Move 342:  Pretty and Strange

Glassy Rock Tunnels--Early, Day 36 (Marpenoth 20)

The group continued down the tunnel. After a couple of hours of slow going, the glass rock covering the tunnel floor ended. The walls and the floor took on a marble-like appearance. The passage walls were fluted, semi-sculpted, with scalloping almost to ceiling level, giving the place an eerie beauty.  It looked almost as though giant magical hands had smoothed the contours and edges from the rock. The ceiling height, at least as far as they could see with their lights, was an almost uniform forty feet high.

"Pretty," Arachne's voice said, close to one of the marble walls.

"We're not lost, right?"

"I don't think we're any more lost than usual," Echo said as she looked around. "This is interesting. I can't wait to see the rest of it."

Aloysius implored the others in front of him to stop.  "One moment," he said looking around at the walls.   "This concerns me. I'd like to try something. It may not help any, but I can't see how it would hurt."

He looked at Renn. "I'll have need of thine keen eyes, Rennirolas." The mage pointed to the section of wall on his right about 30-40 feet down the passage.

"Focus on that and tell me if you see anything . . . . odd." After slowly cocking his head, Aloysius gestured in the direction of that section of wall.

Azrun looked around very carefully, "Someone took a lot of effort to create this. Someone with some power, I would guess. I hope whoever they are that they're friendly. I'd rather not be somebody's snack in this hall."

When Aloysius spoke up about the wall, Azrun turned his attention to where the mage pointed and looked closely. "Does anyone else see, hear, smell, or
feel anything?......just thought I'd cover all the bases there..."

Olaf sniffed dramatically.

"I don't see nothing weird," Jana said in a low voice.

Azrun nodded in agreement, "I don't see anything either, Aloysius. What is it you're seeing?"

After studying the wall, the mage shook his head.  "I saw nothing," he replied. "I simply suspected that this might be a good spot for ropers to conceal themselves. In order to test that hypothesis, I . . well . . .'tickled' the wall. Nothing happened.  Either there is no roper there or . . . ."

He sighed as his cheeks reddened.

" . . . .they aren't ticklish."

"It was a good idea," Echo offered. "We should be careful here. Does anyone else want to try something or are we ready to keep going?" she asked eagerly.

"Let's move on and see if we find whatever made this." Blacky replied

"Works for me," Jana agreed.

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