OOC: bout time i posted >.< but my brains still whack, darn fridays


IC: As the others wandered around the room discussing, panicking, shouting, casting spells and the like, Korro was quitley pawing out a set of stairs. He avoided making much noise as he cared little about progressing, he was in it for fun and profit and pure curiousity. As he reached the top of the steps he walked over to the skeleton that lay dead in the sarcophugus, and peered inside. Surrounding the dead kind lay yet more treasure as did in the 1st room, yet most seemed symbolic and useless, made of metal's rich in worth but poor in phyisical usage. As he looked within he was valuing in his head what he might be able to sell each item at and began to frown as he realised he would only be able to pawn it to rich nobles with more money than sense, but that type of person would never deal with a person like Korro.

He turned to face the crowd downstairs as he shouted "Hell, all this stuff up here ain't worth nothing unless you have a stupid rich uncle in the Talos district." he shouted as he grabbed the gem encrusted sword out of the skeletons hands and lifted it to show the group.

A moment after korro did this there was a distinct grinding noise, as if something withing one of the walls was shifting or sliding, yet when it had stopped nothing happened for a while, and when it did it was not what Korro had predicted. A bright yellow glow emanated from a stone embedded in the ceiling above where Korro took the blade, it was small and surrounded by exact same stones. Upon furth inspection it appeared there were similar stones in the ceiling above the door, the other sarcophugus and the corpse.


"Interesting..... now what the [censored] just happened...." he asked, mouth agape.

As he entered the room, Alkhil was not disturbed in the slightest, as death was his profession. While the rotted and still decomposing body was chained right in front of them and been re-animated and put back to death, was slightly disturbing, it did not phase the assassin as it would most people. Examining the room closer, an idea formed in his head. To learn, they should probably have to disect the chained corpse, and to accomplish the other two, they should search the skeleton's as well. And the final path, retreat, could probably only be done after the other three. As Aryon provided his advice, Alkhil liked it and put forth his two scents. "I concur with Aryon."

Acerbus gazed at the yellow glowing stone for a period of time. Take, Learn, Sacrifice An idea hit Acerbus. "It appears that we must cut open the stomach of the corpse to learn about it, take something from the noble's body and someone must... sacrifice something at the other sarcophagus. I may be wrong. What do you all think?" He asked the group loudly.

He then moved to the rotting corpse in the center of the room, pulled his shortsword from its sheath, and sliced open the front of the body.

OOC: What do I find, Korpse? Nothing?

Dandel listened in on the intelligent mages talking about what was going on and if there were any possible ways to solve the puzzle. He just stood by them nodding at what they said, even if he truthfully had no idea. When Arnard made it clear that he wasn't actually part of the Necromancer cult, the Dunmer felt relieved, even if the Breton still did practice it at times. By now Dandel had lost a lot of happiness and confidence. An hour or so ago he was on top of the world, he had great booze and treasures. Now he was in a slowly closing room fulled with corpses and skeletons, he was also doubting if this Khajit really exsisted. Dandel could understand traps but a room full of treasure and another with dead bodies and riddles? Not really the kind of place people live in to be honest. But still there was no point in going back, sure he had money now but it wouldn't last forever. Suddenly, the sound of Aryon's voice was heard. Oh great, him again, Dandel thought, rolling his eyes.

"This room is much more interesting than the last and it would be best if we work together to solve it. That means discussing what it is we need to do before taking any action. If we are to work together then we all need to do things together. That doesn't mean going against what everyone else says, even if it is to your dislike. And before you start Darnel, I'm not bossing you all around, I'm giving advice and I'm sure the others would agree with me." Aryon spoke to the group.

''Yeah yeah okay,'' Dandel was tempted to make some kind of remark, but couldn't find the energy. Instead he just tried to agree with Aryon for a change. ''So we don't touch anything? Okay whatever. But whats your plan? I ain't got no ideas, thats from damn sure.'' The Dunmer spoke to Aryon, trying his very best to sound more friendly to him, but it was difficult to mentally do without sounding utterly sarcastic.

He waited for a reply, not just from Aryon but from anyone, as he rested on Heinrich's cane. Which as a matter of fact needed to be returned.

All of a sudden, an amazing bright yellow light came forth from the stone in the ceiling. Dandel shielded his eyes and hid behind a pillar to protect them. The Imperial seemed to have an idea as to how to solve the puzzle.

"It appears that we must cut open the stomach of the corpse to learn about it, take something from the noble's body and someone must... sacrifice something at the other sarcophagus. I may be wrong. What do you all think?"

