The Impervious Door

Havasikaji eyed the pirate dangerously. "Then let me put it this way, pirate; you'll have an even bigger headache if you don't touch this Gollum's paw right this very second. I'll let you guess how." Casren's venom made her a little... different. For one she felt way more irate and grumpy than usual. It also made her feel very strong, which helped her from collapsing on the floor in pain.

A flash bathed the passageway in light; the eyes of Southpaw Sentry cooled down to a soft white as the five Aschen and Captain Blackheart made
contact with the great left hand. The gollum's knuckles rested finally on the ground. His face twisted into a grin.

Dust and minor debris fell from the ceiling as Southpaw Sentry, the great Gollum who had stood guard for ages past, finally moved from his post.
It took a true declaration of peace; defeat in a challenge of strength. Not the kind you'd usually assume. Numbers weren't a factor, either. The
true strength was found in the heart.

His right arm unfurled from beneath him, extending out and forward, the passageway shaking as he set his elbow down. Right knuckles on the
ground, exhibiting near perfect symmetry of form, with the exception that his right hand was clenched in a fist.



The right fist unfurled with a great crackling. Treasures glimmered from his palm, a collection of artifacts in pristine condition aside a bit of dust. There was something for everyone- eerily so.



Now that the Gollum had moved his other arm, - clear way forward was seen. Casren sent a chirp just to make sure it wasn’t an illusion: it wasn’t.

Havasikaji was the first to choose an artifact. She chose a strange relic that appeared to be a steel gauntlet. It had obsidian inlays, and a metal tube replaced the hand part. It looked sort of like the muzzle of a gun. When Havasikaji attached it to her hand, it fused with the flesh, becoming integrated into her body. The black and green veins started to grow over it.
Testing it out, Havasikaji found she could shape her fire better with it by spraying it outward into a construct. Satisfied, she walked down the hallway to see what awaited them.

Dorant hopped up and patiently waited his turn to see the artifacts. He inspected one that caught his eye immediately. "Oh that is simply amazing." He said, picking up a small, white and slightly chipped dragons tooth. "Hah! It looks almost exactly like one of my baby teeth."

The tooth in question was about as big as his fist. He took this and conjured a small bit of chain to hang the tooth off of. "Ahh, nostalgia truely is such a bittersweet thing. I remember how I got the chip too, I had been arguing with this other youngster, and we got into a tussle over a female of all things. Hah! Ah it was such a row, Bit off the last three feet of his tail, but chipped a tooth on one of his spikes. Oh that had hurt something fierce.." Dorant continues to babble on about his past as he wanders down the path, seemingly oblivious to whether or not anyone is listening to him.

Selene looked to the relics her clawed hand was drawn to a ring red like fire. She touched the ring and it turned to a ring of fire that wrapped itself around one of the claws on her right hand the claw that would be her ring finger in human form. Selene felt a burning power rush though her and grinned.

Selene then noticed Malik pawing at a necklace with a demon's fang. She took the necklace and placed it around her neck. Another flow of power went though her and she touched Malik with her claw power flowing into him. Malik's jaws lighted with a burning flame and he let out a dark howl shooting fire into the air.

Selene with a snap summoned two female imps. They looked much like evil pixies but with red skin, tiny Demonic wings, and a tail like that of a scorpion. They hovered about giggling like mad.

"Well that's better.." Selene said. "Well one down... who knows how many more to go.."

Selene made her way to the next hall minions in tow.

The Door had promised power, and it seemed the Golum was going to deliver on that promise. After all was said and one, the statuesque creature opened its palm and presented the group with various magical artifacts that had supposedly been crafted from "that which was taken." With a slight nod to the statue, Blackheart reached out a hand for one of the artifacts, a gleaming hilt that seemed to call to him.

That was when the shadow his hand cast began to flicker ever so slightly, seeming to dance towards another object. Bezalel's usual obnoxiously present voice sounded in a tiny whisper "Take it." The fang of a demon, it seemed. The Captain swiped both objects, and felt a bit of his acuity returning to him. The connection to the Umbral Demon seemed to strengthen as well, as he hung the fang charm around his neck and tucked it into his shirt.

Aww lookit you playing all nice with these strangers. First time for everything I suppose. The demon's voice taunted his thoughts. "Quiet, you." As if on cue, the charm around his neck began to feel a little warmer as the demonic energy was siphoned into it, and Bezalel's taunts trailed off into nothingness.

"Holy shit. This charm can shut him up. This was already worth the trip! Anything from here on out is just gravy."

As for Aoi, while he watched the others get their prizes, he also got his own. It was a rather interesting pair of items, one was a glove, and the other a Satchel. He was not really sure what to do with all this at first, but when he put on the glove he immediately realized its effects. After all, anything that would influence sonic waves he would notice immediately. Whatever this glove was, it appeared to be able to use the same powers as him, and could also act as an amplifier for those powers. It might even help reduce his recoil, though he was in no rush to test that yet.

