Choices, Gameplans, and One Leap of Faith

Sir Wall chuckles merrily at all the diverse answers to his puzzlers. It sounds like a rattle of dislodged pebbles, but you know he's pleased with your clever outfits too.

"You've done well," he rumbles, "so come on through."

His face fades into the stones and the section where he was slides sideways. You find yourselves in a stone chamber with two large holes surrounded by poles with ropes strung in between in the floor. Everything else is blank, and the walls are clear smooth slippery stones.

The section through which you entered slides closed again, and Sir Wall's face appears on this side of it. "Here we are: the two entrances. They both lead to the same destination and that place leads beyond, which is where you must travel to find what you seek. You may choose either for your journey, but not both, and they will both repel you until you please me and shout the correct passcode into the passage you choose."

You cautiously look over the rope cordons at the passage on the left. It is daunting, to say the least.

The right one doesn't appear to be any better.

Pugsy and Izzy, always up for an adventure. peer over as far as they can.

"Straight down," observes Pugsy needlessly.

"Both of them," Izzy agrees.

"You have a talent for the obvious," Sir Wall rattles dryly. "However, down you must go, or give up your journey."

"That we can't do," says Chiasa firmly. "I copied the scroll Thorson found. We're looking for a book."

"And we're going to find it," Larianne adds.

"I could fly down, I think," Clytie observes, then leaps lightly over the first cordon and floats down--for a few feet. Then the hole blasts her back out with such force she bounces off the ceiling in the chamber.

"Ow!! That hurt my head, and I think I bruised a wing," she exclaims.

"I told you. Needs the passcode," the wall answers. "So solve two more puzzles for me, and I'll give you a hint to the passcode."

"Go," says Nancy, "Just tell us the puzzles. We're wasting time. We'll solve them as we try to figure out how to get down."

"All right," agrees Sir Wall. "I rather like these two. Queen Vi puzzled them up and down the hallway before she came to a solution. You know, she's almost as pretty as you," he looks at Larianne, "and you could be sisters, maybe even twins, except there are differences to the trained eye."

"The puzzles!" snaps Ertrude, who came to supervise the departure, but clearly does not suffer fools gladly.

"All right, but I like the company," sighs the wall. "For the left, decide which of Queen Vi's court ladies stole her necklace. There were five possible suspects and they all made statements, very contradictory statements, but the royal detective finally ascertained that only two of the statements were false.

"But which two? Ah, now that took some thinking and revealed who the culprit was, at last.

"Here are the statements:

Elleyne said: Mareet says it's me, but she's just mad because I stole her boyfriend.

Alyse said: I've never stolen anything, and I never will.

Mareet said: Don't be fooled. Elleyne did it. She steals anything!

Barbe said: Alyse is a good girl, and totally honest!

Bianca said: Barbe is trustworthy, so you can rule her out.

"Now, on the surface, this seems unsolvable, but there was only one scenario that made sense with the detective's findings, and that's how she solved it. The necklace was found in the culprit's room and she confessed.

Now, as to the right passage, the new court lady, Anne, who replaced the thief proudly told Queen Vi that she comes from a family with fifteen children, all of whom are exactly 18 months apart. (Her mother is a legend in the province.) There are no twins or other multiple births, but she is seven times older again than her youngest brother, Jahmie. How old is Anne?

As you solve these two, please plan how to get down your choice. This is just the first of many challenges ahead, you know, many choices, many brave plans, and ultimately a leap of faith."

{OOC: This is a puzzle and role-playing challenge. Details are in the OOC thread for this chapter. Please keep the comments here in character.)

The members of the Organized Chaos team looked at each other as if Sir Wall had bounced rocks off their heads. Dace turned to Frieda and gave her a stricken look "Are you kidding me? This isn't the usual pattern, we just solved fifteen puzzles, and now two more puzzles?"

Frieda put her paw on her cousin's shoulder and tried to calm her down. It was obvious that being trapped inside an enclosed rock structure was upsetting to a creature who was used to floating on a river on a barge. Frieda sensed her emotions; panic, fear, claustrophobia and of course, more panic. "Darling," Frieda reached into her satchel and pulled out a glassine envelope which contained some sturdy looking leaves. "Chew on these atavanthus zanaccsicus leaves. They're very bitter, but they will calm your nerves." She put the leaves in Dace's paw, and then gave her a kiss on the cheek." We'll get through this puzzle and then we can jump into one of those holes and it will all be better."

The look on Dace's face told Frieda that she may have to chose her words more carefully next time.

Aicha rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, “While you were jabbering, and because I'm awesome, I have the age puzzle done! So 18 months = 1 year 6 months or 1 & 1/2 years.Knowing that and that all of them are exactly that distance apart, you get this." She poofed a immaculately calligraphed parchment number chart onto the table.

“That’s brilliant cousin” Jianni picked up the number chart that had appeared on the table. “But in regards to the second puzzle, I think Mareet stole the Queen's necklace. Cousins, she accuses Elleyne of being the thief but this could be sour...how is the saying...blackberries since Elleyne stole her boyfriend." Jianni muttered to himself, as was his way, "So, boyfriend is innocent? Why this never happen to me? Jianni-and Giorgi-always to blame. Girl not steal, Jianni seduce her," he shook his head, "discrimination, that's what it is." He returned to the others and continued, "But what better way to get rid of your boyfriend stealing rival than to steal your Mistress' necklace and implicate that rival for the theft to get her dismissed and possibly prosecuted for it. Women much more over-complicated then man. A man burns his friend's ghoulash, his friend punch him and the incident is over. If a woman borrows her friend's favorite brush, the other woman will try to ruin her life for the affront. Not my Teislyn of course or Cousin Welly's Lady." Grigori just rolled his eyes.

Jianni was distracted by a commotion at another table and glared over at . “And another thing...stick incident was years ago, but she talks about it like it happened only days before and she blames and try to punish anyone for it” He thought for a moment and added, Anyone male that is, and why she calling me Frenchie?" He pouted then looked at Grigori, "Wipe smirk off face Grigori...or no baklava for you."

Webby and Dace pondered the two puzzles and Webby proposed her answer “Dace darling, let’s call the older sibbling ‘a’ and the younger sibling ‘b’. Now using the equation a^2 +a*b -b^2 we can use the quadratic function and we arrive…” after some scribbling on a piece of parchment with a well-worn nub of a pencil, Webby paused and scratched her head. “Well, shoot, the older sibling cannot possible be the negative square root of 7, that’s impossible.”

