Fantasy Ascent into Madness

[Lyro]

The shots from Cyell's gun hit the creature in the back of its left leg with enough power to tear through flesh. Where they struck, the darkness enveloping the creature seemed to shiver and ripple. Each collision provoked a tiny blue flash that was quickly swallowed by its shadowy shrouding. Still the creature ignored it, and before long the darkness covering it settled back to its original state.

It did pause when a giant dragon appeared before it, however. It halted its slow walk away from the camp and looked up at the apparent head of Kniges, hands clasped behind its back. Kytrek took advantage of what he assumed to be its surprise to creep closer to it, still gingerly holding his own rifle. Gniss followed behind slowly, having crudely wrapped her hand's injury with a blade of grass. "Good! Don't let it escape!" she instructed Kniges, her face a mixture of anger and confusion at the creature's seeming imperviousness to weaponry.

Finally, the visitor seemed to tire of its observation, and began walking straight towards Kniges. As it was about to walk into one of its giant illusory wings, he brought his left hand forward, index outstretched, and touched the wing. Immediately, the illusion around him began to collapse, tearing like paper from the point of contact. As it dissolved he continued walking, passing straight through it and continuing to move away from the camp, towards the far end of the cavern. Only then did it break out into a sprint, moving faster than any humanoid should be able to move, running past the still slumbering giant animals around them.

"After it!" shrieked the pixie, as she broke into flight, positioning herself above them to follow its movements from higher up.

"No thanks," said Kytrek irascibly, a hint of exasperation finally entering its voice. "As the boy is so keen on pointing out, I'm too old for that. Besides, supposing we even manage to catch up to it, what do you propose we do then, captain?"

Gniss said nothing as she kept flying higher, her eyes straining to catch sight of the creature after it had disappeared behind one of the sleeping animals.

 

[C.DEX]

Cyell stood, his eyes open wide after their ordeal. He flicked the safety back on his gun and held it downwards. Unlike Gniss, however, he couldn't fly, and the creature that had invaded their camp had long since left his view. While he was begrudgingly willing to try to follow it, as he climbed back up to the where the slumbering animals had been - apparently unperturbed by gunshots and shouting - he realized that neither of them had a view on it. The fact that someone was able to break into their camp unnoticed and go through their stuff, and they had been impervious to all attacks ... was unnerving, to say the least.

Argis caught up with the others, breathing hard in his suit. "What ... was that?"

"I don't know." Cyell said. "I ..." he looked up toward Gniss, brow furrowing. "We can take turns keeping watch if you're going to fall asleep, just ask." he said, his voice showing no lack of irritation. Really, he'd just been afraid of the potential of what could have happened, but it wasn't something he'd admit to. He looked to Kniges afterwards, frowning, and turned away. "That could have been whatever fucked up the rocket. If it knows where we are, we might not be safe here." he said.

"No one could have guessed that was going to happen." Argis said. "Captain or not."

Cyell went quiet, already past the point of waking. There wasn't a way he'd be going to sleep that night. "I'll keep watch if we're staying, but we should leave." he said.

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges stood his ground, nervously. He had expected the creature to react in fear and back away but it seemed more curious than anything. What kind of creature did not fear dragons? This infuriated Kniges; even if he didn't admit to it, he was a tad bit scared.

As the shadowy creature stood before him Kniges inhaled mana to prep for a dragon breath attack. To his surprise the creature disrupted his illusion. Surprised at the action Kniges choked and the mana dispersed around him. Stumbling back couple steps he regained his composer and before he could throw his dagger the thing had already zoomed off.

"HA, As cocky as he was he fled when he realized it was the Great Kniges manipulating the dragon" He bolstered as if he saved the camp. In his eyes that's how he viewed it. Sheathing his weapons he closed the gap between Kytrek, Cyell, and himself.

"You all should consider yourselves lucky. I agree with Kytrek. No use wasting supplies on something we know nothing about." As he spoke his eyes stared heavily onto Argis; almost as if he were a basilisk freezing his prey. Kniges wasn't happy about bringing on someone new into the part. His vote was to kill the man. "Question, why was that thing here, and before we do anything, did it take any of our stuff? Most importantly MY STUFF?"

 

[Lyro]

While Kytrek and Kniges inspected the contents of their belongings to ensure nothing had been stolen, Gniss continued to circle above them, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature. She did not look at Cyell when he made his rebuke, but felt the sting of it strongly. He was right and she knew it: because of her hubris, an intruder had made its way into the heart of their group completely unnoticed. They had been lucky it hadn't been hostile, but its sudden flight (and disappearance, as she was eventually forced to admit, following a fruitless survey of the area) did not bode well.

"You're right," she told Cyell, avoiding his gaze as she drifted back down and moved towards her belongings. "We need to keep moving. My apologies, Kniges, but I do not think it was running because of you. An admirable effort, nonetheless." She breathed in deeply, taking a moment to collect herself. She had almost lost control just a minute ago. She looked at her injured hand, and was surprised to see she was still shaking from the experience. She grabbed it with her free hand and tried to hide the effect from the others as she turned back to face them. "Everyone get ready to leave at once. We're heading for the exit I spotted."

