Through mulling and pondering, Valen's senses returned and he immediately reached for his pack. Drawing a worn, leather bundle, he unfurls it to reveal his aid kit. It mostly contained a number of vials and salves, along with several bundles of clean cloth. The help he'd received closed the bleeding he suffered, but there was still severe bruising and phantom trauma. It took only a minute to strip apart his armour, then another to apply a salve and dressing. He'd learned early on that even magic had its limits short of supernatural powers. Best to treat everything as still pulsing and mortally dangerous.
Following his own treatment, Valen moves to Thurston and Aiden as well. Though not as grievously injured, they took the brunt of the encounter with the strange, tentacled horror.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"Thanks, Valen," Aiden says, and glances up at the doorframe again. "Hold on a moment, what did you say that the archway said? Ungdrin Ankor? That's name of an underground road that connects all the old dwarven holds," Aiden says. "I heard a story about it from a particularly drunk dwarf a few days ago. But he seemed to think that Khaz a Grunron didn't have access to it anymore."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valaith shrugs as she looks back at the path they had traveled. "Considering the monsters we fought to get to this point and the lightning crystals, that makes sense why they could not get here." She turns and looks at the crackling crystals ahead. "Go on, Vark, this seems to be something you are suited to handling." She gestures him ahead.
"Well " replied Thurston to Aiden and Jex words while they were still trying to figure out the riddles " you have to hit several times the metal before molding it into an efficent weapon after all "
He then nods gratefully to Valen when he finally tends his wounds. He feels much better now and when the others speak of more creatures he exerts himself, asking Thor for his help in the upcoming battles. Feeling a tickle sensation on his chest he reckons that Thor has heard him. And smiled in confidence.
"Go on Vark " he encourages his friend " I will be right behind you in case you need it."
With the encouragement of his friends behind him, Vark steps through the door towards the crackling crystals. The red crystal feels unsurprisingly familiar, but the blue crystal emits an uncomfortable whine that causes the mage to wince. Still he moves forward, but only a few more steps. Something is drawing him back, an invisible force like gravity. He turns to see if there is any visual cue to this strange phenomena, only to watch as a wave of crimson energy crashes over the party and Vark from behind. It is the same pulse that the group had seen the night before, but down here it is far more intense. Vark is left covered in red sparks for a moment before they dissipate into the ground. "This isn't the right way." he says with supernatural confidence. "The ruby... it's back in there. I think this is an exit." He quickly doubles back and walks through the door and pasty the others. "Jex, there were other passages right?"
Jex nods. "Some, but most led up. There is a room with a painting, some empty spaces. All stairs going up." Jex crinkles his mouth as he thinks through. "Any better idea of a direction?"
Vark points in the direction the wave had come from, slightly to the left now that he had turned around. "That way." he thinks for a moment, his head cocked to one side. "You said... a room with a painting? What was it of? Maybe there's a clue there."
The room with the painting of the valley lies at the top of the stairs leading up from the hall with the obelisks. It is unchanged, quiet and cold, with a door on the far side leading up to other unexplored chambers.
Vark enters the room and immediately moves to the painting. With so much strange magic suffusing this place, he finds it hard to believe that there are no arcane secrets hidden within this odd piece of decor. He inspects the artwork for a moment and quickly determines that he is right. There is a faint magical resonance there after all. Vark opens his senses further, and his blue-grey eyes begin to glow. With his altered vision he watches as the picture frame lights up with dwarven runes. "Oh wow! It looks like uhm... yes divination and conjuration magic has been place upon the frame here. I don't think it's dangerous..." he slowly places his hand on the painting, unsure of exactly how to activate the magic but hoping his own arcane spark can get it to work. What's more, if this painting is somehow connected to Matthew like so much else in this place, then maybe it was meant for him to find. As these thoughts race through his head, the thick strokes of oil paint begin to swirl and shift as if they are alive. They move about organically in abstract patterns before they begin to settle into a new image. Instead of the peaceful valley, the paint now shows a crowned dwarf with a thick brown beard and a sword hanging at his side. The man is looking at the same painting they all are now, except his version of the painting shows a human man, also crowned, channeling power from a big shard of red crystal. Vark gasps, then looks back with a grin at the others. "Look!" he peers closer to the image himself, trying to discern detail from the impressionistic strokes. "That... I'm pretty sure that's Matthew." he points to the human man in the painting within the painting. Then his finger trails over to the dwarf. "Do you think.... that sword kinda looks like Bründir's right? Is this supposed to be Spangelhelm?"