Dace’s head was about to explode with all the math talk. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think the Mage already got it right. Can’t we just go with that?”

Webby furiously scribbled through several of her figures before she threw down her pencil. “Oh, I suppose.” she picked up her ale and took another swig. “But I almost had it you know.”

Frieda and Weldon were occupied with the second puzzle, math was never her strong suit. She memorized the puzzle about the five courtesans and quickly thought it through. She pulled Weldon to her side and used him as a sounding board as she unraveled her thoughts, "Of all five courtesans, only two are actually named as a culprit by the others, Alyse and Elleyne. Alyse names herself in self-defense, without anybody actually accusing her. My old daddy used to say, 'the guilty flee when nobody is chasing them.' Alyse uses the superlative 'never.' Superlatives are rarely an indication of telling the truth. Can Alyse honestly say that she has never stolen anything and that she never will?"

Frieda grinned, "Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Elleyne is telling the truth, she admits to stealing Mareet's boyfriend. She is also telling the truth when she says that Mareet would accuse her. And while it might be true what Mareet says of Ellene stealing anything, the fact is that she didn't say that Elleyne would steal everything. So both those ladies are telling the truth, even though Mareet's accusation is wrong. It's simply an accusation, not a fact"

"Alyse's defense of herself is a lie because nobody can ever say that they have never stolen or ever will not ever steal. This is the first false statement. Since Alyse is lying, then Barbe's statement about Alyse being a good girl and totally honest is the second false statement."

Weldon wagged his paw, "So, Bianca's statement about Barbe being trustworthy is also a lie?"

Frieda smiled, "I think that Bianca's statement rules Barbe out as a suspect, no more. I don't think it's a false statement, because I don't think that Bianca is guilty either. I think you can rule Barbe out as a suspect, although she may be partially complicit and covering for the actual culprit."

Weldon smiled, "Well, Little One, do tell, who did it?"

Frieda nudged Weldon in the ribs, "Patience Mr. Watcher-sir. I believe Alyse did it according to the following facts. Alyse defends herself and tells a lie 'I never stole' and uses a superlative in her defense which isn't true. Barbe defends Alyse with another lie and says that she is a good girl and totally honest. This is impossible because we have already seen Alyse lie with her statement, and therefore NOT totally honest. "It cannot be Elleyne because she is telling the truth about herself in admitting to stealing Mareet's boyfriend. And Mareet isn't even accused, nor is Bianca and Barbe."

Weldon gave Frieda a little hug, "Good work my dear. Now let's see if the others have come to the same conclusion."

Kat had never been in the middle of political things such as one stealing from another. She was always out on the battlefield but when at the castle she would be getting a higher knighthood. These puzzles were definitely not her strong point. Kat had silently listened as Weldon and Frieda gave their clues as to who they believed to be the culprits and it sounded fairly solid. “I do believe you both are on the right track. These court people just make my head hurt.” Her cat mewed that it was also in agreement rubbing against her legs. Maybe not in the fact of who stole what but more of the fact she would rather be out on the battle field with Kat then solving puzzles. Kat was more brawn than brains most the time, unless it had to do with strategy of not getting her comrades killed.

Jianni shook his head, “I don’t know cousin Freddie, you are probably right, but I think we may need to give Sir Wall our answers quickly.”

Everybody agreed and Frieda approached Sir Wall with their answers to the puzzle. “The ages are 24 and 3, and Alyse stole the neckless.” She stood back and awaited his response.

Sir Wall smiled at Organized Chaos’ answer. “Your answer to the ages question was correct, but your answer to the courtesan puzzle was incorrect. You will be going down the right entrance. And now I must fulfill my promise and give you a hint to the passcode. You see, a Magistrate of Ellak once had to settle a debate between two merchant captains from Ellak Port, each of whom claimed to have the fastest ship. This Magistrate was a clever man and set for both a challenge which would prove which ship was most capable. However, instead of awarding the royal trading seal to the ship which was fastest, it would be given to the ship who came in second of the two, but still in a timely manner.

Well, the captains were at a loss as to how to assure their ship didn't win, and devised all sorts of schemes until the Magistrate's daughter quickly whispered just two words before her father ordered her to silence.

What did she whisper? Surely as clever as you are, you know. What she said is the passcode. Include it at the beginning of your planned descent.”

Everybody in the group began talking at once trying to come up with the solution and the conversation was lively. But Aicha seemed agitated, "Are you all incompetent?" she growled, interrupting the discussion from the rest of the group. "Wait, don't answer that - I already know the answer. It's yes." She rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I had hoped after I solved the first puzzle that maybe your collective brain cells would be enough to manage the second, but obviously that was a ridiculous idea for all you've managed to do is waste time." The mage sighed. "It looks like, once again, I'll be forced to do everything so we don't remain stuck here for the next 100 years."

She sauntered over towards the edge. "The passcode is 'Swap Ships'." Noting the look on confusing adorning the faces of more than one of the team, she sighed again, with even more drama then before. "Take a good look at the wording of the puzzle. It clearly states that 'it would be given to the ship who came in second of the two', it referring to the award. The ship that came in second, not the captain. Thus the answer is simple - swap ships."

"With each captain in charge of the other's vessel, they will surely do their best to make sure that the ship they are on comes in first so that their own vessel would lose. And thus they would win the award." Aicha shook her head. "See, simple! So now you can all stop chattering like idiots and we can be on our way - the Magnificent Beautiful Mage Aicha, the Brilliant Genius has solved yet another puzzle!" She smiled at her own cleverness and laughed a haughty laugh.

Frieda just raised one eyebrow, gave a look of bemusement, and waved her paw, ”Well then, it’s settled, thanks again to our mage, our path is chosen. Looks like we’re going down the right pathway. What’s next, do we climb down or just leap into it like Clytie did?”

Dace shook her head, “I’m not leaping down. Clytie is a faerie and has wings. Get 'Trixi the Great and Powerful' to poof us down.”

"You all are on your own. I'm not a performer who does magic to amuse you and I am not doing any climbing," Aicha stated as she smoothed her hands down her torso in a seductive gesture. "Do you see this beautiful body, this soft skin, these perfectly unblemished hands? These are not meant for climbing. They're meant to be admired and adorned with silk and jewels."

