scotland ♔ yet how the wind revives us here

[untethered]

♬ Presentiment - Manami Kiyota

WHO || Belle, Gold, Emma, Hook, Lila [closed]
WHAT || Several Knights take a secret journey to try to help Amara...
WHERE || Oakhurst, Scotland
WHEN || January 15th, 2014 [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

It's probably a very good thing that Gold sweet-talked them a car in the nearby tiny Scottish village of Oakhurst, because it is freezing cold out and snow blankets almost everything around. Walking the seven miles up the Old Road to the ruins would be a bitch and a half.

Instead, they comfortably drove past rocky downs, near stands of old-growth oak covered in snow, and past two farms that looked abandoned. No other travelers were visible on the lonely road, which finally curves, passing east of a narrow ravine. Belle signals for them to pull over here, where, at the road's closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens and opens into something akin to more of a deep, but narrow, cavern. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most of them lean against the sloped earth. Others are broken and several have apparently fallen into the darkness-shrouded depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine.

Comments

[bittersweeter]

[ shooing motion. ] So illuminate him.

[ look at how much she doesn't care about the difference between wizard and sorcerer. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE NOT THE SAME??? ]

[untethered]

[ the moment gold speaks the words out loud, a puff of flame seems to rise up and envelop him, and belle leaps forward, one hand outstretched, afraid that he's triggered a trap that's set him on fire. but the flames are spectral, and gold would feel a surge of power filling him, as if magic were tingling at his fingertips. he gains a bonus to his Charisma score of 3, for the next 24 hours, which will affect the DCs on saves for his spells, etc. the flames die away, leaving gold standing there in their wake. ]

Wha-- What was that?

[undealt]

[Gold looks probably way too amused by this chain of events. He grins and stares at his fingers for a second before flicking his wrist dismissively.]

This is a place that grants power to sorcerers.

[Because that explains everything.]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila's eyes drag over to emma at gold's answer, staring expectantly as if to say, do the thing, before her attention swerves back to gold. ] Do you think it'll do it again?

[uncurse]

Not interested.

[ wow lila. she caught that. ] We'll have to double back. I think I saw an eastern door.

[untethered]

[ belle opens her mouth to point out the other door in this room-- when suddenly she stops, because she abruptly notices that a shadow that had seemed cast by the dragon on the altar has slowly spread across the floor, completely silently, and is rising up behind gold, manifesting a distinctly humanoid silhouette, about six feet tall.

yeah no really we're getting all canon up in here. i can't make this shit up. ] Gold! Look out!

[uncurse]

[ emma is all over this shit, because she leaps into action at the sound of belle's voice, spotting the shadow. she will go ahead and take a guess that shooting at it is not her best plan of action this time, and instead haul her ass over there to essentially charge it, throwing her hands out and producing an electrical charge that surges through it (shocking grasp - nat 20 touch attack, dmg 7). ]

Get back!

[untethered]

[ emma feels her hand close around something, almost like a wisp of silk, and then electricity courses up and down the shape of the creature, which unleashes a strange series of hissing noises, a thousand overlapping whispers. the shadowy substance that comprises it seems to dissipate slightly - but then it reforms facing emma instead and swipes at her. its hand whizzes easily over her head (atk 7). erky grumbles to himself, darts behind gold, slapping a palm against the back of his shoulder, and casting protection from evil, which gives him a +2 AC, +2 to all saves, prevents anyone from magically controlling or possessing him, AND makes it impossible for summoned creatures to touch him. is this shadow monster summoned? WE'LL FIND OUT.

belle draws out her excalibur pistol and shouts: ] Only magic can harm such a creature! Your guns - they're enchanted!

[undealt]

[Gold feels like he has some deep-rooted psychological issues related to shadows and instinctively freezes, which holds him up right until Erky puts a spell on him and he snaps back, looking at the shadow with so much anger.]

Move. [He takes a step forward and casts a single Burning Arc for... 32 damage. APPARENTLY, THE VEIL CAN TAKE YOUR MEMORIES BUT IT CANNOT TAKE AWAY DEEP-ROOTED EMOTIONAL SCARRING.]

