[PurpleXVI]

Lorath

The passage opposite the doorway that Lorath had forced open led into a twisting corridor full of right-angled turns. The floor was pitted and full of debris that had fallen when roots had forced their way through the ceiling. He often had to duck completely underwater to get past them, and once he almost got stuck, pinned for a few seconds between roots and rock until he managed to wriggle free and continue.

There were many side-corridors and doorways, but those that hadn't been blocked off by collapses, which only served to provide more for him to maneuver around, were sealed by featureless stone doors with no apparent way to open them.

Eventually, after about half an hour of wading, getting progressively colder and more soaked, he saw light up ahead. The corridor ended as it joined a larger, more natural-looking, cave, that extended far out of sight to both the left and the right. It was a long, wide thing that was entirely filled with a rushing river, the river moved towards something noisy far away on his right, it sounded like a waterfall.

A few feet of pathway extended out over the river from where the corridor ended before it abruptly stopped short, apparently having collapsed. Crossing the river from the end of the pathway to the other side, Lorath could see the occasional tip of a stone pillar, suggesting that they had once supported the rest of the path.

On the far other side, the elf could see another doorway. Above him, water was constantly dripping from the ceiling, and an impressive collection of stout stalagtites had formed, many of them covered in patches of fainly luminescent fungus which threw enough light for him to see by.


Ulik, Evon

Ulik's magical blast of superheated air caught the woman dead-on. For a half-second her matted hair billowed backwards and her soaked clothes dried, then they began to instanteously combust. First, the multi-coloured eyes on her forehead went, they shrivelled up and fell off, revealing themseves to only have been stuck on the surface. Next, blisters began to form on her skin as her hair began to smolder. Then, one by one, the various inhuman parts began to drop off of her. First the blade-beetles let out their piercing shrieks and dropped off, black smoke billowing from their carapaces as their insides burned. Then the heavy calluses began to wilt and turn to dust. Last to go were the brightly coloured horns, the little nubs seemed to first swell, then pop and deflate, revealing themselves to have been something else entirely.

As the last of them was destroyed, a change happened in the woman's ordinary eyes. Thus far, she had soldiered on bravely against the wind, oblivious to the pain, but now it was clearly marked on her face. She staggered backwards against the gale force, screamed in pain and began flailing at her burning hair and clothes as the wind overwhelmed her, pushing her over the edge of the waterfall. Her scream continued as she dropped, then was suddenly cut off, probably by an impact with something hard or with the water's surface, but considering the length of the drop, it was probably a minor point which of the two she hit.

Evon gave Ulik a tentative thumbs up, then sat down and tried to make a bong from one of the beetles after knocking the ash out of the chitin.


Balth, Gan, Anne, Bas, Tamora

"I don't have a particular preference as to where we go," said Balth, in reply to Bas' question, "But if you all intend to head much further south or eastwards, I'll have to leave you. My tribe will begin to wonder where I am, if they aren't already, I was only supposed to be gone for a week while I scouted out the jungle for any trading partners. I'll stay with you as long as you remain near the cliffs, though, that won't make my trip back any worse. The only suggestion I can come up with is to let mysteries remain mysteries and get out of here before the animals return, your magic might not work next time."

The cliffs looked climbable to Anne as she studied them, very smooth, but full of hollows and handholds. It was a few hundred feet to the top, however, the main question was whether her strength, and her luck, would hold out all the way.

Gan remained quietly in the background, running his fingers over his elongated limbs and testing his joints. Tamora's bird had folded itself up and appeared to be resting on top of one of the stone slabs in the clearing.

[ 02-25-2007, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]