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Company of Chaos - All Around Golarion
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<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5739846" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>Said friends were currently arguing about Zaza squeezing into the next room or not. Her brother and the paladin were vehemently against it. A lot of things could be waiting in that room, and it would be even worse if she was attacked while still trying to get through. The bard and Zaza wanted to try it – Teltz because he saw the need for it and had enough experiences in dungeons to see that there was relatively little risk, and Zaza because she wanted to be useful for a change. Samin didn't know what to think and made the situation somewhat worse when he had to pee and picked a corner of the room for it. All eyes were suddenly on him, and just to distract from what he had just done, he nodded to Zaza. "Let her do it, we can always pull her out again." </p><p></p><p>With a determined grin, Zaza immediately got to it before anyone else could get a word in. Carefully, she twisted her body to be able to pass the portcullis and initially made good progress. </p><p></p><p>"Why is Mook not back yet?" Samin suddenly asked. "Haven't heard a sound from Dadawin in a while, either." </p><p></p><p>"I guess they went out," Cajun mused. "Mook's furry friend never likes it underground, and she was pretty well scared." </p><p></p><p>As if on cue, they could hear the scared whimper of the wolf somewhere back at the crossroad room. Zaza, who was half though the obstacle, flinched at the sound and promptly got her shirt stuck at a sharp nail. A tearing noise, and her left shoulder was free of clothing but instead had an ugly red scratch. Trying to ignore the burn and hoping there were no poisons or anything on that nail, she tried to move on, but her shirt was still stuck. It didn't appeal to her to rip the shirt of completely and stand in the damp cold half naked – not only because the others were all male. </p><p></p><p>No one had noticed her plight, as Teltz and his son had just gone back around the corner to check what was with the wolf, and Cajun, hammer in hand, followed them when he noticed what they were doing. Bjön sighed, knowing very well that no undead were close that way – his amulet would have shown him – stared at the cursed pool that had caused Mook to run off and was digging around in his magical rucksack. Zaza could barely see him the way she was stuck. It looked like he was taking out a powder of sorts, spreading it over the water while mumbling something. A prayer, probably. While the dwarf was busy, she went a bit backwards, managing to free her shirt. Relieved, she moved ahead again when she suddenly remembered it might not be such a good idea to do that while no one was protecting her in case something was indeed on the other side. "Hey, Bjön," she called. "Mind to keep an eye on the other room while no one else is here?"</p><p></p><p>"Ah, sorry about that." The young man looked worried as he returned to her site. "Just wanted to use some divine essence on that pool. My last, too, but it seemed to dangerous to leave it like that. You tore your shirt," he added the obvious.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well, that I did." She was glad he couldn't see her rolling her eyes. "What's going on out there?" Wiggling through a little further, she heard footsteps, including that of an animal. The wolf was whining and yelping, and Samin and Cajun tried to calm the poor thing down. </p><p></p><p>"The weirdest thing," Rodawin explained. "I can't really read his mind but I am getting emotions from him, strange pictures. As if he was somewhere where it was really cold and windy, and an orc forced him to fight." He paused for a second. "It sounds like Dadawin has been summoned somewhere. Imagine that."</p><p></p><p>"Huh? I always thought you would not remember being summoned. The idea of probably dying a terrible death for someone and remembering it..." Cajun shook his head. "Bad enough creatures get enslaved that way." </p><p></p><p>"Are you part of the anti-summoning movement now?" Samin mocked. "You'd not say that if you would need the assistance. And I don't think you usually remember." </p><p></p><p>"Not usually, no," Teltz mused. "But it can happen." The way he said it it sounded like he was speaking from experience." </p><p></p><p>"I hate to interrupt your discussion," Zaza grumbled. "But could you probably push me a little? I don't want to hurt a tendon if not needed."</p><p></p><p>Cajun turned to see his sister stuck in a weird position. She could probably really do it alone, but he didn't want to see her hurt. He went over to her and had a better look. "Push where, exactly? Your, eh, fanny?"