Bad Company [Rayne & Death]

Grudgingly he admitted that he could have died, and she felt both a surge of satisfaction and a tinge of guilt. Satisfaction that he at least understood the situation that they'd both been in, and guilty that he'd been in such danger in the first place. He was practically a civilian and she'd just left him to deal with the monster by himself. She couldn't help glancing over at the body of the golem where it rested, ready to return to killing them at a moment's notice.

Death grumbled complaints about her healing potion and she grunted. "I used what I had." Potions were valuable in a world where they had to be made by players and then sold. One could gather them from quests of course, but they weren't as common as some items. She didn't have a weaker potion to use on him.

"Thank you." He seemed actually sincere, and she felt a light flush rise to her cheeks, so she turned away from him so that he couldn't see it.

"You're welcome." His next question was about the room, and she rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "Didn't have a chance to check it out. I didn't want to leave you hanging while I went sight-seeing." Her words were gruff, but their meaning was clear. She wouldn't have left him behind to go treasure seeking.

Death's words roused her curiosity however, and he led the way into the chamber. "Of course I'm coming. After all that there better be some crazy good loot in there." She snorted and made her way back into the chamber. There was really no other way to go as the path behind them was still closed up. The chamber was exactly as she'd left it, but there was no obvious sign as to what they were supposed to do now. She pointed to the lever in the coffin. "That's the one that deactivated the golem, so I wouldn't touch it again if I were you."

If that golem activated again, they were both toast.

Which left two other levers and a second coffin. "You want to help me open the other sarcophagus? It might be trapped, but if there's a hidden passage it's probably there." Even while she spoke she started feeling along the edge of the sarcophagus for some kind of air current. There wasn't even a seam where it leaned against the wall. Which meant it was part of the wall. A good sign she felt that she was right. "Looks like it's part of the wall, lets get 'er open."

After walking into the room for the second time, the convolutions on the walls looked even more familiar to him yet still could not place how or where from.

 "That's the one that deactivated the golem, so I wouldn't touch it again if I were you."

Death looked to where Rayne was gesturing at and nodded his acknowledgement.  Where have I seen these glyph patterns before..?  Scarn flies off of Death's shoulder to one particular set of glyph markings and screeches before flying back onto Death's shoulder and screeching in his ear again.

"Looks like it's part of the wall, lets get 'er open."

"Thank you for that.." Death said to Scarn while wincing at the pain from the little dragon's screech in his ear while walking over to where Scarn had flown to.  THAT was it!!  This was Draconic writing!  Oh man... I knew I should have put more skill points into that!

"The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right."

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Rayne, this writing is in Draconic.  It says 'The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right.' and I have NO idea what that is supposed to mean." Death informed his companion.

Looking at the sarcophagi, one was on the left side of the room and the other was on the right.  The sarcophagus on the right side had been opened by Rayne to stop the golem.  "After the one" Death muttered while looking at the opened sarcophagus that was already used "that is left" turning his attention to the unused sarcophagus "is right."

Death scratched his head sure that he had it right on the tip but couldn't figure it out.

Rayne tugged on the sarcophagus, yanking on the lid with all her force but it just wouldn't move. And... He wasn't helping. Instead the man that was role-playing this whole thing out was just standing there staring at the wall with a thoughtful expression on what she could see of his face. Slowly letting go of the box she stepped aside and looked at the writing on the wall herself.

It was literally there on the wall waiting to be read, but it was total nonsense to her. Apparently it meant something to him however as he was mumbling something under his breath about...

"Rayne, this writing is in Draconic.  It says 'The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right.' and I have NO idea what that is supposed to mean." Yea. Even translated it made no sense.

"What the fucking hell is that supposed to mean?" She glared at the undead man who had offered up the riddle but he was still muttering to himself, trying to figure it out. So she glared at the wall instead. "Are we supposed to move the whole damn sarcophagus?"

It seemed unlikely but it was the only answer that she had to the riddle.

Death stood in one place, perplexed at the simplicity of this riddle, repeating it and trying different variations on meanings.

'The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right."

"The one that is correct is remaining after the one that is on the left is correct."

"The one that is right is on the left after the one that is remaining is correct."

"The one that is correct is on the left after the one that is remaining is on the right."

'The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right."


"I wonder..." muttered Death to himself while walking over to the 3 levers.  Think maybe it's a series of lever pulling to get past this?  Pointing at the lever on the left, "Rayne, what do you think about this?  'The one that is right is on the left after the one that is remaining is correct.'  The lever on the left is the correct lever after the only other one, the right one, since the middle closed the door, has been used."

"So, do we pull the right lever, then the left lever?  Or... other way around?"

Riddles really weren't her strong point and in fact she was becoming a little frustrated with the fact that they had to stand here and figure it out or they couldn't reach the reward for the dungeon. After all the work to get in here it seemed wrong to her that they should have to figure out some crazy riddle as well. Worse, the riddle was horribly confusing in of itself.

The one that is right is left after the one that is left is right.

It made no sense! Her companion was muttering to himself, trying to dissect the riddle and figure it out while she stood there feeling rather useless. The one that was right is left. She eyed the right-most lever. It seemed too easy for it to be that lever. Like there should be some trick to it. Such as throwing one of the other levers first. Or maybe...

Death's voice spoke up again, suggesting a course of action and she stared at him blankly. He might as well have been speaking in riddles too. "Uh." She looked embarrassed suddenly. "I'm sorry, I'm not any good at riddles. I say we just throw whichever you think is the right one and we deal with the consequences. I mean we can just flip it again if it wakes up the golem right?"

