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 Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:46 pm
Genesis followed with the tail of the group, her mind in deep focus for every sound and sight as she proceeded. Her concentration was so intense that she could hear the ringing of silence when the sounds they had been following vanished. Normally, Genesis liked quiet for meditation purposes, but right now as she continued to draw her mind away from grief and towards focus on the mission, she wished that it wasn't so quiet.
She was one of the last to enter the courtyard and almost hesitated before stepping out with the others. Genesis peered to glance over her shoulder as Eligor nearly ran into her, but her attention was quickly drawn back forward to Katya and Lailah's signals. Once she was looking forward, the pillar immediately caught her attention, and she wished this had been a less critical mission so that she could study the symbols on it which she could hardly make out from her current position. Everyone else was staring at the hostages, the reason for their mission.
She had seen them, but they gave Genesis a wary feeling as well. It made no sense that they were just hanging out here unguarded like this. Her golden eyes jumped up and around the room as she kneeled into a covered position. Her eyes were not as keen as their scout's but she still searched for something, anything, that was off about this room. Were there holes or perhaps walls that didn't belong? Mechanisms that would destroy them if they got any closer.... "Wait..." Genesis whispered to Dante, as he rushed off to save the pae. How could he not see that there was no way it would be this easy. She was not close enough to Dante to stop him, so instead she waited at the ready for whatever the results of his forwardness might be.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:07 am
Harveer tried not to think much as they walked. Keeping track of twists and turns made in the labyrinth of a hall they were walking through, trying to keep his mind off the darkening thoughts of their fallen friends. As the light grew, he realized the sounds of the escaped beasts were all but gone. They hadn't passed any off shoots or doors as they walked, where could they possibly have gone? Harveer frowned, catching sight of another large door. It was probably just as heavy as the last had been. Who made those things? How could anyone have ever lived in this run down place?
He watched, wary, as Katya tested the open courtyard. Following Lailah in at her heels. The sensation raising goose pimples on his skin as they entered. It was cause for concern, but there was something else to be seen, to be handled at present. For now, there was two dark shadows on the base of that massive column. There was no way this was going to be so simple. None. Harveer frowned, glancing to Dante. He shook his head, copying some of the hand signs the other had shown him. "Not yet. Might be trap." His fingers were fumbly and he had likely gotten something wrong, but it was enough to get the message across. It felt like a trap. And with the magic they'd crossed getting into the courtyard, who knew what kind of trap they were in. But it looked like Genesis had beat him to the punch, telling him to wait.
The pale angel took a step back, wondering about this. He wasn't as skilled as Eligor when it came to magic, but he was good enough to know they'd passed through something when they came here. Dante was set on his path, but what about that open door just behind them? Was there still an exit if things went south? He continued to back up, carefully treading away from the rear point. Everyone was distracted with the two at the base of the column, no one seemed to be there near the door. His exploration was halted when the back of his feet stumbled on something that felt like a wall. Weird. He twisted, no that was an open door. But he could still feel the wall he was up against, like it was containing him. It dawned on him then. This was a trap, it had to be. No enemies on their way through here, and now this weird pulsing barrier around them? "We're trapped in!" He called to the other squires, unsure if anyone else had felt the pulsing when his feet found the barrier keeping them in.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:33 am
Harveer paused for a moment to stop and think. No one else seemed to be speaking up, which was cause for concern. Or maybe he'd just spoken out of turn. Who could tell. The pale angel looked around to the other squires, everyone seemingly in the middle of advancing towards the two in the middle of the courtyard. Looks like he'd just broken rank and went off on his own. His face twisted into a slightly annoyed look, irritated at himself for not sticking with the group. But if they were trapped inside it meant that this wasn't going to be so easy.