Jex shrugs, chewing a nail down. "Beats me. Not sure what we can glean from a painting of a man looking at a painting though. Maybe the next person to touch it will see you looking at a painting of a painting of a painting." He chuckles. "Want to try? Step away and I'll have a look. if you like."
He straightens his clothes and draws his scimitars, checking the angle on the paintings now displaying so that he can time a cheeky wink in the direction of the point of perspective and strike a heroic pose.
Jex nods at the advice stepping forward and wincing as he touches the painting, trying to focus his thoughts on the painting and on Matthew. He holds his breath, but nothing happens. He let's out a sigh, half relief and half frustration.
"Nothing"
He shrugs, annoyance momentarily visible on his face
"Maybe it reacts to something in you, like those rocks."
"I don't think so, this doesn't feel like that." Vark steps closer again and touches the painting once more. This time he closes his eyes and with intention he thinks of his storm giant friend. The swirling paints obey and conjure up a scene from Vark's memories in masterful detail. There sits Vark, noticeably younger and lacking the crimson streaks in his mess of dark hair, looking up in awe at a towering figure. Aureaonus is shown splitting his attention between a book and some sort of meteorological device. "That's Aury!" Vark says with a slight bounce. He beams with joy at the image, followed by an intensely smug smile aimed at Jex. But as he turns back to the painting, his expression softens. It's the somber look of someone deeply missing a treasured friend. He'd been ready to march back home to Endelfjell himself just a few days ago, and now here was beneath a dwarven hold being pulled along towards some mysterious destiny. Val's words ring through his head now. If this ruby truly held no value to them, only to Matthew, then not only had he put them all in danger for nothing but he had also wasted precious time. His solemn eyes move back to his friends as his hand retracts from the painting. "Uhm... well I d-don't think this is the right way. I do have a sense of it though... I guess we should get moving." he takes a few steps then looks back to the painting. "If uhm... well do you guys think it would be possible to grab this on the way back out? I'd love to show it to Seid."
Val eyeballs the strange painting as it shifts and alters. "If perhaps we are able to carry it on our way out, Vark. As long as I will not destroy me after pulling it down from the wall, I can carry it out." She looks at it once again as she steps up to the piece of artwork and places a hand upon it as she thinks of home... She closes her eyes and wills the painting to change, but when she opens her eyes nothing has changed. She chuckles as she turns to Jex and Vark. "Vark, I think this is more for you than anyone else."
Vark rubs the back of his head and stammers as he responds. "Oh well I- I think uhm... I bet Seid could figure it out better and teach everyone how to use it." he says optimistically. "I don't think it shows the present, I think it just shows what you wanna see. That was a memory of mine." he adds to Aiden. Then he turns back to the goliath and his gaze falters for a moment. "Uhm also V-Val... about what you said earlier... I... well I agree. If... well if this is all for nothing I'll be pretty upset too. But I don't think it is. Matthew wasn't even the one who sent us here in the first place. Jex wanted to come do business and Hurrig wanted to go home and then the Rhunki told us about the ruby before Matthew mentioned it. It is a weird coincidence but... well maybe there's something more to it. Maybe this is what we're supposed to be doing. Plus, Matthew has already given me incredible power. If this codex is anything like those red crystals in the other room then there's no way it can't help us defeat the sisters. He is... well there's no doubt that he has his own plans, and I'm worried about helping him with that, but so far all he's done is help us so," he shrugs. "I think I'm just trying to see the best in him, for now at least."
"When we're done here..." Jex clears his throat. "There is one more set of stairs downwards that I recall. just this way." He points at the door, giving a quick set of directions to the room. "I'll go ahead and check for anything crawling along the ceiling this time." He vanishes into the darkness, like a dungeon breeze, stalking his way along the walls to the stairs. At the bottom he discovers a room, it appears square and empty, and, after a quick peak inside he decides to explore. Intent on checking for more ceiling dwellers at first, his concentration only lasts so long, true to personality, his mind begins to wander, this time suddenly realising how full his bladder is and considering finding a place to relieve himself. Caught in this thought, he is paralysingly unaware of the floor lighting up beneath his feet until too late. Walls of light close in on him from all sides and he is trapped in a small square arcane prison.
