Sara Drake's Story

The Squad outside had called in back up as everybody and their uncle's brother started showing up...

This aid came in the form of Sara Drake a Terra Nova Ghost. An army to herself. She entered in with the TLA squad.

She gave the group an annoyed look and asked. "Ok... Who's going to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"This door," Casren shouted over the din, realizing the room had slowly begun to fill. He looked to the floor, where the beams from the eyes seemed fixated on two specific points. There was something under all that grime, and something bigger than life was happening here. The old vampire's fangs poked out on instinct. He recalled a story overheard at Gambit's Bar once long ago, one that too had an impervious door.

Suddenly it was as if the door could feel the elder dragon touching it. A slight breeze kicked up in the cavern, the emerald eyes burning harsh through the dust fog. There was a clatter as some small debris were tossed from their resting places.

Still the door remained shut.

Jennifer went behind a rock and changed her pants with a new pair in her backpack. There was some weird cat thing next to her. She didn't mind...something huge was going on here.

"Scizor, return." The mantis-like Pokémon disappeared in a flash of red light before returning to its spherical home. "Oh, man, I don't think it liked that. I could have stepped it up, but I think we have other things to worry about right now. Like the fact that we apparently have company. And the fact that THIS THING IS APPARENTLY FUCKING ALIVE."

The last thing Kanto had expected was the presence of so many diverse groups all coverging upon the same mountain fortress at the same time. It must speak to how far and wide the rumors had truly gotten. The large black armored one had begun to unsheath his weapon as Kanto's ears detected yet more figures walk into the fray, largely only interested in themselves and their mission. Kanto was sure he had heard that language somewhere...

Kanto positioned himself upon the rock that he had found his way behind, listening intently to the chatter filling the room from several different groups. He stay there for but a moment before sliding down and casually beginning to walk up to where the emerald eyes illuminated the floor. He largely ignored the woman walking towards him as he did so. He began to inspect the area as if he had been there all along, but let his thoughts remain to himself as he collected the full picture within his minds eye.

"We're gonna breach it." Solis called out in Anquietas to the two scientists behind her.

Both of them returned quizzical stares while the dark haired woman stared up at the clearing, shouldering her disruptor rifle, then letting it hang loosely by it's strap, while only briefly regarding her surroundings.

Moving her finger to the communicator nestled inside her ear, she called out in Anquietas.

"I'm gonna pop smoke, there's a small clearing above our position, lower the supply pallet through that, antimatter charges a fusion reactors and a boring laser, asap."

As she finished speaking, she produced a small cylindrical device, tossing it into the center of the room, where it began to produce a plume of vibrant blue smoke, that while smelling slightly of sulfur, would be otherwise harmless.

Once that was done, the woman turned her attention to the door.

The breeze continued to swirl around the cavern. Casren watched the smoke rise, the edges tornado-ing back into the plume. He noted for the first time that these archaeology people were Aschen. They didn't seem to recognize him and were definitely determined to do what they were all seemingly there to do: open the door. Though their presence was irksome, it didn't seem they were up to no good.

Suddenly the eyes of the door flashed, their beams hyper focusing onto those two points. He gingerly approached Kanto and the center of the room, saying his pardons and excuse me's, careful not to walk in the green light lest it be some sort of space age laser technology. He shrugged again at Sara, for this truly was a puzzling circumstance.

Once low to the ground, It didn't take long to realize the beams were focusing on two indents...another set of eyes, there set into the floor. They were open, hollow, and seemed to drink the light of the emeralds. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a glimmer on the ground not far off.

"What do you think?" Casren quietly asked Kanto, glancing over to the where he thought he saw something. The hum continued, the shadows still danced, the green glow hurt to look at, and now the whole place smelled like sulpher. Still, the door remained impervious.

Irral was expressionless as the door seemed to come alive at his touch, and he looked to the eye-shaped indents in the floor, then back to the source of the Emerald glowing. The Elder Dragon seemed to not care in the least what the humans and otherwise around him were doing, his own mind fast at work to decipher the puzzle of opening the door. Slowly he began to rise from the ground, his grip on his Lance loosening slightly as he adjusted his grip, and rose to be level with the eyes of the door.

