Scatter the Pieces [IC]

[Ajadea]

Magdi scrambles up the stairs, using hands as much as her feet to avoid falling. Her smaller size combined with her superb balancing makes falling off the stairs mostly a non-issue and climbing up a lot harder. After a while, she too rounds the three turns and comes to the landing. The big door, sized for humans and such, opens on to the Myrain Medicine section, or what remains of it in any case. Most of the outside wall has been shattered, and the ceiling is gone from most of where you can see. The remaining bits of ceiling and columns to your left seem unstable. At best. This is really not good, considering you can see the last bits of the fifth and six floors waiting to fall.

To the right is a wooden door, three feet square. It opens onto a tunnel maybe six inches deeper than the door is tall. The stone is etched with hundreds, if not thousands, of runes. Down the tunnel, you can see Samuel's ring, glowing like purple flame.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra looks at Eztra. "What about that?" she asks in the same tone she uses on Ama when she's afraid of a particularly steep section of trail. "If we meet up with Sam, and the two of us take the light path?"

[SPoD]

Eztra took a deep breath and nodded. "OK, Sorra. If you think it's a good idea." Eztra didn't, really, but she also didn't think that she was necessarily the most rational person in the group.

She waited for Sorra or Magdi to enter the corridor first, and then fell in line second behind them, crawling on her hands and knees. The stone runes hurt the skin on her knees, even through the bulky clothing, but they were headed back to where their mage and their light were waiting, and that made her feel better.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

After another brief break to catch her breath Magdi walked swiftly towards the sound of Sorra and Eztra's voices, biting her lip and trying not to dwell on the instability of the floor. It didn't take too long to reach the girls.
"Sorry I took so long," she said as she appeared just behind Eztra. "I've got old bones" she added by way of explanation. She had old everything. She hoped she wasn't going to end up a burden to these kids.
"Where are we going then? I thought I heard Sam say something about taking a tunnel each?"

[PollyOliver]

Sorra nods. "He said there's three. Maybe you should go next, so I can stay with Eztra when we take the brighter one?"

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"Sure thing," Magdi replied,"Will we regroup here or...?"

[PollyOliver]

Sorra nods. "If we don't hear anything else from each other. But unless they go really far, we should be able to keep talking."

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"That would be great, yeah," Madi murmured, eyeing up her tunnel. She inched towards it then turned back to double check on the humans. "You three all travel safe then," she instructed sternly. "I'll let you know what I see when I see it..." she strolled into the smallest corridor, giving a little smile to the others before she went.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra waits for Magdi to get a little ahead, then crawls after her. Fortunately she's pretty small herself, if not small enough for it to be comfortable.

She turns toward the brightest of the tunnels, going very slowly so Eztra doesn't fall behind, and so whatever's at the end doesn't catch her by surprise.

[SPoD]

Eztra crawled after Sorra, following her to the brightest of the three tunnels. She could dimly see Samuel's purple light up ahead in the third path, but Magdi was completely lost to the darkness. She didn't like it, but she silently followed nonetheless.

[Ajadea]

One by one you crawl (or, in Magdi's case, walk) down the tunnel to where Samuel is. You have agreed to split up, and so you do. Eztra and Sorra take the left tunnel, towards the light. Samuel goes right, into the pitch darkness that swallows him and his glowing ring far too fast. And Magdi goes forwards, around the curve of the tunnel and on.

Eztra and Sorra

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A few minutes of crawling takes you to a slanting tunnel. Unlike the treacherous stairs that led you here, there are railings on either side, indented into the wall. Or, to put it slightly more accurately, long troughs have been shaped out of the stone. It is colder here than in the first tunnel, though not by much.

The tunnel runs downwards to a landing. There is another small opening, again three feet square. It is blocked by a white cover that resembles linen from what little you can see of it. You cannot see through it, but it lets light in.

Magdi

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Round the corner, down a slope, up and down through what must be the walls of the Spire. You could probably go anywhere through these tunnels. It explains how Nohar managed to appear and disappear so easily. You come to another fork. Forwards there is a ladder, and more path. The rungs are spaced easily enough for you to climb them, and you can easily use the ladder to swing across and continue on your way. To your right, there is a tunnel. If you are not mistaken, it runs into the heart of the Spire-or where it should be.

Samuel

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Your spell soon ceases to function, the light slowly shrinking and dimming. Which is odd-it should have lasted a lot longer. You hear nothing, see nothing, as you crawl along. The runes scratch against your hands and knees. The air smells like death, like rotten corpses and dried blood. You can taste the thickness of the air every time you breathe, staining your palate with its foulness.

And then your hand connects with air instead of stone, and you slip.

Roll a Reflex save or Balance check (to avoid falling). Alternatively, roll a Tumble check to avoid hurting yourself on the way down. Your choice.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi padded along gazing about her in mild awe.
"This is how he did it guys!" she squeaked excitedly, "Nohar had a whole network buried away in here!"
She suddenly felt unreasonably powerful with this new set of secret paths available to her.

[PollyOliver]

"Stop for a second," Sorra says over her shoulder. "There's something here."

