Seat of Our Noble Line (Part 2)

Ivyhold Manor. An opulent place fallen into ruin. So far, a symbol spell of some sort has been disarmed and dispelled, and the party of four has entered the house to investigate. The very first room that everyone has entered into is more of a grand opening hall, a beautiful staircase that once soared up the floors now battered and in disrepair, and two doors--one left, one right--leading to different rooms.

The left door bore a note pinned in place by a knife, a parchment slip that contained only the words 'help me Eluna' written in a pained hand. When inspected, a streak of light shot down the staircase and ended in the middle of the room, forming a door that opened...

And leads to somewhere. A long way down. Into a canyon with many waterfalls, a top-down angle that suggests walking through the door may suddenly lead to someone falling from the sky into another place entirely.

Giving the new magical 'door' one last look, Telamon nods. "At the very least, let's... how do the guardsmen put it? Ah, yes, 'sweep and clear' the house before taking any side trips. Ni'essa is patient; she won't mind if we tend to things one step at a time." He pauses, then grins. "Like the phases of the moon."

He hms, before walking towards the right-side door, but he doesn't touch it -- instead, invoking a detection cantrip to check for any more surprises. "I admit, as divine revelations go, a door to somewhere else is really not the strangest thing I've seen..."

GAME: Telamon casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 18 DC: 18

Verna arrived with the others, prepared. Prepared for exactly what, pray tell, she has no keen notion, yet she endeavored to be prepared enough. Her quiet examination of the manor in disrepair was broken by the sudden rush of air and subsequent forming of a doorway. One that is now opened to reveal its apparent destination to potentially be no less ... windy. "It seems prudent that we take steps to gird ourselves against gravity before any steps are taken through the portal."

A dip of hood follows to Telamon. "That is also prudent, presuming that the passage will not vanish as abruptly as it arrived." This draws her attention back to said portal for study, as the more active and intriguing portion of the room at present.

GAME: Telamon rolls spellcraft: (1)+23: 24 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Telamon rolls spellcraft: (6)+23: 29

"I, too, would learn what secrets the house may hold," Seldan murmurs, his gaze steady on the door before them. The _detection_ spell he had cast earlier has now dissipated, but he regards the opening with something soft in the evening features, mingled awe and gratitude. "For it is even as the Archmage says. The Sky-Singer is patient, and will await us."

He turns to the others, the steady mask shifting to resolution. "Come. Let us learn what else of this house we may."

Zeke nods to the others glancing at the door he once held open. He trusts Seldan, but he does not trust this house. He leaves the front door behind and moves to follow the paladin through whatever door he chooses now. Whatever path lays before Seldan; lays before Zeke as well.

Telamon stops in front of the right side door, and holds up a hand. "Hm." A pause, as the half-elf studies the door before speaking again. "Sir Seldan, Zeke, Verna, we are definitely going to need to watch our step. There's a symbol of striking scribed onto this door."

Tel takes a careful step backwards, before looking to the others. "Want me to break it? Or do we check the left side first? I don't think that one's trapped, since Sir Seldan pulled the note off without anything happening." He pauses. "Then again... Sir Seldan, did you inspect that door with detect magic?"

"That did I do, and naught did I find," Seldan answers evenly, turning to regard Telamon. "Removing the note from the door summoned the port we now see before us, but naught else of magic did I see upon it. Do you prefer, I shall attempt the dispel, that you might save your strength. This is not a small manor, and we have not yet departed the entryway." This is accompanied by a ghost of a smile.

He turns then, to Zeke, seeming to read his mind, or at least his body language. "Fear not, kin. She walks with us."

Zeke blinks as Telamon mentions that the door that is to the side is trapped in some manner. It seems to him that if they are going to learn everything of this house that they will need to dispel such traps eventually, but it might be that there are other ways to disable them through the house as well. A low rumble leaves him as he considers speaking up, but Seldan does first, and he lets his thoughts go unspoken.

He trusts Seldan's instincts on this matter more than he trusts his own. This is after all, a matter of his kin's. This place is a soft-skin home; the ancestral place of Seldan's kin. If he feels at home here, then Zeke is inclined to trust that over the distrust that he knows is born of the many things which have accumulated over the years. "Thisss one could try to dissspel it, though thisss one isss no mage."

