2087/Raiding The Shelves

Raiding The Shelves
Date of Scene:	24 April 2015
Location:	Armster Estate
Synopsis:	Somewhere in Europe, the abandoned Armster Estate is the destination for a Syndicate mission to retrieve alchemical reagents for the mansion's owner. Traps and other dangers lie in store for Kyra and Soan!
Cast of Characters:	626, 633, 726

---

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Armster Estate lies in a rather bleak section of Europe somewhere. This is the last 11th century, and it shows in many ways, obvious and subtle. The native inhabitants are probably at least wary of people from the Multiverse, though some are likely to be more outright hostile than others. Armster Estate, however, is within walking distant of a dead and deserted village. The buildings show signs of being burned. The mansion itself is large, bearing the architecture of the age. Not quite a castle, it is still far larger than a peasant's home.

    It is a fortified structure, and appears abandoned.

    It is also where the employer for this Syndicate mission has asked people to discretely visit, in order to obtain alchemical reagents and materials from a laboratory in his old home. He has warned of traps already, and said he is not in a position to disarm them himself. He has also warned it has been long enough since he was able to return home he does not recall of the traps and defenses he has laid, but that those taking up the job should keep an eye out for emblems or markings. They may be the triggers for traps, or the keys to passages that allow them to bypass such defenses.

    The hour is late, with the sun nearly fallen below the horizon. The sky is dark, with a dire-looking grey clouds passing by in a near-solid wall of vapor overhead. Like a river of souls in the sky.

    The iron-wrought gates in the surrounding stone wall lie open, indicating others may have come before them. But the layers of dust and debris also indicate any such trespassers have long since departed.

    ...If they managed to leave.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's not all that interested in getting in contact with the locals here, especially after the first few unfriendly glares she gets for just showing up. It's enough to make her glad that she definitely hasn't come to this mission alone, recruiting her expert thief friend Soan for his help. She doesn't have the trap-disarming skills he does. Her trying could have disasterous consequences.

    As requested, from beyond the abandoned village, her approach on foot is pretty discrete. She has tried to probe their employer for as much information about the traps as possible so Soan knows what to look for-emblems it seems. Kyra's happy to see no other trace of people here though, meaning they have first response on this job and probably will make the most money out of it. Score!

    Kyra's come kitted with potions and some standard explosives today, plus other utility things like adhesive and acids. Anything that would help against inanimate objects. She also brought spare bags and a detailed list of what exactly Joachim wanted out of his alchemy lab. Odds are during putting that list together, she asked him if there was anything she could help herself to-being a budding chemist. She strolls through the dusty gates with an air of confidence about her.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     A lot of this is absolutely odd to Soan's inquisitive mind. An alchemist that's buggered off, don't control the various traps in his home where alchemical reagents he needs still lie. Why can't he get others himself, then? Perhaps it's very specific things that he needs. Kyra has less paranoia than he does when jobs are involved -- and paranoia pretty much is a large part of being a Thief. You just need to know when to pay heed to it. Anybody can be suspicious of every little odd thing that comes their way, after all. That's not difficult.

     Soan is not too impressed by the countrysides, altought the regular 'sun' in the sky is still something he need to get used to. The Thief comes along with his friend Kyra, holding a small bag over his shoulder as he lumbers along, his sharp eyes darts around at things in the night, as well as his nose trying to Smell the potential fetid aura of darkness, evil and corruption. He can't turn it off. Nor that he ever would.

     "So," Soan begins, causally, almost relax, as he strolls alongside her. "Do you have any idea what sort of things this guy is working on, from that list?"

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Based on the list, there are any number of things that could possibly be made, either with some of the ingredients or all of them. But the same could be said of a great many natural elements, such as iron, sulfur, hydrochloric acid, and so on. Not that all of those are on the list, but there's nothing inherently suspicious, and what they are used for probably depends in large part HOW they're being put together.

    Some of the ingredients are mundane, such as those named previously. Others are more exotic, such as 'dryad clippings' and 'ghost vapor', whereas still others are mysterious or simply not named so much as described. 'Quick silver crystals', 'the jar full of black', and 'sealed box (do not open)', for example.

    If the ingredients are all procured successfully, instructions on how to reach the employer are then to be provided, with payment provided upon delivery. When Kyra asked if she could keep anything, she was told she is not welcome to steal, but that if the alchemical project Joachim wishes to perform succeeds, he will have no further use for what lies in his old estate. And at THAT point, she and any companions can have the whole place if they wish, and divide it up among themselves.

