Ruin's Dawn: Lightning Gem

[Jackalope]

So, many, commas,

Cautiously, Shl’drei approached the shimmer, reaching for it with his hand. As he did, he found that it receded from him -not so much that it visibly shifted, just that it seemed to remain always at a distance in front of him. It was a bit like approaching a mirage, or rainbow: it *seemed* from a distance to have a definite location, and not to move, yet upon approaching it, that location proved impossible to pin down.

Those behind Shl’drei, watching him, saw something different. They saw him overtake and enter the disturbance; when he did, his body, his clothing, and so forth, seemed to brighten, and to regain their normal coloration. Yet Shl’drei himself noticed no such thing, nor, looking back, would he see any such effect on his companions. The others could surmise what he was experiencing, too, for he kept reaching tentatively out in front of him, increasingly puzzled, even after he had, from their perspective, already passed through the anomaly, seemingly oblivious to his having done so.

Cail decided to abandon collecting maggots for now. She and Natalia both seemed to agree that the group should press on, that the maggots and the colors and the shimmer, while odd and intriguing, were not the purpose of their quest. Both urged that they should move on, and Praetorum agreed, adding the suggestion that they do their best to press against the filthy tunnel wall so as to skirt the area affected by the mysterious “event”.

With hindsight, they would realize that they need not have bothered, and that they had gotten their backs dirty for nothing; like Shl’drei, they would find the shimmer’s apparent location continually receding in front of them. Even more interestingly, once they had closed distance with their point-man, they would notice that he, too, seemed to be once more on the near side of the anomaly with them, his colors and outlines back to being faded and dulled like everything else in the sewers. They would also notice eventually that the colored bits they had noticed floating off the dead rat were no longer visible.

The party pressed on down the corridor, with the shimmer ever just out of reach, until they came to an intersection. There, they noticed a change. The shimmer now no longer presented itself in front of them. From this intersection, the tunnel they had been following looked as it had before in the direction of their current heading. So, too, did the way they had come, should they look back, and so, too, did the tunnel leading off to the left. There was not even a scintilla of shimmer; there was nothing in those three directions except dull, dark, stinky, but otherwise unremarkable sewage tunnel.

To the right, however, things were very different. There the shimmer stood, and it seemed at last to have assumed a firm presence there, looking more like a membrane than a heat shimmer. It was more intense, and seemed to fill the entire volume of the tunnel entrance uniformly, as opposed to fading near the edges. It seemed to have a definite surface, which did not now recede as one approached it. Should Shl’drei or any of the others be so bold, they would find that they actually could “touch” it, visibly impinge on it with their appendages. The bits passed through would not feel any different, but one would see on them the same sharpening of color and texture that they had previously only been able to see at a distance.

Somewhat beyond the shimmering barrier, perhaps twenty paces, the group could see that the tunnel opened up into a chamber. Light came from somewhere inside that chamber, bright, vividly- and multiply-colored light. They could not, however, distinguish any objects or details within.

From the tunnel that continued straight ahead, the rumble came, loud and unmistakable, a bit longer in duration now. And although the group still could not see what was making the sound, they noticed that a cloud of rock dust hung in the air, and that the latest rumble accompanied a fresh gust of it, wafting towards them through the rank, dank air.

Looking down, the party members would also notice that there were cross-beams laid across the channels at the intersection, connecting all the walkways, so that they could proceed in any direction they chose without having to leap or swim through sewage. It was almost like whoever had built these sewers knew what they were doing.

Cail, Natalia, Praetorum, Shl’Drei

You all posted this last round. Thank you!

Info & Rules

• As said earlier, if any of you miss a round, there will be (not good) consequences at the end of the thread.
• Thus far, Cail and Shl’Drei have each missed one round; Yeva has missed two and is now written out of the thread.
• This style of event moderation - with objectives etc - was created by a wonderful moderator named Crimson. But he’ll always be Straylor Leonard to me.

Objectives

!	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
	Decide what to do! Which way do you guys go? Or do you stay at the intersection?

!	Message from: Can-Do Objectives
	No can-do objectives this round.