"Shiiiiii... Help!" He calls out to his companions. "Quick, I'm tra..." He fades off, damn, this is embarrassing, maybe I can make this better and at least get out before they arrive. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know the half of what was to come. His desperation to relieve himself was probably also a factor on reflection, to his next, rather rash decision, but certainly his drive to succeed independently also played a large part in what was to come. He reaches out to probe his prison, instantly regretting it as his finger is momentarily trapped in place by the surge of electrical energy he cries out in pain, but another worry is at least dispelled, albeit to be replaced with a bigger one. As he twitches on the ground, his urethral sphincter is as out of control as his other muscles and he feels the relief or tension followed by a warm wet sensation filling his trousers.
As his teeth gnash together the pain is overridden by fear and embarrassment. He lays twitching a moment, his brain though as sharp as ever devises a plan. Reaching onto his back he pulls an arrow from his quiver, peeling off his britches and undergarments, he wipes off as much of the liquid as he can, hitches them on the arrowhead and thrusts them into the electrical wall as far from his body as he can. The smell of singed fabric fills the air and there is a satisfying hiss. Flinging the sizzled garments away into the wall, hoping they will fully disintegrate, he strikes a confident pose waiting for his companions. "Damn thing set my trousers on fire! Almost burnt little Jex to a crisp, he seems ok though, thank Thor!" He winks.
Thurston rushes forward when he hears Jex's crey for help.
When he sees that he is trapped he tries to control his laugh.
"Well, not so "little" for whay I can see I understand now why you were so popular back in the day" he laughs. "Do you think if I throw Rikkazarik to break that cage it will burn little Jex more? "
Through mulling and pondering, Valen's senses returned and he immediately reached for his pack. Drawing a worn, leather bundle, he unfurls it to reveal his aid kit. It mostly contained a number of vials and salves, along with several bundles of clean cloth. The help he'd received closed the bleeding he suffered, but there was still severe bruising and phantom trauma. It took only a minute to strip apart his armour, then another to apply a salve and dressing. He'd learned early on that even magic had its limits short of supernatural powers. Best to treat everything as still pulsing and mortally dangerous.
Following his own treatment, Valen moves to Thurston and Aiden as well. Though not as grievously injured, they took the brunt of the encounter with the strange, tentacled horror.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"Thanks, Valen," Aiden says, and glances up at the doorframe again. "Hold on a moment, what did you say that the archway said? Ungdrin Ankor? That's name of an underground road that connects all the old dwarven holds," Aiden says. "I heard a story about it from a particularly drunk dwarf a few days ago. But he seemed to think that Khaz a Grunron didn't have access to it anymore."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valaith shrugs as she looks back at the path they had traveled. "Considering the monsters we fought to get to this point and the lightning crystals, that makes sense why they could not get here." She turns and looks at the crackling crystals ahead. "Go on, Vark, this seems to be something you are suited to handling." She gestures him ahead.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
"Well " replied Thurston to Aiden and Jex words while they were still trying to figure out the riddles " you have to hit several times the metal before molding it into an efficent weapon after all "
He then nods gratefully to Valen when he finally tends his wounds. He feels much better now and when the others speak of more creatures he exerts himself, asking Thor for his help in the upcoming battles. Feeling a tickle sensation on his chest he reckons that Thor has heard him. And smiled in confidence.
"Go on Vark " he encourages his friend " I will be right behind you in case you need it."
PbP Character: A few ;)
With the encouragement of his friends behind him, Vark steps through the door towards the crackling crystals. The red crystal feels unsurprisingly familiar, but the blue crystal emits an uncomfortable whine that causes the mage to wince. Still he moves forward, but only a few more steps. Something is drawing him back, an invisible force like gravity. He turns to see if there is any visual cue to this strange phenomena, only to watch as a wave of crimson energy crashes over the party and Vark from behind. It is the same pulse that the group had seen the night before, but down here it is far more intense. Vark is left covered in red sparks for a moment before they dissipate into the ground. "This isn't the right way." he says with supernatural confidence. "The ruby... it's back in there. I think this is an exit." He quickly doubles back and walks through the door and pasty the others. "Jex, there were other passages right?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Jex nods. "Some, but most led up. There is a room with a painting, some empty spaces. All stairs going up." Jex crinkles his mouth as he thinks through. "Any better idea of a direction?"
