(062) The Basal

[sully]

Dorgan will move as far away from the door as possible, and then rest.

If anyone opens up the Hidden Chamber, he'll rest in there.

[danhem]

Ulric settles into a corner far from the entry and extracts the mysterious orb from his pack. He beckons to Josiane and Wen.

"The more minds we have to focus on our search the successful we will be and the less taxed each of us will feel."

"Once we know more about Gustave's position we can plan our next move."

Ulric peers into the Speculum and thinks of Gustave, searching the dark corners of the Abbey and it's sinister catacombs.

"He'd better not be drinking wine and eating pastries," he mutters to himself.

[waysoftheearth]

| Okay folks, I have:

Highbough: keeping watch in the dark passage outside the reliquary.
Desmond/Mondes: check the secret door?
Ulric, Josiane, Wen; engaged with the orb?
Dorgan: resting

Dieter?
Olaf?
Armando?
Torben?
Beringar?

If I don't hear otherwise, I will assume Dieter, Olaf, Armando, Torgen and Berigar take the opportunity to get a bit of well earned rest. |

[mgtremaine]

Wen would certainly try and help with the Scrying if possible. Otherwise he would watch the procedure at the very least as it is a interesting bit of magic. Not to be missed for sure.

[ehiker133]

Desmond opens the secret door.

"Anyone who wants to rest can do so in here. We can close it behind you and, at the very least, you should not be found if our rest is interrupted. Ulrich, if all three of you can safely enter the room through the secret door, it would be the best place to do so. We can take two rest shifts to make sure everyone gets a good break. Anyone who doesn't need to tend wounds should watch first so the others can do so. Then we can trade places."

After the door is open, Desmond checks on the statue that housed the fountain to see if there is still a source of clean water in the Reliquary.

[coffee]

Dieter will indeed rest, but he'll do so in the outer chamber where the scrying is going on; something about the inner chamber seems disinviting to him.

He'll also take this opportunity to pass his silvered sword along to Olaf, who may well need it before this day is done.

[sully]

Dorgan will wait and let someone else check out the secret room before he gets up and moves. So damn tired...

[waysoftheearth]

Arrangements are made for rest and a watch while Ulric meditates over the Queerious Speculem for a time, with Josiane and Wen looking on--his unlikely apprentices.

The ball is dark for a long while as Ulric concentrates, searching his memory for any recollection of Gustave, and of the paths and places of the fallen abbey. A sheen a sweat crosses his furrowed brow, yet still the globe shows him no hint nor mercy. But at last! Like a tiny fleck like a pastry crumb comes to the center of the orb. So tiny it is, that only Ulric is aware of it at first; and he reaches for it in his mind, reaches far far deeper than he thought possible. It seems that thousands and tens of thousands of miles fly countlessly through the darkness so that the tiny fleck grows to an appreciable speck if light that all three now see. And orange flicker it is, then suddenly the whole ball is filled with a vast red/black, turning landscape. The view is rushing in at such terminal speed that scarcely has a great ring of fortifications been seen from a bird's eye, as the view hurtles through a tiny window in a high, bleak wall. And into a barren, stone cell.

And in the cell is a man. A weary, bedraggled man. Hunched helplessly in a corner with long, matted hair hanging limply over his face and past his shoulders, and an unkempt beard, shot through with streaks of iron, hanging down over his chest. There are many marks scratched on the bleak walls...

And the vision fades with an almost audible Whhumph!

[waysoftheearth]

| 1d6 |

Now while all this and more is unfurling within the reliquary Highbough (the Grey Elf, Tauranon, the Night Cat, Morgulug, or whichever name you wish to use--they all point to the same crotchety old figure) stands doubled over his staff-spear under a night black cloak in the dim passage outside.

The only illumination here is inside the reliquary, and running out the open doorway, so Highbough is quite shrouded in shadow where he stands watch. Only his canny eyes gleam a mote of reflected light now and then as he overlooks the darkness.

| An encounter has occurred, and so the ref will roll to determine whether it surprises Highbough (1d6=3) and whether Highbough surprises it (1d6=6). So it's mutual surprise! And the distance is 1d6=5 so 50ft. |

Highbough realises of a sudden that a patch of shadow has begun, ever cautiously, drawing nearer and nearer along the ceiling--a spider-man perhaps?--and is now some 50ft away; above the bottom of the trapped stair. Whatever it may be, it is a superb climber and sneak, for now it stops abruptly and gives a scarcely audible sniff; and turns its head to scan the shadows in which Highbough waits... its eyes are a pair of scarcely luminous orbs, reflecting the flickering light of the reliquary back at Highbough...

| Highbough is surprised so cannot act decisively, nor call for help. But he may muse and say a few words to whatever it is on the ceiling... (dare I say...Gollum?)

Those inside the reliquary are quite unaware of this, busy as they are... |

[Eris]

"Thanks Dieter." Olaf says as he accepts the silvered sword, "I hope to put it to good use."

He'll return the dagger when he gets a chance with his thanks for its use....and he will rest a turn or two if he can.