Telamon steps out of Seldan's way, carefully not approaching the trapped right-side door. "As you wish." He pulls out the note again, looking at the short, almost cryptic plea, before tucking it away again. At Zeke's words, though, Tel's eyebrows rise. "With respect, Zeke, you are a devoted servant of the Most High in your own right. I daresay he entrusts you with great power indeed, if only to heal. I haven't forgotten all you've done for my friends -- and I appreciate it."

Tel's eyes flick up that ragged staircase to the second floor, keeping an eye out. "Although I hope you possess some form of flight. I really do not trust those stairs, if we need to check the next floor."

Seldan's gaze remains on Zeke, steady and even. "You are no less a dispeller than I, kin. More, perhaps. Have you another thought? For you have more wisdom to share than you know." He seems content to wait, eyes resting on Zeke, as if waiting. "You have the means to fly, that do I know." How he knows this, he does not say.

He looks again, then, at the left-hand door. "I would see what lies beyond that door, ere we release the symbol, for it may be that it contains another threat, one that I would not see released to approach us unawares."

Zeke relaxes a little, letting out a little self-deprecating noise of amusement. "Thisss one isss glad to be appreciated. Thisss one isss sssurrounded by ssome of the besst ssshamansss that thisss one hasss ever sseen. Thisss one would not dissscount them againsss thisss onesss own ssskillsss how-ever; which are more of a healing nature."

No small feat he knows, and here that skill might yet be put to the test. He nods to Seldan. "Thisss one would ssssuggessst the door un-trapped firsst. For the reassson you sssay kin, and alssso in cassse sssome sssecret way to releassse the trap liesss inssside."

He nods again, feeling slightly more confidant. "Thisss one doesss have meansss to fly, and will do ssso; but thisss one hopesss it iss not... necesssary. Thisss one isss not ssskilled at sssuch."

"Skill enough to not plummet, as the enchanted door suggests all might, would be ample," Verna offers Zeke in assurance and encouragement in Vernese fashion. "As to the doors," she gestures to the more mundane variants, "I follow your prerogative, Seldan. This is your familial manor, afterall."

GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (16)+25: 41
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (5)+25: 30
GAME: Verna rolls perception: (13)+29: 42
GAME: Zeke rolls Perception: (19)+5: 24
GAME: Verna rolls will: (6)+24: 30

Telamon cautiously advances into the room with his companions and the master of the house. He regards the destruction with a certain amount of sadness -- the destruction of a place that was once crafted for quiet contemplation and conversation. There's also a shiver that goes through him, a memory welling up in his thoughts.

He pauses, hunkering down to inspect the charred, damaged books. Reaching into his haversack, he withdraws a pair of white silk gloves, donning them before carefully starting to examine the scorched volumes. He pauses at one, his eyes widening. "Verna," he says softly, "Am I mistaken? Isn't this a copy of 'Worlds Outside Our Own'?" He lets out a soft whistle.

The reveal of the room's contents sparks a sound; a sharp wheeze of breath. Not unlike a death rattle, though more brisk and with airflow in the opposite direction. Thus inflated by her gasp, Verna darts precariously quickly to the pile of ash and scorched misery around it. Half (or more)-charred tomes are rapidly, yet gingerly, moved from the burnt spot as if that might protect or further restore them.

They are also regarded, of course, in as much as might be legible. "These are not all casual, common reading..." Telamon's comment pulls her attention sharply to him and the indicated book; to the degree that she shuffles nearer to peer at it. There is a low growl-like sound. "I believe so... and this was no accident. Why?"

"Naught more do I know of this place than you, Mourner," Seldan reminds, evenly but with a touch of wistfulness. "Not for four generations has a Padaryn set foot within these walls, and no longer am I even one of those."

"Nonsense, Seldan," the nasal grandmother speaks up from his hip. "If the blithering, overstuffed dolt whose seed happened to make you is one, then so are you, and he gets no say in the matter."

"FALLIA!" A young, light man's voice sounds scandalized, from the same place on his hip, amid snickers from another female voice, and multiple male chuckles joining in. "She's right, you know," the querulous male voice remarks. "We decide that. He doesn't."

