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sweetpinkpixie 10-16-2017 11:59 PM

Death Chamber
 
https://i.postimg.cc/zvmJLMFQ/deathchamber.jpg

A bit like an amphitheatre, the Death Chamber is rectangular, symmetrical and stone. The immediate walking surface is actually the first step of many toward the sunken center of the room. In keeping with the Greco-Roman arrangement of the space, marble is used throughout including the dais at the center of the sunken space upon which sits an old looking arch that looks as if it could crumble at any moment. Hanging loosely from the arch is a veil tattered and so worn that it's black colour appeared shades of bone, green and blue at times. Voices of those passed into the great beyond can sometimes be heard in faint whispers by those to whom they were close in their corruptible states....but impossible to properly converse with.

For a room that boasts such a grim field of study, there are actually not a great deal of things in the sparsely decorated room that could cause severe damage to a person. There is only one but it happens to be one that no one comes back from.

The Announcer 11-11-2017 01:00 AM

The always silent Death Chamber feels even more so as loose bits of gravel begin rolling across the bleak flooring towards the North West corner of the room.

nicole black 02-21-2019 07:30 AM

The veil held a great fascination for Aslan Evans. The voices whispered and she listened, waiting for a sound familiar enough to understand. it hasn’t yet come, but that was fine. She could wait. Patient. Quiet. Aslan held the battered notebook loosely in hand, her dark eyes never moving from the veil. Lost in the corridors of her mind, the alchemist did not hear the bits of gravel or feel then tension brewing in the room.

connection. loss. between & betwixt. this room was a pathway. An inbetween without meaning or rhyme. Logic lived here in this place, but it died in this chamber. Eyes glazed over, Aslan quietly her lower lip.

BanaBatGirl 10-21-2020 01:53 AM

open post!
 
The break away from this place had done David a lot of good. He was back now, feeling refreshed, not a bit foggy, and more determined than ever to crack some of the mysteries of this place. Mystery number one for him to solve?

He glanced over his shoulder to be sure he was alone and then pulled the pair of white gloves out of his pocket. He had so many questions about them. But should he start here or move to Level Three, as he had been thinking? David hesitated, staring simply at the gloves in his hand, lost in thought...

MadAlice 12-09-2020 04:20 AM

Jane stared out into the Death Chamber as the door opened. Thank Merlin the Entry Room had deposited her in the right place this time--she'd lost a lot of time in the Hall of Prophecy with that rock golem, or whatever it had really been.

But now, finally, she was here. She placed a foot on the top step and took a breath. At last she would be able to get a look at that infamous archway in the middle of the chamber. Slowly but deliberately she began to walk down the steps.

Helios Sunrider 12-10-2020 10:32 AM

"Yes...Yes, of course...I promise. Same time next month...Yes. Yes. We will try the cake with the strawberry next time...Tell them I said hello. Take care."

With a empty tea cup, a plate with a fork, and a blue flamed candle between himself and the archway; Nero knelt at the dais at the bottom of the stairs.

Rising slowly to his feet with a sigh, the doctor dusted off his tailored pants with dragon leather gloves.

"You just missed tea and cake." He spoke to the feet he heard coming down the steps behind him.

MadAlice 12-10-2020 11:22 PM

Jane stopped her progress down the stairs at the sound of a voice--she had thought she was alone here. She paused a minute, a little taken aback by his comment, and then a slight smile came over her face. "Well, that's a pity, I could really use a cup of tea about now.

She continued down the steps till she reached man who had spoken to her and then nodded politely. "Jane Howard, alchemist. I'm new here. And you are...?"

Helios Sunrider 12-11-2020 10:48 AM

Framed by the eerie blue candle on the dais, Nero's shadow loomed over the guest he had turned to meet, and stretched up the stairs she had descended. "Doctor Nero Nykto, mortemist. The only one left. I am very old here."

Though the stubble faced man appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties, his blue (not unlike the flame on his candle) eyes, hinted at someone much older. Taking a moment to look at Jane, the doctor tried to find some hint that she might not be who she said she was, or have some sort of unknown intentions.

Without warning, a hand that held babies during their first breath and men at their last, reached out for Jane.

"You look like you lost your pillow fight." Nero plucked a stray feather from the woman's hair, rolling it between thumb and forefinger.

