Task Name: The Threat of History
Tier: 2
NPC or PC: PC
Location: South blue, small island off the coast of Torino Kingdom
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: Frost is to accompany Scholar Blackstar in his foray into an ancient temple on the island. The extensive booby traps in the temple have kept out most would be intruders up until now. While she has been brought on as the muscle of the operation, she is not to represent the Marines in this venture.
Enemy Details: Booby Traps, Many Booby Traps, 5 Tier 1 enemies
Boss: Not this time



Frost stepped off the small boat and through the stormy night towards what looked like a cave in the middle of the sheer rock face. She shuffled inside, trying to shake the rain out of her civilian clothes. She stopped for a moment allowing the unusual epiphany. They looked exactly like her marine clothes, same skirt style, same shirt style, though different colors and no tie. -I really need some more outfits- She thought to herself as she proceeded further into the cave.

The cave opened up wide into a sort've antechamber at the end of which stood a great stone door. Beside it stood a man swimming in robes and fiddling with something at the side of the door. He turned around and eyed her up as she approached.

"Aha, you must be the marine I requested. I am Scholar Blackstar. I must warn you, young marine, if this place is anything like the last one, there will be booby traps all over this hell-scape."

The man had the look of an old monk she couldn't help but think with his face conquered by wrinkles. Still, she replied, getting the feeling that most of the heavy lifting would be in her court for this venture.

"Pleased to meet you Scholar, I am Ensign Nina Frost and I appreciate the warning."

With a twist of the arm, the scholar opened the door through some mechanism she didn't see revealing a long corridor with ancient stone steps and vines hanging off both walls. She was about to walk through the door when a stick impacted with her stomach. She followed the stick back to the old man that was wielding it with a chiding expression on his face.

"What did I just say?"

She put her foot down, staying on the outside of the doorway. He had mentioned booby traps. Choosing this time to look with her eyes she noticed there was a large number of holes in the walls on either side mostly covered with vines. What did it mean?

The old man appraised her with a more pleased smile.

"Good, now what do you see ?"

She replied thoughtlessly, wondering if the old man had seen these before. And judging by his wizened grin, he had.

"Blow dart holes no doubt. Look to see if there is some kind've pressure plate, or a trip wire, those are the usual methods."

He handed her his cane to try and trigger a pressure plate without being in the room. She waved the cane a few feet above the ground until she was satisfied she couldn't hit any of the trip wires and then went about tapping floor plates.

When she hit one, it depressed and the hallway filled with darts firing shots all over the place. No less than three had embedded themselves into the cane. She stared at them for a moment, trying to see if she could notice a pattern in the floor.

"I can't see any differences between that tile and any other one, they all look the same. So how do we know if there are any other dart triggering tiles?"

The old man considered that for a moment before replying.

"Typically dart holders only have one dart in them, so we'll go as far as we can see darts embedded in the wall, and then we'll start poking around for more dart launching tiles."

She nodded, it seemed like a good plan, and they made decent time slowly moving forward and triggering darts once they ran out of wall examples. The next room was even less hospitable for an entirely different reason.

The stairs lead down, and after about three steps water had taken over, filling the room up to the very ceiling. Behind her she heard the old man sigh deeply.

"I'm not much good in water kid, see if you can't find a way to proceed without me."

She nodded her ascent and slowly started to make her way into the water, taking a deep breath. Being honest with herself, she was more than a little concerned with the idea of going on without him. Would she be able to spot the traps before they skewered her?

She swam down the stairs and into the large circular room appraising it's unusual furnishings. In the center there was a large circular nob of wood with several small holes in it. On the periphery of the room there was several chunks of heavy stone set into what looked like a track. She headed back upstairs and popped her head above the water for some more air.

"See anything interesting?"
The man asked as if fishing for a way to be useful despite his choice not to enter the water.
She told him of the room, unsure of what to make of it herself. What was the point of it all?

"Can't say I've heard of a trap like that, let me think on it for a moment."

She heeded him and headed back under water and into the room. There was no clear door way that she could see. She decided instead to spend her time looking at the holes in the wooden nob, thinking she had just recently seen something that could probably fit into it.

Her head popped above the surface and spoke, breaking the man from his thoughtful reverie.

"Can I borrow your cane again?"

The man shuffled himself over to the water quick as he could and held out the cane to her waiting grip all the while muttering; oh of course of course. She secured the cane and headed back under deciding she liked the old man.

