Cloud Escalator -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim
Yet another strange, impossible place. It's an escalator, like
from a mall, except that's not the strange part. The strange part is the
air. The air is thick with mist, impossibly thick. Someone could easily
get lost in this. Visability is only two feet. At least you don't have
to walk, because the escalator is taking you up. But there's another
thing. Do you really want to trust this place at all? For all you know
it could be taking you up really high just to throw you off a cliff.
Terry yawns drowsily. She tucks a curl behind her ear, "I'm hungry.."
Terry glances to Gwen, "Y' ga' a candy bar o' somethin'?"
Gwen Namura says "No... Not that I want to use now."
Further up in on the now stopped escalator, Lishka appears
surrounded by mist, but then this whole place is covered in mist, but
it's not half as thick as it was when you all got here. Lishka takes a
few steps down, smiling smuggly, "Well, looks like everyone got all
tired, hmm?" She seems almost as if she is mocking those who are asleep.
Gwen Namura says "Ah... Hark, Cleric. I doth spy food."
Terry glances over Lishka, "some did."
Lishka continues to smile smuggly and sits down on the step of the
escalator and looks comfortable. Her change of outfit doesn't fit a
Cleric, making her look more like a thief, "I doth spy food? You all
wouldn't happen to be hungry by any chance, would you?"
Terry doesn't particularly want to admit it to Lishka. She glares at the
woman.
Gwen Namura says "Sure thing, Lunch."
Gwen Namura smiles at Lishka. A hungry smile. She puts her "toy" down
and starts to advance...
A soft laugh erupts from Lishka's throat, "Oh, you all don't have
to act like that. I'm not so mean as to let you all starve to death. It
would hardly be fair for me to exploit your human weaknesses. And if you
wish to try and make lunch out of me, go ahead." She opens her arms
wide, as if welcoming an attack.
Gwen Namura says "Iiiii dunno. Think I should?"
Terry shakes her head, "Nah.. too stringy.."
Lishka rolls her golden colored eyes for a moment and shakes her
head, "You humans today are extremely strange. Could you really change
so much in a hundred years?" She gives a small shrug of her shoulders
and reaches into a pocket in the vest she is wearing and pulls out a
wooden coin with something carved into one side and stained reddish-
brown, "What all would you like to eat anyway? It has to be something
natural. From the earth. Like fruit or something."
Terry raises an eyebrow, "Its real food.. na' illusion right? We canna
survive on illusion?"
Gwen Namura says "Golden apples, if you please."
Lishka lets out a small annoyed sigh, "This is a rune. The rune
Jera to be exact. The rune of Harvest and Year. I can invoke it and
create small things that humans were able to harvest. Golden apples?"
She gives a small nod, and says, "Jera." the stained carving flashes for
a second and a yellowish apple drops out of the air near Gwen.
Gwen Namura snags the apples as it falls. "Funkylicious. Don't suppose
they're Freya or Discordia's." She sniffs at it.
Oooh, Lishka actually grins at that, and not in a smugish way
either, "No, I can't travel to Asgard. We've been banned." She actually
makes an almost pouty expression. She's always wanted to go to Asgard.
Terry folds her arms across her chest, "Plums.."
She gives a small nod and invokes the rune again, "Jera" and about
two dozen plums fall near Terry and into a basket Lishka summoned with
her illusion powers for the time being.
Terry examines an plum for a moment and takes one up, "Thank y'" Raised
to be polite wasn't she. She bites into one lightly.
Gwen Namura considers the apple, as she sits cross-legged. "Norse to
meet you."
Gwen Namura says "And who said we were human, anyhow?"
Terry glances to Gwen, "Lets not explain anythin' we dinna ha' t'.."
Lishka gives a slight shrug, "You're from Midgard, you're human to
me." And she seriously believes that. "But on a side note, where did you
get those powers? I could just extract all your memories and look them
over, but that would be kind of rude of me." A polite demon?
Gwen Namura says "I was granted great power when I held aloft my magic
sword, and said, "For the honor of Greyskull!""
Terry shakes her head, "We were born this way.." And that is that
Lishka gives a brief nod, not understanding the She-ra reference,
"Well, anyway, I just came to get you something to eat so Everett
wouldn't scold me later." She's trying to get on his good side. She
moves to stand up.
Gwen Namura says "So, how's our pace? Should be to the roof by tonight
sometime?"
Lishka's eyebrows raise briefly, then she shakes her head,
pointing up, "That's the fourth floor. There's ten left after that." And
with that, she vanishes in a flurish of mist.
--- Continued a little while later. Lishka returns --
Cloud Escalator -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim
Yet another strange, impossible place. It's an escalator, like
from a mall, except that's not the strange part. The strange part is the
air. The air is thick with mist, impossibly thick. Someone could easily
get lost in this. Visability is only two feet. At least you don't have
to walk, because the escalator is taking you up. But there's another
thing. Do you really want to trust this place at all? For all you know
it could be taking you up really high just to throw you off a cliff.