    Beyond the gates are a weed choked cobblestone pathway up to a set of stairs which in turn lead up to a stone porch, with an unlocked and broken wooden door beyond that. A wooden wagon missing its wheels lies to one side of the path, so bleached by the sun and covered in dust that it at first appears to be made of stone.

    Actually, if it is examined more closely, actually inspected by touch, it appears it IS petrified. That indicates either this place is a lot older than it looks, or something happened here that can even turn wood to stone in short order. Some accident with an experiment maybe?

    Whatever the case, nothing seems to be threatening out here. The windows high above are barred, with ragged curtains or simply darkness beyond them. No glass is anywhere in sight. Despite there being no indication of darkness or evil for Soan, he may at least feel a very mundane sense of being watched. It is by no means supernatural, meaning it is very likely imaginary. But that impenetrable darkness, and the way the air moves to ruffle the intact curtains, is more than enough for one already paranoid to imagine figures peering down upon them that just plain aren't there. Phantoms of cloth and shadow and the tricks that the mind can play upon itself.

    If the front door is pulled open, it falls off its hinges, and reveals a long, dark corridor, with an aged, rodent-chewed carpet that may have once born intricate designs but now is simply garbage, spanning the center of the corridor and going on into the unlit depths of the mansion.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's knowledge of mixtures had provided several different possibilities using the ingredients that were on the list. Though curious, there were just too many alternatives to figure out what this man with the job wanted to do. Kyra has communicated this to Soan, of course. Though given the list, Kyra knows that it's easy to pick up iron, sulfur, and hydrochloric acid anywhere (in fact she has some of the latter on her right now) so why those things needed to be taken from this guy's alchemy lab was a mystery.
    So sad, though, any payoff in materials would come much later. Or not at all, if Joachim did not succeed.

    The discarded cart catches Kyra's attention and she gives it a closer look, seeing that it is made completely out of stone and not rotted wood like one might suspect. This immediately makes her wary and she looks around for any out of place statues of people. "Hey Soan, check this out. Turned completely to stone...looks kind of old but I suspect a cockatrice or gorgon."

    That noted, she moves on, tugging the door open only to have it fall off. "...er..you should probably take point from here, Soan."

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     'No Stealing' is just asking for something to be stolen, as far Soan is concerned. The lack of putrid smell of the spiritual sort does comfort him somewhat, while not precisely dulling his prudence on the subject here. Besides, he'll be happy quite enough by just nicking the traps. That's the best way to disarm them, after all. Just taking them.

     The Thief makes quite an effort to not notice or look around, or otherwise betray the fact that he has a feeling he's being watched, instead moving on to peer inside when the door is open, taking a step back as it falls off. "My, my, this employer certainly has not come here in a /long/ time for iron to rust off like this." He comments, giving Kyra a look. He dusts his hands off. "Yeah, or something worse. Keep close to me."

     He steps inside, his critical eye flying around the darkened area for sights of emblems that's been mentioned -- or other moving parts that he is very well privvy to know, pressure plates, strings that ties armored arms with weapons on as well as things dangling dangerously on the ceilling. Soan draws out his Blacksword, merly a dark-tinted blade that gives no light or reflexion. "Keep your eyes open, then get a light going if things get too dark."

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    The hall is long, and dusty, and sporadically littered with things. A broken cup here, a sword that looks like it was left to rust in sea water from the green coating of oxydization, a candle burned down to the melted stump, stone fragments from a crumbling ceiling... Nothing too ominous. Doors line the passage, and other halls branch off from the main one. Choosing what to investigate and what to pass by is part of this mission, it seems, but the directions were clear.

    The laboratory lies DOWNWARDS.

    Pressure plates have yet to be located, or any other obvious traps. Perhaps they, like the rest of this place, have worn out beyond the point of usefulness. Or perhaps they have already been triggered by previous interlopers.

    Or perhaps they are just very, very cleverly hidden.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     It is rather hard to explain, even to a fellow Thief, how they really search for traps. It is a mixture of knowing patterns, spotting things that are out of the ordinary or sticks out, as well as healthy dose of intuition. Everyone has their methode that works best for them. If there is trap in the main hallway, they are likely triggered by heading into it, or something in the middle of it. If there is any at all. He's never found the use of trapping a regularly-travelled area in a house, honestly. Secondary rooms will be the dangerous ones.