Next modpost, Tuesday, 10 August

Deadline for your next round's posts is 1200 EST on 10 August. If you haven't posted by that time, I will consider you to have missed that round.

[Shl'Drei]

Shl'drei lifted a confused brow- how odd. He knew he had gotten closer. He registered moving forward. But the glimmer never seemed to be within reach? He stopped reaching for it when Praetorum's words reached his ears. "Sorry, uh, curiosity and all."

He grimaced as he withdrew his arm and turned his back to the sewer wall. With a deep breath, he pushed his back against the wall, ignoring the sticky, grimey feel of filth on his shirt. It took a moment, but he hadn't processed the thought- he only listened to the suggestion. Though if he couldn't reach the light, was there a point to avoiding it? He voiced just the thought as he peeled his now slimey back from the wall. "Is there a point to avoiding it if we can't get to it anyway?"

As they progressed further, Shl'drei noticed that the path split in three and slowed to a stop before pathways that had cross beams and would keep them away from taking a sewage dip. Although he felt some relief it was overshadowed by trepidation. To the left, a dark path. Straight ahead rock dust blew towards them with a dank draft. The rumbling was clearer as well- it was almost like someone was drilling into something? To the right, the shimmer gathered- through the illumination he could somewhat make put more light- and exit maybe? There were no objects he could make out.

"The path splits in three," he said, looking at the three options. "We need to decide which one to go through- I'd rather not split up here." He chuckled humorlessly. The three paths all held a different feeling of anxiety- for one, the dust and rumbling of the left gave the feeling someone else was present or trying to find a way in. The right glimmered with - at least to Shl'drei - a harmless light show. And the middle path was dark, even with the light provided by Praetorum. "The left looks like it could possibly be an exit?"

[Natalia Gregorios]

Saun 35, Arc 721

“Wait!” Natalia called out to the young man who seemed to have a fascination shoving body parts in shimmering anomalies. He had replied to the Ithecal as if nothing was wrong, but she could see something very different. “I don’t understand. It looks like you are in the anomaly. Aren’t you?”

His comments about avoiding it further confused her, because she was looking right at him, in the disturbance. “You aren’t avoiding it. You are in it, at least from my view back here.” Natalia looked at the others, so that they could confirm or deny what she was seeing.

Trying to skirt around the anomaly, things returned to relative ‘normal’ once they were closer to where Shl’drei was, although not much was making sense. Had he gone through the thing and come out the other side or had they all passed through. Sighing, the young woman tried to keep her mind focused and eyes open.

The intersection posed an interesting question – which way to go. The right offered more interesting shimmering fun while the center seemed to be where the rumbling was coming from. Thinking back to what Ilaren had said to them, Natalia recalled her words, and that the artifact would “be carried by the Aukari Occult’. Not find it before they did - she had been specific. The artifact was implied to already be in their possession. Slip of the tongue? Perhaps, but best to bring up the matter.

Turning to Praetorum, but speaking loud enough so the others could hear, she stated her case. “The Immortal said the Aukari already had the artifact, that we were to find it. Wouldn’t that imply we need to go where people are?” Natalia herself was not inclined to go near the shimmering mess unless someone made a good argument for why they needed to. The corridor to the left held no clues, which left the noisy center passageway. Arching an eyebrow at the man's comment, she responded. "What leads you to believe it's an exit?"

The rumble kicked up a fair amount of fine dust and debris, causing her to slip a corner of her cloak over her nose and mouth, trying to her airways clear while they figured out what to do. “I don’t think we should split up, regardless of what path we choose, but my best guess is going straight-ahead to the noise.”

[Cail Qy'Jihai]

Cail Qy'Jihai


Thread Name
Time Stamp

Cail watched shocked when ShI’Drei walked into the mist as if chasing it. Could he truly not see that he was inside it? The woman turned to look at Praetorum when he started to say not to touch it. Though it was far too late for their companion as they all watched him wade through the miasma. When he came back appearing to be uninjured the woman was happy. She did not want to have to heal anyone that early in their journey. Besides that, the male ghost was still on her mind. If it came back while they were down in the sewers, how could she possibly fight against it.

