[Moderated Thread]Mapping the Ice Caves: Trial 3

[Lakia Amaranthine]

Lakia was surprised at how easy it was to open the cage doors, and even more surprised with the warmth of the bars. She backed out of the first cage in a hurry when she saw the face that had been imposed above the ice, however. She was getting a distinct sense that something terrible had happened in these caves. That feeling only grew when she stepped into the other cages, seeing the mishmash of animals, the strangeness of it bringing to mind the spider-snake they had fought.

Turning away from the corpses, Lakia turned her attention to the bars and how warm they were. "Padraig, could you take some samples of the animal corpses?" she said as she began to work on detaching the bars from the gates, seeing if there was someway they could take them with them. The warmth could be useful and the bars themselves would fit in the bags. As she thought about that, she realized how useful the bags were and found herself wondering if the researchers would let them keep them, considering the hell they were going through.

Whether she got the bars detached or not, once everyone was done and ready to go, she pulled her bow out of her own bag and looked down the tunnel the spider snake had come from. "Be careful. I'll take the lead here." she said, as she headed towards the tunnel.

[Arwel Kyric]

Arwel really wasn’t sure what was going on. A magic bench that made people disappear, and then everyone decided to sit on it all together. He was about to sit with them, though he was hesitant to do so, when he accidentally dropped his pistol crossbow on the ground. It took but a moment for him to recover the dropped weapon, but it was enough time that when he sat upon the bench himself, he was transported somewhere else entirely. He froze when he saw the black walls, the bars that surrounded him, breath catching in his throat as memories of his youth flickered in the back of his mind. Before he got a good look at his surroundings, all thoughts left him and his mind flooded with a very real fear as he saw a humongous creature that was some kind of mix of spider and snake. He got hit with fear so hard he couldn’t even scream, but just as it approached, something made it change it's mind and rather than eat him, like he believed it was going to try and do (though he’d be damned if he would go without a fight.) it turned and left out some kind of doorway. With the spider-snake thing gone, he could focus on his surroundings more. He was in some kind of wall to ceiling cage, with a ton of frozen corpses. When he looked closer, he could see that they were sitting together in an odd way, until he noticed the manacles. So they were...prisoners? He wondered, but upon closer inspection, realized just how little they were wearing, and the pain in their faces suggested they died a terrible death down here. Now, Arwel was not normally a religious type, but seeing all these poor souls having died like this, he took a moment to bow his head and pay respects, hoping that if they reincarnated, it was to something better, and if not that their souls went somewhere peaceful.

