Dark Hope - Chapter 1 - Pan Town

[Renard]

With a smirk of appriciated humour, Renard remarks to Ahkash, "Well done, sir." And peering around the door to look from where the elf just came, asks, "And may I enquire as to what you encountered behind this door?"
Anmd then eyes the elf carefully...

To Atrus, he adds, "Warrior, you may wish to see what is beyond the door whose chains once held you in its grasp and now gives you an apparent gift."

Renard gives Tänya a questioning look and then peers past the door Ahkash just emerged from...

[Ahkash]

He shrugged in reply. "Some traps of a nasty variety. I disarmed them, then a demon showed up. Odd sort of Demon...went on about "being called," didn't attack me, then vanished when I hurled my dart into its chest. Didn't even penetrate." He shrugged again. "Who can account for the beings of the nether planes. Not I."

He added to the rest of the party, "Go Atrus...it's why we came down here afterall. Who wants to search this one with me?" he asked jerking his head back to the door behind him.

[Renard]

"Very strange, indeed. But, well done again.

Renard looks through the open door to see what Ahkash is referring to...

[Tänya]

Then turning to the others added, "You all took long enough to get here." He grinned. "Priests keep you occupied? Or confused?"

Tänya relaxes her stance and grins slightly at the half-blood. Then she shakes her head slowly in reply.

"I do not know about you and Atrus, but all of us at the temple of Solaris rested far longer than expected. A full day!! Unheard of, for me anyway..," she muses to herself towards the end.

"Be that as it may, I am delighted to see you safe," she again smiles up to him. "But why did you go on ahead without us? Did I not already show this cavern is not safe, even if there were two of you?"

[Ahkash]

He shook his head and shrugged.

"We were bored. Wanted to see what could be seen. Anyway, no harm was done. And we were sure our enemies had left."

He turned back toward the door, preparing for a quick search of the room, then glanced back, eyebrows raised..."Anybody else coming?"

[Renard]

With a resigned shrug, Renard prepares to follow in behind Ahkash

[Tänya]

Looking back towards Atrus, and wondering if he desired her healing attempt upon him or not, Tänya decides to leave him be for the (hopefully) short time it would take to investigate the room. Walking towards him, she whispers to him, "If you take the half-blood's advice, and decide to check out that room, wait for us first, please?"

Then, unstringing her longbow, replacing her arrow, and grasping White Blossom tightly in her left hand, she moves next to Renard to see what is to be seen.

[ooc]Spot, Search, and Listen checks as we enter, please[/ooc]

[Mephiston]

The Two room are now open, only the norther door remain closed.

Ahaksh return in the eastern door, the same does Renard and Tanya
Who follow them?

[Thonunian]

Thonunian goes in after Ahkash.

"Atrus, even if you want to explore the second room, it would be foolhardy for you to enter on your own. You ought to come with us first, and you really should let the Druid heal you." He glances around the big room, and his eyes widen as he notices something.

Running up to Tänya, he says, "Hey! I think you forgot that your horse can not go down stairs without your help. I think you should go back and get her before we proceed."

[ooc]Listen, Search, and Spot checks once we get through the door.[/ooc]

[Mephiston]

You all enter the room passing the dark flame door.
Once in room you can see that is a normal room no more than 20x20x10 feet.

The room is completly empty apart from a great dark flame painted on the eastern wall.

you can hear the hooves of Solana that is approaching the room.

Balpur and Atrus are still out of the room, in the main hall.

[Tänya]

Passing through the door at Renard's side behind Thonunian, Tänya surprisingly found herself feeling a little bereft that the silver-tongued bard hadn't offered her his arm. Shaking her head, she ruefully thought to herself, Don't be silly, girlfriend. Once in the room she stepped to the side until Solana entered the double wide door, than hugged her head close.

"My wonderful Solana," she whispered. "Don't stray too far."

Letting go, she continued to clasp White Blossom in her left hand as she searched the empty room, coming to a stop in front of the dark flame on the eastern wall.