     He leads Kyra ahead to the end of the main hallway. Best to clear that while he peers around for things that stick out, occassionally poking with his sword ahead at certain spots. "Did your employer, perchance," Soan begins, not prying his eyes away from his work. "Give you a map of this mansion?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra follows after Soan at a respectable distance. She's pretty familiar with him in the process of performing a 'sweep' and knows that it's best not too get too close. Can never be sure exactly where a trap is going to trigger or what direction it will come from. As he does his work, Kyra takes a moment to get her camera on so he can at least tape this. Soan might even like looking at it later!

    "No, unfortunately, we've only spoken over the radio and I don't think the guy has himself a smartphone because he never sent me anything. He did tell me that the alchemy lab is beneath the estate so any stairways going down would be a good start." She carefully peers down any hallways as they pass them, but not entering them, because she knows those might be trapped too. She's not going to step anywhere that Soan hasn't yet.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    The hall is very dark at this point. Too dark to see if Kyra didn't have her own light source with her. If the front door were closed it would be pitch-black. And given how late it is, even the very minute amount of grey light coming in from behind them is going to be gone shortly. Why would anyone have a hall this long with no windows or anything? Obviously it was meant to have candle sticks and such, but the stands for them have probably been stolen. Even the candles themselves are gone for the most part, with only the most ruined left behind.

    But upon reaching the very end of the main hall, they reach a door that doesn't look like anything else here. It's ornate, still vivid despite its layer of dust. Some red material with a mix of black and silver metal woven together on its surface. At the apex of the metalworking, is what appears to be some kind of bestial skull. Maybe a small dragon or large mundane reptile.

    A pair of metal rings, unrusted, lie as handles upon the doors. But the doors, oddly enough, seem to be one solid chunk of material. Two doors fused together as one. How is it supposed to be opened?

    In the glow of Kyra's flashlight, or perhaps simply due to his skill and ability, Soan may notice that the floor directly in front of these doors is of a slightly darker coloration in a wide area, and that some of the 'dust' has a very slightly different scent to it.

    More like ashes.

    That skull... Maybe it's part of some kind of flame trap.

    11th century flamethrowers. Alchemy is pretty amazing.

    For Kyra's part, a few of the hallways that were passed along the way seemed to be just as empty at the main one. But there may have been glimpses of stationary silhouettes. Statues, perhaps, or partial suits of armor. She WAS on the lookout for human statues, but without getting closer, determining whether they were once people or just normal decorations is difficult.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan approaches the end of the hallway, giving the ornate, fused door a look. He distinctly does not get too close as he notices the darker coloration before it. He wordlessly motion to Kyra to stop moving, kneeling down to the ashes to give it a closer look... and the skull is a rather simple tell of what happened here. The Thief takes a sniff of the area, furrowing his brows, before smiling appreciatively.

     "Oh-ho, alchemical-based firetrap. A pretty solid one, if this turned a man to cinders, here." Soan comments, pushing himself back to his feets as he gives a circular glance around the area of the door. "Poor guy here sure didn't see it." He says, eyes following the darker scorches and trying to pin-poin from where precisely the flamethrowers may have been coming from. If they're that strong, they very well likely have an origin point rather visible, especially since this haven't been cleaned up.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Anyone with any sort of experience with dungeon exploring from Kyra's world knows very well to always come equipped with a light source of some kind. The flashlight industry is pretty big on Galianda because not everyone can generate their own magical, floating ball of light. The one Kyra has on her has a powerful, but narrow, beam.

    As she passes by the halls, she peers down them with her flashlight, seeing the statues (?) but not drawing any closer to investigate them. Never split up, never get ahead of the thief!

    He warns her to top and she does.

    "Hey Soan, it looked like there were some statues or suits of armor or something down some of those halls." She turns her attention to the door, shining the light on it directly. "Oooh."

    Impressed with the design, Kyra pulls out her phone so she can take a picture of it.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Based on where the ashes and burns on the ground and the bottoms of the walls on either side, the angle that the flame came from is probably somewhere around the vicinity of that skull at the top of the door. And given it has clearly been triggered at least once in the past, and there's no remains - human or otherwise - in sight, it's safe to say that the flames are probably quite intense. Maybe even magical in nature, though there's some pretty nasty mundane chemicals that can do similar. For someone with an adequate knowledge of chemistry, some pretty terrifying concoctions can be produced. Rubidium, for instance, is a substance so nasty that it will explode into violet flames upon contact with water. It is so volatile it will even sometimes just spontaneous catch fire when exposed to AIR.

