CHAPTER 1: First Steps into a Larger World

[Blackcraft]

OOC: Are the mountains of gold stacked coins or pieces of gold?

[tombowings]

Apr 18, 2023 7:42:46 GMT -6 Blackcraft said:

OOC: Are the mountains of gold stacked coins or pieces of gold?

OOC: Coins.

[chicagowiz]

Carig, remaining as quiet as he can, agrees with and follows Zinon.

[dtspurrier1]

Bruno stays quiet to not wake up the beast

[Blackcraft]

Tormon examines one of the mountains of gold coins closely. "If that beast lays among these golden pillars, my guess is he guarding them… or something else."

OOC: Does Tormon see any etchings or symbols on the coins? If so, does he recognize any of them?

[tombowings]

Carig, Zinon, Tormon and Cneve creep forward through the short passage. Tormon and Cneve duck behind the nearest pile and gold and stay put. Sabastian and Bruno dare not approach.

Carig and Zinoncontinue forward, carefully and cautiously shimmying around the edge of the circular cavern toward the exit. The monster's tail is as thick as a human thigh. As they step over it, they notice a burst of fire shoot forth from its snout as the beast exhales. The flames lick the cavern wall opposite them. For the moment, they suspect the scaled monstrosity has awoken. But after a moment of silence and stillness, they press on, continuing around the outside of the cavern.

Tormon looks closely at the pile of gold. A legion of faces stare back at him from the surfaces of the coins. Some with beards, others clean shaven. Some with hooked noses, others with furrowed brows. Every portrait is stately in their own way. No two coins are exactly alike, yet all are human, as least as far as Tormon can tell.

Carig and Zinon reach the opposite side of the cave. Up another short passage, a well of navy darkness, speckled with twinkling lights, greets them. A cold breeze brushes against they uncovered torsos. Never before have they felt such a frigid sensation.


(OOC: The first round inside the dragon's cave is over. It did not wake up.)

[dtspurrier1]

Bruno will head towards the exit

[chicagowiz]

Quickly, quietly, cautious, cautious... Carig will proceed up the well and out into well of darkness, gripping his cudgel tightly.

Is the passage big enough that the large creature could follow us out of it?

[Bastet1002]

While Abasire berates Zinon for staying out in this cold place, Zinon is adamant about looking for paths that might lead further through this chamber of lights with no end.

"Craig," whispers Zinon very quietly. "What is this place? Abasire worries that we will fall off the end of the world into the air. Those lights are strange things, but interesting to look at. How far away they seem."

((Do Zinon or Craig or the others have any sense of 'reawakening'? As in, lost memories that are resurfacing?))

[flightcommander]

Cneve follows Carig and Zinon as quietly as possible. He avoids contact with the coins — they seem to promise corruption, and he cannot even stand the sight of them. By the time he reaches the others, he is shaking and almost in tears.

[Blackcraft]

Tormon couldn’t make heads or tails of the coins but suspected there might be some connection to the large creature. He backs away from the mountain of coins and follows the rest of the party, minding where he places his feet and trying to be as quiet as possible.

[tombowings]

Sebastian, Cneve, Bruno, Tormon, Carig, and Zinon creep through the dragon's lair. The great beasts chests rises and falls with the faint sound of their footsteps. Quickly, they make their way up through the passage of twinkling lights. Strangely, the speckling of illumination becomes neither larger nor brighter as they approach the mouth of the next cavern. The chill in the air grows stronger. Goosebumps appear on the skin. The former prisoners suddenly find their attire lacking - as if a loin cloth might fail to keep out frigid air and wandering eyes.

At the end of the tunnel, the worlds opens up. The cavern ceiling disappeared, replaced by a vast shadowy expense. One of the floating sky lights glows brighter than the others. Below, down a path of six crooked, battled stone steps, is a river that flows through the roofless tunnel. The water trickles gently. The eye of heaven cast its blazing reflections off the surface of the water.

Nearby, a heron poses majestically in the shallow water. Suddenly, it dips is beak into the river and pulls out a red koi fish. The fish flaps desperate in the heron's beak. It struggles hopelessly to free itself from the predator's toothless clutches.

