Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sirona suddenly felt miniscule and inferior as she stepped into the hall. She was puzzled once more, at the sheer massiveness of this place. This was the residence for the memories of prior kings, for their people would always hold them in their hearts. Hopefully.

Sirona paused for a moment, silently praying that no misfortune would greet any of them. It was blatantly obvious that no one had been here, for years, decades, centuries. This made her curious of time. How long had they been here? She hadn't craved food, which was abnormal, nor had her bladder rang out the emergency alarm; this was a surprise.

As she pulled her eyes further from the torch, Sirona got a better view. It was clear what they were. It was wrong to mess with the dead-- that message was made in dozens of horror flicks. The general consensus was to stick together, and it was Sirona's opinion just as well. The room was still too dark, which meant it was dangerous. Who knew what booby-traps or 'ghosts there could be? She would look for another source of light, and move together.

The group began to spread out, illuminating the room as a whole. Sirona edged toward one unlit side, wary of nebulous umbras, while making sure that Alcyone and the others were still okay. She cocked an eyebrow as the red-headed boy increased the proximity between himself and the tombs. Mortified, Sirona called out, "Don't get to close to them!" Who knew what he might and could find, but the danger was evident, and they were already a team. Sticking together was key. Sirona raised her torch in the direction of Ian, to give him better sight.

Saiph had been staring at the white-clad man and worrying at her brain. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. And seriously... Dude? It was clear that neither he nor Nemesis wanted to give his real name. Still, it was none of her business. For now, her business was to keep herself and hopefully others from getting hurt in this ******** up crazy place.

So she walked and looked and listened. Somehow, walled-in dead bodies and ghosts seemed almost par for the course for this place. And while she couldnt' deny that finding more light than the few torches they had was a good idea, neither could she leave the one boy, Ian? to check out the tombs alone.

With a sigh, followed after him and handed her torch over to Ian. Then, unwinding her chain from her arm, she held it and the fire poker warily, ready to fight if needed.

"Ian, right? Well, I'm Saiph and since they're all looking for light, I'm going to keep an eye on you, okay? Try not to touch and let's see if these tombs have anything useful carved on 'em."

She smiled reassuringly at the boy and gave him a nod. Sure, looking for light was important. But so was checking out everything in this crazy hall. And that included investigating the tombs.

Tony watched as Ian moved away from him, a bit further than the librarian had intended. He was invited to go and look at the tombs, and his every impulse told him to go. But instead he stayed near Abigail, and made to try and walk forward a bit to find them some way to bring more light into the room.

Of course, that would have gone a lot better if he had any light to search with. It seemed the darkness grew thicker with each step, and then he had managed to topple over, knees hitting the ground hard. Supporting himself on his hands, wincing, he heard other thuds and took some comfort, at least, that he wasn't the only one to fall.

He looked up, not sure he wanted to keep going in pitch darkness, glancing around to no avail because he could not even see the person closest to him very well. He slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, dusting himself off despite not being certain he had accumulated any dust in the fall. And anyway, after crawling through those tunnels, any effort to try and clean himself up was just silly.

"Ian?" he called, wondering where that torch bearer had gotten to. He imagined he had gone to look at those tombs, after all. Opting to stay put for a moment, Tony waited for the others to regain themselves, or for an answer from Ian. "Is everyone all right?"

He didn't think sitting on his bottom would do much good, so he got to his feet, wanting to stay close to where he could at least feel the others were. "What do you lot think? That we should proceed with caution?" He imagined if they were more cautious, supported each other, and used what little light their torches were providing as a guide, putting them forward rather than behind or to the side, they might accomplish something. He suggested this, also offering to take a torch if it struck the others as possibly dangerous.

And it may well be. The tomb of the Kings could be protected, somehow. They would have to just tread carefully, and try not to disturb anything. That was his inner motto, anyway. In any case, going forward meant getting out. He hoped.

"Pleased to met you, too, ah, Sailor Saiph," Ian said to the senshi who joined him, wondering if there was a certain way one was supposed to converse with one. Part of him wanted to protest at her offered help, that he might not be in need of someone 'keeping an eye on him' like a small child but ... well, she was supposed to have magic powers or something, and really, he appreciated not being alone.

"And don't worry, not tempted to touch them," he then assured her with a faintly nervous smile.

His alternate glances between the rest of the group and the tombs became more worried as he saw the other lights fade out, and heard the voices diminish to quiet. He had come ... well, further than he had intended from everyone else to at least get a look at the stone sarcophagi, though, and so Ian took in what details his torch illuminated. He did not want to linger, though - he had not meant to leave the group by such a wide margin.