While this is going on, Seldan has stepped into the room, and pads with slow, booted steps, one piece at a time. "All these books," he murmurs slowly and sadly, surveying the destruction. So lost is he in his own thoughts, that when the bickering abruptly stops, he almost doesn't notice, but it's the deep, rich male voice that isn't often heard that speaks now. "Seldan. Look beneath the books. On the floor."

"Mmmm?" He does so, toeing aside the shattered remains of a porcelain teacup and a half-charred book cover. "A symbol of negation?" Suddenly, his gaze sharpens, and he begins to clear the detritus away, leaning hands down to do so. The voice speaks up again. "Keep looking, Seldan, see if it's complete." Minutes later, when he does, blue eyes scan the symbols revealed on the floor. "A dismissal, by the negation method. A method since deprecated for the forces of the Void involved, but - there can be no doubt."

As the others gather in the room, searching over this and that, through charred books and damaged things, Zeke stands just inside the door. For a moment. He sniffs. It's a subtle thing, not wanting to be rude, but... He takes another deep breath and he moves unconsciously toward the scent of what has caught his attention.

It's nothing special he finds, but it has significance to him. He reaches out with a claw toward the tea set and the teas in their little containers. Doesn't touch them, but his brow furrows as he glances again toward his companions. Then quietly he offers a low rumble.

"Kin?" A query, and then he continues. "Thiss one notesss that there isss much in the way of food and drink left here, favored thingsss are left behind. Untouched. Perhapssss your... ancesstor could not... take them? Perhapsss sssick or unwell. Perhapsss..." He gazes toward the door.

"Undeath." He ducks his head, embarrassed to have interrupted the important discussion about the charred books.

Telamon stares at the damaged books, his expression tightening. "Regret," he replies to Verna. "Sometimes, you're so appalled by what you've done, you don't want anyone to follow in your footsteps." He looks at Sir Seldan with a sad look of empathy. "Your ancestor was not the only one who plumbed too deep, and came to hate what he had done."

The revealing of the symbol makes Tel nod slowly. "He cast something out, perhaps? And then... tried to destroy as much of what he had accumulated as he could?" He frowns. "It feels a little slapdash though. Clumsy." With gentle hands, Telamon sets the most intact books to the side, out of the ashes

At Zeke's commentary, his eyebrows rise. "After how many years? I know hardtack will keep a long time, but surely he wasn't subsisting on hardtack..."

GAME: Telamon rolls profession/cook: (17)+14: 31

Verna frowns. Deeply. At first. It softens with an exhalation as slow as her prior inhalation was harsh. "It may well be, Telamon. This would not be the first time that someone delved deep for knowledge, conjured something beyond their ken, suffered for such folly. Afterwards sought to make amends, if only to ensure others could not readily follow in their wake."

Reunion continues to banter back and forth at Seldan's hip, but it's half-hearted, and Seldan does not answer. Instead, he nods to Zeke, and then to Telamon, his eyes drifting to the floor, where he stares at it in silence. "Undeath," he murmurs. "We must learn what became of him, what he sought to dismiss here - and release him, if need be. I need the whole of the truth."

Zeke shrugs at Telamon's question with his right shoulder. He has no way of knowing how long the food has been sitting here uneaten. "Thisss one knowsss that there isss no mold on any of it. Nothing to indicate it hasss gone bad. Which after sssuch a long time isss perhapsss sssurprissing." He doesn't seem inclined to try and eat any of it either. The very thought is appalling. Actually... His eyes drop to the floor, looking for any signs of the animals that sometimes come to live in soft-skin homes. The ceiling. What are they called again? Ah yes. "No rodentssss."

Does he seem disappointed?

GAME: Zeke rolls Perception: (17)+5: 22
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (1)+25: 26 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (18)+25: 43

Telamon moves over to inspect the snacks. Picking up one of the crackers in a gloved hand, turning it over. "Yeah. No rats. No worms. No sign of pests. These don't even have any mold on them. I wouldn't recommend eating them though." He sets the tidbit back down. "Which... may be a sign of something nasty, as you say. Undead. But--"

He stops cold, tilting his head. Then he points at the door back to the main hall, his expression pale. He hears -something-, as he pads towards the door, but he doesn't go running through it.

