Tamora

Tamora walked slowly towards ‘her’ opening in the cliff. She was deeply affected by the place. At one level she was aware of the others moving around, Balth talking and the heat of the sun. At the same time this strange opening in the alien cliff captivated her. She reached out to touch the rock – it was warm and bright in the sunlight but disappeared into blackness. What was this? Was she meant to be here? Maybe others of her people had stood here before her. She had no way of knowing. Nobody returned from the Transport unchanged and nobody spoke of it. This place, her place seemed perilously like destiny – a destiny that she had embraced from the moment she decided to travel through the portal. And she would not turn away now.

A squawk from the erdlu momentarily broke her contemplation and reminded her of her duties here. Her attention still drawn towards the tunnel she turned to face Bas. She did not speak, merely watched the Learned One to see what he would do.

Bas approached the carvings and ran a hand across the rock. He walked past a couple of different openings before stopping in front of his own. Strange that something like this would appeal to him, something that appeared unnatural, or at the very least made by hand and not by nature. He shook his head and stepped back from the cliff.

"Anyone have any idea what these are?" He craned his neck back to inspect the top of the cliffs. Perhaps answers could be found up there?

Tamora

The young Hunter looked confused at Bas’ question. Although she respected his position as Learned she was not quite so naive to assume that all such had unlimited knowledge. But surely it was obvious that this was beyond all of them. “Can’t you feel it?” she asked, a confused look on her face. She felt only rightness in the call of the openings and strangely for one who had spent her life under an open sky felt no fear.

“It is clear to me what is required here”, she said in a determined tone although privately she wondered how she could be so sure. She calmly divested herself of her packs and leant her bow and spear against the cliff near ‘her’ tunnel. She slid her knives round to the back of her belt and spoke to the group in general. “If anyone is staying or wishes to wait I will share what I find and would count it a debt if you waited here for my return but I would not pledge you to it”.

Tamora turned to face the tunnel, lined herself up with the walls and stepped inside moving along the tunnel as best she could.

<u>Lorath</u>

The serpents were so eager to reach Lorath that they almost seemed to fight each other to get to him, trying to trip each other up on the way to their prey. Thankfully, their disorganized advance allowed him a few free strikes before they were within reach.

His sword was like lightning among the serpernts, strike them down swiftly and at random. The first three that came for him died easily, the first was cut along it's flank and sank below the water, twitching feebly, the second was cleft lengthwise and the third cut in half.

The fourth looked like some weird combination of leech and reptile, with ridges down along one side and a puckered, sucker-like mouth, it dodged under his blade and slithered up the stairs, wrapping itself around his leg, but before he could dislodge it, a further two came out of the water for him. One was like a sluggish, fat leech and easily dispatched, even despite the feeling of the other thing crawling up his trouser leg, but the other, a blue scaled thing with bright yellow markings at both ends, wrapped itself around his legs like a well-thrown bola.

Thrown off-balance by this, Lorath fell, landing hard on his back and crushing the first serpent which had been making it's way up along his spine, possibly heading for his neck. Whatever thick fluids fueled it leaked out and soaked his tunic as it's death throes painted his skin with pulped organs.

The elf was briefly stunned by his fall, but soon knocked back into full wakefulness by something that woke him more efficiently than any bucket of cold water: It felt like something was chewing on the base of his spine. Looking down, he could see the yellow tip of the blue serpent sticking out of the bottom of his trouser leg, the only explanation was that it had bitten into him so deep that it had struck bone.

No feeling of burning poison accompanied it, but the same drowsiness as when the cloak had fastened itself overcame him, except this time it was worse. It felt like just about anything was likely to knock him down now.

(Lorath loses 3 HP from the bite, 12 HP remains.)


<u>Ulik, Evon</u>

Evon remained catatonic despite Ulik attempting his poorly honed manicuring and pedicuring skills on him. Ulik wasn't about to travel with some scruffy mongrel, no, he was going to have the prettiest human raft ever. He vowed this to himself as he got the pink ribbons out of his backpack. They clashed with Evon's eyes, but it was his favourite colour.


