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Bright Journey	As the pitched alley battle comes to a close, and the last two demon spiders are dispatched with flares of Essence, Bright takes a moment to pause and straighten, just -looking- around at the absolute mayhem and carnage. The whole battle didn't take more than a few minutes, barely enough to get more than a few decent shots in. But look at what happened in that time! Two spiders are naught but flaming ruins, still smoldering where they stood. Others are sliced to ribbons. One is splattered like the bug it is, fetched up against the wall and more liquid than solid. Of the one Rishi took out, the less said the better. Bright's anima is still flaring, the sign of the eclipse on her brow, and she's not the only one. Any normal person coming in now would have no questions about who these warriors are, at least in general terms. But of course, none are dumb enough to come anywhere close. Bright walks forward in the deafening silence following the battle, gingerly toeing a shattered spider leg to one side, to peer curiously down the tunnel once more.
Reforged Resurgence	With one last look at the scene, Resurgence relaxes from his stance to standing at ease. He reloads his flamepiece and then gestures down the tunnel with it: "I'm ready to end this whenever all of you are."
Rishi	Rishi looks down over her body, clearly considering the new claws and mutations, before she nods. "I am not sure how long I shall be keeping these, but I am definitely thinking they will being useful shortly. Unless there is just being a portal to hell down there." She headtilts and considers. "If there is being a Sorcerer, then it is being best that they are not casting the spells. I shall try to be draining their essence to be preventing this."
Amethyst	No one needs a light source anymore with the brightly glowing, violet anima surrounding the young Dragon. Her anima pulses as though representing the waves of the ocean as she looks at RR. "Let's not be so hasty. We don't even know who or what is going on here yet. We just know there was a bunch of demon spiders." Amethyst walks forward, looking down the tunnel. "We should continue down here, see what we can learn. Not that we have much in the way of surprise now, but still."
Fudou the Mountain	"Hmm.." Fudou lifts up and shoulders his great weapon with a heavy rumble as it thuds down onto his expansive shoulders. He waits, patiently, as the others speak and then looks down the tunnel and points in that direction. "Let's go then. Don't be hasty, true enough, but we won't learn anything by standing still." With that, he steps forward, taking a few rumbling movements to move further along before pausing to look over his shoulder at the others, "Well?"
Bright Journey	The sides of the tunnel are at least rough enough that no one is going to slip and slide down them, but still, the slope is such that it's difficult to move at full speed. It's pitch black, of course, but between Amethyst's light concoction, several peoples' anima banners, and a glowing weapon or two, it's not actually very hard at all to see. The tunnel actually starts out steeper at the top, leading quickly from the entrance, then tapers to a shallower decline later on. Strands and globs of hell-silk adorn the rough-hewn stone here and there, but they're less traps and more remnants; easily avoided by the careful. The tunnel is long, however, a good deal longer than it seems like it should or even needs to be. It curves to and fro, but not to any exceptional degree, and despite that bit of meandering definitely seems to be heading somewhere. It's far too long to just be a warren.
Amethyst	"How long have they been building this?" Amethyst asks, "This doesn't seem like the thing you'd build in a single season. Especially not this far underground." Amethyst's ears swivle to and fro, as though searching for errant sounds. "That or we're dealing with someone of considerable strength to make something like this so quickly. Remind me how long ago these demon killings started."
Silk Moon Lotus	From the darkness of the tunnel a shaft of golden light appears. The light quickly spreads to beome Silk dropping down upon the spider demon. The shaft is infact the spear that Silk had been carrying earlier. The spear impacts with the demon causing a burst of daylight from the point of impact. The demon explodes in a shower of flaming bits creating more light in the tunnel. A golden ring is clearly visible upon Silk's brow. She looks to the rest of the team. "I couldn't let it get away, and I really wanted to see how the spear was going to work out."
Rishi	As the group is walking, both Rishi and her shadow, still apparent in the light of her anima, are looking closely at the walls, switching sides regularly so they both get a good look at everything. Rishi also periodically sniffs the air, checking to see that the distinctive smell of Malfeas never appears.
