Session 3-4! Deeper in! Is that...watch out, SAUL!

[Anastasia]

* Anastasia is now known as Dungeon_Ana
> Thus the party proceeds to the south door. The footsteps of wary and wounded heros echos in the dusty and forgotten keep, a slow and cautious clap-clop as they approach the southern door! A door of old wood and metal bands, once a good door and now only a slowly decaying relic of the past. Nothing is noted during this walk, no noise nor nothing unusual.
* SirGavin reaches forward and opens the door!
* Darius (~iron_drag@67.163.114.219) has joined #dunes
> The next door opens with a creaky cry, as if motion after all these years is painful to it's metal joints. So the door opens, a few hints of sunlight passing down from a broken roof.  So ahead is a passable but rubble strewn floor, parts of the roof having caved in. Ivy covers parts of this wall, a segment of the floor pushed up, hints of a great tree root slowly working under the stone. A hall way with rusted shields and old pikes on it's walls, perhaps twenty yards long and with another likewise door at it's southern end. A rotting red carpet or cloth is laid over the floor, mostly obscured by dust and rubble - and by footsteps as well, and little odd markings around a large chunk of debris.
> A hall way with rusted shields and old pikes on it's walls, perhaps twenty yards long and with another likewise door at it's southern end. A rotting red carpet or cloth is laid over the floor, mostly obscured by dust and rubble - and by footsteps as well, and little odd markings around a large chunk of debris. (More)
> A fragment of the ceiling, perhaps, a roughly square block that rests on it's side. In it's front is a curious lack of dust, little points where there isn't an inch or more of dust and dirt built up.
<SirGavin> "They really let this place go..."
* Saul walks forward and pokes at the unusual rock with his ever-useful staff.
* SirGavin heads inside alongside Saul.
> roll 1d20
> OOC - Second.
* Misukibot (dunefar@ip24-253-133-211.hr.hr.cox.net) has joined #dunes
* ChanServ sets mode: +oq Misukibot Misukibot
> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=12 ]{12}
* Saul sets mode: +v Darius
* Dungeon_Ana sets mode: +o Darius
* Dungeon_Ana sets mode: +o SirGavin
* Darius heads in with Gavin as well.
> Serith stays low and near Darius as he heads in, and as Saul pokes the rock!
* Seryf stays around the rear, watching behind them, and in particular those stairs to make sure no one surprises them.
> Saul pokes the rock! A solid piece of rock, not easily...gah!
> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=9 ]{9}
<Darius> "Hold."
> From behind it something leaps! Onto Saul's staff, gripping it - a hand? A hand cut off at the wrist, bloodless and pale! It's nails are sharpened to a point, moving as if it's fingers are legs! So it grabs onto the bottom of Saul's staff, a weak leap!
<Darius> "Serith's got something.."
<SirGavin> "What the hell?"
* SirGavin stares at the odd thing.
* Darius darts over, and tries to trap it to the ground with this boot.
* Saul recoils, swinging his staff violently aside in an attempt to get the thing off it.
> OOC - Second, both of you. Hmmm.
<Seryf> "Huh?" Seryf asks intelligently, turning to look.
<Elaine> "What the hell is that?" Elaine asks with a face as she watches Saul attempt to free his staff. First lips, now hands, what next?
> OOC - Mmm. Saul and Darius, both of you make a Dex check.
<Saul> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Saul rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=8 ]{8}
<Saul> OOC: PAss.
> OOC - By how much?
<Darius> roll 1d20-1
<Saul> OOC: sec
<Misukibot> Darius rolled 1d20-1 --> [ 1d20=7 ]{6}
> OOC - Ditto for Darius, or just tell me what your Dex score is.
<Saul> OOC: 5.
<Saul> OOC: I think.
<Darius> OOC: 16
> Darius is the quicker of the two, getting there just as Saul begins to move hi sstaff! A mighty boot is slammed down! OOC - THACO, Iddy. Single attack, unarmed.
<Darius> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Darius rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=18 ]{18}
> OOC - I can safely say that's a hit. 1d4 damage and add in your strength bonus.