GAME: Seldan rolls 1d20+1: (18)+1: 19

Verna's head turns suddenly, ear towards the doorway they entered and she lifts an open hand sharply to halt others. "We are not alone," she utters quietly as she rises and steps cautiously towards the door. "The call of a child..." Her tone suggests that she is not certain the sound was uttered by a child. Such is unlikely... save for the presence of the magical door?

Seldan isn't looking. He's not even paying attention, nor has he moved, and he's turned to the wall, leaning a hand on it.

"Seldan." Fallia says suddenly, sharply. "Seldan. It is time to come clean. What is troubling you? You've been silent long enough."

"Come on, Seldan. Don't think we don't know something's wrong." "Cough up." The noise from the chorus of voices is getting quite significant, until one cuts in. "SHUT UP. ALL OF YOU."

The voice is the young, light, mousy male seldom heard from. "A child. I hear it too. It sounds like-"

Even Seldan lifts his head at that, and stares uncertainly at his hip. "Zee?"

"Yes. Take us to the door, Seldan. Now. I have to see if that's who I think it is."

The rest of the voices have fallen uncertainly silent. "Zee?" Fallia asks slowly, the other voices having fallen silent.

"Now, Seldan. I have to know."

Seldan sucks in a deep breath, clearly pushing whatever had him aside, and makes his way towards the door.

Again, unlike others, Zeke doesn't seem to notice what's going on. He's drawn again away from what Telamon hears. A flicker of something else catches his eye. At first he thinks he's wrong. That it's a rat and he hunches down near the movement, but its not an animal. Cautiously, he reaches out and pulls toward himself a little chain of metal.

He is so distracted by this that he does not in fact initially hear that there was something being heard at all. His eyes nictate, and he thoughtlessly gathers the chain into his flesh-and-blood claw and rises to his feet.

Seldan's sword and voice draw his eyes then and he seems startled by the weapon's words and Seldan's own, but he does not hesitate to follow. He is directly on Seldan's heels.

Going back to the door that leads out of the room reveals the source of the noise. It's a little girl with strawberry-blonde hair, a pale-yellow dress tumbling down to her little feet. She's maybe two years old. She's so small, her blue eyes so big and wide and innocent--

Except that she's looking at the door. The magic one that'd opened seemingly at Eluna's direction. Her thumb's at her mouth, and she doesn't seem to notice all the people walking in the room nearby to the doorframe.

Instead she waddles perilously close to that open door. That door with a canyon and waterfalls flowing over it... A door that threatens to see whoever walks through it falling from the sky.

GAME: Telamon casts Wall of Force. Caster Level: 18 DC: 23

At the sight of the child walking so close to that door into empty air, Telamon's heart freezes. Maybe it's a trick, maybe it's not, but Tel can't take that chance. And with that, the elegant half-sil speaks, "Emegar, gisig duksium, sisig!" A flash of light from his deft fingers and a hexagonal pattern flashes into existence, crossing the space and blocking off the portal from the child.

"Sorry, my little fledgling," Tel can't help but grin, "but your wings aren't quite grown out enough for that yet. Maybe another time?" His eyes sparkle with distant stars -- even if this is something more than it seems, he knows he's doing the right thing.

GAME: Zeke rolls Diplomacy: (12)+11: 23

This is not what Verna expected. Rather, somewhat reversed, as her thought was that a child had emerged from the portal, not approached. As unlikely as it is that all is truly as it appears, she takes a reaching step for the child in reflex. A step that is not nearly as quick nor efficient as Telamon's solution.

With that concern addressed, some tension fades, replaced with concerns of another sort, and curiosity. She looks to Seldan, first, then the others, then back to the seeming child. "Why is a child present? How? Who?" Yes, many questions.

Zeke feels the same heart-stopping moment that Telamon does, but he has no ready magic that can easily protect the girl from such a fall. Not in such a simple manner. As the mage reacts and casts a spell to block access to the doorway from the girl, Zeke drops to his haunches. The little chain in his hand dangles. Showing off a variety of little tiny sparkling bits. A charm bracelet meant for a child. "Isss thisss yoursss little one?"