</p><p></p><p>"Just push," she snarled. The space to get through was really tiny and she was getting cramps in her back. </p><p></p><p>"Alright, alright,." With a last look at the other room, Cajun pushed. A low, squeaky noise came from the portcullis. Cajun hesitated, then pushed again. After a moment, with Zaza now having one leg one either side of the contraption, the sound could be heard again. Cajun stopped, having a good look at the portcullis. "What was that sound?"</p><p></p><p>"Hell if I know, brother. All I know is I want out of here. Like, now."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah yeah, here, now.." Cajun wanted to push again when the squeak sounded again, louder now. The portcullis started to vibrate and then it slowly lifted, slow at first but quicker by the second. Cries of surprise and fear mixed into the sound of the old mechanism going up and taking the stuck Zaza with it. Thanks to being almost through, she now dangled with her head down on the other side and her behind and legs up on the side she went in. </p><p></p><p>"I don't think this has enough power to hurt her," Taltz said, assessing speed and age of the mechanism. "It will probably just get stuck."</p><p></p><p>"Whatever," Zaza protested loudly, her voice close to a full panic. "Get me out!" </p><p></p><p>Teltz theory proved right. When Zaza's body stopped the portcullis from going completely in, the mechanism came to a halt with a shudder. Everyone was staring at the upside down stuck halfling. The halfling in turn stared down at them from her weird perspective. </p><p></p><p>Dadawin yowled and shook them awake. "Take care of this, I'll go and find Mook," the bard said with only a slight hint of amusement in his voice. Gently, he grabbed the wolf by his simple gear and shoved him out to the first room with tombs. "Go find your master," he whispered. </p><p></p><p>"Right so, if we, like, oh, I don't know, me stand here and steady my sister and you push her through?" Cajun asked hopefully. </p><p></p><p>The Dwarf shot him a weird look. "I'm not exactly big enough to reach up there and push."</p><p></p><p>"Right, so, what about, you come here and try catch her while I push?"</p><p></p><p>"Would you two bad excuses for court jesters listen to me for a second?" Zaza interrupted them as it became clear they had no clue what to do. "If one of you would be so kind as to pull the lever to let me back down..?"</p><p></p><p>"Lever?" Cajun asked, confused. </p><p></p><p>"Yeah you know, the lever that was the reason for my squeezing through in the first place?" At times, Zaza wondered how men were able to find their own behinds. </p><p></p><p>"That... is a good idea," the paladin admitted. He quickly went to do so, only slightly blushing of embarrassment. Nothing happened though. Before Zaza could yell at him, Bjön pushed the lever back to its original position, and his moment of clarity was rewarded with the sound of the portcullis crashing down again. </p><p></p><p>It was Zaza's luck that her brother had been standing there to make sure she didn't hit her head. "Next time, tell us what you are doing exactly," he growled. </p><p></p><p>Zaza got up and moved over to the lever again, pushing it and thus the portcullis up again like she originally planned to do. The frown on her face made her look a lot older. </p><p></p><p>Samin had watched the whole chaos with disbelief. "I wonder who or what caused it to go up in the first place," he wondered. </p><p></p><p>"Yeah, same here, but as long as we are staying on the side with the lever, we can always get out, at least I hope so." Cajun knocked on the metal. "I still have some acid to burn through it, unless it is somewhat magically fortified."</p><p></p><p>"Unlikely." Samin didn't bother to check. Instead, he lifted the sunrod he had been holding since a while over his head to see the room better. That was when all hell seemed to break loose. </p><p></p><p>A shrieking swarm of wings and fur descended on them; a lot of tiny claws and teeth hacking and biting at them in the panic caused by the bright light – bright to bats, anyway. </p><p></p><p>"Not again," Samin yelled and dropped to the floor. Anything like bats, rats, mice, insects, well, anything which could get at him quickly, harmless as it might be, was likely to cause a panic attack, and after a nasty encounter with bats and their droppings when he had been persuaded to do a midnight walk through a local cave last year he was particularly worried about bats. </p><p></p><p>Cajun growled and pressed himself against a wall, kicking the sunron Samin had dropped out of his area. "Just stay calm, bats are harmless, they only attack when they panic, if at all."