She flipped her hair dramatically. "Thankfully, I have magic for my own use." The mage withdrew her staff and chanted something in a strange tongue. There was a bright flash followed by an explosion of sparkles and when the light had faded, the mage was gone.

There was a fluffy white cat sitting in her place. "One of you will make yourself useful and carry me." Aicha the Cat licked her front right leg. "If you get the dumb idea to leave me up here, I'll wait until you're all halfway down and then start showering you with garbage, filth, and sewage. She stared up at the group with her glowing eyes. "Now, who is going to volunteer?"

Frieda suddenly got a horrified look on her face, turned and restrained Dace, “Cousin! Get control of your emotions! You simply cannot punt Aicha down that hole!” Sometimes being able to sense another persons emotions was a pain in the tail. “Perhaps it would go a long way in mending your relationship with Aicha if you volunteered to carry her down.”

Dace regarded Frieda with disgust. “It would take a whole bunch more of those leaves for me to offer to volunteer from a feeling of authenticity. So, you see Frieda darling, I’m just not there yet, emotionally speaking." Dace turned her nose up and harrumphed. "And I wasn’t actually thinking of kicking the cat down the hole…I was thinking of turning into a minotaur and hurling her down to see how far down the bottom was.”

Jianni took out a set of bagpipes (go figure, the Gypsy Bard playing a very Scottish instrument), blew a few tentative notes, adjusted valves and reeds. The melody he played was a intended to be a soothing, calming tune meant to fill one with a sense of well-being for the adventurers. He turned to Aicha the Cat, “No one questions your ability as the Queen of Puzzles, Cousin, we are grateful that you are with us. Come, I carry you in my pack, much more comfortable, yes?"

Aicha the Cat flicked her tail, “I will not be stuffed into a box or a bag unless the moron who tries wishes to die the most painful death imaginable in the very near future.” She bared her fangs and a low rumble issued from her fluffy chest. “Same deal if you try and drop me." She flicked her tail in Daces' direction.

Teislyn saw Lini snort and roll her eyes after Aicha spoke her piece, then slightly jump as a white cat appeared before them. Lini scampered into her humans pack and glared at the white ball of floof, she liked all animals, but not ones done by magic. Teislyn walked up to Jianni and lightly hit him over the head. "Dearest, she said no packs, let her on your shoulders and go down that way, as long as Giorgi doesn't mind the company." She got a funny look on her face, "And bagpipes? That's a new one, even for me, where did the bagpipes come from?"

Teislyn turned to the group, and asked if anyone had any rope long enough to get to the bottom. She explained that everyone could shimmy down the rope and then jump once they reached the end. "As long as there is enough space between us and the floor to safely land that is. Hopefully, we can find something to tie the rope too. Also, I learned a new spell between our last adventure that will light the way down." Teislyn murmured a few words and created four torch-sized lights and turned them into glowing orbs, that danced merrily in the air around her. They shown with a dim light, but it was enough to see with. "As long as the drop is at least 60 ft, we should be fine, but anymore then that, we'll be back in the dark."

"My Teislyn, you are right, no packs, I carry her on shoulder and hope our Cousin is not a backseat climber, and psh...Giorgi is da King of Squirrels, he climb before he could walk." Jianni removed four lengths of very light rope from his pack. It was about a quarter of the thickness of human manufactured rope and as strong. He hammered in four pitons and tied off each length of rope, testing each knot twice. To Freddie, Welly and Dace he remarked, "I will make the first descent, Cousins, if fortune is fickle, I would rather something happen to me than to one of you or to my Teislyn. I know it can hold my weight, so it will hold yours easily." He kissed Teislyn's hand, gazed into her eyes and smiled confidently "I will see you down there, my Teislyn, you as good a climber as any Ranger, do not be afraid just keep moving your hands down. " He nodded to Sequoia and Webby, picked up Aicha onto his shoulder, cinched the rope around his waist and a carabiner and jumped off the edge as he uttered the password, 'Swap Ships'. He worked his way to the wall and scampering down like a lizard, Giorgi close behind him. Once he reached the bottom, he pulled a stone from his pocket, hums an odd series of notes and a soft light radiated from the stone. He winked at Aicha and set her gently down on the ground. "I'm down, everybody come now."

Sequoia and her companions went next. She uttered the password, ‘Swap Ships’ , wrapped the rope around her waist and rappelled down the hole to the lev

[Spoiler=Steve][/spoiler]

Sorn had marvelled as he watched a strangely hypnotic machine circle his clothing around and around in sudsy water. He wound up watching it for the entire hour until the machine stopped with a beep and then he dried his clothes, not in the accompanying dryer but with his magic. He was happier with his clothing now cleaned and those red spots were gone. He liked looking pretty after, since he was.

The drow had been thinking of the machine whilst Sir Wall was droning on. "Oh for damn's sake," he growled, "just skip the stupid puzzles and let us proceed. Why must we always put up with these time wasters? I wish to kill things or use my magic. Or use my magic to kill things." He grumpily leant back on the wall and folded his arms. "This better not be some inane task to rescue a useless tome. I desire action, and besides I cannot even read 'human.'" It was true, Garrin had started teaching him but Sorn's patience level was rather low on such a mundane task. "I could fly down, using my magic to slow my decent. Or... I could shove someone else down. I mean, we do not require all the party members." He looked rather hopeful at the idea of shoving someone down the hole.

The teenage girl seemed to fade into the shadows of the new room that the travelers had entered. She stiffed a giggle after hearing Sorn complaining bitterly. "Garrin was not unkind to you in your learning. You could still keep a correspondence up with him with me as a go between, like before." Her eyebrows rose twice as if she were presenting Sorn with a tantalizing idea. The small smile slid from her lips and turned into a small 'o' of silent surprise as she heard Sorn spew forth more verbal violence upon unsuspecting people.

Ebele was fascination by the sudden spike in tension and energy in the room as everyone began going over their theories to Sir Wall's riddles. With surprise she heard Sorn mention shoving someone down the hole. "Sorn!" She softly exclaimed as her eyes lit up with a tinge of merriment and daring. She didn't want to let on that the thought to just jump straight down had crossed her mind. "You could volunteer to go jump down and if something bad happens just use magic to stop yourself from exploding at the bottom of the deep abyss." She sent him a look full of challenge and crossed her arms over her chest as if daring him to be reckless. 

