"my my." Mina put a hand in her hip. "I suppose that neither are palatable, aren't they? That fox-goddess put you all between a rock and a hard place." Her usual snarky tone had dropped several degrees into cold-hearted mockery.
"But you know, I recall I said I could do scrying spells. I can know what's ahead of both." Mina grinned, and she focused her scrying spell. "So what's first, people? Up or down?"
After recoiling from shock again, Cedi leaned in the direction of one of the red orbs, fixing his glasses as he observed the crimson curiosity.
Wh-What triggered THESE...? he asked himself, doubting that he'd get an answer if he did so out loud. Listening to Mina, he began to throw out his own suggestion.
"Well, I'll admit I'm being somewhat biased in where my confidence comes from..." he said, spreading his azure wings out as far as he could stretch them. "... but I'm willing to take my chances with the upper staircase."
"Well, you do have the third option of returning back to the wyverns," Rosemary suggested to Alan. "Maybe they'll fly off after you and your sheep provide them a nice snack."
With a quick nudge from Lilia, she added, "Ahem. Sorry. You could always wait here, you know."
"My abilities would probably be more useful below than atop the ascending stairs," said Anthony.
"So, do we split up or do we all try to pick a single way to go for the moment?" Melanie asked while she took a few steps further into the room, looking all around her.
So much fire mana... It would be weird to see just one of those spheres in the wild, but to see so many in a single place...?
"Mina, start your divination wherever you like. It'll certainly help us make a choice"
edited 20th Jun '11 10:17:43 PM by daltar
Rosemary waited for Mina to hurry up with the divination, but after a long while of nothing seeming to happen, she got impatient. Hastily, she ran over to the descending staircase and began to make her way down.
"How about I head down and tell you what's down there myself?"
edited 26th Jun '11 7:31:51 PM by Starbound2
"Someone's overly hostile," the 24-year old Rosemary noted. "You should've shown that ill temper of yours to the wyverns; I'm sure they would've been the ones looking for cover instead of us then."
She wandered back over to the group to look at the divination as well.
edited 27th Jun '11 5:40:06 PM by Starbound2
The content of the divination into the descending staircase would reveal that the steps went on for a good while... getting more and more interference as they moved down. However they did end up showing that the steps eventually led down to a big circular chamber, even bigger than the one they stood now.
It had two levels, the upper one looking like a kind of balcony going all around the mostly bare lower level. The whole room was supported by big stone pillars... and in the lower level on the extreme opposite to the end of the stairway there was something shining with a bright red light. Whatever ti was, however, could not be discerned as there were too much interference by the flaming orbs of red mana on the lower level.
The divination of the upper staircase on the other hand showed that after ascending through the broken steps the party would find a large rundown complex... a wide variety of rooms could be found there... from old storage spaces, sleeping quarters, kitchens... and everything was a terrible mess. Almost everything was broken... and numerous claw marks hinted at the perpetrators of the destruction.
edited 28th Jun '11 4:48:50 PM by daltar
Delian sighed. That figures... "It sounds like we might have to split up and search both at the same time. Who wants to go where?"
Support Gravitaz on Kickstarter!"I think that both of you have a point," Cedi said to both Alan and Rosemary, fixing his glasses. "We MUST have been sent for that object- whatever it is- downstairs. But at the same time there must be a reason for whatever fighting happened upstairs. There just might be something up there of use..." he thought out loud, almost sighing as he heard the suggestion to split up.
"I'd like to go down now, but if some of you insist on going up," he decided, "Then I would suggest you let me give you a hand. I could easily float over the gaps in the stairs..." he paused to stretch his wings again. "... and then pull you across them."
The Guard pondered his options. At last, he said, "As sure as I am that Mr. Cedi could safely help me up those stairs, I'm more interested in exploring what lies below. Those lights..."
Support Gravitaz on Kickstarter!Up is Alan, Julie, Cedi, and Mina; down is Rosemary, Melanie, and Delian...
"Hmm. I'll head up with Cedi, the shepard, and the barmaid," Anthony decided. "Having more supplies can be useful, and should whatever caused the disarray above reappear, I can lend my strength against it."
"Alright then! The two of us will head down with everyone else then!" Rosemary yelled, wrapping an arm around Lilia.
"Eh? B-but..." Lilia looked a bit confused, having wanted to take some time to decide for herself.
"Don't worry; the mighty, courageous, and handsome Delian Hodges will keep us three women safe from harm," the enthusiastic priestess said facetiously.
Alan started climbing the stairs. They were a lot more flimsy that he expected. With each step he took, the steps groaned under the weight of man and sheep.
"I'm beginning to regret this choice."
Already half-way up though, Alan had no choice but to follow-through. He approached the first gap with care.
"Okay, I think Mr. Wings could help me out here." Said Alan, extending a hand for help.
Delian brightened up at Rosemary's words. "Of course I can protect you, ladies! Now Mela, if you could have your light in front of me, I'll safely guide you women down towards that mysterious light!"
And perhaps it will contain some hidden knowledge I can make use of...
Support Gravitaz on Kickstarter!Cedi- who ignored Mina's insults, as tempting as it was to argue again- saw Alan ascend the stairs, joining him as he glided upwards at a cautious pace. Wings or no wings, he knew he had to be very careful as he flapped over the small staircase, but he still needed to give his wings a short rest every now and then. However, he didn't have much difficulty crossing the gap which stopped Alan. Checking the firmness of the stairs he now stood on, he accepted the shepherd's request and tried to safely pull him across.
"Right away" Melanie said, making her light float in front of the group as they started to go down the long spiral staircase, into the depths below. The young mage gave one last glance to their companions heading in the opposite direction before she waved them off "Good luck!"
As for the group heading upstairs... With Cedi's help Alan managed to cross the gap in the stairs... just before a whole step of them came loose and fell from the staircase. The stone staircase had obviously seen way better times before.
"Hmm..." Anthony noted the material of the stairway was stone and had a thought. Channeling magic from the ground, the man made an attempt to reinforce the strength of the stone steps with his earth magic.
Meanwhile, following behind Delian down the other set of stairs, Rosemary offhandedly remarked "Of course, I hope you don't try anything uncouth while you're alone with us, Delian."

"I knew it, deathtrap."
Alan looked all around him. The prospect of immediate death loomed and it didn't appeal to him. He held onto Julie with his newly freed arm and took a look at both staircases.
"So our choices. Descend into whatever hell could lie down there, or risk dying trying to get up. Not a nice set of options."