    There are probably napalm like substances that would burn for quite some time, until there's nothing identifiable left. Whatever triggers this trap is something to avoid. Perhaps there is a clue to how to open the door however. Winding black and silver metalwork, starting at the base and overlapping at one point as they make their way up to where that skull is perched. Is that just a design? Or perhaps instructions?

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan looks positively giddy as he sets down his back on the ground, taking back a serious good amount of distance away from the scorching marks on the ground as he rummages in. After a few moments, he pull out two large metal tubes with chains wrapped around them, ending out into a hook. The old and venerable grappling hook. Soan test two little buttons on the end of the tup, making the 'claws' of the hook flex once, twice. He nods approvingly.

     "Take a small step back. We'll give that place a look, then we'll give a look around. Sounds good? I'd rather disarm a trap while it's there than forget about it, in case something happens." The Thief says, looking at Kyra, then back at the door as he starts spinning the chains. A perk of being secretly a Sacred Warrior of the Dragoons and being alone with friends is that you can start using that superhuman strength, spinning his instruments into an expert, blurring speed before he throws them at the rings, claws into them, steady himself then add before he pulls. "Stick to a wall, if something happens."

     Then he pulls.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra eyes the door, carefully examining the metalwork, frowning. There was probably a way to open the door, known to anyone who would frequent this place. Maybe there was something to do with the long winding bits of metal?

    Soan has other ideas though and Kyra's quick to step back. She steps back far enough that she's nearby one of the hallways, ready to dive down in case the fire manages to fill the length of the hallway. "Alright Soan! Let it rip!" she calls back once she's at what seems to be a safe enough distance.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    There's a clicking sound as the two rings are grasped with grappling hooks, and then pulled. The jaw of the skull drops open and a searing, cone-shaped wave of flame comes pouring out, bathing the area before Soan in heat so intense that his hair might get a bit singed from proximity. Depending on how durable his grappling hooks and their chains are, they may wind up super-heated, or simply melt into molten ooze if left exposed to the flames for too long.

    Either way, the flames continue until the rings stop being pulled. It seems pulling the rings at the same time wasn't quite the right answer. But maybe close. Soan might feel as though he's missing something... That design on the door... The curving lines cross OVER each other. Right becomes left, and left becomes right. The flames don't seem to have enough to burn to remain once the trap is left to deactivate, so at least the hall isn't covered in fire. But it's still plenty hot, and the stone seems more melted than before despite obviously being reinforced or made of heat-resistant material.

    Should the two of them try something else or just leave it for now?

    It's not like the door is going anywhere.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
 % Soan can appreciate a good flamethrower trap when it goes off, particularly if it is in the shape of a skull that is breathing out the torrent. When you, too, can breath flames, it's just something to consider admiring. Several eyebrows hairs get seared, as well the front end of his Department of Rogues uniform get small bits of fire started. Soan chuckles with humour, tapping them out until he stops pulling. He jingles his hooks. They are burning white hot, super-heated by the onslaught from the skull.

     "I guess that answers the question whenever this trap is still active or not." Soan comments, letting go of the grip on his chains to let them cool off for the moment. Now that the obvious wrong answer has been tested, he lets his chains cool off for a moment. They briefly talk in hushed tone, talking on their radio for efficiency's sake before testing Kyra's idea.

     He takes a deep breath, then pull one of the rings, briefly, just to see what happens, wiggling it around on different directions.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "I wonder how old that is." Kyra remarks. "I'll have to as Joachim later." She gets a little closer now that they've seen the range of the trap while it's activated, which fortunately is not the WHOLE hallway. In the hushed exchange, she tells Soan her idea, and keeps back as he goes back to test it.

    "There has to be some way to make them cross." Kyra observes.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    When just one ring is pulled... NOTHING happens. The trap doesn't activate, but the fused-together door doesn't move either. It seems that pulling just one ring doesn't set it off, but just one ring also isn't the answer to opening it. Both need to be pulled, but if both are pulled the trap goes off. Perhaps there's some way to pull them both without setting off the trap.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     "Mm-mm, nothing." Soan muses, loudly, nodding at Kyra as he tries out what she suggested next. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking here." The Thief says, trying to pull on the chains at the same time. In this case, however, after a brief stint of concentration, try to pull the right ring accross to where the left ring is, and the left ring accross to where the right ring is, following along the lines as they are on the door.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Meanwhile, Kyra loads up a potion in her needlegun in case Soan gets the business end of the fire trap. "The lines seem to suggest that there is a crossing at one point, I noticed. If that's not it, I'm not sure how else you can get the handles to cross unless you pull the rings simultaneously towards each other. But I'm guessing since one line overlaps the other that you need to pull one first, then the other. Maybe. I don't know, this is just my interpretation of it all!" She beams, "But I have faith in you, Soan! Especially in your reflexes if that thing goes off again!"

