Chapter 1 - Change

Magan scowls back at Kara. "We can try your way first if it makes you happy. I do not believe it will work though, and if she wants it open, I would not deny her that." He braces against the stone to push with the others.

Kara nods and helps out herself, helping push against the door. If she wanted it to be respectful, she needed to help out also

Guthric stares in patient indifference at the debate, "It's a door, yes? Why don't we push it open? Seems a strange thing to break it open if we can open it."

As the group push there's a little give, and then a clunk. The door slides back a few inches, before dropping down a little as it settles into some kind of hollow groove. Kara applies more pressure still, and it doesn't budge any further backwards, but it feels like it has some freedom left and right.

Muttering to herself, she tries to move the door to the right, trying to see if it may roll 

With a low groan and a muted rumble, the door slowly begins to slide sideways, until there is a gap big enough to slip through. Inside, a tunnel leads away into the pitch black beyond.

Ewen glances around and then at the small gap. “I can go first. I am the thinnest and can see easily in darkness a short distance.” With that, Ewen shimmies through the small gap, keeping his eyes ahead and not behind....

On the other side of the door is a rough hewn corridor that leads away deeper into the hills...

Ewen puts his head near the opening and whispers back to the others. “It is a tunnel. Goes further into the hill. Shall I continue onward?”

Magan looks down at Isolde. " I think we should all go, at least a short way. She wants something from down here."

“Then let us continue onward. Though perhaps we could have a brief respite? I have spent all of my powers. This would regain me much of my strength.”

Magan nods. "We could all use a rest after the battle. I am sorry little one, we will find what it is you want in a moment." He ruffles Isolde's hair affectionately. 

Kara puts herself next to the door with the comment "I can see well in darkness. Comes from night fighting. I shall guard this entrance. " 

The group rests for an hour or so, tending to their wounds and recovering their strength after the frenzied chase and fighting. Gawen, having been relatively undamaged during the fighting, spends the time mixing together a few herbs from his pouch with a little water. He grinds them into a paste and ingests it, swallowing despite the bitter flavour. He closes his eyes and concentrates, feeling his senses expand to the point where he feels he can almost - but not quite - pierce the veil to see Annwn. Standing up, he grabs a burning branch from the nearby campfire and walks over to the tunnel entrance, the makeshift torch only illumunating a short way inside. His newly awakened sixth sense twitches as he nears the door. Something about that gemstone? He inspects it more closely - careful not to touch it - but is unable to discern any more. Looking back at his now-rested companions, he gestures inside the tunnel. "Shall we? And stay clear of that stone in the door - there's something about it that smells of enchantment."

Magan looks around at his companions before answering Gawen. "Yes, we have reseted here long enough and I would be glad to be back on the road. Stopping has brought us nothing but ill fortune so far in our travels." He takes Isolde back to Branok, reassuring her that he will go to look down the cave. Drawing Thea and his shield he nods to his friends and steps into the cave. 

Kara was curious about the door, and once Gawen mentions the gem may be magical, she was thinking. If you poke magic with magic, surely it can't be that bad? She tries to puzzle out if this will end badly. After a few moments of thought, she whispers to bring Helgi from sleeping, and touches the sword tip to the gem. Not in an effort to pry it off, just like poking, similar to poking a fire.

As the tip of Helgi's radiant blade touches the golden gem, the little bead pulses brightly. A dull wumph echoes out across the cave, almost too low to hear, and the little stone emits a beam of light directly upwards. The light arcs up along the wall, before disappearing into the rock of the ceiling. When the beam fades away, the stone is translucent and empty.of light.

Seeing once the stone was empty, Kara approaches it and tries to see if she can get it. Nothing bad had happened when it as touched with the sword, so nothing bad would happen now. Or so she reasons.

Ewen was resting with his back against the wall, watching as Kara goes to inspect the gem. Before any can say anything, she activated her magical sword and touched it to them gem. Ewen’s eye widen and he starts scrambling to his feet in protest, but is too slow. He watches in awe, looking around for any other sign of the effects of the gem... “I wonder what that could have done.”

