To New Horizons(2nd ed game, game thread)

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath kicked himself back through the water so that he could stand on firm ground. Though he was soaking wet he still felt able to handle an upcoming combat, if it came to that. However, that didn't stop him from feeling as if he were exposed and sluggish. To counter this, he cast Cat's Grace on himself, and switched to infravision.

To get a better position so that he would be allowed a better range of movement, he stepped farther back from the ledge he had apparently stepped off of. He gripped his sword and shield in front of him but kept them under the water in case what was coming had no ill-will, however unlikely that was. After scanning above the water with his infravision he dunked his head to see if anything was coming from below the surface.

[Kazilan]

Bas wore a troubled expression as he examined his companions. He regretted that they were suffering through this because of his desire to reach the cliffs - regardless of their reasons for heading this direction, he felt it was his desire that was most pressing - and the druid felt their suffering was unnecessary. He could use his skills and magic to continue on alone.

"I need to investigate the cause of this disturbance, but it is unnecessary for you to accompany me further into the ash. I can shield myself from the worst of the elements in ways that you can not. If you would rather try to circumvent this area, or even wait here while I investigate, I can continue on alone."

Bas paused to cast endure cold on himself as well as wait for his companions' responses.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Gan Vahnsen

“I didn't come all this way just to turn around, Druid. You can go on, but I'm coming with you.” Gan muttered, pulling his cloak tighter around him. It was furlined, but not made entirely from fur; something he had carried from 'home'. He had a lighter cloak in his packs, but it was rarely hot enough to wear such. He was about to offer it when Tamora beat him to it. “If you're still cold, I do have a lighter cloak, and a blanket.” He said to Anne, tugging his hood down, “If you want.”

And with that he continued to walk towards the cliffs.

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath

Lorath managed to bring himself out of the water and back through the doorway he had come from. Whatever was approaching seemed to still be coming, but it wasn't another above-water wanderer like him, for his infravision revealed nothing but cold stone and cold water.

It wasn't until he looked underwater that he saw what was coming for him. They arrived through the open doorway opposite the one he'd been headed for before he discovered, the hard way, that the floor was missing, writhing and twisting like a nest of snakes, which was very much what they resembled. It was impossible to count for sure how many there were, but at least a dozen of the weird things were headed straight for him.

Some were smooth in appearance, like giant leeches, others were scaly and a few even had fur, the only uniform thing was the way they moved and their length, each was about four feet in length. It was hard to tell what they wanted with him, but doubtful that they just wanted to be hugged and petted.


Ulik, Evon

Evon's selfless act of sacrifice, testing the water so his best friend of all time, Ulik, would not have to risk life and limb, turned out to attract nothing horrifying and/or carnivorous to the general location, leaving Ulik free to conduct his studies in peace... For a few minutes.

The corpse he had shoved off the pillar bobbed in the water for a few seconds, decomposition having left it slightly bouyant, and then sank as water filled it's various cavities. Ulik could clearly see it sink through the illuminated water, landing on the floor among the globes, dislodging several, sending them rolling until they impacted some of their brethren and then neatly splitting in half along their seams.

Something unfurled itself from the confines of the first globe that broke open, at first it was compact, then unfurled itself to something shaped not unlike a manta ray. It had no constant colour, but was rather covered in shifting patterns. The thing spent a few seconds circling the pillar, apparently getting it's bearings, and then sent off in the direction Ulik had come from.

The next, and last, two that were opened, revealed very similar things. Each was shaped like a tube with a series of tentacles or ropes coming forth from, while the other end was closed and twisted almost like a handle. The tube itself was white along most of it's length, but the tip was a bright crimson, like the tentacles. Rather than leaving, it seemed as though they sensed Ulik, and decided to stay for lunch. The two things patiently began to patrol the waters below the pillar.


Anne, Gan, Bas, Tamora

With the general mood apparently in favour of continuing, Balth didn't argue in favour of a detour any longer, instead he put his height to good use, taking the lead and wading a path through the ever-deepening ash for the others.

By the time they reached the source, they had spent another few hours walking and, even through the ash haze, they could see the sun nearing the horizon. By this point they were all so covered in ash as to resemble gray statues, and it reached almost to their knees.

Ahead, the vegetation dwindled to almost nothing from one moment to another, revealing a short plain that extended farther than they could see to both their left and their right, but only another twenty yards ahead. There, it was the ground that suddenly became nothing, as they saw the Chasm of Choking Ash ahead of them. It was a ten-yard-wide gash in the ground, constantly belching freezing ash into the air, and it had no apparent crossing points.

As they got closer, though, they could see that there was more to the Chasm than just a perpetual ash rain.

Just a few yards down, the chasm began to widen, rather than narrow, revealing that the entire area under them was a massive cave. Weird protrusions of either ash-covered rock or solid ash cris-crossed the depths, giving it the appearance of weird undersea coral or a web that a hundred spiders had worked overtime on, at cross purposes, resulting in strands and archs going everywhere.

