彡 cora hale | teen wolf

[impetere]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M, F/F ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

Comments

[impetere]

[Eventually they make their way into another antechamber, a wide open space with a pedestal in the middle. Sitting on the pedestal was an urn with ornate drawings on the sides.]

[dizzying]

[ Granuaile enters the room, wary of the wide openness of it. Anything could happen between them and that pedestal. Taking a wrong step could lead to depressing a button that released poison darts, or another statue could appear out of nowhere to fight them. She lets out a breath, flashlight moving back and forth. ]

I keep saying it, but this is some Indiana Jones shit right here.

[ She's trying to play it smart this time, scanning the area before stepping any closer (spot 15). ]

[impetere]

[She doesn't spot anything else, which is good. No danger here. But Cora will start to make her way over to the pedestal, studying it to see if there are any traps they should be worried about.]

[dizzying]

Any stories written out on that thing?

[ Hopefully clearer stories than what was written on the wall before the got to the murderous stature. ]

[impetere]

[This one she's not making out so well (decipher script 12). She wrinkles her nose a bit as she tries to get a better look.]

Not that I can tell.

[dizzying]

It must have some reason for being displayed here like this.

[ Since Cora's gotten close enough without springing a trap, Granuaile steps up beside her, shining her flashlight against the vase's surface. ]

Maybe it's a test. If we pick it up, a giant stone ball rolls out to crush us.

[impetere]

[Her eyebrows go up a bit at that.]

So let's not pick it up. Maybe there's something inside?

[dizzying]

Oh, hey, there's an idea.

[ She goes up on tiptoe, peering in with her light. ]

Whoa, there is something in here. But it's difficult to make out. It looks like plant matter with twine around it? Hard to say. Want a look?

[ She offers Cora the flashlight. ]

[impetere]

[She takes the flashlight, before pushing up to peer in as well. She frowns for a moment, before glancing back to look at her.]

It smells like cedar.

[dizzying]

Maybe it's an offering of some kind.

[ But that doesn't really tell them where to go next. She blows out a breath, looking around. ]

Everything has to be set up like this for a reason. You don't just construct an underground building and have it lead nowhere. Maybe there's a switch or lever somewhere that opens up another room.

[impetere]

[Cora nods a bit, before taking a step back and leaving the pot where it is. If it's an offering, it's probably best they don't disturb it (wisdom 15).]

Check the walls again? See if there's some kind of switch?

[dizzying]

Okay.

[ Off she goes to do that, shining her flashlight around when the beam goes dimmer. She smacks the flashlight in her hand a few times, but there's no improvement. ]

Flashlight's about to go.

[ Which makes for a cranky Granuaile. She doesn't have Cora's keen eyes. But what she does have is the sense she's found something not long after (spot 14). ]

This looks like something.

[ She turns to look over at Cora. ]

This pillar is divided into sections, and see here?

[ She pushes against the carved stone of the cylindrical pillar. ]

Each section can spin. It could be a puzzle.

[impetere]

[Cora nods before dropping down into a crouch so that the cylinder is more at eye level. She tips her head to the side, before frowning.]

Kind of like the combination on a safe.

[dizzying]

Yeah! We just need to find the right combination and it's straight to the safety deposit box.

[ Or death. But let's remain positive here! Granuaile runs her fingertips along the carvings, tilting her head in thought. ]

The carvings might line up to form a continuous image. Let's try it.

[impetere]

[Cora nods a bit, crouching a little lower so that she can get her ear closer to the dial. Maybe she could hear the rods falling into place as she turns them (listen 24).]

Go.

[dizzying]

[ Granuaile sticks her flashlight in her mouth, the rest of her keychain smacking into her chin. But it leaves both hands free to carefully turn the section of pillar without overspinning it past the correct point. She soon becomes aware that it must have some special balancing system built in, because as she turns it a certain amount, there's some resistance as it slots into place, naturally stopping so she'd have to use a little force to spin it again. It stops a person from just running a hand along it and spinning it until it loses momentum. Ingenious.

And she takes the flashlight out of her mouth to speak. ]

I think it clicks into place with each turn. The carvings don't line up, though. I'll keep going to see if I can find a bit that does.

[ And if they don't, they'll just have to try something else. ]

[impetere]

[Cora nods a bit, before pressing her ear to the side of the pillar. It's true, the balancing system seems to prevent them from hearing where the tumblers fall into place. She pulls back, scanning the pillar for a moment, before tipping her head to the side.]

Do we know what the picture is? Or do we have to figure that out?

[dizzying]

I sure don't know. But this lower part has these lines that come up, so we can work on finding the middle section with the lines at its bottom that match up. Then we can look at whatever's depicted on the top of the middle section, and go on to the top section to match that part up.

[ If... that makes sense. She's talking fast and doesn't know if she mixed up any of that. ]

[impetere]

[She shrugs a bit. Not like she can do much else but try. She gets up and makes her way around the sides of the pillar, studying the drawings carefully before she finds the one they're looking for (spot 25).]

Wait, try this one.

[dizzying]

[ Granuaile spins the piece a couple times until it matches up with the piece below. Across the room, a wall separates down the middle, as it's actually two doors. They swing in towards the next room, but stop before being open enough for either to slip through. Which means they need to get the top piece in place. ]

Almost there. What matches up to this one?

[ She points to the top of the piece she just turned, her flashlight dimming more. ]

Fucksticks! I hope the next room's filled with ancient triple A batteries.

[impetere]

[She laughs a bit, before her eyes flash.]

It's okay. I've got it.

[She takes a step back, her fingers running over each of the designs as she tries to find the one that matches the rest of the picture, but even with her ability to see in the dark, she's not getting very far. Apparently she never did puzzles when she was a kid (search 6).]

What was on the top of the last picture?

[dizzying]

Um, hold on, let me think.

[ Because she really can't see enough now. She closes her eyes, trying to picture the design in her mind. The Druid's mind is carefully trained to catalogue things into different sectors, so nothing crosses over to confuse them. Spells go in one headspace, each language gets its own, etc. So she focuses, but since this is something she's only just saw once, she can only retain a bit of info (concentration 10). ]

There were two lines that curved up and to the top right. I can't remember what was on the left.

[impetere]

[Cora nods and goes back to looking for it, but not only does she not find it, she is becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation as a whole (search crit fail). Any effort to try and get a handle on her temper is just not there, and she lashes out, swinging a hard punch at the pillar (attack 14) which doesn't do a lot of damage but does ... damage the image of the top dial making finding out which one it is all the more difficult.

Her eyes widen a bit when she realizes what she's done, withdrawing her fist and watching as the crumbling bits of stone come away with it.]

Shit.

[dizzying]

Oh.

[ Well. ]

I... don't think that convinced it to cooperate.

[ She winces a little, hoping it isn't somehow broken on the inside. Reaching out, she gently pushes at the piece, which still moves. At least there aren't a hundred sides to this thing? She could just keep spinning it until the door opens. ]

I think it's okay.

[impetere]

[No. It's really not okay. Because that punch, while it may not have been hard, was enough to trigger the security system on the lock. There's a heavy thunk!, and one of the panels on the wall furthest from them starts to slowly rise. Cora glances over and her eyes widen.]

Oh, that can't be good.

[You wanted booby traps Granuaile? You got your booby traps.]