"Ahkash," she called as she perused the flame. "You said it was an 'odd sort of demon,' and that it didn't attack you. May I ask why you attacked it then?

"And what sort of traps were lying in wait? There appears to be nothing here to justify them..."

While listening to Ahkash's reply, she walks closer to the dark flame and lightly touches White Blossom against it. Then she slowly traced the outline of its shape with him, attempting to commit its form to memory, to be retrieved later.

[ooc]Since I don't know all the different symbols of the g-ds, a knowledge: religion check on the dark flame symbol please, both on my own and through White Blossom. If it is not a religious symbol, I would like to become aware of the feeling of what White Blossom is currently thinking, if exact thoughts are currently unclear. If his thoughts are clear, that as well please.[/ooc]

[Atrus]

”Goodly warrior, I beg caution. White Blossom has wisdom, and although I am not known for mine, I do believe that such a gift <gesturing to the dark sword>, borne from violence, cannot yield the true justice you may seek. Think of where we are and who we are after… this is their place.”

Atrus' eyes were newly walled off from his heart and inner self. The pain and horror the chain beast had given him had destroyed the years between his past, had laid bare the road to his soul. Though, in pain came fire, and the monster had also given him a boon; anger. He could feel more strength coursing through his veins, and all it took was a moment to release it. But his eyes were returned to normal. He had locked his pain behind a curtain, and one could only feel his rage.

"Warrior, you may wish to see what is beyond the door whose chains once held you in its grasp and now gives you an apparent gift."
"Go Atrus...it's why we came down here afterall. Who wants to search this one with me?" he asked jerking his head back to the door behind him.
"If you take the half-blood's advice, and decide to check out that room, wait for us first, please?"
"Atrus, even if you want to explore the second room, it would be foolhardy for you to enter on your own. You ought to come with us first, and you really should let the Druid heal you."

Turning to his companions, he had few words to convey his thoughts. "I...have....to take the sword. I can't walk past something so...obviously....a boon to my quest. In the same way, I need to see what's in this room. It is my destiny. I hope you all live to never understand."

With that, he picks up his new weapon, and opens the door the chains were holding shut.

[Ahkash]

The rogue looked at the druid and shrugged once again. "As I said, I have no understanding of demons and their motives. If it ever appears again, you can ask it why the room was trapped. The room looked much bigger then too." He appeared slightly puzzled.

"As for attacking it...personally, I don't trust them. And who knew whether it would attack me? It was't a pleasant looking thing. Anyway...I just wanted to distract it while I made my escape."

He looked around the small empty room once more.

"Ah well. Nothing here then."

He turned and left the room, glanced at the chain-door where Atrus had entered, then walked toward the north end of the hallway.

[Tänya]

"As I said, I have no understanding of demons and their motives. If it ever appears again, you can ask it why the room was trapped. The room looked much bigger then too." He appeared slightly puzzled.

"As for attacking it...personally, I don't trust them. And who knew whether it would attack me? It was't a pleasant looking thing. Anyway...I just wanted to distract it while I made my escape."

He looked around the small empty room once more.

"Ah well. Nothing here then."

Casting a glance at Thonunian, who had found the entry riddle in the cavern above, Tänya shook her head and mumbled, "Not necessarily."

Speaking up, she addresses the tall elf more directly, "I assume you have been magically examining this room since before we entered. Have you anything to share with us on it?

"For now, White Blossom is...introspective. Unlike his attitude towards the chain demon, he is not radiating any hatred for what this room contains. Yet, he is again sending sadness at the potential of the choices that could be made here, just like with Atrus.

"I recognize this Dark Flame. It is the holy symbol of Belugoth, the L-rd of Darkness, Greed, the lust for Power and..." a furtive look towards where the half-blood has gone, along with the silent thought, I really must find out his name!, "...and Magic, as well as other domains. Although he is a chaotic neutral deity, not evil like the other L-rd of Darkness, Argothoth, the potential for his followers to turn towards a more evil aligned path has been seen.