MadAlice 12-12-2020 12:40 AM

Jane started slightly as the strange man suddenly reached over to touch her, or so it seemed. When she saw what he had in his hand, she was both amused and embarrassed--drat, she thought she had gotten all those feathers out.

"More like a fight with a rock golem--or so it seemed, now I'm not so sure." Jane smoothed her hands over her hair to try to get rid of any remaining feathers that might be there.

Helios Sunrider 12-12-2020 01:38 AM

“I would have loved to have seen that!” He said, with a surprisingly warm laugh. “As long as nobody was hurt.” Nero added sheepishly.

“Many study life and death as if they were two separate things, but a dangerous situation can show how thin the line between them can be.” The veil behind him was an enduring example of how easily one could cross the line. One little push, and that’d be it for the doctor.

“But you’re not here to listen to me wax poetic. Were you looking to talk to someone? Mrs. Witherby likes to have tea and cake with me once a month. She doesn’t actually partake, but she likes to imagine.” Nero was strangely casual about his interactions with the deceased. The poor woman probably thought he was crazy. Perhaps he was.

MadAlice 12-13-2020 03:46 AM

Jane did not really know this man or anything about him, but she found him strangely intriguing and rather likeable. And he seemed to know something about her department, which is more than she knew herself right now.

"Well, I didn't love seeing it at the time, but yes, I suppose it was something out of the ordinary. I..." Jane pondered a minute his question about talking to someone. She didn't for the life of her know. If Helena was in there somewhere, Jane would love nothing better than to talk to her dear friend. But Jane had no idea if her former school chum were alive or dead, and she wasn't ready to find out for sure right now. "No, I don't want to talk to anyone...not right now, at least. I just came to see it." The archway. She didn't say it, but she knew he would understand what she meant.

Jane was not a particularly suspicious person, but on the other hand, she was not one to blabber secrets to any passing stranger. But she somehow felt she could trust this odd man. "Actually, I'd like to talk to you for a bit, if you've time. Would you mind if we sat? It's been a very long day." And without waiting for a response, she seated herself wearily upon a nearby step.

BanaBatGirl 12-13-2020 05:21 PM

hello you two
 
David was here, of course. Where else would he be? Certainly not in the Chamber of Codes, ahem. He was sitting on a stone step on the other side of the veil, scribbling furiously in a small moleskin notebook which fit exactly in the palm of his hand.

He looked up as the voices of Nero and...Jane, was it?.... caught his ear. He considered going over to talk to them, to possibly save Jane from another one of Nero's delusions, but thought better of it. The alchemist snorted to himself and continued whatever he was writing.

Helios Sunrider 12-13-2020 09:12 PM

Anyone reading this thread is welcome to join and embrace the weird.
 
"That would be splendid. I should really take more time to talk to the living." Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

Taking his plate and tea cup with him, Nero's blue framed shadow shrunk as he left the dais to join Jane for a seat. Letting out a relaxed sigh, the doctor's shoulders drooped slightly, a rare glimpse that there was a man under all the mystery.

"What is on your mind? First, know that our friends may be listening." Nero motioned a gloved hand towards the veil atop the dais. "And our fellow employees." His hand drifted to David and his notebook on the other side of the room, framing the man in his hand, as if he could squish him. A paranoid, perhaps even egotistical, part of him assumed that the man was taking notes on him, and what he did in the Death Chamber. Always someone keeping track of the "mad" doctor and his eccentricities.

MadAlice 12-14-2020 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helios Sunrider (Post 12476522)

"What is on your mind? First, know that our friends may be listening." Nero motioned a gloved hand towards the veil atop the dais. "And our fellow employees." His hand drifted to David and his notebook on the other side of the room, framing the man in his hand, as if he could squish him.

Jane looked bemusedly at this odd man as he sat next to her--really, he made her feel like a schoolgirl and not a capable witch of 39. She looked quickly across the dim room at the man with a notebook as Nero gestured toward him--she hadn't noticed him standing there when she first came in. Well, she didn't suppose she needed to worry about speaking of what happened in the Hall of Prophecy would not be a secret, there were too many Unspeakables present to think the appearance of a rock golem to remain a secret. And she couldn't think of a reason why whoever was behind the Veil shouldn't hear it as well.

