot the idol in. There were other empty spaces for more idols - hadn't Sara had one, before? Though for all he knew, she had been swallowed up by the darkness.

He shivered again, then turned his attention to the exits from the room. There was another closed door, yes, but a bit more search revealed passages behind the statue - passages that reminded him of the one that head lead to the well. He flinched a bit away from that thought, and instead turned to see if he could push open the stone slab opposite where he had come in. He could at least... look down that way and see if it seemed safe, and if not then he could consider the passages behind the statues.

[Sharei]

[OOC: Draggo suggests going back and taking the other branching path to find the other sword. He also suggests that they should try to talk to the other creatures Cassius said were human.]


The juvenile watched the sword sink into the wall, watched the keyhole turn, and stared as nothing happened. He gave the sword a tug but it wouldn't come out. Stuck, with nothing to show for it but silence. The more reasonable part of his brain told him that there must be another sword somewhere and that the puzzle likely needed two keys to unlock the door, but the emotional part of him just wanted to curl up and cry. He was frightened, and the sound of Sarkany's labored breathing and unsteady words had chased away any confidence he might have had about his ability to survive in this... whatever it was. If his Kanagi was hurt and struggling, what chance did he have?

He wanted Kanagi to tell him funny stories, and he wanted Azho to take away the bad dreams. He wanted Sohl to sit by him, to laugh with him. It was completely selfish, but he couldn't help the private wish.

But if he's hurt, I have to find him, the dragon thought, a tiny light of courage in the deeper darkness of his fear. He'd face a lot for his family.

"There was another path back the way I c-came," he said, pointing in the direction of the door they'd come through. "Maybe there's another sword? And if those creatures are actually humans, shouldn't we try talking to them?"

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara explains to Sarkany that there's a grey back the way she and Hau came. Queries whether they should try interacting with the hunched figure in the room and tells/shows him what the seeing stone can do.]

Though she was glad the figure had the desired effect - namely stopping Sarkany's bleeding and giving him just a touch more strength - Sara did not stop supporting his weight, for she could feel just how much he was leaning on her and wasn't certain he'd even be able to stay standing without her. It was a good thing, she thought, that he wasn't a particularly big person.

At the mention of using the figure, Sara shook her head; though her burns hurt, especially where Sarkany's weight pressed against her, she wasn't in immediate danger in the same way he was, or injured to the extent of the winged creature.
"I'm alreet, like. Give it us later."
For a moment, the shifter's gaze turned back to the door she and Hau came through. She stared, a shiver ran across her skin and then she spoke again,
"Those greys ya mentioned, we left one, like, in that room." She nodded in the direction of the door. "Set the 'ole bloody room on fire. Wouldn't recommend gannin' that way, like."
A pause. She glanced at the winged one, glad she had at least approached, but concerned that she still seemed so afraid. It wasn't to be helped, given their situation, but she at least gave her a smile, in the hopes that would ease some of the tension.

Next, the shifter's tail scraped along the floor, tip carefully moving beneath the seeing stone she had placed down and pulling it towards herself. She spoke as she did so,
"Alreet, so do we approach 'im, like? 'Ave a chat?" With the stone now at her feet, Sara lifted it up so she could grab it with one hand and show it to Sarkany. "Also, found this, like. If ya 'ave a gander through it, can see things ya cannae normally, ya know? Darkness turned owt tah be Marchelute, an' there were mould all ower the walls, like, in another room."
Having explained, the shifter took a quick look around the room they were currently in using the stone, just in case there was anything hidden.

[Pearl Dragon]

[Kira remains at the man's side, calmed but still struggling with residual panic.]

Kira shrank as the blue haired boy approach, her keening taking on a new pitch as she hid behind the door.  She looked frantically between him, the man, and the red-headed woman, still rooted in place by fear and worry for her companion.  They had begun to talk to her, and their tones at first were lost amidst her terror, but the more the talked, the more her cries began to die to whimpering sobs.  Her eyes were wide, golden saucers, still flickering between each face.

It wasn't until the man spoke that Kira finally quieted.  Her breathing came in hyperventilated hitches, and tear streaks carved wet scores down her cheeks. 

At his becon, Kira peered at the man and then broke through her frozen hesitation.  She stepped timidly from the door, then shuffled quickly to the man's side where she remained pressed lightly against his good leg. 

"They're friends.  And that one doesn't m-move, as far as I've seen.  Come on."
Kira gave a shaking nod in return and then reached with one trembling hand up to the offered object.
As the others spoke, Kira remained quiet except for her labored breathing, still coming down from the rush of terror that had gripped her.