Turning, Irral gazed upon the floor where the door looked, seeing the pattern clearly now, and narrowing his eyes. Out of the corner of his vision, something sparkled, glimmered even, and he once more turned his head to look. Tilting his head, the Dragon sheathed his Lance, and, as if walking down stairs, descended to where there was glimmering on the ground, using the edge of his Armored boot to nudge at the glimmering object to make sure it wasn't anything particularly harmful to these humans and otherwise around him.

Once he was sure it wasn't going to try and tear off his boot and beat someone with it, he crouched, balancing on the balls of his feet, and reached out to grab it with a hand, clawed Gauntlets moving to cut off the long-dead vegetation and remove the dirt from around it.

"Opening a door that may have been sealed for a very good reason.... this is a bad idea..." Said Sara.

"I think it's too late now Ma'am.." stated a TLA Trooper.

"indeed... men fall back and take covering positions."

The TLA troopers took cover around the door guns readied on overwatch. Sara herself activated her cloaking device and suddenly disappeared. readying her rifle ready to ambush anything hostile.

Kanto focused his eyes upon the Casren, ears perking up as he was spoken to. Or, he thought he was being spoken to. Either way, he answered. "The holes upon the floor, they are filled with nothing." He said in a very thick accent. "When they should be filled with more fancy rocks. Then the gaze shall continue." he nodded to himself, trailing off at the end in thought. Like connect the dots, Kanto was taking a wild guess that the stream of light must be focused again with more semi precious stones. Whether he was right or wrong didn't really concern him, as it seemed the other forces at work were fast on the track. He sidestepped the smoke device nonchalantly, eying it suspiciously as the smell of sulfer overwhelmed his sensitive nose. He noticed the one that smelled like a lizard was bent down, beginning to remove debris. He decided to help, as he was not doing much else to contribute at this point. His strange little hands began to pull the vegetation and clear away the stone engraving.

The object in the dirt flashed once as Irral took it. When the debris was cleared, it was revealed to be an Emerald Eye Pendant, too large to be fashionable, too small to hang on a wall, but on the end of a fraying chord.

Casren balked as half the room took for cover. He almost did, too, until Kanto spoke up.

"I think you're right," He turned to address literally everyone else, "Hey! Look at the grou-" when he noticed Irral had the glimmering thing.

With the vegetation mostly cleared, it was revealed that there was another engraving of a face in the ground. Surrounding the face was a labyrinth. The long line of a maze wound around, and around, and around, until it trailed off finally towards the door...which remained impervious.

Irral took the Emerald Eye Pendant and stood, towering over the creature who had helped him. It was small in his massive hand, and the claws of the gauntlet shimmered with it. Holding it up to the light, he examined it, and then turned to look at the spots where the "Eyes" of the door were staring at the ground. Narrowing his Corrupted Draconian eyes, he turned his body fully and stepped forward towards the area the light shone on the ground, searching for a place to put the pendant.

"Search the area for another one of these. They may just be the key to the door." he commanded to those around him. His voice left no room for questioning - He wasn't asking. He spoke with authority that had been both granted and earned through his multi-million year life, and with a sort of entitlement - Where he was from everyone respected a Dragon, and what they had to say. Even Demons. "If you find it.... Bring it here."

"Okay. Everyone, just back the hell up and let's think about this. We can't batter it down. We can't jimmy it. And I'm pretty sure it tried to look at me funny." Jennifer laughed nervously at that last part, taking her reaction into account. "There's something going on with the way the light is playing in this room...maybe we should try looking for a key or something instead of brute forcing it. Maybe it's some kind of ancient riddle or puzzle. Look for something that might match the stones on the door."

All of the light in the cavern, save the green beams projecting from eye to eye, began to absorb into the Emerald Eye Pendant.

Solis briefly surveyed her surroundings, again she seemed to ignore the people surrounding her, but the strange emerald light coming from the door had her intrigued, even as the pair of scientists moved slowly behind her in fear, the IIA agent stood steadfast, and defiant.

She watched one of the natives pick up some kind of pendant, they also seemed to give out orders, this brought a scoff from the IIA operative, as if she was going to listen to some filthy terrans. Erin had a mission to carry out, assist in the study of this impervious door and what lies behind it, and report the potential for any threats back to her command.

