|
The Sprites all gather erratically, asymmetrically around the area of the glowmarsh. A thin fog rises from the marsh lands and the mist around Vorpal's assistants seem to cast it in an azure light. A circle of turquoise flickering, flame emerge from around where the fort is meant to be.
Rain begins to fall, creating a worried murmur amidst the gathered sprites. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes, reflected into the water beneath them.
The path for Vorpal to get there is simpler than it would've been without assistance. A soft blink of blue mist gently indicate the safest path across the Glowmarsh.
The fog begin to thicken and rise further away from the ground....
Johnnie follows in their wake, hands clasped delicately behind her back around the hilt of Sigknifr. She made no bones about drawing it- even pausing to let the lovely blade be examined if any take interest. It's not the fairies she's drawn the blade for, after all. She sticks to the trail for now, following an old adage- trust, but verify. She follows the glow as seems to be intended, but uses her own senses to search for signs of bad footing or other nasty things hiding in the mist.
The path that is illuminated is safe, the rest of the marsh seems to be rather treacherous or contain several unseen, immediate danger for wanderers who would be new to the area or at the very least unprepared. Most of the mushroom around the area are likely to be some variation of poisonous, if not actively hostile in some fashion.
As the fog rise and conceal more of the Glowmarsh, the blue light that comes from the various sprites color the whole fog a pale shade of blue. Beyond the fog, a silhouette of a tall stone-like structure suddenly appear, dripping with water, algae.
"Ah! Is this our destination? Have you lot raised it from the marsh already?" Johnnie murmurs, careful not to be unnecessarily loud as she proceeds, slowing a touch as the fog rises, taking care to try to avoid those dangers she caught wind of earlier, even if the lights are diffused and harder to follow. She could slip into her leaves and ride them to their destination... but that feels like cheating, and the whole point of this was Adventure.
"It is your destination." The cavernous voice of the leader comes through the fog. "The Sunken Fort is no longer below the surface and will remain as such until the sun rises."
As soon as Vorpal takes her first few steps toward the fort, the shadows it cast become rather significantly obvious to her, a convenient visual aid to find the entrance through the fog.
Johnnie nods. "So be it. I'll make the most of the time I have. Your cooperation in our deal is appreciated, elder. May Winter treat you all well." And with that, she sweeps off towards that entrance in the fog!
Johnnie nods. "So be it. I'll make the most of the time I have. Your cooperation in our deal is appreciated, elder. May Winter treat you all well." And with that, she sweeps off towards that entrance in the fog!
As she enters the fort, Vorpal's nose is assaulted with a strange smell, a spell of dizziness takes over and her sight unfocuses for just a moment. Enough to allow her a glimpse into the full effect of whatever almost affected her. A vaguely her-shapep image within the fog stepping through the strange marsh fire, her reflection in the water being a Marsh-land elemental allure instead of her usual shadows.
She shakes off the hallucinatory effect, barely so, leaving her head buzzing slightly.
The entrance of the Fort leads into a sort of courtyard with a large, still puddle of water in the middle. Beyond it lies a hallway that seem to lead to a large door. A lot of the details obscured by the fog.
It's a shaky, unsettling thing to be confronted by yourself, changed in ways you had once been confident couldn't be changed. Pausing to clear her head, Johnnie groans, distinctly pained by the after effects and trying to regain her bearings. She stops by the puddle at what she hopes is a safe distance, peering in to see if it holds any dangers she can identify before looking towards the hallway and doing much the same, staying on guard as she can.
The puddle is very still and reflects her mien perfectly. Further inspection reveals the puddle is not particularly deep, about ankle-height. Inspection of the hallway would require somewhat of a closer look, the fog makes it rather difficult to observe anything from afar, even if afar is 10 ft away.
The puddle, by all appearances no longer a concern, takes a literal backseat as Vorpal heads towards the fog. She's not sure what to expect, exactly, and tries holding her breath this time, in case the fog was the source of that strange smell, trying to rely on her other senses to scout ahead as best she can!