Her ebony skin seemed to have a matte finish that soaked up any light that might have found its way towards her. She allowed the energy of the room to fill her and then let it escape harmlessly through the soles of her feet and palms of her hands. Ebele had only been under Sorn's tutelage for a short while but she was already grasping many magic-based concepts that she'd never even dreamed possible. In her mind Sorn was a master of his craft and practically impervious to being wounded. She knew this was not actually true but often found herself giving him qualities that he might not actually posses. One of those elusive qualities was patience for her. Sorn pretty much made it his job to make sure that she knew he did not want her around, which drew Ebele closer to him all the more.

From what Venom had observed so far, the dynamic of this current team was interesting to say the least. Being familiar with Jean and Sorn, Ven had assumed the drow would be somewhat moody, and the vagabond would try her best to keep it peaceful. Still, he wondered how the others would fit in to the mix. Teamwork, while not his preferred method always reminded him of days long past. Ven tried his best to remember the positives, few though they were, as opposed to the deep sorrows the memories always eventually dredged up.

Ven nodded silently at Sorn’s suggestion of forgoing the puzzles, but knew it wasn’t something they could truly avoid. It made little difference to him what path they chose. What bothered him was being trapped inside a stone room with a massive sentient slab of wall at his back. It felt very claustrophobic and reminded him all too much of the home he left behind. Absently he peered down the closest hole, his eyes focussing farther down but still unable to see a bottom. “May not be writ in human.” He muttered, finding it somewhat amusing to know the drow was incapable of translating common.

Venom had half a mind to take the plunge himself, but when Clytie failed their own attempt that thought was quickly dismissed. Ven’s eyes drifted toward the young lady who had joined their group, but failed to properly introduce herself, at least to him directly. Not being one to ‘beat around the bush’ he crossed over toward her and extended a clawed hand. “If we are traveling together I would like to know your name. You can call me Ven.” His expression was hard to read, but his deep tone was not unkind.

"Ven, that is a wonderful name." Ebele stared at him a moment and wondered if she should actually introduce herself to him or not. 'Could he be trusted?' she thought. She'd already assessed him while in the tavern and determined Ven to be strong and dangerous but she didn't know anything about his person. She liked to remain invisible, unnoticed for the most part. It only took her a moment to decide that she would give him a chance. "Ebele." She said while placing her hand on the center of her chest, gesturing towards herself. "I've come from from far away and pestered Sorn into being my trainer in the art of... many things." She'd settled upon not giving him every detail about herself but knew that by aligning with Sorn then Ven wouldn't try anything. Ebele looked into Ven's eyes with calm confidence belaying her sense of insecurity that her youthful age naturally brought with it. 

She shrugged towards Sorn loosely. "How do you know the Drow?" She was not sure it mattered but since he was talking to her she might as well get some information out of him.

"So long as at least one of us can read it, they can do so for the entire team. And we are not shoving people down the hole. You saw what happened to Clytie, Sorn," Jean scolded absently. She was already taking down the two puzzles from Sir Wall, and they had most of her attention. "The math one shouldn't be to hard, but I'd hate to limit our options...Two lies, though, that makes it harder...." She trailed off and flipped the notebook closed for the moment. "If you managed to pester Sorn into instructing you, and he puts up with you, I've no objections whatsoever to you joining us. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ebele. I'm Jean Marzena." She smiled easily at the girl, wondering privately which "arts" were meant but more than a little amused at her boldness.

She reached into the bag at her side, hand closing around the item she desired almost at once. "Those able to descend safely on their own are welcome to do so. However for those contemplating a jump with a harder landing, might I suggest we take turns rappelling down?" She held up her trusty magic grapple and enchanted rope.

Alfred had listened to Sir Wall, and quickly pulled a notebook from his pocket. He was vaguely aware of the others talking, but wasn’t really paying attention to them. Scrawling a few numbers of the page, he crossed it out forcefully, flipped the page over and started again.

“Garfield is not here. It really is none of your business, child,” Sorn said. He looked at the girl when she rebuked him. “You should clean your ears out. Have I not just said I would go in first and use my magic to slow my decent?” He nodded to Ven. “Yes, that is true. Some might be in my own tongue. But I pray none are in elvish. They waffle on forever and are so pompous. I hate elves.” Sorn rolled his eyes as Ven exchanged pleasantries with Ebele. His patience which was evaporating faster than a drop of water on a scorching hot day. “I can hear you child, I have wonderful hearing. It does not matter how I know Ven or how I know you. What matters is getting out of this accursed place and giving your tongue a rest.”

“Yes, I did, Jean, which is why I am happy to shove someone down.” He sighed. “You have no fun,” Sorn grumbled. “Oh that is hilarious. Let us all mock me. My patience level as I have said is dwindling. It is best to not pester me unless someone wishes to experience torture.” His eyes lit up. “Now that would be entertaining.” He snickered at the rope. “Oh how cute. You all can climb down the bit of string. Shall I light it on fire and see who can get down first?”

Ven was slightly surprised at Ebele’s comment, this was probably the first time anyone considered his name wonderful. It fed his ego, he stood a little taller, slightly intimidating as he already reached a staggering six feet when not slouching. “Good to meet you.” There was a slight hint of a smile creeping into the left corner of his mouth. “I didn’t know Sorn took students.” He glanced over at the other man, the hint of a smile creeping a bit larger, revealing slightly pointed teeth. But he knew better than to press the subject. He shrugged helplessly when Sorn filled in the blanks, or rather refused to acknowledge them. The smile dissolved as he turned his focus back to the young lady. She seemed to feign confidence well, it was a necessary trait to possess if she was going to keep up with her older compatriots. 

Suppose it was safe to trust the girl if Sorn was her master. Venom still didn’t know what to think about the two other people along, he had only had brief interactions with each of them. The man with the scar certainly seemed interesting, but how adept could he be with a broken eye? And what of the glittering woman? He could ascertain little based solely on her appearance. Ven scratched his head pretending to think of the puzzle, but found himself unable to focus. If Sorn really was able to use magic to slow his fall, perhaps Ven should take the art of magic wielding a bit more seriously. That, or perhaps he should invest in a rope like Jean so preparedly had. Crossing his arms, he was becoming agitated. Maybe it was the confined space, maybe it was Sorn’s seething energy, whatever it was the sooner they got out of here the better for everyone. 

