Metropolis - The Weight of the World (and Found Wanting)

[GlassEye]

It was a short dash to a smaller building that stood alone near this wall. It looked like residences, and girls moved around inside setting up candles and lanterns for the night. The outside of it was full of shadows, but there was a great deal of activity within.

A longer dash was needed to make the main school. It looked like everyone had left for the night, but its exterior was well lit with dozens of lanterns. All of the doors and windows were closed, but few lights were visible within.

Ymris takes a second to catch her breath and looks back at the wall she just crossed. If this doesn't work, getting out is going to be...difficult. She smiles grimly, glances about for any guards or other people who might be about, and, if she sees or hears no one, will set out in a quick stride for the main school as if she belongs here. She'll try the door and if it is open will duck inside. If it's locked she'll move to the next, retreating to the cover of shadows before moving around.

 

[Phoenix]

"Any place warmer would agree with me. I mislike this icy tomb." Jazick responds struggling to keep his teeth from chattering. "Besides documents are likely to be more of use to me anyway."

The hike back upstairs was difficult, it seemed that the cold in the building was sapping their strength, making every step through the enormous complex an effort. The Hall of Doctrine was on the third floor, and their path took them through the cathedral once more. The stench of the rain wafted through the great doors, and the screaming of the Jackal continued to echo through this part of the building. The creature must have been dying for hours now, and the strength of its wail implying that it would cling to life for some time.

Jen and Jazick wandered through the lonely corridors, following the map that they had discovered. Even if any of these places held anything of value, it would take days to get what they wanted, even if they could recognize it when they saw it.

Their bones seemed to ache at the cold, it felt like it was creeping deeper into their bodies, deeper into their souls.

Two great ivory coloured doors eventually stood before them, locked with a great inset device that looked impressively defensive. Either a key would be required to enter these halls, or an alternate method would be required...

 

[Phoenix]

Ymris takes a second to catch her breath and looks back at the wall she just crossed. If this doesn't work, getting out is going to be...difficult. She smiles grimly, glances about for any guards or other people who might be about, and, if she sees or hears no one, will set out in a quick stride for the main school as if she belongs here. She'll try the door and if it is open will duck inside. If it's locked she'll move to the next, retreating to the cover of shadows before moving around.

The good thing about the guards at the gate was that they kept their eyes out into the square, and they were the only ones that had seen her before. She passed two on her way to the grand doors of the school, neither batted an eye at her.

Walking confidently, Ymris grasped one of the great brass handles, pulled at the door, and was pleasantly releaved when it opened to let her through. The hall beyond was long, dark and full of pictures, paintings, glass cases filled with trinkets, and doors. Dozens of doors...

 

[Bront]

Two great ivory coloured doors eventually stood before them, locked with a great inset device that looked impressively defensive. Either a key would be required to enter these halls, or an alternate method would be required...

"Hrm," Jen says, looking at the door, "I suppose the key is long lost. You wouldn't happen to know how to pick these things would you? One of the other waitresses used to do it all the time when people'd forget their room key."

 

[Scotley]

Jazick

Blowing on his hands and rubbing them together Jazick nods. "I've some experience with such things." He takes a thin pouch from a pocket and selects some small finely made tools then hesitates. He begins to examine the door and the lock with a practiced eye.

OOC: Search for traps +8, Open Lock +12.

 

[Fenris]

It was too late.

The ground heaved, the horses reared. A huge fungus-like tentacle writhed forth and snapped around Whale's head. An enourmous mound of rotten filth burst forth from the ground, tentacles snapping at the knights, one massive slimy maw gaping wide, screaming in hunger...

Alexi stood for a heartbeat transfixed by the awful sight. Then he drew his sword, and urge Mikla forward, "Mikla, Ho!" he cried spurring his mount towards Whale, hacking at the tentacle that hel him.

 

[GlassEye]

Walking confidently, Ymris grasped one of the great brass handles, pulled at the door, and was pleasantly releaved when it opened to let her through. The hall beyond was long, dark and full of pictures, paintings, glass cases filled with trinkets, and doors. Dozens of doors...

Once inside the building Ymris will pull the door closed behind her. She'll stand a moment letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the hall. If the ambient light is not enough for her to see then she'll use her previously cast Prestidigitation to conjure a dimly glowing ball of bluish light in the palm of her left hand. Otherwise, she'll try to make do.

Trying to pad quietly along, Ymris will walk the length of the hall stopping at the first door, listening briefly, and then attempting to open it. Offices will likely be on the first floor...or the top, she thinks. She sighs and continues her search for offices, some indication of where offices might be located, and stairs. She'll also glance at the paintings and in the glass cases (but won't waste a lot of time on that).

