The Antigrol Tide (IC)

[unleashed]

Colmarr Blackrock, Male Gnome Bard

“Well, this is where the magic is,” Colmarr remarks, picking up the dull metal grey box and ignoring the other items for the moment, as he examines it to see if there’s a keyhole anywhere on it. If there is, he’ll try the small key he placed in his pocket earlier, before trying to open the box.

 

[mps42]

Back on the ship, Naomi says to Magyar, "Ok, I'll keep practicing my juggling." Then she follows Denther out of the room and back on deck. "What did you want to talk about, Sir?"

"Please, call me Denther. Everyone does. I just wanted to ask you about your family. Is there anyone we should try to let know that you're alright?"

 

[Mallak]

The box is extremely heavy, much more massive than its small size would indicate. Colmarr barely manages to leverage it out of the chest. He sets it on the cabin deck with a dull thunk. The box appears to be a solid cube but for a tiny abutment on one side, like a little nub. It can be pushed to the side, revealing a small keyhole which the small key from earlier fits into perfectly. Colmarr rotates the key a full three-hundred-sixty degrees...

***​

Magyar watches as the gnome ever so carefully inserts the key into the lock and twists. He hears the faint mechanic click of tumblers falling into place. A visible seam appears around the top of the box, and what is now the lid opens ever so slightly. There is a slight hiss of air as the pressure in the box equalizes, but that is all. No flashing lights, no loud explosions, nothing overtly magical. Colmarr has gone very still. He seems to not even be breathing.

***​

...Colmarr rotates the key a full three-hundred-sixty degrees. *POP* An implosion of air sucks at the gnome's senses, wind rushes all around him, light explodes from the box--then nothing. No sight, no sound, no sensation of touch. Even his detect magic is gone. He exists not so much in blackness as in nothingness. He exists for a moment and forever, outside of even thought. Then, something. External, less than warmth but more than light, a presence just beyond the edge of sight--if he had eyes to see. A whisper, soft and low, but more like a thought than a sound.

"Colmarr."​

 

[unleashed]

Colmarr Blackrock, Male Gnome Bard

Always a seeker of knowledge, Colmarr, instead of being frightened by his circumstances, finds the situation intriguing... wondering where he’s been whisked off to that would leave him without senses. Several things cross his mind, the most likely of which is that his spirit has somehow been transported inside the box, when his name comes from the darkness.

“Yes, that’s me,” Colmarr responds, in his usual cheeky manner, though he’s not quite sure yet whether he’s just thinking or actually speaking the words, “Who or what are you? And where am I?”

 

[Mallak]

“Yes, that’s me,” Colmarr responds, in his usual cheeky manner, though he’s not quite sure yet whether he’s just thinking or actually speaking the words, “Who or what are you? And where am I?”

Even as the thought forms, Colmarr is overwhelmed with sensation as the world returns around him. Breath rushes into his lungs, and he blinks rapidly. He is on his knees in the captain's cabin, on the Pander Ban. The heavy gray box is on the deck before him, its lid slightly cracked open. A silent stillness lingers in his soul, a calming peace, as if he knows that everything will be all right. The strange sensation fades, but a whisper remains.

 

[Mallak]

"Please, call me Denther. Everyone does. I just wanted to ask you about your family. Is there anyone we should try to let know that you're alright?"

"Denther." Naomi tries the name out. "I don't have any family. Well, I mean, I don't have any real family, like a real mother or father or brothers or sisters. Some of the kids at the orphanage do, but not me."

 

[unleashed]

Colmarr Blackrock, Male Gnome Bard

Even as the thought forms, Colmarr is overwhelmed with sensation as the world returns around him. Breath rushes into his lungs, and he blinks rapidly. He is on his knees in the captain's cabin, on the Pander Ban. The heavy gray box is on the deck before him, its lid slightly cracked open. A silent stillness lingers in his soul, a calming peace, as if he knows that everything will be all right. The strange sensation fades, but a whisper remains.

“Well, that was interesting to say the least,” Colmarr remarks as he gains his bearings.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Grondar escorts the ladies to the gate in the back yard

 

[jkason]

Magyar Rhineholdt, human rogue

“Well, that was interesting to say the least,” Colmarr remarks as he gains his bearings.

Mag kneels at the gnome's side, his face an odd mix of fascination and concern. "Colmarr, what just happened? You seemed, well, paralyzed for a moment there. I was afraid you'd been poisoned somehow. I'm good with locks, not as good with traps, I'm afraid."

 

[Mallak]

Grondar and the ladies enter the alley to the right of the house and follow it back to where it intersects another alley.

"There's the gate there," says Karen, pointing to the left where a small gate is inset into the back of the wall. Marcia takes a key from Trudy. She unlocks the gate with a faint click, but when she attempts to push it open it only rattles a bit. Marcia swears under her breath.

"Barred from the other side. Where's the trust?"

"Grondar, can you think of a way to open it?"

Behind them in the alley from which they just came, Grondar hears a cat yowl and a soft curse in a male voice. He glances back and catches a dark shadow ducking in to a doorway in the wall of the neighboring house. Karen jumps at the sound, and Marcia peers back the way they came.

"What was that?"