Harveer shifted his stance, brushing aside a few rocks at his feet. Wait a moment. Rocks.. Bending to pick up a small handful of them, Harveer looked towards the captives at the column. If there was a barrier behind them... A quiet toss of one of the pebbles in his hand. Golden eyes followed the flying object to where it landed a distance away from the loyalists. Harveer grumbled, and advanced a little. Another throw. This time the pebble found purchase against something, and promptly bounced away. There was that weird pulsing again. He'd felt it when his feet hit the barrier by the door, and again when the rock hit the thing surrounding the captives. He chewed his lip, wondering if there was anything in his arsenal that would help them get the two out. He couldn't think of anything. Maybe Eligor knew something that would help? Or Lailah might be able to break it with sheer force of will...
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 7:49 am
A quizzical look formed on Genesis' face, nothing had happened, Dante hadn't been ambushed. Then, Harveer was talking about being trapped, and the look of confusion thickened. Genesis slowly made her way towards him, still remaining under cover as the space allowed. Genesis watched Harveer as he threw rocks around them, testing this unseen barrier. True enough, even the captives were surrounded by one. She gave a quick look around before leaving the spot where she had concealed herself. Yes, she was breaking formation, they were all breaking formation, what did it matter if they were just trapped in this room like sitting ducks.
Genesis was moving to join Dante and the captives now. She went as far as the barrier surrounding them would allow. "Are you able to hear us?" Genesis asked the sleeping captives, hoping to disturb them from their state of unconsciousness. She doubted it would work, with all the other strange magic afoot they were likely under some sort of curse.
[Sorry, we're out of Internet until my husband gets his first pay, but wanted to get in some sort of post in on my phone before too long. *sends love to dia and everyone else]
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 2:46 pm
Harveer nodded to Genesis, acknowledging her break in the formation. Seemed like they were all sitting ducks until they figured out what was going on. He pondered something, looking at the few rocks in his hand. Was the barrier on all sides, or just around the door and the captives? He took one and threw it straight in the air, wondering if there was a at all a chance of them escaping through the air.
Well, that failed. It either fell short, or they did have an exit above them. He couldn't tell. Probably best to have Katya fly up and feel around up there. "Katya, can you fly up as far as possible? See if we've got a barrier up there too? I don't think I can get a rock high enough to test it." He asked, attention directed to advancing behind Genesis and Dante. Maybe getting nearer to the loyalists would help clear things up? His guess was probably not, but they hadn't come this far to just muck things up by not rescuing these two.
"Eligor, do you know anything at all about magical barriers? Did anyone feel anything when we all walked through the door?" Harveer asked, first looking to Eli, then at those who weren't directly behind him. Anything? Anyone?
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 3:37 pm
Eligor had been distracted by the column and what lay before them, but his attention was pulled back by Harveer's exclamation. He whirled at the declaration. Trapped? He found Harveer and Clarux studying the way that they'd come from. They seemed to be reaching out and touching...an invisible barrier? No, not completely invisible. When it was touched, the barrier seemed to pulse, then disappear again. Fascinating.
Harveer moved off to make further investigations, so Eligor took his place beside Clarux to study the door they'd entered through. He reached out warily, blinking when he came in contact with the barrier. He could feel the magic within...it was highly advanced, very powerful...no wonder he'd felt strange passing through...
Turning to watch Harveer's experiments with the rocks, Eligor observed an interesting correlation. Whenever he hit the barrier, the glyphs on the column lit up in time with the pulse of magic from the barrier contact. Hmm...
He blinked, pulled out of his thoughts by the question from Harveer. "I...may have felt something as we passed through the door," Eligor admitted. "I wasn't sure what it was, but I suppose that's clear now. So, we have a barrier keeping us in, and another one keeping us from the captives. I noticed when you hit them, the column glyphs lit up. It's only a hypothesis at this point, but...perhaps they're connected?" He supposed the obvious progression would be to study the column then, so he started to move forward to do so.
He was a bit puzzled by this. Clearly, it was a trap. But...as of yet, nothing had come forth that threatened direct harm. They were trapped here, yes, but...nothing was trying to kill them. Not yet, at least. So...what was the point? To leave them stuck here until they starved to death instead? It didn't seem nearly as efficient as the past traps had been. The MO didn't match. It was confusing.Quote: ((Thanks for the update, Wolf!))
