Dragging the corpse of Yara you slide through the passage at the bottom of the stairwell. You slide through the secret passage and into a "cozy" little bedroom. The large cluttered chamber is filled with ugly and brutal looking weaponry, many of which stained with dried blood. There is a rough pallet along the west wall and a small table in a niche on the east wall. Hanging around the room to give it a much more homey feel are tapestries depicting various scenes of warfare. The fresh scent of dungeon mixes freely with the old bear den smell that occupies this room. Opposite the short passage you just went through there is a door in the north east corner still slightly open.

Angrboda slides into the chamber just as the echoing of boots begin to glide down the stairwell. Hearing pursuit just around the corner she calls deep into reserves and utters forth a few words of power. Once again the smell of damp earth permeates the area. A rumble, like that of a great beast tearing apart the world, can be felt through the very foundation that you stand on. Dirt, rock, and dusts begin to appear out of nowhere filling the passage that you just left. Screams and cries of those who are on the other side are nearly drown out by the earthen rumbles.

An aura of fatigue deepens around Angrboda as you can sense that the last few efforts are beginning to tax her reserves.

Angrboda smiles faintly at the rest of the group, "Well, I'm doing my part." she says, stumbling a bit because of her fatigue as she stands.  She moves over to the whore's body and begins going over the items on it very carefully, looking for the tell-tale signs of enchantment on any of it.  She is a bit rough with the corpse however, "Hope you are enjoying Balo's caress." she says as she strips the corpse.

Boda if you are to weak to walk...I can easily carry you...do you need help stripping this beast?..My name is Viktor...Gently puts his hand on Angrboda's shoulder...smiles a little too much as Yara is being stripped and puts his hand out to Berta...

Turning away from the screams with a shudder, Berta hesitates only a moment in the face of the disturbing smile that greets her, before moving her blade to her off hand and offering her main.  If her grasp is somewhat cautious, it seems it is only because of the blood-slick brasswork upon her gauntlet for her grip is strong.

"I am Berta," she nods, somewhat tiredly as the rush of battle wears thin. "Like you a long way from home and seeking the price of my passage, though for me that journey has been much delayed."

She looks at the blood-crusted weaponary and hangings with some distaste.  "The whore is Yara.  A brute, but not the worst of them.  Salrenna is somewhere about - a sorceress, garbed in black.  I saw her come this way before ..." she shakes her head.  "I know not why she chose not to confront you, but that was our good luck.  Pray to Balo that luck holds."

Releasing Viktor's hand she holds up a cautionary finger and moves to the door in the north-east corner peering through the gap.

Very nice spell Angrboda...the screams remind me of home...so now we have a sorceress to deal with too...how long have you been here Berta?...walks over closer to the door...

"Fuck!" Angrboda curses, "I knew that bitch was'the sorceress.  Now I am too weak to cast anything at that little pretending slit." She eyes Viktor appraisingly, "And no Viktor I do not need to be carried." she finishes before turning around to inspect the items she has stripped from Balo's new toy.  "Oh, nice to meet you Berta.  Thanks for your help."

"Too damned long ... months.  Those I was with ... well, I'm the only one that survived, and it was only luck that saved me."  She looks away, her lips tightening at the memory of the slaughter and how she'd barely escaped with her life, her fingers brushing her breastplate where a stone hangs beneath the leather and metal rings.  "Didn't know the others, but there was one I was fond of, and Yara killed him."

"You're welcome, but it was in my interest to save those who shared my aims ... and you disposed of Yara, so it appears I'm in your debt," she smiles gratefully at Angrboda, her eyes alight with no little satisfaction at the cooling corpse.

"Been here ever since," she continues, "doubly lucky for me that a woman who knows how to use a sword doesn't attract undue attention in these parts, and that Media's Royal Guard are always hiring."

"So I bided my time. Tenatir was just too well guarded, and what would I have done with with him anyway, once I missed that foppish fool's deadline for the trip back ?!!"

"I'd hoped the bitch might try again ... but as time passed that hope was fading.  Then you turned up.  Met your friends, Eclair," again she presses her lips together and her gaze flicks towards the spell-sealed entrance beyond which the small woman must surely by now have fallen to the unliving, "Rael, Khazim and Lars ... got them through the front gate, but we got separated - I think they must have come this way."

"We should get after them," the urgency in her voice is obvious as she glances out the door once more, yet the look she turns to Angrboda is seeking of approval.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Sun 21 June 2015.

You take a few moments to catch you breath, or as much as you can in this bears den, you begin to feel the weight of the last hour or so settle on you. The room is spacious as well as spartan allowing for ease of movement.

