Chapel/Chamber
"It's really not much more difficult than looking up spells in a Harry Potter wiki," Prisha sighed. "The effects can give you an idea of the potency of the spell. Just flip through and make notes of any you think would be the most trouble if someone were to use it against us if that's what you want to research."
"But of course you're still free to research in any other area such as the door."
Help?.. please...[Passage ~ Sand Chamber]
Joe looked over the chamber with about as much unenthusiasm as he could muster without being to enthusiastic about mustering it. "I guess it 'would have been a hassle for it to build us a nice proper bridge to walk across." he lamented, pacing along the edge of the pit. He resisted the urge to applaud like a twerp when he saw that Rachel had rediscovered the hidden bridge. Well, it did save him the agitation of trying to locate it again himself through trial and error.
"Awesome, you found it!" he said as he zipped over and followed her lead. Glancing at Adam, Joseph felt a little concerned. He must have come this way himself before, but Joe still felt the need to warn, "Move slowly and be careful, the ground could end at any moment. You really don't want to fall in this stuff."
[Chapel —> Chamber]
"Hairy what?" Ozzy asked, giving Prisha a very funny look and then a shake of his head. "Apologies, but that doesn't help at all. I really think I'll just examine that door of yours. You don't mind, right? Right."
He gave another one of those short bows that he enjoyed so much and promptly left the chapel without another word. Upon reentering the chamber, he began his hunt for the seemingly elusive door. For all Prisha's talk of it, Ozzy did not remember seeing it during his arrival, nor did he see it now. He checked the different sections of the chamber; nothing. Had Prisha been mistaken? Or was Ozzy missing something?
edited 26th Aug '12 6:45:58 PM by Ryuhza
They'll turn your world around[Passage-Sand Chamber]
"Yeah." Loyce said, stepping on the bridge carefully. He made it to the other side without any problems, but was still glad to be off of it. He hoped that was the last time he'd have to cross that thing.
This is a signature. It is not interesting. Please continue whatever you were doing, it is surely more fascinating.Passage (Sand Chamber)
The second trip across the bridge was rather uneventful, which was of course a good thing as far as Rachel was concerned. The last thing this group needed was to have someone stumble into the sand pit, or other such interruptions.
Upon setting foot upon the other side, she gave the sand pit a final glance. "Well, here's hoping that the other group finds a different way out of there," she said. "This thing isn't even a challenge anymore, it's just tedious and boring."
She looked forwards into the passage, then turned to the other group members. "I believe this is the last thing between us and the library. If we just keep going forwards, it's all upstairs from here." Or so I hope.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian![Staircase]
"Oh for the love of..." Linna began. Then stopped. No weight from her bag on her shoulder, nor from the holster on her hip. Wrong voice. Maria not in front of her. Her own voice behind her.
She shut her eyes tightly and made a serious effort not to hyperventilate, though she did let herself slump forward and rest her arms, or Maria's arms, or whatever was going on, on the stone steps. "I would like to extend a special 'fuck you' to reality for this one, I really would. Maria? I don't suppose you can explain this one? Because I can't."
[Chapel]
"I didn't see the door," the armor half-raised its arms at the elbow and dropped them again in an impression of a shrug, "but I can read some of these books. I'll just go poking through the stacks. If I can't read something I'll pass it on to you." A pause, then the armor added as an apparent afterthought. "Or possibly throw them at Ian's head. That seems like it would be amusing."
It wandered over to a bookcase and started gingerly pulling books out, then once it had a small stack moved to a pew and began sorting them into readable and non-readable piles.
edited 26th Aug '12 4:57:56 PM by Night
Nous restons ici."So apparently, big steel doors slip past people's notice now?" Prisha questioned. "Fine, suppose I am hallucinating the door, how do you think the cultists exit this place when needed?"
Help?.. please...[Passage ~ Sand Pit]
As they neared the entrance to the passage and their inevitable release from the ominous place, Joseph's sense of adventure and excitement began to return to him. Even as he perilously made his way across the quicksand he felt stimulated, carrying himself with a gusto that he hadn't known since they had delved into the dark shaft. By the time the group had reached the end, he hadn't said anything, but there were the makings of an inexplicable and genuine grin on his face.
"How long do you think we've been down here? It can't be more than a few hours, but it feels like it's been ages." He said as he stretched his arms and back. Joe stopped promptly after experiencing a strange sensation of comfort following a light 'pop' from his arm. "Yeuh..."
[Chamber]
Ozzy took one more look around at the different chamber rooms, but he was certain that none of them contained any extra doors. He frowned and furrowed his brow, then turned and called back to Prisha. "There aren't any big steel doors here to notice. I've double checked, not a thing."
