| Logs |
2003 March 30
| Idlewild |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Idlewild Logs |
March 30
The rotting wolf's awkward tail vanishes around a doorway as it turns, toward the end of the hallway ahead, about 70 feet away. The air is left with a fetid aftertaste in the stillness.
Steven grimaces, and tries not to be sick. He glances at Seodil, and tries to hide his look of disgust and distaste. "That was... someone else in the hunt...?" he asks softly.
Lotte half-whispers, "Seodil, who or what is Daenia?"
Seodil makes a tiny sound very like the gulp of air someone makes when trying not to cry, and says, "She was in the Hunt, yes. She was not all that much younger than I."
Lotte looks sympathetically to Seodil. "And that was her? What... what happened to her?"
Steven winces. He's not sure how long elves live to be, but he's reasonably sure that Seodil's words mean that the wolf was, indeed, a zombie or such. That is, not living, and yet not dead. "I'm.. I'm sorry, Seodil," he says quietly. There isn't much more he can say about that. Clearly Seodil has no idea of what happened to Daenia.
Seodil says softly, "I do not know what happened to her... but I fear I have not been seeing the truth for a very long time, now."
The silver-haired elf adds, "She and I were... close... once."
Lotte says, "I'm so sorry, Seodil."
Seodil shuts his mouth tight again at the sympathy and will not look at anyone's eyes.
Steven nods quietly. Something horrible happened here. "We should follow...," he says. "She may be off to warn the king."
Lotte opens her mouth to speak, but only nods in agreement.
Sol steps forward, moving in front of Seodil. "I agree. The old throne room was this way, the way she went, and then a few hallways to the left. We should go."
Steven nods. "Lead on, Sol," he says, not trusting himself to say anything more.
Aiden, in wolf form, nods silently and follows Sol when the golden elf moves forward.
Lotte says nothing, but retains her grasp on Willow's hand and follows the party.
Willow tightens his grip slightly, trailing soundlessly at Lotte's side. The party comes to the first of several intersections of hallway, the arching doorways tall and narrow and intricately jeweled. The patterns are missing at least half their tiny jewels as far as can be seen, however, and the thin light picks the dark spots out like gaps in teeth.
Steven frowns. This is just getting depressing. He keeps himself alert, however, pondering if he should shift into his cat form.
Several doors are open on the side that the dead Daenia entered, all in a row. Each shows the same checker-tiled room with a black and white floor and smooth white walls, with a single door at the end set with a neat pattern of larger rubies, all intact-- maybe twenty of them total.
Steven frowns as he glances into the rooms. The orderliness of it worries him. He glances to Seodil to see if he recognizes any of the patterns or doors.
Seodil does not appear to notice the look, staring not much further ahead than his own bare feet.
Lotte appears to be counting and recounting on her fingers the number of doors leading to the room.
Steven makes a quiet sound. "The doors are different," he says. "Look... each one has a slightly different symbol in it, a different color for each."
Sol continues down the hallway, frowning, and returns in a moment to say, "All the other doors leading in the direction we want to go are shut. I tried opening them, but it'll take a lot of force... or a lockpick. I was afraid to make the noise without warning anyone, and I can't pick locks. We'll have to choose one if we don't try these."
Lotte says simplisticly, "And there are six doors, so there must be six symbols." She cringes after she hears herself speak.
Steven nods slowly to Sol, then looks curiously to Lotte at her reaction. "What's wrong?" he asks gently.
There are indeed six symbols. Willow steps forward to examine the symbol on the half-open door nearest him; it's picked out in pale blue gems. The other doors come in pale orange, green, silver, gold, and bronze.
Lotte shakes her head at Steven nonchalantly. She addresses Sol, "Well, I'm pretty good with locks, if I do say so myself."
Steven nods slowly to Lotte, then looks carefully at the door Willow is inspecting. Hmmm... no red symbols. Or would that be bronze...? Maybe not.
Seodil hangs back, still looking mostly at his feet. Aiden pads forward to nudge Sol's hand. Sol turns to look at the other three party members after glancing at Seodil and Aiden. He nods. "All right, Lotte... pick one. We'll guard you."
Steven nods, and takes a breath as he shifts into his cat-form. Against more of the wolves, he'd probably have a better chance against them as a cat than as a naked human.
The remaining lefthand doors that are shut, beyond the six that appear to lead into one room, are three. These three have no symbols on them.
Seodil follows suit with the change, without a word. The great silver wolf pads over to wait, watching.
