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

[untethered]

[ as gold gets closer that way, he'd see that the southern wall is actually completely collapsed, and rubble from that giant pile outside leaks through the big hole there. the door on the western wall features a stylistically carved rearing dragon in stone relief upon it, with a single keyhole in its mouth.

lila notices a stone relief-carving on the door on the south side of her and hook's hallway as well. it appears to be a dragonlike fish swimming in an aquatic setting.

just then there's a rustling amid the rubble in the collapsed wall of gold's room... and a dire rat skitters out towards him, trying to chomp him but easily avoidable. ]

[undealt]

[WHAT THE FUCK RAT. Gold takes a swing at the thing with his cane (atk 16, dmg 11)]

[untethered]

[ RAT GO SQUISH ]

[uncurse]

Hey! Everything okay in there?! [ your cane swinging is not heartening, gold. ]

[unhand]

[Man, Hook doesn't even care about any cane swinging Gold can ~apparently~ take care of himself.]

This one seems promising. Come on.

[Or don't. He's ok with Gold just hanging out and getting eaten by rats.]

[bittersweeter]

Hey Belle, do you know anything about, um, dragonfish? [ she pulls her light stick off her belt to see the carving a little better. ] Actually are goblins known for their stonemansonry? I thought they were supposed to be kind of dim, not artistic, trap-making, skeletor-controlling dicks.

[uncurse]

[ emma will cast a lingering, tight look of concern down the second hallway where gold is, but surge past hook with lila all the same. she arches a doubtful eyebrow. ]

We're not here for an archaeological dig, who cares about the masonry?

[bittersweeter]

Because we keep expecting to be attacked by goblins because this is where they live, but what if the traps came with it and they're not goblin made? Do you want to keep underestimating them?

[untethered]

[ belle moves into hook's hallway too, to take a better look at the door. ] I don't think the goblins built this citadel at all. In fact, if those skeletal guards we found in the tower are any sign, this was once controlled by Shadowkind humans in the other world. The goblins must have moved in - either before or after it wound up here.

[undealt]

But it's best we be prepared for anything, regardless. [annnd here's gold.] There's another door down there but it might be locked. [he didn't check because he just got assaulted by a rat and you're all talking out here.]

[uncurse]

[ lila makes a solid point ok. so she listens to belle, and gives a steady nod, glancing around. ]

Wonder what else moved in. [ probably something enormous and evil because there ain't no party like a party arden is gming through a city full of goblins and skeletons. ]

[untethered]

[ belle tries the dragonfish door but it doesn't budge. moving this far down the hall reveals another door about ten feet further along, at the very end of the hall. so there's a dragonfish door, another door directly across the hall from it, and then one at the end of the hall. to recap. ] This one's locked.

[bittersweeter]

Okay, there is a serious door problem with this decor. [ she heads toward the one at the end of the hall with a huffed out breath of annoyance. she wants something straightforward, not a maze of death with fifty seven doors. but she crit fails her spot check, so HOPEFULLY IT'S NOT A TRAP bc she sure as shit won't see it.]

[uncurse]

[ which leaves emma to give the one across from belle a try. she's not even bothering to look for traps bc w/e w/e they all walked past it already. ]

[untethered]

[ the one emma tries opens readily into a ruined chamber that stands empty of all but a litter of rocky debris, about 20 feet deep and 15 feet across as a sweep of the flashlight beam attests.

as for lila's, her glow stick only illuminates five feet ahead of her... which doesn't reveal much of anything at all, except for a crudely executed glyph that glows on the wall right next to her, done in some kind of bright green dye.

belle looks over emma's shoulder into the empty chamber. ] Not even any furniture.

[uncurse]

Maybe what was inside didn't come through the Veil with the rest of it. [ this whole veil thing seems sketchy as fuck in the first place ok who knows. she shrugs, stepping back from the door. ] Lila? Anything?

[unhand]

Odd that we haven't seen any living goblins yet. No sentries here besides the rats. [Hook looks over Emma's shoulder briefly before heading over to shine his flashlight into Lila's chamber, looking for anything of use (spot 19).]

[bittersweeter]

Just a, I dunno, actually. Some kind of symbol. I can't see that -- oh, look. Light. [ thank you, hook. ]

[untethered]

They could be farther underground.

[ the beam of the flashlight cuts across a massive chamber, irregularly shaped and crumbling, and covered all over with more of those weird bright green glyphs and symbols. directly ahead of them, a small wooden bench draped with green cloth stands before a metallic cage in the center of the southern wall. looking at it for a moment reveals a gaping hole in its side, and the cage stands empty. to their right, in the center of the room is a large firepit. a bedroll lies between it and the wooden bench, lumped up. ]

[bittersweeter]

Okay, so more symbols, maybe an alter looking thing and. [ she makes a face, continuing dryly: ] A cage. [ yay. ] It looks like someone crashed in here. Does anyone read creepy green symbols? [ because she is not going in there if that symbol is going to shoot acid at her or spawn a fire beast to eat her. ]

[uncurse]

[ thaaaat doesn't sound good. emma glances sideways at belle, brow furrowed at lila's description, and then moves to head down to the door she's moved through. ]

[untethered]

[ belle comes to take a look at the symbols, raising her glow stick to examine them more closely right inside the door. ] These seem like a crude version of... of Draconic, actually. They say the same thing over and over... [ realization dawns across her face, and she pales the slightest bit, lips forming into a silent 'oh.' ] It roughly translates to 'Here There Be Dragons.'

[undealt]

[Gold carries his ball of magic light over to the door.] That locked door in the other hall featured a dragon. It's a reoccurring motif. Wynn would be thrilled.

[his eyes light on the cage.] So that might explain what was in here.

[bittersweeter]

[ lila can't decide if she wants to be horrified and throw her light stick at gold because wow, that is the last time she leaves an old man in charge of figuring out if there is any inkling of the bad things they could face or HOLY SHIT THAT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER BECAUSE DRAGONS. she is from the real world, people, where dragons don't exist. this is the best! ]

Dragons? Really? [ okay, so she's landed on excite, what can you do. she shoots into the room, leaping over the bench like a hurdle (jump nat 20), to get a closer look at the cage. ]

[uncurse]

You've gotta be kidding me.

[ LET ME TELL YOU A THING ABOUT DRAGONS EMMA HAS HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THEM. she trudges into the room, scanning it with her flashlight. everything about her tone reflects NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN. she steps forward to the bedroll and crouches down to rest a hand against the fabric to check for warmth or recent use (investigate 14). ]