<Darius> roll 1d4+1
<Misukibot> Darius rolled 1d4+1 --> [ 1d4=4 ]{5}
> CRUNCH! The swing of Saul is held down as the boot of Darius hits the hand squarely, a massive stomp and the smashing of bone echoing in this hall! A slightly bloodied boot is risen after, a badly manged and broken hand shown! It twitches weakly after that, flesh torn and bones cracked!
<Seryf> "Eww..." Seryf murmurs, making something of a face at that. "Hands were never tmeant to look like that."
<SirGavin> "Well, we've ascertained that whatever is going on here, it's certainly creepy enough.  Good thinking, Saul."
<Saul> "I feel strangely ineffectual," mumbles Saul, kneeling down to glance at the markings around the debris.
<Darius> "Ugh, now I gotta clean my boot..."
* Darius heads over to Serith, scraping his boot against the floor to get the goo off and pets her head.
<Elaine> "What exactly was the point of the hand supposed to be?" Elaine asks.
> Saul - it's a few inches in front of the debris and right to it, as if something has been moving here on occasion. Something to stir up the dust, really.
<Darius> "Creepy as hell?"
<Saul> "An inefficient waste of energy," notes Saul, deciding to try and shift the debris to see if there's something there.
<SirGavin> "Possibly something left behind from an old experiment?"
* SirGavin suggests
<Elaine> "Well, the lips did have to come from some body. Does that mean we'll encounter other body parts along the way?" Elaine says, with a disgusted look at the thought.
<Darius> "Ehh? Hmm.. Wonder what fighting a foot is gonna be like.."
> It's not to overwhelmingly heavy, enough to move it. Underneath isn't much of note, just a lack of dust, really, and a tiny shaving of something white, almost like a fragmnet of...bone? No, kind of clearish. A fingernail?
<Saul> "There's nothing here," says Saul, standing up. "Unless you feel like pulling up the carpet or something, we'd best move on."
<Darius> "I'll take point.. Which way guys?"
<SirGavin> "Up the stairs now.  We've made sure that nothing is behind us."
* SirGavin takes second following close to the front.
<Saul> "What about that door?" asks Saul, jerking a finger towards the one at the end of the hall.
<SirGavin> "Um..yeah, that first."
<Darius> "Right.."
* Darius heads up to the door and sheathes a blade, then swings the door open.
> Another door yields, showing what lies further in this ancient keep! Ahead...this room is dim, the roof intact and torchlight showing the way ahead - a smallish room but lined with bookshelves and scroll racks, half empty, as well as a few tables and more shelves in the middle. Distantly you can see another door at the end, something odd attached to the wood. Is that...another pair of lips?
* Darius draws his blade again and heads in.
<SirGavin> "He sure likes his warning signs." Gavin murmured, heading closer.
<Darius> "Yay, more lips."
* Darius heads further in, approaching the lips.
<Saul> "Because, of course, having ignored the first two, we are so likely to take heed of the third," notes Saul, dryly.
* Elaine laughs at Saul's statement. So true. "Well, let's see what they have to say this time, then."
* Saul moves to inspect the scrolls and books, hoping to glean some useful knowledge.
> As you enter a rodent skitters from one corner to behind a bookshelf, sounds of faint life heard. Passing by, you see a few old tomes and bookshelves long left behind, relics of another time. As you approach, a voice, "Hold, foolish travellers! The great Demetrius does not wish bothersome disturbances! Go back if you do not wish the wrath of one above you! Proceed only if you wish to gamble your life!" So the lips proclaim, a clear and commanding voice.
* SirGavin checks out the warning sign to see what dread portents shall echo forth this time.
> So the lips proclaim, a clear and commanding voice.
* Seryf yawns a little for effect in case any mages are watching, and follows Gavin.
<Darius> "Alright, so, find anything useful? Or are we ready to keep going?"
> The various literature appears to be a mix - a few old war books, a book on farming(Particularly neglected, and with some archaic languague), a book on manners, and another on weaponsmanship.  All handwritten in various styles, often shortly spoken military scripts, as if adjectives are the bane of all life.
<SirGavin> "Well, we've got someone frightened enough that he perpetually sets out warnings, even in his own rooms."
<Saul> "All books on war, swords, and scythes," notes Saul. "Nothing there, really."