"Shouldn't take long to pack. Doesn't look like it took anything," commented Kytrek as he finished his inspection. "Even the packs it rummaged through are still neatly ordered. I guess we should be thankful our intruder was a polite one," he added lightly, in a vague attempt to defuse the tension he felt. Though he wouldn't admit it to Gniss, he was glad the creature had gone. It had been unsettling, but ultimately harmless; Kytrek had seen much worse in his travels. Admittedly most weren't able to shrug off mana shots like they were nothing, but that was a curiosity now, not a threat.

Still, he hoped they wouldn't encounter the curiosity again on the road up ahead.

 

[C.DEX]

With a lack of a good night's sleep, barely a formidable meal in them, and a slight fear that whatever they had seen would come back, they had begun to pack. Cyell rushed to get his things, slinging his sack over his shoulder and rolling up his sleeping bag to hopefully use next time. The incidents were wearing down his composition, but he kept quiet about it, instead focusing on gathering up supplies so they could leave as soon as possible.

Argis looked to Kytrek and Cyell, noting that the old man's supplies had been a little too much to carry for him. Naturally it would fall to his apprentice, who had seemed a bit more than overly tired. Light on equipment himself, Argis had opted to help, lugging one of Kytrek's machines over his back. He then briefly looked to Gniss, who had been harboring an injured hand, still.

"Do you all have medical supplies?" he asked aloud.

Cyell looked up to what Argis had been looking upon at the query, not realizing that anyone had gotten really hurt beforehand. He looked to the Captain, frowning. Of course, he was mad, but it had mostly been fear of what could have potentially happened. He looked back down afterwards, averting eye contact with her. "I'll look at it when we get to our next spot." he said. "There isn't any sort of quick fix and you're not going to want me to do anything to it right now, if that's what you're asking. Is it broken?" he asked, reaching over to pick up Gniss' supplies, as well.

 

[Jeda Teq]

He donned his protective gear and with a smirk Kniges scooped up his pack with the talon of his wing after verifying its contents. He was relieved that their would be no obnoxious goose chase to retrieve their items. The thing, whatever it was, was smart enough to not take his stuff. "No matter what you say pixie, it had brains enough to know this wasn't a tussle it wanted to have." He looked in the direction the shadowy being had fled then knelt down to examine its foot prints. If it left any it would be a good thing to recognize; if the situation arose Kniges wanted to be the with the surprise element.

After studying the ground for a few seconds he rose up to his feet, "Well, lead the way." he said as he walked past Gniss.

 

[Lyro]

Kytrek accepted the help from Argis gracefully (as communicated through an appreciative grunt, followed by "careful with that") and began to lead the way, walking in the direction Gniss had indicated. He looked towards Argis as he made his way around the creatures, some of which seemed to be lazily waking up. "I have some basic medicine. Nothing fancy. Speaking of which, how do you feel? No dizziness? Stomach still feeling okay? I know a few exercises that could help you acclimate faster, you know. If you're willing to devote a few minutes every day to them, you'll be out in that suit in no time." Kytrek's own suit had been packed away before he had gone to sleep, and he relished in the ease with which he could now move. That being said, it was still quite the load to carry; already in his head he was thinking up an enchantment that would make it lighter.

Meanwhile, Kniges searched the ground for footprints. It didn't take long for him to find the places where the creature had crushed the surrounding grass under its feet. The prints were small and narrow, and much shallower than any print a human or elf would leave behind. Whatever the creature was, it didn't appear to have been particularly heavy. As he examined it in greater detail, however, he noticed that the very tips of the silky grass blades where it had walked were ever so slightly darkened. None of the surrounding blades seemed similarly affected.

Cyell reached down to the ground to grab Gniss's small bag of effects, only to feel the pixie's hand on his own stopping him. "It's not broken," she said softly but firmly, as she pushed his hand back and grabbed her own bag. Even though it was nearly twice her height and thickness, she easily swung it on to her back, only struggling briefly with the straps as she was forced to use only one hand. "It'll heal on its own, anyway," she continued, as she began to follow in Kytrek's steps. "And until then, it'll serve as a reminder to myself."

As they emerged from the herd of creatures that had surrounded them, the entirety of the cavern was revealed to them again. The ambient light was still overall the same cool, blue-ish hue, but some of the pinker spores had begun to mix in with the blue ones, a natural version of the artificial lightrise one found in most of the World's cities. Directly in front of them, the main tributary of the river they had heard earlier could be seen. From this angle, one could also see the hole in the cavern it emerged from, some distance away. It wouldn't be a long walk to find out if the whole could accommodate their passage.

 

[C.DEX]

Cyell grunted, not pushing the issue further with Gniss, and finished gathering his own things. He made his way toward the mouth of the Cavern, where water poured through into their own. It was a natural exit, but depending on the strength of the river it may or may have not been passable. It could be too small or too massive, and they would either have to find another way or carve their own. Cyell silently wished it was open enough.

"We ... back in my home cavern there always used to be a passage from the one above us where water would come from. It was our main source, but ... it was all irradiated, like a carrier for mana from a higher level. Wondered where it had come from. Maybe a place like this." He said, looking briefly down to his tattoos. "It's what we use for our Rano, too."