Fudou the Mountain	"This isn't right." concludes Fudou - stating what is probably on everyone elses mind. Unfortunantely he can't go any faster without changing forms and he's loath to do that right now and fly into a potential trap. "Where are we? How old is this place? Is it the work of the gods of Great Forks?"
Bright Journey	"Rough hewn or not," Bright replies, "I'm starting to think that if the spiders themselves didn't carve this it was magic. You're right, this is amazingly long for just...what do they call them? Nests? Dens?" Bright sighs. "Webs, I guess." She looks at Fudou and nods thoughtfully. "I don't know anything about tunnel digging, but there's not a thick carpet of dust in here, just little rocks all over. I'm not sure this is all -that- old. And I can't imagine the Gods here had much to do with it, could they? I suppose it's possible. What about the rest of you, any ideas?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks around at the rocks and shrugs "We should keep going down the tunnel. With a little luck, we will find the person who though summoning a bunch of spider demons was a good idea."
Reforged Resurgence	Examining the stonework, Resurgence squints a little. "Hmm. Looks like anything could've made this, maybe something using magic, but I dunno. Might not've been the spiders." He turns to the rest of the group. "I know it's not much to go on, but if it's a trap, we're strong enough, smart enough, or whatever, together to break out of it ourselves."
Amethyst	Amethyst considers this place, running a hand along the wall as she goes, looking and contemplating these features. "Ain't no spider. But this is awfully coarse to have been magic. Usually," And the Dragon looks at Rishi, contemplating her Sapphire Circle magic, "Magic stones are really smooth and perfected. If it were a Raksha, their story would certainly include something about being 'humble' or 'crude'."
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence perks up at Amethyst's last remark, his tail flicking behind him. "Well if it is, we'll write the final page for 'em." He twirls his flamepiece and keeps it pointed upward. "We ready for this?"
Rishi	Rishi headtilts, looing at the wall, while her shadow flies around Ammy, looking closely at her. "Yes, I am also thinking that this wall was recent and not dug by Sorcery. Nor are we being in the Hell or one of the Realms of the Gods. The Stone Elementals would also be making well kept. So, it is probably having been dug by more of the demons. I would be expecting the Blood Apes."
Fudou the Mountain	"Fair enough." muses Fudou, "Let's continue then. Allow me.." He shuffles his massive body forward, intending on taking point should any surprise attack be sent their way. It's probably a good idea to have a meatwall there, though it may block any rapid counter attacks from behind.
Reforged Resurgence	Calling upon the faintest of memories, Resurgence makes a decision. "I'll cover our, uh, backs? Rear. I'll cover our rear," he says, proceeding to the back of the group. "Everyone else, help me or cover the big guy."
Silk Moon Lotus	"I'll cover the big guy" Silk moves with cat like grace and takes up a position a couple of her paces behind Fudou.
Rishi	Rishi takes up a position next to Silk and behind and to the side of Fudo, pulling a vial of something from her bag. "I am being ready to counter any of the spells."
Bright Journey	Well, one thing's for sure. The tunnel can't help but end up boring after not too terribly long. Not even any web traps any more to make things interesting. But as we all know, everything must come to an end. So it is with the tunnel. It's about another 15 minutes or so of travel before the large group of Exalted finally sees a widening of the tunnel, and it, for the most part, levels off and flattens, leading into what looks to be a large chamber. The light at first plays weirdly in the chamber, reflecting off structures within the room and casting wild shadows everywhere. It's only after everyone starts to move inside that the various light sources make it a little clearer what is going on in here. Carved in relief is a circular chamber, roughly 100 feet across, with pillars artfully carved in various regular places to shore up the ceiling. Other pillars have collapsed here and there, though the ceiling doesn't -look- to be in imminent danger of collapsing. Yet. The walls are carved in bas relief, with more of the same style of pillar at regular intervals around the edges, and scenes of some variety carved into the greenish stone in between. None are immediately close enough to make details visible, but even at a distance and in poor lighting, there is a subtle but palpable wrongness about them. The odor that wafts through the room is spicy and rich, and frankly unmistakable. Malfeas, without question. There are no visible exits, and yet, the carved stone tunnel is clearly not part of the original design...