The hallway walls are made out of stone, carved by hand and then polished over by water over the course of serveral years, leaving a slick finish. The door at the end is half open already and leads to a full-interior area with a red carpet of some kind.
The fog is thinner here, but the smell linger, even as it fades slowly away from the Elemental's nostrils.
Johnnie lurches to a stop, head spinning, groaning to herself and muttering curses in Spanish (what fun learning a new language if you don't learn the good words, after all?). For a moment- was this still the castle? Those carved stones, whetted by water- were they in the ruins, or- did she imagine the water? This felt like the tunnels beneath the city leading north, the way her head hurt and swam. She felt awful.
So she did the first thing that came to her head, in a move that would surely have delight Glitch had he watched her do it.
Whipping her fist out, Johnnie's pantomime drives one of her shadow's fists into a particular stone of the wall, cracking it as Vorpal's Glamour twists the narrative. The castle's poisoned? Of course, all ruins have defenses. But the clever heroine knows that such pervasive defenses must have remedies for their occupants, and suspects that there- just there- there must be something of aid.
A cache of Goblin Fruit with healing properties, if her Hedgespinning has anything to say about it!
Beyond the one stone that Vorpal pulls upon lies a small purple bag with some strange pixelated edges which contains a few similarly pixelated fruit of the kind she wished to grab. The pixelation fades rapidly once interacted with.
Vorpal sighs in distinct relief, taking the bag and pulling a fruit free to nosh on it greedily, quietly wondering if the bag started life as a Crown Royal pouch as she continues further in, easing towards the end of the hallway with the half-opened door and the carpet inside, wary of disturbing some hidden danger while she's still so weak.
Beyond the door is an entirely different setting than the exterior of the Fort Suggest: The carpet is a bright red, the changelier above shines bright with lit candles affixed to it.
The furniture however is particularly damaged and worned, broken couches and seats. A few shelves laying face down and charr marks upon several, piled up chairs.
A set of spiral stairs going up is acting like a cage for several skeletons apparently and the entrance to it is guarded by a set of scattered armor on the ground.
Tapestry hanging from the ceiling slowly sways to a soft draft of wind around the room. Behind each of those lies what seems to be a tall mirror.
Keeping a suspicious weather eye on the skeletons and armor, Vorpal glides towards the tapestries studying each of the tapestries first before moving any of them, suspicious of the charr marks suggesting an explosion and eager to avoid setting off any traps of the sort. She eats a second fruit, relieved at the partial reduction in her throbbing headache, invoking the Contract of Fae's Cunning to further protect herself from surprises.
The Tapestry doesn't depict anything in particular, but it is rather heavy to move around. While Vorpal is inspecting those from closer, she catches herself peeking into the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror is her alright, but her elemental core is different in the mirror, instead of shadows, there is smoke, her eyes glow like ambers and her mouth shine bright like a furnace and she can feel the heat roiling off of the mirror. That version of her matches her motions.
That's fascinating. Johnnie thinks back- she'd caught a glimpse of herself as a swampamental earlier. She stares at the mirror, then slides away, moving to glance in the Northern mirror next.
The Northern Mirror displays an image of a mannikin made out of wood and metal, something that may remind someone of a spot for armor display in games such as Skyrim. Vorpal grows closer to the staircases, the north eastern mirror is the nearest to it.
Eyeing that cage of a staircase and its armor pieces, Johnnie pauses for a moment and tries to move to see the armor through that northern mirror. While she knows the armor won't respond to her Elemental affinity here, she can't help but wonder if the mirror version of herself can make the armor stand up. So she tries, staring into the mirror while she tries to grasp the reflected armor the same way she would a healthy patch of shadows.