Lotte looks to the three doors further down the hallway. "Which one? What about these jewels? Do they mean something, Sol?"
Sol says helplessly, "It's no script I recognize, Lotte... but this one's got gems only a few shades darker than your hair. If you wanted to pry them out, I wouldn't mind. Half the castle's falling down at this point, and I don't remember these doors at all."
Lotte stares at the gems Sol mentioned, then at the other jeweled doors, then at her companions.
Steven tilts his large cat-head to the side, amking a faint 'prrt?' sound of curiosity to Sol and Lotte as they talk about prying out gems, before looking at the door Lotte has her attention on. He bobs his head once.
The golden elf adds, "As for which locked door to try-- any of the three seem as good to me. As long as we go left we're going in the right direction to reach the throne room, and Daenia had to have turned at one of these..."
Lotte pulls Willow to stand in front of the pale blue gems. The expression on her face clearly shows that she has no idea what she's doing, but that it seems to make sense to her... somehow.
Willow looks puzzled, but goes where he's moved, blue hair swishing at the sudden motion.
Steven blinks, and glances around, sensing what she's doing. Nooooo... why would it be set up that way...? He pads over to the door with bronze highlights, sitting down neatly there, and peering curiously at Lotte.
Lotte's face beams with encouragement as Steven seems to understand. She motions Sol over to the gold gems, Seodil to the silver.
Seodil and Sol move as directed, Seodil listlessly, Sol starting to smile as he understands as well. Aiden, the wolf, walks to the only door left-- the green.
Sol says, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Lotte shakes her head and says with an equally shaky voice, "No, I'm actually very scared..."
Soleil grins whitely. Willow's voice says from Lotte's side, "I'll find you if it's a trick, Lotte. I promise." He sounds unwontedly fierce.
Steven blinks, and makes what he hopes is an encouraging sound. Not being terribly familiar with such a huge cat's voice, or any cat's voice for that matter, he can't be sure it helps.
Sol says, "All right... on the count of three, maybe?"
Lotte nods. "On three. You count, Sol."
Sol takes a deep breath. "All right. One."
"Two.'
Steven looks at the symbol, and wonders what he's supposed to touch it with, He settles for his nose when the moment comes.
"Three." He steps forward, firmly, walking into the room through his door. Seodil, Willow, and Aiden follow suit. Their doors shut behind them.
Lotte steps through her door, looking back to make sure Steven follows through.
Those who entered are all here in the checker-floored room. Sol starts giggling softly, as Willow looks wild-eyed and wary.
Sol says, "Well, that wasn't so bad."
Lotte looks behind her. "But... the doors..."
Steven blnks, looking around. Gosh, it wasn't that bad at all. He has to wonder, though, why that was all neccessary. At Lotte's words, he blinks, and turns to look.
The golden elf tries the ruby-patterned door handle, and sighs. "Lotte? You do the honors?"
The doors are all shut behind them, and patternless on this side.
Willow reaches for Lotte's hand, and yelps as his hand passes right through her fingers.
Lotte's eyes widen in horror as Willow's fingers pass through her. "What....! What's happening?!"
Steven blinks quickly, and reaches over to paw lightly at Lotte's shin to see if his paw goes through her as well.
Soleil reaches to touch Lotte and also fails, then bats at Aiden and connects. He apologizes sheepishly.
Steven's paw is solid on Lotte's skin.
Steven, confused, pads over to Willow and lightly tries nudging the boy with his paw as well.
Lotte looks frantically at Seodil and Willow, then back to Sol and Aiden. "What happened?"
Steven's paw goes through the apparently solid form of Willow like air.
Steven makes a 'mrrrp?' sound and he looks around quickly for any other features in the room. He tries to nudge the others as well to see who's solid to him and who isn't.
Sol frowns and starts a general flurry of touching, til it becomes apparent that he is paired with only Aiden, and that the other pairs able to touch are Seodil and Willow, and Steven and Lotte. "Not sure... magic, definitely. Maybe an illusion? We're really in three different places?"
Lotte gasps, "It must be!" She goes to try the ruby-framed door.
There is a click as Lotte steps directly in front of the door, and the floor starts to tilt.
Lotte yells in suprise as the floor begins to tilt, but steadies herself and keeps from falling.
Steven blinks, trying to maintain his balance, wonderiing what's going on....
The door is not locked, and swings open.
Lotte peers through the doorway before deciding whether or not to step through it.