Amethyst	As the time has passed her anima has gradually receded like the tide going back into her. And her blood whip has ceased glowing blue and returned to its usual blood red color, moving on its own accord independant of Amethyst's arm. And when she reaches this chamber, she stops and peers at it with her night vision, looking still in both material and dematerial at once. Though her eyes and ears cannot lock onto anything in particular, she's on edge. "This is bad. Really bad" Amethyst says, her eyes and ears track things but she can't seem to get a bead on anything in particular. "I can't put my finger on exactly why, but it is uncomfortable." And then she notices the strange warping effects. "...and I pray that my vision deceives me as I see the essence here warping and changing at the edges of my vision."
Fudou the Mountain	"Is it the wyld?" rumbles Fudou as he looks around in confusion and frowns deeply. The particulars of this are beyond him but concern is clear on his face. "Certainly something must be causing these..distortions. Can it be found and destroyed? Or at least removed?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks to the sorcerers in the group "I have no clue what's going on in here. Can you make this stop somehow? Do we need to drop the ceiling? Maybe smashing stuff will break the effect?"
Rishi	Rishi headtilts, this chamber clearly not being what she expected and heads forth around the edge of the chamber, her castemark blossoming once more as she examines the reliefs in its pure silver light.
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence looks around the chamber nervously, allowing himself only the barest of glances as he tries to keep the majority of his attention on the tunnel behind the group. Between his uneasiness and uncertainty, he can't quite make sense of this wrong-feeling place.
Amethyst	"If the Wyld smelled like hell then sure, this would be the wyld. Heck I'd probably be at home here if it were wyld." Amethyst grumbles. "That's the worst thing, this place's essence is all wrong and shifting and it's /not/ wyld essence. I know my markings protect me from the wyld, but I don't know if they protect me from anything else."
Amethyst	Amethyst heads over with Rishi to look at the decor.
Bright Journey	As Rishi looks over the nearest bas relief, her caste mark illuminates a desolate, undulating wasteland of a mural. It extends floor to ceiling, pillar to pillar, and shows naught but sand, sandblasted stone formations, and fine details that, upon closer inspection, might be partial skeletons. Half buried, half disintegrated. The next mural is of a roiling sea, horizon to horizon, with the remains of a great galleon splintered, warped...melted. The next is of a great org of flames above a desiccated cityscape, with collapsed buildings, rotting corpses below, and a few living beings, both human and demon, afflicted with a horrific wasting sickness. And more murals extend off to either side, surrounding the room...
Fudou the Mountain	"Right.." rumbles Fudou as he hears Amethyst. He should have known, really. He perfers to play the boorish huge guy but..he's smarter then he looks and he finally takes a moment to fully holster his grand goremaul against his back and then to begin to step forward to start to examine the images. His eyes dart over the murals and he wrinkles his nose and rumbles slowly, "It feels like..a place of worship to me. Dedication to these...places..things..ideas. We should figure out a way to destroy it. Something is tryign to take root here. Perhaps they are trying to -make- a portal to Malfeas with some lasting stability.."
Amethyst	"Oooh. A story." Amethyst grins. Figuring out and understanding things about stories is critical to understanding the fae and her own sorcerous tradition. She produces a notebook and a pencil and begins to contemplate the murals, trying to put together the story they are depicting. Hopefully this is a story, anyway. Ammie's going to do her best to come up with one even if there's not.
Rishi	Rishi nods after seeing a few of the murals. "I am not being the expert on the Geomancy, but I am knowing much about Hell. These are the imprisoned enemies of the gods, those beings that our blessings were forged to be fighting." She points to the first one. "The Desert with No Ending." The second. "The Ocean of Acid." "The Virdigris Sun." "The Dragon of the Beyond." "The Giant Pig." "And many of the more." Rishi nods when Fudo speaks. "This is feeling to me like the chapel too. It would be best to be breaking it, but carefully." She looks over to Ammy. "What are you thinking?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk walks over to the pillars and starts to examine them. "I think you are correct, perhaps if we can change the focal point of the room, we can disrupt the power?"