As for the Satchel, when he reached into it, he could feel...well, infinity. But not only that, he felt something he could pull out. He went and pulled it right out, and it was one of his Blink grenades he designed. He reached in again, and this time pulled out a goo grenade. That said, he wanted to make sure they would work all the same.

He tossed the blink grenade, and it landed on the wall he threw it at. It seemed to attach itself, and then Aoi appeared right there on the wall, standing and holding the blink grenade.

"I see....this will be very useful indeed" he commented, deactivating it and jumping off the wall. Since he didn't know the full extent of the mute, he had no plans on using some of the more experimental grenades, but since this reward was given by the Dungeon, he guessed he could use them then, or at least any he could pull out of here.

Well, he would still probably limit what he used all the same, since it would be bad if it had an adverse reaction to the Dungeon in some way.

"So then, shall we move forward?"

He decided to try and keep everyone moving and occupied, before anyone got into another fight with each other.

"Yes, and if we do, we should get a marching order in place," Havasikaji said. More irate than usual, she'd mentally assimilated herself to the co-leader of the group, along with Casren and Aoi. The others could take a trip down the Styx.
"I, Casren and Blue Boy here will lead. We're all fairly adept at combat so we should be fine. Soldiers, senile wizard dude, talking snowman and demon chick, you're all in the middle. The rest of you all are in the back.
"Now, I don't want to even here a peep of a complaint out of any of you. If anyone so much as says 'I don't wanna be in the back!', or 'Since when were you the leader?', I will hellblast you right where the sun doesn't shine.
"Now let's get a move-on. I'm tired of waiting on you children." Havasikaji then continued down the hallway, regardless of whether the others followed her or not.

Temperance approached the wristlet and snatched it, looking it over. Deeming it suitable, she placed it into her bag. In complete disregard of Havasikaji, Temperance quipped, albeit in her own tongue that Havasikaji likely would not understand.

Meo Meow-Meow MeStic, OwStic Meow.

(I don't recall anyone making you the leader, Terran Girl.)

Temperance would then follow everyone else. Perhaps there was treasures to gain. She had to make sure no one else got to her bag.

As he heard himself get called little boy blue, although he did shrug it off...he totally did...he definently is not forcing himself in any way, it did remind him of something.

"For the record, my name is Aoi. Aoi Azul" he said...hoping no one realized both his first and last name actually were the words for blue...but then he turned towards Cryoface. "...and also, I am a boy, not a girl".

Cryoface had reffered to him as a female earlier, so he also had to clear that up...and he was really hoping that Cryoface was the only one who had made that mistake. After all, he looked very masculin. He was sure of it. He definently was not short, not very tough looking, and so on...he definently looked like a boy!

While hiding all that inside his head behind a carefully trained poker face, Aoi continued to move forward as well towards the next challenge. He forgot to question why he was in front though and Cryoface was in back, given you usually wanted the faster people in the middle so they could react quickly, and the tougher people in front to take any damage from surprise attacks and traps though. Totally not because he was secretly flustered by some comments. He was very professional.

Well, he was, otherwise he wouldn't be here and wouldn't have been the first to solve the riddle, granted thanks to some actions that others took to give him those final clues.

Each of the five Aschen took their artifacts, strange magically imbued bracelets, they inspected them, turned them over, and then placed them in satchels attached to their armor.

Marlene was the only one who didn't take the bracelet, and put it in a satchel, she also was the only one that brought her attention to the strange woman who began barking orders.

"You have neither the qualification, or the leadership to command me, or my men." Marlene commented, staring at Havasikaji. "If you attempt to order me, or my men again..." The blonde said coldly, as she approached the demon-woman.

"I will gut you like a fish, before displaying your entrails from the nearest precipice." She said, the Aschen standing, with a rather imposing stance.

She didn't take her eyes off the other woman, but with a simple hand gesture, she motioned for the others to gather around.

"Let's proceed." Marlene ordered, and the flashlights came on once more.

Dorant swiped a hand about and called out to the aschen leader. "Oh hush now child, your acting petulant and foolish. Honestly threatening people with fish guts and all? If your going to be so immature then I'm afraid I'll have to contact your parents." He wagged a finger at Marlene before turning and nodding at Havasikaji. "After you young lady. Since you seem to be the most coordinated of us here, I'd be happy to have you escort me through this place. After all, If I were to wander on my own, i'd probably get lost. And then i'd be late for dinner." The old man grinned at his own jest, stepping into place behind Cryoface.

"By the way" He said to the large ice creature "Are you alright? I'm not sure if your maintained by magic or not, but if you are, the lack of power back there couldn't have felt good for you. Do you need some juice?" He started rummaging through his satchel, before pulling out a small kids juice box. "I have apple, grape, pomegranate, something called tomato puree?"