Steven blinks, and dashes for Lotte as the floor tilts more and more. She's likely to go in through that door, and he'd rather be with someone he can physically intereact with, just in case whatever's on the other side will be able to react to him, as well.
The party members who could not touch Lotte or Steven are calling out, but do not appear to be falling.
Steven thinks, Three separate places? and we're just images that are together?
Lotte looks reluctantly back at the rest of the group, then back at the door...
Steven feels the floor slipping. he grimaces; maybe, just maybe, he can nudge Lotte in there. And maybe they can leave the door open. Or try to. A library doesn't seem the sort of place you'd dump intruders, anyway. HE makes something of a tackle, which would be filled with feline grace if he wasn't sliding down the floor in the process and wass perhaps a hundred and a half pounds lighter.
Lotte 'oofs' as Steven tackles her and sends her flying through the doorway.
Lotte and Steven make it through the door before the floor drops away completely. The door behind them does not close, but the floor has dropped completely away. Spikes line the bottom of the new floor, about twenty feet below the old floor. No one else is visible in the now floorless room.
Steven glances out the doorway, blinking. He starts to speak. "Meow rowr purr-- urk!" He shake shis head, and shifts back to his human form. "Man... that would have hurt a bit..."
Lotte gasps air violently, half from the tackle and half from panic. "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod. Steven... Steven, maybe their floors didn't drop, right?"
The current room that the two find themselves in is a grey-walled, serene place much like a temple. Even without the spikes, it's far more inviting. Books on stands line the walls, tapestries depict beautiful people and animals, and thick candles provide soft yellow light.
Steven blinks, thinks, then shakes his head. "They didn't look like they were in any sort of distress, so I doubt it. I do think, though, that they'll be really uneager to try opening any of the doors...." He looks around, sitting on his haunches as he takes in the surroundings. "Well, now... this is rather nice."
Lotte nods distractedly in agreement. For the first time, in this soft light, she notices that Steven is completely nude. Lotte blushes deeply for having noticed, then averts her eyes and scans the room. Something draws her eyes to the back of the room and she gets up to go have a look.
Steven blinks as his eye is caught by something to the side of the room. "Hey... the sunburst of Lord Pelor!" he says, standing and moving over to the book he's spotted.
Lotte finds that the back of the room contains sheet music on a stand... it's elegantly written, and one of the loveliest songs she's ever heard. She can almost hear it in her mind, but it would be so much better to play it... a chest carved with musical notes sits beside the stand.
Lotte stares transfixed at the music before her. Looking over to the chest, traces her finger around the carvings, then goes to open it.
Steven's book does indeed have Pelor's sunburst in gold leaf, along with gorgeous illumination... this appears to be a legend about how the Grey World and Bright World were born, and interconnect, and other fascinating things.
Steven finds the book incredibly interesting. He moves to lift it from its place... then pauses, and gives it a quick check to make sure that there's nothing where it's resting on that'll... do something bad, like drop a rock on him or something,
Lotte finds that the chest is not locked, but set with a trap. She notices the tiny dart trap before it has time to work, disables it quickly, then opens the chest lid entirely.
Steven glances over to Lotte, who seems to be working over a mechanism or such. SOmethign locking the sheet music in place? he glances back at the book. He could spend hours perusing it, it seems... argh, focus, focus! First, have to find out what they're doing here! And how to get out. Then they can figure out how to take this with them. He SO wants to just sit and read... but this is the Palace of Blood on Snow, not a park walk. He swallows, promising himself that reading the book will be his reward to himself for getting out of this predicament, before he looks to Lotte. "DO you see a door around here anywhere...?
The tiny dart's tip glistens darkly with some unknown liquid as Lotte raises the chest lid. Inside the chest are a flute and a small harp, wrapped in velvet. Both are carven in leaves, paler carvings on dark, richly red wood.
Lotte sighs deeply as she gazes upon the most beautiful instruments she has ever seen. Careful not to touch the dart tips, she reaches into the chest and picks up the harp. In response to Steven's question, she looks around the room for a door. "What do you think these things are doing here, Steven? Are they here just for us?"
Steven looks around, and swallows. "Somehow I don't think so," he says. "At least, not in a beneficient way. I found a book..." he stops himself and shakes his head. "This is still the Palace of Blood on Snow, Lotte. I... I want to, but I can't trust anything here. Not until at least Sol sits on the throne."
Lotte quickly scans the room for a door, but gives in to the almost irresistable urge to play the harp. She strums the strings briefly before attempting the song from the sheet music.