With that out of the way, he knew he had to focus on getting out. After looking around, he noticed a key just out of reach on the wall. He knelt and slid his bag off his back, looking for rope. It wasn’t until he did so that he realized he’d foolishly forgotten to grab any rope. But luckily for him, his first aid kit had a spool of thread, normally used for sewing up wounds, but in this case it’d probably help him get out of here. In hindsight, a regular rope wouldn’t be able to tie to the bolt without dragging it down, so it was a good thing that he hadn’t tried to use it. He pulled a bolt out and tied the thread around it, then loaded it into his crossbow and stood up, aiming carefully at the key. He fired, but missed, not used to firing with his thick gloves on but the last thing on his mind was taking them off. He pulled the bolt back with the thread, loaded it up, and tried again, only to miss once more. He paused to take a few deep breaths, not letting himself grow frustrated over missing. After a few moments, he tried again, his breathing slow and steady as he lined it up and fired. Luck was with him and he hit the wall behind the key with enough force to make it shake and dislodge from the nail it was balancing on. He dropped to the ground, bringing the thread down with him to try and make it slide along the thread towards him. It took a bit of doing, and plenty of patience, but he finally held the key in his hand. It seemed very old, but before he could inspect it better, he noticed that it was crumbling in his grip, and when he opened his hand he realized the key was barely more than dust. Hoping it was rust, he quickly moved to stick his arm out of the cage and into the lock, missed and as it hit the metal surrounding the keyhole, shattered into pieces. As frustrating as it was to have the key, the main way to escape, shatter into pieces from age, that didn’t stop him from noticing the fact that the bars were warm. Warm like him. His brow furrowed and he inspected the bars closer, noticing that there seemed to be no sign of aging like with the key. He wondered what that could mean, and if he could take any shorter bars with him to keep warm until he could get back to Jackson and the others with the Faldrass sand. Speaking of which, he should take notes of his surroundings and things too, if he saw Jackson and the others again, it would help fill in the map the others would have made. He sighed in frustration, wondering how he was going to get out as he moved to lean against the gate, thumping against it with his full weight, only to suddenly have the door swing outwards with a noise that must have been the lock crumbling and breaking. He gave a soft yelp of surprise as he found himself losing his balance and falling rather unceremoniously on his face. His head popped up almost as soon as he fell, making sure no one saw him as he muttered sarcastically, “Wow, that was graceful.” before moving to stand up and brush himself off. Of course, in the panic of seeing the terrifying spider snake, he’d utterly forgotten to check the door before going for the key. Now that he was out, he took the time to circuit the room like Jackson had had them doing, making notes and taking samples of everything. One thing in particular that caught his interest were what he considered to be peculiar snowflakes. There was one that was the size of his hand, and he found it very interesting considering how they normally were very tiny. He made sure to make a note and draw carefully the snowflake, and it was only when he was done that he moved to pick it up, then paused. With how thick his glove was, he worried about crushing it. Wanting to preserve the shape, and hoping his hot aukari blood didn’t melt it, he quickly plucked the glove off, picked up the snowflake and stowed it away and pulled the glove back on, tucking his hand and glove under his armpit to warm it again after being out in the cold. After looking around, mapping and taking samples, he decided to try and get a bar or two off the cage before looking for the others, knowing he would need something to stay warm if it came time for him to sleep and he was still alone. He started just pulling, then braced a foot against one of the bars, and finally was completely braced against the bars as he tried pulling at what he’d thought was a loose bar, but as he tugged, he was having second thoughts.

[Pegasus]

Quick mod note: Arwel is in a different room than the rest of you!

[Padraig]

In spite of all that had happened since the beginning of the expedition, as a scientist Padraig had managed to maintain a level of both professional and personal curiosity about their surroundings. Jackson's death however and all the carnage that had surrounded it had admittedly shifted the balance between interest, and just wanting to get out of this place and leave it be. And leaving it be was probably what all the forces at work here at wanted. They were in some semblance of agreement there.

But in the process of finding their way out, there was also plenty to see and explore. It was made more difficult by a combination of injuries and a sense of just not feeling his best. He made no mention of it however and carried on. That the bars on the cages were warm, was a curiosity and rather than scrape off a sample, Padraig's preference was to take some manageable section of the metal back with them.

The thing that struck him first however was the abomination that must have occurred here some time in the past. It was the animals he noticed first as Lakia entered the cages. Some mad scientific mind at work was his first thought. Some individual or individuals who had done nothing but a disservice to whatever grotesque field they'd been dabbling in.

Once he took a better look at the perfectly preserved people however, he dropped to his knees before the young girl. He recognized some of the others. But he knew her. It struck him straight to the heart. There was no denying that he'd forever been unnerved by Faith's connections with dead and the spirits of the departed.

But for the first time, Padraig found himself wishing that just for a bit he was able to do what Faith did, so he could help this child find peace if she hadn't already. "I'm not one of yours Famula," he whispered. "and I can't imagine I ever will be. But if you're listening, take special care with this one will you?"

"Of the animal corpses, yes," he said when Lakia asked him to take samples. But not from the people. They'd clearly suffered enough indignity and he wouldn't subject them to more of it in death. So he drew everything he saw, took notes and samples from the animals before turning his interest to the bars which Lakia was already exploring.

As a physicist, he might have some knowledge that would help. So he examined one of the doors, studied how it was put together in hopes that some small mechanism or piece manipulated just so might cause the whole thing to come undone. Better than brute force at any rate. And when they were ready to move on, he was content to let Lakia take the lead and while she carried her bow, he stored his own and kept his sword in hand.

