The Suvan Expedition: Departure

[Verilian]

While Gallo made vows not to hide, but to stand up and fight, while Elianos did whatever it was he did after killing the man, while all the rest celebrated, Clyde was doing exactly the opposite. Clyde argued his case saying that they must indeed hide, or die. It was not met warmly. "WHAT?" The Black Sun growled the word in anger, standing and facing Clyde. "You want us to abandon this post, to abandon our quest from Rhysol himself, on the word of some random blonde woman you met on the beach!?" Try as he might, Clyde could not argue his case. The agent would not stand down, he would not abandon his quest. Clyde was ordered from the tent in a furious rage, practically kicked out by the Black Sun's own foot. All the while the Nitrozian remained silent, watching the spectacle as he sipped his glass of wine. Clyde was ushered away from the tent, but it wasn't more than ten chimes later when he was called back. This time Simian was alone, and when Clyde entered he motioned for the mage to have a seat. Simian poured them both a glass of wine, handing one to Clyde before making himself comfortable in the seat across from the mage. "So she was marked with flowers, you say? My dear friend is certain that you are a fool, but he knows only of Ravok. I have traveled far and heard many stories. One story was of a race of blonde women, marked by the goddess of visions, marked with flowers. They can see the past, and the future. ..I don't know if what you say is true or not, but if it is.. I would be a fool not to pay attention." The Nitrozian took a long swig of his glass before setting it down on the table, the red liquid splashing and dripping onto the map beneath. Simian had a serious look in his eyes as he leaned close to Clyde and whisper, "Spread the word and see who will come. Keep it quiet though. Meet me outside the camp in two bells, at the gate they just built today. If your story is false, then spending one night away from camp will not hurt anyone, but if it is true.. I would rather live." Clyde was dismissed then, and Simian began gathering his belongings. It was up to the mage to spread the word and see who would come. Not many would listen, and only a handful would be joining him outside the gates. But after two bells passed, Clyde would indeed find Simian, and eight others.. so few, but they were the only ones smart enough, or perhaps drunk enough to take heed of his warning. [ooc=So.. do a post or two where you talk to Gallo and Elianos and give them the warning. Once the two of them agree to come (unless they want to die), I'll post again and we'll get moving. I will post again in about a week, whether everyone has replied or not. This thread needs to get wrapped up.[/ooc]

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde could not believe how stubborn the man had been when he told him of his tale. Really, how pigheaded could he be! He was so busy following the letter of Rhysols orders, he was ignoring his heart and intentions! What use were they to Rhysol dead? Wouldn't it be worth paying the small loss of getting to relative safety, than to risk letting the entire expedition and its members fail? Really, it was ridiculous! As he was sent out of the tent, he was working up all of these arguments. He was just about ready to go back, and force the man to see reason, when he was called back. His planned speech died in his throat, as he entered, to see only Simian there, quite civilly... As he was handed a glass of wine, and offered a seat, he was completely caught by surprise... And he was willing to listen, and take head to his words? The last bit of anger fizzled in him... Perhaps not as he had expected, but things had gone nearly as well as he could have hoped... So Clyde went out, retelling his the highlights of his story to several people who seemed open to listening to him. This included at one point a medic, and at another, a young boy who he only then recalled had spoken to him as he made his purposeful walk to the command tent. As he spoke to each of them in turn, he ended them all with the same thing. "All we will lose if I am wrong is sleeping one night out of camp... But if I am right... It will save our lives! Is the risk really worth possibly losing our lives?" oocJust assume I more or less repeated what I said in my previous post, with that added bit at the end. And you can each respond to it in your own post.