"Do you wonder how your people are doing?" Argis asked, looking down to the Tievel. "Has it been a long time?"

"They're doing the same thing they've always been doing." Cyell said, his mouth turning down at the subject. "Chasing after bats and living on stalagmites."

"I see." Argis replied. "Not even after defying death? Being accosted by a shadowy figure and having your rocket stripped of all magic, stranding us on a level that houses some sort of incorporeal-but-not being impervious to all forms of attack?"

Cyell spared a glance at Argis. "Yes." He replied, flat, with an apparent undertone of annoyance in his voice. "It's fine. I'd rather be here than there."

"That's where you and I differ, I suppose." Argis said.

"You and I differ on a lot of things."

"Well ... I'd be happy to do any sort of thing to get this suit off." Argis said, turning his attention back to Kytrek. "Though several more days spent in it isn't the most exciting of ideas. And for the record ..." He paused, looking to the small dragon that had taken up part of their party. "I thought the illusion was impressive."

"Don't encourage him."

 

[Jeda Teq]

"We have far to go." He examined the hole in the distance, "I'm thinking we should get one of these creatures to submit." His dark eyes looked to Kytrek, "What do you know about domination spells? At this level it'd have to be pretty strong. I'll more than gladly offer your frail but smart bones a hand if need be"

The black dragon chuckled to himself as Cyell spoke of his people. He found the idea of the mana-poisoned waters being dragon urine raining on his hometown to be exceedingly humorous. "You seem to have a distaste for your own, but I bet you still eat rocks" He stopped walking fora second to pick up a stone. "Hungry?" He asked tossing it to Cyell. Still upset that he couldn't end this man's life, he would find any reason or way to get under his grey skin.

Kniges puffed his chest out and walked with a bit more pride in his step. He was upset with himself with his illusion failing to stop the creature but Argis' words lifted his spirit. "Silence yourself naive." He hissed at Cyell, "At least someone recognizes talent. I may have been wrong about you Argis. You may be useful to the party after all. So, what is it you can do for us?"

 

[C.DEX]

"Picking up rocks might as well be the only thing you're good for, anyways, so I'm happy to see you utilizing your talent. As for what I eat, looks like you're getting my people and your people confused, lizard. See, we eat flying creatures. Little gamey, though." Cyell said, not even giving the dragonborn the pleasure of hitting him, letting the rock hit the palm of his hand and dropping it to the ground. "Because all you can apparently do is flutter your wings and say stupid shit." He hissed.

"Seems like you all don't have the best chemistry, huh?" Argis replied, looking down at the two of them with a laugh. "As far as what I 'provide' to the team ... my own survival. That's all I'm obliged to provide. I didn't sign up for this, but I've been kind enough to try to help. So ..." He stopped, giving the dragonborn a smile that surely would have annoyed him. "Don't worry about it. And I'm not going to let any of you kill me, so it's not worth debating my merits. And no, I'm not inviting you to try."

"Oh, shut up. He's annoying and you made him think he did anything more than flap his wings. You know what casts illusions with its wings to scare predators? Butterflies. You a butterfly, gecko?" Cyell taunted.

"There's no use in fighting, now, especially if we're expected to rely on one another to survive. And butterflies are quite fascinating, especially those adapted to survive in the higher levels."

Cyell groaned. Listening to Argis talk was like listening to a passive-aggressive optimist, despite the fact that he was less aggressive than someone who had been kidnapped really should be. It was annoying in a way; he wanted to react to the insane dragon without being lambasted by passivity. And positivity, for that matter. Then, the sound of water had gotten louder and louder, giving ambient noise to their conversation and forcing them to look forward toward their goal.

The river flowed slowly, the water moving in it coming at a variable rate depending on where they had looked. As the group had gotten closer and closer, they had found that the sides of the river had borne a distinct lack of vegetation ... and animals, for that matter. Perhaps they had scared them with their conversation, perhaps not, but there was a lack. Further down the river and into the side of the Cavern, the river flowed out from a cave, the slope of it going upwards the further into the darkness that they looked. The cave was dark, but there had been a faint light coming from above.

They looked to Gniss, ceasing their arguments for a moment to look for a command.

 

[Lyro]

With one last adjustment of her combat gear, the now fully-protected pixie flew ahead and over the water to look up into the tunnel, having turned on her suit's wrist-mounted lamps. She went up some distance, looking critically at the rock over which the water rushed. It looked like it ran faster the higher up she went, but in the darkness of the cave it was hard to say for sure.

Meanwhile, Kytrek was stooped to the side of the river and running his arm over the rushing water. The steady tick of his Geiger counter spiked dramatically every time he approached the water, before dropping off just as sharply the moment he brought it back over land. He ignored Kniges's question for the moment. "I don't blame your people for not drinking upper water," he said at last. "This is some really toxic stuff. Looks like it's from at least one or two levels higher. I wouldn't have thought it would kill the surrounding vegetation, but I can see why the animals don't come here. Anyway, our boots will protect us. I think even a small sip wouldn't be that harmful, but best not to risk it. We can use our water purifiers if we get desperate."