Vark points in the direction the wave had come from, slightly to the left now that he had turned around. "That way." he thinks for a moment, his head cocked to one side. "You said... a room with a painting? What was it of? Maybe there's a clue there."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Jex shrugs,
"it was big and old, too impractical to take so I didn't pay much attention. Come, I'll show you."
Jex leads the way back up to the room with the painting, a little skip in his step as he entertains himself walking at the pace of the group.
The room with the painting of the valley lies at the top of the stairs leading up from the hall with the obelisks. It is unchanged, quiet and cold, with a door on the far side leading up to other unexplored chambers.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Vark enters the room and immediately moves to the painting. With so much strange magic suffusing this place, he finds it hard to believe that there are no arcane secrets hidden within this odd piece of decor. He inspects the artwork for a moment and quickly determines that he is right. There is a faint magical resonance there after all. Vark opens his senses further, and his blue-grey eyes begin to glow. With his altered vision he watches as the picture frame lights up with dwarven runes. "Oh wow! It looks like uhm... yes divination and conjuration magic has been place upon the frame here. I don't think it's dangerous..." he slowly places his hand on the painting, unsure of exactly how to activate the magic but hoping his own arcane spark can get it to work. What's more, if this painting is somehow connected to Matthew like so much else in this place, then maybe it was meant for him to find. As these thoughts race through his head, the thick strokes of oil paint begin to swirl and shift as if they are alive. They move about organically in abstract patterns before they begin to settle into a new image. Instead of the peaceful valley, the paint now shows a crowned dwarf with a thick brown beard and a sword hanging at his side. The man is looking at the same painting they all are now, except his version of the painting shows a human man, also crowned, channeling power from a big shard of red crystal. Vark gasps, then looks back with a grin at the others. "Look!" he peers closer to the image himself, trying to discern detail from the impressionistic strokes. "That... I'm pretty sure that's Matthew." he points to the human man in the painting within the painting. Then his finger trails over to the dwarf. "Do you think.... that sword kinda looks like Bründir's right? Is this supposed to be Spangelhelm?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Jex shrugs, chewing a nail down. "Beats me. Not sure what we can glean from a painting of a man looking at a painting though. Maybe the next person to touch it will see you looking at a painting of a painting of a painting." He chuckles. "Want to try? Step away and I'll have a look. if you like."
He straightens his clothes and draws his scimitars, checking the angle on the paintings now displaying so that he can time a cheeky wink in the direction of the point of perspective and strike a heroic pose.
“I think it reacts to your thoughts somehow. So maybe it will show that if you think it.” He says with a shrug as he steps back for Jex to try.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Jex nods at the advice stepping forward and wincing as he touches the painting, trying to focus his thoughts on the painting and on Matthew. He holds his breath, but nothing happens. He let's out a sigh, half relief and half frustration.
"Nothing"
He shrugs, annoyance momentarily visible on his face
"Maybe it reacts to something in you, like those rocks."