It dawned on him. “The walls are made of books, I can climb down on my own.” Ven’s fingers and toes were tipped in very sharp and very strong claws that could climb stone. No practical use worrying over ropes and spells. “I could attempt to carry someone on my back, if it comes to that.” He glanced toward Sorn. “Although I would prefer to not be lit on fine just yet. I’m not trying expert mode my first time down.” Perhaps it sounded like a joke, but Venom was always interested in trying something once and then upping the ante. One of the reasons the warrior wore so many scars.

"He's not here because was busy, Sorn. It's not unusual. Venom hasn't been free the past several years, but that hardly means he didn't care." Jean frowned at him, and then Ebele, and looked at the others in their little group. "Alfred, here's my notebook. If you guys want to go ahead and start on the puzzles, I'm going to talk to Sorn for a minute."

She headed back out of the tunnel, waving for the drow to follow her. When they reached somewhere they could speak privately, she turned to him with a worried expression. "What's going on, Sorn? You've always been prickly, but right now you're like a really aggressive porcupine. What's eating you?"

With a sigh, Sorn followed. Aggressive porcupine. If he was in a better mood, he would have laughed. “Nothing,” Sorn replied but the tense glare of Jean’s eyes didn’t buy that. “Nothing is wrong…but everything is wrong…” he said. “I have nothing here. Nothing makes sense and when I think it does I find I am wrong. I have no home, no nothing… This world continues to confuse me and I grow weary of it. I have travelled since the last time we met here and still have found no place in this world for me.”

She listened patiently, and when Sorn finished Jean sighed. "You know, if you needed somewhere to stay for a while, you could have asked. I'm away as often as I'm home, but there's a spare bedroom and a stocked kitchen, and a very nice bath. One of my indulgences. I like a good soak when I come back from a long trip. If you need a roof over your head, or a place to get away while you regroup, I wouldn't mind hosting you. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't know how to help with the rest beyond saying that it will get better. Maybe not soon, but it will."

Sorn cocked his head quizzically. It had never occurred to him that anyone would be willing to let him stay with them. Curious. The invite did one thing, it ebbed some of the anger away. The drow smirked with his normal bravado. "Ah knew you could not resist my gorgeous body. You are such a tease." Would things really get better? Who was to say, but a least Jean was able to quell something. "Well then shall we get back to getting down the hole? Ven says he'd like to go down a flaming rope one day." Sorn walked back into the room, patted Ebele on the head and started twirling his blade. It spun around as the ultimate Fidget Spinner--not that he would know what one of those was. He gave Ven a smile "We shall try the flaming rope another time then. Surely it would be entertaining." He played with his blade whilst he let the others suss out the clues.

"Sorn didn't really want to take me on as an apprentice but I gave him little choice." Ebele chuckled menacingly as she glanced between Sorn, her unwitting teacher, and Ven. She shrugged nonchalantly falling into a comfortable silence while pondering about how to best climb down the book lines holes.

Ebele stood silently near Ven as she watched Sorn and the girl named Jean walk away. Just when she was thinking of sneaking around the corner to spy on them they appeared again. As Sorn walked by he reached over and patted the top of Ebele's head. She pursed her lips angrily and glared after Sorn as he continued on by seemingly unaware of her glare. She seethed with surprising anger, her bubbly innocent demeanor quickly slipping out of focus.

For a brief moment Ebele felt her skin prickling and could hear a far away voice in her head, the voice of Garrin. She blinked several times as her head swam with voices and thoughts she could not claim as her own. Her knees buckled and she gasped as the room spun and then went dark.

Sorn was spinning his knife, playing with the blade to keep himself from the pent-up anger and frustrations that he felt when all of a sudden he felt a burst of magical energy--coming from Ebele. Along with the magic, he felst another presence, one that was not there a moment ago. He sheathed his knife and caught the girl so fast the motions looked blurry. He laid Ebele on the ground. "There is dark magic in play. I can smell it," he said to no one in particular.

The girls dark lips twitched, a soft deep moan escaping as Sorn laid her on the ground. Her eyebrows twitched as her left hand clutched tightly into a fisted ball.

“...n! Sorn! Come on buddy you have to hear me. Come on HEAR ME!!” Garrin’s voice sounded desperate beyond the bounds of terrified -- almost deranged.

A tear snaked its way down Ebele’s cheek. “Sorn, it’s ME - Garrin. I’m trapped here inside the little Nigerian girl. Please help me! I don’t know what happened. I was reading in the southern desert…” his voice trailed off for a moment. “I read a blasted cursed book! How could I have been…” Garrin’s voice continued coming out of Ebele, muttering things that began to make very little sense to those listening. He’d been trapped so long that he almost sounded as if he’d lost what made him sane.

From her unconscious state, Ebele could no longer contain Garrin behind the walls of the mental cage which she’d been utilizing to trap Garrin deep inside. Her left hand slowly relaxed and a deep sigh escaped her mouth as her lips twitched up in a small triumphant smile.

Jean was at first concerned for Ebele, but then she recognized Garrin's voice.  He mentioned a cursed book -- nasty business, those.  She’d learned how to recognize them, but breaking curses was better left to a mage.  At least Sorn seemed to know how best to proceed

"A riddle? Why is it always a riddle?" Atrueheart moans. "Not only is it a riddle it involves math!" she shudders with revulsion.

Jeice laughs heartily, "We all know how much you hate math True!" The rest of the Angels join in the laughter.

Calie wraps an arm around Atrueheart assuring her. "Don't worry fearless leader! We got this!"

Anna and Jilly nod their heads in agreement and start working on it immediately. Calie looks at what they are doing and makes a few suggestions.

"Done and DONE!" cries Anna, handing Atrueheart a piece of paper. It was covered in numbers and arrows.

Atrueheart looks over the paper, shaking her head. "But... what does this mean? It's all Greek to me!" she states grumpily.

Anna, Jilly, and Calie all begin to speak at once and point at different places on their sheet to illustrate their reasoning. After a few minutes, Atrueheart, holding her head and moaning, cries "ENOUGH! That makes no sense at all to me! All I need to know is what is the answer?"

