RP:Pilar's Trials, Part 2

Part of the I Write Songs Not Tragedies Arc

Summary: Within a hidden cavern, Pilar faces Daedria's challenges and proves her wisdom, strength, and courage to earn her part of Daedria's Song.

NPCing done by Reginae.

Chartsend

Pilar and Yozenra set out from the inn around mid-morning, both ready for adventure. Pilar was wearing a simple cotton and leather getup and carrying her guitar across her back. She led the way through Chartsend's clean, quiet streets toward the beach. From there, they ascended a narrow path up the cliffs. Pilar went slowly, often checking that Yozenra was doing alright. They passed a few small caves before they found the one they needed. It was larger and deeper than the others, but not by much. "There it is," PIlar said, pointing to an etching along the back wall. It looked like musical notation; a single bar with a complex tune. Pilar stood before it and readied her guitar. She looked to Yozenra. "Are you ready?"

Yozenra had strapped her trident across her back to free up her hands for climbing, not that she needed them. Naga tails are quite handy for rock climbing. She perched herself closer to the cave's mouth, watching their backs while Pilar went about setting up her guitar. Her purple dreads caught the early light, inviting a rainbow of indigo and violet to shift iridescent in her hair and along her ebony skin. When Pilar asks if she's ready, Yozenra gives a fanged toothed grin. "Try and stop us!" She cheered, watching the vampire and the cave's entrance with divided attention. 

Pilar smiled, though she was still nervous. Turning to the cave wall, she lifted her guitar and began to play. As she hit each note, the corresponding etching lit up and magic poured forth from her guitar. The song was short, but challenging for Pilar, inexperienced as she was, to play. But she had practiced it multiple times since she'd found the cave, and it came almost as naturally to her as any other song. The moment she hit the final note, the cavern began to rumble and the wall before them opened. A stairway descended into blackness, and Pilar stood at the entryway, peering down. Even her vampiric eyesight wasn't enough to pierce the darkness. She summoned a ball of light and, looking to Yozenra, said, "Well... into the breach, I guess." She took a step down, and two torches on either side of her sprang to life. Pilar shrieked and stumbled back, her own light vanishing  

Of all the things Yozenra expected...a wall opening because Pilar played the guitar was not one of them. Sure, there was an etching of some song on the wall but who said it was magic? Yozenra's bardic experiences are limited to this one time, the first of many if she intends to spend any time with Pilar in the future. When the wall moves, she's awestruck by the secret but purposefully placed pathway that makes itself known. "Into the breach..." She echoes, unstrapping her trident from her back to carry in her left hand. She's careful to keep an eye behind them as they go, fearful the wall will seal up and trap them. When Pilar screams, the naga swivels, aiming to catch her from falling before her own eyes dart to the torches that spontaneously lit the path ahead. Yozenra paused, swallowing her uncertainty. "I've got you," She whispers, encouraging Pilar with a smile. Whatever was done here, the Vampire wouldn't face it alone.   

Pilar would have fallen on her ass if Yozenra hadn't caught her. "Thanks..." Pilar said. She looked down the stairway and swallowed. She took another step down, and another, and another. They continued down the stairs, torches flaring to life every few steps. The stairs curved to the left, spiraling deep into the earth. Eventually, they came to the bottom, and the tunnel opened up into a large semi-circular chamber. Torches flickered along the walls, revealing three doors along the curved part of the wall, and a round platform in the center. Pilar took a few cautious steps in. When nothing happened, she looked to Yozenra. "Which... which door first?"  

Yozenra followed, keeping careful watch on Pilar's feet to make sure she didn't trip one way or the other. It's be a nasty fall to go down the stairs or off them into the inky black below. When they reach the chamber with the doors, Yozenra slithers closer, noting any odd tiles in the floor and avoiding them with her agile tail. "Is there anything to seperate one from another?" The Hazy darkness blended details like color for her naga eyes. She could see in the dark, of course but this dark was almost supernatural. She was struggling in the torchlight to make out any handles or engravings. -Anything- that would tell the doors apart, even their wood grain or how the dust or dirt was settled near the entrance.  Pilar peered into the gloom, unable to see the doors clearly from a distance, even with her sharp vampire eyes. She crept closer, and the platform in the center of the room began to glow, along with the filigree on her guitar. She looked to Yozenra, then, cautiously, stepped up on the platform. The doors lit up, revealing that they were indeed identical, but for the symbols engraved above them. A star, a sword, and a skull. At the same time, a rumbling voice spoke. "You, who wields the power of Daedria's Guitar, must prove your wisdom, strength, and courage. Enter." The three doors opened into blackness, and Pilar looked to Yozenra again. "I... I don't like this..."

