(Author Note: I apologize for how long this took to get out. Lately I've been... dealing with stuff and just haven't had the urge to really write. I apologize to everyone and promise that it won't happen again. I'm also sorry if this one seems a little rushed, I just didn't feel like it was right to make you all wait for longer than was needed.)
[X] Interact with the obelisk - Examine it more closely. Look for any significant symbols or markings.
[X] Talk to Lucas and Sierra and tell them that you are pretty sure that your magic is safe to use once you have figured out a spell and you would really like to create some more light so you can study the obelisk properly. Try your best to persuade them.
-[X] If they are okay with it, cast Light.
You consider your options carefully, glancing around the dark chamber. Your eyes settle on the stone obelisk and you couldn't help but feel curious about the strange object. Your instincts told you to leave, your gut told you to leave, but nevertheless, despite everything screaming at you to leave it be and keep going, you remain a living human being and suffer under the cacophony of questions that rattle around in your brain.
"Medea?" Sierra mutters. "You okay?"
"Yeah," You nod as you continue to look at the pillar. "Give me a moment."
"You're, uh, looking at that thing pretty intensely, Medea..." Lucas remarks, as she shuffles uncomfortably to your side. "I think we should go..."
"Give me. A moment." You say firmly as you move closer to the obelisk. Looking at the pillar you realize that the flame of your torch just isn't cutting it in properly illuminating it. But you knew what could help. "Hey guys?"
"What's up?" Sierra asks.
You turn to them, looking to Sierra and then to Lucas. You take a deep breathe...
"I'm going to use magic." You said. Slowly looks of unease form on their faces as they look to each other then back to you.
"Um, why?" Sierra asks, raising an eyebrow. "You promised, like, a few minutes ago that you'd only use it when it was necessary."
"Yeah, I know. But-"
"And I'm pretty damn sure
this-" Sierra gestures to the obelisk that has captivated your interest. "-doesn't qualify as necessary."
"Hear me out," You say, raising your free hand to stop her. "What I was going to say was that I'm pretty sure that I can use spells that I've done before safely, and well..." You look to Lucas. "Remember the first spell you saw me do?"
"Yeah?" He utters. He's quiet for a moment, but then you see realization dawn on him. "Oh, I get it."
"What? What are you two talking about?" Sierra asks, slightly confused.
"The, uh, first spell that I saw Medea cast was a light spell." Lucas explained as he looked over your shoulder towards the obelisk. "I'm guessing that she intends to use it to light up the thing so she could get a better look at it."
"And it would be better than this torch for lighting our way." You chimed in.
"I see..." Sierra muttered in thought as she cupped her chin. Her questioning gazes shifts over to you, looking you over as she quietly mulls over this information. After a moment she speaks. "And you think you could do this 'light' spell again? Without hurting yourself in the process?"
"I think so," You nod in affirmation. "I remember how I did it before and how I felt when I did it. I think I should be able to replicate the process to cast the spell again. To be honest I've just been flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to this magic stuff and I've screwed up a few times already, but when I get it right I feel like I could do it again. if that makes sense."
"That... doesn't exactly inspire confidence." Sierra says. You looked to the ground, feeling a little crestfallen. "Lucas, your thoughts?"
"If Medea thinks she can do it again then I don't see a problem." He shrugs. "I mean, I've seen her do this one before so maybe she'll pull it off just fine...?"
"'Maybe she'll pull it off'?" Sierra raises and eyebrow, folding her arms.
"I don't know. I don't know how this shit works." He replies, sounding more than a little frustrated. "If she thinks she can do it then I say fine. She's the party wizard here."
Sierra hums to herself in thought, her gaze shifting from Lucas to you. She sighs and raises her hands. "Fine." She says. "But if you get hurt I'm going to kick your ass for being an idiot, Medea."
"Noted." You say, giving her a smile. "And thanks for trusting me."
