Random post with a cave...

[jbear]

You see a cave in a hillside. What do you do?

Cheers!

Shrouded by my cloak I walk towards the cave unnoticed, paying little head to the strangely dressed men that rumble past guiding the four wheeled metal construct towards the dead city.

The prophecy has begun to manifest. 'The sky will rain fire. The lifeless city will lie untouched within a ring of hope. Inside the mouth of a dead hill the one eyed Wanderer's fate will unravel ...'

Flashes of memory burn and fade away at the edge of my mind. I pause at the edge of the cave momentarily, unconsciously touching my empty eye socket and running my finger over the scarred flesh dissapating the itching momentarily as I observe the trampled grass. A lot of people have been to the cave today. But that is to be expected if what the woman from the city said was true. What was her name ...? Barbara ... Babyaga? Gaga Yaga? Lady Gaga...? Curses ... Chasing memories within my head is like catching sprats with your bare hands. But if I can find him ... if I can find him maybe, maybe those memories will resurface and cease to fragment.

I step into the darkness of the cave drawing the stone Barbara gave me and fitting it into the empty socket where my eye once was. A flash of pain stabs into my skull but it soon fades and the darkness of the cave is replaced with crystal clear images.

The ground before me has caved away into a pit although the passage carries on over the other side. 'The forgotten Wanderer will fall into the depths and meet the Guide.' I subdue my excitement. It is true. After believing myself mad for so long, it is finally happening.

I let myself fall into the pit speaking an archaic word of power in a harsh croaking voice. Floating gently to the bottom of the pit I take stock of my surroundings. A mossy tunnel. A mark on the wall of the Sun. The Forgotten Wanderer? And a barren and dry tunnel ... the prophecy darts around the edge of my mind ... 'Turn your face from the Sun' ...

I turn away from the mark of the Sun left on the Wall and head down the dry tunnel, clutching my rune marked staff closely shrouded in shadow, occaisionally scratching at edges of my absent eye.

What happens?

(This is a very cool thread Merric!)

 

[Harlander]

You see a cave in a hillside. What do you do?

Cheers!

"Log," I utter into my envirosuit's mike, and a low chime indicates my journal is listening.

"Arrived at site designated Theta-338, proceeding with investigation."

Something took place here, a long time ago, the time-scoured remains forming part of a pattern that filled our leaders with a creeping dread. The latest iteration in a pattern that has appeared across the length and breadth of our civilisation, as our expansion encompassed long-abandoned worlds.

The armour of my protective suit is no defence against the intangible air of foreboding bearing down upon me, but I can not abandon my duty.

I clench my vents in determination, and a flick of a manipulatory tentacle sends the camera-drone hovering behind me sweeping forward, its illuminator stuttering into life as it probes the mouth of the cave..

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

I see all the people going into the cave and look for a second, do a double take, then run over and go in myself, I then take out my switchblade and carve out which way i went on all the turns, then when the large cave monster comes I scream like a little girl and run off in a random direction, ignoring my marks, and become forever lost in the cave system, over time I will become known to cave dwellers and small childern that wander in as "The cave man".

I then die of old age somewhere a few hundred feet from an exit, cursing whoever is nearby with my last breath.

 

[MerricB]

I enter a shallow, trancelike state: playing back my progress in the city, I first try to detect any patterns in the sounds I have heard, including the hum. In a deeper but still shallow trance, I evaluate the tonal qualities of those sounds: is what I hear more musical than I would expect? Has the city's architecture been tuned?

Returning to the shallower trance after answering those questions, I try to see if I recognize the bat's head...does it conform to any iconography I can recall?

I break my trance state...

You can discern no patterns between the sounds you hear, but you realise that the hum from within the building is not quite constant: there are occasionally interruptions or changes of pitch and intensity. Musical it is not!

The architecture is not tuned: there's something inside the building making the sound rather than the building itself. The bat's head... nothing comes to mind.

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Check my pockets. Phone, knife, pocket torch. All there and working. Walk up to the cave and peer in, right hand in my pocket (holding the torch).