Anna, Jilly, and Calie all say in unison "Anna has to be 24!" Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Atrueheart says "Why didn't ya just say that in the first place!" Turning to Sir Wall Atrueheart bows slightly and tells him that they are going right and the answer is 24!

"Sir Wall smiles at your answer. "Very good, and now I must fulfill my promise and give you a hint to the passcode. You see, a Magistrate of Ellak once had to settle a debate between two merchant captains from Ellak Port, each of whom claimed to have the fastest ship. This Magistrate was a clever man and set for both a challenge which would prove which ship was most capable. However, instead of awarding the royal trading seal to the ship which was fastest, it would be given to the ship who came in second of the two, but still in a timely manner.

Well, the captains were at a loss as to how to assure their ship didn't win and devised all sorts of schemes until the Magistrate's daughter quickly whispered just two words before her father ordered her to silence.

What did she whisper? Surely as clever as you are, you know. What she said is the passcode."

As the rest of the team puzzle over the final clue to reveal the password, Jeice frowns and crosses her arms. "Always with these bloody riddles." She sighs, then smiles and reached out to pat Torchy, who was already starting to pace in a circle around the Ranger impatiently. "Don't worry my friend, I'm sure they'll figure it out soon."

She jumps a bit at a sudden tug on her sleeve, then glances over at their Warrior, Kestra, who also seems to be getting impatient. As did her dragon, Kwixis, who is starting to stomp and bare his teeth, much like Torchy. "Is any of this making any sense to you?" She asks quietly.

Jeice shakes her head and scowls. "I'm not much of a fan of these puzzles. I just want to DO something." Torchy enforces the sentiment with a snarl that is quickly echoed by Kwixis.

Kestra nods and smiles at her own dragon. "I think we all do, so while they come up with a way to keep us from getting shot across the room, let's see if we can figure out how we're actually going to get down that hole."

As they walk over to the edge and peer down, Eusebius moved to join them. "Hm..." He kneels down and starts rummaging around in his pack. "Maybe this would help?" He holds out a rope, and Jeice and Kestra both grin and nod.

"That's perfect!" Kestra grabs it and starts unraveling it, but her smile soon fades. "Or not..."

"That's not going to be long enough," Jeice says quietly. "It will get us down a fair distance, but I fear some of us may get hurt if we tried to jump the rest of the way."

Eusebius scratches his head and tries to think of what else they could try. "How about I climb down the rope and hang at the end of it, then one of you climb down and grab my ankles, and then the next person..."

Kestra cuts him off with a laugh. "You think you're strong enough to hold onto a rope with six other people hanging below you? Besides, that doesn't solve how you're going to make it down after us!"

The vagabond frowns.

Jeice's fierce eyes light up suddenly. "Arrows!"

Kestra thinks the ranger has lost her mind. "Huh?"

"If I can get down the hole safely, I can shoot arrows into the wall in a way so the others can climb down."

Eusebius isn't convinced. "Will the arrows be strong enough to hold our weight?"

Kestra looks over at her other companions, who were still trying to figure out the riddle.

"Maybe not initially, but with the help of Calie, Jilly and Anna, we might be able to create strong arrows that can grip into the wall."

"Hm, then that just might work." Eusebius nods.

"Of course it will." Jeice grins, eager to get started. "Have you figured out our password yet?" She calls to the others.

Jilly closes her eyes in frustration and groans. "Not another riddle!"

Calie winces in sympathy as True and Anna try to help them figure it out.

"Just two words, huh?" True tries to guess. "Um, Go Slow?"

Calie snickers. "More like Snails Pace! They would never finish!"

"What if the captains swapped their ships and raced that way? Then whoever crossed the finish line first, their ship would come in second." Anna says. "That's it! Swap Ships!" The others grin at her. That had to be the answer! Jilly calls over to the others, "We figured it out! The password is Swap Ships!"

Atrueheart steps forward and looks down the shaft and shouts "SWAP SHIPS!" Looking back at Jeice she says "We're good to go!"

Smiling at the good news, Kestra and Eusebius explain the plan, while Jeice sneaks Torchy a quick snack to keep his energy up for the trip down.

"Well, I see one problem with that plan." Calie points out, peering down the hole. "No matter how good a shot you are, Jeice, your arrows aren't going to stick in stacks of books."

She frowns thoughtfully as the other three look a bit crestfallen, then she suddenly grins and hefts her bag. "But, I think I may have an idea!" With a speed that surprised everyone, the alchemist is suddenly surrounded by a circle of jars, bottles, and bags of unknown potions, creams, powders, and plants.

"I see another slight problem with this plan as well," Jilly observes. "I suspect arrows generally aren't made to double as climbing tools."

"Not unless you like the idea of a couple of broken ankles." Salem, Jilly's feline companion, chimes in smugly.

Jilly shoots him a sideways glance, then motions to her apprentice. "This is a perfect opportunity to for teaching a new spell." She smiles at Jeice and holds out one hand. "If I may have those arrows for a few moments?"

Jeice nods eagerly and hands over her quiver then rubs her hands together and waits.

Anna looks at Jilly, "Do you know any strengthening spells?"

The older mage smiles, "Of course. Now think about what needs to be done and what energy is needed to perform such a task."

The apprentice furrows her brow and thinks about it for a bit. Her head still hurt from trying to figure out the riddles. "So the arrows are wooden, which can snap easily. How about we turn them to stone?"

Jeice rolls her eyes. "Stone will not fly very well off my bow. They have to be lightweight." Anna's companion, a black crow named Troop, flaps his black wings and caws, "Need to fly, need to fly!"

"Oh, right." the young mage ponders. She tries to think of something else. "What about metal?"

"You're definitely on the right track. Metal is strong and can be lightweight." Jilly encourages Anna.

"Caw! Shiny!" the crow interrupts.

"Hush, Troop, I'm trying to concentrate!" the young mage chides.

Jeice nods. "It should work."

So Jilly pulls out her spellbook and finds the page. "Okay, here's the spell you want."

Anna takes a deep breath and reads the words:

"Bring strength and stability to these arrows, Weak and brittle will not do, But light as a feather so it flies, And keep their swift flight true."

The arrows glow as Anna waves her hands over them. A moment later they look ordinary once again. The young mage slouches and sighs. "I thought I did it right."