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo continued on his way as he made attempts at socializing with the Ravokian men and woman sent here by Rhysol. Though as the night grew on, Gallo found it more and more true to be thought of a fool than to open the mouth and confirm it. Though his quest of enlightenment from fantastical stories of other's lives soon came to a halt as the man he had attempted to speak with before came to him and began to tell him something not of a past experience, but a possible future one. Gallo was on the fence as he found Clyde's story to be almost to far fetched, not to mention a bit frightening. Clyde had left as soon as he arrived and Gallo at first was not about to leave the festivities. However, as the night grew on his boyish curiosity began to overcome his thoughts. After another drunken, repeated story recounting a time someone encountered a Zith alone, Gallo became bored. The cure of his boredom though was given to him earlier by Clyde. Slowly, he began to edge his way out of the festivities and back toward the gate he had helped nail together. It was darker there and much quieter as he arrived approximately when Clyde had told him to be there. His ears listened for the sounds of humanity, dampened out by the sounds of nature. oocNot that it is important, but we may need to change a few details in our current thread Clyde depending on where this adventure takes us.

[Verilian]

Two bells passed more swiftly than Clyde would have liked, but when he arrived at the gate he would find that he and Simian were not the only ones to heed his calls. Three of the Ebonstryfe were there, as well as some of the workers, the young boy Gallo, the Nuit, and some others. All in all, out of the entire expedition, there were only twenty five of them. Twenty five who heeded Clyde's warning, or were at least drunk enough to go along with him. And there were some drunks there, joking and laughing amongst each other. When the mage arrived Simian walked up to him. "Well, we are here. Lead us to this woman, and let's all hope she is as insane as you make her sound." Clyde led the way back to the konti woman's home, though navigating in the dark was much more treacherous when they reached the rocky area than it had been during the day. The konti had lit the way, though, her house shining like a beacon thanks to the bonfire she had lit just outside. When they finally made it they found only a raging fire, but the woman was nowhere to be found. Inside, on the table next to the empty tea kettle, was a letter addressed to Clyde. Clyde Sullins, I hope that you managed to bring some people with you. I could not see that, but if you did, send them down the stairs. At the bottom, you will find a stone door. Opening it will not be easy, it will take the strength of many, so I hope you are not alone. On the other side of the door you will find a glyph. To activate it, it requires only your breath, but do not do so until the storm comes. Look for lights on the horizon. When you see them, you will know it is time. I wish you luck. May the gods watch over you. Down the stairs, which went very deep into the ground, there was indeed a large stone door. It was very heavy, and would take many men, and perhaps even one charged with the power of his flux, to push it open. Once inside they would find a small chamber, it would be a cramped fit for the twenty five men. There were indeed glyphs on the other side of the door, and though it was more complex than anything Clyde himself had ever written, he would eventually be able to locate the primary trigger, though if he was following the konti's instructions he would not yet activate it. As the night drew on they waited, and many began to express doubts that anything was going to happen. The sun would be rising soon, though perhaps that was the light in the sky the konti had meant in her letter. "..maybe this woman was crazy," Simian muttered at some point. Some people left, and they would regret it, but then a man shouted and pointed at the sky. All eyes followed his finger and many of them widened when they saw what he saw. On the horizon, far to the west, was what could have been lighting were it not for the fantastical colors that flashed across the sky. Soon the wind began to pick up, howling madly as it whipped around the rocks. The waves grew larger, splashing against the base of the cliff they were on. Then came the thunder, loud crashes that shook the heart. It was time. The storm was coming. OOCOkay, so once Clyde has activated the glyph I will describe what happens next.

[Clyde Sullins]