He turned off the counter and got up, turning to look at Cyell and Kniges, arms crossed over his chest. "As for you two, get over it. You're both idiots, but Kniges is the bigger one. Argis, you're not helping. There. Sorted. Now put on your boots while we wait for our Captain to return." As he took his own boots off and swapped them for his suit's boots, he added to Kniges, "As far as domination spells go, my smart bones and I will be more than happy to test one on you if you keep acting this way. The half-orc's right about that much - no use fighting each other now."

Gniss returned then, emerging from the cavern's mouth to land in front of them. "The climb should be do-able," she said, her breathing slightly labored after such a long flight. "There are some parts that are a bit steep - we will need to break out the climbing gear for those. Otherwise, the water seems to remain pretty shallow throughout, knee-deep at worst. At least, for your knees. I... would appreciate some assistance."

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges' lips curled back, bearing his razor like teeth at Cyell and hissing. He began to give a retort at Cyell's snarky comment only to go hush when Kytrek began to speak. Big headed he may be, but he knew well enough not to interrupt this old coot when he spoke. Kytrek knew more about magic than the long beards at the academy and Kniges did not want to end up on the bad end of a mystic tongue lashing.

With his arms crossed Kniges smirked with a gleam in his eye as if he won an argument. "Hear that? I'm bigger than you." he said smugly; only to prove Kytrek correct. His good mood was spoiled by the mention of a domination spell being used on his. Kniges face contorted to one of upset anger. He took a deep breath and exhaled, his breath created a fog of mana as if it were a cold day. His scales attracting more mana than he realized.

"Fine..." he said throwing his hands up in defeat. "I suppose I could could show this toad some grace. I'd rather not be someone's doll. Not that you COULD dominate my mind that is. However he could learn a thing or two from our buddy Argis."

Gniss returned as the black scaled lizard began equipping his proper boots. After she finished informing the group of the situation he slipped on his second boot and rose up. "Sounds like my kind of adventure. Climbing's not a problem" He flashed his claws. "You!" he pointed dramatically at Argis, "I don't have to worry about the other up-trekkers but you're not apart of the guild. How well are you at climbing?" At this point Kniges was right on the half-orc. Looking up at him prepared to be annoyed. "And do you have climbing gear at that?"

 

[C.DEX]

"You're definitely the bigger assh-"

"We'll see. Used to be decent at it, but I make a point not to habitate in places I have to climb to, so there's that. Then again, I'm getting old, so maybe I'll just slip into the current and that will be that." he said to Kniges with a laugh, probably not alleviating any of the dragon's fears about his competence. Still, Argis didn't seem like impressing the others had been even remotely within his goals as he made his way forward into the water. "I assume I shouldn't start my mana-adjustment exercises now?"

Cyell shook his head, reaching into his bag and grabbing his climbing supplies. Of course, they hadn't been built to hold an entire time of people. He looked to Kytrek, then Argis. "Well ... I have mine, but - and no offence, Argis - but it can only hold two. Any more and it will probably break." he said, flicking out the hook, whose ends looked more like a quadri-ice picks than anything. The mage pulled the core from his pistol and put it into the notch on his belt, feeding mana through the grapple line with a phosphorescent glow similar to that in the cavern.

"...I believe I can manage. I hope I'm right in assuming this suit is watertight." Argis said, though his voice seemed unsure. He looked down to his own suit, wondering if it'd restrict him to the point where he couldn't progress, but then dismissed the thought.

The bloodmage offered a hand to Gniss after he had switched his boots as well, as he had been the only logical one with sure footing. Kniges could fly, but he was short. Kytrek would probably be on the other end of his line, and Argis' ability to cross the river had been entirely unsure, despite how lackadaisical he had been about the entire thing. Gniss had assured them that it had been knee-high, though, and out of all of them, Argis' knees had been the highest. Cyell unwound the other end of his climbing line. "Tie it around yourself." he said, taking the grapple end in his non-proffered hand, and then stepped toward the water.

 

[Lyro]

Kytrek followed Cyell as he waded into the water, having attached himself by the waist to his apprentice as they had done countless times before. It was just a fact the professor had come to accept - despite decades of uptrekking experience, he was still no match for the infernal boy when it came to navigating tricky terrain. And yet, as they began to walk through the running water, with Gniss sitting on Cyell's shoulder after having accepted his hand, it quickly became clear that they needn't have worried.

"It's like walking through very runny pudding," Kytrek remarked as he made his way up the stream, the water currently just a few centrimeters above his ankle. "It isn't even slippery. The pooling mana from the upper levels must have bonded with the water molecules in some unusual way. Something about the soil bed, maybe." He raised his left leg experimentally, and it emerged with a soft plop. "Viscosity isn't all that high, thankfully. And at the pace it's flowing, this will be a rather literal walk in the park."

He came to the first rise in the river, a small stone step that he easily climbed over. He was now inside the cavern mouth, surrounded by the water on all sides. As the ambient light continued to dim, he reached into his bag and pulled out his flashlight, illuminating the river in front of him. Far above and in front of them, the faint light from the other end of the river shone, illuminating a more or less linear tunnel shaft. "Looks walkable for about ten meters, but we'll have to use the climbing gear to get above that first rock wall. Cy, if you will."