He walked back to the door to the chapel and stuck his head in through the doorway. He took a moment to nervously readjust his hood, which had been slightly pulled back on accident due to the angle of his head, briefly exposing his off-colored irises and inhuman pupils. "Shit- ahem, as I said, you may check these chambers all you want, I can guarantee that there is no door except for the way we came in, and this one right here."
edited 26th Aug '12 11:41:23 PM by Ryuhza
They'll turn your world aroundChamber
"Whatever, just because you can't see a big steel door laid out in front of you, doesn't mean you can't do productive research huh," Prisha went over to the Tome of the Forbidden Arts again and opened it to read. Which reminds him. Ozzy still can't research spell books? Prisha turned to Ozzy, "Wait! Are you telling me you don't have fantasy fiction where you come from?"
Ian just stands there bored. Why can't he just leave already?
Help?.. please...[Hallway]
"A learning experience," Maria-as-Linna whispered in a stricken tone. "On the screen...h-he called this a learning experience. A chance to see things from someone else's perspective..."
She stared in disbelief at the face that had, until recently, belonged to her. She couldn't help noting, with a sort of desperate amusement, that this was the first time she'd looked truly rattled since she'd arrived at the University.
I went to some pretty extreme lengths to see that, she noted wryly.
Maria took a deep breath or two, calling on her two years of Gardens training, and forced down the panic that was rapidly rising within her. With a shaky sigh, she turned back to Linna and raised an eyebrow. "You're really muscular, you know that? Where in your universe are you getting this much exercise?"
"And every life is a special story of its own." —The Stargazer, Mass Effect 3Courtyard (Near Performing Arts) -> Courtyard (Fountain) -> Hallway
She'd been standing out in the rain for a couple of hours now, and still no reaction from her chosen target. Vivian snarled a bit before dismissing the shadowy hand. Since there wasn't anyone else out in the courtyard now, she also altered her shadowy umbrella so that it didn't drip - there wasn't any point to it if she wasn't stalking someone.
She moved away from the auditorium and headed back into the main courtyard. Not only had she lost her original target, but it seemed there wasn't any other targets to fall back on. Glorious. Simply glorious. she thought.
The building to her left was the one she had first found herself in, so there wasn't anything in there. That said, there were three other buildings (plus the auditorium) to root through. Certainly, she could find some more playthings in there. She settled on heading into the building to her right first - it seemed like it had people in it recently. She walked up to the door, opened it normally (as much as she wanted to bash it down, it'd ruin her stealth if she did), and went inside.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian![Chamber]
"Oh no, I've read plenty of fantasy fiction, trust me; but 'magic' in the minds of authors and storytellers is hardly going to help me here. They've all got different ideas of how it works, and furthermore- they're all made-up!" Said Ozzy, still perched in the doorway. "That you're able to understand what's going on in these books at all, let alone to the proficiency that you seem to have a handle on, I find to be a great stroke of fortune. I, however, am not a magician."
He withdrew from the doorway and turned to face the chamber again. There were cabinets, shelves, strange beakers, but no door. He glanced back at the chapel, grinded his teeth for a moment, then spoke loudly into the chapel. "Pardon my tenacity, Prisha, but are you truly certain that you saw a large steel door in one of these rooms? You weren't possibly thinking of the doors that you pass through to get here?"
edited 27th Aug '12 8:59:32 PM by Ryuhza
They'll turn your world around"Yep and it's still there," Prisha pointed his finger over the tome, past the door to the library and to the large steel door opposite in the chamber. Is this guy serious? Still reading, Prisha multitasks, "So apparently not being magical means you're unable to picture the effect of spells you read about either. I wonder how any normal people manage to understand Harry Potter, Naruto or any fantasy fiction then."
edited 27th Aug '12 9:27:50 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...[Chamber —> Chapel]
Ozzy looked in the direction Prisha was pointing, but all he could see was a solid, blank wall. Was this guy serious? He narrowed his eyes and walked back into the chapel in a very curt manner. He took a deep breath and spoke, resisting the urge to clench his fists as he did so. "Once again; harry potter, naruto? These don't mean anything to me. I understand that it's fantasy fiction, but in most works of fantasy, there will be a character or- or some sort of codex that can show the reader how magic works. When I first into that chamber, I took a look at one of the books, but it was entirely composed of unreadable drivel— in fact, I'm pretty sure that half the words were made-up! Do you honestly expect a- an average human being to be readily capable of reading that cra- that clutter."
Ozzy was getting a considerably heated in his talk, but he didn't stop- and he didn't simmer down. "Furthermore, you don't need to be a wise-ass for every misconjunction we have between us. You and I are not from the same place, are we Prisha? Perhaps you could practice being the snarkiest in the room a little less and focus on offering some explanations to clarify our differences, hmm? You know, some things need to be explained now and then!"