To be honest, Clyde was not really sure how many people would listen to his call. He was no master orator, not really great at persuasion. So he was a bit surprised, when as many people listened to him, and showed up, as did. Of course, some of them were pretty drunk... Perhaps that had made them easier to convince... But oh well, beggars could not be choosers. Clyde led the way, picking his way carefully. He did not have the best senses, his sight and hearing a bit messed up, and so he was often having to use his staff to keep from falling, and to test the ground for problems. As they made it to the place, Clyde noticed the woman was no were to be seen. He walked into the house, and saw a note she had left him... Clyde Sullins, I hope that you managed to bring some people with you. I could not see that, but if you did, send them down the stairs. At the bottom, you will find a stone door. Opening it will not be easy, it will take the strength of many, so I hope you are not alone. On the other side of the door you will find a glyph. To activate it, it requires only your breath, but do not do so until the storm comes. Look for lights on the horizon. When you see them, you will know it is time. I wish you luck. May the gods watch over you. As Clyde heeded the letter, tucking it into his pack, he went along down the stairs, to see a great stone door... Though that was not really what impressed him. What impressed him, was the glyphing, as he entered what the door blocked. Her runes were quite good, and made into a very complex interweaving system... This here... And here... He could sort of understand what the purpose was, and a small grin came onto his face... He was not certain... But he had an inkling... Well, that certainly would help to protect them, to keep out the magic storm... He did his best to recall the setup, perhaps one day he could do something similar, or it would come in handy... He had long since figured out the trigger, tracing it into the inner working of the runes, seeing how it activated something... Well, he would see what exactly it would do... He had not had enough time to examine all of the glyphs, and some of the purpose of it was lost on him... A few bits which could have many effects... If he had enough time, he could have figured it all out... But really, there was so much to take in... As Clyde saw the colors, the flashes, the crack of sound, the blowing wind, he activated the glyph. Turned on whatever this crazy setup would do... He watched as the rune activated, set things in motion... All he could do was hope and pray... Hope things would work out... And watch in awe, as the glyphs did there job.

[Elianos]

After Elianos was done with his old patient's final "treatment" to relieve him his pain, he had nothing left to do especially around most of the Ravok loyalists in their drunken stupor. He could have joined in for a few drinks. He would not have gotten drunk like the rest of them so no one would be able to complain that one of the doctors will not be ready for any emergencies but he was one of those long lived, sophisticated nuits from Sahova. There was no need to waste any time with the rabble which thought entertainment was in stoning a corpse. For the nuit, he would rather help the knight prolong his services for the greater good to make up for his forced demise but then the dead body which was him might have replaced the nights entertainment.

So Elianos retired to the doctor's tent to prepare. What sort of preparations were better left unknown to most of the other people in the camp because working on fixing up pulsers gets very repetitive after a while. They may not be as fragile as Elianos was but they were like the children the long lived nuit saw them as. Children that wanted only care and attention by some power figure every single day. Elianos needed time for his own pursuits, his satisfaction and one of those things today was the man he just killed. Seeing that he was only taken off today he was hoping that there might still be some things left around to maybe find.

He went through the spots that he thought they left the man's belongings and then through some of the sacks and crates where the supplies were kept just in case Julian was in charge of it by the leaders as he was the more trustworthy of the two seeing that Elianos was just an outsider. Suddenly Clyde came in and it was not really too satisfying for doctor to have to attend to another person. He gave quite the speech that was not interesting, Elianos not really caring about from the very beginning when he started to use his djed again to continue his search.

Nodding to Clyde with feigned interest, the djed in him moved as if it was being shaken by the motions he was doing. It moved towards his front, until it was pressing and pushing on one of his eyes until he was seeing Mr Sullins from two points. His eye was floating about in another form unseen to his companion while it moved around the room. In the corners, the hard to reach places, the small little holes it went with Elianos getting a little headache as he could not keep up with the strenuous activity of interpreting the two separate things he was seeing. Clyde was the only thing that was constant though and since he was unimportant at the time, Elianos took to ignoring the man to better focus on his efforts.

Which brought a fortunate result because while his projected eye was peeping into a small space behind a crate he heard "All we will lose if I am wrong is sleeping one night out of camp... But if I am right... It will save our lives! Is the risk really worth possibly losing our lives?" Elianos would be a fool if he did not at least think on those words. A nuit would not live long if he did not exercise at least a little caution. "And you say Simian told you to get some people?" he asked as he looked at Clyde to the point that even the projected eye turned to look at the back of the man. "Well, I suppose your little camping trip will need a medic. I'll meet you there" he told the messenger and waved him off.

As much as Elianos would have wanted to follow Clyde, he needed time. Calling back his djed, he reattached his eye taking longer than he wanted. Clyde must have had talked too much or he has not recovered well enough from the previous time but once he was done, Elianos started gathering up some supplies along with anything that may prove useful. Taking out the book he bought, he searched for the remedies for anything which may harm those with him even the most trivial ones. If what Clyde said was true, they would be stuck of camp or any civilization for quite some time.

