Night 59: Grand Ballroom

[lovecrafty]

> Rose: DescendRose bounded off the stairs and down onto the floor of the ballroom as soon as she could, alighting on the floor in what was, on its own, a graceful maneuver. As she jumped, the flames on her wands extinguished, and her sylladex reset itself to the auto-balance modus, ejecting everything in it. Her possessions rained down on her

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[avengingfists]

Gamzee's antics continued to cause Ilia more than a little worry. There was definitely something odd about him, like he was constantly on some sort of bizarre high. She pursed her lips. Surely the institute wouldn't--no. She was probably just over-thinking things. "You feeling all right there, Gamzee?"

Oblivious to Rose's twisted insight into female relationships, Ilia merely allowed the girl to do as she wished and followed shortly after her along with Gamzee. She eyed the knifewands as they glowed, leading the way further into the unknown. "That's a pretty decent consolation." Better than hers, that was for sure. But Ilia didn't mind too much. Rose needed a weapon. Ilia always carried her weapons with her; her own hands and feet.

The transition into the grand ballroom was a sudden one. Ilia's joints began to feel still and she hissed a bit at the straining on her knees and arms that accompanied the draining in her power. Great. "It's probably best if I lay off the secret fighting techniques for now." More distressing was Rose's sudden loss of all her goods.

"Heavens! Are you okay?" She didn't care to snoop in on the contents of a little girl's journal. Instead, she rushed forward a few steps and bent to pick up what she could. "Here, let me help you."

[mirthfulness]

The troll was busy munching on the ham, and almost didn't notice when he was addressed again by the other woman. The question made him blink, confused, but he smiled back at her soon enough. "Don't know why you'd be thinkin' I wouldn't be. I'm right as a motherfuckin' rainbow."

However right that was supposed to be.

He still didn't know where they were really going, but he calmly followed them down to the basement, ham still in hand. When they reached the bottom, though, he had to stop and just gaze wide-eyed at the ceiling, because it was pretty damn spectacular. So beautiful. When Rose's items dropped, he hardly noticed, just as he hardly noticed his own strength decrease slightly. He might have offered the girl his pillowcase, but it was doubtful. It was full, after all, and then he'd lose the food.

Here he was with a whole ham to himself and some bitching lights to stare at. If they didn't move him along, he could probably stand there for the rest of the night and be perfectly fine with it.

[lovecrafty]

"As am I."  She tucked items back into thin air on her own -- nothing was dented except her dignity, and it had seen worse.  She finished with her knifewands, and leapt up to replace them with two candles.  For investigative purposes, of course.

A tall black slab of a door was the first one she found, its twin standing sentinel beside it, and both of them unmoving.  She would have started mapping it out -- but her journal was no longer accessible, and the pens had ended up at the root node.  Fortunately for everyone, she had an excellent memory, and no qualms about using it.

"These won't budge.  I suggest we try each door in turn."  That was stating the obvious, but one could never be too certain on such matters. 

[avengingfists]

The kids were safe. That was all that mattered. That's what Ilia told herself at least, though the weakening of their power was disturbing. Having full power already had been an unusual phenomena in Landel's, though whether that was a cause or result of the increase in monster activity tonight was still anyone's guess. She could surmise it was related to the earlier announcement of a Code Red but that was all she was willing to accept without further information.

Rose had her items under control so Ilia took a moment to survey their surroundings. The ballroom was no doubt beautiful but the low-hanging torches gave the marble a dark, occult look. Ilia didn't feel safe despite the lack of monster activity down here. There was something unnatural about it.

"I agree." Ilia's response to Rose echoed back at her from across the room. Even the chandelier seemed to rattle softly from the buffeting of air. Yeah, that wasn't eerie at all. Starting towards the door to the right, Ilia almost walked into a dazed Gamzee. Smiling thinly, Ilia tapped his shoulder. "Hey, let's get moving, okay?"

The door to the immediate west was made of dark wood and bronze. The pictures carved into the doors didn't subtract from the occult feel of the place but Ilia had determined to press on. This door opened smoothly at her touch. "Looks like we have a new place to explore this way."

[to here]

[lovecrafty]

> ==>

The large hall was still desolate, save for the untuned splashing of the fountains. "There," she said, a tiny flame spitting from her candlewands towards the opposite door. It made it no more than a few feet before guttering out, but the intent was unambiguous.

"If we are to find a second artifact, we should begin with that door."

[avengingfists]

Ilia allowed Rose a short moment to admire her prize and for the kids to express encouragement in their own way. There had still been another door behind them, but if what Rose postulated was true then there was no reason to not return to the ballroom for a time. If they had to come back then they would come back.

And the doors were indeed unlocked. Rose had really taken the lead of their little group, but Ilia had confidence the girl's instincts were not wrong. She nodded. "Then let's go."

She led the group through the door Rose had indicated, and this time fully expected the door to lock behind them.

[to here]