"I don't think so, this doesn't feel like that." Vark steps closer again and touches the painting once more. This time he closes his eyes and with intention he thinks of his storm giant friend. The swirling paints obey and conjure up a scene from Vark's memories in masterful detail. There sits Vark, noticeably younger and lacking the crimson streaks in his mess of dark hair, looking up in awe at a towering figure. Aureaonus is shown splitting his attention between a book and some sort of meteorological device. "That's Aury!" Vark says with a slight bounce. He beams with joy at the image, followed by an intensely smug smile aimed at Jex. But as he turns back to the painting, his expression softens. It's the somber look of someone deeply missing a treasured friend. He'd been ready to march back home to Endelfjell himself just a few days ago, and now here was beneath a dwarven hold being pulled along towards some mysterious destiny. Val's words ring through his head now. If this ruby truly held no value to them, only to Matthew, then not only had he put them all in danger for nothing but he had also wasted precious time. His solemn eyes move back to his friends as his hand retracts from the painting. "Uhm... well I d-don't think this is the right way. I do have a sense of it though... I guess we should get moving." he takes a few steps then looks back to the painting. "If uhm... well do you guys think it would be possible to grab this on the way back out? I'd love to show it to Seid."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"Is it some sort of divination?" Aiden asks. "Is that what this Aury is doing right now?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Val eyeballs the strange painting as it shifts and alters. "If perhaps we are able to carry it on our way out, Vark. As long as I will not destroy me after pulling it down from the wall, I can carry it out." She looks at it once again as she steps up to the piece of artwork and places a hand upon it as she thinks of home... She closes her eyes and wills the painting to change, but when she opens her eyes nothing has changed. She chuckles as she turns to Jex and Vark. "Vark, I think this is more for you than anyone else."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Vark rubs the back of his head and stammers as he responds. "Oh well I- I think uhm... I bet Seid could figure it out better and teach everyone how to use it." he says optimistically. "I don't think it shows the present, I think it just shows what you wanna see. That was a memory of mine." he adds to Aiden. Then he turns back to the goliath and his gaze falters for a moment. "Uhm also V-Val... about what you said earlier... I... well I agree. If... well if this is all for nothing I'll be pretty upset too. But I don't think it is. Matthew wasn't even the one who sent us here in the first place. Jex wanted to come do business and Hurrig wanted to go home and then the Rhunki told us about the ruby before Matthew mentioned it. It is a weird coincidence but... well maybe there's something more to it. Maybe this is what we're supposed to be doing. Plus, Matthew has already given me incredible power. If this codex is anything like those red crystals in the other room then there's no way it can't help us defeat the sisters. He is... well there's no doubt that he has his own plans, and I'm worried about helping him with that, but so far all he's done is help us so," he shrugs. "I think I'm just trying to see the best in him, for now at least."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"When we're done here..." Jex clears his throat. "There is one more set of stairs downwards that I recall. just this way." He points at the door, giving a quick set of directions to the room. "I'll go ahead and check for anything crawling along the ceiling this time." He vanishes into the darkness, like a dungeon breeze, stalking his way along the walls to the stairs. At the bottom he discovers a room, it appears square and empty, and, after a quick peak inside he decides to explore. Intent on checking for more ceiling dwellers at first, his concentration only lasts so long, true to personality, his mind begins to wander, this time suddenly realising how full his bladder is and considering finding a place to relieve himself. Caught in this thought, he is paralysingly unaware of the floor lighting up beneath his feet until too late. Walls of light close in on him from all sides and he is trapped in a small square arcane prison.
"Shiiiiii... Help!" He calls out to his companions. "Quick, I'm tra..." He fades off, damn, this is embarrassing, maybe I can make this better and at least get out before they arrive. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know the half of what was to come. His desperation to relieve himself was probably also a factor on reflection, to his next, rather rash decision, but certainly his drive to succeed independently also played a large part in what was to come. He reaches out to probe his prison, instantly regretting it as his finger is momentarily trapped in place by the surge of electrical energy he cries out in pain, but another worry is at least dispelled, albeit to be replaced with a bigger one. As he twitches on the ground, his urethral sphincter is as out of control as his other muscles and he feels the relief or tension followed by a warm wet sensation filling his trousers.
As his teeth gnash together the pain is overridden by fear and embarrassment. He lays twitching a moment, his brain though as sharp as ever devises a plan. Reaching onto his back he pulls an arrow from his quiver, peeling off his britches and undergarments, he wipes off as much of the liquid as he can, hitches them on the arrowhead and thrusts them into the electrical wall as far from his body as he can. The smell of singed fabric fills the air and there is a satisfying hiss. Flinging the sizzled garments away into the wall, hoping they will fully disintegrate, he strikes a confident pose waiting for his companions. "Damn thing set my trousers on fire! Almost burnt little Jex to a crisp, he seems ok though, thank Thor!" He winks.
Thurston rushes forward when he hears Jex's crey for help.
When he sees that he is trapped he tries to control his laugh.
"Well, not so "little" for whay I can see I understand now why you were so popular back in the day" he laughs. "Do you think if I throw Rikkazarik to break that cage it will burn little Jex more? "
PbP Character: A few ;)
"One way to find out" He points above his head. "Aim high, please"