The Trials of Manatoria [Game Started!]

[Aleph-Null]

(Do we see anything different about the five platforms to the left with black squares in the middle?)

A look of concern crossed Syl's face as she entered the room. A room full of water in a trial where water is a prison couldn't be good. Spotting the stone tablet she stepped over to have a look. She wrote the words down as she spoke them out loud to the group.

Looking up she continued, "I would assume this means once we leave a platform, returning to it will..." She trailed off as she noted the absence of Lulu. "Did she just, jump? well hopefully she's alright." After a pause she continued, "I think returning to a platform will cause it to crumble. Additionally, the platforms are a distance apart. I could try to bridge them with ectoplasm, but maybe we need to literally ask the air to be solid?"

[Arthotus]

To Lulu, you're able to shrink about half your size, and your head shrinks even less, since it houses your brain. You jump and drop, no invisible platform to save you from the water below. Your adhered tail allows you to sort of Blob your way back onto land, but only because Mathew cautiously steps on the end of your tail, otherwise, even your sticky grip would not have held to the smooth stone. What you do notice though, is that directly below you, there is small section of frothing, bubbling water, and a ladder built into the stone behind you, making it very easy to climb back up. There doesn't seem to be any other bubbling sections of water except directly below the entrance platform.

After Lulu is reeled back in, Mathew inspects the gap. "It's only a short distance and a big platform. We could jump it. I mean... I could pretty easily..."

(Those platforms have a literal black square in the center. )

[Aleph-Null]

(could I get a bit of clarification? The slab is described as several dozen meters away, is Mathew saying she can jump 80 feet? or is there a closer slab?)

"This leads us to the next question, there are five slabs with a black spot on them and five of us. Do we go left, and try to interact? Or go right to avoid them?"

[Arthotus]

(Ah my mistake. The slabs are only meant to be a few meters apart. That was a typo on my part which I will now correct. Still a long distance, but with a running start it should be easy to make)

[Netjak]

With a clearly nervous, almost frightened expression plastered onto her face, Kera would have followed the party into the massive, water filled room, refraining from leading the charge, but also from making up the back. The froggen spellblade would do as her collegue did and tip toe her way over to the stone slab, hurriedly reading it, and agreeing to Syl's assesment. "Or, maybe the water comes rushing down the moment you step backwards from one platform to another, washing you off the slab and into the water.", Kera would note, and if Lulu shared her observation, she would add, "But atleast we know the way out, and the first part of this little riddle."

"S-so, I don't know if we all need to go at once or something, or if the trial is smart enough to recognize all of us going forwards seperately, but I feel like this is sort of a maze. With the way these slabs are just floating, I would guess that this is the air mentioned in the riddle, and guess that we will have to avoid the 'earth', which probably will make the platforms crumble or something, whatever it is. I have no idea what the 'fire of life' is though...", Kera quite absentmindedly rambled on, all the while carefully stepping out as close to the edge that she dared to get a better look around, trying to keep her mind on the task ahead and retain her bravery.

[Zephyr42]

Stan knelt down and stared at the water. "So, don't go back," he said. "But what does the first tablet mean? Fire of life could mean that we take three times as long to die, but I'm not wanting to test that. Water shall be a prison and air its key, does that mean that we have to blow on something?" He then stood up, looking at everything again. "Earth shows how fragile air can be? Hmm... I've got an idea."

Stan then turned around and walked back into the entry room. There, he looked around for a set of pebbles or a handful of sand, hoping to gather up enough to make a handful and toss out on the water. If that failed, he'd use his pick and rope to launch at the nearest platforms, seeing which ones it stuck in.

[Arthotus]

There's only one platform in 'range' and there's no sand or dirt or loose stones, the room is perfectly clean. You throw your hook and it lands on the stone with a clank.

[Netjak]

( I assume the red on the map opposite of the red where we are is the exit of the room and the way forward, but can we see it from where we are?)

[Arthotus]

Yes, it's a well lit tunnel much like the one you came in through, though it's quite a distance away. You can see the whole room at the moment.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

(sorry for not posting yesterday, had to run all over the place, wore me out and I just dropped asleep when I got home)

*Lulu would indeed share her perspective after she 'glooped' back up* (thanks for the note about the head not shrinking, almost missed that)*, "Hey there's a ladder down there...", *Shed say before stretching her neck out to look over the edge, shed scan the area trying to see if there was anything else, then she'd notice the bubbles*, "hey everyone, where are those bubbles coming from...you think there's something alive down there?", *Lulu reached into her right hip(litterally inside her slimey frame) and withdrew her fishing kit, just a small bamboo rod with two short segments, in one end there were a bunch of fish hooks in the other a spool of shark sinew string which she tied to the bamboo rod, pressing her belly she swiftly yapped up a piece of salmon meat, mostly the head though, and used it as bait before dropping the line off of the edge.*

[Aleph-Null]

Noting Lulu's words as she ascended the ladder, Syl replied, "I don't imagine there is anything alive down there, in context of the tablets, I'm now thinking that falling in the water will leave you trapped unless you come back to this point. In any case, our goal is most likely to get to the tunnel at the other end. Lulu, can you make the jump to the next platform? If not, I can make a sort of bridge."