"What is this then?" Elianos asked after waiting at the empty house for so long. He did not trek with that bag only to do the same exhausting journey again not to mention after helping with the stone door. They should not have expected the doctor to push because when Elianos did, he did not think he helped much. He was more like a sickly person leaning on the door catching his breath even if he was using as much strength as possible to push his back with his legs. There was not much pain or discomfort but Elianos would have liked something like that to tell him when he should stop straining his body instead of leaving it up to his own judgement.

In the end he could not take it anymore and took a rest on the ground, contemplating if he should follow the rest of the people back as even Simian expressed his doubts. All that would have been forgotten soon after as the noise started and he knew "this is not going to be enough to shelter us from that!" Coming all this way to die, that was fun and the man who led them all was kissing the glyph instead of telling them what to do next.

[Verilian]

The wind outside was howling like a mad banshee when Clyde finally blew on the glyph activating whatever magic was stored within. The drawing flashed, and Clyde watched as the intricate weaving came to life. The wind picked up in their little room, causing one man to cry out in fear and run out the door thinking that perhaps the storm had already reached them. Whatever logic he had in his actions, he would soon regret it, for the wind grew stronger and blew shut the stone door. The first glyph activated, but the massive sigil had many more effects still to come. Clyde couldn't tell what all of them did, and they could only watch in darkness as each Glyph lit up momentarily and then vanished. There was a sound of shifting stone as one of the glyphs sealed the door shut, then there a light breeze filled the room as four glyphs, one on each wall, lit up providing a little light. The breeze was air, likely an air reimancy spell cast into the glyph. There were several barriers etched into the sigil preventing all the air from releasing at once, but it also meant that eventually the air would likely expire. Neither Clyde nor Elianos could see the advanced shield that surrounded them, but they could feel the presence of powerful djed in the air. The real question was, how long would it last? Outside the storm raged. There was a loud rumbled heard and felt by all in the small room as the stone house was destroyed by the waves. They didn't know it, but they were completely submerged under the water. Several bells passed, none of them could be sure how long, but the storm still raged. But this was only just the storm. When the wild djed hit it shook the ground around them. Elianos and Clyde both could sense it, could sense the wrongness in the air. If either of them tried to use any magic.. the effects would be disastrous. Instantaneous overgiving, though the severity would depend on what sort of magic they tried to cast. The magic shield took a beating, and several bells into the storm one man would cry out. "Water!" Everyone turned in his direction, the dim light from the glyphs barely enough to see by. But even if they couldn't see it, they could hear the water now pouring into the room from the small crack in the wall. Somehow it would have to be sealed, or the room might flood. And to make things worse, one of the air glyphs suddenly expired.