 

[Phoenix]

Blowing on his hands and rubbing them together Jazick nods. "I've some experience with such things." He takes a thin pouch from a pocket and selects some small finely made tools then hesitates. He begins to examine the door and the lock with a practiced eye.

OOC: Search for traps +8, Open Lock +12.

[sblock]Jazick Search check (DC hidden) +22 - Success?
Jazick Open Lock check (DC 30 - may take 20) +32 - Success
Jazick Fort Save (DC 20) +18 - Failure
Poison damage roll - 3pts Strength[/sblock]

The lock looked complex, many of the gearings seemed to be false mechanisms and backward spirals, this thing was built to keep people with his skills out. Even though Jazick had never seen anything like it before, he carefully got to work discerning the complexities that lied within.

After ten minutes he had eight fine needles sticking out of the lock, holding tumblers in place and allowing Jazick to work on the last two. It was harder work that he had thought, sweat dribbled down his concentrated brow. On the ninth tumbler there was a soft *chink* and Jazick felt a pain in his finger where a spot of blood appeared.

The world span a little as he felt the poison rush into his system, his arms grew heavy and he had to slump back against the wall for a moment. He felt horrible, but he wasn't dying, at least if felt like he wasn't.

He managed to get back on his knees and finish his work at the lock while the poison was in its early stages, and he gained some satisfaction when the tenth tumbler slid into place and the door jarred open a little.

Through the crack in the door Jen and Jazick looked into a long all filled with books, hundreds of thousands of thick tomes gathered on impossibly high cases and spilling across dozens of tables. This looked like an enormous library of some kind, one that had been deserted like the rest of the tower for so long...

 

[Phoenix]

Once inside the building Ymris will pull the door closed behind her. She'll stand a moment letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the hall. If the ambient light is not enough for her to see then she'll use her previously cast Prestidigitation to conjure a dimly glowing ball of bluish light in the palm of her left hand. Otherwise, she'll try to make do.

Trying to pad quietly along, Ymris will walk the length of the hall stopping at the first door, listening briefly, and then attempting to open it. Offices will likely be on the first floor...or the top, she thinks. She sighs and continues her search for offices, some indication of where offices might be located, and stairs. She'll also glance at the paintings and in the glass cases (but won't waste a lot of time on that).

The paintings on the walls were all of a large man, robust might be the word. Dressed in all manner of finery and surrounded by children in every portrait, each of them named him alone: Lord Alfred Zimmerman the First, 430-472 (Btf)*

The glass cases were reinforced with iron bracings and lined with a fine wire mesh to prevent thieves from smashing the glass and stealing its contents. The items within looked harldy valuable though, and Ymris could see that the trinkets matched the personal possessions of Alfred Zimmerman from the portraits.

Near a slightly open door, Ymris gazed into the eyes of a small child who sat on the lap of Lord Zimmerman in a portrait that stated simply that it was the last completed of the great noble before his tragic demise. She had seen the girl before, in her dreams...there was a rat too, and coins...

In a tiny glass case beneath it lay a velvet cushion, upon which rested a single gold coin which showed an image of Metropolis on its showing face.

"Hey!" A face looked out of the door nearby, a young man. "Can I help you?"

[sblock]*Many suburbs used their own method of time keeping, though most counted years from a single point of event in their past. Unless one was a constant traveller or schooled in surrounding suburbs, their histories were vague to most people.[/sblock]

 

[Bront]

The world span a little as he felt the poison rush into his system, his arms grew heavy and he had to slump back against the wall for a moment. He felt horrible, but he wasn't dying, at least if felt like he wasn't.

He managed to get back on his knees and finish his work at the lock while the poison was in its early stages, and he gained some satisfaction when the tenth tumbler slid into place and the door jarred open a little.

Through the crack in the door Jen and Jazick looked into a long all filled with books, hundreds of thousands of thick tomes gathered on impossibly high cases and spilling across dozens of tables. This looked like an enormous library of some kind, one that had been deserted like the rest of the tower for so long...

Jen gasps and grabs Jazick as he falls back. Quickly, she checks his hand to make sure he's all right, and takes a rag to help with the bleeding, as well as remove any possable barb. "Relax a moment, before we go anywhere else. If you're poisoned, it may hurt more as it goes into your system."

[sblock=Pheonix]Jasmine will see if she can find any hints of what kind of poison it was, what it did, as well as the likelyhood of there being more.[/sblock]