Kara reaches up and touches the gem. It's smooth and cool, but seems to be set solidly into the stone lintel.

Kara growls softly. No stone would defeat her! Also it was pretty before it did whatever it did. Surely it would still be magical, though she wasn't going to use Helgi to pry out the stone. Instead, she tries to move it with her fingers one good time. However, she seems unable to, and sighs. Whatever the gem did or was worth would have to sit until they returned, for something so solidly set may be for what could be honored dead behind the door. She then proceeds to get in front of the group saying to Ewen as she passes " Perhaps on our way back we will find out. But first, let us see what is down the pathway. I shall lead, but try to not blind me with torchlight please." Something in her voice said she was a bit upset that the gem was set so hard into the stone.

Guthric shakes his head at the harmless pulse. As the party continues forth, he glaces around and picks up the occasional stone, "Is this magic too? Should we poke it with your Helgi?"

Towards the rear of the passage, Kara and Ewen find an old and worn looking wooden spiral staircase, leading down beneath the caves.

Frowning at Guthric as he pokes fun of her poking things, she grumbles " It seemed safe at the time. I'm not into this magick stuff you all know so much about. I just swing a sword and pray."  This seems odd as she can heal others with a touch, but still. Once they had moved forward some and found the staircase, she would look down, trying to see the bottom. If it didn't look that bad, she would go down it first, being as she could see in the darkness.

The planks of the steps creak ominously under the weight of the armoured warrior as she descends into the dark. Halfway down one suddenly gives way beneath her! She falls ten feet, landing on her back with a clunk that knocks the wind from her. As Kara pushes herself upright and looks around, she sees she is in another passage. This time the walls are lined with wide rectangular alcoves.

Kara looks around, trying to make sure nothing else is going to fall or jump out at her. While she looks about, she for certain knows it is safe and wholesome, for nothing bad was within her sight, and so everything was right. She calls to the group " Watch the steps, they have fallen. But fear not, there is safety down here for us"  As she awaits for more to arrive into the place where the stairs just were

Guthric will climb down to meet Kara, "If it makes you feel better, I don't know magic either."

"Ewan, did I see you had some rope? It might be worth fastening one end up here so we can use it to take some of our weight as we descend and lessen the chances of the whole staircase collapsing and leaving us trapped down there," asks Gawen.

Ewen immediately peers down to check on Kara, but his concerns are unwarranted as she shouts up. As the others gather, Gawen spots Ewen’s rope and the strange warrior chuckles. “I do indeed, Gawen. You have keener eyes than lady Kara it would seem. Let us do just that. I prefer not to fall down as well.”

Gawen and Ewan fasten the rope at the top of the staircase. Eying the potentially perilous descent, Gawen whistles to Pen and tells him to stay, guarding the top of the stairs. Then, he grabs the rope and carefully makes the descent, trying not to break any more of the aged stairs.

Magan waits for Gawen to descend before following himself very carefully, not wanting to put more strain on the clearly fragile structure than necessary. 

Before long, everyone has clambered down the rope into the passage below. It's pitch black, and Gawen's makeshift torch sheds the only light, casting the stacks of low alcoves along each wall into shadows. Ahead, the passage recedes into darkness, with a door at the far end.

Guthric's eyes glimmer in the dark tunnel, "I guess a way out would've been smart..."

Unfettered by the darkness as her companions were Kara boldly strolled forward, checking out the door the best she could, taking her time to understand and see if it was trapped. After taking long enough to be sure of her idea, she would then open the door carefully, making sure nothing was going to jump out at them.

Gawen follows behind Kara, staying alert for the tingle of anything otherworldly in the vicinity. 

The door opens onto a round chamber with a pyramidal plinth on a raised platform in the centre of the room. Three other doors leave the chamber at right angles to each other, and between them four embalmed warriors of times gone by stand in sarcophagi against the walls. As Kara steps through the door, there's a soft click, and a slim axe swings across the entrance from between a gap in the edges of the doorway. It collides hard with her armoured flank, sending her careening off to the side.