Occasionally something could be seen to move down below. There were large, humanoid shapes that seemed to swim through the ash at the far bottom, and smaller shapes that moved too fast to be seen, but which flew above it, weaving and dodging around the ashy spurs and beams.

No particular features seemed to distinguish any parts of the chasm, except for one thing: Almost directly below them, at the very bottom, nearly completely hidden from sight by whirling ash and the "natural" geography of the place, was something glowing. It was the dull, sullen glow of dying embers, but almost the size of a house. Despite this, however, the wind and ash that emerged from the chasm was the coldest they had yet experienced in the area. Anyone who looked into it for more than a few seconds found their face numb and their hair frosted with rime.

"There's something you don't see every day," was Balth's only comment about the place, "And if we don't get out of here I'm willing to bet it's the last thing we ever will see. There were things moving down there, can you imagine how horrible anything that can live in such a place must be?" He shuddered, though it was hard to tell if it was from the thought or from the cold, "If you people are serious about trying to get across, or are going down, I'll find my own way around and meet you on the other side."

He looked at Tamora's bird, which seemed to have become extraordinarily subdued in the cold. A bit earlier he had told her that it was an "Erdlu." A herd animal like the Kank, but generally not rideable, "Your pet doesn't seem like it's doing too tell either, why don't I bring it along?" As if on cue, the erdlu let out a mournful "bawk."

[ 02-16-2007, 02:05 AM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora smiled at the Erdlu’s plaintive call. She could understand how the creature felt. She had lived her whole life out of doors including some impressive winters but this cold was unpleasant. “We should all go around”, she said in response to Balth’s statement, “we have no way of crossing here, there is no reason to go down and, it seems, many reasons not to” .She looked left and right then turned to Anne. “When you saw this from the height of the tree could you tell which end we were likely to be closest too?” If the human woman, or any of the others, could suggest a best way she would go along with that, otherwise she would suggest they go around the chasm to the right.

[Kazilan]

Bas crept close to the ledge and peered down, mystified by what he was seeing. The desire to investigate and attempt to heal whatever was causing this disturbance fought with the common sense that was warning him of danger. At Tamora's words the druid nodded and stepped away from the ledge.

"I agree with your assessment, Hunter. Lead on when ready."

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

To improve his chances of surviving against these things, Lorath retreated back to the stairs, trying to get out of the water. Sure, he'd be waterlogged, but at least his movement wouldn't be slowed as much, and he could see these snake-like creatures coming. When he got so that he could stand out of the water and look down, watching for these creatures, he got ready to fight.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Gan Vahnsen

“I concur.” Gan agreed, “Around it is.” A pause and he muttered to himself, “Still, I wonder if it would be faster to go through it.”

Aloud he wondered, “I wonder how long it'll take us to reach these 'Cliffs of Drriam'.” Gan was not especially pleased with the cold; it was beginning to remind him of home, well, bar the ash, - something he did not care to remember. “The sooner we're out of here, the better.”

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath

With the disconcerting sound of the water serpents echoing behind him, Lorath splashed through the water, desperately trying to reach the stairs before he was reached by his pursuers.

Waterlogged, with limbs and lungs aching, he was at the stairs scant seconds later. His shield had snagged on something as he ran and been dropped a few steps back, now invisible in the dark water, but probably easy to find later provided nothing stole it.

With shield lost, he felt exposed as he prepared to face an attack from below, but the attack did not come from the direction that he was expecting, nor from what he was expecting. It was, in just about every possible way, a surprise.

Bursting forth from the water below him and to his right, an amorphous, multi-coloured blob struck him and clung to him. It seemed impossible to dislodge it, and it's colours shifted as he struggled with it, ringing out with a loud clang as it struck the stairs. Though the water made it feel slimy, the creature had an odd, non-aquatic feel, rather like moist leather.

It was a fight Lorath quickly turned out to be on the losing side of, the thing maneuvered it's way unto his back and wrapped itself around him, all of his struggles only seeming to get him further entangled in it's grasp. Just as all hope seemed lost, however, the assault's viciousness abated, and he realized what it was he being beaten by: A very large and angry cloak intent on being worn.

The thing had a hood, which it had flipped over his head, effectively blinding him, and a pair of sleeves that it had managed to force his arms through. Despite this revelation, however, there were still some worrying facts. For one thing there was the faint, yet persistent, dry breath hitting hte back of his neck, the sudden drowsiness that was afflicting him, and the way in which the cloak seemed to adhere to every bit of open skin it could get into contact with. It was already sticking tightly to his neck and he could feel it tearing at skin and hair as he gingerly tested the connection.