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 9:53 pm
Genesis' attempt to communicate with the pae they were sent to rescue proved to be fruitless. Since she was near the captives, she was also standing near the column that Eligor was now drawing their attention to. She hadn't noticed the connection between the barrier and the column until he pointed it out. Genesis reached out to touch the barrier surrounding the two pae, to watch the runes light up for herself. "Perhaps these glyphs created the spell that has trapped us?" Genesis suggested, following Eligor's thought that they were connected.
Genesis now touched the column, reaching for the glyphs, wondering if it too was protected by an invisible barrier. Her mind was running along the thought that if they destroyed the glyphs, they would also destroy the barrier, but it wouldn't even be possible to destroy it if it was also protected.
The column was accessible... But Genesis held off on saying anything for a moment. They would be messing with something they knew very little about, and if she was wrong... Genesis hated to be wrong to begin with, but messing with an unfamiliar magic could have serious consequences. She had to see what the others thought about it though, put their heads together on this one, especially since there were some of them that were better versed in magic than she was. "If we destroyed these runes, might we destroy the barrier?" She questioned the group.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 6:39 pm
Dante wasn't one to rush into anything, and today was no exception, especially as on edge as he was feeling. He took deliberate steps toward the Pae at the base of the column, almost wincing with each footfall, expecting hell to break loose.
Somewhat surprised, he reached the column without event. But as he reached for one of them, to shake them awake, a barrier of some kind stopped his hand. He frowned and pulled away, and tried again, with the same result. He balled his hand into a fist and struck the barrier, and then butted it with the end of his staff. Puzzled, he turned to the rest of the group.
Trapped in! he heard Harveer say. This gave Dante pause, and nervously he backed away from the captive Pae'il. He didn't want to end up behind their barrier, too. He watched Genesis try her hand at freeing them, and taking another step that he, of course, could not: communicating. Seeing that that didn't work either, he leaned on his staff and donned a pensive look. That was, after all, what Dante did best: think.
Talk of how to free the captives (and themselves) reached his ears faintly. Destroy the runs to destroy the barriers. That seemed likely. He bumped the barrier with his foot, watching the runes this time. Sure enough, the runes' lighting up was connected to contact with the barrier surrounding the captives. Hm. If he were designing this, how would he do it?
Clearly the captives were meant to taunt them. Frustrate them into acting rashly. So the solution had to be...deliberateness. Some kind of puzzle that required clear heads and cool thinking. Dante turned his attention to the outside walls of the area they were in. Was there anything unusual about any part?
He looked to Genesis, the closest to him, and signed "Maybe a puzzle?". It had to be some kind of puzzle. They just had to find and put together the pieces.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:42 am
The hair on the back of Katya's neck rose as she heard that they all might be trapped inside a magical barrier of some sort. Once more herded into a killing zone by their seemingly prescient opponents?
Perhaps not quite. No arrows had flown, no deadly spells nor even a single monstrous beast had appeared. Aside from the squires calling to each other and testing this new devilry, the courtyard remained quite peaceful. Being perhaps the farthest forward of the group, Katya had seen more of the courtyard and was becoming increasingly certain that had there been an enemy lurking in the bushes, they would have certainly made their presence known by now, especially since the squires were already aware of the quandary they were in.
The demon had heard Harveer's call to action, and after a moment's hesitation she rose toward the dusky sky, far more cautiously than she would usually, lest she clock her head on the unseen barrier. With short, fluttering wingbeats the girl flew slowly around until she felt a wing contact something. It was almost a solid feeling, her limb pushing out and encountering resistance, like pushing against rubber until it stretched tight, impenetrable. That odd magical sensation she had disregarded as they entered the courtyard returned too.