Bright Journey	Bright doesn't look lost, precisely, but she is doing a lot more listening than speaking. She looks at the murals and compares them to Rishi's commentary, nodding slowly, but is not really contributing to moving the plan forward. "I think, perhaps, that the idea of a temple isn't far off. Do these cults typically worship -all- of them, though, or one in particular? And there's no pews, no altar. Weird for a temple, to my mind." The person who has real inspiration, though, is Fudou. At the thought of making a portal, he looks at the murals, and the shifting sense of wrongness intensifies. The murals have a purpose, they're not just decorative. But where are they focused?
Fudou the Mountain	"I don't know the lore of these demon lords.. but if we smell hell then hell is not far off or inaccessible to here somehow. There is a scent. Somehow, someway, there is a link between there and here. I am speculating but it only makes sense." suggests Fudou. He indicates the murals, "These are places as well as the demon lords, yes? So what if somehow these can take someone there? Or is somehow involved in bringing something from there her?"
Amethyst	Amethyst stops what she was doing and puts her scribing stuff away. "Alas, I never studied geomancy myself. Though, it would make a lot of sense if this all was indeed some variety of portal room. Breaking it will require some care and focus and I'm afraid that I don't have the right skillset for understanding the geomancy. But maybe there's some sort of working at play." And she then focuses her attention towards those center two pillars. Her essence-laden eyes are searching for the tell-tale signs of a some variety of sorcerous working.
Fudou the Mountain	"Find something safe to break." adds Fudou after a brief pause. He nods to the center pillars. "If not the murals then maybe that? That looks like a place someone would stand if something of import was going on. Possibly the portal itself if something like that is indeed going on here. But we need to do something. Now." He loosens his massive arms up, sinew bulking up and creaking audibly under his toughened flesh. "Pick something. These pillars, then?"
Rishi	Rishi floods her senses with essence, searching the scents of magic in this room for any kind of pattern that could be disrupted.
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence's eyes don't stop scanning the tunnel entrance, but his attention is slowly pulled away from the task at hand. "Call me if you need me, big guy. I've knocked over a building or two before, and somehow I don't think knocking over a pillar or smashing a wall would be much different.
Bright Journey	Here, in the darkness far beneath the alley with quite a few dead demon spiders now, our party of Solars, Lunars, and Dragon-Blooded work together to divine the purpose of the room they now stand in. Perhaps 100' in diameter, made of greenish stone, with murals depicting the various Malfeans upon the walls and a series of stone pillars throughout the room holding up the ceiling. It's naturally dark in here but the group has several sources of illumination, and so far various folks have determined how the murals, and the room's geomantic design, focus towards the center of the room. Bright Journey is at best an armchair occult scholar, though at the rate things are going that may eventually change. She's scratching the back of her head and considering the design of the room. The central circular area on the floor--about ten foot diameter or a little smaller--is surrounded by seven oddly placed pillars, not equidistant and not really in keeping with the regular outer wall. The odd design contributes to the subtle wrongness of the place, but what exactly can be -done- with it--or about it--is another question entirely.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk continues to walk the perimeter of the inner circle looking at each of the pillars and assessing the flow of the essence about the room. A shiver runs down her spine when she considers the impications of what this room means. "So, now we have to find a Yozi cult in the city?"
Fudou the Mountain	Fudou is smarter then the average burly herculean strongman ..but his patience has limits. He sussed out what he could and offered his advice but he looks to be growing weary with what he perceives as skulking around and clue hunting. "If it's broken, it can't be used, correct? So let's break it. What're we waiting for? We see that the demon lords are involved or at least being honored here. What more do we need?" He points at the pillars in the room center and then gestures around haphazardly. "Let's vandalize it. If you won't then I will." It's more a warning to hurry it up and that he stands ready to do something. He's unsure if the place will cave in on them all if he just gets to breaking things haphzardly.
Amethyst	"Or worse." The alchemist says to Silk. "Considering my own plans to one day bridge the gap between the wyld and my own home so that I might have a workshop in the midst of chaos, perhaps there's something here I could gleam. And maybe I can use that turn the magic of this place against itself. I don't think haphazardly destroying things will be be to our benefit." Amethyst goes about looking around the room with her strange essence-laden eyes focusing and unfocusing as she considers this place and its magics.