''Hey I'm all for the idea. But you're gonna be the one cutting up that thing y'know. Theres no f***ing way I'm touching it. Prolly' come alive and try to rip me head off or something.'' Dandel didn't want to bluntly admit he was frightened of touching a skeleton, but made it fairly obvious. He awaited from someone to make an action.

OOC: Hey Chriso. Do you think you might be able to slow down on your posts a bit?

BY THE WAY PEOPLE


it would be cool if we could all talk on MSN or similar device to save hassle to and fro'ing PMs or cluttering with OOCs... if you think its a good idea send me a PM

Given the slow speed in the door closing, and the glowing stones that now caught his attention Tucharon decided that he may have time to examine the room like his companions were doing. He walked up the steps to the "sacrifice" corpse to examine it further. It didn't look like anything special, just a bare skeleton. The Altmer thought about what Acerbus said about sacrificing something to the skeleton. But was it that he was to sacrifice to it? He had splendid armor, a fine sword, and a pile of priceless (yet worthless to most) artifacts, but he didn't think that it was the point. Suddenly he had an idea.

"Korro, give the golden sword to this corpse." He figured that this might be the answer, but he was still worried; even if that khajiit did listen and sacrifice the sword, assuming Acerbus was on to something they still had to learn from the corpse and still have time to get out of there.

A cascade of rotten intestines and organs spilled from the corpse. The smell was beyond compare, nearly making him gag. He began to sift through the organs, feeling for the shape of a key or for a solid object. Acerbus became highly dedicated to finding something within the body. The door is closing and we are running out of time.

After minutes of searching, Acerbus felt something as he ran his hand along the lower intestine of the corpse. It was a long, cylindrical object, obviously a tube. He grabbed for his shortsword with bloody hands and cut open the intestine. He slipped the tube out and studied it for a moment. Acerbus shook it, hearing the soft sound of a piece of parchment within. Ah, here's the top. He thought, unscrewing it and sliding the brittle piece of paper from its container. And at that moment, the stone above the corpse began to shine a bright green.

Acerbus unrolled the parchment but nothing was written on it. He flipped it to the other side; nothing. "It seems this test was one for dedication and willingness to find a solution or do anything," He said to the group. "Now for the final sarcophagus, I would imagine that one would have to sacrifice one of their 'newly acquired' items by placing it inside the sarcophagus itself." He glanced at the plain skeleton inside the coffin.

Korro watched in amazement as Acerbus spliced open the corpse and rifled through its insides as though it were a book. The thought of doing such a thing would most likely sicken most men and women, and even more would be too stuck up themselves to dirty thier hands. Just then Tucharon shouted his name, and to put the sabre he had just taken into the other skeletons hand. It was an odd concept to Korro but to be honest he hadnt understood anything so far other than it was fun and full of suprises. He swiftly ran and leapt across the gap between the platforms with such ease that it was almost showing off.

As he neared Tucharon and the other skeleton he looked in and saw that it was indeed just that, a skeleton. No clothes, armour or weapon, no jewellery nor riches, nothing but bones. He paused a moment as he looked down at the sabre he held in his hand. He looked at Tucharon and said "If your sure..." before leaning in and placing the sword in the dead mans grip.


A moment passed and it seemed most were silent awaiting a 3rd light and the wall grinding again........ nothing.

"Argh screw that guy, what else can we do?" Korro puzzled as he scratched his head, other hand resting on his rather large rucksack of goodies.

EDIT: Peering at the door he noticed it getting ever closer to being shut, 5 more minutes and it would be impassable unless you were willing to get crushed between 2 heavy stone doors.

"So, who's gonna give something to the lonely skeleton?" said Varar. So far, things had been happening very strangely. One of them revealed themselves as an unofficial necromancer, a brightly lit series of stones appeared on the ceiling, and Acerbus just cut through a corpse. Varar watched as Korro leaped the gap and placed the kingly skeleton's sword in the sarcophagus of the lonely skeleton.

Nothing happened, "Alright, I'll try... I'm gonna hate myself for this." and Varar walked up the stairs to where Korro was. Varar took off the beautiful Moon and Star amulet, holding the jeweled beauty in his hands. Slowly he bent over and put the amulet in the open hand of the skeleton. Waiting for something to happen.

Just as Verar released ownership of his precious moon and star amulet there was a very faint silver glow that flickered slowly, unlike the other stones that light up and stayed aglow, this one seemed only partly active, as if its task had only partly completed.

