[PP - F11] Hallowed Halls

[Lessa 1]

Lessa nodded, though she knew the action was largely lost to the darkness. "I'm glad you're thinking about your mental health," she told him. "So many don't. Or, at least, they don't until it's too late." She reached up to rake her fingers through her hair, shoving it back from her face. A cool breeze whistled through the castle outside, but crammed into the pantry, the air was far too stuffy for her taste. Not long before, she had been thanking the gods for the pantry's sanctuary. Now, she was starting to plan her escape from it. Even as she spoke, one ear remained tilted toward the exit, listening for further threats.

At his comment regarding her adventurous tendencies, she gave a sheepish smile. "You know," she began, "I was actually throwing around the idea of creating an adventure and exploration guild." She stood slowly, careful not to bump Jomei, and working a knot from the small of her back. "But I've tried the guild thing twice already. Maybe I'm just not cut out for it." She paused, then, "Or maybe I just need a new approach to guilds. No more hierarchies and structure. Just adventures." Lessa loosed a small shrug. "It might be nice."

As Lessa shuffled toward the door, the toe of her boot thudded against something hard and wooden. "Hey Jomei," she muttered, reaching for the chest. "Could be something useful in here." 

She was wrong. She was so, so, so very wrong. Just as Lessa went to life the lid, a guttural growl filled the tiny space. "Changed my mind!" she announced, grabbing for the pantry's handle instead. "How about we keep moving along? Maybe find a way out of this place for good?"

Spoiler

Failed to find the loot chest. LD: 3. (#89488)

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Lessa

[Jomei 0]

Jomei frowned, hopefully not visible to the blonde. He'd rather not tell her all that he had been through since she had been gone. "..Yeah." he simply answered, his voice sounding solemn as the events of his past flashed in his mind. His mind was brought out of the rut that he put himself in when Lessa told Jomei that she had the idea to form a guild based on these types of adventures, without the pressure of clearing the game.. Just exploring the parts of Aincrad that actually are beautiful and exciting. She seemed discouraged, however, by her experience with past guilds that never worked out. Despite the lack of space, Jomei stretched his arm forward, placing it on the woman's armored shoulder with a smile, "I think you should go for it. Who needs a governed guild when you're all in it for the same reason." he nodded his head, "You have my support with it." 

Lessa seemed to move in place, possibly trying to get a bit more comfortable. Just how long did they plan on hiding out in this pantry. Jomei's ears perked when he heard Lessa's boot kick something. It sounded wooden, but with something inside that did not sound like jars or edible items. Possibly a small chest? He thought as Lessa confirmed she noticed it as well, and went to open it. Jomei watched Lessa as she bent towards the floor to open the small chest. As she lifted the wooden lid, they heard the sound of something growling.. Jomei even could have sword he saw teeth on the bottom of the lid, as if it were some sort of mimic. His olive eyes went wide "Yeah. Lets get the hell out of here." Jomei said, quickly agreeing with the blonde. He was sure he'd have no problem fighting a mimic.. but not in a space where he could not even get his rapier out without stabbing Lessa.

Jomei pushed open the door with Lessa and went to step from the pantry, throwing his arm to the side when he noticed that there was now a drop from the entrance to the small closet. Jomei stared down at the floor, which was about three feet down now. Why was the pantry flying? That was when he noticed vents, and even some 'hanging' pots standing upright. Raising his head to observe the rest of the room. He saw that there was a large counter, as well as the sinks and ovens, now on the ceiling. The room had flipped itself upside down. Jomei shook his head, hopping down onto the ground below them, "This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.." 

[Lessa 1]

In her haste to exit the pantry, Lessa nearly barreled over Jomei, who had skidded to a stop. Her heavy armor bumped against him, nearly sending them both toppling. "Wha-" she began, and then her eyes widened. Peering over his shoulder, she surveyed the room. Or, at least, some otherworldy edition of the kitchen they had recently left. Somehow, the room had been turned on its head, the floor now hovering where the ceiling had once resided. As Jomei jumped from his perch, feet thudding on the ceiling, her stomach flipped. Something about the surreal visual made her feel a bit like throwing up.

