Chapter 1 - Leaving Dunova

"This is one tough cookie! Think it's got a weak spot?" Jezlyn fires away, hoping for a lucky hit.

They had vanquished the spiders, but the stone guardians were proving to be very hard to wear down. Velisse steeled herself for a longer battle and cast one of her dark magics to replenish her power.

Pinion raises his magicannon toward the Guardian but thinks better of attacking it. Seeing the recently deceased spider out of the corner of his eye sparks an idea. He rushes over and tries to use spider silk to impede the Guardian.

Not appearing at all interested in relenting, the Guardian continues to hammer at Ail's guard. Eventually the blows start to weaken him, but not enough to stop him counter attacking. Unfortunately, he only catches stone and gives the Guardian an opening to strike at Velisse. While it's distracted, though, Jezlyn manages to place a shot into a weakspot she'd been searching for earning an otherworldly growl of pain.

It doesn't get a chance to act on it, however, as silk ropes begin to knot and gum up it's mechanics. Pinion's plan showing to be immediately effective.

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Does someone overhear the fighting? 2 / 4

Ail winces as he takes another hit. He reaches into a pouch and takes out a remedy before drinking it.

Veiisse was not the type to give up, no matter how close she was to death. She could withstand another onslaught, but that was it. But she was trained to press the attack, even at great cost, and that was what she did now. Calling on her own life reserves, she wrapped her blade with dark magic and swung in a wide arc again, hoping to catch both the guardians in one swoop.

Velisse's sword cuts deep into the Guardian again, this time the strength of her blade and her will cuts through it completely. Sliced in two, the top half comes away and a crackle of energy is released. A flash fills the room, followed by a loud bang, and then silence. The group are alone, all threats defeated.

The dust soon settles, showing the marks of where energy and attacks have gouged the walls or cracked the floor, but the room is otherwise unharmed. The door at the far side, heavy and made of something mixed between metal and stone, is unopened but spotless.

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Quick Reference

Locations

Dramatis Personae

Pinion is looking around the room for something, anything that can help sway this battle in their favor, until he hears a loud thud of the Guardian hitting the ground "Oh, well thats settled then. Well done all!"

"Whew, that was one tough hunk of stone. Great job, Velisse." Jez walks to the door and peers at it. "Hm, this looks tough too. I don't suppose we can open it by just saying 'please'?"

"More likely some hidden switch somewhere," Ail replies. "Maybe twist a torch sconce left and it opens, but if you turn it right a trap is sprung... or something like that."

Velisse stood there for a moment when the last guardian fell, leaning against her sword to catch her breath. She was very much battered by this combat, and did not foresee herself that ready to engage the next set of enemies should they appear. She breathed, letting the others inspect the door that would lead them further.

It doesn't look like saying please is the answer to getting the door open, in fact judging by the slightly lowered ceiling above the door it looks like Ail's suggestion is more likely. There's some kind of hidden contraption for opening the door up there, the question is how does one activate it so the door opens for you.

The door itself is black, darker in colour than the rock around it, and yet reflective. It looks as though it could be glass, except it looks stronger and isn't see through. Someone has engraved shapes on it, though they seem to have faded with time. At best you could maybe make out the shapes of winged humans and the sun. It's hard to be sure, though.

A handle carved into the door is about a meter or so off the floor. Its the most unremarkable piece of the entire construct.

As the rest evaluated what was most likely a trap, Velisse took the sensible preparation of reaching for her reserve of healing. She would need it if it were necessary for her to tank the trap, if they couldn't disarm it.

Strong Ail scratches his chin looking at the door, then he takes out a rope. "Stand back!" he warns his companions before trying the handle to see if it's trapped. He always did prefer a direct approach to problems.

The door doesn't appear to be trapped. Ail can freely interact with the door's handle. It's cold to his touch, but not unusually so, and feels more metallic than glassy which is surprising given the texture of the door. Otherwise, it's fairly mundane.

Pinion will take a closer look at the engravings to see what information can be gleaned 'Even if I can't open the doors, I may still learn something useful.' He thinks