That had worked well enough last time, and she really didn't have any other answers to the problem. She flashed him a wry grin. "Worse comes to worse we end up facing some sort of monster or trap. We can deal."

DeathIncarnate stood and stared at Rayne for a moment, measuring her response and what it could mean to them if they chose wrong.  

"Do you think that maybe... We should wait till I can summon the Naga again?  It might be a few minutes but that shouldn't be too bad of a wait.  If we have another one of those golems on the other side, it won't hurt to have a distraction while we move past."

Death could always summon a few smaller critters to aid but didn't think that the Monkey, Rabbits, Boar, or Ferrets would be able to do much in here if that golem was any indication of what they were in for when proceeding.

"Hey Rayne... do you think that maybe "THE ONE" that is left might be the golem?  Maybe there's a switch inside of it?" DeathIncarnate shuddered at the thought of the golem, hearing the sounds of popcorn in his ears, as a shiver ran down his spine at the memory.

Actually, waiting until they could summon the naga again sounded like an excellent idea to here. "Yea, lets wait until you can summon your monster before we make any hasty moves. Never know when something like that might come in handy."

Smoothly she leaned against one of the sarcophagi, trying to control her lingering frustration so that it didn't spill over onto her companion. She was pretty well known for being temperamental even outside the game though here she didn't control the impulse to give someone a piece of her mind if they deserved it.

There was a moment of silence between them and then he spoke again. His words made her squint at the golem in question and casually start wandering toward it. "Might as well take a look. You stand over there by the switch and get ready to throw it if it starts to wake up okay?" Rayne made leaned down and pulled on the golem's helmet.

To her surprise it popped off with relative ease. With a clang she dropped it onto the floor and leaned in to get a better look inside the golem. "HEY! There is a switch in here!" She flipped the switch inside the golem without thinking and poked her head up to see what was going on outside. Behind her the trap door lifted, and in front of her the sarcophagus to the next room swung open to reveal a room on the other side.

"Damn fine thinking there Death!" Rayne hopped away from the body of the golem and toward her companion. "I wouldn't have thought to check inside its body in a hundred years. You get first pick of whatever's inside alright? This whole thing wouldn't have been possible without your summon and your quick thinking."

Rayne seemed to take his words to heart, as she simply started walking to the golem, giving instruction should the golem wake.  She scaled the golem's body with the grace of a cat, arriving at it's head and deftly squatting down, grabbing it's head and lifting it like yesterday's garbage; only to throw it to the ground with a resounding clang throughout the chamber. She leaned her body into the now vacant neck space of the golem.

"HEY! There is a switch in here!"

Death's eyes widened with a mixture of disbelief and excitement. "I..was right..?" he breathed in; followed by a sigh of relief.  "I'm not as incompetent as she has probably thought me to be this whole trip!!" SCORE!!! Death thought to himself proudly.

His thought had barely finished when from behind him came the sound of something moving.  Death spun around, and cast Bone Armour on himself instinctively ready to get pounced on.  Death began to laugh, heart racing, adrenaline pumping.  It was just the sarcophagi moving to reveal the next area.

"Damn fine thinking there Death! I wouldn't have thought to check inside its body in a hundred years. You get first pick of whatever's inside alright? This whole thing wouldn't have been possible without your summon and your quick thinking."

Death was thankful at this point that his back was turned because he was sure that he was blushing.  He'd never in the entire time of playing this game been given credit for having done something right.

Drake leaned back in his chair, his eyes starting to fill with tears.  Reaching up to the shelf, he grabs the box with Princess Leia in it and very gingerly strokes the box "I really do have a friend now!!  A real friend.  It might even be a girl on the other side.  Wish me luck in not screwing this up, huh?"  Putting Leia back up on the shelf, ensuring her spacing is perfect from the box of Luke and Han on her left and right.

Not turning around, "Uh... err... ah... uhmmm.." Death began stammering, mind boggled and not quite sure what to say at this point. "Hey uhm... Thanks..." Death was trying to think of something to say but couldn't get over that he was actually given credit for something GOOD!! HAH!

"I wouldn't have been able to solve it without your potion to keep me alive."  DANG IT!!  That did NOT come out the way it was supposed to... such a lame response... Oh well, just start walking forward and act like nothing happened... STUPID... so STUPID...

"I wouldn't have been able to solve it without your potion to keep me alive." Rayne snorted at the comment, and hopped down from the body of the golem. She hadn't really done much of anything at all had she? If it came down to a potion or two rather than her skill or her quick-thinking then she'd been all but useless.

It was a sobering realization and she had a bit of a scowl on her face by the time she reached Death. It wasn't his fault, and she wasn't grumpy with him, but it probably came across that way. She was upset with herself for not being more useful in this endeavor. At least though, she'd helped kill the naga. Which she supposed, was the reason they'd survived so long against the golem.

With that thought to soothe her ego she continued on into the next room which held the treasure horde. It was a good haul from what she could see. Gold lay strewn about the room; enough to make the trip more than worthwhile. Some scrolls, a few trinkets mingled with the rest, and the quest item that she'd come all this way for.

Rayne moved over to the odd-looking staff and picked it up, hefting it for the weight and grinning at Death. Her mind was already working. They could turn in the quest together and make sure that they both got the extra reward for the mission. She knew where to turn it in if Death didn't. "Come on, take your pick of the loot and lets get this baby where it belongs."

She'd even send him a friend request later. Goodness knew that people that didn't drive her nuts were few and far between. She could use a few more like him in her life.

-End