[untethered]

[ the shadow catches fire, burning away into ashes that smolder out and vanish. belle stands there, gun drawn, pointing it at the space where the creature ... was, moments ago, before lowering her weapon and turning to stare at gold, mouth slightly agape.




oh. ]

[uncurse]

[ we're just gonna assume emma stepped out of the way of that after shocking the shadow, ok. ]

Where the hell did that come from?

[ she's quick to complain about this supernatural, magical bullshit ok. ]

[bittersweeter]

The dragon, probably. [ not like harry potter, but she still sort of called it. /gives herself a million gold stars. ]

[unhand]

Must've been more bark than bite. [Not even considering the idea that Gold just got SUPER SCARY nope. It was just that the shadow thing was pretty lame.] Still probably means we're getting close.

[undealt]

Then let's keep moving.

[Gold is not even gonna discuss the fact that he just panicked and incinerated a shadow monster and how he looks like someone just walked over his grave. He's headed for that door Belle mentioned. Okay? Okay.]

[untethered]

[ beyond said door is a very small room, but one that causes belle's eyes to light up instantly, although further examination causes her to look a bit less enthused.

leaning and completely fallen stone bookshelves fill this chamber, though a clear path connects wooden doors on opposite walls - the one they just came through and one across the way. the litter of torn and burnt pages, bindings, and scrolls form disordered piles in teh corners. belle looks a little personally offended by the destruction of a library x( ]

... What a terrible waste.

[uncurse]

Might be something we can salvage, since we're here. [ search!!!! ...14 ]

[untethered]

[ everything emma picks up practically falls apart in her hand, but belle manages to root up two scrolls of arcane magic that seem in good condition, which gold can identify as a scroll of pyrotechnics and of melf's acid arrow (search 28). she waves her hand at one of the book cases. ] Some of the tomes might be complete as well, if anyone can look through those.

[bittersweeter]

[ lila moves to the bookshelf with an expression that seems to be thoroughly affronted by the state of the library, but her search is only 16 so who knows what she finds. ]

[undealt]

[Gold follows Lila after procuring the scrolls from Belle, apparently hunting for something a little more specific (search 19). That power boost the statue gave him was nice, but maybe there's something else...]

[untethered]

[ well, his searching pays off: he locates one mostly unscathed tome of dragon lore written in Draconic. it provides a +1 to any knowledge checks made about dragons or dragon related things. ]

[undealt]

[GONNA BECOME THE DRAGON MASTER.

GONNA DO IT.

He carries the book over to Belle so she can get a look at it, even if... he's the only one here who can read Draconic. Look Belle, a book. You like those. It's pretty. To the rest of the group, he says:] I doubt we're going to find anything relevant to our current problem here.

[unhand]

Then let's move on. [Hook strides towards the next set of doors, shoving the doors open with his shoulder. He's gotten really lazy about looking for traps by now (spot 5).]

[uncurse]

[ yeah, you don't have to tell her twice. she sets off beside hook, keeping a more watchful eye out (spot 24). ]

[untethered]

[ belle's eyes light up at the tome, and she reaches up to run a hand across the cover in a gesture that's pretty intimate with gold still holding the thing. god, belle, you and the book need to get a room. ] "The Lore of Dragonkind". [ she reads off the cover, because YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN READ DRACONIC, GOLD. ] Think of what might be in here about the Shadow World that no one here has ever read before... [ oh right, erryone else is moving on, boo.

when hook nudges the door open, he'd find himself looking down a set of damp and crumbled stairs, that descend sharply for about fifteen feet. at the base of the steps, there seems to be a way to go right, underneath the last room where they encountered a bugbear gardener. ]

[undealt]

[Gold smirks at Belle, clearly impressed.] All the more incentive to get out of this intact. [They can be romantic and gross over Draconic literature.

Gold shoves the book into his bag, because he's chivalrous like that and Belle's is probably full of things and peers at the stairs with a dissatisfied grimace, before pulling out the Cat's Grace potion he still hasn't used. No time like the present. He is not gonna break a hip going down those stairs, thank you much. Glug glug.]