bewitched armor

[thaumobabble]

There are plenty of things to do. Bella orders a carpet to enchant so she can commute to and from Reformist Wizards efficiently and move house. She starts combing through the castle library to find background material on her Minor Technical Issue.

Sometimes she watches Sherlock cook.

Sometimes she watches Tony forge. (Nnnnf.)

Comments

[calendarofcrime]

She picks right.

[thaumobabble]

The darkness eventually gives way to a crystalline sort of glow; there is moss growing in this part of the tunnel that phosphoresces. Because this is the Cave of Unpleasant Surprises, it also releases a noxious smell when stepped on or otherwise touched, which is hard to avoid in a passage this small.

She can hear Bella again, if that's Bella running and making breathy fearful noises somewhere off to the left.

[calendarofcrime]

Sherlock quickly becomes very good at not touching the glowing moss. She also keeps following the sound of Bella's voice.

[thaumobabble]

The tunnel path Sherlock chooses in trying to stay close to Bella exits into a large cavern with the phosphorescent moss completely coating the ceiling. There is a six-foot sheer drop into a deep pool of water with no less-sheer shore available, except the stream that's running at high speed off into that lower tunnel there.

There's a wall behind her again.

There may be something moving in the water, deep under the surface.

[calendarofcrime]

Sherlock decides that more light is required.

She holds a hand out to one side and slightly behind her, and ignites her gauntlet.

[thaumobabble]

Well, if there was something moving in the water, it's not making the water ripple anymore, although it's possible that from her vantage point there are parts of the pool she can't see, cut under the tunnel she's standing in.

[calendarofcrime]

Curiously, she douses the light.

[thaumobabble]

The water remains still.

Under this completely still water swims a dark shape.

Also, it does not appear to be limited to travel through the water. It rises, surface yet unrippling, and swims through the air, jaws wide; it looks like a cross between a shark, a weasel, and a sea anemone, and it's six times Sherlock's size.

[calendarofcrime]

Sherlock attempts to set it on fire.

[thaumobabble]

It doesn't seem to be there enough to catch fire.

Till the moment when it bites her in the legs. Then it's there.

[calendarofcrime]

At last, a target for her incandescent rage.

The creature steams, then smokes, then burns.

[thaumobabble]

When it is very thoroughly charred, it at last stops trying to eat her, and falls into the water, diminished but no longer insubstantial and therefore splashy.

[calendarofcrime]

It doesn't take more than a few seconds, but that still leaves Sherlock with her leg armour somewhat crunched.

There is no exit but the water; therefore, logically, the water is the exit.

She doesn't jump so much as stumble gracefully off the ledge.

[thaumobabble]

The water conveys her to the exit stream and jostles her along.

She fetches up on a smooth, gently sloped shore in a cavern that is completely white, made of something that looks sort of like alabaster, and populated with rather a lot of frogs of various shapes, sizes, and colors.

[calendarofcrime]

Well, that's... something.

Exits? Sounds of Bella?

[thaumobabble]

On the far side of this cavern there are four tunnels out, one of which is stairs.

It is down these stairs that Bella shortly comes racing, terrified and breathing hard and chased by a flock of toothy batlike creatures. She doesn't appear injured, but considering her preparations that doesn't mean much, especially since there's a few splotches of blood on her outfit and a few new scratches in her armor.

She spots Sherlock and runs in her direction, pursued by bat-things. "Shr-" She chokes and coughs up a blue medium-sized frog, which she catches, bewildered, as she skids to a halt before entering the water.

[calendarofcrime]

Sherlock does her best to climb out of the stream.

[thaumobabble]

Bella drops her frog, pulls a handful of something powdery and green out of her sleeve, and throws it at the bat things. She hits four of the flock, and those retreat into miscellaneous exits, shrieking, but the others get at her and start nibbling at bits of Bella that aren't covered by armor. Bella does her best to swat them away - none of them is bigger than size of her outstretched hand - but there's about forty. She eventually gives up on doing anything about their insistence on nibbling on her and attempts to help Sherlock out of the water, upon which exit the bat things begin to nibble Sherlock too.

[calendarofcrime]

Sherlock immediately heads for the nearest frog-free area, although she has some difficulty walking without help.

[thaumobabble]

Bella insinuates herself under Sherlock's arm to serve as a crutch; she's nibbled but not in a way that impedes her movement much. "Ml-" she starts, but nope, apparently even spell words produce frogs; this one is small and pinkish-white.

[calendarofcrime]

On they limp, then.

[thaumobabble]

Unless Sherlock has a better idea Bella will aim for the tunnel with the lowest ceiling, as it seems like it might be unappealing to bat-things.

[calendarofcrime]

Fine by her.

[thaumobabble]

The bat-things are mostly dissuaded, except for three, which Bella eventually manages to swat.

The frogs thin out as they proceed.

[calendarofcrime]

When they pass the last visible frog, Sherlock says testingly, "Frogs?"