[Amaris]

Considering the event they had just gone through in the previous trial, one would think Amaris was beginning to build a tolerance for seeing corpses in various forms. But, they had not. A quivering started in their hands as they looked upon the huddled corpses. How long had they been here and what had they been subjected to? A few faces were familiar, particularly the one of the woman whose face appeared over the frozen lake. The hybrid turned away. They may have been there for scientific purposes, but this was a matter of respect for the dead. Especially these people, frozen and tormented.

The next cages were of animals, equally as tortured. They’d been merged together to form monstrous ice creatures. Like a child had cut up drawings and then glued them together into a collaged picture. There were wolves, much like the ice wolf of the first trial, and then spiders spliced with snakes. It seemed there was a pattern. They’d seen much of what was in the cages, including the people from the first cage. Which could only mean that the final creature, a beautiful white tiger, would make an appearance as well. This was not a pleasant thought. They glanced over at Lakia and Padraig, being as productive as ever, and figured they could at least attempt to do the same.

They, with shaking digits, sketched the animals as best they could. They were sure to make annotations concerning the number of creatures in the composite structures that they could distinguish. It was only once they’d finished that they took note of the snowflakes. Like everything else, they were perfect and therefore a possible hazard or something to study. The hybrid contemplated the best method of retrieving the snowflake before removing their glove and tucking a few of the snowflakes in a vial. They considered taking samples of the animals, and decided the tiger might be the best option.

Amaris was careful in their approach, lest the creature spring to life and devour them. Once this task was completed, they followed after the others.

Common | Murnasian | Ancient Language

[Pegasus]

15th Ashan 717

There were samples to take in this room, from the creatures that they saw. As Lakia and Padraig worked on the warm bars, though, they saw quickly that whilst the locks and keys had crumbled from age, the metal was more than fine ~ it was like it was new, other than the dusting of snow and other, external, debris. The cages themselves were well made, perhaps better than either of them had seen in terms of construction and they came apart easily. If the two of them looked, then they saw that there was a similar construction for the cages, which meant that they could be taken apart relatively easily from outside. This, in turn, meant that they could take as many, or as few, of the warm bars as they chose. In this room, there were easily fifty of them, each one half the height of floor to ceiling, about five foot long each.

Padraig took samples, also, from the animal corpses. As he touched one of the crystalline snowflakes there, he would notice that whatever he used to touch it was immediately covered in ice. Whatever touch it, froze, it seemed, which could explain how these poor unfortunates found themselves so thoroughly frozen over time.

Speaking of poor unfortunates, as quickly as Lakia backed out of the cage with the people, Padraig did not. Kneeling next to the girl he had seen before, he sent a prayer to Famula.

And maybe the Immortal of souls heard, because the ghost of the girl was standing next to him when he opened his eyes. She smiled at him and looked at the bodies there and sighed. It was a deep sigh, but then she turned back to him and motioned in the direction of the exit Lakia suggested they took. As they walked, she stayed next to him and walked along.

Neither Lakia or Amaris saw her. To Padraig, she was slightly opaque, almost-see through. Ghost-like.

Amaris went through and drew and that all seemed fine - zoology was certainly helpful as a means to identify everything and to accurately count the number of creatures and so on. It all went fine, and was certainly useful. All good.

Until that was, Amaris removed their glove and picked up a snowflake. As that happened, as flesh touched the cool crystalline snowflake, Amaris felt nothing, but saw plenty. The snowflake froze what it touched, as Padraig had, or currently was, discovering. Amaris discovered it in an unfortunate way, having removed their glove.

Within a trill, Amaris' hand up to the wrist was frozen solid, ice all over it. Thankfully, instinct took over and the snowflake dropped to the floor as Amaris pulled her hand back against her body, and there the snowflake shattered. But Amaris' hand was completely frozen solid. What that meant in terms of circulation once they were out of here and got it back to normal? Well no one could know.

So, once they were done, they left that room and went into the next. In there were two very familiar sights. One was the fact that this room, like the one they had come through had cages in it, although only two. One cage had more people, these ones though were different than the first lot ~ these had obviously been slaves judging by the manacles, brands and ragged clothing. They were also frozen in expressions which suggested that they had died and frozen quickly, and in pain.

The second cage contained more animal pieces, although none of them knew what this animal, or these animals, were.