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    There's another click, but this time more like a locking mechanism unlocking. As right ring approaches left and left ring approaches right, it definitely seems like SOMETHING is happening... Almost. The doors kind-of-almost lurch. They move in their frames. That's more movement than has been shown so far (with there being no movement shown so far). It does seem like the two rings need to be pulled closer together. They're very, very close. This IS the right answer. But perhaps something else needs to be moved from right to the left and left to the right besides the rings. Perhaps something ELSE needs to be crossed when the rings are pulled, in order to exert enough force to draw them together.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Progress! Soan thinks, smirking to himself. He keeps the chains taut upon the path they are at. They're missing something, now. He thinks on it, discussing it with Kyra. He unhooks away from the rings, braving the remains of the flames to go look closer at the door itself. He's not afraid of fire. Within him burns a flame hotter than any alchemical compounds could hope to defeat. Unfortunately, the rest of his body don't generally subscribes to that attitude. He kneels down, looking at the bits at the bottom, trying to move them -- and to make them cross.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra continues to brainstorm through ways these doors might open. "Or maybe you need to grab the right ring with your left hand and then the left ring with your right hand and pull that way...but that wouldn't make any sense, how would the door be able to detect that." She rubs her chin as she watches Soan mess with the bottom, un-crossed pieces of the door's metalwork.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
Soan thinks on that, straightening up. "That's a pretty good idea." The Thief says. Puzzles, he swears. Traps are one thing, puzzles are another that he aren't as good toward. He brute forces puzzles, generally. He does as the White Mage suggests, grabbing the right ring with his left hand, and the left ring with his right hand. "As for how it can detect... I don't know, pressure sensors under here that tells weight ratio when swinging with a different arm," He says, pulling down and repeating the movement of earlier in this awkward position. "I'd be interested to see. They ought to have some sort of maintenance access here."

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    It's the angle. How far the rings can be pulled. It doesn't become obvious until Soan is actually doing it - and perhaps that is itself a reason for the design. Most people wouldn't think of it right away, and wouldn't realize why it would be designed that way until they actually tried it. With right hand on right ring and left hand on left ring, if they're pulled towards each other, Soan's own hands would meet, or his wrists would not bend properly, before the rings in whatever mechanism they're part of could reach the appropriate position.

    With right hand on left ring and left hand on right ring, he can pull both of them all the way towards each other - or at least enough in their mechanism to trigger a result.

    Again, the locking mechanism sound can be heard, though this time more solidly. And then the 'doors' become so loose that Soan can easily make the whole thing turn in place even by accident. The 'doors' are a wall, not a real door. A wall that rotates on a central column at the center. As the wall turns, cool, damp air flows out into the blisteringly hot and dusty hallway. There's a brief, shadowed passage on the other side, leading to a long flight of stairs, which in turn descend into a much larger, circular room, with pale blue illumination coming from cerulean-flamed torches that seem to burn perpetually.

    Within this new room, there are many shelves, tables, and counters. Some of these surfaces bear books, others jars and bottles and boxes, and still others chemistry equipment, braziers, bowls and pestles, and grinders, and so on.

    There are yet more exits brancing off from this room, but they seem dubious in their safety. Given this appears to be the laboratory, there might not be much immediate cause to investigate them right now.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan's face brightens as things starts to click. Ahh, the satisfaction of a trap being sprung, a puzzle being solved by their own hands. That's a sensation that never gets old. He lets things happens, giving a look around to Kyra with a goofy grin on his face. "Nice one, nice one. Sounds like you were right." He says, unhooking his grappling hook, carefully replacing them where they are(after they cooled off enough) and taking the lead downward, as always, on the alert. He's not sure WHY someone would trap his OWN inward laboratory, but best be careful.

     As he acts as the sentinel, he looks around, his sensitive nose on the look out for strange smells. "See what he's looking for?" He asks.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...ack! Hold up, don't go all the way in without me!" Kyra scoots up to Soan so she can move through the rotating door with him. It's not that she doesn't trust herself to manipulate the puzzle correctly after that, it's that she's worried about 'mischief' from the door. Such as it having her dumped in another room! She moves into the new, darker hallway with Soan, shivering at the damp air.