When the group made it to the crossroads so to speak with the beams, the woman was glad that she would not need to wade through the water. That was the last thing she felt like dealing with was the smell of sewer for the rest of the trip. As they made it across carefully the three options presented to them made the girl move to make sure everyone have room and think at the same time. There was only four of them if they split up, they could pair off and take two paths. But with no way of knowing if the tunnels would converge again later.

One path had dust coming from it along with the loud noises they had been hearing since they entered the sewers. The path to the left though was brightly colored and looked to be a way out. It did not make any sense in her mind how could there already be a way out of the sewers when they had just entered. The noises hit her ear drums once again causing her to look back at the tunnel in the middle feeling her heart rate pick back up. There was danger down that tunnel, there was not a doubt in her mind about that. The third tunnel however was different, the items within the room did not appear to have any distinct shape or general size to them. If the group went down that way, they would be going into the unknown.

“The tunnels all lead somewhere different; the middle has the same noises we were hearing at a distance before. I can only guess that the people trying to make it to the vault are using that tunnel. If we went down, there we would for sure end up in a fight. It could end up being a double-edged sword. We cannot know if they have found the door and plan to burst through or if they are on the wrong path. I do not understand why one of the tunnels looks like a way out. We have only just entered the sewers, perhaps the light is being created by something else. Finally, the last tunnel I cannot see clearly through. There is a room down at the end, but the weird fog is making it hard for me to make out any shapes. Going there would be walking into the unknown more than we already have,” Cail stated looking at them, “for what it is worth, I do not see a reason to start a fight in a cramped space. I vote for the tunnel we can clearly see down.”

Biqaj Female

23 Arc old
Long Brown Hair and Eyes
5' 8" Tall

Clothing Style
Green Cloak

“Part of the healing process is sharing with other people who care.”
~ Jerry Cantrell

[Praetorum]

Praetorum sighed in relief when Shl’drei’s contact with the shimmer had no effect—at least as far as they could see. “I see the same thing as Natalia,” Prae said. “You look like you’re in the anomaly, Shl’drei—I take it that’s not what it looks like to you.”

Sure enough, when Prae and the others approached the anomaly, it seemed to retreat—although Prae had a feeling that if anyone were to watch from behind, it would look as though they were walking into the shimmer.

It was strange, but there was nothing to do but walk forwards. Until all of a sudden, there was.

Praetorum frowned, studying the intersection as the others all made their suggestion. The noise was getting closer now, and they could see dust puffing towards them in the air with every rumble.

“Ilaren did say that, yes,” Prae said in response to Natalia’s comment. “The old woman said they were trying to enter into the catacombs, so if we can make our way there, we should be able to find them, and the artifact with them.”

He nodded ahead. “Based on how we were positioned on the surface, the catacombs should be in the direction we’ve been heading. This is just a guess, but that rumbling noise might be them trying to force their way in. We’ll head that way for now—although, Cail, please mark this intersection on your map. We might need to backtrack later—no telling what’s ahead.”

Gently, he began to usher the others forwards, into the tunnel straight ahead. As he did so, he called to the wind, listening for movement ahead of them, trying to gauge what was causing that rumbling, and how far ahead of them it was.

[Jackalope]

No geese down here. Have a toad instead.

The fearless adventurers marveled and puzzled at the elusive shimmering effects until they reached an intersection, and a decision point. For some reason, Natalia and Praetorum thought it was a good idea to continue straight down the tunnel that was rumbling and belching clouds of rock dust. What could possibly go wrong? Praetorum, upon making his suggestion, and even as he urged the party forward, could practically hear the earth start to shake its rock-head emphatically while making “no good” gestures with its clubby, dirty hands.

As if to make the point clear to everybody else, the tunnel before them just then emitted an especially loud, groaning rumble, and then collapsed, cartloads of bricks and dirt crashing from overhead to fill the sewage channel and pile onto the walkways to either side. Apparently, whatever had been digging into it had compromised the structure, and this was the result. The thunderous crash ended, followed by several trills of near-complete silence, interrupted only by an intermittent drizzle of pebbles and earth.

None in the group heard any sign of digging movement after that. Nor were there any signs of emotional reaction from any being on the other side of the rubble, no outcry, no swearing, nothing.