* SirGavin listens at the door at the end for any motion...like a bear behind it.
<Seryf> "Hey, that's something," Seryf notes, picking up one of the books on fencing, and skimming to see if it looks useful.
<Saul> roll 1d6
<Misukibot> Saul rolled 1d6 --> [ 1d6=2 ]{2}
<Elaine> roll 1d6
<Misukibot> Elaine rolled 1d6 --> [ 1d6=4 ]{4}
<Seryf> roll 1d6
<Misukibot> Seryf rolled 1d6 --> [ 1d6=3 ]{3}
> It's good fundamentals, Seryf notes. Very good fundamentals - a good book for learning from if you were so inclined. Whomever wrote it knew the basics well.
<Darius> roll 1d6
<Misukibot> Darius rolled 1d6 --> [ 1d6=2 ]{2}
> Gavin does not hear an ything behind the door. It's pretty quiet here, peaceful and relatively restful.
* SirGavin opens, checking the way forward while the others are scouting this room.
> Another hallway. Minus a caved in roof, this one is pretty nondescript. Only footsteps pass through it, disturbances in the dust, heading on to the next door.
<SirGavin> "We're definitely on the right route.  Ready to head on guys?"
> OOC - Sec, that came out awkward.
* SirGavin turns around.
* Darius follows after Gavin.
> Another hallway. Minus a caved in roof that the last one had, this one is mostly intact, non descript. Only footsteps pass through it, disturbances in the dust, heading on to the next door.
<Elaine> "If the others aren't planning on doing some reading at the moment," Elaine replies.
<Saul> "Or so we think," replies Saul, checking to see if there are multiple pairs of footprints, or just the one set.
> Saul - there is a single set. LIke two feet walking, not too terribly far apart for each step.
* Seryf blushes a little in embarrassment, sticking the book in her pack and following Elaine. "It's a decently written book..."
<Darius> "Pfft, like you can even read."
* Darius stands on the other side of Serith..
> As you head on, this hallway is indeed silent and peaceful. The next door has a large metal handle, to make opening it's wooden width far easier.
* Saul glances at the roof, warily. Where there is one cave in, there may be more."
* Darius walks up to the door cautiously.
* SirGavin heads along to the door at the end.
> It's pretty much a normal door besides the handle. A little old, the metal handle slightly rusted.
<Darius> "Hmmm... You guys, I think I just noticed something odd..
<Darius> "There are all these open parts to the roof, but the dust is undisturbed.. Why hasn't the weather or the wind touched it?"
<Saul> "They could be recent," replies Saul. "They could be the fault of our resident mage."
<SirGavin> "Plus enough stone around would keep the wind from sweeping up too much dust."
<Saul> "Or, well, that. Try the door."
<Seryf> "He might be warding the weather off as well," Seryf adds, looking up at the holes in the cieling. "If books have survived this long..."
<Darius> "Hmm.. Well, hold on.."
<Darius> "Serith is smelling something strange.. Something about Storms.."
<Darius> "I can't tell what exactly has her worried, so we need to be careful from here on in."
* Darius goes up to the door.
<Saul> "Right. We'll carefully open the door," replies Saul, flatly.
<Elaine> "I think we've been careful since the first bear," Elaine notes wrily.
> It's yet another wooden and metal banded door, it's handle slightly unusual for the type. A heavy door, too.
<Darius> "Hold on.. Serith's warning me about lightning."
<SirGavin> "..."
<SirGavin> "I see..."
* SirGavin looks at Darius oddly.
* SirGavin glances at the tiger.
> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=11 ]{11}
<Darius> "What?"
<Saul> "The door is going to electrocute you!" announces Saul. "But no trap is safe from the brilliant nose of Serith!"
<Darius> "She's thinking it's the door..."
> Serith is by Darius's side, fixated on that door, tail swishing up ever so slightly.
* Saul mutters something. "Fine! We'll do it the hard way, then," he says, heading back into the previous room and picking up the grisly remains of the hand.
> A minute or so passes, Saul having gone back for the hand. So the party waits...
* Saul returns, armed with a hand-on-a-stick, and abruptly starts applying it to the handle.
> Serith turns well enough to see Saul return with a hand on a stick, feline eyes narrowing as she gets an eyeful of Saul's plan.
