"It seems to me that if the Pearl itself is not reacting, either by itself, or through the agency of Prad, that this room is not important to its disposition. So we should keep looking."

In reply to Vasily Pavlychenko (msg # 611):

So Alessandra follows the others into another room.

Unless anyone wants to explore the other living quarters, the hallway ends in a pair of double doors just past the office. They are green glass doors with a darker overlaid pattern that resembles wrought iron decoration, but a closer examination shows it to be a darker green glass.

Looking through the glass doors, you can see that there's a balcony overlooking a large open area. There does not appear to be any lock on the door, and they swing in towards you just by using the handles.

Stepping out onto the balcony, you can now see that it's overlooking a large amphitheater... if that's what it was supposed to be. The semi-circular area has what appears to be seating along the curved back and sides, on stepped levels like an open theater.

At either end of the balcony, there's an open doorway that looks to lead into the towers that you saw on the outside that were on each side of the structure.

"Well, if this is a church, the altar's down there."  Looking to either side at the stairs, Fiora picks the nearest set and starts heading closer to get a better look.  "Shall we look closer?"  Though phrased as a question, it's obviously an invitation to come with rather than questioning whether they should.

"I believe we should, though I must say, this seems more evocative of the ancient Numan senate than a church, to me. Once the worship of Theus became the dominant religion amongst the Numan Empire, I think the cathedrals and large churches were built in the style of the government buildings of the day. But I think, generally, most such places of worship have the focus of the audience forward, rather than on a single person; after all, you are meant to be worshiping the omnipresent Theus, not the priest.

I guess it is possible that this structure, or something like it, is the basis for those Numan structures. But, once again I'm conjecturing, with no way to prove or disprove my theories.

Do we want to attempt to climb down directly, or find our way down by less precarious means?"

No sooner does Fiora start to move to the left end of the balcony than everyone realizes that Prad has already started moving in that direction.

When Anders catches up to him and steps in front of him, Prad runs right into him, but then stops.

OOC: I forgot that I had put off reacting to this to give others a chance. :D Sorry

Vasily, seeing Prad taking off then being halted by Anders, gets close to them, ready to follow. "I believe we should let him go, at least until we can figure out exactly where he's going. Then we can follow him and be led to what we hope is our destination."

Vasily signals to the others to ready themselves to follow, then to Anders to step out of Prad's way.

"Well, just in case..."  Lifting a hand, Fiora winds her fingers around and between invisible strands, holding them gently but ready to grip at a moments notice.  "I don't think I'll win pulling against the pearl, but pulling him clear if it lets go I can do."

The strands of fate slide gently through her grasp as Prad opens the distance between them, but her grip remains.  A keen eye might notice slight indents in the skin of her fingers where she holds the invisible threads.

[Not actually a tesse, just ready to use one.  In much the same way that a hand on the hilt isn't a drawn sword.]

I guess I was sort of waiting for others to respond, too. Wait! I AM one of those others!


"I'm of two minds on that score," Valentino comments. "If he's taking the Pearl to a place where it will be recharged... not sure that's a good thing."

"If he's just bringing it home, not sure that's a good thing either."

"On the other hand, I've not heard of any Syrne artifact that was naturally harmful to people. Usually, it's someone else using it for harm. Or abusing it. Tends to fall into the 'things man was not meant to know' category."

"You might be able to change the weather, but what are the consequences? One farm needs rain, and you cause the rain to happen, but a blizzard then hits the city."

"I'm just saying."

Yeah, know what you mean. I don't usually play leader types...


Reluctantly, Anders steps aside to let Prad pass, expecting Prad to go down the stairs since there's nowhere else to go. At the last second, he changes his mind and dashes down the stairs a bit first and waits to see if Prad follows.

"Definitely not a GOOD idea, but whether it turns out to be a BAD idea remains to be seen," he says.

"Sounds like a deflected Fate Lash."  Fiora smiles at Valentino.  "When pulled too far, fate lashes out like a line drawn too tight.  We can let it cut our flesh, or stand aside to let it wreak havoc on the fates around us.  I imagine an artifact with no flesh might not have the choice."

[Seriously, things get crazy if you dump lashes into danger dice.  Don't hand the GM 20 extra danger dice if you can help it. >_< ]

As Prad reaches the end of the balcony, instead of turning to the stairs, he walks right into... and through... the green glass railing! But, rather than fall down to the floor below, he floats gently downward!

Vasily, seeing that, puts a hand on the rail to slow his inevitable descent, slides over it, and attempts to drop to the floor as gracefully as he can.

[Err, how far down is it?]

From the floor of the balcony to the floor directly below it is about 20 feet. After all, you are looking out over an internal amphitheater.

That's probably pushing it a bit for Vasily, but he can lower himself down until he's hanging from the floor of the balcony and then drop the rest of the way.

In that way, he gets down to the lower floor before Prad reaches it.

Vasily gets in position to intercept Prad once he reaches the floor. "I'd appreciate it if everyone could get down here as quickly as you can." Vasily speaks loudly, hoping it is loudly enough to be heard by the others.

While the tall Ussuran might be able to hang down far enough to make the landing, it's a bit far for Fiora, who takes the stairs instead.

"Which sorcery is doing that I wonder?  One the Syrne had but we don't?"

In reply to Dread Pirate Robert (msg # 625):

Alessandra decides not to, for it looks a little too far for her taste. So she, too takes the stairs. It is the safer way down.

At the bottom of the stairs, there's a hallway on the left heading back to the front of the cathedral that clearly passes to the outside of the flight of stairs out there that you took up to the balcony.

Prad, upon landing, walks to the left, not down the hallway, but to an alcove in the wall opposite the stairs you just came down.

Anders, being at the top of the stairs already, hurries down to intercept Prad, while Vasily also drops down more quickly than Prad's descent, and also is able to get in front of Prad before Prad reaches the alcove.

As soon as he's stopped, Prad reaches into his pocket and pulls out the Black Pearl.

"Hey guys, please make haste! Prad's doing something."

Vasily tries to keep back far enough to avoid being touched by the pearl, but still between Prad and the alcove, hoping to delay Prad long enough for the others to get there and assist.

Setting herself against the loom as it were, Fiora tightens her grip with the hand already gently holding Prad's fate, ready to yank him clear if things go strange.  With her left she reaches out to grab Vasily's fate as well so that she can get them both out of the way of whatever's about to happen.  "I doubt I can fight the pearl, but if he lets go of it..."

"Shall I try to dislodge it from his hand with my sword?"

"Maybe the sheath?  Bleeding on the pearl sounds like a bad idea." is her answer after a moment's thought.  "Sorcery always demands blood, one way or another.  No telling what could happen."

Vasily dutifully attempts to free his sheath from his sword belt. Once he's got it free he extracts the blad and holds that in his left hand while he attempts to use the sheath as a blade to knock the pearl from Prads hand, trying to knock it more towards the center of the room (away from the alcove).

So that is it, Alessandra thinks. The Black Pearl. She inches closer to the others.