Having had a few volunteers, and taken the opportunity to brief them on what is expected of them, Random has a servant summoned, and details her to take those volunteers to the place where Dworkin was last seen.

It's a large kitchen which manages to still be incredibly crowded.  Benches and tables are crammed together, leaving little room for the numerous staff to move around them.  Clearly the palace is extremely busy, to require such a large food preparation area.  Even more surprising is that this isn't even the main kitchen.

The heat in the room is almost unbearable.  It's a relief when a small door at the far end of the room is pulled open to emit a chill draft, and reveal a steep flight of steps descending into total blackness.

Two lanterns are fetched and lit, and the group starts the descent.  The stairs go down a long way, and there are places where the walls fade into the distance, leaving the narrow stair suspended in the stygian void.  At those times, voices and footsteps echo back from the vast darkness.  And there are other noises too, their origins uncertain.

Eventually, though, the stair ends in what seems to be a large chamber filled with crates, sacks and barrels.

The servant looks about nervously, and whispers, "The Deep Cellar.  There's an exit over that way.  Leads into the tunnels under the mountain, I believe.  Never been there myself."

"Good luck."

Then she takes a lantern and starts back up the stair.

Luke lounged against the wall of the storage room, studying the exit in question.  "Lovely, lovely place," he muttered.  "Just the sort of smelly, stuffy, downward trip into darkness I love."  A bitter smile crosses his face.  "Though I'm more used to the hot kitchens being at the terminus, rather than the beginning...so who's up for this?"

Moving to the final entrance, he peered down.

 

•• Oooh • interesting • I have never been down into one of these before ••

Banglen-Yp seemed rather intrigued and fascinated during the whole descend, eyes wide open and trying to take it all in, nose sniffing the air and ears listening to all the remote sounds, hands touching the walls.

At least she did not lick the floor or something.

•• Me me me ••

Her answer to Luke was quite cheerful and she bounced up and down a bit, clapping her hands together.

 

The volunteers move out of the chamber, and the circle of light from the lantern narrows to fit the tunnel.  The floor slopes down quite noticeably, but at least it seems to be smooth and evenly paved, reducing the chances of anybody stumbling or tripping, even in the inadequate light.

Aaron peers ahead, into the blackness beyond the light, "How, exactly, are we going to locate this, the most deadly and powerful lunatic in the whole of creation?"

As he finishes, he is somewhat relieved that the only voice which comes back out of the gloom is his own, echoing through the labyrinthine corridors, rather than, say, an elderly voice whispering, "Here I am." followed by a worrying giggle...

 

•• Oh • should have asked for something of his • then I coudl have tried to sniff him out •• Do you think it is too late ••

Banglen-Yp erupted and ended in a question and then shrugged.

•• Then again • he might take the scent from whatever he is at the moment •• Oh well • let us see if we cannot make you able to keep up ••

The start was aimed at no one, the latter half at the kitten.  She bent down to pat it and it began to squirm and twist.  Dust started to move towards it along with loose bits and pieces of the walls.

Moments later the kitten was slightly larger, about four feet over the shoulders and with a foot long canine teeth, golden brown fur and probably weighing in at half a ton, at least.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...on_populator_rec.jpg

•• So that is how you see yourself • cool ••

She giggled and the kitten, ah, Smilodon Populator grunt-growled in response so she bent over to kiss it on the head.

 

"Oh, the usual way I imagine, Aaron."  Luke rocked back on his heels, chewing on his lower lip.  "Bumble around blindly before stumbling across him in the worst possible circumstances...it's growing to be a habit."  He glanced around with some irritation, finally picking up a heavy, solid axe that lay just next to the wall.  After testing its weight with a sweep through the air, he laid it across one shoulder.  "In case of lurking dragons...Mike had the right idea after all."
The sudden maturation of the kitten certainly caught his attention, and Luke took a careful step back as cat became sabertooth.  "Hm.  I remember those.  It's good that others do as well.  Something caught up in the genetic knowledge, eh kitty?"  Stepping forward, he peered down the stairs again, then shrugged.  A flick of one finger sent a spark of light down the dim tunnel, illuminating it for their passage. "It's in my bailiwick after all...shall we stroll?"

The tunnels form a complex maze, deep beneath the castle, and probably extending out under the city and the mountain.  Luke adds a light of his own to the illumination provided by their lone lantern.