"This will take too long if we have to keep re-attaching the gear every time," Gniss commented irritably. "and I'm not strong enough to carry even one of you while flying. Couldn't you just... magic us up there, professor?"

"Obviously I could," replied Kytrek in a slightly defensive tone. "But if time is your concern, that won't help. Such a spell would take quite a while to construct."

The pixie sighed in frustration and looked away. "You know," she said in a low voice to Cyell, "for a world-renowned wizard, your mentor doesn't do a whole lot of magic."

Kytrek stopped, having evidently heard the comment. "Fine," he bristled. "You want magic? I'll give you magic." He cleared his throat, raised his arms and began to draw some mana into himself. Immediately the water around him began to shine a pale blue light, which he did not seem to notice. When he spoke, his voice resonated faintly.

"Let x be the--"

There was a flash, against which the professor was silhouetted. For one brief moment, those watching saw the professor's silhouette falling into the water. Then, all was still, the light disappeared, and the professor was nowhere to be found. The rope to which he had attached himself was cut clean just short of where he had been and now lay floating in the water idly.

 

[C.DEX]

As soon as Kytrek's voice cut out and the climbing line had gone slack, Cyell snapped his head backwards, looking toward where Kytrek had been. He watched as the loop Kytrek had tied around his waist had drifted idly in the water, not comprehending what had happened for a moment. Even after he had a moment, comprehension hadn't come, and the blood mage had been frozen in place, staring at the space where Kytrek had once been. "What in the ..." Cyell started. One could see the gears turning inside of his head before he came to Argis, allowing Gniss to make an escape off of his shoulder before diving headfirst into the water.

"Wait, isn't the water dangerous?" Argis asked, noting that Cyell certainly hadn't had all of his protective gear on.

It hadn't mattered to the infernal human, who had just seen Kytrek disappear before his eyes. Even if it had, all sounds had been muffled to him, water rushing past his ears. He opened his eyes under the water despite the sting, looking for perhaps a crevasse or sinkhole that Kytrek had disappeared into, water bubbling out of his mouth to the surface as he unintentionally took some in. When he had only seen the bottom of the riverbed and patterings of gravel being rolled against the current. The mage dove his hands into the ground, still searching for Kytrek in some manner, but all he had seen was flat, eroded riverbed. There were no holes, and no crevasses.

He came back up, gasping for air, and looked around. "Kytrek?!" he yelled, disturbing the slow sounds of the river.

"Could it be that this was an intended effect of his spell?" Argis asked, as the now sopping-wet mage tore around, looking any which direction to where Kytrek had disappeared to. "Perhaps some sort of ... I don't know, plane-walking, or teleportation spell? Maybe it isn't so dire."

"He didn't even begin the spell! Kytrek doesn't - it wouldn't be that quick. Something is wrong." Cyell said, determined, knowing just how long-winded and arbitrarily all-encompassing his spells had been. The water had stopped shimmering as soon as Kytrek had disappeared, but all the pieces didn't fit together. The blood mage looked down, prepared once again to dive into the knee-high water to look for Kytrek. That's when he had seen it.

Legs. Legs? Was he seeing legs? A pair of legs, reflected from the knee-up, not attached to a person above the water, had been visible in the reflection as it had settled from Cyell stirring. His eyes widened, and he thrust his arms into the water where the reflection had been, finding absolutely nothing. He let it settle again, and then pointed down at the reflection. "What the fuck is this?!" he asked, not sure how to act. He stilled himself, looking into the water as if it would offer some sort of answer.

 

[Lyro]

Gniss fluttered above the area where the professor had disappeared, eyes narrowed and looking for the source of this latest attack. She saw it at the same time as Cyell - a slightly blurred reflection of somebody's legs as seen from below, right next to her own hovering reflection. Reflexively she turned and looked to her side, but there was nobody next to her save for the professor's agitated apprentice. She was about to admonish him for swallowing some of the water when the phantom reflection moved. Not by much, just a small shuffle of the feet; the water remained completely still as it moved, save for the slow ebb of the river. Then the legs bent forward and a face appeared, looking directly at Cyell from below. There was no mistaking it.

Kytrek stared at Cyell with a furrowed brow and a puzzled glare that still managed to convey that this was somehow anybody's fault but his. His right hand appeared to the side, blurry at first, then sharper as it approached, and he experimentally reached forward to touch the water's surface. Just as Cyell had been unable to reach him, so was his finger unable to make so much as a ripple. This did not seem to surprise Kytrek, but neither did it seem to alleviate his confusion.

His head disappeared again as he got up, and both Cyell and Gniss could vaguely his hands resting on his side, before he suddenly lowered his head again. His expression was no longer puzzled but enthusiastic, the classic look Cy had come to recognize as the professor's "eureka" face. He pointed towards Cyell with his index finger, then mimed pulling his hands towards him several times, palms open, before finally pointing to the water with both index fingers.

"Somebody explain to me what the hell he's trying to say," Gniss said at last. Only the faintest of quivers in her tone betrayed that she did not feel quite as composed as she was letting on.