Her hands shook as she reached out, fingertips kissing the edges of the pantry, guiding her toward the three-foot drop. "Yeah," she agreed weakly, "weirder and weirder." Though, to be fair, the Demogorgon in the room with no windows and no doors was probably a touch weirder. But it did not seem like the time to argue such things.

She gulped in a deep breath of musty castle air, then leaped from the pantry's edge. It would have been easier if she kept her eyes closed, considering the impossible vertigo she was experience, but the thought of being blind in a place such as this was not particularly appealing. Besides, how often was a person given the opportunity to see a chandelier standing on-point from the middle of the floor?

Skirting the lighting fixture, the armor-clad woman turned back to her friend. "We're still on an upper floor, right? I vote we find the first stairs we can, and head down and out. This has been one hell of an adventure, but maybe one that we should finish with a whole stock of healing pots. And maybe an army."

Fine grains of salt spilled from the edges of her boots as she moved toward the door, remnants of the thick line she had laid. Once she knew Jomei was following, Lessa tugged open the nearest door. It took a bit of maneuvering, given the room's flipped orientation,  but she managed. Instead of a hallway, she found a staircase. Fortunately, these steps descended as they should, an exit from the bizarre mystery-spot kitchen. "Stairs from the kitchen?" she questioned aloud. Then, "Oh, maybe it it's servant stairs. These should take us to the ground floor."

Edited October 22, 2017 by Lessa

[Jomei 0]

Lessa hopped down after Jomei a moment later, while the man was slowly observing how odd the room looked. Everything was flipped, but gravity still seemed to work in a way that everything was still being pulled to the ground, which was now the ceiling. The Irishman shook his head, stumbling slightly, and placing a hand on his stomach. This feeling of being upside down made him sick to his stomach, but he shook off the feeling. Lessa suggested that the two must still be on the upper floor, and that if they found some stairs going to the first floor, they could just make their way out of the castle to return another day. Jomei quickly nodded his head, "Yeah. Thats a good idea." Jomei followed after Lessa, walking along the ceiling of the kitchen. Jomei's eyes rose to what was above him. Looking at all of the kitchen utensils that kept their place on the counters, more specifically on the sharp knives and heavy objects. In the chance that the gravity in this room decided to work correctly all of a sudden, Lessa and Jomei would be in for a world of trouble. 

Making their way to a door on the far side, the two opened the door after struggling a bit. On the other side, the world seemed to be turned the correct way, revealing a staircase leading downstairs. Lessa suggested that it must be servant stairs of some sort. The Irishman nodded and took a look down the stairs. The wide set of winding stone stairs were enclosed in a matching stone hallway, torches lighting the area every dozen steps or so. Jomei looked over to Lessa before nodding, and beginning his descent down the stairs. The air was stale and warm, even more so the lower they want. The only sounds he could hear were the sounds of their boots landing upon each step, as well as a strange echoing from the depths of the stairs. Jomei looked over his shoulder at Lessa. "I.. don't think we are heading to the first floor. We would have been there by now." 

As the stairs leveled out, it revealed that they had, in fact, bypassed the first floor, and were now in some sort of cellar. Not much was visible, aside from the random scattered torches down what seemed like a hallway. The walls looked to be made of a similar stone to the staircase, cobwebs in almost every corner. "Just when I thought this couldn't get any creepier... "Jomei said quietly to Lessa. "Lets see if theres another way back up." Jomei grabbed one of the last torches from off of the wall and led Lessa forward through the dark basement. 