"This is my first day at the Ministry. I was on my way up to Airy Flamsteed's office to report in when the Entry Hall let me off at the Hall of Prophecy instead. When I got there, I found that a number of the prophecy orbs were broken and an Unspeakable there asked me to help her investigate. To make a long story short, it turned out that a rock golem was loose in the Hall. A number of others joined us, tried various spells, and in the end, Mr. Flamsteed himself arrived and destroyed it with a Confringo spell. But instead of exploding into rocks and boulders, the golem turned into stuffing and...feathers." Jane gestured to another stray feather she had just noticed on her lap.

"I left them upstairs cataloging the lost orbs and came here. I never did get to formally introduce myself to Mr. Flamsteed, but he didn't seem in the mood to talk to anyone when he left. This is my first chance to see this chamber. And so that's been my first day at work." Jane smiled wryly.

"So tell me--what do you think of that? Doesn't it seem odd that a rock golem turned out to be made of nothiing more than cotton and feathers? And does this sort of thing happen often around here?" Jane glanced down at his empty cup, wishing she had thought of getting a cup of tea herself before coming here (though she didn't really know where you got one at the Ministry).

BanaBatGirl 12-14-2020 11:56 PM

The scratching of David's quill paused, and then stopped entirely as he obviously began listening to Jane. He wasn't even pretending to not be listening, as he did, in fact, lock his bright blue eyes on her. Staring at her, he was. Ignoring Nero, he was. The notes he had been taking were pushed aside as he stared intently at Jane without blinking.

He had thoughts about golems turning into feathers, but more important to him was the question of Prof--- er, Airey, and whatever spell he had cast to destroy him. And then there was the question of Airey's moods. David had been on the receiving end of one of those moods before.... hadn't...he? He couldn't recall. Maybe he was thinking of a time at Hogwarts. Maybe.

The young Unspeakable had a question for Jane, though. He cleared his throat louder this time and nodded to her, to see if he had her attention.

"Were any of the orbs destroyed, then?" The prophecies, obviously.

Helios Sunrider 12-15-2020 10:50 AM

Nero sat and listened intently to Jane's tale, nodding his head as she spoke, small "Mmhmm"'s escaping his lips. Resting a foot on his knee, the doctors shoes looked old and worn, a sharp contrast to his impeccably laundered clothes.

"Sounds like the department sent you where you really needed to be. Would Flamsteed have stopped the golem if you were keeping him busy at his office?" The doctor didn't expect her to answer, nor gave her the chance to. "There is always a golem, a dark wizard, Ministry of Monsters, or cursed artifact." The ministry was anything but boring.

"Well, stone golems are popular because they are easy to assemble: You just need rocks. Though dragging some boulders into the ministry might draw some attention, so taking taking the time and effort to transfigure a bunch of pillows would technically be possible if someone had the skill and inclination. It reminds me of the time that--" Before he could rant further, David's voice filled the room.

"Care to join us, Truebridge? No need to drop eaves, we're all friends here." A bit flippant, but it was a good question, and sparked another question that left Nero's mouth before the thought finished forming. "Do they know if any orbs are missing? Big golem makes a big distraction.."

MadAlice 12-15-2020 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl (Post 12476816)

"Were any of the orbs destroyed, then?" The prophecies, obviously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helios Sunrider (Post 12476872)

"Care to join us, Truebridge? No need to drop eaves, we're all friends here." A bit flippant, but it was a good question, and sparked another question that left Nero's mouth before the thought finished forming. "Do they know if any orbs are missing? Big golem makes a big distraction.."

Jane looked briefly at the younger wizard who'd finally spoken. "Yes, quite a few were destroyed, Mr.---Truebridge, is it?" Then she turned her gaze back to Dr. Nero, as she sensed he didn't like being ignored, and after all, he had been the first to address her. "I helped the Unspeakables in the Hall of Prophecy repair as many as we could, but one of the witches there said if they were too badly repaired, they would be lost." She paused a moment, reflecting on that. "But she also said that they keep a written record of all the prophecies, so even those wouldn't be entirely lost."