> OOC - Save versus spell at +5, Saul.
<Saul> roll 1d20+5
<Misukibot> Saul rolled 1d20+5 --> [ 1d20=12 ]{17}
<Saul> OOC: Paaaas.
<Saul> OOC: By 5, ironically. >_>
> roll 1d8-4
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d8-4 --> [ 1d8=1 ]{-3}
> The caught hand goes rigid with shock, a grisly cooking sensation and scent filling the room! Saul gets a slight shockback but nothing of real danger, a CRACKLE and POP  as the hand touches the door, then nothing. Said hand goes limp, burnt and shocked.
<Darius> "Well then.."
<Elaine> "That actually worked?" Elaine asks with a raised eyebrow.
* Darius puts a blade away and reaches for the door..
* Saul flicks the hand off the staff. "There was actually a trap? Hmm," he says, glancing at Serith. "I'm impressed."
<Darius> "Well.. Here goes nothing..."
* Darius attempts to open it..
<Seryf> "I think I heard a story about something like that a couple decades ago..." Seryf nods, snickering at the hand on a stick. "Only it was a goblin head."
<SirGavin> "A goblin head?"
* SirGavin asked.
<Seryf> "Some operation to break up a ring of goblin bandits on the edge of our woods, only it turne dout they'd shacked up with some human sorcerer...had to open a door, so they stuck a goblin head on a pole and pushed the door open. I think, heard the story a while ago."
<Saul> "Charming. And here I thought I was being innovative."
<Seryf> "Oh, you were, it was just similar. THe sorcerer twitched and cast a spell on the head, which did little, and was turned into a pincushion. Just reminded me is all."
<SirGavin> "anyhow, let's move on." Gavin waited for Darius.
* Elaine laughs. "Well, I'll be sure to sing praises to your genius when I retell the story to an audience, Saul."
<Saul> "I'm not sure I want to be remebered for that. Just tell them how a pet tiger saved us all."
* Darius pats Serith on the head and scratches behind her ears.
<Darius> "Bah, at this rate, all the songs will be about a tiger and her pet half-elf."
<SirGavin> "Last I checked, bard's didn't sing songs about tigers that sniffed doors.  No offense."
<Saul> "It'll have that original touch, though."
* Elaine laughs. "That just makes it all the more challenging to sell as the truth then!" is Elaine's reply to the knight.
> Serith rubs a moment against the hand of Darius, calmly lookingat Gavin.
* Darius gives Serith a last pat and opens the door, heading into the room.
* SirGavin follows.
> Now the door opens without shock, a new room! Ahead is one very long table flanked by smaller ones, a great engraved Griffon's crest on the south wall! Grand dining tables, even a candlestick ortwo still in place, are ahead of the party. A place of long ago feasts, enough to seat three score men without too much difficulty at one time. Old chairs, wood and study, largely remain. A door on the eastern wall, two of them, smaller doors. More functional, not the heavier doors you've seen so far.
> More functional, not the heavier doors you've seen so far. Simple wooden portals, partially rotted.
* Darius looks around the room, and glances at Serith.
> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=18 ]{18}
> Serith looks around, padding. The footsteps continue, a split as only the northern most eastern door has footsteps going to it.
* Saul doesn't check the room terribly thoroughly, following the footsteps to the door they entered.
<Darius> "Anyone want to check the other doors, or just go after the footprints?"
<SirGavin> "Footprints first, then we check the other stuff."
* Darius nods..
* SirGavin goes up, checking the door and glancing back at the tiger before opening it.
<Darius> "Hmm.. We wanna test this door too? Throw a chair or something at it?
<Darius> "
<Saul> "Feel free," replies Saul, standing out of the way.
<Elaine> "Does Serith have any warning about the door this time?" Elaine asks.
<Darius> "No, she's not smelling anything unusual."
* Elaine pauses in thought at that. "Smell? How does one smell lightning?" Elaine asks curiously.
<Elaine> "I mean, we saw her do it, it's just..." Elaine mutters.
<Saul> "I think that question may be better left unanswered."
* Darius shrugs.
<Darius> "She didn't actually get lightning as you're thinking of it.. She just sensed a storm and the danger that goes with flashes of light."
