[FIREBIRD EXPLORE - 9 AM]

[dramatispersonae]

You find yourself in a small triangular room with high, high walls. All three walls are made of glass. Through one, all you see is white light moving in strange angular patterns. Through the second, the same white light forms great starbursts. Through the third, the light coils and wheels.

It's quite bright. The floor is made of ruddy beaten copper. The ceiling is a vast mirror. In the middle of the floor is a great copper bowl filled with something white and wavering, like smoke.

You find three copper tokens in your hand. They are flat, shaped like apples. Engraved on each is the word OPEN.

Comments

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

You’re in a thick forest, faint mist drifting lazily around your feet. It’s a little chilly, a little damp, but not uncomfortable. Birds chirp and insects buzz lazily all around you, unconcerned by your presence. What little you can see of the sky is pale and cloudless.

A faint trail winds into the trees to your right.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...can I go through the trees where there is no trail?]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

Yes.

It gets dimmer as you go, the mist thicker. Very quiet. Only the sound of your breathing and the crunch of your footsteps breaks the silence. The forest is lush and trackless, though much less thorny and unforgiving to travel through than Aather.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[good. KEEPS GOING!!]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

You are now extremely lost.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...you say that as though I had a destination in the first place...]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

You hear singing in the distance.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...I remember what that bowl said. GOING TOWARDS THE SINGING!!]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

The singing sounds very strange. It's a chorus of voices. They sound sweet but not entirely human. You can't understand the words.

It also keeps moving. Do you keep following it?

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[yes]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

Eventually you wind up back where you started, at the bit of forest with trail running to the east.

There is one difference: the surrounding trees' trunks are now all scorched and blackened.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...oops :X

is there still singing?]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

Singing's gone!

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[hmm... fine, down the trail we go]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

You find a very large clearing. Thirteen pedestals of some dark stone ring it; they must have had statues on them once, but these have been cleanly broken away, and only the (human? hopefully?) feet are left on each one. Who knows where the rest of each statue is.

In the center of the clearing is the lone intact statue: a huge dark serpent about thirteen feet high, mouth wide open. It's exquisitely carved, but its four fangs are missing, so it looks pretty goofy right now.

A red fox is seated on the other side of the clearing, eyeing you. It's carrying a lump of raw meat in its mouth.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[watches the fox... but approaches the defanged serpent]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

It's a statue!

The fox backs up as you get nearer.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...the thirteen statues' feet remind him of the figurines...

hm. IS THERE ANYTHING...special...near the base of the serpent?]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

It's also on a pedestal, but there's nothing very extraordinary about that?

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...eyes it, then steps over to examine a broken statue]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

STONE HUMAN FEET.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[...

drops a token on one]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

Lines of red fire run up from the feet on the pedestal, building and weaving until they've built an image of a young woman with her arms outstretched and a pleading expression on her face. She's in a heavy dress, with long straight hair. She's very pretty, and looks a little like Firebird.

You find yourself back in the central room. There is a copper key in your hand.

Re: Kurei

[pyrocatharsis]

[frowns and heads to the last room]

Re: Kurei

[dramatispersonae]

You're in a hallway lined with floor-length mirrors, five on each side. The door you came through is inset into a wooden wall behind you; another wooden wall blocks off the opposite end of the corridor. The high ceiling is copper, with stylized suns and birds carved upon it. The floor is opaque black rock. It’s rather chilly.