[Ptolus/AD&D] IC Thread #2b - Limbus Sanguineum

[Benoist]

All three of you approach the mural.

Rissthil has a hard time even spoting the pigmentation on the wall. For all intents and purposes, the painting looks extremely realistic.

Gareth looks a little closer at the shape missing on the painting. It looks like a tentacled blob with regular indentations that could be representing the dark plaques of exoskeleton Gareth remembers from fighting the horror by the voltive candles earlier.

Smeads proceeds even closer and stares at the mural. There is no paint to be seen. Just like Gareth and Rissthil, he noticed as he approached that there was something deeply unsettling about the optic illusion used to give the scene some sense of volume and reality. It is even more troubling now that Smeads and the others are standing right there in front of it: there is no noticeable indication that what lies beyond the mural's frame is not real, but the tentacled silhouette as a reminder that this is supposed to be a wall of sandstone, and nothing more...

[Imperator]

All three of you approach the mural.

Rissthil has a hard time even spoting the pigmentation on the wall. For all intents and purposes, the painting looks extremely realistic.

Gareth looks a little closer at the shape missing on the painting. It looks like a tentacled blob with regular indentations that could be representing the dark plaques of exoskeleton Gareth remembers from fighting the horror by the voltive candles earlier.

Smeads proceeds even closer and stares at the mural. There is no paint to be seen. Just like Gareth and Rissthil, he noticed as he approached that there was something deeply unsettling about the optic illusion used to give the scene some sense of volume and reality. It is even more troubling now that Smeads and the others are standing right there in front of it: there is no noticeable indication that what lies beyond the mural's frame is not real, but the tentacled silhouette as a reminder that this is supposed to be a wall of sandstone, and nothing more...

"I've had this weird idea. Maybe we should try and go across the painting.

Or maybe we should attack the painting and see if it damages the monstrosity. I don't really know."

[Lilaxe]

Smeads will strike the painting with his dagger...a creature next to where the space is now, as well as the space where the blank spot is now...

[Benoist]

Smeads will strike the painting with his dagger...a creature next to where the space is now, as well as the space where the blank spot is now...

Smeads stabs the painting with his dagger. It goes through the mural's frame.

He tries to poke at the space where the paint has been chipped away. This part feels solid like a plain wall of sandstone.

[Imperator]

Smeads stabs the painting with his dagger. It goes through the mural's frame.

He tries to poke at the space where the paint has been chipped away. This part feels solid like a plain wall of sandstone.

I ask Rissthil: "What the hell was that? You are a sorcerer, any suggestions?"

[Benoist]

I ask Rissthil: "What the hell was that? You are a sorcerer, any suggestions?"

Just as Gareth asks his question, you all notice a change in the fresco. There is something more to it than just its eery volume. It is like... its characters now seem to move as well. The face of a human being slowly opens, as if to let out a scream you cannot hear; a club held by a giant bird-like demon clearly draws an arc in the darkness, its position evolving gradually from 2 o'clock, to noon, to 10 o'clock as it slowly makes its way towards its victim lying on the ground. A group of pig-like demons watches over another human being as it is slowly boiled to death in a large pot, the poor old man swirling as the creatures stir the devilish brew he is dipping in. Everything is in slow motion, to the point you have to stare at the scene to notice all these movements gradually take place in the painting.

[Imperator]

"Friends, we need to make a decision and make it fast. This painting may be a portal. What do we do? Shall we try and cross it, or shall we further explore this place?"

[Drohem]

Rissthil shakes his head and says, "I don't know what it is, mate.  It could certainly be a portal, but that is a place I wouldn't want to be at the moment of this image.  I think that we should look around this place before we toy with the painting any further.  Let's see if we can figure out that trapped candle room.  Perhaps there is something useful against the painting in that alchemy room."

Looking over at the halfling monk and Smeads, he asks, "what say you?"

[Benoist]

Looking over at the halfling monk and Smeads, he asks, "what say you?"

Maulbert doesn't seem too sure about what to do. He nods, as if trusting in your own experience more than his own.

You notice a large beam of faint red light hitting the monk's robes as it moves upward towards the ceiling. You then realize that there are many blobs of light cast against the walls of the chamber: some red, some green, some blue, some yellow, and more. They appear and disappear at random, moving along the walls for a little while before dissipating and reappearing elsewhere.

You turn around and determine that these beams are coming from the painting itself as its inhabitants play out the scene depicted in slow motion. Behind the crowd of monsters and victims, there seems to be something producing the light, but it's hard to make out what it is, partly because of the illusion of distance and darkness created by the painting itself, but also because of the various characters standing directly on the other side of the frame as you watch.

[Drohem]

"What the..." Rissthil's voice trails off as he realizes where the colored lights originated.

He starts looking around on the ground for a stick or pole among the debris, anything at least over a foot long.

[Imperator]

"What the..." Rissthil's voice trails off as he realizes where the colored lights originated.

He starts looking around on the ground for a stick or pole among the debris, anything at least over a foot long.

I try to peel some of the painting, in one of the corners, using a dagger. I need to know what this stuff is.

[Benoist]

He starts looking around on the ground for a stick or pole among the debris, anything at least over a foot long.

Rissthil notices the pile of debris by the yellow lantern and the shattered corner of the trough under the fresco. There are multiple pieces of sandstone, boulders, and many wooden beams and planks there, some of them 5 feet long or more.

I try to peel some of the painting, in one of the corners, using a dagger. I need to know what this stuff is.

Gareth takes his dagger and tries to peel some of the paint off the wall. His dagger just goes through the frame, as if there were no paint at all, but instead the tangible depth and reality of a world the paint would have normally depicted.

[Imperator]

Rissthil notices the pile of debris by the yellow lantern and the shattered corner of the trough under the fresco. There are multiple pieces of sandstone, boulders, and many wooden beams and planks there, some of them 5 feet long or more.


Gareth takes his dagger and tries to peel some of the paint off the wall. His dagger just goes through the frame, as if there were no paint at all, but instead the tangible depth and reality of a world the paint would have normally depicted.

"Friends, I say that we stay away from this. Crossing it would probably drag us to Hell, the exit of thisplace must be somewhere else."

[Benoist]

Maulbert gulps as he listens to Gareth's proposition. The poor hobbit doesn't know what to do. He is trying to keep his eyes away from the fresco, but they are regularly drawn back to it. He just can't help himself, looking back and forth, wondering what will happen next.

[Drohem]

Rissthil grabs a four feet piece of wood and walks over to the painting.  He picks out one of the objects that looks closest to the front of the viewer.  He then tries to insert the wood stick into the image and touch the object with the wood.