Dandel watched on as the old Imperial cut into the flesh of the corpse, it really was a vile sight to be seen. A pure eye sore to say the least. All the guts, organs and intestines were rotten and smelt even worse then Dandel expected, he needed to cover his nose and mouth, hoping that he wouldn't need to be sick again. Arcebus seemed to be doing a very fine job of looking through the corpse, rather odd really. He didn't seem to bothered about it at all. I wonder if hes been around bodies before? The Dunmer thought, but it slipped from his mind almost instantly.

Eventually, the Imperial found something deep into the flesh, he pulled it out making a disgusting sound. The item appeared to be just an ordinary piece of plain paper. However a green light shined above the corpse, suggesting that the group had solved the second part of the riddle. For the next riddle Arcebus said they would have to sacrafice something. Preferably an item of much value. They ain't taking my stuff, Dandel insisted to himself, although luckily nobody suggested he sacrifice anything. Instead Tucharon told Korro to give the golden sword to the plain skeleton. He complied but unfortunatly it did absoloutly nothing, didn't even give off a sign off success. ''F*** sake.'' Dandel muttered to himself, feeling a little frustrated. He walked over to his Khajit friend.

''Well now what do we do? I ain't got any ideas, and unless one of us thinks of something we gonna be trapped in 'ere. So whatta' we do? Stay or leave?'' Dandel questioned Korro, but it was completely directed at him, anyone with an idea should speak up. He started to think that he may as well just get up and leave now. However Vavar decided to give up his beautiful amulet, which produced a small amount of light, this raised Dandel's spirits up again slightly. Suddenly, an idea occured to him.

''Hey I ain't no genius, but maybe we need to give up a variety of things, like a weapon, armour, clothing and food and all that. Maybe if I sacrafice a bottle of me drink it may do somthin'.'' Dandel relunctantly gave up his fine wine and awaited any kind of reaction.

Ignore this post.

Heinrich

When Acerbus cut the corpse open, Heinrich shuddered slightly. Not from the smell - he was used to things smelling bad, even though nothing he smelled before was quite as bad - but from the thought of cutting someone open. He hadn't killed anyone in his life, unlike probably the majority of people here, and the thought of doing that sickened him. Cutting a dead body open, however, sickened him far more. How can he just do stuff like 't..? Don't it feel... wrong? He's cuttin' a man open, by th' Nine! Even if it was to get them closer to the mysterious Khajiit, the yeoman wasn't so sure he wanted it done. He wasn't so sure he wanted to see this Khajiit anymore, actually, if there were more tests like this.

He tried to force himself to forget the corpse, whose insides were now spread all over the floor. Instead, Heinrich tried to concentrate on the glow. Does 't want us to sacrifice some more stuff? I dunno if I want ta give up my arrows, but anythin' that'd get us away from th' corpse works. Shuddering slightly again, the yeoman walked up the stairs to the sarcophagus where the skeleton with nothing but the items that were given to him. Shrugging to himself, he took his new quiver off his back and laid it down next to the skeleton, waiting for something to happen. Dandel's booze was yet to gain any manner of response from the glow, but the Breton hoped two items would do it.

Apparently Tucharon's idea didn't work. It looked like he would have to give something up. He didn't think it would take the dusty artifacts in his satchel, and he didn't want to give up his armor. Still, I am going have to give something up. He looked at his sword, his shield, and the ornate armor on him. After some thinking, he slowly removed his ebony shield and placed it on top of the corpse. I hope that this will suffice.

"Wait a moment. This must mean we must sacrifice at least one thing that we all hold near and dear to our hearts. Tucharon, you must give away your armor. Dandel, give your alcohol. I will give my cape. Jack, you will need to give your shovel. If everyone does so, we may be able to move on," Acerbus said, removing his sapphire blue cape and hood and his shortsword, folding the cape neatly and placing the items near the skeleton.

This Khajiit wants us to be very dedicated to his cause, as most of us are. I have no problem following him if his intentions are pure, even if the methods are not. But I will not, however, partake in the slaughter of innocents. He immediately thought of his childhood. His father was a sadistic bastard, seeing as he mercilessly slaughtered his village over a simple altercation between friends. Acerbus shuddered at the thought of children being murdered in cold blood. Sick bastard. May he be damned in Oblivion.

'The amulet which caused the change came from the first room. Maybe it reacts only with some of them - though I haven't a clue about what the selection could be based. If the first skeleton is any kind of example, that means at least a weapon and jewelry. We shall try with that sort of items amongst what we picked in the first room. If that don't seems to have any effect we can try to experiment with personnal items.". Not that I'm eager to part with either my ring or sword. They might have more than a fair share of bad memories attached to them, but there's all I have left from my family..