Inside the cave you see a large, deep pit, that shows signs of having recently formed. There is enough space on either side of the pit to safely cross the room and reach the tunnel on the far side. A pair of grooves in the dirt - somewhat shallower within the cave - reach from just outside the cave's entrance and lead directly into the tunnel. It is obvious that they were made before the pit was formed, but did they make the pit collapse? You're not sure.

Outside, the sky begins to rain fire.

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

questions:
are we inside the ring of pillars, with the city (outside the city, of course).
Is the cave inside the ring of pillars?
Does the fire circle the ring of pillars?
How close to the pillar ring does it get?

The city has streets of metal, buildings of marble and crystal, and the city ends (as does the metal floor) with the pillars. Immediately thereafter is the grassy sward you're driving on (and the hill and the cave). Perhaps 100 metres is the distance from the city's edge to the beginning of the fiery zone.

Circumnavigating the city, you discover that the fiery zone is indeed surrounding the city at about 100m from the pillars/city edge all the way around.

Every city building you've observed has an animal head carved above its doors. The heads do repeat themselves. Cats, dogs, rabbits and bears seem to be the most common, but there are many others. They're not in any set pattern.

It takes you a good two hours to drive around the city's circumference - I guess that would put it at about 60 miles.

Your companions give a cheer as the hill and cave come back into view.

Interestingly, you don't seem to have used any petrol!

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

To the left passage! If it is a T crossroad, the common build would be that the upper sides lead to the same place, and the lower to be the entrance... but we will see...

The tunnel turns and twists enough to quite disorientate you, but after some ten minutes of travelling, it opens out into another chamber. A pool of dark water is at its far end, ringed with boulders. A hunched figure is bent over one of the boulders; it appears to be scratching something into its surface.

The figure seems to be wearing no clothing, and its skin glistens wetly. It seems to have patches of black and white skin... and perhaps a fin.

There appear to be no tunnels leading from this cave.

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Sheathing my sword (yet again), I step forward and begin examining the door. I feel around the edges, searching for hinges, locks, etc. After which, I examine the circles. Are they drawn on or indented into the door? I press my fingers inside the circles; do they move? If all else fails, I speak the Elvish word for friend, "Mellon..."

The circles are slightly indented into the wall; upon closer inspection they seem to have a slightly mottled complexion, and they seem to react to your light.

They do not move when you touch them, and speaking "Friend" does nothing for you, except make you feel more geeky than usual. The door has no hinges; perhaps it slides, but it doesn't react to anything you're doing at present.

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

I turn away from the mark of the Sun left on the Wall and head down the dry tunnel, clutching my rune marked staff closely shrouded in shadow, occaisionally scratching at edges of my absent eye.

What happens?

After a short journey, you find a small side cavern from the corridor you've been following. From further down the corridor, you can hear the sound of hammering, but a short figure emerges from the cavern and pales.

"The Wanderer!" he cries, and begins, as fast as his stunted legs can take him, to scurry away.

What do you do?

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

"Log," I utter into my envirosuit's mike, and a low chime indicates my journal is listening.

"Arrived at site designated Theta-338, proceeding with investigation."

Something took place here, a long time ago, the time-scoured remains forming part of a pattern that filled our leaders with a creeping dread. The latest iteration in a pattern that has appeared across the length and breadth of our civilisation, as our expansion encompassed long-abandoned worlds.

The armour of my protective suit is no defence against the intangible air of foreboding bearing down upon me, but I can not abandon my duty.

I clench my vents in determination, and a flick of a manipulatory tentacle sends the camera-drone hovering behind me sweeping forward, its illuminator stuttering into life as it probes the mouth of the cave..

Inside the cave you see a large, deep pit, that shows signs of having recently formed. There is enough space on either side of the pit to safely cross the room and reach the tunnel on the far side. A pair of grooves in the dirt - somewhat shallower within the cave - reach from just outside the cave's entrance and lead directly into the tunnel. It is obvious that they were made before the pit was formed, but did they make the pit collapse? You're not sure.

Outside, the sky begins to rain fire. It illuminates a skeleton half-concealed by fallen rocks at the side of the cave.

What do you do?

Cheers!