Sunflower—Toadstool and Spire (Active thread) (EG_003)

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I take a few seconds to observe the general area where the club should be.

<thinking> If I don't see it I will just go back to Alla and we will plan out our next move and get her a weapon somewhere.

"Alla, give me just a second. If I don't see it I'm coming back over there.".

[hengest]

No way can you see what's om the floor. There are too many of the creatures flowing by. You do notice a spot where they might be bumping over something. You would have to reach into the "flow" to check around there. Or stick a long object down there.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I sweep my sword across the area trying to catch the object to roll it in my direction.

[hengest]

Just before you do so, the pitter-patter changes and you look down the tunnel. You see that the apparently endless column of imps, marching and scrambling, has come to an end. Apart from a few stragglers, the end of the column moves past Alla and then you.

You see Alla's club, about four feet from where you were about to scrape your sword across the floor.

The last of them skitter past and down the tunnel. A few seconds later, you and Alla are alone in what seems now to be utter blackness, although you will need a little time for your night vision to come on.

You can hear Alla's breathing, now sounding quite loud, but she says nothing.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I walk over and pick up the club while still looking down the way the imps came from for a few moments.  I glance at Alla noticing that she seems a little shaken but not to the point that she appears to be giving up.

<thinking> I'll give her a few moments to gather herself a bit.

I turn the club over in my hands to examine it for any damage.

"Alla, your club appears to be undamaged.  That is good news?  How are you holding up?" I ask knowing that the way of combat is new to her.

<thinking> We have two options available to us, but I think only one clear path.

Alla seems to be pretty stable from here.  I walk over to her to hand her the club.  Looking up I meet her gaze and ask, "Are you doing okay?  I see two paths for use to choose from. We can follow the imps to the town we came from OR we can continue on this way to see if we can put a stop to this whole thing.".

I let those words think in for a few moments but before she can answer I continue, "Alla, I don't see how much MORE our help will stop the imps back in town.  It's just the two of us.  I think if we find out where the imps came FROM then we can stop this at the source which WILL help the town. What do you think?"

[hengest]

[You are in almost perfect darkness, apart from a couple glowing 'scratches' on the floor and low down on the walls of the passage.]

[It's more difficult than you thought you hand her the club, but you can do so once you talk.]

Her voice sounds different. More mature, almost, although you already knew she was a grown woman.

"I think we made our choice some time ago."

You look in the direction you were headed, although you see nothing. At the edge of the black field before you, it seems there is...a difference in the darkness, and even a hint of sound.

Alla is right before you, you can tell by her breath. Then you hear her shuffling forward, uncertain but with resolve.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Yes, so it is.", I respond to Alla.

My vision seems to just slightly improve as we take a few steps.

"Let's just take it slow and steady until we can see a bit better."

[hengest]

You creep forward, uncertainly, staying close to the right-hand wall and shuffling your feet foward slowly. It would look beyond ridiculous if there were anything to see by. 

After a while, even your own breathing sounds strange in your ears.

Some ways on, you are not even sure how long you have been moving in this manner, the air changes a bit and you see something. At first, it feels like a hallucination brought on by the lack of things to see. But it is real, or seems to be. You can finally see a shaky outline of Alla in front of you, but only as a black hole in the...strings? tiny spots? of pale light ahead of you. 

It takes you both more than a moment to see what you are seeing. The uncanny light is colder but a touch brighter than that of the stars. 

Judging by the evidence of your eyes, which is all you have, the tunnel you have been inching down has opened into a large cavern. You can see the cavern not thanks to any flame, but because of what must be thousands of tiny glowing dots 'strung' throughout the cavern. You can see no color at all.

You are having difficulty judging distances, but it seems that just ahead of you is a bit of an open area, but not much. Is that an edge? You cannot see what might be below it.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Acknowledging the difficulty of moving along with the reduced visibility I say, "Alla. Let me go first. I'll sweep ahead of me with my sword to see if that's a ledge in front of us or maybe some stairs or a sloping passage.".

I can hear her stop and feel her presence as I move in front of Alla.

"Ok. Here we go. Slow and steady until we can see what's going on.".

I continue to lead us forward closer to the edge as I use my sword to judge whether the floor in front of us slopes, turns to stairs, or just drops off.

[hengest]

It does not just drop off. You are able to step out of the passage and onto a kind of path running roughly at a right angle to the passage down which you were traveling. That passage sloped generally downhill, while this path already feels flatter. Once you are out there and feel your footing, you can look down.

Below is a gigantic mass, a kind of mini-lake, of seething material. Its ever-shifting crust is black, but beneath the breaking, melting, and sliding crust is a soup of unmixing colors, such as you have seen more than once by now. The light of those colors does not seem to reach the upper portions of the large chamber at all.

Again, with the few landmarks in here, it is a little hard to say, but you estimate that it is about 15 feet from your feet down to the surface of the 'stuff'.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I look around the area in front and below us.

"Alla, have you ever seen anything like that down there?" I enquire as I continue to examine the area.