She slowly reaches out and carefully brushes the cover aside, keeping the rest of her body back from it as she does.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi stopped dead, instantly flooded with guilt for enjoying something she'd come across in such horrible circumstances. "What?" she called out urgently. "What is it Sorra? Are you two ok?"

[SPoD]

Eztra watched Sorra push aside the white linen covering. Following her lead, she stayed back from the opening itself, behind Sorra's form, just in case something horrible leaped out at the two girls.

[PollyOliver]

"I don't know," Sorra says as she reaches out slowly. "It's some sort of sheet or something across the path. There's light behind it."

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"Do you have any idea where you might be?" she asked "there's a turn right here that looks like it leads right to the heart of the Spire..."

[Ajadea]

Eztra and Sorra

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The linen-like covering turns out to be securely attached to the wall, and quite stiff besides. Sorra finds the four little pegs that attach it to the tunnel and unhook the cover. She pushes it away, and in a sickening moment, you can see down into the second floor. Looking to your left, you can see the open Myrain Medicine section with its unstable half-ceiling and open walls. Geometrically, it makes sense. The whole side of the Spire had been gone, more or less. There wasn't much for the tunnel to open on to. It doesn't make the sight any less vertigo-inducing though.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra hisses and scrambles back from the edge a little.

"It's the medicine section," she calls back. "We're above it. I think we should head back now. Maybe join Sam or Magdi? Or one each?"

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"So you two are ok then?" Magdi asked, "I'm going to try seeing if this leads where I think it does. Do you want me to wait up?"

[SPoD]

"YES!" Eztra shouted. Then, looking sheepishly at Sorra, "If that's OK with you."

She put her back against the wall to catch her breath from the dizzying light, and heard a rattling noise in her backpack. She didn't know what it was, but then, half the stuff in there belonged to her guide. In the light of the day, she took it off her shoulders and looked inside, wherein a second sack that belonged to her protector sat. She opened it to find an answer to her silent prayers: a lantern! And oil besides. She laughed out loud at her good fortune, holding them up for Sorra to see. "My field guide's," she explained, "I didn't know they were..."

She dug around further and found flint and steel in the same bag. She carefully put a little oil in the lamp and lit it. The relief on her face was evident in the newly-lit glow.

With room in her pack, Eztra took the piece of linen, folded it up, and stowed it within. "Quality fabric is always useful," she said.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"OK. I'll hang around here then. Even in here there's two ways we could go... I'll let you guys have a look and see which way you think's best when you get here." She looked down the tunnel to her right somewhat wistfully but resolved to wait for Eztra and Sorra. "How are you getting on, Sam?" she added, attempting to pass the time.

[Starwulf]

Samuel gives a short scream as his hands touch nothing in front of him but air, then frantically tries to stabilize himself.

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Balance check: (1d20+2)[7]

[Eleanor_Rigby]

At the sound of the scream Magdi span on her heels and started to speed back the way she'd came, "What was that? Who was it? Where are you?"

[PollyOliver]

"It wasn't us!" Sorra yells. She lowers her voice a little. "Eztra, we need to get back to the branch point."

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"I'm going to try and meet you halfway" Magdi shouted as she ran, full pelt now having passed the ladder, towards the place where the three tunnels met "We're coming Sam! Are you alright? Can you hear us?"

[Ajadea]

Samuel

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You fall heels over head, landing with a hard thump on the rock some fifteen feet down. Your rings flares back into light with a vengeance, nearly blinding after the darkness before. In front of you, there is a ladder up, and slanting down and to your right, there is a tunnel into darkness, large enough for you to stand in.

Take (1d6+1)[3] damage.

[Starwulf]

Unable to halt his progress, Samuel again utters a short scream, this time as he free-falls through the air for about 15 feet, his scream cut off as he lands, hard, on his backside. Oww, that hurt. Going to be sore for a while after that fall Samuel thinks, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. He tests both of his legs, and while they are a bit sore, both seem perfectly capable of holding his weight, so he gathers his strength and stands back up, then looks around. Hmm, a ladder up, and a Tunnel downard. We might be on to something here. "Realizing that he can still here his companions, albeit barely, he shouts out as loud as he can "I'm here! My tunnel ended abruptly and I fell about 15 feet! If you're coming to me, be VERY VERY CAREFUL the last part he emphasizes as much as possible, then continues "Also, I"m not sure, but there appears to be some sort of magical dampening effect, my ring went out. So you won't know when you get to me! You're going to have to feel along the path with your hands inch by inch so you don't fall too!" Still sore, Samuel spies a fairly largish rock, walks over to it, and sits down, massaging his legs and back while waiting on his companions to join him.

[SPoD]

"It wasn't us!" Sorra yells. She lowers her voice a little. "Eztra, we need to get back to the branch point."

Eztra nodded, now more confident with a lantern in her hands. She started down the corridor with Sorra, waiting at the intersection for Magdi when they arrived.

Once the goblin woman arrived, the three set off down the rightmost corridor, carefully watching the lantern's light to see if it dimmed at all.

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Sorry if I took control here, but since we all agreed on a plan, I thought I'd bring us all to the crossroads and then further.

As mentioned, watching the lantern to see if it dims.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra follows Eztra back down the dark corridor on her hands and knees, squinting ahead but unable to see past the glare of the lantern.

"Be careful," she cautions Eztra.