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Entry tags:
[CLOSED] DON'T DUMAT OPEN INSIDE
WHO: Adrasteia, Laura, Ellis, Tony, Val & Holden
WHAT: Exploration of the Temple of Dumat
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Northern Orlais, Ghislain, ...The Temple of Dumat
NOTES: Mild horror; content warn as necessary; OOC Plot Information; Original Investigation Report
WHAT: Exploration of the Temple of Dumat
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Northern Orlais, Ghislain, ...The Temple of Dumat
NOTES: Mild horror; content warn as necessary; OOC Plot Information; Original Investigation Report
Though the end of winter is hardly the most pleasant time to go trekking through old ruins, returning to the excavated Shrine of Dumat in the heart of the Ghislain region of Orlais is simple enough. Thanks to the collapse of the Venatori-Ander force's hold on the region, they face no opposition and will easily find their way there. While a small contingent of Exalter Marchers has been tasked with keeping tabs on the ruin to make sure no enemy return to it, they've been wary of digging too deep into the sanctum's lowest levels. So congrats: you all get to pick up right where the last group of Riftwatchers left off (or finish what you started in the first place, Tony).
The team has been tasked with two primary objectives:
- Follow up on the first team's work. Explore the ritual chamber of the shrine where the rumored "gate" is located; recover any artifacts or clues therein and retrieve as much data about the rift as possible. If anything isn't safe to bring back to the Gallows (like, say, a certain blighted Venatori mage's corpse), conduct a thorough study and then destroy whatever can't be recovered lest it fall into enemy hands. If you can figure out how to close the gate, then all the better.
- Thoroughly explore the remainder of the ruin. Verify that there are no ancillary shenanigans on site beyond those found in the ritual chamber. Collect any additional information or traces of Venatori activity on site.
How This Works:
Objective One, which features the exploration of the ritual chamber with its tainted rift and the miscellaneous clues which can be found there are a free-for-all mingle zone. The whole group can interact with that area.
Objective Two, the detailed exploration of the additional chambers, will consist of two branching paths. Look for the header with your character's name in it. These sections will consist of a series of dungeon rooms featuring good old fashioned traps, puzzles, with general exploration hi-jinks encouraged.
Each chamber will be described upon entry and have its own conditions for solving the area and allowing characters to progress through the dungeon, but don't worry if you're not big on puzzles. The ruins have seen better days and what may have once been problems with definitive solutions may now be a little less rigid.
As your characters explore and attempt to solve the puzzles they come across or wander across taps, I will interject here and there with relevant updates. If at any point you get stuck, you can attempt a Perception Check by bolding the relevant section of your tag (i.e. 'She studies the runes on the doors and [blah blah blah insert the rest of the tag here.]') and putting CHECK in the subject line of your comment. I will then roll to see how much information your character manages to glean in order to provide additional hints and clues.
These clues will be oocly visible to everyone, but icly known only to the character who made the check.
If the group as a whole at any point decides they're done playing with puzzles and want the cheat codes for the current room, have the next player put SKELETON KEY in the subject line of their comment and I'll provide you with the solution. I'd much rather we have a satisfying narrative adventure than trap anyone in rooms just because folks aren't feeling a particular puzzle.
If you have any questions, ASK ME HERE.
ellis | ota.
By the time they've reached the shrine itself, the melodious, hissing pressure of the Calling is beating like a second heartbeat in his ears.
It's not like the False Calling. It's bigger than that, all-consuming. The unwavering, disquieting rise and fall of it holds Ellis' attention as he moves along the edges of the room, taking in the rift in the center, one hand trailing very carefully against the slick, sharp stone walls. The familiar, eerie presence bears down on him like a physical force, something prying and pulsing in time with the rift in the center of the room. Nearly fifteen years of instinct turns his attention in towards it, steps slowing in his circuit around the rift. This is the same way he'd have turned his thoughts towards the humming presence of a hurlock tugging at the corners of his mind, but this is not a hurlock. What he receives in turn from the narrowing of his focus towards this is the sense of being clawed into, some vast, ancient consciousness winnowing it's focus down solely to him, sinking into his head and wringing forth—
Ellis wrenches away from that presence so violently that it becomes a physical movement. He staggers unsteadily backwards to collide with the unfortunate person who'd happened to step into place behind him. Oops.
no subject
She is sweating, however, and her brow is wrinkled in effort; clearly he's not the only one to feel/hear/sense the Calling emitting from the rip in the Fade.
"I suppose it would be preemptive to leave now." She isn't entirely serious, but some small part of her wishes it were an option, honestly.
no subject
Instinctively, his hand comes up to grasp her elbow. The grip is just a shade tighter than it should be, hanging on to steady himself even as he recognizes a mirrored shock in her eyes.
"We should," Ellis yells back, wholly serious while knowing they won't. Can't. This is bigger than either of them.
They'll need to tell Vance. (Adrasteia will need to tell Vance.)
"Have you ever...?"
The trailing break in the question is more for lack of readily available description, for knowing the futility of the question. If any Warden felt this, wouldn't the word of it had spread as lightening fast as the False Calling.
no subject
"If we can't close it..." She presses her heels into the ground, steadying herself, and leans forward a little. It's a struggle not to shut her eyes at this moment, but she bears through it, focusing on various points on Ellis's face. "Can we destroy it? Turn it to rubble."
