The rapier slide into the creature like a knife slicing through gossamer. A piercing shriek of pain blasted through the sky, and then all went quiet. The wyvern stopped struggling. For a heart stopping moment, Raina hung in the air with the dead beast. She blinked, and gravity started to catch up.

Time began flowing like a perfect duel, where each opponent saw every move clearly. Each motion was done like it had been performed through water. The wyvern began to rotate onto its back. Her blade slide effortlessly out of its chest. The burglar’s feet moved to rest onto of the creature. Her mind was a calm sea against the wind around her. She looked up for one last look at her companions, and her eyes locked with Heironymous. As if in response, he flung a length of rope towards her. Raina’s left hand shot out with reflex, and time seemed to speed up.

The rope and the cleric held her weight, and she seemed to rocket towards the cliff face. Her body slammed into the side, and she managed to get her feet on its slippery surface. The process was awkward since she had no way of securing her rapier, and once the cleric pulled her to the ledge, she collapsed onto the side of it. Poison was coursing through her veins, and she winced at the sudden return to reality feeling she was getting.

“Praise be to Elarii,” she coughed.

She moved a little bit further into the ledge and rolled on her back, puffing out breath.

"Wow. Nice jump"

She raised her head to look at the cleric. “Nice throw,” she managed before letting her head fall back to the ground. The mage thanked the half orc, and appeared in her line of vision. She stared up at his dark face as he asked if she was alright.

“Yeah, I suppose,” she panted, her words coming out in short spurts, “I’m no longer careening through the air, and not a pile of bones and goo at the bottom of this. So yeah, I’m good.” Her dark blue eyes closed as she tried to master her fatigue.

Heironymous seemed anxious to keep moving, "Hmmm . . . no healing spells. Before we do much else, I'd suggest we start by looking around this shelf and the extra edges."

"Don't you think we should rest first?” said Quarlin, “Then....we can scout out the nearest cave for shelter and to determine if the caves are connected by a tunnel network. That would circumvent some of the climbing that apparently needs to be done. Besides we don't need any of our heaviest team members precariously hugging the side of a mountain. Someone light and fleet of foot to do the scouting."

The cleric responded somewhere to her left, "I'm not comfortable resting until we know the ledge is safe. It doesn't look like a big search. As for who goes out on the ledges, I'd love to leave that for those less encumbered, but after what we just went through I'm not real comfortable volunteering someone else. I'll look at the big ledge were on now first. Then help with the side shelves if needed."

“I’m light,” Raina said, still not opening her eyes, “Creeping along ledges is what I do. Just… give me a minute or two to catch my breath. Maybe one of you guys could look at my back. I got hit a couple of times by my pilot, and that’s a really hard place for me to try and clean up on my own.” She sat up and began unbuckling the pack on her back, “There should be some water in there to at least clean some wounds.” Her fingers moved to undoing her leather armor, and she muttered, “What I wouldn’t give for a bottle of liquor right about now.”

"Well its the least I can do. You being a light of foot climber and me well....I can't climb for mess to be truthful"

All the while he was talking, he cut away from the blanket in his bed roll a one foot by four feet strip of cloth. From that strip he cut a near perfect one foot square. Accepting the water from her, Quarilin wet the cloth, but said before pouring the water over the sting wound,"this may sting a bit."

He kind of rolled his eyes at his own statement because, hell, it couldn't sting any more than the actual wyvern's attack. So, he began to clean out the wound and any other wounds she pointed out that needed tending. Once he was done he wrapped the extra cloth around her, covering her healing wounds as best as he could.

"There that should hold you for a while and keep contaminants out of the wound as it heals. And don't worry any about the blanket. I can magically "mend" it when you are done with the "bandage".

And to show what he meant he cast Mend on the square of cloth and his blanket and the square dried, and cleaned itself as it seemed to re-weave itself seamlessly back into the blanket's make up.

As the wizard binds the wounds of his new comrade, Hieronymus takes to the cliff face in search of a path forward.

He studies the walls of stone before him as the clouds begin to roll in, darkening the skies and blocking the soft light of the moons. By the time the first stroke of lightning flashes across the sky he is beginning to give up hope. It is at that moment that he spots something... all the way at the end of one of the ledges is something that looks out of place. A hole in the side of the cliff that looks a bit too well formed to be natural.

Clinging tightly to the cliff face, and balancing on the ever narrowing ledge he approaches the end. Sure enough, the hole seems to have been carved into the rock. As the frequent flashes of lightning testify to the ever growing intensity of the coming storm he notices a catch.

Strangely, as he studies it the scraping of stone can be heard on the cliff. Small pebbles tumble hundreds of feet to the ground below and the ledge itself shakes, threatening to cast the cleric back down from whence he came.... but his grip hold.

