Breviary of Brandylegs: Chapter the First: From the Dust

The air is still. Silent. Unmoving. For a few moments you fear you have been trapped in a cave-in. Then memory returns. Your eyes open. Blackness. Slowly, fuzzily, details begin to resolve themselves out of the darkness. There is no light whatsoever, all is in grey.

You are looking at a vaulted ceiling. The stone arches are done in fantastical scrolling carvings. Dark chandeliers hang, products of considerable skill, obvious even dust-shrouded . You sit up and look around. You are laying on an empty bier in an elegant hall, one of a double row leading off into the darkness past where you can see. Heavy hangings adorn the wall separating nooks which contain more biers carved in the living stone... only these are occupied. A quick glance shows that you are sitting upon the only unoccupied slab within reach of your vision.

A sudden chill runs up your back. The figures are obscured by what appears to be burial wrappings and the gods-only-know how many centuries of dust, yet it is clear that they are of no race you have ever seen... or even heard of in legend or tale. Your breath sounds loudly in the absolute silence.



You are completely alone.

Cross rolls off the slab mumbling curses to himself for landing in this situation.

"Bloody ell! If I'd a known I was goin for a trip dis mornin I wouldn't a left me pack at the inn!" "At least I can see a bit in this ere hole I got meself into, heh, so I got that goin fer me."

*I'm going to search the area for anything useful I may be able to pilfer for myself.*

* Spot checks *

*I also want to check the individual slabs with the carvings to see if I recognise any of the symbols or material that was used ie. same stone as the floor or quarried in*

* Craft stone(I think this is fitting) *

*Well looks like I wont have too much trouble finding something but I probably broke the first slab I tried to examine.*

Rolling off the slab, and onto the floor stirs up dust, threatening to make you sneeze. You note that the dust is thick, and before your movements, undisturbed. Careful movements help minimize the stirring of dust.

Each of the figures is shrouded, and the alien forms send distinct and sharp chills through you every time you attempt to approach one. Examining the slab you were laying on proves more successful. You do note that the carvings are detailed and exquisite workmanship. They differ from slab to slab, although the warding aura of the forms on the slabs prevents too close an examination of their slabs.

You are able to tell that the slabs are one with the natural rock of the cavern, in fact, everything you see appears to have been drawn from the living rock, and is one whole. Abruptly, the chandelier directly above you lights. Not the warm welcoming yellow-orange of natural fire, but an eerie flickering bluish-green that sheds little actual radiance. One after the other, the chandeliers light, drawing your gaze to the other end of the hall.

The shadows deepen in the niches, until they are almost completely obscured. The hairs on your neck and arms prickle. You get the unmistakable impression of a heavy gaze regarding you intently. The shadows gather on the slabs until it is difficult to see any details, except for the slab you lay on and the path in between. No, more than one gaze rests upon you. From each niche and slab, comes a sense of observation, a weighing.

An answering glow appears from the other end of the hall. It brightens into an actual light. It beckons you and bids you approach.

I will slowly make my way towards the light at the end of the hall taking care to stay as near the middle of the row between the slabs as I can.

Noteing that the dust seems to be undisturbed except by my passing footprints I am going to try and keep a vigilant eye on the floor in front of me to see if I can detect any changes in the stonework that might indicate a trap or recent passage.

I will keep my handaxe ready in the case I might need it.

As you pass each bier, you feel the weight of an unearthly gaze rest upon you. Each gaze feels slightly different, some quick, some slow, others impatient, uncaring, or eager. Every few steps you take you feel as if you have passed a test... in some cases, indifference to your passage. Your touch to your weapon brings a sense of amusement in some, approval in others, freezing warning from the rest.

The dust thickens as you walk down the hall, mounding up to almost cover your feet. Nothing is visible beneath it. Finally, the other end of the hall becomes apparent. A massive skeletal beast protrudes from the wall. It is apparently lying on it's side, as part of the ribcage projects from the corner to your right, and the long neck vertabrae are partially visible in a sweeping arch on your left. The head and upper jaw of the beast hangs down in the center in front and above you. The multiple empty eye sockets regard you blankly. The beast is so large that it's head would easily allow an ogre to step inside its open mouth. The lower jaw projects upwards from the floor, piercing the covering dust.

The glow comes from within the shadowy interior of the mouth. Roughly shaped from the rock, so blurred and rounded it looks as if it was melted rather than cut, a nonetheless unmistakeable throne is inside the gaping jaws. The glow comes from a number of objects being held by the figure. The most prominent is from the blade of a large long-hafted axe, of a size appropriate to the tall shrouded forms upon the biers. A faint sparkle beyond the axe draws your attention to the darkness behind.

Suddenly you see a cloaked form sitting upon the throne, one seven-fingered hand gripping the axe, the other a long sceptre with glowing tracery. A third hand holds a bowl with glowing points upon its surface, while a fourth hand with a glowing ring holds a heap of small objects. The darkness under the hood of the cloak remains obscure even to your vision, but there is an ancient weight of years in the invisible gaze that rests upon you like a heavy blow. The glitter comes from a massive necklace that rests upon it's shoulders and chest. Oddly, the glow from the objects illuminate the figure not at all.