* SirGavin is now known as Drac-eats
<Elaine> "Ah..." is Elaine's reply. Can't really say she comprehends, but maybe Saul is right about this. Besides, it gives her some creative license later on.
* Darius is now known as Iddy-Shwoer
* Iddy-Shwoer is now known as Iddy-Shower
* Drac-eats is now known as SirGavin
> OOC - Anwyway, what's everyone doing now?
<Saul> OOC: We're opening the door.
> The footstepped door?
> OOC - OOC that.
<Saul> OOC: Yes.
> OOC - Okay.
<SirGavin> OOC: I opened the door, make with the descy~ =)
> Opening the next door, another passage is revealed. It's a non descript hallway at first - except there is a burning torch in a sconce in the middle of the hall, and with good reason. The floor begins to slope down here. It's a dead end at the bottom, as if the path is half finished. Stone is met, the lowest point not a wall but bedrock - it's a good twenty and change slope down at the end, and oddity. Near the bottom, the foundation gives way a blasted hole, some rubble at it's edge. The dust is heavier here, until the holeway - where there is no dust at all.  
> the foundation gives way a blasted hole, some rubble at it's edge. The dust is heavier here, until the holeway - where there is no dust at all.   (More)
* Iddy-Shower is now known as Darius
> Perhaps it is your imagination at this distance, but you do believe you see faint trickles of water here, and perhaps a tiny bit of moss or mold growing on the downward parts. Unusual, the faintest smell of those things tickling your nose. As you enter, a voice from above - the roof this time, "Halt! Go no further! Ones that defy risk everything! Just go away!" Lips shimmer and vanish on the sloping roof, then gone.
* SirGavin glances at the roof for signs of sabotage.
> OOC - Do you have a stonework skill or something similar, Gavin?
<Saul> "He sounds like he's getting desperate. Maybe that's the only spell he knows."
<SirGavin> OOC: Doubt it!  *checks*
<SirGavin> OOC: Nope!
<SirGavin> "Well, he did have the bears."
<SirGavin> "And the trapped door."
> Gavin doesn't really notice anything unusual with the construction.
<Elaine> "He does sound desperate doesn't he? 'Just go away!'," Elaine parrots with a head shake.
<Saul> "Well, yes, but he still doesn't seem terribly bright. What's the point in wasting magic on warnings?"
<SirGavin> "Well, one to scare away thieves...three to be an idiot?"
<Saul> "Exactly. Anyhow. Let's move on."
* Darius heads down...
> Heading down the slope, Darius and Serith taking the point, the group moves on. Down and down the slope you go, down to the hole. This goes without incident, and ahead...woow. It's sloping down, but it looks like the start of a natural cavern of some sort. You can't see much as it curves slightly down, a few steps away from being a cliff. It generally leans back north and a little to the east.
<Saul> OOC- More? We're just heading onwards until we hit somewhere, really. >_>
> Looking ahead - you won't need to quite climb down, but you'll need to duck and crawl, as well as being careful. It doesn't help that there are a few faint patches of slicker looking rock, grey and brown seen.
* Saul is now known as Carthrat-Sleep
<SirGavin> "Mmm, be careful, it'd be a nasty place for some beast or trap."
<SirGavin> "Seryf, cover the rear...Me or Darius slip in first and cover the other side?"
<Darius> "I'll go first.."
> Serith quietly sniffs the air, staying quiet for now, lingering towards Seryf for the moment.
* Darius cracks his neck, sheathes his blades, and prepares to crawl through..
<Seryf> "Mhm," Seryf answers easily, turning and not bothering with attention in that dark and dank hole as she watches the rear, hands on her swords.
> roll 1d20
<Misukibot> Dungeon_Ana rolled 1d20 --> [ 1d20=6 ]{6}
* Darius grunts.
<Darius> "We're getting close.. Serith smells humans down this way."
<Elaine> "Does she have any idea how many?" Elaine asks.
<Darius> "One human scent, one bear scent."
<Darius> "And she ain't happy about the bear.."
* Carthrat-Sleep (WinNT@c211-28-176-37.eburwd7.vic.optusnet.com.au) Quit (It's all Dune's fault.)