And, of course, the second familiar sight was Arwel, who seemed to be busy trying to pull one of the bars away, but having no luck. Arwel looked up and there was Lakia, who had a bow out and pointing ready, Padraig with a sword and Amaris. There was no sign of either Jackson or Niv. Arwel, though, saw that Padraig had with him a young girl. Except, she looked kind of see-through. Still not visible to either Lakia or Amaris, Arwel saw her clearly. Although these things happened, there were still tracks to follow and, with Amaris likely to descend into further shock by virtue of have a hand that was frozen solid, the group were likely to want to continue moving, although they may stop and take samples.

Once they had done what they were going to do in the second cage room, the tracks for the spider-snake continued and led them into another cavern which they could see from the second cage room. This was, immediately and very obviously a nest for the spider-snake. There was debris everywhere, the creature had made a nest for itself in an area filled with stalagmites and stalactites of normal ice and glowing blue ice. The "nest" was made of snow, snowballs, crystalline snowflakes, remnants of clothes, and a lot of mess, basically.

As they entered this room, the ghostly little girl who stood close to Padraig became visible to them all. To Lakia and Amaris, she was translucent. To Arwel, she became more solid looking and Padraig saw her as he had since the first time. He felt her hand in his, too and she looked up at him with a smile. "We're nearly there," she said and beamed at him; although the others saw her smile, none of them heard her voice except him.

In the nest itself there were a number of more unusual things. Items of jewelry, glowing ice, small bits of glass and metal. Like a magpie, it seemed, the spider-snake liked things which shone. Other than things which seemed largely irrelevant or like other things they'd already seen and sampled (although whether they were or not, of course, was not guaranteed), there were four very unique items. A set of them, each slightly different shape but roughly triangular. They had writing on them which no one recognised, but which glowed a deep and beautiful blue. Each of the stones (for stone they appeared to be) would be very heavy if held in one hand, and more comfortable to be nestled in two.

!

Message from: Pegasus

I will post again on the 9th June or sooner if everyone has posted by then. This thread, and this adventure, is closed to new players. In your next post please let me know: How many warm bars you're taking in total - they are easily obtainable in both of the cage rooms. If you're taking samples of the crystalline snowflakes. What samples (if any) you are taking from the second cage room. Please be very very specific about how you are interacting with your environment (especially stuff in the nest) Also, let me know exactly how you are treating Amaris' hand - everyone involved please.

Samples

Padraig has taken samples of:
4 x wolf bits
4 x spider bits
4 x snake bits
4 x tiger bits

Arwel has
1 x crystalline snowflake

Amaris didn't get any samples, due to frozen-hand-itus.

[Lakia Amaranthine]

Once they had the bars loosened, Lakia proceeded to take all of them and divide them among the group. This proved, in her mind at least, to be a wise decision almost immediately afterwards as Amaris proceed to free her entire hand solid up to the wrist. Taking two of the bars, she took a bit of string and tied them around Amaris' hand, one on each side. "Let's see if that helps at all. If not...well, it could be worse. You could be like them." she said, gesturing to the frozen bodies in the cage. "From now on, we keep our gloves on no matter what. Even if their damaged. Only remove them if you get your hands wet." she said calmly.

When the went into the second room, Lakia pause for a moment in surprise, then let out a sigh of relief. "Welcome back, Arwel. Glad to see you're all right." she said, smiling slightly as they found their wayward companion. After mapping the room, she let the others grab any samples they wanted, then led them into the next cavern, her bow up and ready. However, it appeared there were no more giant spider snakes in this particular cavern. However, a girl who looked a lot like one of the corpses showed up, mostly translucent, and smiled at them.

"...That's unsettling. The dead should stay dead. They don't belong with the living." she said, before she set about mapping the room as best she was able, then set about looking for anything useful. And she went though everything, taking anything that looked like it might help, though she was especially cautious around the glowing ice. However, the thing that really caught her attention was the stones. "We had best take these. Could be the key to getting rid of that shadow across the entrance." she said, handing one to each of her companion. "Best not to have all our eggs in one basket in case something happens." she said quietly. When they others were ready, she would move on.