"Don't just stand there," the fish shouts, "Save me, you half-naked brutes!" The fish looks Bruno dead in the eyes. "You here, this is all your fault if I end up devoured by this stilted chicken! I'll hold you personably accountable."

[chicagowiz]

I'm startled by three facts - that I know what a heron and a fish is, having never seen either, and that it's talking to me!

I fear that if I/we charge the bird, it will simply fly off. I look around for a good sized rock and then throw it at the heron to see if it will drop the fish.

[dtspurrier1]

Bruno still wondering what this fish is, charges the heron saying, " hey this fish is mine I saw it first." Bruno will then throw his rock at the heron

[Bastet1002]

Zinon scratches his mangy hair perplexed at the sight as Bruno follows the commands of a talking?? fish. In this state of disbelief and away from the foul sleeping thing guarding the round yellow metal things, Zinon is content to just watch for the moment and reflect with Abasire.

"Yes, I remember something Abasire!" says Zinon. "That is a heron and that is a koi fish. But, something seems odd here. Yes, Abasire? Uh huh... Okay... Yes, that may be true... Yes, I remember that too.... Well, Abasire it is indeed odd for a fish to speak as a man. Indeed if we remember these things, then our memories have been asleep. What other knowledge awaits to be reawakened in our minds? Abasire, I don't know. I don't know if this is freedom. The talking fish certainly doesn't have it. But for us, if this is freedom, we have to learn to live with cold, and.... talking fish... and these..."

Zinon looks a little dismayed to see manacles still bolted around his wrists even though Cneve already kindly broke off the chains for him and Abasire.

"Oh, fish! How do you know this man Bruno? And why can you speak?" says Zinon ignoring the fact the fish is moments away from a swift and fatal doom called death.

[tombowings]

Sebastian, Cneve, Tormon, and Zinon watch while Bruno and Carig seize fist-sized stones from the nearby river bank. They straighten up and hurl the rocks at the heron. The cunning bird spreads his wide white wings. It flaps them hard, taking to the sky. Bruno's rock soars over the heron's head. Carig's hits the heron straight in the neck. The heron's beak opens. The red koi falls to the river bank, as the bird soars away into the night.

"Don't just stand there, you neanderthals!" the fish bellows as it flaps desperately on the shore. "I'm drowning here!"


OOC: The heron's wearing armor, so I gave them AC 9. Bruno and Carig rolled a 6 and a 12. Carig's 12 hit.

[Blackcraft]

A talking fish? Tormon thought. He picked up the fish and examined it closely.

"By what magic are you able to speak the common tongue?"

[Bastet1002]

"Torman!" says Zinon having an unexpected feeling of sympathy. "Uh... how is it that I know your name? Well anyways... Abasire insists you place the speaking fish in water. It may indeed die without it. And in water, it will assuredly explain itself then and offer it's gratitude. Right Mr. Fish?"

Zinon oddly feels the sudden urge to lift a small rock with the power of his mind and send it flying at Torman's hand, so that he will be forced to release the fish, just as the heron had to when it was hit. At least he fancied he had this kind of power over ugly gruel men to throw things with his mind... although it never actually worked - not even for Abasire. Maybe this time will be different? he hopes....

[dtspurrier1]

Bruno comes over and helps the fish out

[chicagowiz]

Carig blinks in surprise that he actually hit the heron. He sees Bruno and Torman busy with the strange talking fish and decides to look around the river bank and surroundings, to take it all in.

[tombowings]

Zinon and Bruno force Tormon's hands back into the water. The red koi surges out of Tormon's grap, breathing deeply as if catching its breath. All the while it glares at Tormon .

"Haven't you seen a fish out of water before?" the fish shouts at Tormon. "Who cares if I'm enchanted or not if I'm dead?" The koi pauses and turns its attention to Zinon and Bruno. "Thanks for the assist. You're less brutish than I thought. The loin cloths really might give someone the wrong impression. You should really consider finding something more...something more to wear. As to who enchanted me - it was the Mage of Mirrors. He asked me to relay a message downstream to those fingery priest at the Temple of Gemini."