"Belugoth is a powerful deity, and his Dark the opposite of Solaris' Light. But he is not evil. There should be no conflict between his followers and those of the mother of all the G-ds..."

Once again looking about the room, she muses to the others, "The temple above was called the Temple of the Twin G-ddesses in the diary the half-blood found. The dark druid and necromancer of Graveris did not come through this way; their portal was in the other chamber of the cavern above. To which g-ddess do these halls pertain, if either? Why would a room, and a supposed demon, of Belugoth be in a location affiliated with either?"

Glancing at White Blossom, who continued to radiate sadness but nothing else, she contemplated on the difference he showed in his feelings towards the two rooms. Could one room be allied with Graveris and the other Matheris? And the room the half-blood now approaches the balance between them?

Stepping back in hopes of getting some input from Thonunian on possible magical auras in the hall, since he has the ability to do so much easier than she and so she chose not to prepare a spell to detect them, she watches the half-blood head towards the door to the north. If he wishes not to see if more can be found here, or should he not be sharing all he's seen, let him detect and disarm any traps there before we go in...

[Thonunian]

Thonunian glances over at Tänya, and says, "I have not yet seen anything in this room, besides the spell on the door, but...

"That half-elf has something very small that is magical under his clothes. It may be something he found here [ooc]Very unlikely, given what we know about his feelings towards magic! [/ooc], or it might be that the dart he hit the demon with absorbed it without his knowledge, in which case, we may want to inform him.

"What do you think we should do?"

[Tänya]

"That half-elf has something very small that is magical under his clothes."

Tänya's head snapped up at this, but as the tall elf continued...

"It may be something he found here [ooc]Very unlikely, given what we know about his feelings towards magic! [/ooc], or it might be that the dart he hit the demon with absorbed it without his knowledge, in which case, we may want to inform him.

"What do you think we should do?"

She recalled the feelings of freedom of choice from White Blossom.

"For now, we can not know if he is aware of the item or not. If it is a benign item, I see no harm in allowing him his privacy regarding it. Have you picked up an aura of its purpose at all? I think we should leave him be regarding it, unless a reason to ask him about it becomes apparent, whether through action or any aura you might detect.

"Are we agreed?"

[Thonunian]

He turned and left the room, glanced at the chain-door where Atrus had entered, then walked toward the north end of the hallway.

Thonunian gave the black flame room a last long look, then headed back out to call after Ahkash, "Hey, Half-blood! You might want to head over to the door Atrus went through! I think it would be better if we do not split up into groups smaller than two if we can help it!"

[Renard]

"Quite right, mellonamin, however, it hurts nothing to sneak a peek. If you wish, Thonunian, be at Atrus' side when he looks in to the western door and I shall be at Ahkash's side when he looks in to the northern door. This way we can have a look at where we might wish to go"

Then after giving Tänya a look, and a wink, adds, "Solana will be here soon, lirimaer, so you may wish to watch for all of us."

<smile>

That said, Renard gestured Ahkash to the northern door with an flourish and nods to the others.

[Ahkash]

"Half-blood", the rogue thought to himself as the tall elf called out. "Typical. Bloody elves. But it was always thus...too elven for humans, too human for elves."

Aloud, he answered, "Atrus can look after himself. And chances are, the room is empty anyway."

He gestured to the door ahead, "behind this though, is something interesting. I've already had to remove a poisoned needle from the lock. And there are things moving behind it. If you want to make yourself useful, pure-blood, come over here and get ready to do something once the door opens."

The rogue bent to the lock again, and began picking it.

[Tänya]

"...and I shall be at Ahkash's side when he looks in to the northern door..."

Smiling gently to herself, Tänya mentally made note of the half-blood's name...

[ooc]...oops...

I just realized I used it myself to call him a couple of posts up. Ah well, such is the pit falls of metaknowledge. Sorry, as I had not heard it yet myself in character...[/ooc]