[Lessa 1]

It was hot down here, far hotter than seemed possible, or realistic. Where in the world were they, the boiler room? For a moment, Lessa felt compelled to blame the torches that flickered and leapt from the stone walls. It was a narrow passageway, so perhaps the fire was enough to warm the space? But it was a damp heat, like the warm breath from some slumbering giant. The vision of a sleeping beast brought chills to Lessa's spine. Considering all they had played witness to that afternoon, she scarcely doubted that a massive monster might be next. Nothing can be ruled out at this point, she thought with no shortage of fear. Somehow, the dim lighting and steady drip of water from somewhere far off sent her pulse racing again.

"Hey, Jomei," she began, "I'm getting that feeling again. I feel like we're being watched." There was a slight tremor in her voice, and the way that she heard her own words echoing back to her in the tapered chamber only made things worse. "Do you feel it too?" Even as she waited for his reply, she sucked in a sharp breath at the faded outline of a woman, hovering further down the gloomy hallway. "That explains it," she declared, turning back the direction they had come. The thought of climbing all those stairs again, especially after just descending them, was not pleasant. Furthermore, she was not eager to visit the supernatural kitchen again. But she would take inverted cooking utensils and physical exertion if it meant distance between herself and the ghost. Why did it have to be ghosts?

But then she turned, and came face to face with a solid brick wall. Her trembling hands extended, and damp palms pressed against the slick stone, which had not been there mere seconds before. "I guess that's the house's way of saying we need to keep moving." It was meant to come out as a joke, but her humor reserves were bone-dry at the moment. Fortunately, when she turned back, the hallway was abandoned. Thank god for small miracles.

So she led her friend deeper down the hallway, which widened into a room straight out of a horror novel. "Is this-" she began, gulping so loudly that that too seemed to echo. "Is this a torture chamber?" What else could it be, given the massive stretching rack that was featured proudly in the middle of the room? Rows of weapons were displayed along the walls, ranging in size, shape, and level of nastiness. Chains and cages dangled from the ceiling, swinging from side to side despite the complete lack of airflow. The creak of their hinges reminded Lessa of some animal's dying cries. 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Lessa

[Jomei 0]

Jomei felt a chill run down his spine, his shoulders shivered as it traveled down his back. The air was still dry and hot, yet he felt cold all of a sudden. That was when, at the same moment as Lessa, his olive eyes caught a glimpse of the shadowy outline of a woman in the darkness, floating about a foot off of the ground. He took in a sharp breath through his grit teeth when he saw the ghostly figure staring at them. Leesa immediately went to turn around to head back up the stairs, not wanting to deal with this ghost in the just as horrifying basement. Once she turned, however, Jomei heard her the palms of her hands press against a surface. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that their only known exit was blocked by a brick wall. "[censored].." Jomei cursed to himself, slowly turning his head back straight. His gaze shot back and forth, looking for the image of the woman, for it had disappeared. He was not sure if he should feel relieved, or even more terrified. 

The two decided it best to continue forward, continuing down the hall and finding an open doorway that the two files through. The room the two stood in was much more lit that the hallway was.. though Jomei wished that it was just as dark. Scattered around the room were various devices used for torture. The far wall had racks of rusted weapons; large axes, swords, daggers, the like. A stretching rack, cages, chains.. everything that you needed to torture an entire group of people at once. "...Great.. just when I thought this place couldn't.. get any worse.." 

Jomei began to walk through the chamber, cautious as ever, trying not to look at the various torture devices and find another way out. "Lessa.. you okay?" Jomei asked back to her, looking over his shoulder but still walking forward. Suddenly, the man felt resistance in front of him, and the rattling of chains as they banged against each other in front of him. As he turned front, he watched the chain he had bumped into suddenly retract towards the dark ceiling above them. In its place, falling towards Jomei at high speeds, was what looked like a giant birdcage, meant for a human. His eyes went wide as he shouted out, jumping out of the way any into the ground as it crashed into the ground, the sound of the metal hitting the stone echoing throughout the entire cellar. The cage crashing into the ground kicked up years worth of dust, clouding around Jomei and making him cough.

[Jomei 0]

Thread Abandoned
Jomei: +1 SP, +400 col

((Permission from Lessa))