Kestra picks up one of the arrows and inspects it. "I think you did. The shaft isn't wooden, it's metal, see?" She tries to bend it and can't. A light tap on the stone produces a ping that confirms the component.

Jilly pats Anna on the back, "Nice work!"

"Caw! Nice work, nice work!" the bird flaps his wings excitedly.

At last, everything was ready. Jeice gratefully takes back her quiver, pockets the jar of Calie's potion, and nods to Kestra. "All set then?"

Kestra pats Kwixis' shoulder and grins as the large dragon hunkers down in preparation to support their weight. "Ready, let's get to it!"

"Geronimo!" With a shout, Jeice runs toward the edge as Torchy leaps up behind her and flares his wings. He clamps onto the ranger's biceps as they clear the edge, acting like a living hang glider as they turn in slow circles, drifting down toward the bottom.

Kestra scowls at the foolhardy display, then shoots an angry look at Atrueheart. "Okay, what was the point of setting up the rope if she was just going to do that?" She demands, then stomps over to the edge and shouts. "SHOWOFF!" The warrior growls as laughter and a high pitched squeal drifts up from the shaft.

Atrueheart and Calie burst out laughing, while the rest of the team just looks a bit startled and confused.

"Heeey," Jeice hollers, dipping each arrow into the jar Calie had given her, then shooting them into the wall at small intervals, angling them down toward the floor. "This goop of yours works great, Calie!" She grins and watches as the potion turns a small area around each arrow into a hard, lumpy mass which holds it firmly in place. "And that's done it." She grins, making one last foothold. "Come on down, everyone!"

The Fallen Angels, unlike their rambunctious Ranger, slowly make their way down the shaft, using the rope to keep their balance. They congregate at the bottom and look around wondering what's next?

Galactic Thylacines

Galaxia is standing back, listening to the spirited discussion of the main Wayward Squirrels cast as they kibitz with Sir Wall and each other. The mention of a wing makes her look up and she rolls her shoulders, but nothing happens and Galaxia instead glances at her Thylacine companions for courses of action. "I could soften someone's fall, for the straight drop down into the first door. The second one seems more straightforward, perhaps the same with the answer?

Nicsy stared at the doors in disbelief. "The second door is wider, but ... it looks like we'd be falling pretty far if we aren't flying. If we're careful we can climb down on the shelves," she pondered.

She looked at Galaxia. "I'm going to just change into bird form and fly down, I think. Once we figure out the pass phrase and won't get thrown right back out," she added, thinking of what happened when the fairy tried to fly down.

Aodh looks at each door and ponders his options. "Slíocach will have no problems with either way, but I personally do value the intactness of my body. The second way would be my prefered option." Thinking about the solution the bard fiddles around wth his flute, the silver metal gleaming whenever a stray ray of light hits the instrument at the right angle.

Aerynna pondered the current puzzle and stood against a post, thinking for a little while about the answer.

"I have a feeling that it's something incredibly clever...but I don't want to give the answer away to anyone just yet," Aerynna said. Given that she had to deal with some personal matters when the previous events were going on, she hoped and prayed that her use of logic in this instance might give the group a lead to the right answer. "Logic is not my strong suit, friends, so when I do reveal my answer, please feel free to take it with a grain of salt." After all, she was the hunter/archer of the party, and fighting doesn't always require a lot of logic. Logic would be crucial, however, in finding herself a companion to aid her in her travels.

"If those are walls of books I can climb them," Dhara replied after a moment's thought. "Even if they're not, as long as I can use my claws, I can climb down. I shouldn't need a spell unless the walls are somehow trapped and force me off, but I could take a rope down with me for the rest of you."

Her boots had claws of their own, because she wasn't walking into a strange place barefoot. She reached into her bag, then began to swap the soft caps on her finger-claws--the ones that were meant to keep her from shredding fabric or paper or skin when she wasn't trying to--for metal ones, meant to support her claws while she climbed.

Kassiri was not so sanguine about the whole thing. The thylacine--the actual thylacine--looked like a dog, but she was actually a marsupial. When she was a joey, she'd had much stronger arms, but now she needed her back legs under her. She could stand up on her back legs and hop in emergent situations, and she could run for a long time. But thylacines don't climb--if they can't jump over obstacles or get around them, they're pretty much stuck. She looked down at the holes and made a soft whimper.

Dhara was absorbed in thought but noticed the slight waft of distress-scent.

"Oh right. I'm going to need someone else to help me get her down. Maybe Galaxia's way would work for Kassiri here--she probably wouldn't like floating, but she'd like it better than someone else trying to carry her."

Elethia hazards a peek down the second door entrance. She cringes as she realizes she can't see the bottom. She could use her air magic to slow their rate of descent, but without having a clear ending point she realizes it's not safe to use her magic. After all if she loses focus and a blast of wind loosens up some of the books no telling what would happen. Hearing Dharas idea of getting down she feels a bit relieved. Mr Scoots won't like it, but she'll need both hands free for the rope. She'll have to tuck him in her clothes and tell him to hold on for dear life hopefully without her being clawed to shreds.

"Could you put my clothes in my bag after I change?" Nicsy requested. Not waiting for an answer - she could do it herself, though it'd be quite awkward - the shapeshifter morphed as quickly as possible into her mynah bird form. She was soon completely buried in her loose dress and scarf.

Nicsy dipped under all the light cloth and flapped her wings, lifting herself to just above the second doorway, where she perched awkwardly. She bent her head down to peer into the hole. Should she try flying in to see what the being blasted out part felt like? She wasn't sure it was a good idea - but it was so tempting.

Galaxia glanced at Aerynna, looking impressed at how quickly the archer woman seemed to have gotten an answer and not reading further into the words. "I'm happy you and the rest of the team are good with logic and puzzles! Not my strong suit." She looked rather embarrassed at not having an answer. However she brightened up at Nicsy's suggestion, rolling her shoulders again the way she had when the main Wayward Squirrel team was leading the discussion with Sir Wall. "So long as as a close ally has wings, it is an effort not to sprout my own. I won't be able to change the pull of the world then, since I would be thinking like part of a team rather than drawing on a lonely past, but I can still be strong enough to carry just about anyone that way. I may be able to handle more than one person or being if said beings are willing to trust me." She looked between Aodh, Kassiri, and Elethia.

