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March Event Log B: Einjar Excursion
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| 🜙 Mod Note | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Einjar Excursion's resolution is dependent on the choice of players who are participating in it. After you have read through this post, if your character is going to be part of the Einjar Excursion, please respond to This Comment as soon as possible with the choice that best matches the one your character would choose. The resolution is not dependent solely on players choosing one side over the other, but also on the actions they choose to take. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 🜙 Preparation March 8th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Einjar's population is small in modern times, but the people who remain in the vast cavern city to maintain and protect it are usually in constant contact with Preciposte via falcon. None of the falcons Preciposte has sent to Einjar have made it back in months. The round trip to Einjar and back will take at least 8 days in total and no one is certain what they will find there or if they will even be able to get through the massive, heavily warded doors that can only be opened from within. But if something has happened to the people of Einjar, the threat needs to be discovered before it progresses to Preciposte and Krimnos. It is sure to be a harrowing adventure for those willing to brave the treacherous cliffs to reach Einjar but the kobolds and dwarves residing there might be harboring even more secrets than anyone expected. The excursion organizers recruit a company of Knights from Krimnos, as well as a variety of volunteers to fulfill multiple roles on the journey. Supplies are gathered and divided out among the large company before the journey starts out on foot, and three densely wooled llamas are loaded up with the spare supplies. The excursion team consists of*:
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| 🜙 A Journey's Beginning March 9th-12th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The trek through treacherous mountain paths is a dangerous and difficult one. The high altitude and freezing temperatures require the company to make frequent stops to rest their lungs and the llamas. Camp is made each night in five shared tents. The Knights split up between two tents, the Preciposte citizens in a third, and the excursion team split among the fourth and fifth tents. Meals of hot stew and stuffed breads are shared around several small magical fires before everyone hits their bedrolls for a rest. Night watches are broken into four rotating shifts so no one is out in the night cold for longer than 2 hours. The night of the 11th the company makes camp atop the impressive ruins of the ancient temple of the mountain giants. The sheer scale of these ruins is humbling and daunting. Scorch marks from dragon fire still mar some of the marble and stone pillars. The descent down the mountain has brought the company to a lower altitude and the ruins themselves are devoid of snow or ice, almost warm under the midday sun. The height is still dizzying and the land is a little more open than is comfortable. The company will have to fend off and defend the camp from cliff hawks, a tribe of porcupine-like carnivorous cave spindles, and a colony of six-foot-tall venomous cave spiders that make the ruins their home, all to get past the ruins to the massive stone and metal doors that bar the entrance to Einjar. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 🜙 Friends in High Places March 12th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| During their journey through the ruins, the company is ambushed multiple times. One elvish knight is lost to a cave spindle attack, one of the Preciposte tieflings and one of the llamas are carried off by cliff hawks, a Preciposte dwarf loses his footing on some unstable rocks and disappears off the edge of a cliff with the second llama, and another elf knight is severely injured during a cave spider ambush. With only one llama and two tents left and night quickly approaching things begin to look bad for the company and only get worse once the sun sets. A pack of dire wolves appears from within the ruins, distant howls making their numbers impossible to guess but making it quickly evident the company is surrounded by predators still out of sight. As the oversized pack of dire wolves closes in to attack, a family of kobolds armed with slings and small hammer axes appears from the cliffs above. Their ruckus of calls and the metal-banging noise of their hammer axes against their shields drive back the hunting pack. The kobold family scampers down from the caverns above the ruins and joins the excursion company, inviting them back to the warmth of their cavern home, breaking bread with them and sharing a friendly conversation. One member of the family is a strange sight among the short kobolds, towering above his siblings, but the entire family seems to be cheerfully good-natured and happy to share what is theirs with the excursion company. They don't know anything about the recent silence from Einjar, but they offer to lead the company along a safer path to Einjar's doors in the morning. The knights seem uneasy in the cavern, keeping to themselves and discussing maps with one of the regularly sized kobolds. When questioned by one of the elf knights on what exactly he is, the taller kobold gives the company a confused look. "Isn't it obvious?" He asks, head turning almost vertical with a wide, toothy smile and a confused expression. He clasps a hand on his four-foot-tall brother's shoulder, towering above the smaller creature by a full three feet and thinking nothing of it. "I'm a kobold of course." And were it not for the genuine pride on his tongue it would seem a bold-faced lie even to a half-blind dwarf. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 🜙 The Doors to Einjar March 13th/14th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The next morning the kobolds press on through the mountain path leading the company of strangers after them with cheerful conversation and horribly off-key dwarvish mining songs. Several of the knights fall behind exchanging hushed whispers between them. Conversation around the campfire that night is tense and muted by all but the cheerful family of kobolds passing around mushroom and egg drop soup and a savory mushroom grog with a powerful, fiery kick. Distant animal sounds are heard throughout the night, along with occasional roars of a larger beast, but nothing attacks the company. The taller Kobold's name is learned to be Monty, and he explains that their family hasn't lived in or even been to Einjar since shortly before the war due to a distaste for the rising demand for crafting armor and weapons and a disagreement with the dwarves that ruled over the city. They consider themselves artisans and jewelcrafters rather than smithies and call themselves 'people of the wild mountains'. At dawn, the company realizes the doors to Einjar are within sight, and less than an hour's distance away. However, It is discovered that sometime during the night the remaining dwarves from both Krimnos and Preciposte have disappeared. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 🜙 Open Sesame March 14th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The doors to Einjar are behemoths of metal and stone, built to keep dragons out of the massive mountain cavern city. A river runs at a high force out from beneath the stone doors in two channels, roaring over the cliff in a waterfall not far from there. Stone bridges cross the rushing rivers on either side of the path to the doors, eroded but sturdy. The doors can't be open by force and are covered in ancient dwarvish runes. The dwarves who built Einjar preferred working with their hands and tools over magic, and the Gates to Einjar were no exception. Usually opened from within, they remain silently shut to the excursion company. A large circular depression in the door matches up to a pieced together symbol on the ground before it. Heavy pieces of a solid iron shield broken into seven segments sit in a depression on the path before it. Each is the same size and shape and can be slotted into any of the seven slots on the door.  The segments are labelled with the dwarvish runes for Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Birth, Sanctuary, and Death. To either side of the large door are two armored dwarf statues. The one on the left is a female dwarf standing on a carved rocky platform, wearing a winged helm and carrying a shield in her right hand. The statue on the right is a male dwarf holding a blacksmith's hammer and an axe in either hand, the platform beneath him is worn away by the rushing river. The runes around the depression in the doors reads down from top to bottom: Within Cycle Horizon Beneath Below the depression is the symbol for "Pair". | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 🜙 Einjar's Halls March 14th/15th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Once the puzzle is solved the doors open to reveal the empty, silent city of Einjar. The great bellows and roaring furnaces are silent and cold and the halls are empty. No bodies, no sound, and no living souls. Food is left untouched and cold on tables, weapons half forged remain on anvils or partially melted into cold furnaces. Everything is left as if abandoned in the midst of a day of work. Deeper in the caverns beyond Einjar's main city buildings, kobold mining tools are scattered about and carts partially filled with raw minerals and gems are overturned, footsteps disappearing unexplainably mid path. An open cavern recently blasted open sits in the deepest point of the mine and within it is a bizarre scene. Dust and lime covered life-sized statues depict a battle between much smaller dragons and very short dwarves with many of the faces carved into expressions of deep rage. At the center is a deep, black pool of water, devoid of reflection or ripples. Around it are the bodies of the missing dwarves that had disappeared from the excursion company earlier in the trip. The depth of the pool can't be measured with sword or stick, and an uneasy sensation overcomes everyone within the excavated room. The beastwoman knight touches the liquid, attempting to examine it, and in that moment a low, ringing sound builds in the room. Chaos breaks out as the elves and the kobold family that unwillingly escorted the company into Einjar burst into a full-scale violent assault on one another, the origin of the sudden fight impossible to determine. The water stills from the rippling touch several minutes later and the fight is broken up, but with both parties convinced the other side started the fight. The elves claim the kobolds know more than they are saying, and the kobold family insists they have never set foot inside of Einjar. The arguments escalate until one of the knights accuses them of harboring a dragonborn, pointing to Monty. They say that Monty needs to be taken back to Krimnos for questioning, to which the kobolds bare their teeth and threaten that Monty will only be leaving with them over the entire family's dead bodies. Whatever decision is made, the overall agreement is that they need to leave Einjar and return to Krimnos with their findings before anything else happens. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 🜙 Journey Back March 16th-19th/20th | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Following the discoveries within Einjar's halls and some free exploration by the excursion company, everything is divvied up between the survivors and the trek back to preciposte begins. The trip back is tense and uneasy with larger night watch groups and tighter rations. Hunting is necessary to feed the company, and new tents are made from fabrics taken from within Einjar. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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whoop! setting up for rescue, but yessss to group threads!