Kara cries out in pain as the axe  slams into her side, the unexpected action causing her to briefly forget what area she was presently in. However, upon regaining some of her senses, she calls out to the group " It seems to be some warriors resting place. Magan, is Isolde sure this is where we need to go? Unknowingly disturbing  the dead is one thing, but to purposely  is quite  another. We need to know quickly."  Whatever this place was, it was certainly not well kept, but still didn't deserve any disrespect.

"Clearly." Magan's voice is barely above a whisper. "Did you not see her?" He stands close behind. "We do not need to disturb anything. I do not suggest needless looting. But we should see what is here."

Shaking her head, she answers" I understand that, it is just... Well... WHAT are we looking for? I am unsure how your people do things with the dead, but generally you should leave them alone. I do not wish to cause my ancestors and disgrace here."  She gently continues forward, checking the ground and area around it for any sort of traps, or other devices, but unsure what she is looking for. She was hoping something would make sense or stick out, but it might take one of the more magically inclined people to figure it out.

The air is still in the chamber, but for the slight draft coming from above. The Gods only know how long it has been since that entrance has been opened. The three closed doors in the central chamber stand tall, dark and foreboding.

Ewen had been quietly following behind the group as Kara led them into the tunnel network. He moves up to examine the doorways, looking for any sign or marking which may give an indication as to their purpose or design. “Let me see what I can discover.”

Ewen reaches out with his fingertips to touch a door, it's cool and metallic to the touch, and at the contact from his fingers immediately swings inwards on its hinges with a loud creak . In the darkness beyond he sees a raised podium, with a sarcophagus atop it. The walls are lined with alcoves like those in the first chamber. At the front of the podium is a short pedestal with a dark object atop it.

Ewen pauses and turns back to look at the others with a shrug, describing everything he sees within. He looks at Magan expectantly. “Is this what we seek? Or shall we continue onward?” He then examines the object from a distance to get an idea of what it may be.

Magan shrugs. "She did not say. Gawen, perhaps you are best placed to recognise anything of significance." Magan carefully inspects the doorway, looking for any similar traps to the axe that hit Kara in particular. 

Guthric peaks around the corner, but his hounds are much less curious and more apprehensive. Were it not for the Pict, they could've very easily have run already. "Is this the thing you've come so far for? I thought it would be further. Seems like an odd place; why give the dead beds and a home when they don't live and their soul goes elsewhere?"

After checking that Kara is not too badly hurt, Gawen peers through the door, holding his flaming branch aloft. His eyes are immediately drawn to the object atop the pedestal. To his magically-attuned senses, the object glows with the shifting golden glow of sunlight filtered through trees, the glow of the otherworld. "There's something of power atop that pedestal..." , he says quietly. He carefully approaches the pedestal, acutely aware that he is not as protected as Kara should he inadvertantly spring any more traps.

Half-way to the podium, Gawen hesitates. There's a conspicuous square flagstone just in front of him, and the walls to the left and right are adorned with dragons, their mouths wide and facing the middle of the room.

"Careful," he says to the others, gesturing to the stone and cautiously walking around it. Like Kara, he was feeling very uncomfortable with the idea of grave-robbing. But these were strange times, and strange times called for strange measures...

Kara frowns as the light is brought forth, as to her it gave away their position. However, once the magical item was pointed out, she really wanted to touch it like the previous one. She points to it and says "I would not mind touching it again, but what are we careful for? Surely nothing bad will happen anymore. Come, what is Isolde looking for here Magan? We can not move on until we have it."

Gawen chuckles, despite his unease. "The first hidden axe might have dented your armour, but it doesn't seem to have dented your optimism Kara - for my part, I'd rather avoid triggering any more surprises though. See how that flagstone is offset from the rest of the floor? And those dragons are set into the walls? Perhaps it's just decoration, but try not to step on it anyway." Gawen continues his cautious advance until he is close enough to the pedestal to examine the magic object in detail.