Praetorum could use his defiance to move the freshly-fallen rubble if he wished, but the earth did not like the idea, and let him know that whatever shape he might try to fashion from it would not hold long.

While the group pondered what to do next, the perceptive among them would sense movement to their right. A garishly-colored, misshapen, wart-encrusted toad, roughly the size and proportions of footstool, hopped forth from the shimmering barrier, stopping a few feet away from the group, where it squatted and regarded them with unevenly-sized, ocher-irised eyes. Looking at the thing cause everyone in the group to feel a powerful spasm of disgust.

Coincident with that paroxysm, the group would find that their vision of the area beyond the shimmering barrier suddenly resolved into much greater clarity, as if the shimmer were a lens suddenly adjusted to better focus. They could make out details within the chamber. It was mostly non-descript, apart from the fact that the walls were as garishly-colored and repulsively-textured as the skin of the toad in front of them. In the center was some sort of nest or bed, within which lay a pile of smooth, round, brightly-colored objects.

The toad emitted a croak that sounded more than anything like some juvenile’s deliberately obnoxious belch, and with that exhalation came a gust of warm, fetid air that turned the stomach almost as much as had the maggots they had seen earlier. Then it turned and hopped back through the barrier, whereupon the image of what lay beyond once more blurred into a vague congeries of colors.

Cail, Natalia, Praetorum, Shl’Drei

You all posted this last round. Thank you!

Info & Rules

• As said earlier, if any of you miss a round, there will be (not good) consequences at the end of the thread.
• Thus far, Cail and Shl’Drei have each missed one round; Yeva has missed two and is now written out of the thread.
• This style of event moderation - with objectives etc - was created by a wonderful moderator named Crimson. But he’ll always be Straylor Leonard to me.

Objectives

!	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
	Decide what to do! Which way do you guys *really* go?

!	Message from: Can-Do Objectives
	No can-do objectives this round.

Next modpost, Tuesday, 17 August

Deadline for your next round's posts is 1200 EST on 17 August. If you haven't posted by that time, I will consider you to have missed that round.

[Shl'Drei]

At Natalia's voice, Shl'drei gave a confused 'huh'. He shook his head, as before he spoke. "No, it stays out of reach?" Praetorum's confirmation made him a bit nervous- had he triggered something by trying to touch it? He certainly hoped not...

That said, he regretted suggesting the 'exit'- he was more worried about getting out of the sewers. There was logic to the thought though, if they knew the Aukari had the artifacts, it made sense to track them down. "But fighting seems like a bad idea," Shl'drei said, agreeing with Cail. In the moment, Natalia and Praetorum made their minds, and the large ithecal ushered them forward. One step, one step further and he would've been underneath the collapsed rubble. He covered his face with his arm and turned away slightly in attempt to shield his eyes from debris and dust. He remained silent for a moment, trying to keep his internal panic internal as the rubble and debris settled.

"So about-" He stopped mid-sentence as movement flashed in the corner of his eye. His stomach churned just looking at the creature, the toad, that seemed to make itself at home watching them. Shl'drei grunted in disgust and turned away, his eyes wandering to the remaining pathways. As if suddenly brought in to focus, the shimmer became clear and down the path Shl'drei could see the eyesore of the walls. He squinted, taking in what appeared to be a bed with some kind of rounded objects atop it.

"Huh," He said in surprise, clicking his tongue as the toad waded back into the room and the clarity faded. Not without releasing the most foul belch that had Shl'drei gagging. Taking a few deep breathes, he inched towards the shimmers path. "I think I saw some kind of orbs in there," He murmured. "Since the decided path is no longer an option, I vote right. If that light is harmless, then is there a reason not to?"

[Natalia Gregorios]

Saun 35, Arc 721

The confusion as to Shl’Drei’s experience with the interesting anomaly came to a screeching halt when the path that she and Praetorum had wished to continue down collapsed, causing her to quickly slip her cloak over her mouth and nose again, arching an eyebrow at the turn of events.

"That's...unfortunate."

Sighing softly, she turned her attention to the right when out of the corner of her eye, something moved.

A toad.