And indeed, as Nicsy took the initiative during the discussion and transformed, feathery wings also burst from Galaxia's shoulders (tearing through straps in the back of the leather tunic at the force of their eruption). The timing was precise, tuned to the second of Nicsy's flight, and Galaxia cleared her throat. "Be careful of any traps," she says. "If you are incapacitated or incapable of flight, I will...have to adapt quickly, especially for the sake of anyone I'm holding."

Dhara had unwound her ropes and was looking down the hole, but she heard Galaxia speak and noticed that she was looking at the three of them--Aodh, Elethia, and Kassiri--like they were all equals.

"Kaz is an animal," she said, and skritched the thylacine's ears. "She's not like Mercury or Gish. She's just a thylacine, although she's smart enough to get into your dreams sometimes. She can't answer you. She'll trust you if I tell her to, but I thought you were going to float them down? I could put her in a sack, but she hates that."

Elethia is saddened to see that Galaxia still doesn't feel like she's trusted by others. They had each others backs in their last adventure and she'll make sure that she doesn't forget about it either! Mr Scoots still won't like his predicament, but at least now she'll have an arm free to hold onto him. Smiling softly she looks at Galaxia and says "Yes I trust you. I know that you won't drop either of us. If we have made our decision on how to get down let the first person utter the code and then we can venture forth to continue on our adventure." Reaching down she picks up Mr Scoots and gestures to Galaxia that she's ready when everyone else is.

"I don't know--" Dhara began. "Kassiri--"

She should've brought the crate. She'd known that. But when she'd left the house that morning, Kaz's joeys--only a few weeks out of the pouch--had been curled up in the crate. And the kits had been curled up in there with them. They'd been so cute. She hadn't wanted to disturb them.

And what was she going to do with a crate on a trip like this?

(She wanted a sylladex. Badly. She'd have to ask Farrat about it later.)

Nicsy tilted her head the way birds do, looking toward Aerynna. "You said you had the answer to Sir Wall's pass phrase riddle," she said hopefully to the ranger. "Let's hear it, I want to make sure I can get down there safely so Galaxia won't lose her flying powers..." She was worried, she'd never had that kind of responsibility for someone else's shapeshifting before. But she was determined to do it right.

Aerynna sighed. "Swap ships is what I was thinking, but I wanted to make sure I thought it through before I shared. I am very sure that that's the answer we are looking for." The bird on her shoulder pecked her, as if to remind her not to be rude. "Oh, by the way, this little owlet's name is Oliver. I was wandering around outside for a bit and he just flew onto my shoulder and he hasn't left yet. I guess he thinks I'm his mama or something, ha!"

Nicsy thought the answer must be right the moment she heard it. "Swap ships," she repeated and readied herself to fly down.

As she awaited the group's next move, Aerynna hoped that her psychic abilities would help the group through more puzzles like this. She needed to learn to be more outspoken...to speak up when she had the answers, instead of waiting for everyone else to answer first. It was one of many things she needed to work on, and she hoped that being part of this team would help her with that.

Aodh smiled as he heard Aerynna tell about her guess. Easy and yet something you would have to think through a bit of hoops for. The bard nodded. "From all that I know of tasks like this one, I'd gather you are quite right in your answer", he told her, before needing to keep his Sprite away from the owl. Sometimes Slíocach's tendencies for trickery could get in the way of group spirit. To give his companion something to do, he simply sent him down the hole, so the Sprite could help the bard with his descent. Aodh looked on in awe as Galaxia sprouted wings to carry their mage down the hole. "Those suit you, you should let them get some air for often", he told the warrior, before he himself started to climb down.

Kassiri had been watching Dhara with the ropes and lines and knew that they were going ... down there. Wherever there was.

Kassiri did not want to be carried down there, all that long distance, by someone she didn't know.

She also could see that Dhara would not be able to carry her. She didn't like taking a sidestep when people were watching--every instinct told her it wasn't safe--but it was probably safer than being taken down into that pit.

So she took the sidestep into the Dreaming, trusting her feet to find a safe path.

Galaxia's voice was gruff, but her eyes were suspiciously shiny as she nodded and reached out to pick Elethia up and settle her on a shoulder, balancing the other woman carefully and tilting her head to give Mr. Scoots a handhold in her hair as needed. She also stooped to pick up Kaz, making a noise of acknowledgement to Dhara on the point of intelligence, but then rebalanced unexpectedly with wings mantling as the thylacine sidestepped and...vanished from view? Galaxia winced, giving Dhara a sidelong look. "Um...I'll just get Elethia down and come back up for Aerynna, if needed," she suggested, and went to descend without waiting for a reply.

Nicsy flew down, Gish following her anxiously - the gullah didn't like the looks of this place they were entering, not one bit. The baby owl was cute, though. She was looking forward to making his acquaintance.

Dhara's jaw dropped and her ears flattened. "I didn't know she could do...whatever it was she just did. Sorry Galaxia--"

A large part of her was worried that something terrible had just happened, but Kaz's movements had seemed deliberate.

"Well. I've always wondered how she ends up some of the places I go."

Dhara shook her head and began to climb down. She was glad of the ropes she'd placed just in case, but her claws sank into the shelves and they held.

When she got to the bottom, the thylacine was waiting, looking up at her a bit impatiently. Something about the curve of Kassiri's long jaw looked almost like a smile.

Using Dhara's ropes, Aodh found it was easy enough to get down the first meters and then his Sprite fluttered up to him to guide him down safely.

"I sure wish you could talk, I would love to know what you're thinking right now." Dhara scritched Kassiri's ears. "Are you sapient? If so, I'm sorry for assuming you're not, but...I have to look out for you!"

Ever since she'd met Gish she was wondering that all the time about animals. And asking more questions about meat from sources she wasn't familiar with.

The last person, Aodh, was finally down. Dhara hadn't been introduced to him yet, but he looked like the same species as some of the refugees who'd moved into the block back in Parkati, displaced by Weirdmageddon--and though his name didn't sound like any of theirs. she was sure that they had multiple languages just like most other species.

"Greetings, Aodh-nadi..." Was that the polite form of address? She thought so. There were several, but she wasn't sure of the ranking. "I don't recall meeting you before; I'm Dhareissa Verenke, but you may call me Dhara."

Sorry for it being such a short rp. Due to migraines the last couple of days I'm happy I actually got a little something down for this chapter at all LOL