 

[Jeda Teq]

Kniges watched the scene play out before him. Seeing a look of panic on the grey ones face would have been enjoyable if it wasn't caused by the disappearance of the only other competent person in their party. He waded through the water that was half way up his thigh so he could take a gander at the reflection that Cyell was pointing at. "Argis, you may be right." He stroked his chin in contemplation watching the professors actions. With a shrug he held out both of his hands under/above Kytrek's feet and began to channel mana, "I'll just make a door." The scales on his hands began to shine with a holographic purple hue. The ebb and flow of the began began to shift and stir. Using his creation magic he molded the mana in the stream to form a window sized frame. Once the frame locked in place the water inside began to glow. "Watch a pro at work" The lizard had no idea as to what he was doing. Like most of his original spells he would just think it and do it instinctively.

As he focused on his spell the water around him began to creep up his body, engulfing him up to his armpits. It threatened to engulf his entire body.

 

[Lyro]

The water rose slowly around Kniges as he opened his window. As soon as he had initiated the spell, the water had begun to glow as it had with Kytrek, and it threatened to become blinding. Gniss flew away from him as it continued to intensify. "Do you even know what you are doing?" she asked him.

Before Kniges could answer, however, the window frame he had built shuddered and twitched, its interior switching rapidly between myriads of blurred color mixes. The water that covered his body continued to grow brighter before suddenly starting to rapidly dim and brighten successively, as if it was being toned down and raised periodically. Finally, the window frame shuddered one last time before it collapsed and disappeared. The water finished moving upwards, completely covering the dragonborn, then briefly flashed one last time. By the time everybody's eyes had adjusted back to the darkness of the cavern, Kniges was gone.

Only when the water stilled did they notice the new reflection that stood next to Kytrek - a pair of scaly legs the color of Kniges. Kytrek's face was no longer visible, but he was seen to be standing right in front of Kniges. No sound came through to their side...

... but on the other side, Kytrek stood with his arms crossed, looking down at the creature that had just appeared before him. "That could almost have been impressive," Kytrek said wryly. "If only you'd had any idea what you were doing. What was that, some kind of teleportal? Look around you - does this look like a normal place?"

The two were standing on a replica of the slowly rushing river... except it was upside down. Where it had been going up in front of them, now it went down, for as far as Kniges could see ahead of him. Around them, there was nothing but darkness - or something very close to darkness, at least. Should he stare, vague forms appeared in it, reflections of another place, blurry and ephemeral. The only clearly visible parts of this place were him, Kytrek, the river he was standing on (which correspondingly provided reflections of Cyell, Gniss and Argis looking down at them), and, as he looked up, a faint shimmer high above them, arranged in a line that followed the river.

"It reacts to mana usage," continued Kytrek, as he looked back down at Cyell. "For whatever reason, a surplus of mana on the other side breaks the barrier and brings us... here. Still trying to figure out exactly where here is, though."

 

[Jeda Teq]

When Kinges was transported his wings flared out in a panic, gasping for air. Kniges looked up from to see Kytrek standing before him. At first he assumed his casting was a success and placed his hands on his hips with pride and relishing in the half compliment. Kytrek then finished with the rest of his statement. "I had forgotten how much you scholars whine. At least you're not alone, right? It seems normal enough to me." Kniges replied, "No, those lower levels are what's truly bizarre." Kniges rarely ventured below the level of his home. That was partially due to the mana sickness he experienced and found more interest in ascending. The thought of being under someone's feet perturbed him.

"As far as where we are I already know the answer." He pulled his dagger from its sheath and showed off the broadside of the blade. The smooth metal reflected the old man's grizzly face. "Sometimes things can get lonely. Especially things that are reflective. Overflow of mana gives them will on which they act upon." He began his typical storytelling with all seriousness in his voice, "Much like cursed objects. Anyways, when we channeled our mana we gave the river the ability to act on its will. We're trapped in the mirror world." He turned his blade to the side and pointed a claw on the sharp edge, "We're essentially here" After he felt he made his point clear he sheathed his weapon.

He looked down at the reflection of the others on the other side. He assumed they weren't magically inept enough to be chosen for such an experience. He took a knee to get a better look. He waved his had at them. At first it appeared as if he were asking for help until he raised his middle finger at Cyell. Standing back up, his features blurred and faded from the reflective surface of the water.

Once again the miniature dragon man spread his wings, allowing mana to gather under them. With a flap he took to the area above Kytrek. He was able to hover in place by locking himself in the air to slow his descent to a crawl. Only having to flap his wings once every few seconds, "If what you say is true, we should be able to get out the same way we got in. Or break out." The black lizard looked up at the shimmering light above him. Attracted to treasures his curiosity got the best of him. "I'm going to check out what's on the other side." With a mighty flap of his wings he took upward at high speed. With full intent of breaking through he did not slow down as he neared the light.

Those on the other side would soon feel a disturbance under the water. Like a large pulse of water push against their legs interrupting the current flow of the river. A second or two later they would see Kniges laid flat on his back with all his extremities sprawled out.