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo had followed the small group that had gathered through the darkness and toward the home that Clyde had presumably met a seer. He was skeptical as they stood in front of a stone door. One man tested how heavy it was and grunted in great vein. His feet slid across the soil and stone as his veins bulged. Gallo felt it was his moment to do something and motioned for others to come and help move the stone door. Gallo and whoever else decided to join began to push. He repeated the phrase, "and those opposed to my path, may they be met by the crushing of my feet." The stone began to crack and give with the extra help. Gallo could feel the strange tingle in his body shift and move like water down to his legs. The stone began to move as each man began to take small steps forward and moved the crushingly heavy stone along. Gallo was certain the others would be skeptical of how much Gallo actually contributed. However, the chant had made his strength equal to that of one of the strongest men in the group. As Clyde led them into a room where many strange and intricate drawings decorated the brown stone. Gallo found a spot to sit, strangely comfortable with whatever may or may not happen to him this night. He settled in and huffed as he looked around and found the symbols fascinating. He vaguely heard the familiar voice of the man that smelled of stale flowers and death and only half listened to him. Suddenly a bright flash, even more brilliant than the sun's light, briefly illuminated the room. The crack of unnatural thunder vibrated through his bones as stone chips and soil fell from the wall behind him. The sound of them as they hit the ground was deafened, his ears still recovered from the loud crash. More lights and briefly Gallo felt interested but confused. He stood and moved some going to get as best of a look outside without actually leaving the room. What he was met with was a true monster. The storm was spectacular to Gallo in a morbidly deadly way. In his mind it reminded him of Dira's unbiased takings. The rapid flashes and bright bolts of aurora borealis style of lightning shown what power was held within the unnatural clouds. Wind whipped and stung the flesh unbiasedly, what great power it had. Fleetingly, Gallo felt that someday he would want to be a living storm of this magnitude. But instead of uncontrollable destruction he wanted to use the power to further the realm and city of Rhysol. He heard Elianos' words and shot a glare towards the man. The drunk or weak of faith began to panic, such chaos was used in vein. Gallo saw the man as he blew on the seal just as a strong gust appeared out of nowhere. He was mildly mesmerized by the light before his attention was drawn to a man frightened. Gallo's matted and long hair whipped about as even more unnatural wind blew stronger. The heavy stone boulder began to move once more just as the man pushed past Gallo. Gallo cried out, "no, leave your faith in Rhysol broth--" Gallo's hand reached out and grabbed a hold of just the hand of the man, however his strength and momentum was greater than his own. The man ran through the door as the boulder sealed itself shut with a loud thud that cut off Gallo's sentence. With the sounding of the door being sealed, darkness flooded the room. Bright lines, much like the light outside, began to crackle and move across the stone. Gallo briefly heard the sound of liquid as it flowed into the room. He had hoped it was only his imagination, if the man who fled in fright had made it to the other-side perhaps he'd actually survive. But none would be able to survive a stone door to the knee. Were the people on this expedition that weak of spirit to not be able to trust one of Rhysol's own? Were they not truly ready to die in the name of Rhysol? Such a useless death in the name of chaos he felt Elianos had caused. The questions and situation only fueled Gallos aggression and drive to be something of more worth than he already was. The intricate drawings continued to glow as some of them lit up and began to cast a steady glow in the room. It was not like that of a flame and never flickered or wavered as they continued to glow. The sound of the thunder continued to shake the stone around them as more of the loose soil and rock began to fall from the ceiling. With the excitement behind him Gallo retook his seat and leaned against a wall. A bit of rest wouldn't hurt him as a fleeting, sharp pain crept up his legs. He didn't know why, but chocked the pain up to pulling muscles in his legs. He was familiar with the feeling and soon once more his vision was filled with darkness that pulsed between light and nothingness. He began to feel a cool sensation along his back, which drew him out of his fickle slumber. His back left the wall as he found it to be soaked through by water. He turned around and noticed a trickle of salty water begin to flow from a crack. "W...water...Water!" Gallo would say to alert the others in the room to the situation. Soon even more cracks and holes appeared as the stone turned black from the dampness. The sound of liquid filling the room echoed within the stone cavern. Even the crack Gallo had sat back up had begun to grow larger as water flowed and no longer trickled. A black pool of cool, salty, liquid began to crawl across the floor like the hands of death. How exciting! Gallo unwrapped a bandage along his arms and shoved it along with some of the earth back into the crack to hopefully vanquish the flow of water. But with one slowed, another appeared. "The path close to death is truly an exciting adventure. Death itself will be a glorious journey, one that I'm not ready to face." Gallo spoke to himself as he and the others in the room began to fill the gaps that vomited forth the salty brine.

[Clyde Sullins]

