Breviary of Brandylegs: Chapter the First: From the Dust

[Elbryon]

"Well if that be the way im gettin outa ere den my will I give to ye freely. Watcha require o me?"

[nijineko]

The figure gestures you to the front.

---Ye have been washed, cleansed... be ye now reborn.---

The floor in front of the throne area opens up, small tiles and bits of patterns crawling up and over each other until a rectangular pool is revealed. The figure gestures and unseen gentle hand lead you down some steps into the water. It is cold, but in comparison to the first pool, it is a sauna.

---Ye shall be immersed for only a few heartbeats, and then brought forth.---

The figure begin speaking... something... sounds which never issued from an humanoid throat, not entirely unpleasant, but very different. Another gesture; you feel the pressure of unseen hands lowering you gently into the water until you are completly immersed. A pause and the water warms and throbs-very much like a heart beating. You are lifted forth, breaking the surface of the water all at once and set upon your feet facing the throne. You can hear the floor closing up behind you.

An outfit of some kind floats before you. The wind whisks the water off of you, and then the robe, enwrapping you in the new garment, simultaneously. It fits surprisingly well, feeling much like the soft underlayer from a set of armor. On your left, from the patterns in the floor, multi-tiered sections rise smoothly to form a series of stacked comparments. One of the compartments opens and a bottle floats out.

This rises above your head and with a soft -pop- opens, tips, and spills a small amount of the contents onto the top of your head. You smell myrrh, mingled with various spices, a strong oder. The bottle closes and is whisked away. The figure comes right to the edge of the line of the teeth.

---Take a knee.---

Once you have done so, the figure hangs the scepter and the axe in the air, and makes a gesture as if to lay hands upon your head. The figure does not cross the line of teeth, however, with any part. You feel the phantom pressure of the hands upon your head. The extra fingers render the sensation subtly different. Again the figure speaks the incomprehensable language.

The most peculiar sensation spreads throughout your body. Your blood tingles and rushes through you in a way almost... joyful. The figure reaches back and snags the axe from the air, and holds it horizontally, speaking a few words. Then the figure reverses the axe, so that the blade is up and extends the axehead past the line of teeth. There is a silvery sparkle and distortion about the part of the axe which breeches the line of teeth. As the axe passes the teeth, it dulls and loses all luster, becoming much older looking.

The figure taps each of your shoulders thrice, in a manner most formal, speaking yet a third time. He finishes, but leaves the axe extended.

---Your gift, warrior. Weild it with honor, it shall shine again.---

A pause.

---One last thing ye must do. Part of ye must remain here. Part of us must go with ye. Blood thyself upon thine weapon, that it may ever know thee. And mark with thy blood, that place where thou awoke. From that place, take of the dust, and place it upon thy tongue. For from the dust we arose, and to the dust we return.---

[Elbryon]

I will take hold of the ax and slowly make my way back to the pillar I woke up on taking enough time to turn back and look at the figure several times on my trip.

When I reach the pillar I will hold the axe just under the head and run my left hand across the blade just enough to draw some blood that I let drip. Then I will mix the blood with the dust on the top then clean the dust and blood from my finger in my mouth.

When I have finished I will again make my way towards the figure inside the teeth.

"Yer gift will be put te good use stranger." "Is there anything I can do to repay ye?" " I donna like ta be indebted."

[nijineko]

There is a silvery flash as the axe passes the line of teeth. All is quiet as you walk to the slab, anoint it with your blood, and walk back.

---No more stranger, but kin.---

A pause.

---That is the nature of family. Debt cannot be repaid... it can only be passed forward to the next generation.---

A pause.

---Thou art well come. Now, go forth, find thy destiny.---

At the opposite end of the hall, there is a grating sound. An opening appears, letting in a wan shaft of reddish light, and there is a faint rumbling sound.

The figure steps back and raises the empty hand high.

---Hail the Last Earthmaster!---

Turning around, you see that every dust form stands on either side of the central walk, forming an honor guard. They raise their weapons, and one by one down the line, flourish and then cross the weapons overhead, forming an arch.

---Fare ye forth, Last of the Earthmasters!---

[Elbryon]

"Earthmaster, ah like that, I woll not make you regret this. Fare ye well!"

I will make my way towards the exit after admireing the axe for a while.

Cross makes his way down the path framed by the weapons that the forms hold above him in an arch. No longer frightened he gives a slight nod to the figures as he passes each in the line. Before exiting the final door Cross turns to give a final look back towards the figure behind the teeth....