Kytrek would see Kniges zip up then smack against what appeared to be some sort of ceiling before he came spiralling down like a bat shot out of the sky. The easy yet swift flow of the water washed over his black scales. It did not sting him as it did the others, instead it revitalized him and made him feel fresh. He quickly sprang out of the water, coughing and spitting it out. "What the hell?!" The arms of his wings folded across his chest. He looked up at the shimmering light above pondering the lack luster effect of his hypothesis.

 

[C.DEX]

"Well, I guess this is what we're doing." Cyell said, looking up to Gniss and then Argis. He knew what he was about to do was going to seem incredibly stupid, and he knew absolutely nothing of what he had been doing, but it was necessary, wasn't it? He thought so at the time, and so he looked away from Gniss as he took in mana to his body for the first time since they had gotten to the twelfth level, as opposed to using his tattoos. It wasn't grandiose by any means, but as the river swelled and brightened, taking him to the other side, it couldn't help but feel at least a little bit grandiose.

Cyell appeared as a reflection, and he brought his hand up to his mouth, slightly nauseous with his head spinning from the mana. He turned away from Kniges and Kytrek, and then stumbled toward the edge of the river, seeking dry land in whatever 'dimension' they had been in. It wasn't too often that what he needed hadn't been tattooed directly on his arms and hands, so it had been a particularly jarring thing to try to imitate the others. However, he had found only darkness, and he immediately shot back from it.

He regained himself, looking back to Kytrek and Kniges. He had still been sopping wet from diving in to look for Kytrek beforehand, though Kniges had recently joined him in the matter. A thought dawned on him, though. Now that he had been there, what exactly could he accomplish? He looked around for any hints, but all he had seen was everything where the reflection of the river had touched, and nothing more. "Maybe a spell would work?" he questioned. "Or ... if it's reacting to us using mana while in it, maybe taking something away from it would work." he said, unsure, and still looking a bit queasy.

Argis, on the other hand, had stepped back out of the river from the other side.

"Shall I just ... wait for you all?" he asked, pulling himself out of the slow current, his eyes fixated on the moving water. "Even if I could take this suit off to do that, I'm not entirely sure there's a way back, or ... that I'm willing." he clarified, taking a seat on the riverside where no plants would grow. "Are you going to follow them in?" he asked Gniss, a particularly deep expression of confusion on his face from behind his helmet.

 

[Lyro]

As Kniges finished his explanation of their current predicament, Kytrek was forced to admit he was legitimately impressed by the dragonborn's knowledge. Perhaps he had been underestimating the creature; words of approval were in order. Then Kniges banged his head on the ceiling and all was right in the world once more. This was followed by Cyell's sudden appearance and questions.

"Ah, you're here," he said as a greeting. "Good. I can't believe Kniges figured it out faster than you did, but what matters is that you're here. I was just discussing where exactly here is with our colleague." He turned and look at the river in front of him, gesturing with his right arm. "It obviously appears to some form of opticocompressive enchantment resulting from the extreme space-time displacement occasioned by a localized mana imbalance. In layman's terms, one could say we are on the proverbial knife's edge," he added, shamelessly borrowing from Kniges's vastly inferior explanation. "As such, you are quite right - to get out, we need to create an opposite imbalance. Kniges's window, though predictably clumsy and unrefined, could, with some tuning, create the necessary mana depression to allow for egress. But we're not doing that. Look in front of you," he said, pointing to the inverted river's slope. "Our captain was complaining about the climb up taking too long. So let's climb down instead." He looked around, seemingly realizing only now that Cyell's shoulder was pixie-free. "Wait, where is she? Didn't she come through with you? Along with what's-his-name?"

"No chance I'm following them," Gniss told Argis tensely, as she kept hovering just above the water, looking at their talking reflections. She did not seem pleased by this turn of events. "Not until I know where they are, and whether they can come back. I don't believe in pointless sacrifice." She tensed then and turned around, looking at the cave entrance. "Wait," she whispered to Argis. She stared intently at the entrance as she landed on the rock next to the river. "Did you hear something?"

OOC: Time to shinee, Elowyn

 

[C.DEX]

"The orc is in a suit and Gniss is smarter than getting trapped in a reflection just because everyone else is. You don't even know if that'll work, so ..." Cyell began to walk, traveling down the inverted slope until he had found himself standing on the 'upper' portion of the slope, at least according to the real world. They had seen his reflection from the other side - Gniss from above, and Argis from his comfortable spot on the side of the river - padding up the incline to stop at the highest point.

He looked back, his eyes narrowing at Kniges, who had suddenly turned from a bumbling brute to a know-it-all. If only he had the same level of cordiality for any other aspect of his life. "If you're going to get us back then, then do it." Cyell said impatiently, still feeling ill for accidentally taking a gulp of water and taking in a swathe of twelfth-level mana. If he hadn't already been completely disheveled, he would be so thrice, but in the moment he had just looked wet and exhausted.

He looked to Kytrek, the note that Kniges had 'figured it out before him' aggravating him. "For the record, I was just debating on whether I wanted to follow you into ... this. You're old enough to die from natural causes anyways, so it took me a second. And Kniges figured it out the same way you did - which is to say, after you tried a spell that didn't work and you were already on the other side, smartasses."

