Legacy of the Stone Assembly, Chapter I: The Cabal, The Quill, and the Concord

[Thondor]

Sandro takes a bit of time to respond, he seems to be weighing options.

"No.” Sandro shakes his head. “I won't accompany you because of the nature of Astral Journey's. Someone who knows what the danger signs of becoming trapped in the Temenos ought to stay with your bodies during the journey. I should be able to wake you if your likely to become permanently trapped.”
[sblock=Thorn]

Untrained empathy roll (3 successes - on 2 dice!)
You realize that is not the full reason. You saw a brief flicker of fear, he also hastily changes the subject . . . perhaps he’s still suspicious of you all.
(Everyone else failed.)[/sblock]

“Now as for a tutorial . . . In a way you have all been on an astral journey before: Your Awakening. In any case, there are five levels of meditation. The Temenos is the 4th, a kind of shared dream. It takes a Mana to cross into the Onerios, the previous level, of personal dreams. Magic functions normally in dreamtime, and vulgar magic doesn’t even risk paradox. In a way it’s all in your mind.”

You pass through an old rugged wooden fence. Ahead of you is a small barn, or large shed. It’s timbers are weathered with time. Moss grows in patches on it’s wooden shingles. You can see however that it’s beams are stout. It does not lean the way many uncared for barns in the region are prone too.

Goliath and Levanna trail at the rear. They were both listening intently but now seem to be catching up with each other, talking about the free council and mentors . . .

 

[Shayuri]

Thorn gazes at Sandro for a second, then looks away. Unease was struggling in her gut, as if she'd swallowed a live seagull.

"Sandro," she says, "Look, I know you have no reason to trust us...but this sounds like some serious...serious stuff we're getting into here. Is there anything you're not telling us?"

 

[Thondor]

“Hmm, Perceptive. I suspect its nothing but my paranoia. I seriously doubt it would help you.”

Sandro pushes open the large door which creaks loudly, and steps over the threshold. It’s dark within. Sandro, lifts an old-fashioned lantern from a nearby table and lights it. It doesn’t light the whole room. You can see the dim outline of some old machinery in the far corner, and tools line the table and wall by the door.

He leads you over to what a seemingly haphazard group of wooden boards, nailed to beams in a box-like shape. He hangs the lantern on a hook, ducks inside the ‘box’ and climbs up, switching sides as he goes. When he reaches the ceiling, his hand sketches a square on the solid seeming boards, suddenly light is pouring through a hole in the ceiling. He pauses, "Miss Jane is up here, give me a moment." He hauls himself up.

You hear voices. After a few moments, his head pops out, his beard jutting almost comically through the hole. He blinks, “Well are you coming up?”

 

[Walking Dad]

Chomesh waits for the others to make the first move. He accompanies them on their quest, not the other way. Still, there is an obvious curiousness in his eyes.

[sblock=Picture]

[/sblock]
[sblock=ooc]
Hm, I think the nimbus should be something between holy and desert. Think of the place they found the grail in the Indiana Jones Films. Not old and stinky, but ancient. Light, but not holy light, but fire light, filtered through a thorn bush. The taste of smell between incense and oriental spices.

His wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster.

Active spells: Mage armor (space), mage sight (Prime)[/sblock]

 

[Thondor]

Sandro's head disappears. His footsteps move off a ways and you can hear him talking with another man.

Goliath seems to be studying the 'ladder' and 'hatch'. He mutters in high Atlantean and then looks again.

 

[Shayuri]

(OOC - Hee...that's what I get for wanting to see what others do first )

"Sandro? Hey, who're you talking to up there?"

Thorn looks at the others, then up...then decides to risk it, and starts climbing up the ladder.

"I'm coming up. Don't...blast my head off or anything."

 

[Thondor]

Thorn
It’s actually a rather awkward climb. Good thing your young and athletic.

Assuming the others follow, Prometheus has the hardest time negotiating the “ladder”.

The room isn’t what it would seem from outside. Two lanterns light the room. A brazier warms the room, which is far less drafty than it’s construction has any right to be. Still is cooler then a house would be. The timbers of the floor are polished with the tread of many feet. A number of hay bales are piled against the bay doors, at the south end. In the southwestern corner a number of herbs hang from the ceiling. Almost the whole western portion of the roof is transparent – which seems impossible, you saw the wooden shingles as you approached the barn. Through it you can see that it has stopped snowing, and the sky is clearing, revealing the glittering of the stars. A small circle of fieldstones, surrounded by a spiral of smaller, red stones is in the centre of the room. There are a couple of old fashioned trunks are at the north end.

A youngish man, with long blond hair, stands next to Sandro. Just across the brazier from them you see a women lying on a low cot, an IV drip and feeding tube are attached to her.

“This is Alexander. He was taking care of Jane.” Sandro turns back to him. “It’ll be all right, you should try to get some rest. It’s late.”
Alexander nods, he gathers up a coat and a couple of books.

Goliath comes up last. He struggles to squeeze through the hole for a short time and then sighs. His head is through, as is one of his arms at an awkward angle. Sandro has been watching him for some time a huge smile on his face.
“You could have made the opening a little bigger.” Goliath fumes.
“Where would be the fun in that?” Sandro chuckles. “Think of it as a little test. I want to see what you’ll do.”

Goliath frowns, then repositions himself. He curses a few times as he does so.

[sblock=OOC]
Please state what spells you have active in your next post, (along with any you wanted to cast before you climbing up). Let me know any particular features you want to look at and I’ll give you more info.
[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Thorn glances back at Goliath and can't help but chuckle at his predicament. Even as she does, she thinks to herself of ways she might get out of it, should something like that happen to her.

"Seems like you guys love tests," she comments. "The Nemean tested us, and Pa...my teacher tested me compulsively...and now you guys."

She takes a breath then and looks over at Jane.

"So how's this going to work? And can we take spells with us? Protections and stuff? Or do we have to wait until we're already there?"

(Thorn has Spirit Speak, or...bah...that spell she uses to see and talk to spirits. That's all for now though. Depending on what they say, she may cast another one before going in. )

 

[Thondor]

(Urgg i suppose I should have replied to this right away. Thought someone else might have something to say.)

[sblock=Thorn]
Keep in mind that Spirit Tongue lets you see and speak with spirits, but isn't a form of mage sight. Meaning you can't see resonances, and things like wether Alexander is a Mage or not.
There is in fact nothing here of note in the spirit realm except, that when you look at Miss Jane you get a feeling of great distance.
[/sblock]

Sandro in response to Thorn's initial comment, "Everybody loves test, how else would we assess a students progress."
Goliath begins molding the wooden floorboards like putty. Broadening the hole around him. He almost seems to roll a few of them back, making the hole more circular. He then hauls himself up onto the the side he didn't work on. You can see large handprints in the now solid seeming wood.
He stands and takes an ironic bow.
Sandro says "That was rather slopy."
Goliath shrugs "It worked. Are you irritated that I got up so quickly or that I may have ruined your entrance?"
(OOC: the spell he used was Plasticity, matter 3)
Sandro chuckles. "We'll discuss that later."

Alexander moves past Goliath, tests the molded foorboards with his foot and then heads down the 'ladder' without a word.

Snadro turns to the gathered Mages. "The only spells you can take into astral journey with you are ones whose duration are significant, generally 24 hours or more. The rest you can cast was you reach the level you desire."
"Now, there's some meditation mats, blankets and incense in that blue trunk."

(please have a look at the OOC thread here )