[WFRP 2e] Princeps Interlude 32.5

My PC
Vaervenshyael - Female Elf Duellist

My companions
Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion

Wilhelm Hechland - Human Pistoleer/Engineer

Doctor Johann Wilhelm Woeller - Human Physician

(Previous Notes)

Vaervenshyael: Johann knelt in front of the statue. Vaervenshyael heard the sound of stone scraping against stone behind her and turned to see the slab returning to its place across the doorway. When she turned back, Johan was gone.

Tankred was not happy. Very not happy. He didn't like magic, didn't trust magic, and frankly it scared him. And now he is covered in demon viscera. Ulric and Sigmar know if he was going to catch some weird chaos plague now. Damn wizards should leave well enough alone. 

Wilhelm didn't think Tankred had anything to fear from him. He was just achieving a better understanding of the natural world in hopes to understand how to help people heal. He was sure this all could be explained through rigorous testing and the 'scientific method'*.

(*The Scientific Method taught at the Academy was to hit things together until they explode. If they didn't explode, try setting them on fire. If that didn't work, add excessive amounts of gunpowder and start again.)

Tankred: "I tell you what, V. First an iron mine filled with the taint of Grandfather Nurgle, now this depraved tomb filled with winged women trying to eat us, the walking dead, and those demonic things just now. Next it will be the blood god or the changer of ways. I left the Empire to escape Archaon and his war, and here, on the ass-end of the world I find yet another pretender whose corpse is seeking to end the world. By Ulric and Sigmar, is there no place a warrior can rest?"

Vaervenshyael: "I think not. Ulthuan is an island far out to sea, but there is no rest for my race from the clutches of chaos, either."

Tankred: "Curse magic, and all who dabble with the thrice damnable warp!" 

GM: The lantern's light played randomly across walls of the wide hallway. Something moving just on the edge of your view snapped you to attention, then to only again be your own shadows. 

Tankred: "So what do we do? I don't think we have the powder or tools to blow that door back open, and we don't know where the doctor is. Do we try to follow him, or try to escape?"

GM: Johann could barely hear himself think at the side of the waterfall. His hair was already starting to shed water from the mist, and it dripped in cool rivulets down his forehead and neck.

The phosphorescence of the cavern walls seemed to make the water dripping from your hands glow, as if ethereally. Johann turned to see a black disk hovering behind him. The light seemed to disappear into the disk. As Johann stepped back from the disk, he got a view of a leering bearded bust carved into the cavern wall behind the void. Standing almost at the edge of the platform, where the mist perceptibly ends, the bust was complemented by two half arms terminating in open hands that seemed to hold the disk.

Carved or written above the bust was a single word in Azmir's tongue, Arabyic. Johann thought the word is wadaeaan like Tchuss in Reikspiel. Or simply Goodbye.

The disk though troubled Johann. It was the pitchest black and always facing him. Despite the growing chill and the mist, Johann approached it from the left and right.

It could only be described more accurately as Johnann considered it: it was a ball or globe of the pitchest black.

(Back to the rest of the group)

In the long and wide hallway, Tankred, Vaervenshayel, and Wilhelm recounted the closing of the door and the disappearance of Johann.

Tankred, inspected the now securely closed slab of stone, noted no hinges or leverage, Magicks clearly at work. There was only an indistinct circular and grimy stain in the center of the slab, almost chest high.

Wilhelm saw an ethereal hand outstretched, palm open in the center of the slab. It moved almost as in life, as if waiting for the touch or embrace of another hand. Whether "science" or Magicks, this new sight was troubling and fascinating. After all, Wilhelm thought, "I'm not running from a priest talking to spirits. And I've seen that!"

Johann noted that there were three (3) row boats tied to stone pillars at the edge of the platform.  The mist had made the stone platform Johann walked slick like a river stone. Johann was getting quite wet and chilly in the waterfall. Running his hands through his hair, Johann realized that he might as well have dived into the water. A shiver ran down his spine.

How to get back or wait for the rest? Maybe they to will soon be ejected from the orb.

Tankred: "I don't like this. We're trapped. with no way to go but forward."

Vaervenshyael: "What was the doctor doing when he disappeared? There doesn't seem to be any blood, so it may be safe to follow? What do you think, engineer?"

Tankred: "He knelt and was fiddling with that obscene statue. Gods know what he was doing."

Wilhelm: "He kissed that things feet and then descended in to the mist. Thankfully, now that the feet have been kissed, this gentleman just wants a hearty handshake."

Wilhelm wondered internally if the statue was saying hello, or wants to come to an agreement.

Johann threw a rock at the disk, and hid behind any nearby obstructions (stalagmite, simple rock formation, whatever is nearby) and peered around at the disk to see its reaction. Who knows, maybe a gout of flame will shoot out and warm this damnable room.

GM: It disappeared into the inky blackness of the orb.

Tankred grew impatient. "I won't die in this dingy hole, not of boredom anyway. Let's see what that lunatic was doing." Tankred examined the statue where the doctor vanished. 

Wilhelm: "Just shake his hand already!"

Tankred: "What hand are you talking about? Did you dip into the turpentine again?" (Not: This is not just a sarcastic question, as Wilhelm had a bit of a drinking problem at this point.)

Wilhelm: "Kiss that man's feet, or shake the other one's hand. just make up your mind dammit. Do you want to go forward or back?" He started reloading his pistol.

Tankred: "I want out of this damn room. Kiss the feet of this thing you said?" 

Vaervenshyael: "I think the engineer should watch closely as you kiss the thing's feet. I'll watch our backs."

Tankred: "This is drunken lunacy, but very well." He knelt and kissed the feet. 

Vaervenshyael: "Leave your pistol free, Wilhelm. You're supposed to be paying close attention to what happens."

Johann started collecting samples of the glowing fungus in the cave. It could prove useful in future tinctures!