Reforged Resurgence	From his particular spot on the floor, Resurgence gives a backwards glance. "That's a great idea, Amethyst. I always wanted a creepy basement."
Bright Journey	Bright frowns, thinking, pacing around the central circle and peering here and there. "Is there...I don't know...some way to see magic? I don't know a whole lot about this but I'm sure this will make a lot more sense if one of us could actually see the Essence moving, instead of just guessing where it goes." She frowns as she holds up her bow, allowing the shining light of her hearthstone to illuminate the stone. "Or maybe we have to...I don't know...activate it to see what it's going to do. Maybe there's a way to -start- the process without going all the way?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk stops pacing around the pillars. "It probably isn't the best idea to smash them. We are far enough underground that the ceiling coming down on us might kill us all." She enters the circle itself and begins to examine each of the pillars from inside the circle while looking at each mural to see if they line up with the pillars from insite the circle.
Amethyst	"With the wyld at my fingertips I plan on building a network of portals, really. All through a home that will built into a freehold in the midst of chaos! But that's a discussion for another time. Here we have a portal to collapse. And Bright has a good thought." Amethyst heads towards the center. Her eyes' veins are still violet and slightly glowing. "As I am now I can physically /see/ the flows of essence." She takes a careful look at that center stone, trying to figure out how exactly it might be activated, and if it might just be possible to stop the magic in the middle of the process. "Really, I imagine if we wish to destroy the magic here, disrupting it while it tries to work isn't the worst idea I've had."
Rishi	Having sniffed all around the walls, Rishi heads towards the center of the room to closely examine the pillars and search the area for hidden places. "This is definitely being the focus for this room and all of the Sorcery inside of it. However it is all seeming to be...dormant, yes? Like it is being waiting for a spell to be triggering it and opening the portal. Hmmm." At Bright's comment, Rishi smiles "My nose is smelling the essence, so I will be telling you if anything is happening." Then she tilts her head. "Mmm. Perhaps is is simply being that simple? Shall I try the first few steps of the summoning of the demons?"
Fudou the Mountain	Consideration that collapsing the pillars might destroy the room and any means of escape he thinks he can pull off might completely wreck a large part of the city above them keeps Fudou at bay, but he does continue to appear restless. When talk of summoning the demons begins, he raises an eyebrow and folds his arms, looking on with notable curiousity now.
Bright Journey	The subtle sense of wrongness of the room only intensifies as Silk peers intently at the interior of the pillars as they face the center of the circle. Bright Journey, just as her name implies, is illuminating them fairly well, but she clearly just doesn't have the Occult knowledge yet to really understand what it is she's looking at. To her they're just stone pillars, with oddly shaped brickwork that looks a little cockeyed when you stare at them dead on. Silk, though has the spatial understanding, and Amethyst and Rishi the Occult knowledge and power to detect Essence that's needed to really grasp what's going on. As Silk looks at the oddly placed pillars, with the odd brickwork, she notices a small piece of greyish metal wedged in between two of the stones. It's wedged in fairly tight, but picking at it with just her fingers nets results. It's soft, and surprisingly heavy for its size, but as soon as it's pried free Rishi instantly detects an -intense- waft of the spicy, rich odor of Malfeas. Amethyst alone sees the truth: She sees the paler green grout, inert but a moment ago, flare to life as whatever chunk of metal Silk removed suddenly ceases to obscure a portion of grout, now obviously laced with some kind of Essence channeling substance. In her sight the grout between the oddly shaped stones forms what is now obviously a Malfean rune of succor--of summoning, and of dimensional travel. On the ceiling and floor, the portion of the interior circle closest to that pillar begin to glow with the beginnings of sickly greenish lines, a beginning to a magic circle inscribed with nothing but pure Essence.
Rishi	Rishi nods. "Ahh, yes that explains much. Fudou, will you please destroy these pillars? That should be preventing anything bad from happening."
Amethyst	"Oh no." The first words out of the Dragon's mouth. "A Malfean rune of Succor, Summong, and interdimensional travel. The rune is /in/ the essence!" She walks towards the rune and looks at it, taking her ritual blade out. "Can I break it?" She wonders to herself. And then she hears Rishi. "Aa! No. Nonono. That'll bring this entire place down on top of us!"
