Curiosity did what, now?

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold's research cave is coming along nicely, after her previous adventure - the floor carefully flattened (by teleporting stone out) and softened (by teleporting sand in); the permanent portals to Deva and the cavern's exit, currently closed to anyone who doesn't know the passwords, but marked off, with spaces set aside for several more portals; her experimenting supplies tucked away behind further portals in her workspace; a small cache set up for her new translation necklace and any other magical items she might happen to find in her travels.

And, now, another portal, leading to another new world. She double-checks that she has her traveling gear - translation necklace, teleporting ring, twine - completes the spell, and peers through.

Comments

[lurkingkobold]

"Waterskin," interjects Dusk. "Weapon - knife? - hand light, fire bowl. Travel light."

[last_one_out]

"Seems like a reasonable list, if I understand some of those right. Hand light and fire bowl, are those magic things?"

[lurkingkobold]

Dusk nods, and River explains, "A hand light makes a beam of light when you activate it, they're good for finding your way around in the dark -"

"Signaling," interrupts Dusk. "Scare monsters. Fire bowl, warmth, easier signal if lost."

[last_one_out]

"Yeah." He nods.

[lurkingkobold]

"All right. Dusk should be able to get you all of those things - " Dusk nods " - so it sounds like you're all set."

[last_one_out]

"Well, that was easy."

[lurkingkobold]

Dusk nods; Rain grins wanly. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

[last_one_out]

Elarron smiles and nods.

[lurkingkobold]

And Dusk leads him out.

The sky is distinctly pink behind the trees as Dusk leads the way back to her house. When they get there, she considers for a moment, looks around - it's a quiet bit of the village to begin with, and nobody is around at the moment - says, "wait," and then heads inside.

[last_one_out]

Elarron waits. He looks up at the sky; the change is colour is interesting, very unlike home.

[lurkingkobold]

She's back after a few minutes, carrying a basket and with a cloth trap rolled up under one arm. She holds out the basket for Elarron to take its contents: a waterskin, a plain iron knife, a small ceramic bowl, and what appears to be a short, thick wooden stick with a stripe painted down the length of it.

[last_one_out]

"Thanks," says Elarron. "How do the magic things work...?"

[lurkingkobold]

The ceramic bowl produces a small flame, contained entirely within it, when held by the base for a few consecutive seconds; tapping near the rim makes the flame disappear. Dusk carefully points the stick at the ground before activating it: touching the painted stripe makes it emit a beam of light from one end, and she demonstrates how it can be held with the stripe in one's palm for a constant effect, or with the stripe next to one's thumb for controlled flashes of light.

[last_one_out]

Simple enough. Okay, now Elarron is equipped for his night out. He smiles.

"...And, uh, what's that?" he asks with a gesture at the cloth trap.

[lurkingkobold]

Dusk considers for a moment, looks around, glances at the sky where the pinkness is deepening, and declares "wait."

Then she heads off toward the stables, gesturing for him to follow.

[last_one_out]

He follows along, glancing frequently at the sky.

[lurkingkobold]

A few minutes spent saddling Dusk's lynx, and she's ready to go.

(That sure is a giant tiger over there. It's asleep right now, but the giant crows aren't, and they watch Elarron curiously from their perches.)

[last_one_out]

The giant crows are slightly alarming - most of Elarron's associations with large flying animals are negative - but it's obvious that they're not actually going to eat him, at least not right now, so he's more amused than worried.

[lurkingkobold]

And then she leads the way out. She keeps to a comfortable walking pace, but heads purposefully out of the village and a little way along the main path leading to it. When they come to a side path, she takes it, and after a few seconds it lets out into a midsized clearing, where she dismounts and starts unpacking the trap from where she'd stowed it behind her saddle.

[last_one_out]

Elarron waits.

[lurkingkobold]

It doesn't take long for Dusk to get the trap unpacked and set it on the ground. "Trap," she explains.

[last_one_out]

"Okay... and, uh, how does it... trap?"

[lurkingkobold]

She nods an acknowledgement of the question, then walks across the trap, demonstrating that it doesn't currently do anything. Then she turns, whistles a short tune, steps back onto it, and is pulled steadily toward the center of the circle.

[last_one_out]

He eyes the trap, gauging the diameter of the circle and the speed with which it's pulling her in.

"...And that works?"

[lurkingkobold]

...yes?

She demonstrates how attempting to walk out doesn't work; she makes a little more headway running, but the trap appears to notice that she's doing so and redoubles its efforts to keep her in place.

"Trap."