[Pegasus]

Ooooops

The moment that Lakia touched the rock, even though she was heeding her own advice and had gloves on, Lakia disappeared.

It was like, should Arwel be watching, what had happened to the others when they sat on the bench before him.

And the stone she'd been holding dropped to the floor.

As that happened, the ghostly little girl tugged Padraig's sleeve. He felt it happen, but more than that? The others saw the movement of his sleeve. She was affecting change on reality. Yet earlier, she'd left no footprints.

Hmmmmm.

[Padraig]

The bars and the snowflakes were more than just interesting. Mysterious as they were, as a scientist, an alchemist it particular, he recognized their potential usefulness. In light of it he'd carry out samples of both. The bars seemed safe enough to handle, while he used a pair of tongs from his kit to place several of the snowflakes into sealed jars out of his chemistry kit.

But as soon as he'd opened his eyes following his prayer, there she was again. The little girl who'd appeared, even walked with him earlier. In spite of it all, he smiled at her, though it was a sad smile. Padraig walked with her in silence as they'd moved along, though at first he didn't mention to the others that she was there.

If he'd anticipated that Amaris might pick up one of the snowflakes with her bare hand after removing her glove, he'd have warned her not to. But the girl had distracted him, and then again, he'd already moved on towards the next room. More cages, and the contents here, was it possible, were more disturbing than the ones before. He recognized the trappings of slavery and as for what the animals were or had been, he couldn't begin to guess.

"Where have you been?" he said, suddenly realizing that a lost member of their party had suddenly rejoined them. But then again, they moved on into a room that appeared cluttered, remnants of cast off clothing and other things they'd seen before elsewhere. From his perspective it appeared to be the spider's doing, like a bird or other creature collecting bits and pieces to make a nest for their young.

The stones caught his eye and he would have examined them had the girl not taken his hand, smiled at him and 'spoke'. Just for him, mind to mind. It wasn't all that she said though and while the others might have thought it was strange, that maybe he'd lost his mind, Padraig dropped to his knees in order to speak to her face to face. And he spoke aloud, even though he didn't need to. "What do you mean? Almost there?" he asked.

Apparently she had a lot to say. "Of course I'll help you, he said. My name is Padraig. What's yours?" Apparently her name was Carla but it was the rest that left him confused. "What shouldn't be open? What bad things? You mean the spiders?" He was focused on the child, not the others so he only looked up just in time to see Lakia disappear, and one of the stones drop to the floor. He leaped to his feet, but too late to stop it from happening.

"Nobody touch those," he told Amaris and Arwel. In fact, he told them, don't be touching anything at all just yet."[/i][/b] He turned back to the girl then, who appeared to be close to hysterics. "What is it we need to close? Is that what the stones do?" So, they needed to move the stones, except that touching them was out of the question. And while she told him that it might require magic, he argued, perhaps nonsensically to the others, "I don't have any magic."

Then again, maybe he did and he smiled again at the girl. "You see this sack of mine? It's a magic sack. No matter how many things you put in it, no matter how heavy they are, it never gets full." He'd promised to help her, and he would. But in order to do that she'd have to help them. "Can you lift those stones?" She seemed solid enough. If she could tug on his sleeve then she ought to be able to move the rocks. "Can you put them in my sack and then show us where we need to take them?"

Hoping that she could, he stood again and tried to explain to the others. "Somewhere nearby there is something open that ought to be closed. As long as it's open, bad things get in, and the spirits of those who died here are trapped. And possibly, us as well until we figure out what it is. Those stones," he said and pointed at them, "may be the key to closing it." And finding Lakia, maybe. Immortals only knew where she'd gone.

