Dimir's Out of the Abyss

Trill gives a caw of brief pain as it frosts in her hand. 

She thinks for a moment, cobbling together a query from Caelynn's voice with a bit of Brysis inserted in the middle.

"I don't understand... why everything's been acting so weird lately...magic... can take a look at it, if you'd like."

She holds it up for anyone who thinks they might be able to discern more to figure out what this thing is.

Oak closes the chest ((does it turn invisible?!)) and attempts to lift it. He does so with ease.

Upon feeling the castle quake again, he looks around the group and says “We should go!... someone help Jimjar with Sarith...”.

He looks over at Trill “What is that?! Is your hand ok? Bring it! We have to go!!”. With that he manoeuvres closer to the rope and the hole in the ceiling, beckoning people over where he will help people up..

“Of course not.” Caelynn nods solemnly to Jimjar and hooks her arms under Sarith’s shoulders, gesturing for him to grab the feet. “We‘ll look at it later, Trill. For now, Aimon and Oak are right, we need to move before we’re crushed.”

Aimon looks down at the brightly lit blade of Dawnbringer, not quite sure if he can sheath it, or just slip it through his belt.

In his mind he speaks to the sword, can I slip you through my belt? you won't just fall down will you? I really need two hands right now.

Gambling that it will work, he slides the blade so that it's held by his belt then he climbs quickly up the rope to the room above.

"If you can tie Sarith under his arms, I can hoist him up," he calls down, while at the same time he lowers a second coil of rope and then anchors it to one of the sarcophagi in the upper room so others can start climbing up. "Then you can tie the chest on so you'll have both hands free to climb up."

Caelynn secures the rope around Sarith’s torso so Aimon can hoist him up, then nimbly climbs up the second rope.

Oak helps everyone else up first, then ties the light-weight chest to the rope, climbs the second rope, then pulls the chest up last.

As they all head back the way they came, Oak will try to quietly suggest (as respectfully as he can) to Caelynn that they might move Sarith into the chest, where they would be.. safe.

Aimon pulls Sarith up, trying to be gentle with him as he pulls him over the lip.

"I had the same thought, Oak," Aimon says when he hears his question to Caelynn. "There appeared to be a safe spot to lay him down and it would free everyone up to get out of here quickly."

Trill nods and stows the Tear for now, trying to set aside her worry and sadness as she hurries with the others to get out.

Oak addresses Aimon and Caelynn rather sheepishly “...hmmm, maybe ‘quickly’ is the trick here. I think I should accompany Sarith inside the chest. I would only slow you down...”. You can see that Oak is limping and hunched from exhaustion ((exhaustion #2: movement halved)).

“Let me accompany Sarith inside the chest and you all can make a quick getaway. And at the first sign of trouble you let me out! I’ll wait at the top of the ladder ready!”.

“Aimon, you went in there, there’s air in there, right? What do you think?”.

“No, you’re- you’re probably right. Here.” Caelynn scoops up Sarith’s shriveled form and passes him to Oak. “Keep him safe. Bang on the lid if there isn’t air and you need to get out.” She pushes aside her grief and pain for the moment and prepares to leave with the others.

Oak gladly receives Sarith, gently, and with great reverence, and prepares to descend inside the chest.

Just before he climbs down he says “As soon as the lid closes, I’m going to bang on the lid to check you can hear it from the outside. If you hear nothing, then you know our warning system doesn’t work and you’ll have to pop the lid every few minutes... Now go!!“.

With that, he ducks down, closes the chest, bangs on the lid, and moves down into the room to lay Sarith down on the plinth that Dawnbringer was once laid on.

((Once inside with the lid closed what does he see? Is it dark? Can he breathe? Does it bump around or is it smooth?))

Once in the chest, two torches on the walls flare to life. The flickering torchlight glints of of mounds and heaps of gold, more gold than you have ever seen in one place. The air smells somewhat stale, but it will work for a while. You bang on the lid, and the people outside can hear muffled knocking. When the chest closes, it becomes invisible again. Inside the chest, you can faintly feel movement, but not much.

