Player Plot: The Mysterious Ruin

[serannas]

WHO: Ellana Ashara, Korrin Ataash, Vasran Thelassin, Thranduil, Felix Alexius, Sam Gareth, Kallian Endris, Velanna, Merrick Ashara, Eirlys Ancarrow
WHAT: A trip to an elven ruin in search of the Sulevin Blade leads to some surprises.
WHEN: October/Harvestmere 1-5 (mostly travel time to and from)
WHERE: the Dales
NOTES: OOC post is here.

The clues have led them to this spot in the Dales, hidden behind thick vegetation far from the eyes of Orlesian soldiers, Red Templars, or Venatori. As they enter, Ellana throws down a barrier on those closest to her, sure that the other mages will do the same. Korrin and Sam have done this with her before, but she's thrilled at the response she's had this time to inviting others along. There is strength in numbers and she hopes that together they can face whatever is standing in their way to the Sulevin Blade.

The first room spreads out before them, and simple entranceway with statues of harts flanking the door way into the next area. Ellana turns in a small circle, eyes gazing up towards the ceiling before she smiles and pulls out a notebook, making quick notes on what she sees with her charcoal. It looks like this ruin will be like the last, with nature reclaiming it after so long without inhabitants. She likes that if anything has to live here, it's trees and grass.

She steps up to the doorway, checking it for any sort of trap before renewing her barrier and stepping through. As leader of this exploration, she's willing to take the risk of being hurt so someone else doesn't have to. And now that she's in here, this room seems a little unusual. On the floor are four slightly raised tiles, each bearing a symbol. In the middle of the floor is a large, raised circular tile that bears all four symbols in a row. And there seems to be no door other than the door way they walked through. Surely this can't be it.

Anyone care to explore?


[ ooc: one thread, all hop in, I provide the clues, you guys react, I provide plot progression! hit me up in the OOC post linked above if anything is unclear, and have fun! ]

Comments

[serannas]

As Merrick comes into the room, he'll find no tiles that release fire, or a wire stretched across the door to trip them up, or anything ready to come out of the walls or ceiling to impale them. In fact, he'll merely get the first look around the place.

The room is roughly square, with high ceilings. It's roughly square, because one corner is dark and looks like part of the wall has been smashed or simply crumbled away. Might be something back there. The rest of the room is free to examine too, but it's worth noting that this room has a door with no handles. It's locked, but there's no keyhole.

[unharrowed]

Vasran tenses when the... what seems to be a wyvern appears, but her shoulders sag when it turns out to be nothing more than remains. Disappointing.

Still itching for some sort of excitement, she follows close behind Merrick and Korrin. When the room beyond proves to be quiet, Vasran moves away from the group, toward a wall where a torch rests, unused. She lights it with a wave of her hand, then plucks it from its sconce. That's when she spots the darkened corner, the crumbled wall.

"Falling to ruin?" Or could something be hidden there? She's headed over.

[el_tybs]

The reveal is certainly exciting and has Sam backing up and getting ready for a fight when- the bones just fall apart. He blinks, the whole thing feeling rather anti-climatic. Well maybe if they wait a moment- nope nothing happening. "Huh," he mutters, standing up straight, feeling just a little bit jipped.

Hilt still in hand, Sam follows after the others, still looking over his shoulder every once in a while - you know just in case. The room they enter feels less impressive then the previous, but the door certainly grabs Sam's attention. Slowly he walks over to it, trying to make something of it.

i am here, i was always here, i never wasnt here

[rowancrowned]

He, unwilling not to, toes at the skeletal remains as they pass it by, making sure it really is dead and gone and not like to attack them as they come back through. It's the intelligent thing to do, and if in his next step, his heel comes down on another piece of bone and grinds it into dustier-dust, that's for the good of the party.

He heads for the mysterious door when Sam does, and after a moment's pause, runs his fingers down the seam where door meets wall.

"If we discern which side has hinges and which has the lock..."

[dalishious]

Merrick drifts toward the dark corner with Vasran, eager to find something that isn't another damn puzzle.

[blightedson]

Now that Felix can move from his platform he finds his way near by Ellana's side again. He thinks, for a moment, about taking one of the bones from the beast and bringing it to his father who would probably find some use for it, but he shoves that aside in favor of looking at the door.

"There may also be another hint around here. Or some magical residue. Do you feel anything?" he asks of the other mages in here. Detecting that sort of thing was another thing he was never very good at.

