Surely as an ex-farmer you should appreciate these rainy days? I would gladly trade places with you at the moment, Malta seems to be entering it's sunny phase.
Unseasonal Rystin glowered on one side of Fabian and Dread was uncommonly silent on the other side, so Fabian had to concentrate of the shuffle and click of their footsteps climbing the staircase and wondering if there was going to be a fight soon. At the top there was a large space with doors, two in each side wall at the front and rear. The centre of the space had stone exedra set with good views of paintings on the walls, all of which were canvases easily three times Fabian's height. The darkness inside, though alleviated by the Staff's light, made it hard to make out any details. Brass podia below the paintings held glass cases containing objects, but only the closest could be seen from where they were and Fabian recognised nothing they held. "That's a Harpy skull," said Dread, pointing to the nearest case on his left. "Those are astonishingly hard to retrieve intact. I wonder if the Maestro got that one?" "I wonder if the Harpy's family were told it had died a quiet death and been buried in a peaceful grave," said Rystin. Acid sentiment gave his voice a little bit of an edge. "Can you fight about this after?" said Fabian, and then a moment later almost heard his ex-wife chiding him for not thinking before speaking. "Uh... that was a bit direct. But--" "No," said Rystin, cutting him off. 'You're right. The crimes won't vanish while we're in here, and maybe when I've had time to accept that the Cycle of Monnia is here I can debate it properly. I mean... I suppose it's better that it has survived than it being destroyed. But it's loss was the reason for the Unseasonal Famine and the Crimes of the Spider Elves. The Empire has more blood on its hands now." Dread, wisely in Fabian's opinion, stayed silent. "Which way, then?" said Dread eventually, and Rystin stayed quiet and Fabian hoped that they had reached an understanding for the moment. "You expect me to know again, don't you?" Fabian paused, wondering if that was also too direct and then dismissed the spectre of his ex-wife's voice. "Well, I'd bet that there's a circular path... two paths, there are four doors. So there will be something dramatic behind the first door to our left to encourage you to continue, and something dramatic behind the first door to our right so that you see it just as you're finishing. The least interesting stuff will be at the far end since you're finishing one side and moving to the next so we'd put it there to encourage you to keep moving." "Is there an art to this?" asked Dread. "This sounds like there's a lot of thought gone into it." "There are a couple of books," said Fabian, determined not to mention that he'd written one of them. "Let's go right. Let's see what the finale would be."
The door opened easily at their touch and Rystin smirked when he saw the sign on the door: "Exit only," he said. "Seems like you're right, Director." Fabian squirmed a little at the use of his title but that vanished when they stepped through into the room. A rectangular block of white stone was set in the middle of the room. Around it were skeletons; bones scattered across the floor. Some guns were lying amidst the bones and there were tatters of bright cloth in the old Imperial colours trapped underneath them. The walls of the room were painted with arcane symbols that Fabian felt seemed oddly familiar but Dread and Rystin reacted to strongly. The light from the Staff seemed to be pulled towards the stone block, creating little streamers as it shook it Fabian's hand and there was an oppressive sense of a storm gathering overhead. "That looks like the altar you showed me in the forest," said Fabian, searching for something normal about the scene. "It's definitely a wisp-elf altar," said Rystin, still staring at the walls. "And it's still active."
3 comments:
Surely as an ex-farmer you should appreciate these rainy days? I would gladly trade places with you at the moment, Malta seems to be entering it's sunny phase.
Unseasonal
Rystin glowered on one side of Fabian and Dread was uncommonly silent on the other side, so Fabian had to concentrate of the shuffle and click of their footsteps climbing the staircase and wondering if there was going to be a fight soon. At the top there was a large space with doors, two in each side wall at the front and rear. The centre of the space had stone exedra set with good views of paintings on the walls, all of which were canvases easily three times Fabian's height. The darkness inside, though alleviated by the Staff's light, made it hard to make out any details. Brass podia below the paintings held glass cases containing objects, but only the closest could be seen from where they were and Fabian recognised nothing they held.
"That's a Harpy skull," said Dread, pointing to the nearest case on his left. "Those are astonishingly hard to retrieve intact. I wonder if the Maestro got that one?"
"I wonder if the Harpy's family were told it had died a quiet death and been buried in a peaceful grave," said Rystin. Acid sentiment gave his voice a little bit of an edge.
"Can you fight about this after?" said Fabian, and then a moment later almost heard his ex-wife chiding him for not thinking before speaking. "Uh... that was a bit direct. But--"
"No," said Rystin, cutting him off. 'You're right. The crimes won't vanish while we're in here, and maybe when I've had time to accept that the Cycle of Monnia is here I can debate it properly. I mean... I suppose it's better that it has survived than it being destroyed. But it's loss was the reason for the Unseasonal Famine and the Crimes of the Spider Elves. The Empire has more blood on its hands now."
Dread, wisely in Fabian's opinion, stayed silent.
"Which way, then?" said Dread eventually, and Rystin stayed quiet and Fabian hoped that they had reached an understanding for the moment.
"You expect me to know again, don't you?" Fabian paused, wondering if that was also too direct and then dismissed the spectre of his ex-wife's voice. "Well, I'd bet that there's a circular path... two paths, there are four doors. So there will be something dramatic behind the first door to our left to encourage you to continue, and something dramatic behind the first door to our right so that you see it just as you're finishing. The least interesting stuff will be at the far end since you're finishing one side and moving to the next so we'd put it there to encourage you to keep moving."
"Is there an art to this?" asked Dread. "This sounds like there's a lot of thought gone into it."
"There are a couple of books," said Fabian, determined not to mention that he'd written one of them. "Let's go right. Let's see what the finale would be."
The door opened easily at their touch and Rystin smirked when he saw the sign on the door: "Exit only," he said. "Seems like you're right, Director."
Fabian squirmed a little at the use of his title but that vanished when they stepped through into the room.
A rectangular block of white stone was set in the middle of the room. Around it were skeletons; bones scattered across the floor. Some guns were lying amidst the bones and there were tatters of bright cloth in the old Imperial colours trapped underneath them. The walls of the room were painted with arcane symbols that Fabian felt seemed oddly familiar but Dread and Rystin reacted to strongly. The light from the Staff seemed to be pulled towards the stone block, creating little streamers as it shook it Fabian's hand and there was an oppressive sense of a storm gathering overhead.
"That looks like the altar you showed me in the forest," said Fabian, searching for something normal about the scene.
"It's definitely a wisp-elf altar," said Rystin, still staring at the walls. "And it's still active."
Greg - I don't need crazy hot. I just want regular hot. Mid 20s hot. That's all. I'm not being picky :P
Ooh, this seems like trouble. I'm sure they'll manage to handle it, but I'd still be quite worried if I was Fabian.
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