Loneliness and hunger were a terrible combination paired with anger and apprehension and fear. There were distant sounds overheard while underwater. Was that ringing? The muffle kind that was steadily growing louder. Opening her eyes, she will look around until turning to the wall behind her, which began to appear clearer the longer her eyes remained on it. It was odd. She didn't have this sort of power. To see things so clearly underwater. Edges and figures will appear, urging her curiosity to get closer to make out the shape clearly. Which was beginning to look more and more familiar, the closer she was. Was it the picture of bon-- "you aren't it". A soft voice, from underneath her, deeper in the water will begin to whisper. "you aren't what it's searching for", will be added, almost chiming for Nike to leave; however she made the mistake of allowing her gaze to roam downward -- hoping to get a closer look at the spirit speaking to her -- until noticing the deepest of darkness of the batch of dark, water. How deep was it? Against her better judgement, the tiefling will stop heading to the stone wall and allow herself to sink further and disregard the complaint her lungs were now offering.
She was running out of time...
A decision had to be made soon: sink deeper or attempt to return to the surface on her own? After all, she couldn't help the water nor the spirits inside. Whoever was nearby may be arguing too, if she remembered the earlier ringing sound from the ripples made. Even though she knew these details and was seeing flashes of the last events of the expedition, something was keeping her from fighting back and returning to the surface or looking away from the endless darkness of the pool. Something was watching her. Something was there, she could sense it. Was it the same spirit that pulled her in? It was difficult to tell. Her gaze will return to the stone wall in front of her only to realize -- it was bones. The shapes were of bones. What did t mean? Too bad, she couldn't tell the others about it as he gaze turned upward with regret, only to later notice a dark figure there. Huh? Another spirit or living creature? Whatever, or whoever, it was, she will feel the undercurrent of the water push her arm outward, which may seem as though she was reaching out.]
no subject
With a force of will he didn't know he still possessed, he managed to wrench his gaze away from drifting towards the bottom. It helped, as motion gave him another target to focus on, the drift of hair rising in the water and a hand rising sluggishly as though a sleepwalker in a dream.
Daud reached out, fingers clamping firmly around Nike's forearm -- he doubted she had the presence of mind to grab him back if he clutched at her hand instead -- and used it to pull her up sharply to him, to where he could wrap the arm still clutching the vial around her middle. After that, it was a simple matter of invoking the spell. To Nike, it would feel like a sharp tug behind her belly, and a sense of the gravity of the world reversing itself.
To anyone who had arrived at the shore, it would seem as though the pool rather abruptly disgorged two drenched tieflings, Daud turning them mid-arc to absorb the worst of the impact before they landed roughly on the shore. ]
no subject
Her clothes and skin will be drenched in the red liquid. It didn't feel heavy nor did it show signs of leaving her skin as she attempts to roll away from the other tiefling's arms. Whoever had her, all she could do was feel an overwhelming urge to yell at them before basically wanting to return to the water she once came from. The voices of the spirits in that water were calling out to her. They were begging her to return. She had to protect them! Protect them from their own overwhelming fears and screams.