[failedfirst]

Velanna actually let out a short bark of laughter as the wyvern crumbled to dust. Really it wasn't funny, but so absurd that the ruins had been apparently undisturbed so long that the creature had died.

She followed along with the others into the new room, looking around the room with her previous stoniness back in place. At Felix's question Velanna exhales slowly, pressing her lips together.

"There is always magical residue in places like this, pinpointing a source may prove difficult..." All the same it isn't a terrible idea, and she absently lifts a hand, as if she's attempting to divine magic from the air.

[serannas]

Off in the dark corner, Merrick and Vasran (and anyone else who wanders over) will see an unusual sight. The bricks of the wall are crumbled away from here, but this doesn't lead into what seems like the next room. Instead, there is a small space, perhaps five feet wide by five feet deep, and what's sitting there is well... maybe they should ask the others to come and look because it's not everyday you run across a stack of huge skulls with one wearing a cheese wedge for a hat. Really, these skulls are bigger than Qunari skulls. You could sit on these skulls and your rear would have plenty of room. But what creatures possessed such a large skull? Why are these skulls here? And why the cheese?

Back in the main room, the door doesn't seem to want to reveal any secrets. There doesn't appear to be anything remarkable about it save the fact there are no handles or keyhole. But old elven magic still lingers in this place, and those mages who try to sense it will feel drawn towards the wall that -- when viewing the door straight on -- is on the left side of the room. Here the brick pattern is broken up by something else. In fact, they seem like floor tiles once more, but they are on the wall and they have a pattern that isn't in order at the moment. Basically, it's a fancy ancient elven version of this.

[gatheringstorm]

Frowning in concentration, Korrin then gestures to the wall on the left side of the room. "Over here, this way...." She strides over, not checking to see if they follow, and pauses by the tiles on the wall. "If we put this back in order, maybe it will tell us more? It's worth a shot, right?"

And maybe it will open up a trap door if they get it wrong or snakes will descend or something else horrible, but they're as ready as they can be. No turning back now.

[unharrowed]

Vasran glances to one side when she notices another of the elves coming along with her. Merrick. They've not interacted directly much on the journey, but she's found he doesn't put her on the defense as much as the other Dalish.

She doesn't have much time to ponder that before the light of the torch falls onto the skulls. And the... cheese wheel.

She's just going to ignore that part for a moment.

"Giants' skulls?" she guesses, glancing again at Merrick to see if he might know. One doesn't ever encounter giants' corpses in urban areas, but wandering the wilderness? Perhaps.

[ancarrow]

"Giants?" Eirlys echoes, peering into the dim corner rather tentatively as though half expecting a live one to come lumbering out of there. When she sees the skulls for herself she goes in for a closer look, peering through an eye socket and tracing the overall shape, fascinated by such an uncommon piece of anatomy to pore over.

[el_tybs]

He hears mutters from those at the darkened corner, but cannot make out the words from over by the door, nor does he give it great attention as no one sounds alarmed or yelling.

His eyes glance at Thranduil as he comes over, nodding slightly at the mention of hinges. If there was not key hole on this side he doubted there was one on the other, but if they could find where the doors were attached to the walls, they could mess with those if necessary.

The lingering magic does have him slowly wandering to the left of the door, though not quickly enough since Korrin is already there, speaking up about putting something back in order. Hearing that Sam turns his attention and joins Korrin at the spot. "It is... but there's a piece missing. Do you think it's in the room somewhere?" It had to be gone to move the others, but perhaps they needed it to finish the picture after being done?

[rowancrowned]

"I think that-" he means the puzzle. "-might be the key to this."

But he's never seen anything like it before. Does one simply slide the tiles about until they arrange them just so? Why make it out of stone, which wouldn't slide well? Why is the cheese in the closet still fresh enough to be called cheese?

Thranduil takes his hands off the door. "What is the picture supposed to be once unscrambled?"

[serannas]

Ellana is looking over the room, wondering if maybe Sam's right and there is a piece missing. Maybe over where people are gathering behind the wall? But before she can make her way over, Thranduil asks about the picture and she comes over, examining it and pulling out her journal once more. She flips through it, comparing the tiles to a sketch she made last time she visited a ruin.