Katya continued to fly around, testing for gaps or weaknesses in this magical trap, to no avail. She found that it seemed to form a perfect dome centred over the middle of the courtyard. She flew down and landed by the others, fluttering her wings one more time to try to shake off some of that lingering magical sensation. "No way out above." Katya shifted her weight to one side as she stared up at the column nearby. "Why do you suppose we haven't been attacked yet?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 12:09 pm
Genesis' face dimmed after Dante finished signing. A puzzle? "Possibly... But what can we do to it?" Destroying it certainly seemed easier than solving a puzzle that they had few clues about the solution to. And who knew how much time they even had to solve it before they were all slaughtered. Speaking of which.
As Katya joined them at the column from her failed attempt to fly out the top, Genesis shook her head. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me, if they wanted us dead... We would already be dead by now. Either they don't want us dead, and are holding us here for some other purpose, or they have not realized that we are present, or they have and are taking their sweet time getting to us... Or something else is afoot." Genesis paused to think for a moment, tracing the strange marking on the column with her finger. "We think this is the way that the tainted heretic came?" Genesis asked, she wasn't certain since she had been in the tail of their party and more focused on what was behind them. Perhaps he had unintententionally thrown a wrench in things, Genesis had never been certain in his direct involvement.
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 8:49 pm
Genesis' attempts to communicate with the captives were met with silence. The pair were unconscious, but clearly not dead, as they could be seen breathing from this close range. Other details became clear as well...like the fact that the pair were each covered in bruises, scrapes, and shallow cuts. No injury in any way life-threatening, however, it was obvious that they'd been through some sort of ordeal. Neither had eaten well either, from the look of it, since their capture.
Any attempt to reach the captives, whether physically, verbally, or magically, would prove to be in vain.
With each poke and prod at the barriers, the symbols on the column flared to life, pulsing with the same rhythm as the blows rained upon the force fields. Upon closer inspection, the column's details would become clear. Small images and glyphs were woven amidst the runes, some depicting creatures that seemed vaguely Pae-like in appearance. Of course, some notable differences included the features of hooves and antlers, or long tail fins like a fish. Abstract shapes that might represent leaves were scattered among wavy lines. In other places, swirls gave way to complex glyphs, others seemed wreathed in flames. Even the runes seemed to vary in design. Some hard and simple, mostly straight lines; others like a swirling, flowing script. There were some marks that even looked more like the claw marks of a beast. Perhaps it wasn't any sort of rune at all, given the sorts of creatures that lived in Dragnid. It could have easily been dismissed as the stray strike of a monster...if they hadn't seemed so deliberately placed. Somehow, even with the cacophony of different forms and shapes and lines, it all seemed purposeful...
Also, what sort of creature could leave claw marks in stone anyway?
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:08 pm
After considering the question for a moment, Eligor nodded to Genesis, "It would seem entirely possible that the two are connected. That's a logical conclusion. So...perhaps if we remove the runes, we could remove the barriers..." The mage seemed to drift back into thought while Genesis turned to speak with Dante and Katya. He wanted to investigate further before jumping to any conclusions. They didn't have much to go on, after all.
Eligor neared the pillar and squinted, studying the carvings. These runes were fascinating, but far different from anything that he'd ever seen in the library back in the City. If only he had some basis to use for interpretation, just to get a gist of what was carved here, it might help them solve the mystery. Even as the others were discussing this as a puzzle, he'd already accepted it as such. It was a puzzle; a mental challenge to decipher these strange markings and determine their meaning. One he was intent on solving.
Fairly confident at this point that no other beast lay in wait to ambush them, Lailah had circled back around to rejoin the others. She'd caught the tail end of what Genesis was hypothesizing and frowned. "There's nothing here lying in wait for us, as far as I can tell. So either they don't know we're here...or they do and would rather leave us here to starve to death instead of killing us outright." She practically growled the response, irate at the thought of such cowardly behavior. She wasn't untouched by the losses they'd suffered thus far; far from it in fact. However, rather than wallowing in sorrow, she decided she didn't have time for that, not while there was still a mission to complete. That didn't stop her from growing angry though.