[Arwel Kyric]

Arwel was just about to give up on the bars and go on without them, when he heard noise behind him. Terrified it was the spider snake, as that had been where it disappeared to, he whipped out his pistol crossbow, which was still loaded from after he shot the ice wolf, and pointed it in the direction he heard the noise, holding onto the bars with one hand, feet braced. Worst case scenario, he could probably climb the bars to get a temporary advantage and go out with a bang. But thankfully, it didn't come to that as, surprisingly, it was the rest of his group that walked through, though they were certainly looking the worse for wear. "Oh!" he said, so surprised as he put away his crossbow that his grip slid and he fell back onto the ground with a soft thud. Hoping they hadn't seen him frantically pulling on the bars, he quickly got up and dusted himself off. "I uh...was gonna hide from the snake spider thing by trying to climb the bars..." he inwardly cringed at what he said, thinking that no one would believe that and why did he even say that out loud? Continuing on despite his words, "...where have you guys been?" he asked, looking worried as he came forward, then froze when he saw the girl, staring at her for a long moment. Was she a new companion, rescued from the caves? No, she was see throughish, so was she...? He shook his head, then glanced at Amaris and noticed with alarm that her hand and wrist were encased in ice. "Oh my....Amaris, what happened?!" He asked, moving over to inspect her arm, noting the splint of the warm bars on it someone had made. This could not be good for her, that was for sure.

But with the idea that came the moment he saw the ice, there was also an immediate dilemma. Should he reveal who he was to try and save her hand? What if once she realized what he was, she outright rejected his assistance, and the others all abandoned him in the caves? But there was also the worry that she could lose her hand if the ice didn't melt.
How had this even happened? Actually, that wasn't important, what was important was helping her, right? He should put that before his own fears of their rejection, that was the right thing to do and above all else, he wanted to help not harm, and by not helping her with something that would hopefully melt the ice and restore bloodflow, that would be harming her, right? His mind went in rapid circles in the small amount of time it took to hold her hand and wrist in his own hands, and by the time he was touching her, his mind was made up, or at least, what he thought was a subtle nod from the ghost girl helped make his mind up. He pulled his gloves off and murmured softly, only just barely loud enough for the others to hear, "Please don't hate me..." he turned his focus inward to his bodies flame. Years and years of meditation and focus helped him as he carefully drew a thread of fire out of his core, almost like teasing out a thread from a woven tapestry. He pulled it through his body and into his hands, then focused until it burned bright. His hands started to warm, then ignite into flames. He couldn't keep it like this for long, but with any luck he could melt the ice enough to help her at least. He kept his focus on himself and moving his hands over the ice, not touching any part of her skin or getting too close so he wouldn't burn her. If he lost focus, he risked any number of things happening, so he didn't let his attention deviate until he had to stop, cooling the flames before they could burn too long and pulling the fire back to his core in his mind.

It was only then that he looked up, and realized that Lakia was gone. Actually, he noticed that she wasn't the only one gone either, Jackson and the tiny plant person had also disappeared. What happened while he was trapped? Where were the others? Had they been taken somewhere else like he'd been? While they were questions he wanted to ask, he wasn't sure what to say after they would have learned of his being an Aukari. Before he could bring up the courage to say anything, Padraig started to seemingly talk to himself, but seeing as how there was a ghost girl in the room, he could only assume that something was happening between them. He eyed the jewelry when they went to the next room,
wanting to pick up and examine them as he had always wanted to obtain some for himself, but what held him back was not just Padraigs warning or Lakia's disappearance, it was also the worry that the items belonged to the dead that were in the cages, and if there were spirits lingering about, he didn't want to anger them by taking what might be theres.
When Padraig mentioned the stones being the key to closing something that was letting in bad things, and that touching them was also bad, he wondered if his ruptering magic might help move them. If he could somehow get a portal to open beneath it....but then again, he didn't have much skill.....but it would be worth a try, right? "I-I um....I could try and use my magic to move the stones if needed." he offered softly, staring down at his boots. "I don't have much practice yet,
but I might be able to use my rupturing to move them...but its no guarantee..." His voice was barely above a whisper,
almost as though he wasn't sure he wanted to be heard, but the idea was there to try nonetheless. If they already might hate him for being Aukari, then it didn't hurt to sink the dagger by admitting himself a mage at this point, or at least that was how he felt about it. He just had to hope that no one would treat him different, but he hadn't spent much time with them to know how they would react. One thing he did end up doing, was going over and getting a few samples of the ice that had cancelled out sound. It was something particularly interesting to him, and he wanted to have some to investigate later, so he got extra so he'd have enough leftover to experiment with after giving the samples to those who were awaiting the end of their expedition.