<u>Tamora</u>

Everything from outside seemed to come to Tamora as through thick gauze, she barely heard Anne and Balth step forward, yelling at her not to go in alone, and then she heard nothing. The moment she stepped into the tunnel, fitting the shape perfectly, it was as though some unseen force propelled her ahead, into the perfect darkness in front of her.

The air was dry, but clean, there were no scents, no sounds, and any movement she made, even breathing, slipped her slightly deeper into the tunnel. After a few minutes, the tunnel walls tightened around her, and the tiny bit of movement she had been able to manage was denied her, yet still she continued to slide forwards. It was hard to tell if she was moving straight ahead or if she was going slightly down. Nothing could be seen ahead, not even with her infravision.


<u>Anne, Gan, Bas</u>

Balth and Anne ran towards Tamora to stop her hasty action, but before they could reach her she was already inside. Anne tried to reach in to grab hold of the ranger's hair or the back of her clothes, but she had no luck, Tamora was gone to them. They had no idea where she was going to come out, if she was going to come out at all.

"What in Rajaat's name did she do that for?!" Said Balth, wide-eyed and flabbergasted, "There's no telling where that tunnel leads! It could just be a dead end! What are we going to do now? There's no way I'm following her, we don't even know if the other holes lead to the same place, it could just get us all killed. She struck me as nice, though, we should do something..." He ran his hands through his hair and paced in a circle, "Maybe the other tunnels do lead to the same place, but if you want to try that, it's up to you. Me? I'm taking the chance that they come out on the other side of the cliffs, it'll take a while to get there, days maybe, but if she's hurt she could need some assistance. I'll also take the bird, there doesn't seem to be a hole for it."

"I'll go with Balth," said Anne, visibly shaken, "I'm not going in there. Not for all the gold in the world."

Lorath realized that he probably wouldn't be able to dislodge the snake by reaching down and yanking at its tail, at least not without tearing out a good chunk of flesh, muscle, and possibly bone. He also didn't think he would be able to reach under the cloak that has suddenly attatched itself to him, so taking it out by the head wouldn't work either. There had to be some way to get rid of this trouser snake though.

Suddenly it hit him. The idea would probably hurt a bit, but it would be much preferable to that would happen if he let the snake linger on. Quickly he pulled his legs up and fell on his butt, then used the momentum to roll up his back and over his shoulder, hopefully squishing this serpent as he had the previous one.

<font color=silver>Gan Vahnsen

Gan simply shrugged, <font color=skblue>“Who’s Rajaat?”</font> he inquired calmly, not seemingly phased by his companions actions – or reactions. <font color=skblue>“Bit emotional, aren’t you?”</font> he observed aloud, <font color=skblue>“And what would you propose we do to find her?”</font> the half elf suggested, then frowned as the elf continued his rant, <font color=skblue>“Or yes, you could do that. Well, have fun, try not to get killed and I’ll see you on the other side.”</font>

Nonchalant as ever, Gan strolled towards ‘his’ carving and examined it. Then provided it didn’t draw him into a trance, he’d sketch it and stroll in.</font>

[ 02-20-2007, 07:26 AM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

Bas shook his head in disbelief. Tamora's choice to enter the cliffs surprised him, not only that she did so but that she did it without investigation or discussion! Bas clutched his staff and took a step away from the cliff.

"I agree that entering the tunnels seems a bad idea." Bas started to wonder why he thought it was a bad idea. Surely he felt no evil here, and his carving was custom made just for him. He took a step closer to it, determined to step inside, when his fear of enclosed spaces rattled him free of the tunnel's appeal. "We should try to circumvent this place as soon as possible. It's attraction is too dangerous to linger."

[ 02-20-2007, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: Kazilan ]

With Evon now properly attired to be his raft, Ulik made preparations for his escape and foray in to extreme sports. He cut his wrist and let the blood fall in the water, saying a word of power each time a drop came down. Upon touching the water, his blood turned black and spread out across the surface, covering the room he was in and part of the hall outside.