Fudou the Mountain	"It could..yes..." acknowledges Fudou. "That was why I didn't already act. I considered that possiblity. I could burrow my way out but that doesn't do anything for you all or the city above..." He grumbles in annoyance. Stupid cities. "However, maybe damaging just one of the pillars or replacing it with something else that isn't tied to the sorcery may do the trick?"
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence again looks away from the entrance: "We could borrow some of the walls and wedge those in place. Actually, that might be an interesting project. You think you'd be up for that, big guy?"
Amethyst	Amethyst nods towards Fudou and breaths a little sigh of relief as she investigates the grout itself. "What if I just carved this shit out of the pillar?" Amethyst's blood whip wiggles intently. She puts her blade away and directs her sorcerous blood to scrape at that grout, looking between the rune of essence and the pillar as she works.
Silk Moon Lotus	"What if we just break the grout lines on each of the pillars?" Silk looks over to see Ames already testing her theory. "Right, I'll try this one." Silk extends a claw on her gauntlet and carefully scrapes away some of the grout from the pillar where the flow is obvious.
Bright Journey	Bright looks alarmed as well when Rishi mentions destroying the pillars. She holds out her free hand, shaking her head rapidly. "No, no, -bad- idea. I think we can do this without sacrificing our lives! Besides which, even if we want to make sure this portal never opens again, don't you all want to...I don't know, at least see -how- it works? Maybe we can do something like this later on, to somewhere...less green," Bright lamely adds. Now that everyone knows what to look for, the rest of the chunks of lead can relatively easily be found. Each pillar has two or three runes per, and Bright is on the other side of the circle by now, looking at one of the runes on the opposite side. "I'm assuming something horrible will happen if we pry loose all of these at once, but two won't be a problem, will it?"
Fudou the Mountain	Fudou the Mountain looks on, disappointed. He clearly wanted to break something and probably show off. "Hmph. Good work." he rumbles.
Amethyst	"Two shouldn't be a problem. And if it comes to it, I'll grab my athame and try to break it with my own essence. I'm sure the fellow sorcerer here would help me with that, too." There's a meaningful glance at Rishi. And then she she has a thought, "Maybe I oughta sketch this rune, just in case it might be useful later on." And so Amethyst takes a moment to take notes on the rune that she can see. "It could be a clue later on."
Rishi	"Mmmm...very well. I'll be investigating this pillar." She goes to examine one of the pillars that isn't being targeted, yet, and looks for the little lead keys and then examines the pillar closely to determine the rune shapes before using her newly sharpened and poisoned claws to scrape the grout free before pulling forth the lead keys to see if she missed anything.
Bright Journey	Bright nods in reply, mostly focused on getting a couple fingers underneath her chosen chunk of lead and prying it free. It comes out with a soft scrape and the rune behind it also begins to glow to Amethyst's sight--this one a sign of supplication to and invocation of the Yozis. Not a shock to see that here, of course, but what's far more important is what starts to happen to the central circle. Just like on the opposite side, the magic circle, made entirely of Essence, begins to form. Obviously it won't complete without all runes being activated, but the shape of the circle--a spidery, byzantine design with a lot of weird angles--is starting to become more visible. The bent angles and swooping curves of the circle, though, are angled in and focused on a single point in space: The exact center of the circle, and the center of the room, equidistant from ceiling and floor. And in between the barest tracery of green lines, towards that center, the shadowy outline of a slowly spinning, fist-sized object begins to appear! It does nothing but drift there, slowly spinning widdershins, entirely immaterial so far and hard to even make out, but in the light everyone brought it's clearly visible--a knot of darkness the light cannot pierce.
Amethyst	With her book already out the, alchemist sketches the next rune, but the obejct in the center catches her attention and she pockets her book. "That looks ominous." She says, heading towards the center. She squints at it. "That looks more like an object than a demon. What in Creation can it be?" She pokes her blood whip through it while trying to figure it out.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks around the room. "Maybe we shouldn't activate any more runes until we make sure we understand what we are doing. I don't want to fight more of those spiders right now. Also, incorporial balls of inky darkness are scary."
