A Light in the Dark Forest

Corona Starfire

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Mar 4, 2007
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"Would you prefer your bow back, Master Nakata?" He asked, standing up now. He would hand Nakata the bow if he wished, or otherwise just hang onto it for now. "It is recommended we search the carved-out house our adversary appears to have taken refuge in. Perhaps it could give us a way out of here. If he was the one that had summoned these creatures here, then maybe he has a secret hidden somewhere inside that gives an alternate exit." Indeed, the rubble was too much to move out of the way. They would need another plan of escape.

He looked down at the draining ocean and doubted they would find anything down there. The giant octopus-like creature had vanished, however. Presumably back to its own plane of existence. Though.. where exactly was the water draining to? Was it, too, returning to a place it was originally summoned from? It was certainly possible, but he had no way of knowing for sure without a closer look.
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
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Naka stood once more and accept his bow, holding onto the sword and slinging the bow over his shoulder as Alistair had done earlier.
"I agree, we have no options but to finish searching this place. Would you care to tell me what exactly I'm looking for before I do something stupid like that again." He said, laughing as he hefted the blade. This could be a powerful weapon if used right and he would yet stash it away, perhaps asking Kenichi for a storage method.
"Besides if that guy has more weapons like this one I'll want to store them." He explained.

Nakata did not miss the receding water line but all that meant to him was that the creature they had defeated earlier was gone now too. To be honest he was even surprised by his own survival against the monster given being inside but if it wasn't for the power he had gained since this little adventure with Alistair, he would have died just like the summoner.
 

Corona Starfire

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Mar 4, 2007
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"What it is I am looking for is not here." He declared. "If it was, you would have known by now. Come, let us investigate his home. If he has anything of value you are welcome to it, I merely wish for information. Well, a way out would be nice, too."

The "house" was fairly average - despite being carved out of stone - and carried many of the necessary features. One had to wonder exactly how the toilet or bath worked, however. He assumed he summoned water from somewhere to do that, like with the ocean. The most curious of rooms, however, was the summoning room. Covered with runes on the floor, candles, and other ritual-esque features.

Alistair knelt before the runes and examined them carefully. "That summoner was quite powerful. But he made an error here." He pointed out a part of the rune, and began to explain exactly what was messed up and how it should be corrected. A normal human certainly wouldn't get it, but Nakata might. "If it wasn't for that, the creature we just faced would not have defeated him for us."
 

Kuromaku

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Oh he got the problem with the rune. The guy had expected the monster to help him, and yet it had killed him instead. Given this, Naka put two and two together and deduced that what Alistair was referring to was either a problem in the sequence of the runes or in the shape itself, though he didn't know enough about magic to figure out exactly what that was.
"Well he won't be doing that again." Was all he could think to respond. Still, he searched the place for a sheath and after a few minutes, did manage to successfully find not only a sheath, but the intended sheath for this weapon he carried. With this new accessory in hand he slung the weapon over his back so that the blade would be drawn from his left shoulder.

There were no more weapons yet forthcoming and while this news was somewhat disappointing, Naka had lost interest anyway, he was now searching only for an exit. He did find some books, several of them in strange languages he had never even heard of, one book titled the "tetragramaton" which pretty much screamed evil. Despite this, He decided that if a passageway in and out could be found, he would come to the forest and would use this place as a "home away from home" When he trained or just didn't feel like going back to the dorms.

"If we find a way out of here, I say we keep this place a secret and come back here for shelter and store supplies etcetra." He suggested out loud.
 

Corona Starfire

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"Indeed, this could be a nice place to retreat to in an emergency." He agreed. "However, I have my doubts that he kept only one exit. Places like this usually-" He paused. Something was off. He made his way over to one of the bookshelves in the summoning room and took a closer look. "Rather cliche, indeed." He pulled one of the books which, instead of coming free of the bookcase triggered something - making a click noise - and opening a door way.

But not the one Alistair had expected, clearly.

The floor directly beneath him gave way into a pit of darkness that went down who-knows how far. Luckily, he was able to react fast enough to grab onto the edge of the floor to prevent himself from falling in.

"Perhaps not as cliche as I expected.." He laughed, despite likely nearly dying.
 

Kuromaku

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Luckily, Naka was still exploring when the floor gave way, he had almost literally JUST stepped off the floor when it opened up. Still he immediately ran to help pull Alistair up and out of the floor.
"So how do we get down there?" He asked. He wasn't sure if he could just jump down there and see how far the fall was going to be and his survival didn't guarantee the survival of his bow or other weaponry. Add in to that that if the flesheater was freed from its sheath and cut him, there was no way to be sure that it wouldn't completely take him out with a heart stab or something. It was too dark to see if anything could be done, and there was no way to tell if his power was going to save him.
"if you hold my weapons I can jump down." He said, finding the solution to his problem.
 

Corona Starfire

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He thanked Nakata for assisting him up before turning back to look at the deep hole. "Not even I can see the bottom of it. It may be a trap or it may be the way out." He grabbed another random book off the bookshelf - a heavier one that he was certain was an actual book - and dropped it down the hole. After a few seconds, a loud thud was heard. "Too far down for a human to fall without becoming seriously hurt or killed. And we are unsure if it is even the exit. If we go down, we may never be able to come back up. Surely, there is another way out. Why is it he only would have an exit without an entrance?"

Indeed, certainly there had to be something else. "Unless it was here just in case one of his summons went awry, of course. But I suppose there is no way of knowing unless.." he shrugged. "It looks like we have no choice but to attempt it.." he paused, looking around again. "Let us see if we can find some rope or some other such means of slowing our fall. Or perhaps something we can use to climb back up.."
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
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Naka agreed to the problem, but he might not have a rope.
"we may not find a rope or anything." It was an observation but if he didn't intend for there to be a way up he probably would have put stairs on and made it obvious. Unfortunately, as logical as that was, it wasn't 100% either and so he was forced to agree. Given that he searched for the rope just like Alistair.
 

Corona Starfire

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Mar 4, 2007
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"Well then.." He said, not having much luck finding anything either. "I dislike this idea, but I suppose our best option would be to take advantage of your enhanced regeneration." Indeed, he did not like asking Nakata to do such a thing but he saw that as their best option. "I suppose that means we can go with your idea." He thought of asking Nakata to break his fall, but he thought that too selfish of him. He would use a Mantra to restore his wounds if need be.

He made his way over to the hole once again and peered into it. "I do not hear any echoes of any possible creatures living within. I doubt we will find any conflict."
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
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Naka nodded, handing both his swords, his bow, and his quiver to Alistair so they wouldn't get broken or add any more injury. With that done, he jumped down the hole, taking the proverbial plunge into the slightly less proverbial unknown. He hoped Alistair was right about nothing being below them that would make an attempt on his life which was pretty much all that had happened since he entered the forest.
"Here I go." He said as he took the dive.
 
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