</p><p></p><p>The paladin, uncaring as the bats couldn't bother him that much in his armor, shook his head. Zaza was keeping to the wall next to the door, too, waiting for the fuzz to end – which it did a few minutes later with the bats retreating through a large fissure in the ceiling. "I'm sure they were not supposed to be here," she mumbled. </p><p></p><p>Cajun nudged Samin to get up. "They are gone, you baby. Really, you could show a bit more sense of adventure." </p><p></p><p>"Adventure yourself," Samin whispered as he got up. "It was all fine as long as it was a growing up ritual, but now it is serious."</p><p></p><p>"So that is why you learn spells, to stay out of the way of anything that's serious?" the paladin asked, looking directly at the young man.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, I'm a scholar, not a spelunker. Only a fool goes where he does not belong," Samin snapped, checking over his numerous scratches. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." He picked up the sunrod again and managed to look quite insulted. </p><p></p><p>Zaza was meanwhile exploring the rest of the chamber, which had a number of recesses carved into the walls and the graves of some of those slain in battle in this place so long ago. "Nothing here, I guess. Now we should wait for the others."</p><p></p><p>They didn't have to wait long. Teltz returned with a happy wolf and a very wet Mook, who looked satisfied with herself and disappointed at the same time. She quickly explained where she had been, and until she mentioned the turning of the wheel, her friends looked at her in awe for defeating the skeletons so cleverly. Then she suddenly felt the stares of Mook and Cajun. "W-what?" she wanted to know.</p><p></p><p>"So, you turn a wheel without having any idea what it does," Cajun recapped. "And when it does seem to do nothing you just shrugg it off."</p><p></p><p>"Not taking into account it could probably do something elsewhere," Mook scolded. "It opened this portcullis – with me halfway through it. I was hanging upside down. In a crypt full of undead. Because of you turning a wheel."</p><p></p><p>"We can't be sure that's what caused it," Samin tried to interject, but the other two didn't give in and, in between telling what happened with the door, berated Mook. </p><p></p><p>Mook started to chuckle, the situation down here wanting to break out in any show of emotion. Samin's father touched her shoulder, and only Samin was able to see him moving his lips in a whisper before he spoke out loud. "Let's move on, we need to be done with this." Or die trying, he thought, but he didn't dare to say that aloud. Asides, he was sure he had seen worse.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 5739846, member: 53286"] Said friends were currently arguing about Zaza squeezing into the next room or not. Her brother and the paladin were vehemently against it. A lot of things could be waiting in that room, and it would be even worse if she was attacked while still trying to get through. The bard and Zaza wanted to try it – Teltz because he saw the need for it and had enough experiences in dungeons to see that there was relatively little risk, and Zaza because she wanted to be useful for a change. Samin didn't know what to think and made the situation somewhat worse when he had to pee and picked a corner of the room for it. All eyes were suddenly on him, and just to distract from what he had just done, he nodded to Zaza. "Let her do it, we can always pull her out again." With a determined grin, Zaza immediately got to it before anyone else could get a word in. Carefully, she twisted her body to be able to pass the portcullis and initially made good progress. "Why is Mook not back yet?" Samin suddenly asked. "Haven't heard a sound from Dadawin in a while, either." "I guess they went out," Cajun mused. "Mook's furry friend never likes it underground, and she was pretty well scared." As if on cue, they could hear the scared whimper of the wolf somewhere back at the crossroad room. Zaza, who was half though the obstacle, flinched at the sound and promptly got her shirt stuck at a sharp nail. A tearing noise, and her left shoulder was free of clothing but instead had an ugly red scratch. Trying to ignore the burn and hoping there were no poisons or anything on that nail, she tried to move on, but her shirt was still stuck. It didn't appeal to her to rip the shirt of completely and stand in the damp cold half naked – not only because the others were all male. No one had noticed her plight, as Teltz and his son had just gone back around the corner to check