Yozenra jumped back when the doors opened, eyes on Pilar as she got on the platform. She's poised for any attack, any motion that might be too drastic. The good thing about being a naga is...if the platform tries to lift off and take Pilar, Yozenra could get to her first. Through shifting or climbing, or any sort of crazy skill set required. Nagas are like...magic hats or swiss army knives. Adaptable and quick on their...scales? When the voice makes the announcement, Yozenra is looking at Pilar with heavy concern. "If I go through these doors with you, am I going to botch up your trial?" She asked, "I'm not worried about risking my tail here but I don't want my involvement to mess up this..." She wasn't sure what this was. A trial from Deadria? With a matching guitar? Would Deadria see this as resourceful, to have Yozenra beside her or would Pilar be punished for not going alone? She grits her teeth, fangs poking through her lips as she frowns. "I don't think this either...It doesn't feel...right."

Pilar looked at the three doors, and the symbols above them. Sword and skull spoke of violence, but star... "I guess... We should try that one first." She pointed to the leftmost door, then stepped off the platform. "Unless... Should we leave? I don't want to do this alone..."

Yozenra shook her head. "No, you don't have to do anything alone. If you want me here, I'm here. Gods be damned." The naga hoped her confidence bled through her smile. "Let's do this door first. I'm right here with you." When Pilar pushed open the door, she'd be greeted by a large room, the depth of which she can't see. Ahead of them, in one direction only, is a floor to ceiling wall that creates a pathway for them. On the walls, are various notes in no certain order. They line both sides of the wall and don't appear to be a song of any sort. Yozenra stares at the notes, confused. Did Pilar have to play the entire line? If Pilar looks closely, she'll notice grooves in the wall, nearly seamless. It's also clear after some examination of the notes on the wall that the 'song' repeats itself after a few bars. 

  Pilar examined the walls carefully, trying to piece together if the notes actually comprised a song of any kind. She plucked a note on her guitar. Nothing. She plucked a different one. Still nothing. She plucked each note, and each time nothing happened. There must have been something they were missing. Pilar tried playing the notes in the order they appeared fron left to right. If it was a song, it was an odd one indeed.

As Pilar plucks the notes, the floor beneath them begins to vibrate with motion. It is a song but it's only part of one. It feels jarring, incomplete because the middle piece is elsewhere. The walls begin to shift in slow motion, giving them ample time to move out of the way. Yozenra is conscious of the motion and draws Pilar back as the wall she's near opens up to reveal another path forward. The wall here displays similar notes but the middle piece that had been missing appears. Section 1 and Section 2 show on these walls, where Section 1 and Section 3 appeared before. Yozenra doesn't understand the music notes so she can't tell why it's different, only that it is. "I don't think I'm going to be much use here..." She sighs, wishing the walls weren't floor to ceiling, so she could climb them and get a better view. 

Pilar's eyes widened as it started to click. She smiled gently to Yozenra. "It's okay. Your presence is enough." Pilar played the tune as it appeared, and it flowed much more seamlessly this time around. The walls shifted again, revealing another pathway. Section 2 and 3 appeared, but were in reverse order, 3 before 2. It was a challenge to get the notes right, and it took Pilar several tries before she managed.

Yozenra wasn't sure what was happened, so she stayed beside Pilar, watching each wall as it shifted and making sure they weren't in the way of anything that might crush them. It seemed like a giant puzzle box, and it impresses the naga that Pilar caught on so quickly to the magic and the puzzle involved. "How do you know what to play?" She asked, having no formal knowledge of sheet music or how to read it. It all looks like dots and lines to her.

Pilar smiled at Yozenra. "It's kind of complicated at first, but you get the hang of it. Basically, the form the note takes and its placement on the bar tell me what to play." The walls had shifted again, revealing the song in full. Pilar played it easily, and a pathway opened to reveal a pedestal with a gray orb on it. Pilar stepped forward and, gingerly, touched it. It sprang to life, taking on a deep blue glow, and started to float down the passage. The duo followed it back to the chamber, where the orb came to rest on the platform. It seemed to melt, then, coating the gray circle in blue.

Yozenra watches as the maze shifts to pathway and Pilar obtains an orb. Was it cursed?! No, it just floated away and they followed after, the path opened up to the original chamber. "Oh.That was fairly easy." She laughed, because she'd done absolutely nothing to help, just made sure they weren't crushed by slow moving walls. She looks at the other two doors, then to Pilar. "Which one will you try now?"

Pilar wasn't entirely sure which door to take. One had a sword, which implies combat. The other a skull, which implied... She swallowed. "Um... The middle door, I think." The door opened to another chamber, with what appeared to be a pile of giant-sized armor at the far end. The duo approached, only for the armor to move! Red light filled the mithril, and the suit stood tall, a golem of metal and magic. It reached behind it and grabbed a large axe before taking a step forward.