Rishi	Rishi joins Ammy in looking at the thing, head tilted as she studies it, watching Ammy's attempt and debating what she should do.
Fudou the Mountain	"I agree. Stop what you're doing.." grumbles Fudou, looking unsettled and uncertain. "I think our real issue here is that even with doing what we're doing, until we find the culprit this is just a temporary solution. We need to consider that or just come back down here and blow this place apart while being sure we can get out without being crushed. Else whatever you're doing now can just be fixed."
Bright Journey	The object is shrouded in darkness, almost certainly because there's not enough runes activated to make it manifest far enough to identify. Regardless, it's about the size of a fist and roughly angular. Possibly a stone or gem. Any attempt to touch it fails utterly, unfortunately--it's simply not manifest enough for that right now. Rishi's charm, however, is a good deal more effective. It still can't be grabbed, precisely, but touching it feels like there's some sort of semi-real resistance, like it's closer to being a physical object than it otherwise would be.
Amethyst	"Once we get back to the surface I'm sure between us we know enough people that we can learn something more about these runes. And whatever this thing is here, it might just be useful in figuring out who's behind this." And Amethyst looks around herself. "One thing we can be sure of, however, is that whoever or whatever built this place has quite some resources under their belt and has quite a deal of power. Knowing what I know of sorcery, creating a place like this is a Sapphire Circle Working, and it's not too often you find someone that just happens to be capable of doing such workings. I wouldn't even be surprised if it happened to be a-, er, you know." Amethyst flusters just briefly, takes a quick moment to recenter herself and continues "Now, unless we have any better ideas for where to look for clues, we oughta get whatever this object is." Amethyst goes over to another pillar and prepares to take the lead sheet out of it.
Amethyst	"I'm sure we won't need to activate them all in order for Rishi to grab it." And Amethyst carefully pulls out the lead chunks from the pillar she's near. "And maybe when we're done, we can trash the stone at the center here. I'm sure that they'll find it much more difficult to use this place as a portal if their capstone is destroyed."
Silk Moon Lotus	"So we just start activating the runes one at a time until Rishi can grab the thing in the darkness? Then we turn them all back off, right?"
Rishi	Rishi nods. "I have already removed the filling from that pillar." She points. "So we cannot be activating them all in any case. I'll be grabing it when it comes into view." Then she head tilts. "Ammy, are you carrying the acid with you? Or are one of you having the power to reshape the stone? Cutting new grooves in the brick and stone should be solving the problem, yes? Confusing the cultists and requiring the creator of this place to redo the work, yes?"
Amethyst	Amethyst just looks at Fudou. "I don't think we need any fancy tricks to break things here. But I think I catch your meaning. Heck I could probably muck a lot of this up just by putting wyld runes all over the place. If I focus maybe I can even feel out the exact places I'd need to place the runes to ensure they'll have fun trying to use this place again. But first, let's get this object."
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence turns entirely away from the entrance, at last. "I could write my life's story in the pillars with my bare hands. Or what I remember, anyway." He scratches his head, considering the pillars. "I think I'd have to write it a few times over to cover that much surface area."
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence looks to the others. "So. You all have this whole 'destroy the runes' thing covered? If not, I could help. If so, well, I never liked the idea of getting crept up on by a bunch of spiders."
Rishi	Once enough of the pillars have begun to glow, Rishi allows the essence into her fingers once more so that she may touch the immaterial once more. She tilts her head, gazing at the thing, deciding how best to approach it...before just yoinking it free!
Silk Moon Lotus	"If you can help with reshaping the stone to distort the runes once we have the item, that would be helpful. I'm here now to collect information for when we go hunting for the ones that did this to begin with. No one summons uncontrolled demons in my city."