Meanwhile, Carig takes a look around. The scene is truly overwhelming. His first minute outdoors, and already there is so much to take in. Two moss-covered cliffs flank the bank of a gentley snaking river. Patches tall grass and small brushy trees rise from the silt and gravel. Between the darkness, the fog, and the curving cliffs, Carig can't see far either up or down stream. Behind him, up six broken steps lies the hole to the dragon's den and the cavern system from whence they came. The walls of the tunnel still glisten from the reflection of the beast's fiery breath.

[chicagowiz]

Carig is stunned and entranced by the vista that he somehow should remember! Anything this beautiful would have made an impression.

He turns around and listens to the fish.

"Fish, I am Carig. May we know your name?" I bow to him.

"Fish, now that Bruno and Zinon have saved you, would you repay the favor by telling us where we are, and what lies beyond past the cliffs down this river? We seek to find other humans, where is the closest settlement?"

[Bastet1002]

Zinon adds, "Yes, indeed. We want to meet more of our kind. But, if we deliver this Mage of Who???'s message to the Temper??? of Gems??? you will turn back? Back into what? Ardbane thinks perhaps a human. Is he right? Not one of those dreadful fire beasts yellow metal from up there I hope! That is where we were trapped!"

[tombowings]

The red koi turns to Carig and Zinon, swimming gently against the current.

"My name? How should I know?" the fish answers. "I was only enchanted this afternoon. Before that, I was as mute and dumb as all the other fish in the stream. The Mage of Mirrors cast the spell himself. A unusual individual he is. I've never met anything so pessimistic. Are all humans so hopeless? I don't much about them. I try to avoid them and their fishing rods as much as possible, you know. I guess I'll find out when I reach those fingery priest at the Temple of Gemini. They'll be human, too, after all. Or so I assume. The Mage of Mirrors might have mentioned it if they weren't. The mage wasn't so bad, as far as humans go. At least he didn't toss me into a frying pan. Depression I can deal with. Murder, I can't. He didn't seem so complimentary of the priests, though. He told me to strongly reject their offer in the harshest words I can concoct on the way there. Trouble is, I'm new to speech, and I haven't the faintest idea what they asked the mage to do." The fish pauses to catch is breath. "Wait! Maybe you can help. Do you have any idea what I can tell them?" The fish's eyes narrow. His lips form a cruel smile. "I want to send them splashing."

[dtspurrier1]

Bruno still amazed by the enchanted fish says, " tell the mage to turn you back to your old self"

[tombowings]

May 2, 2023 21:04:18 GMT -6 dtspurrier1 said:

Bruno still amazed by the enchanted fish says, " tell the mage to turn you back to your old self"

The Koi's jaw drops. "Hooks, No! I love being a talking fish." The red fish does a little jump and swims around with a circle. "That man did me a favor! I'll never shut up again if I can help it!"

[Bastet1002]

"Well, Mr. Koi," says Zinon. "We are new to be being free. Is it better to visit this Mig of Mirrors or visit the Tent of Gems? Men what do you think? We could learn something from the Maze of Mir, or we could go with the news of the talking Mr. Koi and his message to Temple of Germs. Abasire votes for the Tense of Glems. I concur and feel that we should journey with Mr. Koi and help save him from this kind of torture called "the filing pan" that he spoke of. The Gem Tent would have other humans such as us."

[chicagowiz]

Carig scratches his head. "You were sent to deliver a message, but you are asking for our help in what to say to deliver the message? What message were you to deliver?"

[Blackcraft]

"You’re… a fish," Toren said, puzzled, "how did you expect to get to the Temple of Gemini? Most, if not all, templates are on land."

[tombowings]

"The Mage of Mirrors" the koi corrects Zinon. "M.a.g.e...M.i.rr.o.r. Though what a mage or a mirror are, I have no idea. Can't help you there. As for the temple, the mage commanded me to swim downstream. He said I'd know the place when I saw it by the giant wheel dipping into the water and the giant spike ascending from the temple roof. The mage's message for the priests is a simple rejection. His answer is no. Absolutely not. Never. Under no conditions. What they wanted from him, I can't even begin to guess. But judging by the mage's fury, it must have been something horrible. He instructed me to word his answer in the most wrathful way possible. Apparently, koi are a spiteful species. Otherwise the mage might have chosen a trout." the koi returns his attention to Zinon. "I have to say, though, I would appreciate the company. These priests at the temple sound like a burdensome bunch. I could use the help telling them off."