Then Jane's thoughts went back to the doctor's earlier remarks about golems--how it would be easy to transfigure one out of pillows. "And actually--that's what I was saying over in Prophecy--that the golem must have been created by someone, since it was so obviously artificial. And my question was, who was that someone, and why? But no one seemed to want to pursue that discussion." Maybe it was because she was new and not of their department, Jane reflected. She certainly considered it a matter of interest and hoped someone was thinking about it, and long a hard, too.

BanaBatGirl 12-17-2020 11:20 PM

Yes, it was Mr. Truebridge. David glanced at Nero and then reluctantly collected himself and his notebook, and loped over to the pair of them, sitting down again on a lower step and stretching his long legos out below him.

"You can call me David," he informed the woman finally. He was thinking more along the lines with Nero for a change; that this was no coincidence that such a ruckus had happened in the Hall of Prophecies. "Hang on, though," David put up one finger imperiously, "who exactly repaired the orbs? The prophecies?" If he had his glasses, he would have taken them off, given them a polish, and then incredulously put them on again. "I thought that was supposed to be impossible to do."

MadAlice 12-17-2020 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl (Post 12477145)

"You can call me David," he informed the woman finally. He was thinking more along the lines with Nero for a change; that this was no coincidence that such a ruckus had happened in the Hall of Prophecies. "Hang on, though," David put up one finger imperiously, "who exactly repaired the orbs? The prophecies?" If he had his glasses, he would have taken them off, given them a polish, and then incredulously put them on again. "I thought that was supposed to be impossible to do."

"Jane Howard," Jane responded to the younger man's introduction. Yes, I thought it was impossible to repair a broken orb, too, but Mr. Flamsteed repaired one before he left. One of the Unspeakables there told me that if it wasn't too badly damaged--if the contents hadn't leaked out, I believe she meant--that they could be repaired."[/b] Jane reflected a moment on her conversation in the Hall of Prophecy. "I don't know--Mr. Flamsteed seemed to repair that orb with ease, no more trouble than it would take you to repair a broken teacup. I...well, but Divination and Prophecy are not within my fields of expertise, I'm afraid." Nor my interest, she thought, though apparently someone had thought what was in those orbs to be worth smashing. Because Jane was convinced there was a someone, not a something, behind this.

Helios Sunrider 12-18-2020 01:08 PM

Nero was uncharacteristically quiet while the other two spoke. He was rather focused for a man who had a anecdote for every occasion. Once Jane finished, Nero rose without a word, and approached the dais. Inspecting his empty teacup, he looked toward the wizard and witch, before dropping it on the stone floor. "You may know more about prophecy than you think."

Nero was looking down at the teacup, examining the pieces as if they had something to say. "You were looking for Flamsteed's office, and ended up in the Hall of Prophecy while it were under attack by a golem. Flamsteed, the person who you were looking for, shows up, and takes care of the problem. It is the Hall of Prophecy, not the Hall of Chance. You were meant to be there for some reason. What do you think that reason might be, Ms. Howard?"

MadAlice 12-19-2020 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helios Sunrider (Post 12477209)
"You were looking for Flamsteed's office, and ended up in the Hall of Prophecy while it were under attack by a golem. Flamsteed, the person who you were looking for, shows up, and takes care of the problem. It is the Hall of Prophecy, not the Hall of Chance. You were meant to be there for some reason. What do you think that reason might be, Ms. Howard?"

Jane started slightly at the sound of the cup shattering. Now she was staring at Nero for far longer than was probably polite. She devoutly hoped her mouth wasn't open. What might have been the reason she was there? She did show up in time to offer support to the lone witch she found there, but she didn't feel she had really done anything in particular. She had looked for whatever was breaking the orbs, encountered the rock golem (and nearly gotten squashed by its hand, now that she remembered), failed to stop it along with the others, and witnessed Flamsteed destroying the thing with a wave of his wand, and then repairing an orb with the same ease. Before yelling at them all and stalking out.

So...she'd seen a lot of strange things, possibly aggravated the golem by the light of her wand, failed to make the desired introduction to her new boss, and...and what? Witnessed the whole thing, but she hadn't been the only one. For the life of her, she couldn't think of any earth-shattering reason that she had been brought there by Fate.