It shouldn't remain, not with that rip in the Fade above them. Not even, in her opinion, long enough for other Wardens to deal with it.
no subject
"I don't know," he shouts back, steering her slightly away. The angle of his body slants between her and the rift. "The Herald said the gates have to be protected, but what that means—"
He breaks off, making a sharp, indecisive gesture with one hand. Sweat is gathering at the nape of his neck, prickling at his hairline. There is a threat here and he can do nothing about it.
What does protection mean in this case? There Herald had been clear in her instruction to administer it, but this isn't such a straightforward thing. Is it enough to remove the gates entirely from play, make them inaccessible to anyone else? Ellis can't imagine leaving this, sat unattended, with the prying clutching attention of something ancient lurking in the dark unchecked.
no subject
She doesn't doubt Ellis' recounting of the Herald's dreams and what she's come to consider the geas of the dead woman to all of Riftwatch — to change the future or fall prey to its machinations. He moves, slightly, taking up space in her line of sight. It doesn't lessen her awareness of what's behind him, not when the darkness emits a lack of light that settles around Ellis' head like a halo.
But the next breath comes a little easier anyway.
"Then it has to be cleansed. A connection to the Fade directly is dangerous enough, but this?" She shakes her head, fingers of the hand still lingering on his upper arm curling inwards. "It can't be left like this."
no subject
But even the prospect of reaching out to other Wardens makes Ellis hesitate. It's hard to tell how much of that is his own reluctance to present himself to any of his fellow Wardens and ask their attention and how much stems from what he and Vance had worried about: the prospect of infiltration, of the potential that Corypheus' agents had spread farther south than anyone knew. How could they risk calling something like this to his attention?
"No," Ellis agrees. He can feel the pressure of the Calling like clawed fingers dug in at the nape of his neck, not increasing but holding, steady and intolerable. "But we might not come up with a way to deal with it today."
Even shouting, his voice doesn't carry beyond either of them.
"As long as it's kept hidden, we'll have a chance to neutralize it."
Is that a reassurance? He isn't sure that it is.
no subject
Then again, it's a temple to an Old God. Perhaps she's being too hopeful in general.
"Okay." The sound of her agreement barely carries; in a normal room it would be pitched low, quiet, and here the vocalization is swallowed by the same growling pressure she can feel all around them and knows the source of which is that tear in the fabric of reality above and behind Ellis.
no subject
Val generally does not bother to learn anyone's name until it interests him to do so. Rifthwatch, therefore, is made up of a great many people who he knows without knowing. One does not make camp without learning by what they are called, but when there are two Wardens who might both be called Warden (Apparently Possibly Human Warden, Elf Warden; Beardier Warden, Not-At-All-Beardy Warden; Rugged Warden, Pretty Warden; et ainsi de suite), and when one is otherwise engaged with notes and study and various activities far more interesting than socializing with Wardens--well, one might be forgiven for not yet learning the name of the man that has trod backwards and practically pushed into one's chest with an elbow.
Thus does Val not realize he is giving a genial and bracing slap on the back to his great rival.
"It is overwhelming, yes? This place? Such a," he waves a hand in the air, then grimaces a little and touches a hand to his throat. "Am I shouting? I feel as if I am shouting."
no subject
The slap is good though. Ellis appreciates it. There's something grounding in it, though it doesn't do anything to dislodge the overwhelming chorus of whispers rattling in his head.
"No, it's not—"
The first, rushing attempt at explanation breaks. It's just as well it's swallowed up by silence. Even in the snare of the temple's magic, Ellis knows how shaken he'd sounded. Straightening, he shakes his head a little.
"Do you feel something amiss in the air here? Not just the...this," Ellis attempts again, voice pitched loud enough to carry, gesturing between them. "Something else. Something unsettling?"
no subject
"I suspect my innate curiosity and desire to understand this place is suppressing such a feeling," he eventually announces. "I feel, perhaps, and only if I think very, very hard, a small itch at the back of the neck which suggests there might be something to beware. It is a misgiving of self-preservation which I have often felt in similar situations and when crossing thresholds into venues where I might not have been entirely welcome--but in truth, this only makes me more curious at what we might find within. I take, by your question, monsieur, you are feeling such an unsettling much more strongly than I, yes?"
At this rate, he is absolutely going to lose his voice. Untroubled, Val smiles.
no subject
This is not the moment to ruminate on it, but some flicker of incredulity comes and goes in the set of Ellis' expression, vanished within the blink of an eye. He can tell himself this is a good thing, in a way. If Val isn't troubled to distraction, their chances of managing something productive will be higher.
"I've never spent so much time in a small chamber, underground, with a rift," Ellis volunteers after a moment's scrutiny. Val doesn't need to know anything beyond that. "Whatever was being done here, it—"
Descriptors come and go. Ellis shakes his head.
"It's better we put an end to it."
And never come back, though Ellis is sure that's unrealistic. This place had to be protected. They can't simply leave it.
no subject
Only someone without sense would not feel the tingling at the back of the neck, the prickle of hair raising on the arm. Yet one must embrace the feeling, not shy away from it. It is not the fault of Warden Beard that he does not feel that same way. Val therefore claps him on the arm very charitably.
"It would not do to leave without discovering something of this place. Surely you agree, my friend."