He knows she might be... dead. That she might be something haunting this place, but even a spirit unrestful can be at times comforted into sleep. Brought from a place where they are a harm to those around them, to a place where they can be returned to the Death-singing Dragon. And if she is alive; perhaps the shiny bobble will attract her?

When Seldan reaches the door, it's the sword at his hip who speaks first, as soon as he is close enough for the sword to see. "Mariana!" the young, light voice at his hip says at once, confirming Seldan's suspicions. Surprised, the paladin looks down at his hip, but seeing Zeke and Telamon both step in, he is loath to interfere.

The magic bars the way for the child--identified as Mariana--to go forward, and the door even snaps shut. The writing on it that had been written in another language that none could read yet all _knew_ to read as 'The Opening' flickers to another instance of language that cannot be discerned, yet reads: 'Closed temporarily for public safety.'

The strawberry-blonde child's bottom lip wobbles, seemingly frightened by the working of magic and the door snapping shut, but then Zeke calls out to her--and Seldan's sword calls out for her. She looks confused for a moment. "Tsee-Tsee?" she says softly in that little way that children struggle with some letters when they're younger. "Where Tsee-Tsee?"

Her big blue eyes settle onto Zeke and the charm bracelet. "Mmmyeah! My--my bwacewet." She begins to waddle over to the group, all smiles now.

GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/religion: (17)+22: 39
GAME: Telamon rolls knowledge/religion: (18)+13: 31
GAME: Verna rolls knowledge/religion: (16)+24: 40
GAME: Zeke rolls Knowledge/Religion: (19)+24: 43
GAME: Telamon rolls talky: aliased to diplomacy+5: (7)+30+5: 42

With the portal closed -- temporarily -- Telamon relaxes, looking at the young girl. A flicker of something across his face, and his expression softens. He kneels down, nodding to Zeke as the makari proffers the bracelet, and he offers the little girl a warm, welcoming smile.

"I'm sorry if we startled you, little miss -- Mariana, was it? We just wanted you to be safe." He places a hand over his heart, bowing his head. "We're friends of your papa, we're just here to check in and make sure he's okay." His eyes sparkle. "You can call me 'Tel', if you want."

No falling children. No (further) oddities. Verna receives an answer to one of her queries, at the least, though the other two remain. Despite her concern for the child, she is aware of her lack of maternal seeming and chooses to quietly observe for the moment. This is just as well, as Zeke garnered her attention, Seldan (and/or Reunion) are fare more familiar with the child, and her brother-in-bond is eloquent enough for them all.

"Oh. Oh, dear. Zee, you know who that is?" The kindly, nasal grandmotherly voice seems startled at Seldan's hip.

"Yes, hush Fallia. I don't know what's going on, but she knows who I am. Maybe she'll tell me. Don't scare her."

Seldan quietly walks behind the others, murmuring a word as he does so. The armor he'd made no effort to conceal before shifts, now, transforming, taking on the seeming of nothing more than a simple shirt and trousers, over which the robe and boots remain. He removes his gauntlets, then, and sits down on the floor where the girl can see him. "Zee is with me, little one," he offers, but it's the sword who speaks up again. "Mari, what are you doing out here?"

Zeke continues to hold the bracelet out for the child. If she is not a ghost - which if her name _is_ what Seldan's sword has identified her as... then she can not be - what is she? He has no idea. Something. His scales feel tight. His body tense, but he doesn't move. Perhaps if it gets what it wants it will go away. He lets Seldan do the talking and doesn't move so much as an inch.

Mariana looks thoughtful as she looks between Telamon, Seldan, and then the dangling charm bracelet that Zeke holds. She even offers a tiny little smile, although she seems hesitant still. "Wookin'for papa," she says, before she goes to step closer to Zeke.

She doesn't get far before the world suddenly trembles.

There's a shudder that comes throughout the house--followed by a creaking that racks through the walls, and the front door to the house _finally_ slams shut. It plunges the place into an odd sort of darkness, save for the soft blue glow that comes from the magic door, which does its own shudder, the writing reassembling itself in a jumble that no longer reads as anything intelligible to the group assembled. The wall of force falls away, the magic scattering out and disappearing as a despondent wail comes from above the heads of all assembled.

