Kelewen

Tower of the Black Pearl

Bump. Anyone's post...

Tower of the Black Pearl

Definitely not trying to rush you guys out of this candle-filled room, but I realized I didn't put in the description that there are stairs leading down. They are on the map, so you might have noticed anyway! :)

Tower of the Black Pearl

Surely a book like this held some sort of arcane knowledge undiscovered. But as Charlie implied, it could also be some sort of trap for the unwary. If she ran her hand over the cover, perhaps she could detect any magic that it emanated...

@Karl Kadaver

Tamra can feel that the book does indeed have some sort of enchantment on it...

Tower of the Black Pearl

@Noodles - bump. Need a little more time? :)

Tower of the Black Pearl

Too aggressive and too intent upon his own attack, the man failed to defend against Takao's thrust and the mercenary's blade plunged into his opponent's chest, impaled by his own forward momentum. But as the sword sunk deep, his own blade was still on a path to Takao's now open torso...

Tower of the Black Pearl

Ronan and then Tamra start down the iron ladder which descends about 15' into a brightly lit room where Takao and the other man are engaged in combat. The purple lights from the spell seem to distract the man and he gives ground to Takao, backing dangerously close to the candles.

Hundreds of them line the walls here, their flames swaying and dancing. Some are tall, as if they were lit just moments ago, while others are burnt down to stubby mounds of wax.

In the center of the room stands an onyx pedestal supporting a massive tome bound in gold and worn black scales.

The walls are decorated with detailed murals depicting what must be the lives of heroes: warriors rising up from humble beginnings to lead armies against forces of darkness; humble apprentices inheriting arcane powers from their masters, casting down kings and emperors with a wave of their wands; meek rouges growing to become daring shadow lords; and destitute warrior monks rising to become leaders of holy armies.

----

Charlie's kick connected with the large man's jaw and he went limp, his head rolling slightly to the side, apparently out cold.

Tower of the Black Pearl

Takao's blade ripped through the man's shirt as he barely managed to step back and avoid being split open from waist to shoulder. The tattered fabric fell to the sides, revealing a large 'V' branded on his chest. He lunged forward again, this time faking toward Takao's right side, trying to draw him into a parry, then dipped his blade low and brought it back up toward the mercenary's left side.

--

The large brute clipped the edge of Arnold's shield on his way to the ground, but it was enough to keep him from landing on the woman, instead landing right beside her with a heavy thud. Finding himself in a bad position, he directed a strong kick at Arnold's shield, simply trying to push one of his opponents away. Regardless of if the kick accomplished the goal, he reached out with his non-broken hand to get a hold of Charlie's ankle, trying to drag the monk off his feet.

Tower of the Black Pearl

I'm not so good at describing 1v1 fights :X , not sure what words to use to describe haha , Human vs beast fight is easier for me :X

@Noodles

No worries, Noodles! I understood it just fine. I'll get in a reply tomorrow...

Tower of the Black Pearl

The man was too slow to avoid Takao's strike, but just barely and the mercenary's blade drew a thin line of blood across the man's forearm. Not giving any consideration to keeping his opponent alive, he gritted his teeth and lunged, trying to send his own blade straight through Takao's belly, hoping to end this as quickly as possible.

Tower of the Black Pearl

The wiry man was too intent upon Arnold and didn't notice Ronan's sword until it was too late. The blow slammed into the side of his head and the man staggered immediately, then fell to his knees, his vision narrowing. He swayed there momentarily, then crumpled to the ground and his sword fell from his grasp.

The large man facing Charlie howled in pain, at least one finger broken as he was flipped over Charlie, on a path to collide with Tamra in the rather tight quarters.

-----

@Noodles

Meanwhile, the man that had fallen down into the top chamber of the tower rolled onto his side, slowly, as if he were in pain. Blood came from his nose and his eyes were watering so badly he almost looked as if he was crying. He didn't realize until he was half-way to his feet that there was another person in the room. But as he spotted Takao, he forced himself the rest of the way to his feet quickly, still gripping his sword and keeping a wary eye on the mercenary. "CAPTAIN!" he cried out the warning as loudly as he could manage with his still burning lungs. "Got company!"

However, no one answered his cry.