Dungeon Keeper

[meat_mooks]

The Tapestry had spoken. Not in words, but in ideas and images, ciphers and cryptic nonsense that had been laboriously deciphered, interrogated with spells and technology, pieced together from scrap. They had led here.

Comments

Group 4: Billy, Rimethiel, Jaime

[meat_mooks]

The teleport put them directly in the middle of a massive field of squares, carved rigidly on the ground in all directions. This cavern was far too massive to have been shaped naturally, though not so large as for its ends to be beyond the limits of sight. A sourceless light illuminated it all, though the only features of note were that pattern of squares and a mighty tower far ahead of them, stretching from floor to ceiling.

Beneath them, the squares they stood on shone brilliantly.

[morphitudinous]

Billy had turned the extremely limited information in his head over and over since they'd been called. They were moving straight into a populated underground world. Nothing more was known. Here he was, standing in a wide open space with few features.

When they landed, he looked at his feet as he usually did when feeling lost. The glow there seemed unnatural, and he wondered. Was it some sort of pressure sensor? Glancing back at the two strangers he'd been assigned to, he wondered. "This could react to movement, but where are we moving?"

He hadn't yet looked up to see the tower.

[rimethiel]

Rimethiel narrowed her glowing eyes. She'd fixed her vision on the tower, for the moment, but looked down at the young human's words. Her lips pursed, and she let the breath out slowly.

"There was a place on my world, a tower such as this, called Karazhan. I have been inside it but once. My brother has led expeditions within many a time. It is a place of traps. If nothing else, I would use caution, both without, and if we gain within as well."

The elf looked over the tiles, brows furrowed. "None of the others are glowing. I wonder if the glow will follow us, or if it will show where we have been?"

[meat_mooks]

From the direction of the tower, a ball of smoke shot towards them like a comet. Alarming though the sight might be, the smoke seemed inclined to pass over them rather then slam into them.

It did neither, though. A dozen feet from them it stopped so abruptly than the smoke itself shot on ahead, leaving behind what appeared to be a ball made of tightly-wound strips of rubber. No sooner was that ball revealed then it began to unfold, the seeming strips unraveling to crawl across each other.

Now they faced what appeared to be, of all things, a smiling, oversimplified face. "Good morning, travelers, and welcome! We've been expecting you. Welcome to the Testbed! Are you ready for your first challenge?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy instinctively dropped to the ground at the sight of the smoke, covering his head. He was ready to morph if the situation required it.

But they were safe for the moment. He slowly straightened, staring at the face.

"The Testbed?" They had been expected. That wasn't good.

[meat_mooks]

"The Great One anticipated your arrival and set up this simple challenge, really quite trivial, to ensure that you aren't, you know... the unsavory sort," the face said confidentially. "Goblins or kobolds or whatnot. Just a simple test of intelligence and reasoning, if you're ready?"

[morphitudinous]

That still left the categorization of what was unsavory and what was not rather vague, but a reasoning puzzle didn't seem too difficult on the surface. He was set, but he looked back at his team mates for confirmation.

Maybe they had more insight. How likely was this to be a trap with some trick?

[lastgallifreyan]

The Doctor wasn't a fan of magic - it was just another word for science that people didn't full understand - but he was fascinated by the mysterious tapestry. Despite the fact that he hadn't been on the ship for long and still had a lot of Stacy to explore, the Time Lord hadn't been able to pass up an opportunity to visit another planet and see what was happening in the world outside. If he was going to stop this war, he'd need every scrap of information he could get.

And he would stop it. Eventually.

He felt more in control now than he had done on Stacy. This, this, was more like it. This was the sort of thing that he did every day. He was in his element at last, gazing up at the tower and the cavern - a bizarre, beautiful cavern - with unrestrained delight when they arrived

[morphitudinous]

Billy's found himself with an eccentric genius again. Ever since he befriended Jamie and took the helm of the Engineering department, it's become distressingly common. Not that he isn't one himself, but some are more excitable than others.

"And we still don't know what we're questing for. But I think I'm as prepared as I can be."

[meat_mooks]

"You're not goblins or kobolds. You should be able to pass quite handily," the face said encouragingly. "Now, look to the squares and describe what I say with them!"

The face paused, allowing them a moment to prepare, then spoke again in formal tones.

"Three by three enclose one. Three by three enclose five."

[morphitudinous]

"Grid measurements..." Billy muttered, staring down at the squares. He pictured the way their colors might change if he moved. Enclosing one square in glowing ones? That was easy. Enclosing five? Not so much. There had to be some trick to it.

Billy thought he knew where to start. He drew a little box in the air with his finger, checking the proposed solution. "Shall I?" he asked his partner.

Just checking! There might be a trap or some other insight to consider.

[lastgallifreyan]

The Doctor was almost disappointed. He'd been looking for a bit more of a challenge. (For his part, the Time Lord wasn't overly concerned about the fact that they didn't know what they were questing for. Sometimes, the journey mattered just as much as the destination.)

He grinned at Billy. He would have corrected him if he hadn't been happy with answer he'd drawn in the air, of course, but it wasn't necessary. He was clearly a very intelligent human.

"Go on then."

[morphitudinous]

Billy wasn't too worried about that. More challenge would come later! These things had an annoying tendency to escalate.

He walked the required path in a more cautious square than he otherwise would, careful to place only one foot on each square until the circuit was complete. That was one...surely they'd get confirmation by then.

"Ideas about the other clue, sir?" Billy had a faint idea of who he was talking to from the buzz on the ship, but he tended to err on the side of formality.

[meat_mooks]

The mechanics were quite simple; touch a square, and it would light. Touch it again and it dimmed once more. It was not designed to be punishing.

In fact, there was no response, one way or the other. Having been delivered together, the paired clues were considered just one question. He hadn't been disqualified immediately, though.

[lastgallifreyan]

"Sir? Sir?" The Doctor glanced around, as if he was trying to work out who Billy was actually talking to, then pointed a finger at his own chest. "Me? I'm not a sir. Well, not really. There was the time I met Queen Victoria ..."

If he'd had a companion with him, they would have chosen that moment to hit him on the arm and bring him back to the problem at hand. He didn't, though, so the Doctor had to manage it himself.

"Just call me the Doctor," he finished, before starting to jump from square to square to answer the second part of the question. He moved with such enthusiasm that it seemed almost random, but he knew exactly what he was doing and why.

[morphitudinous]

"Right. Hello, Doctor," Billy nodded, a faint little smile of recognition on his face. With that much enthusiasm for a little puzzle, how could the man possibly be anyone else? Among the many versions of Jamie's mentor and friend he'd met, that never changed. "I'm Billy. Just in case you need a name at some point."

He watched the solution, slapping his forehead after the second square. "Of course. Enclosure doesn't necessarily have to be contiguous...right."