Havasikaji smirked at the haughty Aschen woman as the old geezer called her out. At least someone appreciated her take-over.
Reining in the Aschen would be tough. Not only were they a bunch of holier-than-thou bastards, Lady Peroxide over there probably meant it when she said she'd gut Havasikaji like a fish, despite the wizard's reassurances. She'd have to find someone to keep an eye on them.
As she scanned over her group, she realized exactly who would be able to pull it off.
"Hey, Blue Kid," Havasikaji whispered to Aoi as they walked down the hall. "Mind keeping an eye on those soldiers? If they start acting treasonous or doing any sort of suspicious behavior, just give a 'shout', if you know what I mean." The cambion winked, referring to Aoi's apparent ability to generate high levels of sonic energy with his voice.

Akio was the last one to retrieve his artifact: a navy blue kimono with a golden fabric belt. He waited for everyone to go on ahead before he changed clothes. There were children present after all. And no...he was not just referring to the blue-haired boy.

"These people," he thought aloud, definitely out of earshot from them (well, except Aoi), "They only care for themselves. Which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't feel the need to constantly try and prove themselves better than one another."

He sighed as he tied a knot around the front of his kimono with the golden belt in front. He already felt the comfort of the new article of clothing was far superior to the old faded blue kimono he was used to wearing. It wasn't rough or rugged, but soft and silky. And something told him that it carried special properties of it's own, not unlike the other artifact the rest of the group had received. He would find out what uses it carried later.

He glanced at his katana, "I can't ask you all for guidance while I'm in here. That would defeat the purpose. But I don't believe I'm on my own."

He looked ahead towards the group that was heading to whatever awaited in front of them. "I am supposed to have these people to help, utilizing their own pasts and expertise to navigate through these trials while providing my own. That's what I think this cave wants us to do."

He glanced back at Southpaw Sentry, who had once again taken it's place in front of the hallway. The Impervious Door had shut behind them. No turning back now...

"I hope I can rely on them," Akio muttered as he jogged to catch up, "Because I fear if we can't work together, we're not going to get very far."

"Okay, first, I'm sorry I called you a girl," Cryoface sighed at Aoi as he put the crown of ice on his head, instantly standing up straighter as his powers were returned to him with interest. "Second, you're right. We have to organize ourselves effectively. The reason those Aschen are operating independently is they're used to working with each other and ONLY with each other. Plus they don't think much of Terrans. And to answer someone's question earlier, yeah, it was hard, but I was able to deal with it. I knew I didn't have much time before melting away, however...so glad everyone figured it out."

He idly reached for the massive icy broadsword on his back, but thought better of it. That would just be asking to take a disruptor blast to the face. "Come on. Let's see what else they got. The sounds of battle from outside are getting dimmer...sounds like the decisive moment has arrived. I only hope that it ends in Terran liberation. I really don't want whoever they were fighting against come in for a backside hit on our group."

As Havasikaji and the group continued to walk along the corridor, there was a great rumbling, as if one thousand feet were running down the long hallways.
Havasikaji held up a hand to halt the group. "Stop. Do you hear that?" The cambion turned to look behind her.
And her jaw immediately dropped. For charging down the corridor towards them was an entire army of men wearing black hoodies. Exactly like the one from the guy who had died earlier, when the golem farted.
Havasikaji was usually very brave, and didn't like to stand down to a little opposition. This, however, was not a little opposition. It was a lot.
"RUN!!!" she shouted, and took off down the corridor as the army of hooded men began to reach the group.

Dorant turned to look at the army of black hooded individuals rushing towards them, a smile on his face. "Why hello there young men, will you be joining us on this.... hmm, Would any of you suppose it to be a quest? I rather like the idea of this being a quest. Yes... Yes I do believe this counts. Will you young men be joining us on this quest? There are rather a lot of you.."

Dorant turned with a bit of a jolt when Havas shouted for the group to run. "Oh what? Where then, wait don't run off like that, you'll tire yourself out!" He called, following her at an ambling jog. "Damnit wait! I can't keep up with these confounded robes tying up about my ankles! Wait I said!"

Cryoface vanishes into nothingness, but you get the feeling they are heading somewhere else.

Dread Pirate Captain Blackheart has left the area, heading out to Mountain Fortress.

Casren Bistreo has left the area, heading in into Master's Foyer.

Cryoface has arrived, coming from Mountain Fortress.

Cryoface has left the area, heading out into Mountain Fortress.

Cryoface has arrived, coming from Mountain Fortress.

Cryoface has left the area, heading in into Master's Foyer.

A cacophany of bat screeches came from Casren as he fluttered beyond the Gollum and in to the next chamber. On his way he was sure to grab the little bundle of darberries, glowing an unusual color, on his way. He was screaming to run from the hoodied-hoard!

Southpaw Sentry shifted forward, maneuvering his body slowly over the rest of the group as they passed through the tunnel, positioning himself beyond them, but facing them as they left. The party was trapped by him again, this time prevented from returning from whence they came.

There was a great rumble from within his belly. Would the hoodied-men again invoke the gas of the gollum?