He was about to excuse himself once again, when he added, "OH, and one more thing! If you are so certain that there is a door back there that all of us simpletons are missing, then here's an idea; go ahead and open it."
edited 28th Aug '12 12:41:10 AM by Ryuhza
They'll turn your world aroundChamber
"Just a minute," Prisha said, still busy reading the tome. Then turned the big book in front of him, opening to a certain page, "Okay let's have an example."
"Here's the spell Ad Ventus, Prisha explained. "Yes the instructions on how to perform it may contain complicated terms or explanation that I understand no normals would understand. But the description of effects are hardly more complicated than on Superpower Wiki.
"
"God forbid if that's beyond your comprehension," Prisha frowned still holding up the page with the spell.
The description is worded: This spell grants any aquatic life around the caster the ability to swim in air. The range of effect is proportional to the caster's magical level. Standard level mages can affect an entire ten foot radius.
edited 28th Aug '12 3:41:28 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...[Chapel]
Ozzy stepped closer with interest. He hadn't expected Prisha to act so unmoved by his outburst. In fact, if he hadn't already begun to calm down, Prisha's response may very well have frustrated him even further. Instead, Ozzy approached Prisha, examining from afar the large volume he was reading. As he approached, he stated, "Once again, I am not familiar with superpower 'wicky.' You very often take for granted things that are common knowledge for you, and perhaps the people of your world." He paused, then clarified, "I know what superpowers are; I am familiar with comic books, I just don't understand it's use in the context of 'superpower wicky.' What is it- a magazine? A catalog?"
He stopped speaking when he leaned in closer to read the spell's description. To his surprise and annoyance, it was quite coherent and easy to read. "What a crock of- how vexing!" he exclaimed, raising his head and gesturing at the other shelves. "All of the books that I looked at were complete gibberish! Not a word was understandable! And now..."
Ozzy stopped himself before his pride got the better of him. He clenched his teeth beneath his mask, and even let out a low growl for a moment. It helped though, and before long he started feel more relaxed, enough so that he could continue in a more peaceable manner. He took a deep breath, exhaling loudly, then spoke,
"Well, clearly I have made a... misassumption about the books here. I was under the impression that they were all of the same script form of the... the two that I had examined. Now that fog has lifted; I am able to lend a hand. What sorts of spells are we looking for?"
They'll turn your world aroundChamber
Prisha sighed. Ozzy still doesn't seem to get what Prisha meant by different sections. Prisha spoke up anyway, "We want to make a note of the spells we believe would pose most of a threat. Only read the description of effects and skip all the description of practice and hopefully you'll have a lot less gibberish."
After Prisha finished, the room seems to change color. The torches on sides of the room seem to shift from purple to a glowing blood red, like Prisha's eyes. Ian spoke up, "Anyone order the lights to go to horror mode?"
edited 28th Aug '12 6:21:01 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...Passage (Sand Chamber)
Rachel glanced forwards into the passage again, then took a look at the rest of the group. Joseph seemed to be getting chipper again, and everyone else seemed no worse for wear after what they had seen at the end of this passage. Provided that the spell that apparently was responsible for their appearance here could be undone, this search would be the last one they had to do to get off this campus and return to their home dimensions.
While she assumed that the others would be more than happy to return, she herself was rather unsure. It was true that this place had a dark history, and perhaps dark things still lurked here. On the other hand, the P-virus outbreak was probably still going strong back at her hometown. When she returned, she would be going back to a life of dodging zombies and dealing with people who reacted poorly to Infected such as herself until the outbreak blew over or took over the rest of the country.
If she had a proper hometown to return to, that was. Now that she thought of it, she wasn't sure how quickly or slowly time flowed here compared to the reality she was used to. It was quite possible that she'd return to a world where the P-virus had completely taken over the country, if not the world. Or even worse, that her hometown would be completely unrecognizable because so much time had passed between when she had gotten transported here and when she had finally managed to escape.
With that thought in mind, her desire to finally get off this campus suddenly became the highest it ever had been. Having to explain her disappearance to Selena and Robert was already going to be a bit of a hassle since she doubted either would believe her, but if she returned to ruins...she didn't want to think about it.
"Hey guys? I think we've been here long enough," she said, her voice quivering slightly. "The sooner we find a way out of here, the better."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian![Passage ~ Sand Chamber]
"Well we know the way out of here; we just keep heading down this way, right? And watch out for that path that leads to the huge pit we found. It shouldn't be very far ahead now, right?" asked Joe. He glanced back at the others, and noticed for the first time the look on Rachel's face. "-or... oh. You aren't talking about here here." He could see that something was wrong, but he didn't know what to do to possibly console her. He looked down and rubbed his hands together nervously. "Uh... hey!" He looked up and put on a wide smile, "Don't worry- we'll get out of here in a jiffy! But first things first; we've got to get out into daylight." he rubbed his eyes and murmured, "Oh, that'll be nice."