<SirGavin> "Well then...We'll have to finish it off too...Is the other side secure for all of us to slip through?"
> OOC- I need an exact order of going down. Darius is first, and I imagine Serith will follow, then who?
<SirGavin> OOC: Darius and Serith
<SirGavin> OOC: Once they secure the other side, I'll follow and then the rest of the team
> OOC - Okay.
<SirGavin> OOC: ideal being that we don't have half of us under the rock at a given point.
> As the two head down, they find the way difficult but not too hard. Someone has clearly gone this way before, having added a few indentations into the rock. Fresh ones, little pebbles still there. These help immensly with balance and moving, the pair heading deeper down...and at last! After what must be a few dozen yards down and to the northeast, an end! An end into a vast hollowed out space - unusual. The walls are of a grey stone, smooth, as if some hand polished them for a very long time. It's quite wide around, dozens of yards in a circle and plenty of room to move in. Even odder, the air is semi fresh...but that pales in comparison to what is ahead. There is a simple pool in the ground near the upper center of the room, perhaps 10 feet wide. Dozens and dozens of glowing lights of various color flock around it, a stunningly ethereal sight. Yet this is even broken - a bear is there, standing firmly and facing you, a man in a simp
>  The walls are of a grey stone, smooth, as if some hand polished them for a very long time. It's quite wide around, dozens of yards in a circle and plenty of room to move in. Even odder, the air is semi fresh...but that pales in comparison to what is ahead. There is a simple pool in the ground near the upper center of the room, perhaps 10 feet wide. Dozens and dozens of glowing lights of various color flock around it, a stunningly ethereal sight. Yet this is even broken - a bear is there, standing firmly and facing you, a man in a simp (More)
> a stunningly ethereal sight. Yet this is even broken - a bear is there, standing firmly and facing you, a man in a simp (More)
> A man in a simple brown tunic, albiet one that looks clean and well kept, beached wood brown hair short. A pair of red pants, a set of canvas pouches at his belt. He leans on a staff, well polished cherrywood, with silvery tipped ends, as tall as he is - about five feet and 9 or 10 inches, perhaps. His gave it towards the pool, as a pair of lights gush up from it! A black light and a red light, both going to the roof and passing through the stone like it's nothing!
> A black light and a red light, both going to the roof and passing through the stone like it's nothing! (more)
> Turning at the noise of an intruder, his face has a brown and very well trimmed beard, a sharp look in those eyes. "Hail, traveler," he greets dryly, a note of supreme annoyance. "Hail, one that cannot catch a very well crafted set of hints to leave well enough alone."
> Those eyes stare atyou like a hawk's, slate gray and piercing. He drums his fingers on the base of his rod, leaning lightlya gainst it, yet it bears his weight without difficulty.
* Darius grips the hilts of his blades.
> "Do not waste your time," A glint of his eyes, hand tightening on his staff. "I mean you not a battle, unless you are so stupid to insist on bloodshed after all the trouble you plowed through."
<Elaine> "Hail, he of bears and magical lips and electric doors!" Elaine greets cheekily in kind at the man, while keeping her eye on the bear.
<Elaine> ooc - scratch the greeting
> Serith growls lightly, the bear at his side standing impassively, as if waiting for something.
* Darius glances at Serith.
* Darius bends down to the hole and calls back through.
> Serith is cautiously at arms, ready to pounce but not doing so. Above, faint echos reach the party - distorted words. "Hail...cannot...catch..."
<Darius> "Go ahead and come through!"
> Serith stays ahead, looking on intently.
* Darius stands back up and puts his hands back on his hilts.
> "...A merry band of adventurers?" He asks, snorting. "I warn you in advance - I will show no mercy should you come with hostile arms against me. Think carefully, warrior and pet. I do not wish to fight - but I will finish foolishness that you start."
* Darius grins at him and leans against the wall, continuing to smirk at him until the rest of the group comes through.
> So it stands, the rest of the group coming down! Knightly Gavin, quiet Seryf, magical Saul and bardic Elaine! They catch the sight in front of them, a pale light cast about the smooth walls by the multicolored pool lights.
* SirGavin standing out there he joined Darius. "So you're the one causing all this trouble?"