Oh, and judging by the splashes, the water serpents had taken the chance to reach the foot of the stairs while he was otherwise occupied. He could see their serpentine shapes preparing to rear out of the water as he recovered his oversight of the situation.


Ulik, Evon

The only entertainment that reached Ulik's ears from Lorath's direction was the clang of steel being dropped on stone, so while the elf was probably still alive, he was clumsy.


Anne, Gan, Bas, Tamora

(For the moment I'll assume Anne is dumbstruck by her surroundings, nods politely and follows everyone else.)

With evident relief, Balth lead the group away from the chasm again, as it was darkening, seeking somewhere away from the ash to camp had seemed like a decent idea to everyone. Whatever weird creatures dwelled in the ash could easily be hungry, and what was freezing at sunset could leave them all with frostbite by midnight.

They easily found a place that was far enough away to still have some heat, while not taking them too far off course. Though the ash continued to rain down softly, it was a thin layer, and some of the jungle's heat remained. Nothing disturbed their rest, and by morning they awoke to an amazing sight.

As the sun rose towards the sky, so did bright crimson sparks from the depths of the chasm. They streamed up on the wind, circled for a few minutes at the top of the ash haze, growing brighter by the second, and then headed downwards again, so incandescent that they left burning trails in the air as they fell into the chasm. It was hard to tell if the rising things were pure fire or weird animals, but occasionally when two got too near each other, they seemed to correct their courses, and there was, as the group watched, some underlying system to the way they moved, as though some intelligence was guiding them.

Eventually they managed to tear themselves away from the view and set out. Anne had been unable to suggest one way around the chasm which was better than the other, so the group decided to circle around northwards. Whether the southern route was faster, they didn't learn, but they did learn that the chasm was massive in length as well as depth.

It took them almost a day and a half just to reach the northern end, and by then they were well off course. It was hard to tell whether a southeastern route would still take them to the cliffs or somewhere else entirely.

Tamora and Gan noticed a few oddities about their new friend Balth, despite the fact that he claimed he had never been in the area before, he showed an uncanny knack for finding easy routes through the heavy vegetation. Sometimes he even came upon overgrown trails that only required mild work to clear compared to the surrounding trees and vines. When he wasn't taking the lead along with one of the two, he tended to throw all sorts of questions at the group about their homeworld. He seemed interested in knowing everything, but never pestered them, always stopping when they got tired of his questions or refused to answer them.

Almost three days after reaching the chasm, passing through terrain that remained much the same, moist and overgrown, though it grew hillier the farther southeast they went, the group crested a rise in the jungle and saw what was their first clue that they were headed in the right direction still. Still a good distance off, but rising above the jungle, was a wide, flat mesa. It was as though a section of the ground had simply decided to rise until it's white bedrock was exposed, lifting plants and earth above it.

It was another day before they got there.

The jungle seemed to get wilder and wilder the closer they got to the cliffs, and the animals bolder. Several times, jaguars and other large cats would stalk them for several minutes before apparently losing interest. Other times it would be reptiles, their scales rasping against the undergrowth as they slithered between the towering trees. One group of seven snakes, each almost as big as a member of the group, had just broken off their pursuit when they stumbled out into a clearing.

Above, in front and to their sides, the mesa towered. They had no way of knowing if it was the Cliffs of Drriam, but they had definitely found something. Extending in a belt about twenty yards wide, the jungle was clear all the way around the foot of the mesa. Not hacked away by tools, or eaten by animals, it simply didn't grow. The only plants were moss and a soft covering of short grass.

But that wasn't the main attraction, the white cliff face was. All along it were deep carvings, each shaped like a human body, like tunnels into the rock. They all went so deep that the end was impossible to see, even in the bright noon-light. It was possible that they went all the way to the other side of the mesa, so deep did they seem.

All of the carvings looked similar, like the silhouette of a human facing the rock with legs apart and arms stretched straight out to either side from the shoulder. There were subtle differences, though. Differences in height, build or something as minor as the shape of the head.

"How strange," commented Balth, probably speaking everyone's mind, "Is this what you all set out to find?" He approached one of the carvings while he spoke and looked inside, as if trying to gauge it's depth.

As Balth spoke and examined the carving, each member of the group had noticed one carving that looked different from all the others to them. One that captivated them, one that seemed important to them. Somehow, springing from nowhere, they knew that it was their carving, that it had been made for them. The carvings, or possibly tunnels, if they lead somewhere, seemed strangely hypnotic to their "owners."

[ 02-18-2007, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath turned so that he was facing where the serpents would be coming from and raised his sword. This cloak, which seemed to be adherent as if it were cursed, would have to wait until later, when he could decide for sure whether it was dangerous or not. Right now it was just uncomfortable and a little dangerous, but there was no time to dedicate do it now.

He stood there, waiting for the serpents to pop out of the water and at him. When they did he would bring the sword down to hopefully slice them in such a way they would at least be discouraged from further attacking him.