Chasing thses thoughts away, her mind came back to the piece of paper tucked into the corpse. "It seems odd to go to such lengths to hide a blank piece of paper. Maybe we should check it for traces of magic. Like an illusion that could be dispelled or the like. Or more mundanely some kind of invisible ink. I'm not expert on the topic, but as far as I know most of them appears when the paper is heated."

As the booze, cloak and sword were added to the sarcophugus, the pale silver light gently grew brighter yet still faint in comparison to the others.

OOC: reaal short post... i gotta sleep now, and i might be disposed for part/most of tomorrow, gotta fix the car and its a long labourious task... damn tortion springs...

"So," Larth offered, "you want me to put my mead in a desecrated body?" His tone of voice raised slightly for the question, but his face turned into a smile of amusemant. Only for an instant. It was gone, and he looked at them stone faced. "You'll only be getting it off my dead body. Besides, it's not like anything we've done so far has had any visible effect. Wouldn't it be a classic example of Khajit humor for us to get to the end of this and be told nothing we did mattered?" He looked atKorro with one eyebrow raised.

As the big Nord stated that they would only get his mead off of him over his dead body, the assassin came close to chuckling. "That can be arranged, Nord..." he let the ending of the sentence seem to float, suggesting that he truly could pull it off and had done it before on more than one occasion. After viewing what the rest had done, he came under the impression that he needed to 'sacrifice' what he had taken earlier, from the other room. Carefully retrieving the enchanted Daedric dagger and the enchanted arm torque, Alkhil delivered both to the skeleton and sarcophagus labelled 'Sacrifice'. Deciding he should investigate the other sarcophagus, he stepped clear of the current one, took a few steps and leaped across the chasm that separated the two sarcophagi, landing with plenty of room. Looking into the other sarcophagus, he found a skeleton bedecked in the finery of a king, and granted only the best for his grave goods. This made him wonder, as he knew that there were quite a few adventurers and tomb raiders who had visited this site on more than one occasion, and he had no doubt that they would have looted all of this had it been here. These doors and artifacts must have been specially imported for their tests by the Khajit, and he must have sealed the entrance, somehow. This Khajit had gone to much effort to place these tests here and test the group.

Larth simply looked at the assassin. His thread didn't warrant a response. He'd simply maul him if he tried to pull a knife. Better yet, he'd draw his axe and turn him into Khajit nibble if he came within five feet of him. He had no intent of sharing this information, however. The assassin seemed quite intent to oogle over the dead at the moment. Damndable Cat was probably a necromancer, with all the skeletons he had laying about. Damn cat's and their damn humor, not to mention their damn tendency to Necromancy.

Tucharon spoke, "While you argue, I am going to try and buy us some time." He walked down to the slowly closing door and pulled a dwemer cog out of his satchel, propping it in the remaining door space. These cogs are able to run for millennia, I only hope this will work. Tucharon had gotten the idea from a book he once read in Morrowind, and it looked like the group needed any extra time that they could get.

Now let us see how much we must give before we pass the test.

Seeing the varriation in light, it seemed the objects from th first room were the key. Damn, that surgeon's kit could make my work much easier. But I know more than enough magic to make do without. With a sigh she moved to filling sarcophagus and placed the leather case into it, at the skeleton's feets to prevent disturbing the bones more than she had to, then stepped back to observe the results.

"My impression is that all os us must part with at least some of what we have taken in the first room. Sure it sounds frustrating, but think a bit about it. You were able do do without these objects when you came in, they didn't cost you more than the 'pain' to pick them up. And won't be of much use if you're trapped behind feet-thick stone slabs."

Varar looked in his pack, at the Dwemer Schematic Book he had picked up and planned giving to Tucharon. "I have another thing I could put in, but I'm going to leave it to Tucharon. Its some sort of Dwemer manual, I thought you may have wanted it?" Varar handed the book to Tucharon, and waited for him to make the decision.

The light was brighter, but what on earth was it for?

"What about me, Acerbus and Aryon?" Korro wailed, "We didn't take anything...." with his hand firmly gripping his satchel closed as he said so, slowly turning it round his body so it hung behind him. He didn't really want to part with anything, he had so painstakingly chosen everything that went into his bag that to him it was as though he had worked from every item. Although being too stubborn to get rid of anything Korro did have a point, what if we had all passed the first room without picking anything at all, we would have no choice but to sacrifice our own belongings. Although the items from the previous room had worked, they were all items that the bearer had valued highly, even Dandel's booze was possibly his most treasured item he had at the time.

Korro backed off slightly and hopped down between the platforms, he stood next to the door whose closing mechanism was being halted by a Dwemer cog, it appeared to be working for now, but it appeared to have an odd orange tinge to it that almost flickered and flaked as it sat between the two doors.