* Darius stands upright fully and rubs Serith's ears.
<Darius> "Oh, by the by, she's not a pet."
* Usagi (eb@user-3950.l4a.c1.dsl.pol.co.uk) has joined #dunes
* ChanServ sets mode: +oa Usagi Usagi
<Elaine> "Yeah, Darius is Serith's pet!" Elaine pipes up.
> "Trouble? I only wish to be left alone here - despite the problem of these lights. Therefore, certain discouragements were needed to keep away the curious - but it seems that running from a bear or stopping when warned is not to your speed." Looking over all of you, "I assume you come because of the lights, or is this your ruined castle holiday?"
<Darius> "Every day is a holiday."
* Darius grins at him.
> Looking to Serith, "As you wish, it matters not if she is a pet or a thralled servant." Looking to Darius then the party, "I ask again, what has brought you here?"
<SirGavin> "We've come on behalf of the town to investigate who was camping out in the old castle."
<Seryf> "Besides it being the king's property," Seryf adds, humming as she watches the goings ons.
> "Unneeded but expected," he goes on, as Serith growls again. "I had hoped any derring doers from nearby would run at the sight of a bear."
<Darius> "Just how did you get the bears to help you in the first place?"
<Seryf> Seryf just rolls her eyes at the mage, her own comment being cut off by Darius' more useful question.
> "Magic," Saul replies quietly, studying the mage with some intensity. "Unless he's one of the woodsmen like Seryf," he adds with a hint of humor, lingering back.
> "I see there is a margin of intellect in your group," Demetrius replies dryly again, "The matter of property is not relevant."
<SirGavin> "I'm afraid it is, in this case."
> "Is it indeed, knight?" Looking Gavin over once, "Do you intent to try to enforce your vision of the law here?"
<Seryf> "Well, it's either that or we set up camp in this wonderful cavern. I mean, there is no rule of property, right? We could just build a fire, smoke the place up a bit, maybe invite a pack of wolves..." Seryf hazards, looking around. "It'd be nice and cozy, wouldn't it?"
<SirGavin> "If necessary.  Do you have an alternate solution?  Setting up shop in a castle right next to a town isn't a recipe for privacy after all."
<Darius> "Hmm.. Might make a nice den for us, after all..."
> Sighing to both, as if annoyed and pained, "I see. I do not wish for violence." So admitting, and looking to the group, "Then what is it you want? Coin? Magic? Or..." He eye sthe group, "Perhaps employment?"
<SirGavin> "Mmm...  It is not my place.  First, before we see...perhaps a little exchange of information in good faith?  We are here as representatives of the town.  What is your business setting up here?"
> "I am on business of another." Waving his free arm, "Do you not see this cavern and it's polished stone? No natural cave would be as such - my huntings have lead me here - this keep had the misfortune to be built atop a created pool for fairies, albiet now only attracting spirits of another type. What I require is at the bottom of this pool."
* Elaine listens interestedly, while letting Gavin control the conversation.
<SirGavin> "What might that be?  And are you planning on leaving after acquiring it?"
> "That is none of your affair," he regards Gavin coolly. "Once it is obtained, I wish only to return and continue my business, far away from caves, natural or otherwise."
* SirGavin keeps his voice calm, trying to project that he doesn't intend unnecessary bloodshed.
> *return and continue on with my other business
<SirGavin> "Mmm...  The reason I ask is, presuming it is of no harm to the local townsfolk, it would be idea to see your work finished swiftly, so the nightly disruptions do not continue to bother them."
> ""It shall be done when it is done - ideally within the week, unless one of you possesses the means and capacity to dispose of four score of Aether Spirits." A thin smile there, turning a moment back to the pool. "Bothersome creatures - like flies to manure in this case. The simplest and safest way is to slowly erode the pack, and I do not fancy the wrath of all of them at once."
<Elaine> "Aether Spirits?" Elaine asks, not recognizing the term.
> "Tiny living concentrations of magical energy - they can swarm around certain types of magic. Of no note in the singular, deadly and bothersom ein the plural. They have a bad habit of losing control of their energy when they attack a being taking the item the flock around - it is quite painful, or so I am told."
> Turning back, "Spirits of magic, if you prefer."