“Why couldn’t it have been geese?” Muttering to herself, Natalia considered the toad in all its warty glory, wrinkling up her nose again at the scent in the air. Geese would have smelled better, at least.

They had two options left to move forward, and neither of them were appealing in her estimation. A blank, boring passageway with nothing apparent down it, and the bright, colorful path that she had been avoiding since encountering the colorful anomalies, which appeared to be screaming an invitation at them. Their choices were slowly dwindling, and it seemed like the sewer was pushing them towards something.

The man spoke, but he was attempting to draw a conclusion based on a very weak sampling of information. “How do you know the light is harmless? It, perhaps, didn’t harm you when it was gallivanting out and about, but it seems to have coalesced into something different.”

The truth was, they didn’t know, and wouldn’t know until someone tried to cross over, and she was tired of standing around while their objective got further away. No one had given her the argument she wanted, but the lack of choices and fear of failure began gnawing on her.

“I guess one of us needs to find out. No point in making someone else do it, since it's my idea.”

And with that, she walked towards the colorful barrier, dagger leading the way, stepping through to see what was on the other side.

[Cail Qy'Jihai]

Cail Qy'Jihai


Thread Name
Time Stamp

Cail began to follow Praetorum and Natalie looking at ShI’Drei when it was clear they had been out voted. Even though there was only four of them which would have left them in the same place. Taking a deep breath, the woman walked forward to keep from looking like she thought it was a terrible idea to confront them. A gasp left her mouth when the tunnel dropped from above blocking them from going forward. The woman jerked around at the waist so that her face was away from the dirt that flew out.

“Well so much for confronting them,” Cail stated quietly.

She waved the last bit of dirt and dust out of her face. It was clear from the grumbling that Natalie was not enthused with the two options they had left. Cail was more inclined to go down the colorful path and figure out what was causing the lights. Perhaps it had something to do with the strange mist they had to pass through to begin with. The woman nodded agreeing with ShI’Drei. No matter what any of the three would pose a risk. They had to move and quickly. The woman turned to look what Natalie walked forward with the intention of going through first. It confused her as adamant as the woman had been about not trusting the lights.

Normally Cail found herself running into unknown danger headfirst. But something about what they had experienced since arriving in Yaralon unnerved her. The sudden stop made the woman tilt her head and follow to where the other was looking. It appeared to be come kind of frog that did not want them to continue.

Cail went to ask a question till it burped and the smell made her move past the others and hold her head over the water. She fought the urge to puke again deciding that the woman officially did not like sewers. Once it was clear it was safe, Cail moved to follow Natalie through before anything else happened. She did not want them to be separated.

Biqaj Female

23 Arc old
Long Brown Hair and Eyes
5' 8" Tall

Clothing Style
Green Cloak

“Part of the healing process is sharing with other people who care.”
~ Jerry Cantrell

[Praetorum]

Praetorum muttered a yari curse under his breath as the tunnel collapsed ahead of them. “Nothing ever can be easy in Yaralon, can it?” He sighed.

He reached for the earth to shape it back into something stable, only to meet with reluctance from the earth—it did not want to be shaped, he found, and thought he was confident he could force it, he feared that it wouldn’t last long enough for all four of them to make it through. So he dismissed the idea.

Before he could come up with a new one, something moved off to the side, and Prae frowned, turning to look. “What… is that?” He muttered out loud, grimacing at the repulsive creature that emerged from the barrier. Looking at it, he felt a wave of nausea and disgust wash over him.

Strangely enough, as soon as the feeling rose in him, his vision seemed almost to sharpen, allowing him to see through the barrier. It seemed the others had experienced the same thing, as Shl’drei mentioned seeing the same orbs that Prae had.

Shl’drei voted right, and Natalia seemed to agree, stepping towards the barrier. If Cail disagreed, she made no indication of it, following Natalia as she went. “Right it is, then,” he said. “Let’s try to touch as little as possible, if we can,” he suggested. “That pile of orbs might be eggs or something—I don’t want to start a fight with this… toad thing.”

Prae frowned, thinking. “It seemed to have the same… disgusting feeling as the maggots did, to me. Did you all feel the same? And did you all feel like you saw things clearer when you wanted to throw up seeing that toad?”