Had the blue braggart led them into a trap? Or had he just been fleeing like a coward and they happened to end up here? Where the heck had he gone with his pathetic minions then?
Taking a deep breath, Lailah crossed her arms and concentrated on counting her breaths...in and out...even pairs. She was refraining for now from tapping out the rhythm with her fingers on her forearm. It wasn't as if they were trapped in a small space. The garden area, if that's what it was, was certainly open enough. And yet, just the knowledge that a barrier surrounded them on all sides, as far as they could determine, trapping them within had stirred a tightness within the angel's chest. They didn't understand the nature of this barrier. There was nothing that said it wouldn't just start...closing in on them. Maybe that's what the enemy intended: to trap them here first, then slowly have the barrier close in until it crushed them all...
With a burst of sudden kinetic energy, Lailah leapt from standing still to stalking towards the column. She couldn't just stand around and do nothing. Her imagination was running away from her. "So what is all this?" she grumped, leaning in a few steps away from Eligor to squint at some of the carvings. The runes meant little to her, but the pictures she could at least attempt to decipher. What she found made her frown and curl up her lip in disgust. Pointing at a figure with tiny sticks on its head, she questioned aloud, "Is that supposed to be one of those heretic Faun?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:34 pm
"We solve," signed Dante to Genesis. "Maybe everyone spread out and look for clues?" He glanced around at the group. They were all the worse for wear, but they'd had a chance to rest, it seemed. "Pillar is interesting, but don't want to miss anything that is hidden." Perhaps their way out of this space lay away from the column, which was only to serve as a distraction.
Speaking of...
Eligor and Lailah were inspecting the column a little more closely, and something Lailah said pricked at Dante's ears. He moved over to them and peered at the runes. He, too, saw the faun-like representation. Fascinating. If there were fauns, there must be....aha! "Here's a fish-pae," he signed to Eligor and Lailah. And there were some glyphs, clearly writing of some kind, but nothing that he recognized. "What about this?" he signed, motioning them over. Eligor was the other scholar among them (besides Nephi, he thought with a twinge)--perhaps he'd have seen this before.
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 9:20 pm
Eligor's intent study was interrupted by Lailah's abrupt arrival. He turned, slowly blinking at the angel, then looked to see what she was pointing at. She'd never struck him as the particularly studious type, but if she were willing to help...
"That...does appear to be what it represents?" he muttered, squinting at the crude carving. He'd seen a couple of those, and some odd ones that didn't make sense, and...
Dante had joined the study and gestured at them to indicate another carving nearby. Fish-pae. "Yes, it sure looks like one of those aquatic ones," Eligor affirmed. In a roughly primitive fashion, he supposed. But...what did that mean? "Could it be...this is some kind of Heretic monolith? Is that what it is? But...what is its purpose? Aside from making these barriers, it seems?"The attempt to distract herself with bookworm work wasn't very effective. Even in this wide open space, the feeling of confinement was growing, her chest tightening with anxiety. They were going to be trapped here. The shields would just start closing in and slowly crush them...
Growling to herself in a desperate attempt to wrest control away from her growing panic, Lailah focused on the tiny Faun carving, drawing one of her blades and poking experimentally at it. The poking turned to scraping to stabbing. The blade merely bounced off the pillar's surface, leaving no sign of impact. Great. Even if the answer was to destroy the runes, it didn't seem like it would be that easy.
Irritably, she grumped in response to Eligor's question, "Maybe its purpose is to keep us all scratching our heads and puzzling over it until we starve to death. If so, it's working like a charm." They needed to DO something, not stand here staring at it all day! Clearly that wasn't the answer.It wasn't often that Eligor felt his temper get the better of him, but Lailah was certainly testing that at the moment. She wouldn't let him think, just kept going on and on about how they needed to take some action rather than reasoning things out logically. "Who knows what could happen if we just act without thinking? Look what happened to the others!" he snapped in a cold tone, whirling on the angel. Gesturing back to the pillar, he placed one hand on its surface. "There's magic here. Not like our magic. Powerful, but different. Maybe its some kind of heretic magic; I don't know. Maybe you have more experience with it, hmm?" After a moment's pause to return her glare, he answered his own question, "Hmm, thought not." It was no secret Lailah struggled with anything magic-related. It was a low blow, perhaps, but he was getting fed up with her unhelpful outbursts interrupting his concentration and train of thought.