Sierra says nothing, instead shooting you a look that basically told you to "Get on with it." You nod your head and hold out your hand, closing your eyes and focusing. You focus on what you want to achieve, letting the energy inside flow through you as take care not to put too much or too little into the spell. Trying to get the energy just right, trying to be as exact as possible with how much you used before. Soon you open your eyes and in your hand is the orb of light, illuminating the room. You look to Sierra and Lucas expectantly but see they are looking around the room in wide eyed terror. You raised an eyebrow in confusion but you followed their gazes.
The moment you do you feel the blood drain from your face and your eyes go wide.
There in the distance, that was once just out of the torch's field of light but now illuminated by the much more powerful orb of light was something
growing the surface of the walls and floors of the room. It looked... organic;
alive. It reminded you of exposed muscle with sinews grafting it to the walls. This organic tissue pulsated and quivered, almost like it was
breathing. It stretched out as far as you could seeing, to a door on a distant wall.
You looked back towards the direction you were all going and see a hole in a wall, just in the distance. It appeared like something had broke through the wall as the ground in front of the hole was littered in broken stone. The meat-like moss stretched out towards the hole, going through it and stretching into the darkness beyond.
"Medea..." You hear Sierra whisper quietly. "Do what you wanted to do and let's get the
fuck out of here."
You nod frantically and quickly turn back to the obelisk, focusing on it and trying to push out the thought of that stuff growing on the walls.
Immediately you note that the surface of the obelisk is covered with an array of bas-reliefs which depict various monstrosities that spread across the obsidian surface of the pillar.Something you couldn't have made out until you had this much brighter light source. Design-wise they appear to be drawn similarly to the sea monsters you'd see on old maps from centuries prior, albeit somehow drawn more horrifically. As if someone took those old depictions of sea monsters and ran them through the unfiltered nightmares of some mad artist.
The various creatures that covered the obelisk's surface were depicted destroying ships, consuming humans, or battling one another. Near the top of the obelisk were a humanoid-like set of carvings, just below the arms of the statue that clung to the obelisk. Strangely, they looked nothing like the human carvings that were being devoured by the monster carvings, being drawn badly out of proportion with elongated limbs, bulbous heads, and claw-like hands and feet, and were drawn in such a way that it appeared they were paying homage to the statue attached to the obelisk.
Still curious you circle around the pillar, studying each of the markings on the object's surface. You stop when you spy something quite peculiar. You see a bare spot of the pillar, free of any carvings of seafaring beasts and baring letters. What you were seeing was a word, but it was obscured by decaying barnacles and thick effluvial grime.
AB████S█████U█████T
Looking at it, you guessed that you could probably clear it off to get a better look at the word. You reach out towards the pillar only for a hand to grab your shoulder a pull you back. You let out a startled squeak as you were whirled around, your eyes making contact with Sierra's angry glare.
"No." She said in a scolding tone.
"What?"
"You are
not touching that thing." She said as she folding her arms under her chest.
"I wasn't going to touch it!" You protest. "I was going going to clear off the gunk on it to see this word."
"That sounds
exactly like touching it." Sierra sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Whatever..." You roll your eyes.
"Don't 'whatever' me, Medea." Sierra said coldly, her eyes locking back onto your's.
"Sorry,
mom." You reply sardonically with another roll of the eyes.
"I'm not..." She begins to say before trailing off. She sighs once more before rubbing her eyes. "Look, I'm just trying to look out for you, alright? This is all... I don't know, but it isn't normal. That shit growing on the fucking walls isn't normal."
"Understatement of the goddamn year..." Lucas comments from the side. Sierra turns to glare at him, silently telling him to keep quiet. He seems to get the message as he raises his hands and gives an apologetic look.
"Look, I just want us to get out of here..." She reasoned. "I'm sure you think this is all interesting to look at but we are not in a good place, Medea. Can we please just
leave?"
You looked at her, then looked to Lucas who was looking around nervously. She had a point, this isn't right, but at the same time you had to know. But maybe it would be best to just leave as quickly as possible. You think over your choices for a moment, briefly musing how did you become the leader in all this, before deciding...
[ ] Interact with the obelisk - Write in
[ ] Interact with the altars surrounding the obelisk - Write in
[ ] Go through the hole in the wall.
[ ] Go through the door.
[ ]
GO BACK
[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Secondary option may be taken)