The Armor doesn't move, despite Vorpal's best effort. However, the door to the staircase opens the moment she focuses on it. However, Vorpal feels drained a little bit from that effect. (-1 glamour) and once that's done, the mirror now reflect her normal mien...
Still! That's exciting! Vorpal pulls the last fruit from the little pixelated pouch and ties it to her belt, eating the fruit as she moves to check the SW mirror next.
That one reflects Vorpal as some kind of storm-like elemental, wind swirling around and making her much paler clothes about in some kind of badass fashion, lightning coursing through her hair and at her finger tips. Each breath the reflection draws is a frosty breath.
She can't help but stare at herself a moment there. She likes what she sees, but- it's not quite what she needs just now. She moves to the SE mirror, putting off NE for last and taking stock of what's at hand.
This has deep fully blue eyes and resemble the swampmental from earlier, algae as hair and water pools at her feet, both from her and from the mess around her in the reflection, her teeth are sharp and pointy in that one.
A slow nod, starting to grok the interactions of mirror and self, moving at last to the NE mirror, keeping an eye on the armor and skeletons. This place hasn't always treated its guests well, after all.
That particular mirror has been broken and shattered, all of the shards are apparently present with a point of impact in the middle of the mirror, with a touch of dried blood there. The many myriad of reflections don't reflect Vorpal in any different ways.
That leaves Vorpal wondering aloud. "Wood, Wind, Fire, Water. Perhaps the last was metal? I think that fits some Eastern elemental alignments..." Musing, she moves towards the stairs, peering upwards, keeping a wary eye on the empty armor and the piles of bones. How had they come to be stuck there? Presuming none of those things move on their own... she starts up the stairs, politely weaving around the armor and the fallen.
The stairs lead into a much smaller room which is devastated with the elements. It smells weird, but not like the mist from earlier. In the middle of the room is a table with a large bowl made out of some kind of crystal. Next to it is a little leather pack, neatly folded.
Into the room Johnnie steps, looking around, fascinated by the damage done by the elements themselves .A shadow reaches out to pluck at the pack, patting it down to get a general look at what its contents are shaped like. The bowl, too, is interesting, but- for the moment- left alone for safety's sake as Johnny doesn't yet know what caused the elemental chaos in these chambers.
The pack seems to contain what one would need to repair or fix some jewelry, the things are worn and mundane in nature. Next to it are several, un-made part of what seems to be a chain pendant.
Within the bowl of water is a prism crystal that seem to fit with the other part left on the table.
Studying the pieces of what has come to feel strongly like a puzzle, Vorpal moves to claim the tools and put them to work repairing the necklace and pendant, using a shadow to pluck the prism from the water once the pendant itself is ready to accept it, cautious and prepared for anything... she hopes.
The water from the bowl follows, absorbing within the prism, turning it a sea green and some tiny algae form within. The Sunken fort seems to rattles when the pendant becomes complete.
The sound of glass shattering is heard from downstaris, water, electricity, fire, smokes and metal rattling on metal start climbing up the stairs to join Johnnie almost immediately.
Chaos around Johnnie...
Johnnie twists to see the chaos rising and acts quickly, whipping Sigknifr through a rapid pattern across the surface of the table, etching a pattern of elemental runes and sigils designed to promote control and containment into the table itself! She's quick- in the first few moments, she binds fire, electricity, smoke, and metal to the prism! Water's last, but it also already got a shot of water from the bowl- maybe that's enough? If not, it'll only take a few more seconds to carve that last sigil...
The fort stop rumbling, the noise around stop. Blue mist start to pour from the outside, from between the stones. The pendant glistens with the various elemental forces that were wild just a moment ago.
Johnnie lets out a relaxed sigh, reaching out to take the pendant and wrap its chain around her hand for the moment, glancing at the mist with worry. Was sunrise almost here? Was the mist a sign of the impending return to the swamp? Spinning on her heels, she took the tools and the crystal bowl- just in case they belonged to someone- and started to hurry back the way she'd came.
|