what was with the wolf, and Cajun, hammer in hand, followed them when he noticed what they were doing. Bjön sighed, knowing very well that no undead were close that way – his amulet would have shown him – stared at the cursed pool that had caused Mook to run off and was digging around in his magical rucksack. Zaza could barely see him the way she was stuck. It looked like he was taking out a powder of sorts, spreading it over the water while mumbling something. A prayer, probably. While the dwarf was busy, she went a bit backwards, managing to free her shirt. Relieved, she moved ahead again when she suddenly remembered it might not be such a good idea to do that while no one was protecting her in case something was indeed on the other side. "Hey, Bjön," she called. "Mind to keep an eye on the other room while no one else is here?" "Ah, sorry about that." The young man looked worried as he returned to her site. "Just wanted to use some divine essence on that pool. My last, too, but it seemed to dangerous to leave it like that. You tore your shirt," he added the obvious. "Yeah, well, that I did." She was glad he couldn't see her rolling her eyes. "What's going on out there?" Wiggling through a little further, she heard footsteps, including that of an animal. The wolf was whining and yelping, and Samin and Cajun tried to calm the poor thing down. "The weirdest thing," Rodawin explained. "I can't really read his mind but I am getting emotions from him, strange pictures. As if he was somewhere where it was really cold and windy, and an orc forced him to fight." He paused for a second. "It sounds like Dadawin has been summoned somewhere. Imagine that." "Huh? I always thought you would not remember being summoned. The idea of probably dying a terrible death for someone and remembering it..." Cajun shook his head. "Bad enough creatures get enslaved that way." "Are you part of the anti-summoning movement now?" Samin mocked. "You'd not say that if you would need the assistance. And I don't think you usually remember." "Not usually, no," Teltz mused. "But it can happen." The way he said it it sounded like he was speaking from experience." "I hate to interrupt your discussion," Zaza grumbled. "But could you probably push me a little? I don't want to hurt a tendon if not needed." Cajun turned to see his sister stuck in a weird position. She could probably really do it alone, but he didn't want to see her hurt. He went over to her and had a better look. "Push where, exactly? Your, eh, fanny?" "Just push," she snarled. The space to get through was really tiny and she was getting cramps in her back. "Alright, alright,." With a last look at the other room, Cajun pushed. A low, squeaky noise came from the portcullis. Cajun hesitated, then pushed again. After a moment, with Zaza now having one leg one either side of the contraption, the sound could be heard again. Cajun stopped, having a good look at the portcullis. "What was that sound?" "Hell if I know, brother. All I know is I want out of here. Like, now." "Yeah yeah, here, now.." Cajun wanted to push again when the squeak sounded again, louder now. The portcullis started to vibrate and then it slowly lifted, slow at first but quicker by the second. Cries of surprise and fear mixed into the sound of the old mechanism going up and taking the stuck Zaza with it. Thanks to being almost through, she now dangled with her head down on the other side and her behind and legs up on the side she went in. "I don't think this has enough power to hurt her," Taltz said, assessing speed and age of the mechanism. "It will probably just get stuck." "Whatever," Zaza protested loudly, her voice close to a full panic. "Get me out!" Teltz theory proved right. When Zaza's body stopped the portcullis from going completely in, the mechanism came to a halt with a shudder. Everyone was staring at the upside down stuck halfling. The halfling in turn stared down at them from her weird perspective. Dadawin yowled and shook them awake. "Take care of this, I'll go and find Mook," the bard said with only a slight hint of amusement in his voice. Gently, he grabbed the wolf by his simple gear and shoved him out to the first room with tombs. "Go find your master," he whispered. "Right so, if we, like, oh, I don't know, me stand here and steady my sister and you push her through?" Cajun asked hopefully. The Dwarf shot him a weird look. "I'm not exactly big enough to reach up there and push." "Right, so, what about, you come here and try catch her while I push?" "Would you two bad excuses for court jesters listen to me for a second?" Zaza interrupted them as it became clear they had no clue what to do. "If one of you would be so kind as to pull the lever to