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We were in one of the kupar tunnels, figuring out what we should do next. We decided to stay in the tunnels, where we're a bit more defensible, and hopefully a bit less surprisable, and head towards the center of the circle underground.
So we went down the steep tunnel. We got to a cross tunnel, with a five foot drop down. We chose the south branch, and continued on. The bottom part of this tunnel was more worn, much more used by the kupar, apparently. The tunnel curved around a bit, then got steeper, then vertical. We tied ourselves together, so any one falling should be held by the rest. Eventually, we came to another intersection, this one with a 'boiled' tunnel (such as we'd been using, made by the things that boiled up in Cor's vision), and a worked tunnel. We chose the boiled tunnel, which was heading down, rather than across. The echoes started to fade away, as we got farther from the kupar-cut tunnel. This tunnel came down to a lip, and Jack shone the lantern below, into a dead-end chamber.
Jack noticed that there was some lumenescence afterward. May used her blessing to glow, and it blasted the rainbow residue out of the room, in a rush and a whirl that made me cough, badly. No one else seemed to have such difficulties, though. It was suggested that I try using the claw, to see whether it works here or not. I focused on a rock, and managed to make the whole boulder disappear for the usual time, but the other effects were unpleasant: something felt like it was heading for the claw through me, making me naseous. It subsided, but I still felt uncertain about it, so I tried sensing disease. Oddly, I looked like I had just been possessed by a spirit, now gone. Ick. I told May what had happened, and how I'd rather not use the claw again until absolutely necessary.
We climbed out of this tunnel, past the cut tunnel, back to the original split, and took that branch. It veered south, then split. They were both boiled tunnels, but the right one was not as steep, so we tried that one. It dead-ended. May used her blessing to try to find a shard of one of the shields (from many visions of the battle). She located one, but it was far from us, and we decided that if we got close to there, we'd try to get it, but we wouldn't start looking for it instead of the portal. Also, she said there was a lot of the rainbow singing and feelings of nothingness, of rainbow unbeing, which kept her from staying in the blessing longer.
We tried the left tunnel, and it dead-ended too.
Back to the worked tunnel, our last option. Jack sneaked ahead, and heard kupar breath. He came back, and the others figured out a plan to surprise it in battle, so it wouldn't have any time to run or call an alarm. (I'm reasonably useless in these situations, so I stayed back, waiting to help if anyone got hurt.)
Jack again headed forward, this time with the lantern shielded. He leapt out near the kupar, shining the light, and realized that it was sitting on the lip of an adjoining tunnel, above. Also, it was the same colors as the tunnel, and it was wearing clothes of some sort. They fought it, and won. Duraglen noticed that its eyes were odd, and it had moved its head oddly: it was blind, because its eyes had been hurt, presumably purposefully, since it was still chosen as a guard. Well, that made the whole surprise-with-shining-light-of-lantern part not helpful.
The bored tunnel ended, and the cross tunnel went up or down. We went down. There were more kupar sounds as we headed down. We got to what looked like another dead end, but Duraglen went down into the debris, and found there was another bored tunnel, again a level one. Jack heard kupar sounds again, and, having refined their plan since the first attack, they fought more efficiently, and won again. I wish there were some other way, but they've shown they'll attack us if they find us, and we need to get to the portal.
Again, this kupar had guarded an intersection going up or down, and again we chose down. This lead to a spherical place that isn't a dead end, but has an eastward tunnel out of it. The echoes of kupar have been getting more noticeable since we set on the guards.
So we went down the steep tunnel. We got to a cross tunnel, with a five foot drop down. We chose the south branch, and continued on. The bottom part of this tunnel was more worn, much more used by the kupar, apparently. The tunnel curved around a bit, then got steeper, then vertical. We tied ourselves together, so any one falling should be held by the rest. Eventually, we came to another intersection, this one with a 'boiled' tunnel (such as we'd been using, made by the things that boiled up in Cor's vision), and a worked tunnel. We chose the boiled tunnel, which was heading down, rather than across. The echoes started to fade away, as we got farther from the kupar-cut tunnel. This tunnel came down to a lip, and Jack shone the lantern below, into a dead-end chamber.
Jack noticed that there was some lumenescence afterward. May used her blessing to glow, and it blasted the rainbow residue out of the room, in a rush and a whirl that made me cough, badly. No one else seemed to have such difficulties, though. It was suggested that I try using the claw, to see whether it works here or not. I focused on a rock, and managed to make the whole boulder disappear for the usual time, but the other effects were unpleasant: something felt like it was heading for the claw through me, making me naseous. It subsided, but I still felt uncertain about it, so I tried sensing disease. Oddly, I looked like I had just been possessed by a spirit, now gone. Ick. I told May what had happened, and how I'd rather not use the claw again until absolutely necessary.
We climbed out of this tunnel, past the cut tunnel, back to the original split, and took that branch. It veered south, then split. They were both boiled tunnels, but the right one was not as steep, so we tried that one. It dead-ended. May used her blessing to try to find a shard of one of the shields (from many visions of the battle). She located one, but it was far from us, and we decided that if we got close to there, we'd try to get it, but we wouldn't start looking for it instead of the portal. Also, she said there was a lot of the rainbow singing and feelings of nothingness, of rainbow unbeing, which kept her from staying in the blessing longer.
We tried the left tunnel, and it dead-ended too.
Back to the worked tunnel, our last option. Jack sneaked ahead, and heard kupar breath. He came back, and the others figured out a plan to surprise it in battle, so it wouldn't have any time to run or call an alarm. (I'm reasonably useless in these situations, so I stayed back, waiting to help if anyone got hurt.)
Jack again headed forward, this time with the lantern shielded. He leapt out near the kupar, shining the light, and realized that it was sitting on the lip of an adjoining tunnel, above. Also, it was the same colors as the tunnel, and it was wearing clothes of some sort. They fought it, and won. Duraglen noticed that its eyes were odd, and it had moved its head oddly: it was blind, because its eyes had been hurt, presumably purposefully, since it was still chosen as a guard. Well, that made the whole surprise-with-shining-light-of-lantern part not helpful.
The bored tunnel ended, and the cross tunnel went up or down. We went down. There were more kupar sounds as we headed down. We got to what looked like another dead end, but Duraglen went down into the debris, and found there was another bored tunnel, again a level one. Jack heard kupar sounds again, and, having refined their plan since the first attack, they fought more efficiently, and won again. I wish there were some other way, but they've shown they'll attack us if they find us, and we need to get to the portal.
Again, this kupar had guarded an intersection going up or down, and again we chose down. This lead to a spherical place that isn't a dead end, but has an eastward tunnel out of it. The echoes of kupar have been getting more noticeable since we set on the guards.