With that Sylvana stepped to the edge, bent down, and took the leap forward, her powerful legs carrying her high into the air. She would have her ectoplasm spell ready to anchor her to a platform lest something divert her path.

[Arthotus]

Sylvana decides to be the first to actually attempt to jump and makes the leap to the first platform. She lands on the surprisingly solid platform, and immediately, a torrent of water descends from the ceiling. It formed a perfect curtain of water around the platforms not immediately adjacent to the one Sylvana was standing on.

[SakuraHanaryuu]

(Damnit I thought I was going to do better than this but I think I need to pull out. Reality has been kicking me hard recently, I don't think I can manage more than two RPs at once and I'm "Leading" one already. I'm so sorry but I need to pull out of the Trials RP. Thanks for letting me try.)

[Arthotus]

(Ok. I'll just have to Puppet you for the rest of the trial)

[Netjak]

(( Sorry, it has been a busy few days, during which I have struggled with some personal things that left me too down to get into writing a reply. ))

Kera had been worried about the lack of any obvious adversary patrolling the tomb, so when Lulu noted the possibility of mounstrous fishes twirling about beneath the waves, the froggen mumbled a soft, "Aha!", as she inched towards the edge to peer down into the water, both fearful and keenly interested in what yummy fish could live in this seemingly bottomless body of water.

Of course, the ammount of bubbles seemed artificial, and not very mobile, so Kera put that thought behind her, though, she did keep an eye on the slimedragon as she set about fishing in the trial, finding it an odd, but good idea. Kera's mind was however (mainly) on the task at hand, which was making it to the hallway on the opposite side of the room, which probably was the obvious continuation of their trial. Only, how were they supposed to go about it? It wasn't that she was purposfully (atleast not wholly) waiting for someone else to take the first step, but the froggen's heart did calm down a bit as Syl landed on the platform, even as water encased the whole thing- Hurrying up to the edge closest to the platform with waterfalls all around it, with reasonable speed, Kera leant over as close to the water as she could without putting herself at risk of falling, and started to blow on the rushing liquid. Literally hoping that the first thing about water being a prison and air it's key didn't just concern the ladder up and out of the lake below them.

[Arthotus]

(To clarify Water is not pouring down around Sylv. All Platforms that she can jump to, including the starting platform, are still accessible, but any platforms beyond the ones immediately adjacent to her, up, down, left, right, and diagonal, PAST those, there is a wall of water, separating her and you all from the majority of the trial. It is not preventing her from moving forwards, but you can no longer see the entire trial. )

[Netjak]

(Copy!)

In that case Kera would not blow on the water, but rather ponder aloud, " So it is just a labyrinth then", before setting about mapping the platforms with her chalk and paper out of memory.

[Zephyr42]

After a moment waiting for the platform to collapse under Syl, Stan leapt after her, careful to call out his move and land on the platform with all the grace he could muster. From there, he started tossing his tool at the other platforms, trying to see if that would gather any more information. Then, however, something came to him. Coiling the rope of his tool, he licked his finger and held it up to the air, trying to get the feeling for a wind current.

[Arthotus]

Stan jumps across, and the moment his feet touch the platform, the entire platform turns to dust. Sylvana and Stan drop to the water below before either can do anything before they both plummet to the water below.

Slyv and Stan hit with a surprisingly muted splash, and as they look around, there's a single enormous octopus swimming up from the black depths towards them. If either tries to surface, they find the surface of the water rubbery and solid, unable to even slip a finger through. They can see the jet of bubbles that marked the ladder behind them.

As everyone else watched the pair plummet into the water below, the dust of the platform suddenly reconstituted into the platform again, floating still in the air, as if nothing had happened at all.

[Zephyr42]

Stan is surprised for a moment, but upon spotting the octopus, he immediately starts swimming for the ladder, trying to get to it before using one side of it to climb out of the water (pointing to the other side for Syl to climb out of. If he can't get out there, he turns and draws his weapon, ready to try and scratch the octopus with it if nothing else.