A minute later as the rain quickly mounts into a torrential downpour the flashes of lightning reveal a doorway into the mountain, and into the darkness below.

As the door opened Heironymus prepared for whatever might come out of the darkness. When nothing did he backed away from the opening.

"Ok folks, considering the weather, I suggest we take the path available to us. Anyone got a light?"

"Well as far as light sources are concerned, I can think of two, if you know the light spell use it, I for one can see in the dark."

Pulling out one of his sunrods, Quarilin says,"Here's the other option. Now who wants it?"

"Well, I'd usually prefer to use a torch instead of burning a spell or sunrod we might need. Anybody have one?"

If nobody offers a good piece of wood to burn, Heironymus will use his light spell, which he can get back more easily than a sunrod can be replaced.

Once light is acquired the march is on. "Anyone offering to go first? I might suggest someone who wants to be in front of the light spell and has better night vision than mine. Otherwise, my armor can lead the way. Hopefully we can find a resting spot inside."

"This may sting a bit."

Raina, who thought it was impossible after this point, started to laugh shakily.
“This may ….sting….” she choked out in between giggles. She stood after he was done, and examined the bandages. Light still shone in her eyes.

“Thanks, Quarlin,” she grinned at him. Patting at the cloth, the burglar started moving her joints to see what was working and what wasn’t. Needless to say, it was all stiff.

"There that should hold you for a while and keep contaminants out of the wound as it heals. And don't worry any about the blanket. I can magically "mend" it when you are done with the "bandage".


He held up the blanket, waved his hands, and it seemed to start weaving itself back together on its own. Upon further examination, the previously filthy thing looked like it had just come fresh from the washer.

“Fancy,” Raina commented, the glint of amusement still not quite gone, “too bad it doesn’t work on skin.”

Clouds boiled in from the horizon, and thunder cracked overhead. Raina looked up and frowned at the sky. The rain came twice as fast, and started drenching them. Heironymous was carefully making his way back to where she , Quarlin, and Gronz were getting soaked.

"Ok folks,” he was saying, though she could barely hear him with the storm around the cliff, “considering the weather, I suggest we take the path available to us. Anyone got a light?"

“Something evil drives this storm,” Raina shouted, more to the sky then anything, “I don’t like what it implies, but I don’t see any other option. Getting thrown off the cliff again is not on the top of my list of things to do.”

"Well as far as light sources are concerned,” Quarlin said, “I can think of two, if you know the light spell use it, I for one can see in the dark."He rummaged in his bag for a moment, and produced a sunrod, "Here's the other option. Now who wants it?"

"Well, I'd usually prefer to use a torch instead of burning a spell or sunrod we might need. Anybody have one?" the cleric asked.

Raina shrugged her bag, which was still miraculously in one piece, “I’ve got a lantern in here with a little bit of oil. I’d prefer to light it just inside the mouth of the cave so as to not drench the wick.”

"Anyone offering to go first?” Heironymous asked, “I might suggest someone who wants to be in front of the light and has better night vision than mine. Otherwise, my armor can lead the way. Hopefully we can find a resting spot inside."

“I would,” Raina started somewhat hesitantly, “ I would, for the sake of making sure nothing is going to fall on our heads, or that we might actually stumble into some hidden pit. But I gotta tell you, Heironymous, I am definitely not up to full speed. Hell, if you smack me upside the head, I’d probably be down for the rest of the afternoon. I say get just inside the mouth of that there cave ,stop and rest for a bit.” She started shivering slightly as the rain and the wind beat against her skin.

" I second that motion. We need to rest. That was a long and dangerous climb. After we get a bite to eat, rest up a bit, we can explore this cave. I'll even take first watch and let those of you that were injured get your much needed rest. As I said before, I can see in the dark so we will need very little light, to avoid alerting other sentient dangers of our presence."

As he decided to enter first, his whispers hissed in echo in the cavern as he spoke,"Let just get in here past the threshold of the mouth of the cave where it is relatively dry, and eat and rest here. No need to go any further than that for now."

"Rest and healing make sense to me. Onward into darkness. Let us see what sort of shelter we have found."

The rain pours down upon the band of adventurers, caught in the storm high above the lands they came from. Lightning pierces the sky again and again in an entrancing show of the storm's power. Deafening thunder shakes the very stone of the mountain side.

The black storm clouds block the light of the moons above, so that only as the lightning flashes can the party see clearly. The entrance into the cliff face Hieronymus had found seems the only escape from the storm that has seemed to take on a life of its own... and more than one of the adventurers had a feeling that it's power had not yet reached its peak.