    "Hmm..!" Oh poor Kyra's excited now once they're in the alchemy lab. She wants to touch everything and take everything. But...well, the client forbid her from helping herself to the other materials. "Well, let's see.." at that point, she pulls her list out of one of her pouches and starts looking around the lab for the items that Joachim was looking for. The extra exits go unexplored for now. They don't look safe.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Minutes pass in the large laboratory, as Kyra finds some of the items on the list. But only the most mundane. It IS a large lab, so there's the possibility many other items on the list are around in here SOMEWHERE... But there may be the creeping suspicion that this is not the 'main' laboratory as so many things on the list seem to go unfound. There might, infact, be a need to go even deeper. Meaning either further exploration, or multiple trips - possibly with more help. Joachim DID promise that everyone involved would be paid in full, that the reward would not be split between them. He seemed quite confident he could afford it no matter how many of them there were.

    Soan's attempts to detect any unusual scents turns up fruit after awhile. There's... SOMETHING in the air. It's cooler and damper down here, but where's the moisture coming from? It doesn't quite smell like water. There's, infact, a pugent chemical odor to it. Irritating, even. If either Kyra or Soan are familiar with the smell, they might be able to identify it. And if they don't make the connection between the scent and its usage, they might receive another clue in a little while.

    There's a strange noise like someone sucking something up a straw, only louder than any normal-sized straw could produce.

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    Identifying where the sound came from initially may be difficult, but thankfully (or perhaps not so thankfully) the sound repeats, seemingly coming from an exit in the westernly direction.

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    What the hell IS that? Another trap of some kind?

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    Except what kind of trap is it if it's coming closer each time?

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    Oh, great. Now the pace is increasing AND it's approaching them. If Soan or Kyra or both of them keep an eye on the tunnel the sound is coming from, they might catch sight of something pale and awful like an emaciated hand atop a too-long, too-flexible arm reach up over some ledge or horizon - possibly more stairs, and come back down on the same level as they're on.

    The hand gropes around blindly, as though trying to find purchase, before sticking its fingers to the floor. Then the sound comes again.

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    The hand and attached arm thicken as it seemingly sucks something up from further down, absorbing it into itself, until some misshapen white mass suddenly rises into view, and the hand becomes a foot. The creature comes to a rest upon two hand-feet, with two more of the same at its sides. It looks very loosely humanoid, but it is stark-white, and completely featureless aside from having an approximation of a head, torso, two arms, and two legs. It has no eyes, no mouth, no ears, no nose... No markings, no apparent skeletal structure despite its thinness, no clothing or jewelry...

    It's like someone started to make a human figure out of white clay, and then stopped part way through.

    And it stands in the entrance, blind, deaf. Can it sense them? Or will it go away if they don't do anything?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Having recently visited the home of Scarlett, who is also heavily into alchemy, Kyra is suspecting a similar setup as the heiress: very expensive or rare items are locked away in a vault somewhere. Probably with security measures. That'd explain why the only things she's finding in the lab are the lamest and most mundane of things. She's still not sure why the basic stuff needs to come from his lab. It'd be easier to just pay someone to get them from a normal supplier.

    "Ugh-" Kyra definitely recognizes the smell of the preservative chemical. She works with dead specimens all the time. Searching around, she hopes to find secret compartments (or rather, she hopes Soan will find them because theives are REALLY GOOD at that), only to grow distracted by the noises.

    She watches the tunnel, reaching for one of her explosives in case one is needed. As the creature comes into view, she pulls it from her belt, but does not throw it, looking towards Soan.

    He didn't detect it as evil so there wasn't any need to attack it. Instead: "Um...hello!?" she calls out to it.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
Soan can smell things coming. The sounds was tell enough, but theunfamiliar smell, striking at his very sensitive senses. Soan wrinkles his nose from the various chemicals inside of the lab, a place that Kyra is far more at home than he is. It's amazing that she has such a complexing, considering how much of a chemist she happens to be. Or whole. Explosions happens quite a lot in thoses labs, after all.

     He turns around, reaching for Kyra's shoulder as he draw his blade again, watching the creature pull itself out of the ground like it is. He Smell nothing corrupted, it clearly seems... strange, unnatural, for certain. Perhaps it's a guardian of some sort? Perhaps it knows where things are, if it don't attack them directly?

     "Try asking it where the things are." Soan hisses to her, keeping his eyes on the creature. This thing may be a problem if it goes hostile. "If it can hear us."