Without another word, once her body had enough air and was able to ease her coughing fit, the red water will remain on her clothes while her skin will appear mysteriously dry as though she was never originally drenched to begin with. The new sounds bouncing around the cavern will begin to be filled with the screams and shouts of dwarves, bestial roars, and clanging sounds against metal in which Nike will not initially recognized as her full attention was on the cries from the pool.]
...it's okay....I'm not going to leave you behin--...
[It was difficult to move. Nike couldn't help realize this detail which will have her screaming from the very bottom of her soul, almost animalistic in nature. Her tail and limbs will begin to move around erratically as it attempts to attack whatever gets too close to her or simply put she is putting the blame of her sudden sluggish movement anyone and everyone other than herself or the water. If anyone nearby pays close enough attention, they may notice her current glare was solid red instead of their usual green.]
daud could really use some backup right now
He swore as her furiously lashing tail cracked him across the shin, attempting to grab for and pin her limbs. ]
Dammit — I need help here! [ He bellowed, without much hope of being heard over the din. If her scream wasn’t already enough of an alarm... ] What’s gotten into you?!
Tony to the 'rescue'
He doesn't look impressive, but Tony has dwarf strength in his limbs and he grabs both Daud and the girl, one in each hand, dragging both tieflings away from the pool before jumping in to help Daud restrain the screaming teen.]
Is she injured? [He's shouting to be heard over her, keeping his hands far from her mouth in case she decides to try biting them. She is covered in red and if Tony hadn't already hated the pool for existing he certainly did now. Was it her blood? Was the pool some kind of sacrificial well filled with blood? Who knew, all Tony new was that the echo of sound in the room was intense and not all of it was her screaming.]
no subject
Whatever this was, it was obviously more than just 'recovering from drowning.' So, Strange being Strange, he assumes it was a spell that caused her to act like this. ]
Hold her down! [ he says, as he places his hands in front of himself. He's pointing his hand in Nike's general direction but staying far away from the girl's feet and tail. Barely a moment later, Strange starts murmuring under his breath as he tries to magically identify the magic behind whatever the hell happened and just how the hell he could break this. ]
hover your mouse over latin words for translation
Her tail will continue to flail around as she attempts to crawl towards the pool with as much of her strength as she can. Right now, she felt too clumsy to really get onto her feet and run to the water. It isn't until she felt a strong grip onto her that she will attempt to twist and turn in hopes whoever had her could release their hold. It isn't a third person arrives that Nike will begin to scream in latin.]
Dimitte me! Nunc dimittis me? Mihi necesse est ire!
[She needed to return! The pool water was in pain without her. They need her protection.]
I can't bless them! I'm not the thing this water wants, but can't you feel it? Eorum dolor? [A pause as she looks at them all with a much more desperate gaze.] If you value all forms of life... [Although her tone was reflecting her madness, there was still an almost menacing undertone to it as it begins to grow soft.] ...then please release me. They need me! I need to protect them! I need to help them on their journey or else they'll never have any peace.
[Caelum will watch its master with clear interest, almost observing her current behavior as it realizes -- she was giving a last warning before she attacks! It will end up making a growl-bark towards Nike as if almost warning them to hurry up or else she will get serious about her attacks. He will remain in between her and the pool of water as it was determine to keep her away.]
no subject
Still, he refused to release his grip on Nike's arms, trying to keep them pinned by her side, and looked up at Strange as he came over. ]
It's the water! [ He snapped, conscious of that strange, all too blood-like red under his hands. ] Find a way to get it off her!
no subject
Strange's focus is entirely on the magic: the spell will obviously take a few moments and there's not much he can do while he's casting it. Hopefully everybody else can hold down Nike until then. ]