The Descent pt 6

Jp with Bandorchu, Omni, Lorem, LucianNepreen, and Winteroak.

With Voah in the capable and loving hands of Gonyaul, Alexis moved over so she could guard the path ahead while they rested.

She crouched down and took a drink of water herself, keeping an eye and an ear to the darkness to the west.

“We wouldn’t be here without you either, Voah.”
she said truthfully.

“We all did get caught up in some trouble or other right after that trip, it seems.”

Gonyaul excused himself from the conversation and stood to stretch. He reached high for the ceiling, interlocked his hands and leaned to one side; then the other. It felt nice to elongate after carrying everything.

His attention went back to the gargoyle and he walked over to it for a closer inspection.

Tarmen looked at Voah, nodding his brow towards Alexis in agreement.
“Wasn’t any of our blades that cut this ass’s head off.”
He tapped the imps head to emphasize his statement.

Gonyaul paused and sized up the creature from head to toe. He murmured to it in Vauxian. He drew nearer to it, observing closely its design and anatomy. He wondered if such a beast existed? And perhaps it wasn’t a beast at all, perhaps it was intelligent and civilized?

He was true to his word and didn’t touch it. The eyes were special, everything else in this place looked like it was falling apart and in disrepair. Wouldn’t the eyes have been taken, or stolen, upon abandoning this place?

Gonyaul looked it in the eyes. It’s hard-piercing red orbs vs his compassionate-absorbing dark ones.

He spoke, barely audible, “what’s you story?”

Voah smiled at them both, but wasn’t ready to tell them the truth about the sword. She didn’t even know if it was Holy in the slightest.

Going west from the strange red eyed statue, you find yet another caved in tunnel to the south before travelling north to find a tunnel that leads east. Or you can continue to the north. Tarmen and Voah taking the lead start to feel a sense of doom around the party. As if you are being watched from the shadows.

Voah whispered, "Something isn't right..."

As the party slowed, she glanced around. Every hair on her head felt like it was standing on end.

"Does anyone else sense it?"

She checked her torch to make sure it was going to stay lit, she wasn't keen on fumbling through such deep darkness.

Gonyaul readjusted one of the satchel bags that was slipping off his shoulder and readjusted his balance from the distribution of objects he was carrying.

He whispered back, “I no feel anything?”

His danger radar wasn’t working apparently. This whole venture he had been moving about as if he was taking a walk in an open field and enjoying the experience.

“Can’t say I do. Something magik, then?”

Alarmed by Voah’s warning, Alexis put away the notebook again, having become increasingly puzzled over the seemingly random assortment of tunnels on her map. She looked around on her end of the group, hand now on the hilt of her blade.

He couldn’t say whether or not he could feel magic now, but this marked one of his big rules.
“A place will tell you when you have overstayed. I vote we leave. Now.”

Gonyaul wondered if leaving was the right choice. It felt like they had prepared the field, but then willingly chose not to plant any seeds. The investigation wasn’t finished, they had not found much of anything they didn’t already know from the first room they entered. There was more going on here than they had learned; were they just going to leave it to mystery, or the next group that had to come down here to complete it?

“You are the ruin delver.”

Alexis agreed, though her confusion showed. She had honestly no idea what had both of them so spooked. But maybe their senses where just better attuned to this kind of scenario? In any case, she would not fight Tarmen on this.

Gonyaul couldn’t contain himself the curiosity got the better of him.

“Feel weird to come find things and stop before find things.” He interjected his opinion politely.

Her sharp insight on the words and demeanor of others told Voah that Gonyaul and Alexis were being deceptive. They felt something too. Why weren't they admitting it?
"We stay. There is a dark magic here. It must be extinguished." she said with some authority.
She was glad to hear Gonyaul agreed, but there was something strange about his words. She was feeling confused.

Tarmen looked at the Arbiter with a stubborn confusion, wanting to argue, but also wanting to keep the group together. Nothing killed a group faster than infighting.
A moment hung in the air before he sighed and grumbled.
“Fine, than I vote the eastern tunnel. No point goin’ deeper if we need to search for… whatever is in here.”
He let Voah go in front of him, meeting her eye as he showed his disagreement.
“Lead the way, Arbiter. You know better than us where evil lies.”

Maybe it was her head. She shook it off. “Agreed.”

Her questions about sensing things was partially to confirm her own senses, to help her determine if it was something everyone could sense or a byproduct of her faith.

She took it that everyone could feel it but two of the party members said they didn’t sense anything. ‘Impossible’. She could almost taste it.

“This is my duty, as you two know. If you will accompany me in this I would gladly have you. Alexis, I admire your code but promise me this. If something happens, you MUST get the others to safety. But by the Pillars, I am bound to this.”

She then stepped past Tarmen, taking lead, headlong into the corridor to the east.

The corridor to the east leads to a dead end. Above in the ceiling a narrow shaft opens into the corridor from above. Those of you that were aboard the shipwreck on Sentinel Island see the similarities to the smooth shaft that lead into the rocks. So smooth that it seems like it was burnt into the rock.
As Voah looks up her headache flares up. Tarmem thinks he can hear a tapping sound coming from above...

Gonyaul just blinked and looked from one to the other. He rested his gaze on Alexis and slightly shrugged. He didn’t understand why the other two were getting so worked up.

He continued to follow.

Alexis shrugged back. She was starting to get worried, and it wasn’t about something undefinable lurking in the shadows.
Following behind the group she kept dutifully marking their way.

Voah tried her damndest to hide the headache and push it back. Now was not the time for it.
Seeing their body language, Voah stepped over toward Gonyaul and Alexis. “Is there something you want to say? You don’t have to hide it.“

Another dead end and more of that tapping. Tarmen’s instinct was telling him to leave, they had to leave. Finding the tunnel didn’t help. Seeing the stone, he wanted to argue again, but was cut off by Voah’s outburst.
Come to think of it, Alexis and Barrel Boy had been in the back the whole time. He hadn’t noted the two whispering out of trust, but now it was undeniable.
“Did you see somethin’? Or find somethin’?”
Barrel Boy had been very interested in the statue, while Alexis had been scribbling the whole time.

The hint of betrayal was in her mind. Why were they really here? Gonyaul never actually answered that question. Was his wooing a ruse to take her guard down?

Alexis looked at both of them dumbfounded.
What was with the aggression?

“No. Nothing at all. In fact I have absolutely no idea why both of you are so frazzled. Did something happen that Gonyaul and I didn’t notice?”

Gonyaul took a few steps backwards as he was unexpectedly confronted. He looked confused.

“No see anything. No feel anything. Promise.”

He asked back, “what is wrong? You not the same as moments ago?”

He did flash a glance at Alexis. The others were escalating emotionally and that could lead to potential problems.

Tarmen couldn’t believe they weren’t hearing anything, nor feeling the oppression of this place. Something was off and it was these two being so… unfazed.
He didn’t want to think of it, but the thought of Alexis taking something and leaving him here as some sort of sacrifice was forming.
Barrel Boy looking to Alexis was like another nail in the coffin, a guilty partner looking to their more experienced leader.
He gripped his blade handle and leveled his gaze at Alexis.
“Somethin’s pissed here and you two are the only ones not noticin’. So either you’re both just plain stupid or you’re hidin’ something. Out with it!”