"It seems the elves who built these sorts of places all had a certain pool of designs they drew from. You see? I've drawn this before." She holds up the journal to show it off. "How do these tiles move?" she asks, reaching out to lightly touch one. Nothing happens, so she applies pressure and pushes it up into the blank square. When she lets go, it stays it place, either from clever engineering or magic.

[gatheringstorm]

"Huh...so if we slide them around to form that design, then something might happen? Though Sam's right, it's not complete. We might need it to be, to move on. It can't hurt to looks around...." So that's what she does, first checking nearby and then spreading further outward in the room if that doesn't turn up anything.

[dalishious]

Merrick remains with Vasran and Eirlys for the moment, observing the skulls, his expression perplexed.

"Might be," he mutters, crouching down to get a better look. There are a lot of questions here. Not only has someone managed to get one giant's skull but several, and then for some reason they've decided to stack them in the deserted corner of an elven ruin in a meticulous arrangement complete with a cheese wheel.

Seriously, what?

[serannas]

Ellana sticks by the puzzle, trying to sort out the moves in her head beforehand like she does with chess. It should be noted that she's still not very good at chess so she may need help with this.

The skulls are providing no answers as to their reason for being here. They are nothing beyond what the explorers can see. Some mysteries simply remain mysteries.

When Korrin explores, she'll find the only part of the room that might have what she needs is over by the break in the wall. There is plenty of brick rubble here and if she searches through it, eventually she'll come across the last tile needed for the picture puzzle. She might also find a rolled up bit of parchment too.

[gatheringstorm]

"Found it!" Korrin holds up the last tile with a grin, then turns her attention to the rolled up parchment and unrolls it, taking the time to look over or read whatever contents are within. The others can wait a moment.

[dalishious]

Merrick rejoins the rest of the group, and finds a bit of rubble to hop onto so he can peek at what Korrin is reading.

[serannas]

When unrolled, the parchment reveals a personal letter:

Dearest darlingest Antoine,

I count the minutes until I see you and your little soldier again. You know he is always welcome in my mystic grotto of delights. The poor boy is so neglected in the company of that frigid wife of yours but I will show him wonders once again!

Forever yours, Yvonne

P.S. Climb over the broken bit of the back garden wall this time. Remember, that last time my husband nearly saw you coming up the drive as he departed on business.


And that's it. There is nothing else around to explain the presence of... that in an elven ruin.

Meanwhile, Ellana is getting all mixed up on which piece goes where, but at least they're found the last piece now. "Good!" she calls out over her shoulder. "Once I find out where that piece goes, I can do the rest." And under her breath she adds, "Hopefully."

[gatheringstorm]

Upon reading over the parchment, Korrin lets out an amused snort. "Andraste's tits, this is something that belongs in Varric's romance serials. I'm keeping it to show him later. He'll piss himself laughing." She'll pause to let anyone read it who wants to take a peek, but afterward tucks it away. Araceli might find it amusing, too.

[failedfirst]

Velanna is standing and watching Ellana try to solve the puzzle. After a few more blunders in direction of which way to push the pieces she sighs and walks over, slinging her staff back over her shoulder.

"Here, I'll help. My father used to make these puzzles for my sister and I." Velanna actually has an appreciation for puzzles. While most games seemed silly to her as a child, puzzles promoted logical thinking and problem-solving. Two things she has always excelled at.

[el_tybs]

Turning his attention away from the puzzle - since it seems to be under control - Sam heads over to Korrin to also glance at the parchment. "A love affair, huh? Odd that it's here..." Unless the scroll came off of this Antoine person who happened to have been here? "Another piece for Varric's stories," he agrees with Korrin as she puts away the scroll.

"You know... we should get ready if something like the first room happens." And the 'guardian' not being dead on arrival either.

[dalishious]

Merrick rolls his eyes at the letter, and moves over by Ellana.

"I'm starting to think this place is a joke," he mutters to her.

[serannas]

Ellana looks over from her contemplations and frowns a little at Merrick's words.

"There are always puzzles, but I'll admit they can get tedious. I'm a little embarrassed we found a skeleton like that, but better than a live wyvern or whatever it was." She darts a look over her shoulder in the direction he'd come from.

"Did you find anything over there?" She doesn't yet know how far this joke goes. But in the meantime, they have to sort out this puzzle if they want to find the Sulevin Blade.

"Ma serannas, Velanna. I think I'll keep my hands off it, but I'll get ready with the barriers. Korrin, could we see that piece? Let's see where it's supposed to go so we can leave a space for it."