Trial by Fire - IC Thread

[Sherwood]

Bard nodded in while hearted agreement with Spider. "What information do you have on the artifacts themselves? I wouldnt mind knowing what they can do."

"And don't assume too much. Even artifact tools come in handy. Tell us those as well as."

The news about the imps trying to kill the exalts was disturbing. But not unexpected. It did mean there was a very big flaw in the previous contract, though.

The Curator folds its hands across its chest as it speaks. "These are the other artifacts that are currently in the strongroom. Wings of the Raptor, Unsurpassed Sanxian, two pairs of Golden Hounds, three Collars of Dawns' Cleansing Light, Orichalcum Bracers of the Hawk, two Sorcery Capturing Cords, a Dragon Tier Tiara, a Belt of Shadow Walking, and a Land sailing Folding Ship that the Builders used to travel about and resupply the Fortress."

 

[D. Rex]

Bard nodded as if he knew what each one of them was. Sounded like gibberish to him. Impressive gibberish, though.

"Very well. These are what we are here for, so are a priority. Curator, lead us to them and grant access. We wish to look at then ourselves."

 

[Syvvaris]

Thallus watched Kauidao take only a step into the crypt then back out to join the Curator and the rest of the group. "We should be careful and move as a group in the crypt. There are traps but the Curator doesn't know what type or where they're located." Thallus spoke after after Kauidao's brief interaction with Maja. "Thank you for being so kind to think about studying the keystone before deciding to destroy." Thallus motioned his hand back to where the crypts are. "Let's go into the crypts."

 

[Psychie]

Spider looks between Thallus and Bard, then asks, "Are the cached items down in the crypts? If not, where are they located?"

 

[Sherwood]

The Curator says, "The arsenal is located on the ground floor, but the crypts are under the Fortress. I cannot go into the level of the crypts, but I can show you the location of the arsenal."

 

[D. Rex]

"If the crypts are dangerous, maybe we should get our gear before going." He suggested. Some artifacts certainly would help their chances if something was dangerous in the crypts.

 

[Sherwood]

The Curator motions for you to follow it, and it leads you through the fortress until it comes to a mirror on the wall that is large enough to fit the reflections of three people with room to spare. It runs from floor to ceiling, and a closer look shows that the reflections in the mirror are just slightly off, easily attributed to subtle imperfections of its construction.

Without a pause, the Curator walks into the mirror, and is now standing in the reflection of the hall inside the glass! "Step on through, Noble Exalts. It is where the artifacts are hidden. I assure you it is quite safe."

 

[Psychie]

Spider raises an eyebrow as the spirit-thing walks into the mirror, then she grins. "That is one place that I certainly would not have thought to look for a hidden vault! The powers of the old Exalts are totally amazing!" She reaches her hand out to try and touch the surface of the mirror, fully expecting to meet resistance of some kind. If not, she will go ahead and step on through.

 

[jaydude]

Assuming that Spider was able to enter the mirror without difficulty or complications, Kuaidao would opt to follow her.

"Heh. Just when I think I've seen everything, the Exalts of the past find some way to astound me." he remarked.

 

[Sherwood]

When Spider places her hand against the mirror, it doesn't stop dead like you were expecting, but instead the surface of the mirror stretches and sinks in under the pressure of your hand against it until your fingers break through with a cool flash. You can feel it like a thick membrane of water that you are sliding through, and it is a very strange experience.

Following her, Kuaidao has the same strange feeling as you step into the hallway inside the mirror.

The Curator is standing there, waiting for you as you regain your composure. "If you would, please follow me." He turns and leads you down the hall to a very ornate room filled with a variety of weapons and suits of armor, some of which are clearly made of the various Magical Materials. At another section of the room there are several large jewels sitting in satin holders.

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao gave the collection of Artifacts an impressed look once he had recovered from entering the mirror, before starting to pick out a panoply for himself. He chose a set of Orichalcum Lamellar Armor with a hearthstone socket in each of its shoulderplates, along with two hearthstones, one reddish-brown and with a texture like furry bark, the other a sort of greenish-yellow and with an indeterminable level of facets.

Once he had picked those out, his attention was then drawn to a Reaper Daiklave with a white-gold colored blade. He did of course have Stormbringer, but his curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to this other sword, taking hold of it with one hand and letting his essence flow into it.

Moments later, a white flash completely enveloped his vision...

---

He stands within a stone-bottomed valley, a cleaver-like blade of orichalcum and white jade in his right hand. A quartet of Dragon-blooded warriors with weapons and armor of various colors of jade charges towards him, a hundred or so mortal soldiers following close behind.

The Solar flexes his neck muscles. He should have known this would be easy. As the Dragon-blooded get closer, he raises his daiklave, leveling it in front of him. A heartbeat later, a line of massive white gemstone shards burst out from the ground, extending from the Solar to deep within the ranks of mortal soldiers. The Dragon-blooded are thrown to the side, while several mortals are thrown into the air, or impaled by the suddenly emerging gemstone shards.

With a confident grin, the Solar raises the daiklave, as if preparing to strike...

---

The whiteness disappeared, and Kuaidao found himself back in the reflected hallway, everything the same as he had left it. He looked down at the white-gold daiklave, wondering what had just happened.

Spoiler: OOC

Assuming no objections, Kuaidao will be taking Dauntless, The Guardian Host, the Monkey Stone, and the Jewel of the Rabbit's Sword.

 

[Syvvaris]

Thallus didn't care for weapons or artifacts that were easy to acquired and instead of going with Kauidao and Spider. Thallus went back and sat in front of the entrance to the crypt and waited for the others to return.