She closed in on the nob and pushed the cane into one of the holes on the side, despite her anticipation, nothing happened. She looked at it from another angle and had the odd desire to push the cane. Getting a solid purchase on the floor, underwater, was difficult, but she found some upturned stone tiles she could brace against and she pushed with all her might.

The nob seemed to turn with some ease, and all at once a noise filled the room as the three stone slabs on the outside of the room began to move in a clockwise direction around the room. With the stones moved out of the way, they revealed two drains that were making quick work of the water in the room and a doorway that no doubt led to another challenge.

She felt strangely accomplished, watching the water flow away from the room. It wasn't the dark accomplishment of seeing pirates fall before you, it was more wholesome, pride without guilt.

As the old man made his way down the steps, his robes swept the stairs clean. She felt a need to comment.

"I'm beginning to understand why you like doing this so much."

He chuckled, a light and airy sound that was pleasing.

"Heheh, Always room for more in my line of work now let us see what the next room holds in store for us."

Together they entered the next room only to find, a lack of room. There was a large and very deep pit filled only partially with water and only the smallest bit of stable ground on either side of it. She was confident that she could make it, given a running start, and maximum effort, but what about the old man.

Behind her a large thump followed by the sounds of hundreds of little metal things hit the ground and she simply had to look. There behind her was the old man, only with no robes. He was wearing a simple muscle shirt and pants. All around him however was the remains of his robes, and they were filled with bulging pockets full of all manner of metal tools.

They shared a look for a moment, her eyes indicating the betrayal of perception she felt taking note that the man was in far better shape than she ever could be. He shrugged as he selected a grapnel and rope from a pocket.

"What? You get rather fit always running from danger."

She had to chuckle, there was really no other answer to the situation as the man found a good place for the grapnel and handed it back to her. She tested the line and swiftly swung across. She made sure the man had re-equipped his robe of many pockets before sending the line back across to him so that he could cross in turn.

Frost figured they were making good time, after all how many more rooms of traps could this ancient people have devised before they themselves would forget how to deal with them? This thought however came to a screeching halt at the room before them.

There in the center of the room was a giant chest of shining golden coins. It seemed to glow with inviting light, each coin sparkling with that sheen that only gold could emit. She was captivated it by, as if it was a thing of myth and legend that had deigned to be real for a moment. Surely there was someway they could bring that back, or at least a portion of it. She looked at the old man.

His eyes seemed weary, but his reply was somewhat jaded sounding.

"I know what you're thinking, and they are all good ideas, maybe even good intentions but you know as well as I do that if even one piece of gold leaves that chest, we'll both be dead. So look at it real close and tell yourself that it's fake, convince yourself of it, because I don't want to lose any more assistants."

To say that she was tempted was more true than the sun in the sky, her logical mind had worked out all sorts of uses for it, and how they could get the gold across the gaps and how they could offset the traps. Her eyes closed slowly, remembering words that had been spoken to her. Those words calmed her, they told her the way, and slowly her feet began to move as her eyes filled with determination.

"So why did you request me specifically?"

She asked the man from the other side of the room, she had walked past the chest without so much as a sideways glance. The man crossed the room too, his weary eyes looking much relieved and much happier.

"I know a man who told me that you wouldn't touch a chest of trapped gold if you saw it. Fortunately for us both, he was right."

He chuckled as she groaned. Obviously Captain Windsor's doing again no doubt, would she ever escape the man's meddling?

At last they reached the final chamber. There at the farthest part of the room, on a pedestal stood a strange idol. It was rather massive, requiring at least two people to carry at least.

Her eyes started to scan the room, a practice she had been making a habit over the last few rooms. In this room, there was only a single unbroken tile that spanned the entire floor from the entrance all the way up to the idol. She held out her hand and he passed her the cane without a word, this looked far too much like a trap to be anything but.

She pressed the cane down on the plate, but nothing happened. She pressed with all her might, but still nothing. Flummoxed, she gave the cane back to the man and stepped out onto the plate. It barely depressed before she was back across the threshold of the door and breathing hard. It had depressed, but then it had snapped back and nothing else had happened.

She pondered it's reaction for a moment and then jumped out again, daring to stay longer and hope she had the alacrity to dive back through the door should something happen. Nothing did however. To her horror, the old man then joined her on the pressure plate. It depressed more, but still nothing happened. They shared a curious and questioning look before eyeing up the idol.