There is a sense of weighing, regalness, inquiry, and age from the figure, almost as if it looks upon you from a vast distance... not one of space, but one of time.

"Mighty nice collection ye ave there deadie, looks like those might come in andy for someone like me in my current situation!"

I want to check around the mouth of this beast see if I spot anything out of the ordinary. I don't want the mouth to come closeing down on me while im in there grabbing goodies. If I can't see anything obvious on the skeleton itself I will make my way inside and begin another similar search of the figure on the throne, paying close attention to the arms that hold the items and if there are any lights behind him that do not originate with these items that may give me a clue how to get out of here.

As you approach the line of teeth, you get a strong sense of disapproval from the last few biers. However, there is a distinct sense of amusement from the enthroned figure. The sensations from the various slabs and niches mingle and mix. Eventually they fade away. You don't see how the jaw could close, as the corners of it would be inside the stone wall.

There is silence. You step forward. The air stirs... a long drawn out whisper. The dust is blown between the teeth, a grey ocean between knife like islands. A pause. You step forward again, closer to the line of teeth. The air stirs again... drawn in towards the figure on the throne, stirring the dust with it. You step forward again. The dust explodes away from your foot as if your foot was a large rock thrown into a shallow lake. A patterned floor, with myrid carvings is revealed. Arcs, whirls and lines of peculiar directions weave in and out forming a mosaic of astonishing complexity.

The air whips around you and echoes away stripping the dust away from everything. Except, above each slab and niche, the dust gathers into fantastical forms, no two alike. The shrouds they sit on top of might be stone, as they stir not the slightest. The figure in the throne moves...

...and stands up. From a great distance, an echo without a source reaches you. It's gaze sweeps the hall and those assembled there.

---We are decided then?---

Silence thunders in the cavern. The dust-figures clash weapons which form out of the swirling dust as they raise them, and pump them thrice, over the various heads. The only sound is your breathing. The figure's gaze bends to regard you.

---Strip.---

Having not encountered anything even remotely like this in my limited travels I am inclined to do exactly what I am told.

"Are ye goin ta buy me dinner at least?"

I will remove my travelers outfit and set everything on the ground in front of me includeing my handaxe.

The figure waits until you have finished, and then makes a slight gesture with a fifth appendage that never comes out from under the cloak. Off to your right, near the ribcage, an oval section of the floor lifts up and slides smoothly to the side. The sound of flowing water fills the hall.

---Bathe.---

A pause.

---Be Clean That You May Receive The Gift You Have Requested.---

Cross slowly makes his way over to the pool that has just popped out of the stonework. Slowly immersing himself in the pool he wonders if this was such a good idea.

"Me mother would thank ye sir shes been tryin to get me ta bathe for near 3 months."

The water is ***FREEZING*** cold.

The figure watches expectantly.

As quickly as I can I will clean the best I can in this cold water and get right back out before I get too numb and cant defend myself if need be. I also want to begin looking around to see if I can spot an escape route if the situation presents itself.

"Oly! crap ye couldn't at least warm er up for meh?"


OCC. is the figure standing near me or is he still standing near the throne?

The water numbs your flesh quickly, imparting a slight bluish tinge. However, it seems to strip the dust and dirt off of you upon contact leaving your skin well scrubbed. The stone surface underneath is slick, plus there is a current, unexpectedly taking your feet out from under you. You feel as if you had been plunged into the heart of iceberg. Painfully clean, you clamber out.

A wind surrounds you scouring every drop of water off in a whirl, raining it back into the small pool. You are unexpectedly enveloped by a pristine white silken robe, astonishing in its warmth after the cold of the pool, wrapped around you by the wind-or by unseen hands.

The figure awaits you.

---Thy coming, though inadvertant, has awakened the Doom.---

A pause.

---None living who come here may depart, save they be of our kind, and there be none that may escape this Doom.---

A pause.

---The bravery, fearlessness, and obedience ye have displayed deserves reward.---

A pause.

---There is a way this Doom may be averted... for a time... for ye bear within ye the EARTHBLOOD, and as such may be aknowledged kin, for such ye are, if distant.---

A pause.

---Accept upon you our burden of thy own will and choice, and ye shall walk again under the sun, moon, and stars for whatever span fate has allotted thee.---

A pause.

---But escape the Doom ye cannot, even though it be no fault of thine, for ye have lived in the Hall of the Forgotten, and here thine bones must return to lay forever after. That is the price, the price of return from the Hall of the Forgotten.---

A pause. The echo seems sad.

---This much only we can do. And this much only because ye are kin. In some things, even we are bound.---

"Aye, tis true the earth runs in me blood and too be swept here away from me breakfast I surely agree I 'ave been doomed what ether burden to ye plan on inflicting me with?"

OOC: how far from the pool am I in respect to the figure?

---Only the burden of life itself. By formally acknowledging thee kin, the Doom will suffer ye to leave this place alive, nor will it trouble thee in thy travels.---

A glance behind you reveals unblemished floor. There is no sign of the pool.

---Of thine own will, freely given, must this choice be. We will not, can not, make it for ye.---