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    In response to Kyra's voice, and then Soan's fainter whisper, the Pale Creature's body ripples as though the sound waves they're producing are reaching it even from across the large room. One of its hands shoots out on a suddenly-extending arm towards Kyra. It absolutely reeks of formaldehyde, and this become more pronounced as its stretchy appendage reaches for Kyra's face, the palm and fingers expanding outwards as though it intended to engulf her entire head. Which might, infact, be its intent.

    It doesn't have to be evil to be hostile.

    It might be a mindless automaton, or some manner of alchemical predator. It's doing what it was meant to do, without malice, without cruelty.

    Unfortunately, what it's meant to do appears to involve attacking people.

    The attack is swift, but very slightly off-center. Not enough to matter if it hits her, but enough to give her small room to duck or shift or twist out of the way, or for Soan to act to do something about it instead.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    As Soan suggests that she asks it where things are, Kyra is suddenly enamored with the idea that this weird thing might be some kind of assistant monster, waiting here fore years for its master's return. But then it flickers and it /moves/, morphing its body to reach out for Kyra.

    A shriek escapes the white mage as she tips sideways, moving forward and away as the stretchy hand-like appendage reaches for her face. It just misses, going pat her right shoulder, and at that point she can get a good whiff of the creature. Now doubly happy that it didn't smother her face since she knows very well just how toxic formaldehyde can be. "Don't let it touch you!" Kyra warns, scrambling for a silver canister in her pouches. She finds one, twists the top, then hurls it at the pale creature.

    The object is a time-release container on a bit of liquid nitrogen. It's time release mechanism goes off in a few seconds-hopefully when the ceature has picked the object up.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Evil or not, hostile it is, which is all Soan needed to know to spring into action. The potential that this could have been a lab assistant was a possibility. "Kyra!" He shouts, about to shove himself in the way. Fortunately, Kyra proves that she actually /has/ physical power, dodging out of the way. It must be the labs explosions. After a while, you just start to learn to duck.

     Soan leaps on top of one of the tables with a backflip, springing forth from that one to land somewhere behind the lunging creature. The main reason is not to be in the way of whatever Kyra just threw. The other, is to bring down his Blacksword donward in an arc from another leap at the creature's head, then keep cleaving as far as he can downward.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Its hand goes past Kyra when she avoids it, and the stretched surface of its palm continues on until it arcs downwards towards the ground, at which point it performs that self-absorption maneuver, along with the strange sucking noise, as it draws the rest of its body to its appendage's location.

    *ssssswiiiIIIP!*

    The cannister was a clever move on Kyra's part, but it now clinks harmlessly at the spot where the Pale Creature USED to be... Leaving Soan slashing through empty space with the cryogenic cannister about to go off right in front of him.

    Meanwhile, the Pale Creature orients on where Kyra was when she yelled. Though the sound of the cannister on the stone floor back where it just was, combined with Soan's shout, also causes ripples in its surface that result in several smaller protrusions extending from its flesh as though it's trying to form new appendages. This time when it lunges at Kyra, it is with both hands... And while it seems like it just stretched to move into her path and cut her off, demonstrating some level of intelligence... The angle of its lunge is directly between where the cannister was thrown and where Kyra is.

    It definitely seems to be navigating by vibrations or sound waves, but multiple sources of sound might confuse it. Another observation might be that when it stretched out the palm of its hand, the hand didn't become larger, just broader - and thinner. It has consistent mass. It just can manipulate it.

    All things difficult to really put together in the heat of the moment when being chased by a toxic-scented monster and facing potential accidental friendly-fire, but it's still there to be observed.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Anybody can prepare up for a hit as a thief. It's one thing to prepare for a movement, have the nerve gathered then execute it. It's another to be able to act on complete reflexes. Soan finishes his sword movement, his eys widening in horror and surprise as the thing ... does what it's just done before right before their eyes, oozing it's way away. Oh, you clever girl. His eyes watches the alchemical canister plummet through empty space, his sword clanging against the floor. He comes to a decision.

     Soan's free, buckler-wearing arm shoots out toward the canister, grabbing it deftly. Snatching things out of the air is very similar to pickpocketing, with the exception there's no clothing that's gets in the way.

     Soan does not land on the ground, himself contorting his entire body to leap off the air itself, charging at the chemical monster to ram the canister straight into it's body from behind, unheeding to it's chemical harm he might suffer later. Besides, gloves are there for that.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Even in the midsts of being attacked by a very dangerous monster, Kyra can pick up on the fact that it is attracted by sounds. It lunged at her after she spoke at it and reacted at the other noises in the room, such as the canister, which clattered loudly when it hit the floor. This could clearly be exploited by Kyra suddenly too harried to make that connection at the moment.