let me back down..?" "Lever?" Cajun asked, confused. "Yeah you know, the lever that was the reason for my squeezing through in the first place?" At times, Zaza wondered how men were able to find their own behinds. "That... is a good idea," the paladin admitted. He quickly went to do so, only slightly blushing of embarrassment. Nothing happened though. Before Zaza could yell at him, Bjön pushed the lever back to its original position, and his moment of clarity was rewarded with the sound of the portcullis crashing down again. It was Zaza's luck that her brother had been standing there to make sure she didn't hit her head. "Next time, tell us what you are doing exactly," he growled. Zaza got up and moved over to the lever again, pushing it and thus the portcullis up again like she originally planned to do. The frown on her face made her look a lot older. Samin had watched the whole chaos with disbelief. "I wonder who or what caused it to go up in the first place," he wondered. "Yeah, same here, but as long as we are staying on the side with the lever, we can always get out, at least I hope so." Cajun knocked on the metal. "I still have some acid to burn through it, unless it is somewhat magically fortified." "Unlikely." Samin didn't bother to check. Instead, he lifted the sunrod he had been holding since a while over his head to see the room better. That was when all hell seemed to break loose. A shrieking swarm of wings and fur descended on them; a lot of tiny claws and teeth hacking and biting at them in the panic caused by the bright light – bright to bats, anyway. "Not again," Samin yelled and dropped to the floor. Anything like bats, rats, mice, insects, well, anything which could get at him quickly, harmless as it might be, was likely to cause a panic attack, and after a nasty encounter with bats and their droppings when he had been persuaded to do a midnight walk through a local cave last year he was particularly worried about bats. Cajun growled and pressed himself against a wall, kicking the sunron Samin had dropped out of his area. "Just stay calm, bats are harmless, they only attack when they panic, if at all." The paladin, uncaring as the bats couldn't bother him that much in his armor, shook his head. Zaza was keeping to the wall next to the door, too, waiting for the fuzz to end – which it did a few minutes later with the bats retreating through a large fissure in the ceiling. "I'm sure they were not supposed to be here," she mumbled. Cajun nudged Samin to get up. "They are gone, you baby. Really, you could show a bit more sense of adventure." "Adventure yourself," Samin whispered as he got up. "It was all fine as long as it was a growing up ritual, but now it is serious." "So that is why you learn spells, to stay out of the way of anything that's serious?" the paladin asked, looking directly at the young man. "Hey, I'm a scholar, not a spelunker. Only a fool goes where he does not belong," Samin snapped, checking over his numerous scratches. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." He picked up the sunrod again and managed to look quite insulted. Zaza was meanwhile exploring the rest of the chamber, which had a number of recesses carved into the walls and the graves of some of those slain in battle in this place so long ago. "Nothing here, I guess. Now we should wait for the others." They didn't have to wait long. Teltz returned with a happy wolf and a very wet Mook, who looked satisfied with herself and disappointed at the same time. She quickly explained where she had been, and until she mentioned the turning of the wheel, her friends looked at her in awe for defeating the skeletons so cleverly. Then she suddenly felt the stares of Mook and Cajun. "W-what?" she wanted to know. "So, you turn a wheel without having any idea what it does," Cajun recapped. "And when it does seem to do nothing you just shrugg it off." "Not taking into account it could probably do something elsewhere," Mook scolded. "It opened this portcullis – with me halfway through it. I was hanging upside down. In a crypt full of undead. Because of you turning a wheel." "We can't be sure that's what caused it," Samin tried to interject, but the other two didn't give in and, in between telling what happened with the door, berated Mook. Mook started to chuckle, the situation down here wanting to break out in any show of emotion. Samin's father touched her shoulder, and only Samin was able to see him moving his lips in a whisper before he spoke out loud. "Let's move on, we need to be done with this." Or die trying, he thought, but he didn't dare to say that aloud. Asides, he was sure he had seen worse. [/QUOTE]
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