"Stop poking at that like a child," he chided, shaking his head. "It's clear that you can't physically hurt it. It's probably enchanted or something. Protected by whatever this magic is." He pulled his hand away from the pillar, drawing a bit of the Light to it. "Our magic feels...warm and comforting. The Light of the Guardians, granted to protect us and aid us in our righteous work. But this magic feels...strange, foreign...it's discomforting," he explained, reaching out towards the pillar again with a frown. His glowing hand neared the surface and he felt only a brief surge of energy before contact was made. Too late to react, Eligor watched wide-eyed as the contact sparked a reaction, the rune beneath his hand flaring to life, seeming to burn, then burst, leaving behind nothing but a scorched spot on the pillar.
At the same time, anyone watching the shield around the captives would see it flicker briefly before stabilizing.Lailah noticed. She'd turned away from Eligor to attempt to keep her temper under what control she had left and found herself staring at the shield as it flickered. Her eyes darted back to Eligor's glowing hand on the pillar and his own expression of confusion. Was that the secret? Was that it?
Shoving aside her usual reluctance, Lailah attempted to summon just a bit of her magic into her dagger. She wasn't going so far as to create a Light Lance, only wanted to test this theory. Caution be damned at this point. Desperation to free herself from this trap of unknown nature was guiding her hand. The glowing blade was aimed and swiftly struck at another of the runes nearby on the pillar. The shield around the captives flickered again. The flare and resulting scorch mark where a rune had once been carved caused Lailah's eyes to widen as well. Not confusion, but understanding lit her golden orbs as she turned to meet Eligor's stare with a cocky smirk.
Who solved the puzzle? That's right, she did.***** RP NOTE ((As this is not a stats-ruled battle and as long as the Squire is not actually summoning their Light Lance for the attack buff stat, but only a bit of their Holy Light magic to add a temporary Light attribute to their normal weapon, the Squires may do so for this task without any MP penalty.))
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 11:55 pm
Genesis squinted her golden eyes as the runes started to make sense in her mind, she could see the faun looking drawings and even the naiads, she was trying to decipher if they told some sort of story when Lailah started attacking the rune with her dagger. It was something that Genesis had been tempted to do earlier, and had mostly refrained from doing so because of her weapon of choice being the broad sword. A broad sword would cause way too much commotion hacking away at the pillar.
She was relieved that Lailah had been the one to try it out first when Eligor scolded her for doing such a thing. He was right, they didn't know what kind of strange magic this thing might be enchanted with. Besides, Lailah's dagger-work hadn't seemed to have any effect anyways. Genesis went back to studying the runes, trying to fill in common words when there was something she didn't understand, trying different combinations hoping to find one that made sense. As Eligor's hang began to glow with their light magic, it drew Genesis' attention to him. She watched with intrigue. The rune glowed and Genesis took a step back, 'oh guardians, what did he do,' she feared he had activated their doom. The rune disappeared and Genesis waited for a moment to see what might happen.
Nothing. (Genesis wasn't watching the barrier, she was focused on the pillar.)
Genesis copied Eligor and drew her own light magic into her hand, she still wasn't going to beat on the pillar with her broadsword, she winced as she touched the pillar and watched a rune ignite and vanish. This time she noticed the effect on the shield. Genesis glanced at her companions and grinned. She had hope that this would work. As Genesis erased a few more ruins and the pillar became covered with empty, burnt markings, she felt some guilt. Who knew how old, what historical value, this pillar held, and they had to destroy it to complete their mission. She was certain it was the only way, but that didn't mean she liked it.
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