Steven spots a door in the far end of the room. "Ah.. there we are." He moves over to it, and pauses before touching it. "Lotte, could you... could you look at the door before we open it? I don't want to set off anything, you know?
Lotte wistfully stills the harp and comes over to the door Steven has found. She scans the door for any sign of a trap.
Steven glances back, his eye catching the book again. Before he calls out to Lotte, though, he pauses, and squints a little, looking closer at the book. Odd... from here, he can see that there is a thin gold chain holding the book to the stand... and a set of golden manacles, beautiful and excellently crafted in their own way, are set on the ground as well. His mouth tightens into a hard line. So that was it. He would be reading the book and never notice that he'd be chained to it for... for ever. He blinks to Lotte, and says quietly. "You migh not want to play that too much just yet," he says. "At least, not until we can get out of here...."
Lotte looks over at the harp sadly. The instrument had been rich and in perfect tune. The song had felt like her own, like she had been meant to play it since she was born. She sighs and nods, shifting her attention to the door.
Steven adds quietly, glancing back at the chains, "Besides... we need to find the others." Oddly, with the sight of those chains, he feels his desire to remain here and read the book fading away. he sighs softly. Lord Pelor, thank you. A most grievous curse had nearly ensnared me. "Let's get out of here," he says gently. "This place isn't good for us. And... you might want to leave the harp."
Lotte says briskly, "I don't think there's a trap on this door, Steven." She starts back toward the harp, but stops as Steven speaks again. She stands still, not turning towards him but not making any other move towards the harp. A clear struggle of willpower is going on inside of her.
Steven says quietly and urgently, "This place is a trap. This room." He directs her attention to the chains on the stand, and the manacles. "Over there... if I'd stayed and read the book I'd be there until the end of time, I'm sure of it."
Lotte turns to face Steven, fists clenched and face tight. "No. No, I am tired of this! Not everything is a trap! These things were left here for us as gifts! Maybe you can't see that, but I can! Maybe..." She trails off as she sees the manacles Steven had pointed out to her. Lotte turns to look back at her music and sees another set waiting there for her. She remains still, body rigid.
Steven winces at the verbal fusilade. But he doesn't back down. "Lotte," he says gently, "Not everything in this world is a trap. BUt everything in this place, this building, should be seen as such. It is the Palace of Blood on Snow. And for the past many years it's been under the domination of an insane monarch who was in thrall to a... a demon. I don't know about you but that scares the living hell out of me."
Lotte's head snaps in the direction of the manacles. Her eyes widen in fear as she realizes that both pairs are actually dragging towards her and Steven. "Ohmigod, let's get out of here!"
Steven sighs, and looks to the manacles again. "I'd like nothing better than to get out of here with all this... but we need to find the others, and I don't want to spend--" He blinks, looking at the manacles. "Uh...." No. They aren't moving. That'd be too much. Way too much. Such hopes are dashed with Lotte's words; he's definitely not seeing things. "I with you on that!" he shouts, and without thinking pushes open the door, having enough peace of mind to look to make sure he's not charging into a pit of spikes.
The door is not locked, and Steven narrowly avoids running smack into Aiden and Sol, who share a look that suggests they've been through a hell of a time. The room is a match with the rest of the broken-down white castle, perhaps a little dirtier. Nothing in it is particularly tempting. An open archway leads out onto another main hallway from the far wall, and three matching doors are in the wall Steven emerged from.
Lotte comes barrelling through the door after Steven, then turns around and thrusts all her weight into shutting it behind her.
Steven blinks for a brief moment, then smiles. "Aiden! Sol! Thank Pelor!" He hurriedly jumps out of the room, letting Lotte get out as quickly as she can. He throws his wieght against the door right alongside her. "You've got interesting vermin here!" he comments flippantly. "Not at all like the cockroaches and rats of the Grey World...."
The door closes with more of a quiet thump than a loud one despite the force used to shut it. Sol and Aiden do not move to help, looking tired. Sol says quietly, "It won't come out if it failed in there. The illusion only goes so far." He pauses and adds, "Don't open the door to check, though. It's worse than the first time."
Lotte, with the door firmly shut, throws herself into Steven, choking back sobs and stammering apologies one over the over.
Steven shakes his head quickly, "Don't worry about it. If it helps.. that first time, you were right, I shouldn't have put on that ring...."
Steven blinks to Sol, and nods. "Don't worry. I don't think either of us want to." His eyes widen suddenly. "Oh, Pelor.... Seodil and Willow!"
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