"I..I'm afraid I don't really know. I mean...there was a witch there alone when I arrived, so I think I gave her some support by being there. I certainly didn't succeed at defeating the golem nor in repairing any orbs. I mostly was there as a...witness, I suppose, though not the only one. The other Unspeakables seemed not to be that upset--apparently this wasn't the first rock-golem to appear there." Which in itself wasn't a very good recommendation for her new job. But Jane wasn't going to let such a think deter her. And now she was curious about it all. "I'm really wishing I had more information about the whole thing--and perhaps I'll get it."

BanaBatGirl 12-19-2020 02:05 AM

David didn't jump at the sound of the teacup shattering; he was very busy staring off in the distance, one of his hands slowly rubbing at the stubble on his jaw as he thought through this. Airey had seemed to repair that orb with ease, no more trouble than it would take you to repair a broken teacup. But an orb was no mere teacup, and....

"Flamsteed was never that good at Charms," he mumbled to himself. "He--- we, er, well, I burned a hole in the door that one time, back at Hogwarts...." He shook his head. "I just don't understand how he could repair the prophecies like that."

Unlike Nero, he didn't believe Jane had been brought anywhere for any particular reason. There was order in the universe and then there was chaos, brought about by random events and chance encounters, some of which led to great change. Jane's ordeal frankly sounded like the latter.

MadAlice 12-21-2020 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl (Post 12477260)

"Flamsteed was never that good at Charms," he mumbled to himself. "He--- we, er, well, I burned a hole in the door that one time, back at Hogwarts...." He shook his head. "I just don't understand how he could repair the prophecies like that."

Jane smiled slightly at the mention of burning a hole in the door at Hogwarts. But the information on Flamsteed was another matter, to be seriously considered. She had also thought it odd that her new boss had repaired a prophecy orb with such ease--though none of the people up in the Hall of Prophecy seemed to treat it as anything all that remarkable.

"I thought it...unusual, too, that Mr. Flamsteed was able to repair that orb--I had not thought such a thing was possible, though as I said, I don't have a lot of experience in that area. And none of the other people up there seemed to react to it very much--I don't know if they'd seen such things before, or were just trying to stay out of trouble." Remembering Flamsteed's scolding and curt demanor, Jane couldn't blame them--too much.

"But the whole thing was odd--that the rock golem, obviously an artificial construct, was there in the first place, that Flamsteed destroyed it so easily when none of the others could, and that he also repaired a broken prophecy orb so casually. That's why I mentioned it here, because I don't believe in keeping odd occurrences a secret." Because usually that's what people who were up to no good counted on--secrecy.

Helios Sunrider 12-22-2020 10:37 AM

Mister Nykto and Mister Flamsteed had so far been successful at not having to deal with each other. Nero didn't care for involving himself in bureaucracy, and the authority within the ministry seemed to be more than happy to treat the doctor like a fixture, leaving him to do his job at the Death Chamber with little oversight. "We put our teacups back together one piece at a time here."

Kneeling down over the broken cup, Nero scooped up three of the larger shards in his dragon leather clad hand. "We can not just go around making accusations of our department head. We could lose our jobs, or if we are right and don't have proof, we could be in much more trouble." Standing back to his full height, Nero approached his two seated coworkers.

"You should take a meeting with Flamsteed. He may not be as guarded around a new employee that he can influence." Nero held a shard out to Jane in one hand. "Truebridge. Perhaps one of his former students can gain further insight." The other shard was offered to David. Symbols that they could put the pieces of this mystery together, and perhaps a form of identification in case someone was no longer who they said they were.

BanaBatGirl 12-23-2020 01:46 AM

Still staring off into the distance as he puzzled over something fuzzy in the back of his brain, David wordlessly accepted the shard of teacup from Nero. Accusations? He shook his head and snapped back to the present. No one was making accusations... but maybe they should have been.

He looked at Jane for a pause too long. "It is our job to keep odd occurrences a secret," he reminded her tersely. But that said... if they were going to send anyone to talk to Airey, David decided it should be Jane. Not him. He was feeling anxious just at the mere idea of taking a meeting with his former professor; more anxious than normal and he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Perhaps we should just watch him," he concluded with a small sigh. "For more signs of... advanced magical ability or... rock golems." Or who knew what Flamsteed would be up to next.


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