"It would take two people to life that thing."
"Probably weighs a lot."
"Those two people, plus the Idol must trip the trap"

Satisfied that they had reasoned their way into safety they began to examine the idol up close, trying to figure out what to do with the large egg-like thing. There was some inscriptions, and glyphs all over the pedestal that held the large egg-like idol. Frost noticed the old man seemed to be able to work out some of them and so left it to the old man to figure it out. Her eyes wandered around to the other features of the room.

Her eyes couldn't help but notice the very decorative sentinels that dominated the room's corners. 5 Corners with one very large rocky soldier posted at each end. They looked sort of like men if you stretched your imagination, and your idea of how large the average man was. Heads perched on necks, with shoulders and arms, and each and every one of them was armed with a large halberd. A voice from behind her caught her attention.

The old man had retrieved what looked to be a sledge hammer from his pack and had just brought it down on the egg's surface. She screamed at him.

"What are you doing?!"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes, no, urgh, why are you smashing the idol?"

He grinned a toothy smile at her and brought it down with swift finality breaking the egg into two clear pieces. He dropped the sledge hammer and scooped up a book from one of the shells of the egg. With a smile he recited the riddle on the pedestal.

"I am the source of all civilization, and their greatest prize."

She wanted to ask if that was in fact what they had came for; it was a very nice book but was that it? She couldn't though, it was obvious on the old man's face, his enthusiasm was infectious as he coveted the tome in his hands.

Just then a sickening sound filled the room and drew her eyes to the large half egg shapes. They had fallen and then proceeded to roll until they were now upon the rapidly depressing pressure plate.

They only had time for a quick glance at each other when a large click resounded through the room, a rumbling sound coming from all around them. Frost turned, daring to look at the large sentinel nearest to her only to see red eyes glowing back. She swore and then yelled at the old man.

"RUN!"

Both of them moved into full out sprints towards the exit of the room. The one closest to the door took a swing at her with it's large halberd causing her to dodge back and allowing the old man to get into the door way and beyond. Another sentinel moved to cover off the door way completely as she drew her sword.

Three behind her and two in front of her, the odds were not good, but those halberds were rather slow. She took a stab forward and feinted out of it just in time to dodge the massive weapon. The thick blade and the strength of the swing had embedded itself into the floor plate and so she pounced on the creature, stabbing at the red eyes with a jump.

It's closest companion had clearly enough of that and pushed forward with a poorly aimed fist, taking his allies head off clean and nearly striking her as she retreated. She kept going back and ducked her head just a bit, preparing to push forward again when the wind moved above her hair. She didn't need to be told that a halberd had barely missed her head.

With a spin she chose to push back further into the room and against the three behind her. They had closed slightly on her, attempting to keep her at the full length of their weapon's range. Thrusts and slashes, each one keeping track of the other's gaps and closing them with swings. This was an impenetrable line of attack.

She glanced behind her, chancing the move and noticing that the one from near the door had closed considerably and had no such qualms about getting very close. An idea formed in her head and she waited for it, waited for the creature to build up more momentum than it could stop as it lumbered towards her with ever increasing speed.

She waited until it was nearly upon her and then dove under the formed up trio's combined attacks. It was a gamble that payed off as the one from the door's weapon collided with the trio's attacks knocking their blades upwards. With a hard push-up she closed on the nearest of the trio and unleashed a flurry of strikes into it's eyes.

Success greeted her as the creature went limp, it's eyes dark, and it's weapon on the floor. She heard a whooshing sound behind her and turned in time to see a halberd was making it's way down towards her. Too quickly, she was meeting her end here. She closed her eyes and awaited a death that never came.

She chanced a quick glance, opening her eyes and found Scholar Blackstar before her, panting hard and holding the book aloft like a shield. The sentinel's blade hovered the barest of millimeters above the book. She looked at him amazed.

"They won't damage the book, it's what they're here to protect after all. Quick, attack before my hands get tired."

She nodded, rallying into the attack with boundless vigor. She leap into the air stabbing the frozen sentinel in it's red eyes until hearing that all too welcome sound of it's halberd dropping to the floor. The old man had already moved in to defend her back and another one stood frozen and unable to strike the book. She pounced on him next another flurry for the beady red eyes.

The last one seemed somewhat smarter, trying to swing in ways that would not allow the book to be harmed, but not freezing completely when his weapon was too close to it. She had to dive under a few attacks but the battle was already a forgone conclusion. A quick hop and thrust and it was over.

The old man held the book closely as he surveyed the damage.

"We make a pretty good team."

Frost sheathed her sword and nodded in agreement, her head filled with the example of what could come from team work.

"Yeah, we really do."

[End]