The shapes carved on the wall immediately reminded the chess nut of his favored game, and Ian frowned a little, wondering what it was supposed to mean. However, if they were labeled like pieces set up in the proper starting formation, it would give him a point of reference if they all moved with the coffins in sight.

"Rook," he said, pointing to the tower above the first tomb. Then he looked at Saiph, his expression now holding a bit more confidence, and pointed to the horse head over the next one. "Knight.

"It'll be something to help us make sure we're moving across the room, right? We should go back to the others and bring them closer here, so we can continue in sight of these coffins." He started into the room, away from the coffins, stepping away and turning to be sure Saiph was still with him.

As for finding the others, Ian kept his eyes moving for the lights of the others. And, thinking of the best way he knew how to find someone in a big space, shouted out, "Marco!"

Nemesis' echoing obscenity brought a slight smile to Saiph's face. Though it couldn't honestly have been called a pleasant smile. Sardonically amused would be closer to the mark. Then, she turned her full attention back to the tombs. The alternating black and white marble made sense once Ian identified the carvings.

"Chess themed coffins. Nice. And I rather agree. Let's go back and try to sweet talk the others into checking this s**t out."

As she followed the boy, she began to chuckle softly and shake her head.

"Knowing my luck, chess obsessed zombies would pop out of those things if we tried to open 'em all by ourselves."

Zanazziite walked further into the darkness slowly, trying to stick close to Mr. Darrow, but having to look for a light source at the same time it was difficult. With every step they took it seemed the darkness encroached on them further. She worried at the pearls around her neck, straining to see a light. And then she fell, again. "Shoot!" The exclamation left her lips as she hit the ground and rolled forwards, curling up to try and protect Rufus. When she came to a stop she sighed, she hated this place. She'd never fallen this much before.

Slowly she pushed herself up not even bothering to shake her skirts out. Glancing around she realized she was in nearly complete darkness. "Greaat..." She stood for a moment and then heard Mr. Darrow's voice cut through the air. "I'm okay!" She looked around, unsure of what direction the voice came from. She knew when you got lost the best thing to do was to stay in one place, but she wasn't going to stay in the dark by herself. So, instead she began to walk, proceeding into the darkness slowly. She could hear other voices around her, but she couldn't pinpoint their locations. What the girl said about staying together if they bumped into each other was a good idea though, and she walked with her arms spread to either side, as if she was reaching for people who weren't there.

To those who proceeded:

The ground was slippery under their feet, and the only thing that kept them on their feet at all was their determination to find another source of light. At one point the ground was downright wet, and nearly impossible to navigate, but dried up as they ventured away from their comrades and into the darkness.

For a while, it seemed a bit hopeless, and several of them were separated in the dark -- the strange, cold, silent dark --

But Sailor Nemesis bumped straight into something cold, stony, and jutting. Feeling around the base of it, she encountered something brass, and feeling around the rim of that -- she'd found a giant brazier, surrounded by -- something? Well, there was only one thing to do.

Thrusting the torch into the brazier, it burst brightly aflame, momentarily blinding everyone who had ventured forward.

There was nothing to do but grope blindly at their surroundings -- for now.

[These characters will have the same options as the next group once their vision clears up, so read on --]

To those who went back, waited, or rejoined the group:

The ground was too slippery to safely make their way back to the entrance. Where was the entrance, anyhow? Hadn't there been an entrance back there? The darkness seemed to swallow all walls and all things, and it was hard to see anything but themselves and the people closest to them -- and in darkness like this, even they seemed far away. It was hard to imagine what could be done about it, and for a moment it still felt like they were tiptoeing around in a great house in the nighttime -- a house where the inhabitants were gone, or, perhaps, sleeping.

For a moment or two they were sure they could feel something whisper around their feet, some kind of fell wind.

A moment later, though, an enormous brazier lit up on the other side of the room and their companions were silhouetted arrayed around it, now covering their eyes and crying out in blindness. Those who'd hung back, though, now had an illuminated view of most of the chamber.

The walls were lined with colossal, looming statues of men in robes with crowns and scepters and swords and other symbols of old -- all with blank, staring marble eyes. In the center of the floor near the far wall was the largest of these statues, a huge, caped figure who held a stone sword in one hand and whose head and face were shadowed in the upper reaches of the ceiling. At its feet was the brazier, and their friends: on the floor in front of it was a paragraph of writing, etched into the stone. Beyond him was another dark arch leading to another room.

Around them were black and white marble tombs. And on the floor -- near where they'd slipped -- very near where they'd slipped, actually -- was a dead knight in black armor, leaking red blood all over the stones.

Those who'd slipped were finding that their clothing was rather wet, right about now.

The blinded adventurers' vision cleared up right about then, which faced the whole group with the same set of choices:

Did they investigate the fallen knight or inspect the statue and inscription?