Bright Journey	After some effort at uncovering most of the runes, the object becomes more and more substantial until Rishi is perfectly capable of collecting it. It does not defend itself in any way--she collects it without hindrance once she can fully touch it. The object is a carved grey stone, a bit oblong and with facets at unnatural, odd angles. It has seven facets, one for each of the pillars, and three of them have small carved gems--pink diamond and pink sapphire--set into them. The other four facets have carved runes, in elaborate detail and inlaid with carnelian and emerald. The whole device is a genuine, if disquieting, work of art. Parsing its occult significance will be no mean feat. It is also apparently some sort of key part of the portal, not just being stored within it--for as soon as it is removed the ceiling and floor circles start to flicker fitfully, their Essence flow unstable and doubtful. The pillar runes are fine, but don't seem to be doing the whole job by themselves. Regardless, it's now dead simple to render the runes useless by any number of clever methods. And Rishi has the stone.
Amethyst	Amethyst grins and then sits and touches the stone around her. It takes her a few minutes to feel the stone and the earthworks that went into this place, and when she opens her eyes, there's a certainty in her. She goes to key points and draws runes of her own making. The strength of the wyld, its unending nature, its ever changing strength, runes of the castes of the Raksha and the names of the legends of the Ishvara. In the end, she's put a lot of her knowledge of the wyld on display in parallel and contrast to the working already present, deliberately disrupting its essence flows through her work.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks at Ames handywork around the room and smiles. "This will do nicely Ames. That will definately make they rebuild a lot of things to get it working again. I'm going to go check some books and talk to some people about what we have found. Discreetly." Silk turns and starts heading up the tunnel back to daylight and herr bed. It has been a very long day.
Bright Journey	Bright Journey nods knowingly when she sees Silk start to head back up. "That's right. I almost forgot, it's morning--and you were up all night. In truth, I'm not feeling up to doing much more than relaxing back home for a while, myself." She turns and looks at everyone. "Thank you all for your help. I couldn't have done any of this without every one of you. I'm sure Silk feels the same way, but she's had a VERY long night, and now a long day. I think I'm going to start heading back as well. I bid you all a fine day, and please, let's meet again later after we've had a chance to find out more about these runes, and this stone. This...keystone."
Rishi	Rishi nods. "I, too, am most tired. But..Silk!" She runs up. "Later I should like to escort Ammy down to your Library so that we may both be reading and searching for more of the lore. Is that being allowed?"
Amethyst	Amethyst looks at herself and her essence vision at long last finally starts to fade. The pale violet sheen that everything seems to take on when she uses Bright Morning fades as her vision returns to normal. And then she stretches and yawns. "It is quite late and I really do have a shop I should be attending." She searches her pockets. And then she grumbles, "And I don't have anymore of Wakefulness. And that sounds great Rishi. I'll need to go home and brew some more before I fall over."
Fudou the Mountain	"She's had a long night and day?" muses Fudou, sounding amused at Silk getting the focus of that statement. "Amusing. You are all quite amusing. Very well, you're welcome. I'll be...around.." Not waiting, he turns and also begins to head back up and out of the area though he pauses to look at Rishi and notes: "You've grown.." And then he is gone.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks over to Rishi, "Bright has to do her thing with Ames before she can go down there. And don't forget about the spirit's rules." Silk looks back at the rest of the group. "Sorry, I was up all night investigating how well people gamble." She bows politely "I bid you all a good morning and I hope we can continue to work on this interesting puzzle."
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence, at long last, slings his flamepiece. "Well, if you're going to the library, I might as well do the last few orders I've got and go with you. Just gimme half an hour."
Amethyst	"We'll make plans to go to the library later. And if anyone wants a copy of these runes, you know where to find me." And then Ammie goes over and leans against Rishi. She focuses for a moment and shifts her mutations back into herself so that she can look mostly human. "You wanna head back to my shop and talk about stuff?"
Rishi	Rishi gives Ammy her most catlike smile and then a kiss. "I should be most happy to be joining you. Though, I may be sleeping in the back of your shop shortly." A displeased look crosses Rishi's features as she takes on her human disguise once more. "There, now I shall no longer be scaring your customers."
Amethyst	Ammy giggles and nuzzles into the crook of her neck. "Sleep is good. And I appreciate you not scaring my customers. I'm scary enough as it is." Amethyst grins at Rishi as she also heads out. "We'll catch up later Resurgence. I'll make sure to let you know when we'll head to the library."