"Fair the well my Kin!"

[nijineko]

When you turn back, you see the figures give one last salute... then with a ripple and a gust of wind the hall flows back to how it was when you first saw it. Dust enshrouded, silent, still, and dark. Only two things are different. The bier upon which you lay is pristine, but is still marked with a brilliant spot of crimson. And the axe is still firm in your grip, if dull.

[nijineko]

You stride through the opening. It is a sort of tunnel, and you come to another row of teeth jutting up from the ground, but these are unmistakably stone. Beyond is a few low steps going down into the room. From above also hang teeth, much like in the room you just left. You walk into the room and turn to look up at the stone effigy. And then jump back slightly. The effigy is that of a massive reptilian monstrosity that you have never seen before, fully fleshed, and snarling. It's sudden movement is what startled you, but you realize swiftly that it is only closing, swinging shut on hidden hinges. The motion is very life-like, as if the mouth were truely closing. You see that the "steps" were actually the lips of the creature.

The artistry is astonishing, the polishing alone must have taken years of work, the natural colors and highlights of the stone give the carving an uncanny look of life. Surely whomever created this work of art knew these creatures face to face. Looking around the room, you realize that the entire room is formed of the gargantuan body of the creature wrapped around it. One arm juts up from below and it is holding a pool sized brazier in it's outstretched claws.

The pool is filled with molten magma, the source of the redish light that fills this room. The magma ebbs and flows slightly, resulting in a pulsating effect that eerily resembles a heartbeat. The other arm protrudes from the ceiling, grasping a truely massive crystaline chandelier that reflects and scatters the glow from the brazier. The clawed feet grip a doorway, in the wall to your right, as you stand with your back facing away from the head.

The tail is coiled around the rest of the doorway and takes up the last bit of wall between the door and the head you have just exited. The mouth finishes closing with a --*BOOM*--! There is a sudden sharp sense of dread, and you can somehow sense forms, dangerous forms sliding through the very rock of the floor and ceiling aiming for you. Just as quickly, you sense a sudden check.... The forms swirl around all about you without ever exiting the rock, as if they are smelling or tasting you.

Then you sense a feeling of respect and you can faintly sense a sort of bow in your direction. The forms ripple away and meld into the rock such that you can no longer sense them at all.

[Elbryon]

I want to search the room, if these creatures acted so quickly to stop my intrusion into their space I can only assume they have done this to any other poor soul that has ventured this way.

* Unskilled search..... *

[nijineko]

You search the room, but do not find anything additional at all. Where a door should be in the doorway seems to be a blank stone face.

[Elbryon]

ooc: blank stone face? like a blank wall of stone or a visage on the wall?

[nijineko]

{blank smooth stone}

[Elbryon]

Having watched various things erupt and then melt back into the stone I will walk up to where the door should be and simply push my hand onto it as if I'm trying to push through the door.

"If I be kin to you who live in deez 'alls lets just see how akin I am ta you."

[nijineko]

The stone ripples, and your hand is held fast to the rock. A pattern, one of several, appear and change in the rock. A feeling of peace pervades you. You feel something enter your hand and crawl up through your arm, your shoulder, your neck, your head. You get the sensation of rummaging, and then something being added. It then sinks into your chest. Again, a sensation of something being added. It pokes at something as if testing it, but then it leaves whatever that was alone. After a brief pause it flows back out of you into the stone.

Your hand sinks into the stone, as if it had become water, followed by the rest of you. There is a short journey through solid rock. As you pass you dimly sense some of the forms that had earlier investigated you nearby in the rock. They are completely quiescent.

You emerge from the rock, and are blinded. After some time, your eyes adjust to a shaft of brilliant natural sunlight. It is so brilliant that you can see nothing of the space that you are in. The shaft is horizontal, spilling down a few steps and across the floor, shining directly on you. You can smell fresh air, grass, water, and sun-warmed rock. A soft breeze beckons you forward.

[Elbryon]

First I would like to see if I am able to get back the way I came. Then I will carefully make my way up the steps and get a better sense of my current surroundings.

[nijineko]

When you turn around to try to go back the way you came, you find your way blocked with very large, truly impressively huge crystals which have somehow managed to get between you and the way you came. In the light brightly reflected through the crystals it is hard to make out anything, but after a few moments you note that the crystal formations are interlocked in some sort of barely discernible pattern. The crystals do not seem inclined to get out of your way.

There are three steps leading up to an opening of some sort, one without frame.