Yozenra smirked, flexing her trident arm and boasting. "Don't worry Pilar, We can tag team this thing!" It swung it's heavy axe before she had a chance to move back into fill position. She lunged forward, under the blade's path, her tail coiling out to pull Pilar down if she didn't duck on her own. A combat trial, which just means learn the opponent's move set and react accordingly. "Maybe it reacts to music?" She shouted back to Pilar, slithering closer on her stomach to grab the base of the armor's boots.

Pilar ducked under the blade with a yelp. Her eyes scanned the chamber walls, searching for another song. Nothing. The armor ignored the naga clinging to its foot and instead made to cleave Pilar in two. The vampire dodged to the side and the blade buried itself in the ground. Pilar, unsure what to do, plucked a string on her guitar. The golem yanked its axe free, then stomped towards her, the note having no effect. Pilar backed up and strummed a chord. The golem lifted its axe again.

Yozenra was thinking now that maybe Pilar's guitar had nothing to do with this battle. "All right!" Time to get involved! When the armor lifts it's axe arm again, Yozenra knots herself around it's arms and teethers it to the ground. She's looking for some weak spot or way to deactivate the armor. Beating it to a pulp didn't seem right but she'd do it in a heart beat. Instead, she opts to try tugging the helment off. Maybe the armor pulled apart and the spell was broken if you could get close enough. The arm plates struggle against Yozenra's muscular black scales but it's no match for her strength. It's child's play to keep the axe grounded. She's searching the rim of the helmet for magic notes she could show Pilar, in case the beast was calmed with magic. Maybe the guitar wasn't used for every test but better to play it safe and make sure. 

There were no notes on the golem anywhere, and by now it had decided to pay attention to something other than its target. With the axe off the table, it took a different approach. The red magic keeping it together glowed brighter, concentrating in the helmet before a beam of concussive force was fired fron its visor, right at the naga. "Yozenra!" Pilar yelled.

Yozenra twists herself to dodge most of the bolt, the bottom skimming her tail and leaving a small, long cut like a blade. "I can't use magic on it, I'm sorry." Panting, she looked at Pilar. If it could do this, it would try Pilar next and Yozenra wasn't going to let that happen. Shifting her body, the naga grew in length and size until her whole body coiled around the armor, holding it in place, The hood of the helmet is dropped, hopefully protecting that chunk of her tail as she squeezes with all her might to compress the suit into nothing more than a flat sheet of metal with no magic inside. 

The golem was made of tough stuff. The metal refused to budge, and the red magic glowed brightly as it sought a way out. It began to concentrate near its elbow, and if it shot out, it'd pierce Yozenra's heart for sure. Pilar saw the beam beginning to form, and her mind raced. How could she stop it?! Gripping her guitar tight, she concentrated her inner magic into her hand and hit a power chord. A shockwave burst forth, toppling the golem and dissipating its magic attack. Pilar looked at her guitar, and understood. The golem wasn't finished yet, but so long as Yozenra kept her grip, it would struggle to move.

Yozenra bounces back with the golem, wrapped tightly around the magic metal. Her strength wasn't enough to crush it...but she could keep it busy while Pilar kept doing what she was doing. Yozenra's almond shaped eyes blinked in Pilar's direction. "Hit it again!" She cheered, tightening herself around the golem to keep it from trying to use it's axe again. She felt the magic sway in the armor's body, her grip a little easier to maintain during Pilar's power chord.

Pilar did as Yozenra suggested, letting loose another chord. A second shockwave rattled the golem, and the pulsing red energy dimmed. Pilar concentrated, took aim, and hit another chord. This time, a beam of white light fired from the neck of her guitar and struck the golem's helmet, denting it. The red light seeped out of the golem, which fell apart like an empty suit of armor. The light coalesced into an orb, and floated out the door, where it melted on the platform, turning it violet. Pilar ran to check on Yozenra. "A-are you okay?!"

Yozenra collapsed into the suit of armor as it deflated, the magic escaping and forming an orb to show the trial was completed. The clang of metal rang out and underneath it, Yozenra slithered out and stretched, resuming her natural size. The cut along her tail tip bled in slow lines, cutting down her scales but Yozenra resets her trident on her back and balls her fists on to her hips and smiles wildly. "You didn't even need me!" She cries, happily. "Marvelous work, Pilar. Really! No magic is a match for you!" 