For some members of the search party though, light is probably a moderately incidental luxury.  The sabretooth cat probably has superior night vision, and only Luke and Banglen-Yp know what strange senses they, themselves, can use to navigate in darkness.

After what seems like an age, additional light appears far ahead, and Aaron stops, "I think I know what that is.  If I'm right, I will take my leave of you there.  There is something I must do."

 

•• No peeing in the hallway ••

In a lecturing voice Banglen-Yp waved a stern finger at Aaron.

A moment later she giggled and waved goodbye to him.

•• Might be a good time for a more suitable form to search in ••

She pondered aloud, rubbing her chin and wrinkled her forehead in thoughts.

•• Which one to go with • I wonder ••

 

A little further along, and the light ahead grows brighter.

But Tahirah stops, still holding the Trump of their quarry, and points down a narrow, steeply sloping side corridor.  Cold air blows up from the depths, bearing with it a stink of decay, but it seems that their goal lays in the darkness below.

Aaron turns towards the light, and says, "I need to take my leave of you here.  The fate of Amber may depend on what I find there.  I will return, when I can."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:00, Tue 04 May 2010.

While most of the group move off down the side tunnel, following Tahirah's directions, Aaron continues along the way towards the distant light.  Nobody is really sure what he is following, but as he heads away from the others, they can hear him talking to himself.

The really worrying thing is that he seems surprised by many of the answers he gets...

Soon though, his voice is lost in the distance, drowned out by echoes of their own footsteps.

Deeper the group descends, into the very bowels of Kolvir, and the air grows colder and damper with every step.  Each time they reach a junction, Tahirah selects a path, and even if some of those paths appear to lead upward, the overall trend is still downward.  The tunnels change as they descend, growing more... well, "natural" doesn't really seem to be the right word.  Let's say, rather, that they appear to be less man-made.

A patch of light appears eventually, a greenish glow which proves to be emitted by some sort of phosphorescent lichen.  Shortly after, another comes into view, followed by another, and gradually they become more frequent.

At last, though, a clearly artificial construct appears ahead of them, a thin line of blue-white light, outlining a perfect rectangle, standing upon one of its shorter sides.  Closer, it becomes apparent that the rectangle is the size of a typical door, but appears to lack a hsndle, lock, or hinges.

Tahirah stops, looking at the wall for a moment.  Then she balances the card briefly on the tips of spread fingers, faced up, before she abruptly smacks it forward to press it against the wall.

Luke was happy enough to follow Tahirah's lead - without Aaron, the group had taken a sizeable hit in fighting ability.  He was relatively certain the seer could handle herself, but it seemed prudent enough to be careful.
"Pretty lights," he muttered at the sight of the door, if that was what it was.  A sardonic grin danced on his lips as Tahirah chose an unorthodox method of opening.  "A little warning, perhaps.  I don't know if you're opening it, or exploding it..."

Tahirah slaps the Trump against the rectangle enclosed by the thin line of light, and there is a sound like the ringing of church bell.  The light brightens momentarily, as the sound resonates through the passageways.

And then the light is gone, leaving only a rectangular opening into... somewhere else.

There is a room beyond the opening, dimly lit by candles, crowded with furniture.  From inside comes a voice, not directed at those in the corridor, "See, they're here.  I told you they would be.  Get back in the bottle.  They won't like you, oh no no no."

A figure, more of a silhouette really, shuffles into view.  Even in the poor light, it looks deformed and distorted.

"Is that you, my dears?"

Something that looks like a large white rat (at least it looks like one if you ignore the two extra heads) scuttles out of the room and disappears in a crowd of green vapour as soon as it's feet touch the floor in the corridor.

"I am I," Tahirah replies, her tone quite serious, as if somebody else might have replied, `why, no, I'm someone else, they should be here soon.'  She steps forward as she does so, the card vanishing into her sleeve.

"And I doubt I'm your dear, though from what I've heard it's remotely possible," Luke muttered.  Reaching out with his own senses, nothing more than a fraction of his father's, he swept the area for any sign of lurking magery or forces.  Traps were horrible things, the lean man mused, unless you were the one setting them.

"Two of us against a mad chaos-lord.  I hope your diplomacy is better than mine seems to be..."

 

•• I hope you will not claim to be late for tea now ••

Benglen-Yp piped up from behind the others and then looked at Luke.

•• I could be two or more • but I am uncertain what good it would do ••

A hand goes down to touch the neck of her "little kitten" companion as it eyes the would-be rat with interest even as it seems to turn into green mist.