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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3158819" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #365] What the Faen Saw[/PLAIN]"So this be the Test of Earth," Karak muttered, his head still craned upward to look at the bridge of stone overhead. "It do nae seem so bad.""Lets be careful, just the same, Karak," Ayremac suggested in a tense whisper. He was working at re-securing his armor in place with Shamalin's help. "I think it is safe to assume that nothing here is at it seems.""It's not going to be a surprise for me to tell you that this whole place is radiating magic," Lela informed them as she used her natural ability to detect the rhythms of The Weave. "Strong. Conjuration magic. Walls, floor, everything within range.""One wrong step could start a chain reaction," Ayreamc reiterated, nodding sagely at the sprite's announcement. "Let's be very mindful of where we are stepping."Morier spent a few moments searching the ground within the shallow crater while Huzair examined the runes around the lip, but neither found anything. Karak continued to study the diffuse white light radiating from something overhead atop the bridge."What do ye suppose is makin' that light?" he asked Lela. The sprite was in her usual place on the dwarf's shoulder. She shrugged."I can fly up and take a look," she suggested, but Karak balked at the idea."That'd leave ye far removed from aid if ye discover somethin' that means ye harm," the dwarf told her, his gaze moving once more to the rocky span above. "It'll take several minutes to make a climb like that if ye need us, and that may well be too late.""Huzair has Vade's Slippers," Morier reminded, pointing at the mage's curl-toed purple footwear. "But that'll still take time.""I can prepare a Levitate spell as well, if we can take some time for me to do it," the wizard suggested, producing one of the spellbooks from his traveler's bag."Oh, if you guys want to Levitate, I have some pixie dust that can do that," Lela said, excitedly. She pulled out a pouch made of what looked like green leaves stitched together and shaped rather like a verdant bulb of garlic. She twisted the narrow end lightly and it spread, revealing some iridescent powder within.Huzair snorted and shoved his book back into his bag. He was a trifle annoyed at being shown up, but he was never one to complain when someone else was willing to spend their resources instead of him having to use up his own.Lela offered the pouch to everyone and they each took a pinch, sprinkling the dust over themselves. One by one they began to drift slowly upward toward the bridge."Remember you can only move up and down," Lela warned as first Morier and then Huzair floated off the ground."There's no way to move side-to-side."Karak drifted upward, grumbling to himself. "This be no way for a dwarf to travel," he groused.Morier and Huzair had already attained an altitude of 60 feet by the time Shamalin lifted off the ground, leaving a very confused Spot waiting in the crater below. Lela gave the cheetah a reassuring pat on the head and took off after her companions. She easily overtook the two arcane casters pausing long enough to say, "I'll scout ahead. Give a yell if you need my help." With a grin she twisted her body in the air and angled off toward the far side of the bridge. Before she'd gotten more than 10 feet away, both Morier and Huzair had lost sight of the tiny faen.She looped beneath the bridge and soared back up on the far side, her wings a silver hum behind her. Like the rest of the cavern, the top of the bridge was crusted with crystals, but even more so than elsewhere; it reminded Lela of the interior of a geode with crystals the same violet color as her eyes. The hectic surface kept the source of the white light from being readily apparent, but the sprite's eyes were accustomed to chasing dragonflies across the water and she quickly found a narrow recess near the center of the bridge without too much effort.Hovering there she paused to assess the magical nature of her surroundings and she was little surprised by what she saw. The bridge and the ceiling twenty some feet overhead were both magical. like the rest of the cavern. The recess, however, radiated a kaleidoscope of magical auras, Transmutation, Evocation, Abjuration... All of them powerful."Guys!" she called. "I think I found the-" Her thought was cut short by the sudden appearance of an earthen maw from the surface of the bridge. It rose up like a fish breaching the surface of the water and like a fish, it snapped at the tiny thing flittering just within reach. Lela had a brief glimpse of an ovoid body with the wide mouth set atop it, three claw-tipped arms set symmetrically around the mouth pushing it up out of the rock. That was all the more she had time to see before that toothsome maw snapped shut around her waist, its stoney fangs piercing her flesh with merciless abandon.Forty feet below, Morier and Huzair heard her cry of pain.</blockquote>

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