“I don’t take orders from you.” The Aschen agent commented, the first thing said to the people surrounding them, while she slung her disruptor rifle across her shoulder, cradling it in her arms.

At that moment things began to go dark, either from the Aschen ship suddenly appearing in the clearing above them, and blocking out the light, as refractive hexagonal photonic panels disengaged revealing the Stealth corvette above them, or by way of the emerald eye pendant. Erin moved quickly across her weapon’s safety, and it’s shrill whine echoed through the stone room.

Kanto rolled his eyes as the lizard man continued to speak. He was never very good at taking orders, especially when delivered by someone who he had never met, or talked to. He wondered why the man simply didn't put it on his neck.. Thats where humans stored those kinds of things, right? It had to be. He thought about telling him this, but was almost sure he would largely be ignored. Those over 5 feet tall have never been known to be great listeners to the Mishqua. Suddenly, the room began to grow very dark, all of them basked in darkness illuminated only by the eyes glow. Kanto's ears perked as he heard the whirr of something begin to spool up.

He rolled his eyes, sensing the tension between the two, and believing he had the answer for himself. After all, these puzzles sometimes seem to have much simpler solutions than one would think. He looked between the two again, pointed nose going from one to the other before speaking out in exasperation. "This is why Kanto goes alone! I would already be in there if it were not being for all of you tall type!" He stomped, inaudibly because of his size, over to the dragonborn and plucked the pendant from him, using both hands as it was slightly heavy for him, and feeding his muzzle through the chain that would hold it from his neck. He looked back up with a smirk to the dragonborn, hoping he had guessed right on the use of the pendant, based on adventures he had had in the past with magic objects.

As the Dragon grabbed up some sort of large amulet Sara muttered "Yes pick up the freaky magic necklace that you have no idea what it does... that always ends well..." The sarcasm dripping in her voice.

The Pokemon trainer was saying something about puzzles and Sara sighed "Damn anicents and their puzzle locks..."

Sara was still talking as the lights went out. "What the Hell?"

And that's when she noticed the Aschen ship...her squad did as well and soon the TLA's guns where trained on the Aschen woman. Sara still cloaked aimed her rife at the Aschen woman as well. The shot from a Ghost's rifle could shred tank armor so the Aschen woman would be paste from a connecting shot if it came to that. "What's the Meaning of this Aschen? I can tolerate your presence here barely...but not a fucking Aschen warship You already know brute force won't do shit to this door. All your ship will do is cause harm to us. So I suggest you call off your ship before I call in a Terra Nova fleet to do it for you."

The placid calculating eyes of a reacher eyed the statue quietly as others worked against it. Careful intuition proved right when the human female said it was a living statue. Flynn busied herself with casting a Tongues spell so she didn't have to use english when it hurt her throat. Reachers at a standstill quietly faded into the ether and ones actively hiding faded across the lines between planes. Careful inner machinery squeezed away into the wall boulder it was how she shifted here and how she'd get home. This wouldn't let her out of her plane, not yet, its other use was avoiding the baleful largesse that was the children of grandfather teeth. Even the children knew while their carrier and mother faded away with them to be silent.

The children of teeth were things of calculating wrath and not impulsive but neither ones of restraint so the reachers couldn't be either. If it hadn't attacked by now it wouldn't so made the choice to remove herself and children from hiding. Though it was not the quietly moving misshapen figure hiding behind the boulder that stood forward. Though the shape kept fiddling its tail, even blinking, vines and air split with a tinkle of stained glass severing matter as the Reacher reimposed on the vicinity near a distant wall. It wasn't specifically that the severing vines turned into something else but more that the reacher replaced its patterns with herself. The vines moved and thumped as if the matter her image said they were. At least until the bright glass planes finished reconstructing the dromaeosaur. The afterimage lingered, staring at Flynn on impulse, bothering to mouth words that meant nothing at all. The afterimage continued to stare though Flynn intentionally did not look at it in the eyes. There was a horrible void there now with nothing but the ticking of gears and synthetic planestuff struggling to integrate with its natural counterpart.

