[Ptolus/AD&D] IC Thread #2b - Limbus Sanguineum

[Drohem]

Once Smeads has joined them, Rissthil turns his gaze back to the creature on the dais as he answers Smead's questions, "no, and when I called out to it, it didn't respond.  Let's see what it has to say for itself, shall we?"

With that, Rissthil steels himself and walks forward to within a few feet of the creature, and says, "why are we here?  What is this place?"

[Benoist]

The monk suddenly turns to face Rissthil as he takes his hood off his head. "Were you talking to me?"

This is a small, very small fellow with a plump baby face, reddish hair and sideburns, plain lips and bright, blue eyes. After he's asked his first question, he seems to realize something is off, as if he'd forgotten where he was. He then corrects himself: "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

Gareth and Smeads recognize the hobbit that served as the model of the statue they found by the iron door earlier.

[Imperator]

The monk suddenly turns to face Rissthil as he takes his hood off his head. "Were you talking to me?"

This is a small, very small fellow with a plump baby face, reddish hair and sideburns, plain lips and bright, blue eyes. After he's asked his first question, he seems to realize something is off, as if he'd forgotten where he was. He then corrects himself: "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

Gareth and Smeads recognize the hobbit that served as the model of the statue they found by the iron door earlier.

Gareth tries to appear as non-threatening as possible, as he approaches slowly the hobbit.

"I think we've never met. We're not sure how we arrived here? Care to enlighten us about this place?"

[Drohem]

Rissthil adds, "we are here to find you.  We are friends of Angharad, Bertold's niece.  Where are the others?  Where is Bertold?"

[Benoist]

Gareth tries to appear as non-threatening as possible, as he approaches slowly the hobbit.

"I think we've never met. We're not sure how we arrived here? Care to enlighten us about this place?"

"I'm..." The hobbit seems to hesitate, as if searching through his memories to find the relevant thing to say. "I'm not really sure."

"Last thing I remember is being in front of that door... and then, I found my way here somehow. It's like. I like this painting. What do you think?"

He points towards the fresco on the north-eastern wall. It depicts a surrealist scene, mixing different creatures, each more grotesque than the next, torturing human beings, flogging them, pulling their limbs apart, boiling them in large pots, and worse. There is a blank spot in the fresco, as if a character on the scene had been erased, the paint carefully chipped away, so that only its tentacled outline would remain...

Rissthil adds, "we are here to find you.  We are friends of Angharad, Bertold's niece.  Where are the others?  Where is Bertold?"

"Bertold?"

The name seems to ring a bell. "That's right... we were here, Bertold was by the large crystal. I was studying the paintings. Then the door opened, and the demons poured in. Everything was aflame. I had to run, see? Find shelter. Everything was unstable. I found the secret passage. I ducked. I ... that's where I must have lost conscience."

He pauses. "I couldn't help them. I was too far away..."

[Imperator]

"Bertold?"

The name seems to ring a bell. "That's right... we were here, Bertold was by the large crystal. I was studying the paintings. Then the door opened, and the demons poured in. Everything was aflame. I had to run, see? Find shelter. Everything was unstable. I found the secret passage. I ducked. I ... that's where I must have lost conscience."

He pauses. "I couldn't help them. I was too far away..."

"Can you tell us a bit more about your story? Do you know a way out?"

[Lilaxe]

"Are we in some demons dream? The last I remember was being dragged upwards by that creatures tentacles...then I wake up here...

If you were there, halfling, and now here. And we saw you as a stone statue..

I shiver to think what has become of us..."


Smeads will look at the painting...does the missing creature look like it could have been the thing in the room with the tentacles?

[Benoist]

"Can you tell us a bit more about your story? Do you know a way out?"

The hobbit turns towards the center of the dais. "The plat... where is the platform? Ahh. This feels like a bad dream. Some things I remember, other I do not, or not clearly."

He sighs, trying to remember. "I am Brother Maulbert."

"I hail from the province of Poy, where unrest was stirred by the forces of Eberhart the Bald. Uprisings, chaos, I did not want to have anything to do with these fights. I was forced to flee the region. I joined the Fharlangian brothers a little while later, and learned a great deal with them."

"My Order ran into some trouble with the Church. We are a simple order, you see. We care about the protection of Lothian's word, the promises of charity and knowledge for all, not so much about the politics of the Empire. Our little group was tending to the population outside the city walls. We received word that the masters of the Black Abbey would question us regarding our associations with the Rattle and Spear, another group that rubbed the leadership of the Church the wrong way."

"In any case." Maulbert takes a deep breath before going on. "We needed to disappear for a time. That's when Bertold let us know he was searching for capable hands and knowledgeable minds to investigate what was going on under his establishment. A few days or weeks away from the city, and yet, right in the middle of it, would be the last thing the scions of the Black Canon would expect."

"That's how I ended up here, with the other Brothers. Then we started to search. We decided to proceed carefully, as one of us was victim of a pulsing trap within the first few minutes of our investigation." Maulbert shows the pressure plate trap between the two huge violet and orange crystals. "Here, as a matter of fact."

"Are we in some demons dream? The last I remember was being dragged upwards by that creatures tentacles...then I wake up here...

If you were there, halfling, and now here. And we saw you as a stone statue..

I shiver to think what has become of us..."

"A stone statue? What is it that you mean?"

The hobbit frowns. "What is your own story, fellows? You say you are here to save us, sent by Angharad, but how do I know any of this is true?"

Smeads will look at the painting...does the missing creature look like it could have been the thing in the room with the tentacles?

It definitely looks like it.

The picture is getting more vibrant and vivid as you look at it. It is using some sort of trick based on perspective to provide an illusion of depth to it. It is very subtle, and yet, very effective. The faces seem to move and take different positions as you look at them from different angles. It is vaguely unsettling.

[Drohem]

The hobbit frowns. "What is your own story, fellows? You say you are here to save us, sent by Angharad, but how to I know any of this is true?"

Rissthil says in a gentle tone and demeanor, "Delbaeth was the only survivor to make it back up the shaft.  He was badly burned and in excruciating pain.  He is currently be cared for by Cadfan and Angharad up in The Gold Ladder.  I was badly injured by the candles' trap, as you can plainly see.  Yet, I feel no pain, and I do not belief that I am yet dead.  It doesn't feel right, like how being dead should be."

The elven sailor sighs wearily, and says softly, "if that makes any sense at all either."

[Benoist]

Maulbert listens, and nods, as Rissthil explains how he feels. "Yes... yes. I feel the same way. This doesn't feel right. Like we're stuck in some sort of Limbo, or something."

"But... you mentioned a statue? Am I..." He swallows. "... Dead? Where you come from, I mean?"

[Drohem]

Rissthil starts cautiously as he answers the halfling, "we discovered a statue that had a striking resemblance to you standing in the candles' trap room.  I am Rissthil Tanlithrin, a sailor by trade, and I am originally from The Sea Kingdoms."

[Benoist]

"A statue..."

The hobbit ponders the implications of this revelation for a moment.

And ponders...

And ponders.

[Lilaxe]

"Do you remember anything attacking you?"

[Benoist]

The hobbit jumps, startled by Smeads' question. "Oh. No. No. I remember crawling in the corridor, getting away from all the commotion... and getting up by a door. Then... everything went dark. This is it, yes."

[Imperator]

"What do you think of this, my friends? I admit it, I am completely lost here. This makes no sense to me."