 

[Sherwood]

Random Word D. Rex Do you guys join Kuaidao and Spider in the mirror, or do you go to the crypts with Thallus?

 

[D. Rex]

Bard will join Spider. He wont leave her any more than she would him. Even if he wasnt planning on going in anyway.

 

[Sherwood]

Bard will join Spider. He wont leave her any more than she would him. Even if he wasnt planning on going in anyway.

While in the mirror, is there any artifacts that you wish to lay claim to?

 

[Random Word]

Maja will examine her reflection in the mirror, poke it a few times experimentally with her paw, and then pad through after the others.

 

[Sherwood]

Maja will examine her reflection in the mirror, poke it a few times experimentally with her paw, and then pad through after the others.

Are there any goodies that catch your eye before we move on to the crypts?

 

[Random Word]

Maja puts her paws up on the rack of scintillating gemstones to admire them. In a quicksilver flash she's returned to her human form to draw her tiara out of her travelling bag. She takes the milky white stone out of her tiara and excitedly trades it for the one on the rack, but is disappointed to find this stone contains no memories from whoever last owned it. She tries each of the other stones in turn to try to determine what they do, but other than noting the intensity of the pleasant trickle of essence varies from stone to stone she can glean only vague intuitions about what they do.

They're all so pretty, though, and the essence flow feels so nice. She wishes she could just put them all in her tiara, and she can feel something in her soul rouse itself to comply. She feels a weird tingling sensation, like several points along her spine are shape-shifting without the rest of her body. She reaches around behind her back to find to her horror there are shallow holes in her spine. She screams and then almost bites her tongue silencing herself. Okay, don't panic. The shirt isn't wet. There's no blood. You can still move. There's no pain. She unbuttons her shirt and reaches back to feel her skin. Sure enough, the skin within the recess feels perfectly normal, and it's roughly the size of the... gem she holds in her other hand. Surely she can't... well, she's seen stranger things today.

"Sorry! I'm fine, I think, I was just startled," she exclaims, blushing, as she grabs several of the gems and scrambles to her feet. She rushes over to the mirrored exit and wills her clothing out of the way, transforming her shirt so it goes around her neck and shoulders but leaves her back exposed. She gingerly takes one of the gemstones and presses it into the recess at the base of her neck, watching in wonder as the skin reshapes itself to fit the contours of the gem perfectly. She shudders with pleasure as she feels the essence flowing into her again, and excitedly slots two more gems in the middle and base of her spine, admiring how they sparkle in the mirror.

"I suppose this isn't really any weirder than any other piercing," she muses, more to reassure herself than anyone else.

Satisfied, she rushes around the rest of the room excitedly grabbing anything that calls to her soul. You're mine, and I know you're mine, and you're definitely mine, she thinks to herself, and her soul agrees happily, as she snatches up a cloak, a choker, and a belt. She runs her fingers along the luxurious fabric of the belt before cinching it around her waist and donning the feathered cloak.

There's a sudden explosion of feathers as the cloak erupts into twenty foot wings, knocking items off racks and possibly hitting several people in the face. Maja, looking mortified, cries out, "Sorry! So sorry. I didn't know it would do that. I don't know how to put it away!"

Wanting nothing more than to vanish immediately, she does, her body transforming into liquid shadow and pooling on the floor. "Oh. Well, that works," she says sheepishly, her voice a muted and distant whisper. She races along the floor, up walls, and along the ceiling as the shadow of a woman with immense wings, entertaining herself like this for several minutes while everyone else picks out their treasures before she rematerializes, beaming.

Spoiler: OOC

Buying Desert Basilisc Diadem to slot the Stone of the Vanisher and two random other hearthstones no one takes, based on how pretty they look to Maja.

If Thallus doesn't want the Dragon's Tear Tiara for some reason (it seems like his sort of thing) she will take it just to keep Perfect Symmetry up permanently.

Maja will also happily give up any of the other stuff she took if someone else has their heart set on it.

 

[Sherwood]

Do you guys now head to the crypts to meet up with Thallus?

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao couldn't help but wince as Maja accidentally caused chaos when putting on the cloak. Wings, huh? I can see how those would be useful, he thought. Once he figured that she was more or less okay - based on how her shadow was zooming around the room - he turned back to his own business.

It took him two minutes to put on the suit of lamellar armor. Once that was done, he would check on the others, before heading over to meet Thallus.

 

[Psychie]

Spider strips off her old armor and hangs it up on one of the pegs and then suits up in her new acquisition, spending the motes to attune it to her. Then, she wraps the moonsilver Dire Chain around her waist and says, "I'm ready to face whatever is out there."

 

[Syvvaris]

"Ah." Thallus looked up at the return of Kauidao, "Did you find what you're looking for?"

Spoiler

Take whatever you guys want/need. I plan on picking through whatever is left, since I'd rather not hinder anyone elses combat potential.

 

[Psychie]

Spider nods with a grin. "Indeed we did! There are many different weapons, armor and hearthstones in this cache; plenty for all of us and to spare! Now, lets see if we can't find the Keystone and keep the promise to free the imps."

 

[jaydude]

"Yes, let's see if we can keep our promise." remarked Kuaidao, though the Dawn wanted the Keystone to be examined before it was destroyed, just to try and be sure that doing this would allow the demons to be free.

Still, they had to find the damn thing before they could do anything with it. After taking one last look to see where Maja was, Kuaidao would assist Thallus and Spider in their search.

 

[Syvvaris]

"We shall see." Thallus smiled weakly and walked into the entrance to the crypt and gave a small glance around.

3 successes for awareness/perception