Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the dust clears, the light from above shines down into the dank stale air of the the place you seem to have found yourself, but a brief survey around shows the walls far to slick to climb...without wall walking there's no hope of getting up them, and even if you did the strange pursuer you were fleeing is likely still fast on your heels. You appear to have fallen to what seems to be long forgotten tunnel of sorts, one of the many that fill Oto's underbelly. Most have been closed off to the public, mostly because they were made so long ago they tend to be more unstable...as evidenced perhaps by your own little fall. Still, the the other way down the tunnel apparently blocked, and the stranger on your heels...it would seem that only way out for you is ahead....in the deep, biding darkness, of the tunnel...

The tunnel continues on for some ways, but...strangely, the further you go along it, and the darker it becomes, the more...well kept, it seems. While old, and certainly unused as of late, it seems that this tunnel has been used far more recently than it's initial hay day back when the village was first constructed as a base for the First Otokage. Off hand, the rumors a few years ago about the Cultists who were operating udner Oto comes to the surface of your minds.

It's possible that these tunnels were used by them, in fact, very likely, because just when your sure that you about to run out of light entirely, you catch glimpse of a small unused torch on the floor of the stone passage. With a little bit of brains you're sure you could figure out a way to get it lit again... else-wise you'll just have to keep your hand on the wall and hope you don't trip over anything... A torch would certainly be helpful though... it's gotten to be extremely dark here, and light source would be a tremendous boon.


Int Check: 10 (to get the torch re-lit)


((Make an awareness check next post.))

Jiro and Aki
((Reaction: With a bit of work, you manage to get the torch lit once more, the flickering firelight casting the stone of the tunnel into a dim gold, as the it takes your eyes a few seconds to adjust... Oh my.

It's good that you weren't forced to just grab the wall and hope for the best, because before you, rather than a straight tunnel, appears to be a antechamber, the paths leading out of it number four in all. At first glance it seems merely a choice of paths, but upon taking a closer look at the plaques above each path, you find a vastly more...complex, task before you.

Above the doors are written a series of, and this is indeed odd, a series of riddles. Rather than aptly label the directions they appear to have preferred to be a great deal more cryptic.

The first path reads "By wind, by steel, by muscle, by fire, the path of death, awaits yee, who seek my ire."

The Second path reads "I am not the who, but the what, I am not the when, but the where. I shall show you rivers with no water, deserts with no sand, and mountains...without stone."

The Third reads "To seek me, those that would flee, for in me, you find your way, to the village where no bodies lay. A place of a ghosts you must seek now, lest you become one yourself..."

The Fourth reads "To those that seek the future in the past, and the past, in the future, follow my footsteps, that you may follow his..."

The plaques seem a recent addition...they were most likely put in by the cultists...but what could they mean...?

((You make whatever checks you think might help you. From here on out, you make the call on what to do and where to go.))

Twins
((Reaction: You don't manage to see much of anything along the ground that particularly catches your eye, or might seem to indicate the path most traversed. the only thing which strikes as so glaringly obvious that a blind man could see it, is that there is a thick layer of dust on the third path...it seems that this one in particular was never used...odd...))

Twins
((Reaction: You don't get much more from reading through the riddles a second time. They do each seem, Jiro is able to reason out, like their riddles are indicating specific places, sort've like a very complicated index. Each of these hallways leads to specific rooms or locations in this facility... but other than that, nothing in particular comes to you...))

The path goes on for some ways, the torch lighting your way and allowing you avoid stumbling over the rubble as you draw upon what appear to be signs of a battle long passed. If this was indeed the cultist's lair, then it would have taken place around two years prior. You may choose to inspect the battle field here if you wish.

((Awareness Check))


However up ahead, at the end of the passage, you come to a sturdy wooden door that appears to be reinforced at the hinges, and it appears to be locked by a heavy steel padlock. It's unlikely that you could force it open, however it's possible, seeing as the door says "armory" above it, that the people here in this hallway, were attempting to reach the weapons inside when battle came upon them suddenly, if indeed, that is the case, a key maybe somewhere close by... or even elsewhere in the facility. )))

Jiro and Aki
((Reaction: You manage to search through the remnants of the long ended battle, and are able to recover 4 kunai in excusable condition, as well what seems to be an explosive tag. Looking around together, just when you suppose you are about to give up, you just barely catch a glimmer in the hand of one of the long decayed bodies. It is indeed a key... it would most probably work on the door to the armory. You get the feeling there is probably much more to find here though...))

Rolling..)
Awareness: 6-3=3 (JIro.)
Awareness:15-3=12 (Aki.)