Coming to the hole in the ceiling, you see that the sarcophagus above still blocks the hole. Without warning, Topsy jumps up onto Jimjar and springs off of him. She she catches herself on the lip of the hole and pushes the sarcophagus out of the way with ease as Jimjar recovers. You remember that the sarcophagus was very light when you first pushes it out of the way. As before, you can hear the clinking of coins in the sarcophagus when it moves. 

As the party files out from the hole, the shaking ground intensifies. Now, a full-blown earthquake is in progress. You all year a great cracking noise come from the room below, and you can see that the floor of the chamber below has ruptured. Magma begins to rise between the cracks. Heat suddenly boasts you as the magma starts to quickly rise. The ground beneath a nearby sarcophagus buckles and falls a few feet before striking the molten stone below.

The clinking of coins is initially tempting, but with magma incoming, and no at hand to spend coins, Trill takes off for the exit, fitting a bolt to her hand crossbow as she runs.

Caelynn sprints after her, hoping they’ll be able to navigate out of the crumbling building. She glances backwards periodically as they run to make sure nobody is falling behind.

Aimon is very tempted by the sound of the coins in the sarcophagus but he can’t tempt fate again. And besides, it looked like a fortune worth of coins in the chest already.

He lifts the chest on to his shoulder and heads off as quickly as he can while making sure the others are managing.

Hopefully the giant spiders aren’t agitated by the shaking, he thinks to himself as the weaves to avoid cracking parts of the floor.

After laying Sarith down on the plinth in the middle of the chest’s room, Oak kneels beside them in quiet contemplation. He knows no gods intimately enough to speak with. He just simply spends a short time with the body out of respect for a fallen warrior.

After that he takes a good look around. He tries to eyeball roughly how much gold is in this chamber, and whether it’s all gold, or if there are other items down here too.

After a look around, he stations himself at the top of the ladder ready to spring out, if needed. It’s only then that he starts to become fully aware of the slow random motion of the room as it’s being carried and bumped around. He’s never been great on boats and this is somehow worse!...

The party begins to rush out of the castles as it begins to collapse into a growing lake of magma. Portions of the ceiling and rocks rain down you as you struggle to run on the treacherous ground. Behind you, liquid stone courses through the passage, singing your backs. (Imagine Aladdin trying to escape the Cave of Wonders.) You burst out of the front doors of the castle, magma hot on your trail (pun intended). As you escape, great cracks split the stone around you and race ahead. As you bound down the stairs you can hear the sound of the castle proper collapsing into the magma. When you feel you have run far enough that you feel safe, you turn and see the tip of a castle tower sink into the molten depths. Immense heat burns away the mist around you and throws hellish highlights against the walls and ceiling. Out here, the feelings of hatred and anger return. This time, you can feel  a measure of respect from the mists.

((Sorry for the delay. I was really busy.))

Once they are clear of the collapsing castle and the magma fields, Aimon sets the chest down on the ground and opens the lid to check on Oak. 

"That was close," he says. "How was the ride?"

Aimon catches his breath and looks around at the others. They all looked like they needed time to rest and process what just happened. As he twists to straighten his leather and his gear, he winces at the pain from the axe blow. He definitely could use the rest too.

"Shall we find somewhere safe to camp for awhile?"

He scans their surroundings, looking through the mist, hoping to spot something to provide some shelter so that they're not left exposed out on the plain.

There are several buildings nearby that seem to be structurally sound. Many of them have multiple stories. Gray-green lichen and moss cling to the cold stone. 

Oak bursts out of the chest and hangs over the side, like someone feeling unwell on a ship! He eventually clambers out and collapses in the dirt... “It’s a very strange sensation that’s for sure... I’m ok... I’ll be okay.. “.

He looks up at where the castle once was, and where now is a lake of lava and rubble, “What did I miss?!... Thank you for getting me out safely, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up!!”. He stares blankly at the lava for a while, not quite believing his eyes.

After a moment or two, he’s feeling stable enough again to walk and will help finding a suitable place to rest...