    Especially when the rest of the creature comes to her. She moves to run again, but then it extends out both hands, not hitting her, but moving directly into her attempted path of escape, cutting her off from Soan. She slides to a stop, flailing and struggling to not crash /into/ the monster (and thus submerge herself in whatever formaldehyde-substance it was made out of. She sees movement behind it, Soan's manuver to fast for her to really parse at the moment.

    But as she stands there, she takes a step backwards, and falls silent, hoping that if she makes no noise that it wouldn't attack her right away.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    The Pale Creature is still in the process of landing and then gathering itself, with that distinctive *ssssswiiiIIIP!* when Soan charges towards it and thrusts the cannister against its - surprisingly SOLID - body, before the relatively brief timer can go off. It doesn't have time to orient on any new sounds or take action. When the cannister goes off, the Pale Creature's flesh freezes wherever the liquid nitrogen splashes or sprays. And possibly on Soan too, but he has gloves, so hopefully they - and the rest of his clothing - cover enough and are moisture-resistant enough to keep the freezing effect off of him. Assuming he doesn't just dodge back out of range after delivering the payload.

    The creature staggers forward either way, its limbs bending, but not quite all the way, unable to move or function when a large chunk of its body has been rendered rigid and unmoving. Whether it actually feels PAIN or not is unclear, but it also doesn't appear to be dead or dying. Instead it keeps trying to pull itself along on its only limb to remain fully unfrozen, its squirming fingers stretching and turning, this way and that, in search of more vibrations.

    Even like this, it continues serving its purpose. It's a terrible, gross, and yet somehow pitiful thing. Does it even understand what has just happened to it? Will it be able to fulfill its purpose now with its body the way it is? If it thaws, will its body ever work properly again?

    Even if pity is put aside, just for practical purposes, of preventing it from being a threat in the future, it might be worth it to end its life. Or whatever passes for one. Or maybe they can simply leave it for now and come back another time. It seems like this is probably by far not the full extent of the dangers that Armster Estate has. It might take quite awhile to find the main laboratory.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     There is not much thought in Soan for his next action. The thing proven to be dangerous, attacked them on contact and after forgoing direct talk. He's not even sure if the poor thing can really understand anything, of it's intelligent. Soan don't particularly enjoy killing things, but for this case, the Thief brings his sword down after the explosion of the cannister.

     And pulling out his hand from the exploded alchemical weapon, his hand and upper arm covered in frost, as well a large part of his chest and a bit of his face. Kyra sometimes heard him do this, his eyes tightly closed as a rumble goes through his throat, almost inhuman as he pushes through the coldness burn. "Arrchn... Damn, got a bit silly, there." He mutters, taking in a deep breath, ballooning his cheeks out for a brief second. For that moment, light, flickering alive beneath his skin, dances as it fights the cold outside his skin, before he breaths out a wisp of smoke.

     He wriggle his frozen arm, testing each fingers carefully. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    At last, Kyra sees the result of what Soan had done. She would have yelled at him for picking up the canister if she'd known about it since the time to detonation on that thing was set REALLY low and should not have been handled after it was activated! Yet what he did wound up crippling the monster. After a bit of back and forth, Kyra urges Soan to kill it.

    "That was...no, you're not fine, Soan, don't move. Don't move a muscle." Kyra orders, walking around the fallen creature for a second so she can handle Soan. She reaches out and taps him gently, her fingers glowing with White Magic as she casts a cure spell on him to remove the damage done by the liquid nitrogen backsplash. The chemical freeze/burn starts to fade away.

    "There, you crazy, crazy thief." she teases him playfully before turning to the creature. From her belts and pouches come empty glass vials, which Kyra starts ushering samples into of the creature. Technically, it wasn't stealing alchemical materials if she took from this thing, after all. It wasn't against Joachim's rules to loot monsters.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan was not, in fact, fine, as Kyra says, despite his almost boy-ish attempts of warming himself up by... breathing some small amount of flames inside of his cheeks. He'd regenerate, he'd recover anyway. The Thief does not budge a muscle, watching the White Mage tapping him briefly as she cast a cure spell. Already, he can feel the warmth coursing through him. It did, in fact, feel much better.

     He breaths out. The last wisps of smoke pours out of his lips, smiling down. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks, Kyra." He says, wiping his sword off a table cloth, then sheathing his blade then dust off the remains of the melting ice off his uniform, watching her take samples out of the creature. "Taking some samples?" He asks