Now that he felt the creatures below could no longer sense him, Ulik pushed his raft in to the water and hopped on top, using the pink ribbons like reigns to ride the currents and steer towards the sounds of a waterfall. Now all that was left was to see if it was a survivable fall or an endless plummet in to the abyss.

<u>Lorath</u>

Lorath sat down hard on the serpent, and the first thing that hit his senses was the feeling of it buckling under him, of things being crushed, he even thought he heard a faint snapping of bone.

The second thing that hit his senses was pure agony, he had once broken an arm, and this was comparable, except this was a limb he didn't even know he had. It felt as though he was feeling every single bruise and break in the serpent as though it was part of him.

(Lorath loses 2 HP, 10 HP remain.)

As the pain subsided, the elf realized he could sense the creature as though it was another one of his limbs. He could even, though at the moment it was extremely painful to do so, move it. Whatever sentience it once had, it seemed to have abandoned.


<u>Evon, Ulik</u>

Ulik's magical defense seemed to work, for no bizarre squid or other creatures chased him and Evon down the dark passage.

The passage was straight but narrow, with no side corridors. As soon as they moved into it, Ulik could feel that the water was rushing towards the far end, this propelled them faster down the narrow route, which earned them both a few harmless bruises as they collided with the walls, but never too fast for Ulik to brake them simply by paddling in the opposite direction.

About a minute of careful steering after entering the passage, they burst into another large room, though this one was considerably more huge and looked to be a natural cavern rather than a constructed place. There was more space above them as well, Ulik could have stood upright on Evon's back, provided he could keep his balance, and not have hit his head on the ceiling. The occasional stalagtite clung to the ceiling, but none of them looked huge or likely to fall and crack the skulls of unwary adventurers. Most of the cavern's sparse lighting was provided by glowing fungus and mushrooms growing on the stalagtites.

It was roughly rectangular, with the passage they'd just come out of entering near the end of one of the long sides. The roaring came from their right, and that was the direction the flow of the water was trying to pull them in as well. Most of the end of the room on their left was open, it looked as though parts of the wall had once been masonry, but they had long collapsed, and now there was just a gaping hole leading to a massive, swift river which poured into the cave.

About halfway along the length to their right, the water suddenly disappeared over a waterfall which stretched completely across the room. By carefully maneuvering himself closer, Ulik could see that the drop beyond was deep, he could not even see the end of it. He also saw why the waterfall wasn't dragging him over the edge, stretching up from the edge of the drop to just a foot under the surface was a natural wall of rock, just a few feet wide. It prevented the caverns from flooding completely, but also prevented them from draining completely. If anything was to smash through it, it's likely that the caves would be left much more easily explorable, though whoever did it would have to be clever enough not to get swept along with the deluge.

At the edge of the waterfall on the other side of the room, there was what looked like a quay. It was impossible to tell what the structure had been used for back before the cave was completely flooded, but now it was a flat rectangle which stretched along a remaining piece of stone wall for about ten yards, stuck out seven feet from the side of the wall and poked just one foot above the water. An empty doorway with darkness beyond sat in the middle of the stone wall, and at the end that stuck out slightly beyond the waterfall, Ulik thought he could see a ladder of stone steps hacked into the carven wall. They looked relatively recent and would probably permit someone to descend, provided that the climber didn't slip, the steps didn't stop halfway down and that the ones further along weren't damaged or eroded into uselessness.


<u>Tamora, Gan</u>

Gan experienced the same as Tamora, once within the total darkness and silence, there was no turning back. It wasn't even until after he'd climbed in that he realized he'd left his weapons and armor outside in order to fit into the hole. Like with her, the walls soon began to constrict around him, not hurting him, but preventing any movement short of breathing.

They both soon lost all track of time in the total silence broken only by the echoes and the faint sounds of their clothing rubbing against the sides of the stone passage. It could have been days or years that they were spending underground, preserved by unknown forces.