Cautiously you peer through the crack in the door to see a small room containing only a small table and 4 stools. [Secret to Angrboda: Help you I can mistress, but repay me you must. Sense you are very tired.] The table is littered with foodstuffs and other such things that often accompany a gathering point for jailors and other such "off duty" guards. From where you can peer in, you can see the doorway on the other side of the small guard room is also slightly ajar. The small sitting chamber looks to be departed in haste. Chairs have been knocked over and askew. A card game was being played and is left on the table the cards tossed down with little care. Against the wall to your left you can see a weapons rack, empty except for a few of the funny looking arrows that the guards use in the crossbow (As Valmir called it).

Both of the opposite doors have been left partially askew as if the last person through either door did not care to fully close it behind them. [Secret to Angrboda: Just use me to prick the large man's finger and let me drink, I'm sure his smitten eyes will help.]Taking a bit of time and deduction you can easily guess, by the layout of the chairs and other tossed items, that the guards all went out the door to your right. The door exactly opposite of you appears to have a white mist slightly rolling out of it.

[Private to Angrboda: The brass etching and accents on Yara's plate is enchanted. The best way to describe it would be to say there is a permanent "Power Sink" about them. In your witch sight the brasswork appears more of an inky black as if it were "absorbing" some of your latent magical sight.
The whip that Yara favored is demonically enhanced. Given what you know and have seen the demon has a storm bent to it, favoring lightning. More examination when you are less exhausted would be needed to figure the breed out.]

Angrboda puts the breastplate and the whip aside, "Well, these are enchanted.  Berta do you think you can fit into the armor?  As for the whip it will take me a bit more time when I am less exhausted to determine what it does." she says as she coils it up and places the belt which the whore had used to hold it on around her waist.  Tying the whip firmly onto the belt she moves to peek out into the stairwell, hoping for a survivor.  [Language unknown: "A, Ne wehiev ent aros ca adofnailte mopoal m illss onai ie sttasa."]

Berta's brows rise at the news that the armour is enchanted, though she's uncertain as to whether that be good or bad. "Probably," she replies, "It may be a loose fit for Yara was a hefty brute."  She snorts, "Not a problem I usually have ... but now is not the best time for a fitting."

Looking back through the crack, she is convinced that there's no movement beyond and is about to heave the door open when she sees the tendrils of mist coming from the opposite opening.  "What is that ?!!" she looks to Angrboda, deeming her most knowledgeable regarding such matters, backing away to give the smaller woman more room.

Eyes fall upon Yara's body once more ... and Berta swears softly, "Goldar curse me for a greedy fool !" and sets too swiftly stripping the corpse of that armour, hunting around for a cloak if Yara did not have one, in which to bundle the armour so she might carry it with her.

Walks over to the door with the mist and holds his axe out and tries to open it a little to peer through and slide his axe in to maybe get a glimpse in its reflection...puts the opening of a winesack in his mouth to not breathe in the mist after taking a few hefty drinks and laughing a little...ok laughing kind of loud and a lot of belching...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Tue 23 June 2015.

[Secret to Angrboda: Brace yourself Mistress. ]Valuing need over caution Berta begins to gather the stylized plate into a bundle. She wraps the contents into a rather large, obviously one of Yara's spare, cloak. After having his fill of the peep show. Viktor stumbles on a rather brilliant plan that he fails to tell anyone else about. With all the subtleties of an avalanche, Viktor strides out of Yara's quarters, across the disheveled guards station, and boldly open the door with the malevolent mist boiling out of.

As Viktor reaches for the door, it seems that the lords of the higher planes heard his secret plan and opened the door for him. A howling wind tears through the door slamming the stout wooden frame straight into Viktor's unsuspecting face. Blood gushes from his mouth as the wineskin hardly stops the weight of the door. Sputtering and coughing as wine and blood pour down his chest, Viktor gets a face full of ozone and brimstone scented mist. Viktor staggers back as the combination of wine, blood, and mist makes it nearly impossible to breathe.

Thanks to the distance involved, Angrboda is able to slam the door to Yara's room shut, only letting a tiny hint of the caustic mist in the room. Viktor can be heard hacking on the other side of the door just barely above the thunder of the wind as it blows through the halls.

Fuck me that was stupid...Viktor you dumb ass...HELP...Trying to catch his breathe and spitting out blood....walks towards the door to Yara's room falling on his knees from coughing...