Flynn's fluted tone was strong now the spell translating as she huffed her pointed tongue glowing blue, "It is said in the eyes of the children of teeth are the doorways to the universe and to be careful what patterns you make under their eyes."

The flat black eyes looked up at the face directly into the green light she couldn't see right now. Thermal vision couldn't see it. Though she did glance at the barely visible column of smoke. She looked around at the room but didn't care to switch out of hunter's sight if the room is getting dark.

Then the clacking feet and toe-claw spoke at what she thought was a dog, "And you put on something it has been staring at. You'd do young reachers proud even if you don't live that long. Do you feel different? Perhaps you have engaged something. I can't see the dark right now and there is nowhere to run."

while the TLA agent waved her gun about in an Aschen archeologist's face, a Peregrine falcon would fly over the heads of those within the cave, its semi-translucent form leaving behind a wispy trail of azure blue light, before settling down upon a branch high above the heads of all within the cave, the bird's eyes would glow with an orange light.

following from the tunnel a short few seconds later, the sounds of footsteps almost silent echoed into the cave, though as the hooded figure carrying an intricately carved longbow stepped into the light bathing the cavern he lowered his hood, and looked at those around him that had arrayed themselves here to investigate the door before them.

"would you mind lowering your weapon and actually having some restraint" Yvandír pitted it as a question but his undertone declared it as a demand. "we have better things to do than wave dicks around in an attempt to one-up another" he spoke calmly and pushed back the cloak so it hung at his back, leaving the very elven designed clothing to be exposed and his myriad of magical artefacts for all to see, his feet moved him swiftly beyond the entryway and he glanced back towards the others. "Catch me up please, I was unable to find this place by mortal means until that ship appeared in low orbit."

he raised an arm and gave a sharp whistle, the falcon returning to Yvandír and resting on his arm "well done for finding this place Horus, now rest" the bird began to shrink until it fit into his palm and then turned into stone, a miniature figurine now, he safely stored it into a pouch on his belt.

Listening in on every conversation in the room at once, even those of whisper microphones his keen senses beyond any normal state.

"Arceus. Fucking. Damn it." Jennifer was never one for crass language, but the gunner had a point. "I ran into this fortress to get away from Draco. Everyone put down your guns, we don't need to start a war over this. Besides, if any shots were to be fired, it'd do more damage to us than it ever would to that door."

A newcomer flying in. Just great. "Okay, quick version: The gentleman and I ran into this fortress to get away from Draco's invading forces on the valley. We found this door. Other people found it as well. We're now trying to figure out how to get it open. Looks like there's some sort of riddle or puzzle involving that emerald pendant and the maze on the floor, and I'm currently trying to keep my organs inside of me in the middle of this Mexican standoff!"

As a precaution, Jennifer released another beast, something she called Castle. Its broad, bony, shield-like crest on its head provided a decent amount of cover for her to crouch behind. "Get behind him, it can take a bullet better than either of us ever could," she instructed the elf.

The Emerald Eye swallowed the last bit of light, with it the winds and the shadows, as tension grew to it's peak. Pitch darkness befell the cavern. The great hum suddenly stopped, replaced with a deafening silence. For three of the longest heartbeats, nothing happened. In the pitch darkness, people aimed guns, castle-esque creatures appeared, more took cover, and all were one step closer to opening the Impervious Door.

Suddenly, the Emerald Eye flashed green so bright, everything was illuminated. Thousands of lights shot from the gem in all directions, clinging to the walls like constellations, the eye subduing to a glow. Standing in the cavern was now like floating in the dead of space, but with your feet still grounded. The tiny balls of light, emulating a strange star system, swam for a brief moment as the hum rapidly returned again. As fast as they came they were gone, and as silent as it had been before it was now roaring loud. The stars sucked back into the Emerald Eye.

Another flash of light!

The entire cavern was bathed in it’s green glow as the dust settled. Shadows again projected on the walls. They displayed swirling shapes that slowly morphed into a landscape. Mountains emerged, great peaks shooting up and dividing down the middle; a valley. The shadows transformed again; the peaks of a city emerged from the mountains. The city collapsed into a waterfall, up rose an airship. The shadow danced, this time wild like fire, and from them emerged a Gargantuan Eye. The eye blinked, the hum stopped, and for one moment there was total silence.