Terry tosses Rahne a plum, "Here eat.."
Rahne catches the plum deftly and blinks at the fruit. Of course she
catches its scent, not trusting a thing in this strange heathen world.
Her stomach does rumble, though.
Terry grins, "She ha' t' feed us else she breaks her word t' Ev.. an'
she's tryin' t' curry favor wi' him."
Gwen Namura says "Morning, Rahney. Any suggestions?"
Rahne sits down, if there's anywhere safe to her senses to sit and
hmmphs at the plum. She doesn't trust even the simplest things here.
Rahne catches her breath and lets her eyes lid. "Best suggestion is t'
catch a bit o' a break before we're pushed int' the next nightmare. We
need to be alert, rested...." She snaps the eyes open at the sudden cold
snap in the air, a low growl on her lips.
Gwen Namura sings the Doo-Wop version of "Blue Moon" to herself.
Terry sits up, "Awwww come on.. we're trying t' get some rest s' we ken
continue wi' this ruddy game o' yuirs.."
A silvery eyebrow raises briefly, and Lishka shrugs, "I was not
planning to drive you forward or anything. You may rest as long as you
see fit. I merely came to ask if you wanted somemore to eat or some
water to go with those plums." More good will in an attempt to please
Everett. If she wasn't trying to please him, she'd just let you all
starve to death.
Terry nods, "Aye we could use s'me water."
Rahne lifts an auburn brow. Yes, she's suspicious. "'tis nae like the
underworld in Greek myth, 'tis it?"
Gwen Namura says "Norse myth, Rahne. Old home week... It's just too bad
she, like, didn't snag Dani. Wonder how she'd deal with a valkyrie.
(giggle)"
Lishka blinks. A Valkyrie? How would these mortals know a
Valkyrie? Shesh. A lot has changed in a hundred years. "This is not the
underworld. It is the land of ice and shadows. Niflheim to be extact.
Though it -is- right above Hel." She gives a slight shrug, still looking
smug and 'better then thou'.
Terry leans up on her elbows, "Water?"
Gwen Namura says "Sounds good to me"
Rahne mmmms, looking at the as yet uneaten plum. "There are dozens o'
myths from dozens o' cultures. Ye eat the food there, ye are bound t'
stay." She's gotten paranoid in her young age, forgive her. But Hel
never did seem like a nice place.
Gwen Namura says "Hey, Rahne, tell the nice dark elf about the time you
met Odin. Let's see if we can spook 'er a bit."
Gwen Namura giggles.
Lishka blinks again, and nods, "Oh, yes, sorry." She pulls out
another one of those wooden coins, this one with a different stained
symbol on it. "Laguz." she says it about three or four times and makes a
few glasses appear near those that are awake, with water in them, then
she turns her attention to Rahne, "That wasn't the deal of the game. I
will not keep you here by tricking you to eat. This game is entirely
fair. You make it to the top in less then seven days, you may go home.
That simple. All you have to do is get through the rooms. I will not
stop you with more then what the rules on the card said you would face."
Then she tilts her head, "You've met Odin?"
Terry sips her water looking a touch happier about it.
Rahne takes the water and plum, giving both another sniff before
drinking of one and biting into the other. After the plum is finished
and the water snipped at, she hmmms. "Some o' us hae been t' Asgard a
time or two." There is a certain fondness to those memories. Is it
possible to think of those as simpler times?
Gwen Namura leans over and whispers to Rahne. "Like, what happened to
your Wolf Prince?"
Lishka frowns briefly, then gives a small nod. So they've been to
Asgard. Big deal. That doesn't make them special. Her smug expression
returns a moment later, and she moves to sit down on the step she
appeared on, looking down to see who all is still asleep and who all is
awake.
Gwen Namura says "Like, anyone wanna start moving forward?"
Rahne puts the pit of the plum down on the ground and rubs her hands
against her jeans. "Hrimhari? (sp?) I have not seen him for some time,
Gwen," she explains.
Gwen Namura says "Hey, evil laaaaady, do we get bonus points for
anything?"
Her eyebrows raise again, briefly, "Extra points? Like what do you
mean?" Lishka doesn't seem impressed by Gwen, or their powers, or the
fact that they've been to Asgard, or anything. They're speed up the
Tower so far as been a little above average. Not extrodainary.
Gwen Namura says "Well, they wouldn't let me kill the bat. Do we get
extra points for killing the bat, or, like, is it not worth it?"
Lishka just -stares- at Gwen, "This is not a video game, little
girl." Yes, she was out of it for a hundred years, but when games are
involved she learns fast. She has played some video games the mortals on
Midgard created. "You don't get points. Your only objective is to get to
the top of the Tower and not get killed. And to not doddle either. The
longer you take, the less chance you have of getting to the top before
your gate home closes itself." Again, she vanshies in a swirl of mist.
-- Continue on to find out what happened in the room above --
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