Angrboda listens to the winds buffet the door from the other side, "Hold on Viktor." she whispers as she waits for the spell to die down.  She looks at her ring as she waits the last of her power safely nestled in it she knows the spell to get rid of the sorcerous winds but her power is waning, if she is to have any chance of beating the woman in charge here she is going to need as much of her power as possible.  She could just let the large man die but that is not the way to go about making friends.  All of this runs through her head as she begins the incantation, yanking open the door at the last second, letting loose Kakatal's flames to thwart the power of Lassa.

Using 4 points out of the ring to cast Flames of Kakatal.  sigh

Berta fashions a sling out of her unwieldy bundle so at least she can keep her hands free, even though it may hamper her movement.  But her efforts to settle her makeshift pack more comfortably are interrupted as the door first slams into Viktor then is slammed in turn behind him.

"What's he doing ?!!" Berta's question is born of fear, not of exasperation as even that small taste of the malign mist causes her to cough.

The big woman looks to Angrboda, any further questions she might have forestalled as the incantation begins, taking a deep breath before stepping forward to assist either of her companions as best she can, Viktor's difficulties heard only too clearly, and Angrboda's fatigue no less obvious.

lays down trying to slow his breathing down and tries to get out the way of the spell and mist...

Winds buffet the door as Angrboda braces to release an opposing elemental force. Steeling herself for the torrent of the door opening, she flings it open with words of power on her lips. As she is about to loose her own spell, the winds die down to nothing but a almost absent gentle breeze. Viktor staggers about the disheveled guard station tripping over various pieces of furniture that have be rearranged by the winds. [Private to Angrboda:You did not need to cast the spell, so I held it.]

With the mist out of the way, as well as much of the furniture, you are able to see into the following room. The room beyond the open portal is light in a pale blue light. Just on the other side of the doorway you see the boots of a Syferan guard laying motionless on the floor. With the smells washed away for a brief time by the winds you are greeted with an odd metallic smell the air. Not in the same fashion as a forge, but more akin to the smell of a desert lightning storm. *Tszt* an odd sharp noise crackles from the room for a brief second. You can hear movement from the adjoining room.

Angrboda rushes over to Viktor's prostrate body, cursing that Rael isn't around yet again.  "Get up you asshat, we have a mission to finish.  I am not getting stuck in this stupid dimension because you were dumb enough to walk into a bunch of poison." she says as she plops down next to him and starts pushing on him.

Damn it I wasted good wine...just curious...how do you think we are getting out of here?  I think the stairs are buried.slowly stands up using his axe as a walking stick and puts his arm around Angrboda to balance himself...Thanks Angrboda...I miss Rael

"Lean on me," Berta fears the big man might try his weight on Angrboda and as like to snap the smaller woman.  Though her eyes are on the adjoining room ... the body of the guard does not give her pause, but the pale blue light and the crackling noise does.

"If we must, then we go back the way you came," she hurriedly suggests, with a hope that Eclair managed to deal with at least some of the living dead before she must surely have fallen.

"Rael !" any of their names would have done, but Viktor's words brings his to her lips.  "You in there ?" she calls out.  If it's Salrenna, then a quick death might be her answer, and that if luck is with her.

"What are you doing?  You crazy....." Angrboda picks her words carefully, seeing that the one man who would jump to her defense is hurt badly, "..... Woman!  Why would you announce our presence to people who may not be on our side." she shakes her head, angry at the lack of secretiveness that the woman shows.  She waits expectantly while Viktor leans on the woman, half expecting a demon to burst through the doors and devour them, "if he dies I will taste your soul before I go quietly into the night." she says softly.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:03, Sun 28 June 2015.

Berta shudders at Angrboda's undertone. "Th .. whoever's on the other side of that door knows we're here," she tries to explain.  "You're exhausted, Viktor's injured ... if that's not your friends, then they're dead and we can but hope to join them. You'll be doing me a kindness if you can kill me before Salrenna can take us."

"Rael !" she calls again, desperately.  "Mirath grant my path does not end here !"

Tries to regain his balance and stretches his arms and legs a little and spits one final blast of blood out of his mouth...I ain't got time to bleed, Angrboda if we run across this evil sorceress how will we destroy her?

Ok Berta I am going to yell as loud as I can two times to see who is over there...like you said if they wanted us dead... I would already be dead by now...RAEL ARE YOU THERE! shakes off the final blast of the mist and walks closer...RAEL ARE YOU THERE!

21:02, Today: Viktor rolled 94 using 1d100. luck.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:05, Mon 29 June 2015.

As in response, a solitary "It is I Rael... come in." echos over the tiny buzzing and crackling noise that drifts from the room. A tense silence follows the invitation. Beyond the fatigue and tension, you are all fairly certain that it is indeed Rael who is calling the invitation.

I'm going to Merge the Threads back together. Follow up with your next posts there.