<thinking> I wonder what happens if I throw something down there in that black mass?

I glance around the area to see Alla looking at me with a questioning look.

"Let's see if we can find a rock or something a little bit larger than hand size to drop it down there in that black liquid.".

[hengest]

Alla steps over cautiously, looking around the cavern, and looks down.

You still can barely see her in this gloom.

"No," she says honestly, after a very brief pause, then begins looking around dutifully. Realizing she can see almost nothing, she gets down on her hands and knees and begins sweeping her hands across the floor in search of something.

You can see and feel that the immediate "platform" where you two are extends a ways in both directions. It might form a sort of walkable lip around this whole underground lake. You are not sure.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Let's see if we can go separate ways on this ledge while we are searching for something to drop in the liquid. Maybe it goes all the way around or there are steps down at some point?" I say to All as I bend down and mimic her actions going in the opposite direction.

[hengest]

You and Alla are crawling on your hands and knees peering at all but invisible ground, feeling for small stones.

You are crawling off to the left of the way you came from. Your "path" slopes down a bit.

You find almost nothing, barely a dust of invisible particles of cavern-debris.

From back in the other direction, you hear a new sound, a kind of bubbling.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> Well, this search hasn't been particularly worthwhile.

I stop in place to make sure I am hearing what I think I just heard.

"Alla, that sounds like it's coming from your direction. Are you okay?", I ask as I turn around and start heading in her direction.

[hengest]

Turning around, you see a little more clearly now: some twenty-five feet away, Alla is still on her knees, looking up at a rising column of the substance. It seems to be looming over her and changing shape. Large bubbles are forming and bursting on its surface, which is what you heard. Alla and the area around her are illuminated now.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I rise up to my full height and continue to advance towards Alla with urgency but without the appearance of intended violence.

I'm trying to look at the illuminated area to see if Alla is in any danger.

[hengest]

You approach easily in the increased illumination. The column of shifting color and blackness pays no attention to you. It seems to be investigating Alla. A blob extends from it, reaching toward her. Alla draws back.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Alla, do you think it's trying to communicate with you somehow?" I slowly ask of her.

<thinking> Maybe not the best time for questions.

I notice Alla watching the piece of the blob and looking back & forth between it and me.

"I know this sounds wrong and I understand your apprehension....", pausing to gather my thoughts, "but I suspect that if it meant you harm then it would have already done so. I think k it's....curious. We came into its' place.".

[hengest]

As you speak, the column notices you. An "eye" opens on its stalk. The eye is about a foot across. It looks at you with an expression you cannot read but does not reach for you. Its pseudolimb still hovers near Alla.

You hear more burbling and a sound from down the tunnel.

[hengest]

Alla scrambles backwards a bit and comes to stand by you. She does not reply.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> This is not going smoothly at all.

I glance at Alla noting the fear in hear expression.

"Can you look towards that sound coming from that way?", tiling my head in the direction down the tunnel. "Tell me what you see.".

I hold my hands in front of my chest with the palms up and address the blob in front of us. "We mean no harm. We only seek to find out what is causing these small creatures to swarm the city.".

I look at Alla and shrug.

"Do you understand?", I enquire waiting for an answer...

[hengest]

The eye stares at you.

Alla turns and steps away to peer down the hall, just as the pseudoarm expands into an umbrella-shape above where she stood. The eye looks after her, but the umbrella-arm does not move.

"Ethan?" she calls over to you. You hear apprehension in her voice. "I guess they did their work..."

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> What is going on?

"Uhh...Alla, what you mean?" I ask as I turn towards her.

[hengest]

You step away, unhindered by the blob-creature, over to Alla to look down the tunnel. You see hundreds or thousands of the imps, glowing even more brightly than before, rushing toward you.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> Again?!

"Now I see,", pausing briefly, "that here we go again.".

[hengest]

They are nearly upon you and Alla as you stare at the onrush.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Alla, back against the wall again to stay upright.  Don't get knocked down." I remind her.

<thinking> There HAS to be a way to stop these imps BUT maybe the answer is to keep going and find their source?

As they approach, I shout out "Why are you going to the city?  What do you want?" looking from the imps and the blob extension in hopes of some sort of answer.

[hengest]

This time, they don't stop to speak to you.

Alla presses herself against the wall, looking truly horrified now. The place is much more illuminated even as they approach. The substance down in the "pit" is glowing brightly now, as are the imps in their rush toward you. They look taller and bigger than before. Well-fed.

The first of them reach you, apparently paying no attention to you, but their numbers and increased size start pushing you back towards the edge. You "turn" a bit to keep your footing, enough to see that they leap off the edge and into the gooey substance. Many more are pouring past your legs at every moment.

The eye-column watches with a kind of care (?) as the creatures hurl themselves into the pit.

You are only a few feet away from the edge yourself. This is not like standing in a shallow stream.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Alla...they're pushing me to the edge." I say as I look around to try to figure out what to do.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can maintain this position."

<thinking> Maybe...

"Try clicking those rings together one more time." I ask as I fight to maintain my footing.