Then, to their horror, the passage began to constrict even more. They expected the constant movement against it to rub the skin and flesh from them, but instead the cold stone just crushed. The pain was excruciating, but screams, yells and pleas for help would remain unheard, and it wasn't even possible to stop, even when they tried to hold their breath, some invisible force pushed them onwards.

The stone "sleeves" around their head, their torso and their limbs all slowly became narrower and narrower, getting longer as well, which was when the experience took a turn for the truly bizarre. It was painful, it was, in fact, agonizing, to feel themselves get stretched, but it was as though their bodies had become like mallable clay. They could not break or tear, but they could bend, oh how they could bend.

As their throats and mouths were deformed, their screams and pleas, which now came quite unbidden, from the primal part of them, turned into obscene moans and whistles. And soon even they ceased, as the last of their will began to flee. Pain and darkness was all that remained in their minds, and the only thing they desired was an end to it.


<u>Anne, Bas, Balth</u>

(OOC: Making the tiny assumption that the party goes around the cliffs clockwise, doesn't make much of a difference if they choose the other way around, the only thing that would make a difference would be if Bas intended for them to scale it and walk across the top.)

"This is no time to be asking questions! This is a time for action!" Snapped Balth at Gan, and seemed about to say more when the half-elf suddenly stepped into the hollow, his eyes boggled and he was dumbstruck for a few moments, beginning a few sentences and ending them abruptly, before turning to Bas while gripping his forehead as though he was afraid his head was about to drop off, "Y-yes, we should go..."

He and Anne picked up Gan and Tamora's equipment, distributing it between them so that Balth was carrying more, and then set off after Bas.

At first progress was smooth, since they could merely follow the tree-less, vine-less and bush-less belt around the cliff. Then it was as though nature itself turned against them, just as they believed they'd gotten about a quarter of the way to the other side, the skies began to darken with heavy rainclouds. They'd had to endure one brief rainstorm like the one near the lizardman village, but much milder, on their way to the cliffs, but this one looked far worse. The clouds were almost low enough to brush the treetops and lightning seemed to not only lance down to the ground below, every blast of thunder deafening, but to dance along the underside of the clouds.

Heavy winds seemed to come directly from above and pin them down, rain swept down not in droplets or in torrents, but in sheets, soaking their clothes and packs, dragging them to the ground from the extra weight.

The unfortunate trip was not yet at it's peak, however. It started as howls and snarls erupted from the trees on their left, just as the man-shaped holes in the cliffs on their right started to disappear, replaced with weird, twisted patterns of fissures. Tamora's erdlu, ordinarily extremely placid, turned towards the brush, hissing and spitting, flapping it's stubby wings and obviously preparing to defend itself with beak and claw.

Then they came. Charging from the forest like an army, a horde of animals. There were tigers, jaguars, several of the eight-legged Kirre that they had met before, large birds, huge insects and reptiles. Even huge Kluzd snakes, burrowing through the ground underneath them, burst forth at the edge of the trees and slithered across the wet grass. Their scale manes were fully erect, making them look almost like angry sunflowers. Except for the scales and fangs, of course.

Between the sudden darkness of the clouds blocking out the sun, the buffeting winds, the rain and the flashes of lightning, it was impossible to count how many creatures were charging at them, but there were dozens at the very least, with only the Gods knew how many more waiting in the vegetation.

Though it was obvious to anyone, Bas felt it in his bones: The animals were not attacking of their own free will and instinct, something was manipulating them.

<font color=silver>Gan Vahnsen

Gan was not one to give up; despite the darkness, the Sage's words came back to him; Will was the key and answer to this. After all, what choice did he have left? Give in? Or keep fighting. So he fought. He focused his mind as far as he was able, driving back thoughts of fear and choking; calming and stilling himself. He closed his eyes and thought of pushing back the constricting cave with his thought alone. If these were the Cliffs, he wanted answers - to discover more of himself. As pathetic as he felt, he was no coward; if he was to die, it would be fighting with every last breath. And so he commanded the cave to retract.</font>