 

[Jeda Teq]

"Your apprentice is far to green Old man" Standing next to Kytrek, Kniges looked at Cyell's back as he examined the slop. "Hesitating will get you killed up here grey-skin." He walked to the edge of the slop himself. "Also, you should learn how to be more gracious when asking for help." there was a menacing undertone in his voice as a response to Cyell demanding that Kniges do something.

He looked back to Kytrek, "I wouldn't be too concerned about them. The pixie can fly. As far as Argis goes... well.. If he happens to die on his way up then that's on him." He let out a disappointed sigh, "It's a shame. It was just starting to grow on me too." These words were his general philosophy on uptrekking and why his party numbers always dropped frequently. The dragonborn would rarely offer assistance if he saw no value in the person. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Then without a word he grabbed Cyell's belt and reached a hand out to Kytrek, as if saying 'you coming'? Kniges was prepared to jump off the edge.

 

[Elowyn]

The Cave Entrance

Gzardina quickly retracted the mirror-shard that she had been using to see what the strange band of humanoids were doing. Perhaps she had been seen... or more likely, heard? She had found the band interesting. So interesting, in fact, that she had trailed them for a bit, taking some shortcuts, most of them inaccessible to non-wingeds. One of the members of the traveling crew seemed to be quite the elderly intellectual, and there was an interesting humanoid she had not seen before (the dragonborn). They looked unused to the high mana concentration. What she called "root magic." Her kind used transmobility stones to summon packets of power, or to communicate. Rarely to save memories and record narratives. She along with the rest of the fledges had used some of those to learn about the past.

As it were, she was carrying a pouch full of them along with her knapsack. All of the ones she was observing had on strange-looking suits that obscured most of their features but didn't block her from overhearing their conversation. And quite an interesting conversation it was too. From what she could tell, they were venturing upwards together and could manufacture several types of magic spellwork. But what had happened recently was a phenomenon she had only heard tales of. The mirror image held a distorted view of some of the traveling companions. The Mirror's Edge Entrapment. Shouldn't be a difficult thing to break. It was a type of illusion-work of sorts that involved inverse geometrics and optical distortion. But that wasn't the part she was fixated on: Gzardina had heard... horrifying tales of ... Things in the Mirror World. Things with maws that bled red and an unsatiable hunger for flesh of all living creatures. . . It was this that struck horror into her quickly beating heart. How long since the last time she had had an adventure? Actually went out of her way-- not to hunt for hedge shrooms-- but to see the world and its inhabitants here below?

 

[Lyro]

Gniss gave Argis a sidelong glance, then silently padded over to the cavern wall, hiding herself in the shadows as she began creeping towards the cave's entrance. She had definitely heard something, and considering how devoid of any life the riverside had been, she did not wish to take any chances. She slipped stealthily from rock to rock, sticking to the shadows where possible. Finally, as she reached the mouth of the cavern, she spotted the intruder... whatever it was.

While life in the Middle Levels had habituated Gniss to strange creatures, never before had she seen one quite like this. "Tall" was the first descriptor that sprang to mind, and not just because she dwarfed Gniss - most humanoids did. "Feathers" followed suit, as she took in the thick plumage that seemed to cover all but a portion of her face. Whatever the creature was, however, it was loitering suspiciously right to the side of the cave's entrance, clutching some kind of mirror. Gniss decided she had seen enough and came out of cover, appearing in front of the creature, on the opposite side of the river from her.

"Freeze," she yelled out, as she adopted a combat stance. She wondered briefly if she should switch from Dwarven Standard this high up, but reckoned her intention would be clear enough from her tone and posture. "Who are you and how long have you been following us?"

Kytrek looked at Cyell with mild amusement that turned to concern when he noticed how off-kilter he looked. "Just how much mana did you draw into yourself when you came through?" he asked as he began to walk alongside him. "We've been running Deep for a few weeks now, you know you shouldn't overexert yourself. Especially after what you did for Gniss. Anyway, you're here now. Let's just climb down this first ledge at least - then we can go back and help Argis and Gniss get up."

Turning his gaze towards Kniges as he made his inane comments, Kytrek snapped back at him irritably. "Oh, just be quiet you overgrown lizard. I say one word of praise about you and it immediately goes to your minuscule head." Kytrek pushed past him and leapt over the edge with a grunt, landing with a grunt and a small splash in the next segment of the river. "Now get down here. I need you to collaborate with me so that we can create an exit gate that will actually..." His voice trailed off as he got back to his full height and unexpectedly came face-to-face with a woman. "... Hello."

"Hello," she replied faintly in perfect Dwarven Standard, her voice a near-whisper that still somehow remained perfectly audible even to Cyell and Kniges. She stood motionless before Kytrek, a tall, too-pale woman wearing faded, tattered, yet enduringly elegant clothes from a bygone era. Her age was impossible to place, a strange combination of uncannily smooth, unblemished skin and gray-white hair. She stared at Kytrek curiously, before looking up towards Kniges and Cyell. "New arrivals," she commented in that same soft tone. "Welcome. Did you also neglect to bring a key?"