From the downpour the part, guided by a wizard whose vision was not limited by such things as light and dark. They moved slowly, with hands outstretched feeling their way through a passageway of well maintained and finely cut stone. The minutes pass like hours as the group struggles through the dark, but eventually those blinded by the darkness can feel the oppressive walls and ceiling of the passage way lift.

To the umbral, the room appears to be an entry way or foyer of sorts. The room is sized to hold a sizeable group, being approximately forty feet on a side. In the center, beneath what looks to be a natural chimney, is a large fire pit stocked not with wood, but with a strange sort of black stone reselmbing a blend of charcoal and peat.

One door each can be seen on each wall barring the one the party entered through. The doors themselves are constructed of a strange combination of iron, brass and stone blended into intricate swirling patterns that cause a slight dizzying effect if one focuses on them too long.

There are no visible locks or bars on any of the doors.

"I Don't know what you all can see but from my view, we are pretty safe at the moment. Raina, if you feel up to it, I know you are more used to picking locks, but if you would take this sunrod, you will see three doors. I'd feel better if you could find a way to lock them from our side so we can rest safely and without disturbance."

Quarilin lights a sunrod and offers it to Raina. After which, he uses Burning Hands to turn the charcoal into burning embers and light the pete.

"I'm not sure how long it's gonna burn, Im going to search out some more of this mossy stuff."

Lightening streaked across the sky, momentarily revealing the faces of those entering in the cave. They made their way blindly into the gloom, guided only by Quarlin’s voice. Walls and ceiling weighed down upon them like oppressive hands, and no matter how wide the eyes had gotten, no details revealed themselves to those who couldn’t see in the dark.

Raina was just wondering if she could find her tinderbox in the dark, when the tunnel suddenly opened. Into what, she had no idea, and she opted to stand still while the Umbral decided what to do.

"I Don't know what you all can see but from my view, we are pretty safe at the moment,” Quarlin said into the darkness. Safe is good. “ Raina, if you feel up to it, I know you are more used to picking locks, but if you would take this sunrod, you will see three doors. I'd feel better if you could find a way to lock them from our side so we can rest safely and without disturbance."

“Uhhhh…” the burglar started, but before she could voice what a ridiculous notion that was for someone who couldn’t even see the doors, Quarlin cracked a sunrod. Accepting it without comment, Raina took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light.

As soon as she saw it, she followed the Umbral over to the pit in the middle of the room.

“This is convenient,” she said darkly. Raina cast a significant look and Heironymous before turning to the doors. She began examining each one closely. No locks. The more she looked at them, the worse she felt. Her eyes danced up and down the pattern on the doors, and after making sure that none of them had a way to lock them, she came over and sat down next to the fire. Nausea hit her, and she tried not to retch.

“Nothing,” she panted, holding her injured side and trying to steady the dizziness that infected her mind, “nothing to lock. Nothing to open it, nothing to close it. Nothing. They are doors alright, but they lack all the right parts to be doors.”

---

OOC:I figured all that looking at crazy patterns made her feel pretty ill. ^_^

Heironymus looked around the room they found themselves in. He wan't very fond of being led blind through the dark. If something did happen, his eyes would be as shocked by suddenly bringing in light as any opponents would be. But some things couldn't be helped.

"Well, if we can't lock the doors, at the least we can put some loud stuff by the doors as a form of alarm. It is better than nothing. The pit is interesting, however."

Looking around a bit he added, "For setting watch we also have a light issue - some of us will need light to be effective as guards, unless we trust completely to our ears, which I don't."

Heironymus also takes some time to examine the doors - in particular he is looking to see if he recognizes any of the symbols engraved there.

Quarilin was taken aback by something strange with the fire.

"hmmmmm, thats strange but interesting. I think I'll try that out." he mumbles quietly to himself just under the crackling sound of the burning moss.

"Hey you guys enjoy the fire, I wanna study something about these doors"

Quarilin heads over to the three doors and allows their chaotic patterns to mesmerize him.

Quarlin was not the only one who wanted a closer look at the doors. Heironymus moved over to the doors as well. As he stared at the patterns looking for some sort of symbol he recognized, words began to emerge.

Each door bore a message. The one on the left said "Path of Faith." The one in the middle, "Path of Strength" and the one to the right, "Path of Power." After pondering these words for a minute, the cleric turned to the others in the group and told them what he had seen. He wanted to know what they thought about the doors - especially Quarlin, who had also been staring at the weird symbols.

"well, we rest first. That will help a great deal. But after that we will need to make a choice. I lean towards the "Path of Faith," both as a cleric and becuase we are searching for a cult. We aren't near where that group is supposed to be located yet, are we?"

(Sorry, posts have been eratic over the summer. Internet access should be much more consistent now.)