He had set off the reaction, the glyphing, and now he had to hope and pray... Oddly enough, his prayer went out to Rhysol... Asking him to protect them from this chaos... To protect them from his domain... Which seemed completely natural to him... Not long ago, he would have laughed at hearing him praying in this situation, to Rhysol. How much living in Ravok had changed him, without him even noticing. The aura of the devastation approaching them brushed viciously over his skin, without him even focusing on it... He shivered, as goosebumps rose on his exposed skin... That was bad... He could tell that... He just hoped the magics would do there job as promised. As the door was closed, and sealed, Clyde could taste the djed heavy upon the air. The presence of the djed was cloying, suffocating... Pushing in on his mind... He had to push it away, to keep it from overpowering him, even with all of these glyphs protecting him... He could only imagine what it would feel like to be looked at... Almost wished he was like these mundane beings, who could tell nothing... Magic? Ha... The presence of the djed was so all powering, so overbearing, he could not even think of casting magic... Literally, even if he had tried, he doubted he could have cast anything. It was truly frightening... He was truly scared... And any magic he might cast would be so insignificant before its might. It would be hopeless to even consider it. He could barely concentrate enough to be aware of his surroundings, let along to dig within his well of djed to try a casting. He blinked, and took in a gasping breath, not realizing before that he had been holding his breath... How long had they been here? How long would they still be here? He could still taste the djed heavy on the air, could see the makeup of the glyphs before him, holding steady... It seemed... Well it seemed they were doing there purpose... Was it antimagic? Or just a complex runic setup, to keep out the djed? He hoped it was the first, as that would be much stronger... But any damage to the glyphs, might weaken the sigils, and allow the harsh power to get in. And a crack! A crack! Letting in the waters! Waters! Were they underwater? How much had the surf risen? He had not even realized they had been flooded over, until he saw the water coming in... He had been so distracted by the power of the djed, that such a simple observation had escaped him. Clyde ran forward, to try and plug the hole, taking off his robes and trying to use it to plug the opening. "We have to stop the water! Use whatever you can! Hands! Clothing! Whatever. Whatever it takes so we don't drown."

[Verilian]

Another of the glyphs filling the room with precious air went out, and the chamber grew darker. It was pure chaos. While they could try to plug the crags, they couldn't stop all the water. Thirty chimes in and the water was deep enough to cover their feet. It was slow, but it was rising and they couldn't stop it. Many people gave up, leaving their cracks to pound on the stone door in some hopes of moving it. Other's cried out to Rhysol, and two men began fighting.. over a woman? Apparently they both had the same idea of how they wanted to spend their last moments. Another thirty chimes and it was to their knees, and most of the people had given up. Even the two men who were fighting stopped out of sheer exhaustion. There wasn't enough air for them to keep it up, and the water was chilling to the bone. Eventually the last of the air glyphs went out, and that was when they knew all hope was lost. How long would the remaining air last them? Would they drown, or die of asphyxiation first? People were too cold and didn't have the energy to give in to chaos again, most of them just sat there in the water contemplating their own lives to date. Most of them... But some of them heard laughter. At first it was quiet, and they doubted they even heard it, but it was there. Clyde, Elianos, and Gallo all heard it, as well as Simian and some others. Try as they might, they could not find the source of the laughter, though it grew in their ear and began to echo about the chamber. One person stood, though it was too dark to see them, and began to slosh around in search of the sound. Another called out, "Who is laughing!? This isn't funny. We're all going to die, and it's that damned mage's fault!" The laughter increased in volume, and there was no ignoring it. It was all around, bouncing off the walls, bouncing off the inside of each person who heard its head. Those who didn't hear thought the others were going mad, and perhaps they were. The volume increased more, to the point where it began to hurt. "Ahahahaaahahaaahah! AHAHAHAHAAAA!! It kept getting louder. Elianos, though it did not hurt him as much, felt a trick of something wet run out of his ear, and then suddenly he could no longer hear the sloshing of people moving around on his right side, though he could still clearly hear the laughter. Clyde was hearing it so loud he could barely even stand, and any hope of focusing enough to try to attack whatever was after them was lost. Gallo, however, was given a reprieve. For him, the laughter grew so violent he thought he his ears would burst, and then suddenly it was gone. While everyone else was driven to their knees in pain, or deafened from the sound of it, Gallo heard nothing but a voice. The voice itself was still maddening, because it echoed a million times throughout the chamber with each word that was spoken, but it was not painful. "Gallo." His name bounced off the walls, sounded in his mind as well as his ears. The word pulled at his very soul, and it was both painful and ecstatic to hear. "Open the door. Open the door, and live." Suddenly all the world was quiet again, for everyone, save for the sound of water and the whimpers of people in pain. The door could only have been referring to the massive boulder, though how he was supposed to open it was up to him to figure out. Water was still pouring in, but whatever the voice was, it said if he opened the door he would live. Would he listen, or doom them all?