[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: KK

[dramatispersonae]

IT'S GOING FOR A HEADBUTT YOU MAY WANT TO DODGE.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[YES OKAY I'LL GET OUT OF THE WAY.]

Oi! I fed you. Where's the gratitude?!

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

You may notice dark blood dripping from its mouth.

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

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[oh well! key > bra, heads for the leafy tree door.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

You’re in a small, low-ceilinged one-room house, somewhat like a team cabin but built of a dark shiny stone. There are plants growing all over the walls and floor and ceiling—ivy twined with some sort of black vine. Try not to trip. It’s also scorching hot; there are no windows, and the only door is the one you came through.

There is a bed, a cabinet big enough to hold a man, a wooden desk with a single drawer, and a table in the middle of the room with thirteen copper figurines arranged in a circle upon it. There's something else in the middle of the circle.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[ughhhh hot nooooo.

Goes to look in the middle of the circle.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

The figures are abstract humanoids with their arms upraised. Each is about six inches high, and they are very shiny.

In the middle of the circle they form is the skeleton of a small songbird, the bones hung together with copper wire. A perfect copper feather is wired within its ribcage.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[hmmm ... checks the desk drawer!]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

You find . . . the skeleton of a cat in the drawer. It's bleached white, the bones hung together with copper wire. An anatomically-correct copper heart is wired within its ribcage.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[huh. picks the cat up gently, placing it down on the table, then going to the closet to look what's in there.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

Empty, except for a single red apple.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[> EXAMINE APPLE.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

You spot a wormhole near the top of it when you pick it up. Eating it might not be a great idea.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[looks at cat. then bird. then down at the wormhole.

cat. bird. worm.

IF THERE IS ACTUALLY A WORM IN THERE I AM PICKING IT OUT!!1]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

THERE IS A WIGGLY WHITE WORM!

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[MWAHAH!

right I am gonna arrange these things. Moving the statues aside for a moment, and putting the worm in the bird's mouth. CAN I BEND THE WIRE IN PLACES TO CHANGE THE WAY THE BONES ARE STOOD?]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

YES THE SKELETONS ARE POSEABLE

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[arranges the cat to be in a pouncing position over the bird, touching it, and the bird to be leaning over the worm, pecking it from the table. Making sure the worm is securely placed in the bird's beak so it doesn't get away. Then arranges the figures in a circle around the food chain \:D/ HOW DOES THAT LOOK.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

KIND OF NEAT ACTUALLY.

There is a hard thump from the closet.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[goes to look in the closet ...]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

Still empty.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[... oh well.

Goes back to her arrangement. Makes sure again that all of them are connected, and then touches the worm with the token. HOPEFULLY IT WILL GET ALL OF THEM \:D/]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

The worm starts to grow! Into . . . something that is not a worm at all. It is a perfect skeleton of a snake, about three feet long, the bones strung together with copper wire. In the middle of the long ribcage is wired a copper needle.

It is still hanging from the bird's beak. This looks incredibly silly.

You are back in the central room with a copper key! Go go go.

Re: KK

[steampunked]

[PUTS THREE COPPER KEYS INTO THE BOWL KEYHOLES.]

Re: KK

[dramatispersonae]

The eggshells shatter apart, and the smoky thing collapses silently into the bowl, weaving and writhing. But it can't seem to get out...

You abruptly find yourself back in the Ring.