[Chapel]
Ozzy sighed, "Once more- the two books that I looked through were entirely unreadable. Entirely. The entire thing. If there even were descriptions hiding somewhere on those pages, they were gibberish too. This," he gestured at the book Prisha was holding, "this is entirely different. Even the parts that aren't the description—though confusing—are still readable. But never mind that; I understand our goal now, however, even if we do come across spells that seem exceptionally dangerous and bear that knowledge in mind," He shrugged, "What are we supposed to do about it?"
The shift of colors came so suddenly, Ozzy froze in apprehension. The sinister red brought a strange, foreboding chill to his heart. "Oh dear..." he said, stepping away from Prisha and looking around the room for some sort of sign of things to come. "Red. Red lights never mean anything good. Warning alarms, traffic lights, impending doom. I don't like the looks of this."
edited 28th Aug '12 8:50:32 PM by Ryuhza
They'll turn your world aroundChamber
"Well, as of now the most likely theory of how we got here is the Weirdness Magnet spell," Prisha explained. Wasn't it obvious yet? "But if that is true, it means someone has been here recently before us and who knows how many more spells they could have learned. If this someone has antagonistic plans for us, we should be prepared for them. Learning what they may be capable of i-"
But now he noticed people around him acting weird for some reason. He looked around a little and saw the torches were still purple. "What red light can you see through all this purple?"
"Are you for real?" Ian said. And finally decided to stop being quiet about a certain issue. "First you talk about some door that doesn't exist and now you're ignoring the freaky red colors from the torches?"
Ian turned to both the armor and Ozzy to say, "You see? This kid really is a freak!"
Help?.. please...Passage (Sand Chamber)
"I'm fine. It's just that...." Rachel's voice trailed off. "Well....we don't know how exactly time flows here, do we? For all we know, every minute we spend in this place could equate to ten years back at our native realities. Now that I just thought of it, I'm afraid that we'll manage to get off successfully, only to find that the places that were once our homes are completely unrecognizable because so much time had passed there. Given that the place I came from was suffering from a zombie outbreak...."
She frowned. "...I think you can see where I'm going with this. Long story short, we should get moving before time does a number on the places we came from, should the flow here be slower than the places we came from."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian![Staircase]
"Selling our friend a little high." Linna said. It was bizarre to see herself outside a mirror. "I used to be an aerobics instructor. Still do it on weekends. Between that and the armored catsuit business where being out of shape might kill you..."
Talking was easy enough. Movement, though, was somewhat awkward. Muscle memory didn't match up, and color perception was...just a little different. That was far more disturbing than she'd have thought it would. "Oh, Sylia is going to hate this. And Micheal." She unsteadily got herself roughly vertical. "Not that I don't appreciate it." That was sarcastic.
[Chapel-Chamber]
The armor's head jerked up, suddenly, at the change in lighting color, hands snapping open. It had been reading, or skimming, a book. Not much of interest, looked like a member's hymns to crazy mainly, but occasionally spoke of connections and other members.
It stalked forward silently into the Chamber and looked around again, noticing the lights had changed here too; gotten brighter, enough to cause its inbuilt IR systems to flare. And suddenly the armor got it. No, there wasn't a second door; but the layout of the room and the architecture said that there should be, right about...
The armor raised an arm and hit one of the walls, and though it sounded like stone, the sensation was contact with metal. "Perception tricks only get you so far. As for the light, though, I have nothing."
edited 29th Aug '12 3:28:28 PM by Night
Nous restons ici.Chamber
"Well that is where the door is," Prisha finally agreed then went off looking. "Wait perception tricks, there might be a book that says something about it here."
"Wait, so now the both of you are bullshitting about some imaginary door," Ian said.
edited 29th Aug '12 7:08:27 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...

Passage (Gas Chamber -> Sand Chamber)
Rachel returned Adam's glance, and shrugged. "Personally, I think this place was something the authorities around here failed to notice," she responded, "but I wouldn't discount that as a possibility. I guess we'll find out soon enough." That raised another question - were there any authorities around here? For that matter, the people who must have taken over the university since the cult was last here had to have noticed this passage at some point, and yet the place was relatively pristine.
So many questions. Hopefully, we'll have time to answer them all, she thought as the group reached the sand chamber. She looked out over the quicksand, frowned, and sighed. "Too bad our mechanical friend back there didn't make getting across this easy for us," she muttered. "Well, we know what to do."
If she remembered correctly, the bridge was to the far left (well, right from this side) of the pit. Sure enough, when she walked over and gingerly tested the sands with her foot, the ground beneath it was solid. She stepped out onto it before giving Joseph a knowing glance.
edited 26th Aug '12 5:33:42 AM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!