"Whah happin-in?" Mariana asks, shivering. "Tsee-tsee? Tsee-tsee, help!" Tears are blooming in those big blue eyes already, her arms going out to Seldan for him to hold. Does she think _he's_ Zee?

Finally the words on the magic door scramble to something that, despite the fact the script is for a language no one knows, all of them can read. 'SAFETY', this time in bright bold letters. And it swings open again, _hard_, showing that canyon again. The long fall.

It's not dark for Telamon, but that doesn't change the fact that they're in trouble, a lot of trouble. "I think Ni'essa is giving us some pointed instruction! Sir Seldan, pick up Mari, and if anyone can't fly, call out!" His fingers weave a complex pattern as he strides towards the door. "Baras kalag, dana i'iz!" he chants -- and a cloak of soft white light shimmers into existence on his back. And as he steps through the door, the cloak opens up into six wing-like vanes.

GAME: Telamon casts Overland Flight. Caster Level: 18 DC: 23

Verna's bit of calm, quiet, curiosity is shattered by the sudden shuddering and creaking of the house. Oddly, she has the mild impression that the structure physically collapsing upon them might be the least unpleasant possible outcome. Then comes the very helpful and congenial magical portal. Fortuitous? Concerningly convenient? Both?

Still, she draws others' attention to the unidentifiable-yet-intelligibile markings with a gesture and a single word, "There..?" She is prepared to follow the others, whatever their choice.

Seldan stiffens, when the word goes dark, his own worries and concerns forgotten when the child pleads for help. In that moment, the paladin makes a decision, a decision echoed in Telamon's words. "Come here, little one. Hold on as tightly as you can, and we'll get you out of here."

He gathers her up in his arms and strides for the door without hesitation. "Now! This is no place for a child!" Suiting actions to words, he jumps through the door, seemingly blindly, with the girl in his arms. Only when he is through the door does his mechanism of flight become apparent, for swan-white, feathered angel wings burst from his back, the span far too wide to be managed through the door.

Zeke doesn't have an ounce of hesitation. It's a door made by Seldan's goddess. Seldan has told him that he does not need fear it. That it comes from his own goddess. Zeke grasps Verna's arm and pulls her toward the door. How many times has he hesitated before touching another? But he can't - won't leave her here even a second. So he doesn't hesitate here either. There's a flash of makari teeth, and he jumps for the doorway.

He trusts, he has faith. He doesn't need wings. He simply leaps after Seldan... and trusts. "Ssssa!"

Mariana feels ice-cold to Seldan's touch, and in the chaos, it's really rather hard to discern--is she corporeal? Incorporeal? Something in between? It's not like the cold of a corpse, it's something _else_ entirely.

But the group goes through Eluna's door, and it snaps shut.

(And down, down, but wait--)

It's the oddest feeling in the world to go through this door. One braces for falling, the sick feeling of vertigo in the stomach that braces to hit the open air, to feel gravity fighting desperately against the body and send it down plummeting to the world below--

But it doesn't ever really happen. It's weightlessness, yes, for a moment, but the eyes see the blue of the sky one second and then suddenly--feet are planted on the ground. Dust rising from where people stand, like their sudden appearances are just as much a disturbance to the finer fabrics of the world as much as the blue door was a disturbance into the house from whence they came. Looking for the door in the sky reveals nothing. Nothing but blue, the sort of azure that makes one yearn for freedom to fly--if the group hadn't been contemplating a long fall just moments ago.

Mariana sniffles in Seldan's arms for a moment before she... giggles? Oh yes, she's giggling joyously. "Sun, Tsee-Tsee!" she tells Seldan. She points up to the sun in the sky. Daeus's light. It's as warm as it ever was. It's the kind of thing that reminds a Daeusite that their god works in the world and that He is present in some fashion, a heat haze befitting of the canyon.

And then Mariana's blue eyes blink. "Tsee-Tsee--wha'that?"

It's a good question. There's wings attached to a giant lizard body flapping in front of the sun, too. It roars magnificently, its black scales glittering in the sunlight.

-End