Pilar blushed. "I... Oh! You're bleeding!" Pilar knelt by the wound, pulling a vial from one of the pouches on her belt. "Hold still, this will sting," she warned, before slathering the ointment on the cut. It took a few moments, but the flesh slowly knit itself together. Pilar sighed. "Glad I brought these..." She got back to her feet and smiled at Yozenra. "I, I'm not anything special. I just... I just realized I needed to use bardic magic on it, that's all..." Ignoring the fact that, for her first time using a magic other than illusions, she had created magic powerful enough to knock a mithril monster around.

Yozenra hissed away from Pilar when she rubbed the ointment into her cut. "Gods be damned..." she muttered, shaking her head to clear away the fog of pain. Once she gathers her breath, she stands upright again. "Nonsense. You are always too modest. Be proud of your accomplishments." She encouraged the vampiress with a tame smile. "Let's go see the platform and the last door. I'm sure it'll be a breeze for you." The naga was nothing short of impressed. Pilar was proving to be quite a warrior! Naga level, easy. 

Pilar blushed again. "Thanks..." She and Yozenra left the chamber and approached the third door. Inside was pitch black, no illumination of any kind. Pilar gulped, then stepped inside.

The darkness fades and reveals a familiar scene; the calm night sky overhead, a large family huddles and laughs by a campfire. It appears there are several families all scattered around their own campfires in a sort of caravan. In the distance, a scream pierces the night and all conversation freezes. The other people turn to Pilar, who now occupies the same place by the campfire that she had the night her people were killed. Yozenra is behind her, but invisible to the participants of the trail. Only Pilar can see or feel the naga behind her. Yozenra recognizes Pilar's older sister, the miniature version they'd seen in the kitchens. She holds her breath, waiting to see how Pilar will react.

  Pilar started breathing heavily. "No... No..." Nearby are festival grounds, opposite the direction of the scream. A mob comes into sight, dragging a pregnant woman by her hair. A man who looked like Inez and Pilar stood up and ran towards them, screaming something in Pilar's tongue. 'Let her go, you beasts!' The man holding the woman pulls out a knife and drags it across her throat, and all hell broke loose. "Consuela!" "Ayuda! Ayuda!" "Corre!" The mob descended on the camps, knives and clubs out. The families screamed and ran for their lives. Pilar watched as Consuela's husband, her brother, was overcome by men and beaten. "Tulio!" She screamed.

Yozenra doesn't recognize the faces but she watches the emotion swell into Pilar's face. She's frozen, unable to do whatever the trial threw them in here to do. "Pilar," Yozenra moves behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder with sympathetic eyes. They are here for a reason. "Pilar, we must do something." She suggests, trying to interact with the room and it's participants. Do they exist here in this time? Is it a time or a memory? Can it be changed? "Let him go," Yozenra screamed and the phantoms in charge of beating Consuela's husband to death turned to face the naga with indifferent faces. They heard her and left the broken man on the ground to redirect their anger at her. "You don't deserve to live," The evil men hissed at Yozenra, who found herself clasped by the wrists by two men she hadn't seen originally. It surprises her, the length of her tail refusing to grow. Her power was suppressed here? "Pilar!" She shouts again. 

Pilar gasped. They were reacting to them? They were speaking Common? This wasn't a mere memory? Pilar snapped her head to the side, seeing the men grab Yozenra, and pulled out her guitar. "No!" She screamed and hit a power chord. Energy burst forth from her guitar, disintegrating the men holding Yozenra but leaving the naga intact. She struck another, and the remainder of the mob found themselves turned to ash too. As the enemies around them faded, so too did Pilar's family. Their parting was slower, those still alive in the memory approaching her with smiles. "You are so much stronger now.." Her older sister whispered in their native language with a smile, reaching for Pilar's hands. Yozenra righted herself as the phantom's vanished, catching her breath with a grateful smile. Pilar asked her to come, but it had been Pilar who saved the day on all occasions. 

Pilar gripped Inez's hands with tears in her eyes, until she and all the rest faded away. All that remaines in the void room was an orb of green light. It floated outside to join the others. The platform turned white as the orb melted into it, and a low tone sounded. The platform began to rise, and the top opened. Pilar wiped her eyes and approached the pedestal. Inside was a scroll, ancient but well-preserved. Gingerly, she picked it up and unrolled it. It held a lengthy song.

Yozenra followed Pilar to the platform and the treasure she unlocked within. "A song?" She asked, the lines and dots making no sense to the naga warrior. The cut on her tail still stung, but much less with Pilar's balm applied. The scales surrounding had started to turn a dull grey from the mixture of injury and medicine. "All this for a song?" It seemed like a rip off to her. She tossed her purple dreadlocks over her shoulder and huffed. "What use is a song?"

Pilar looked the paper over and hummed. "I'm not sure... Wait." At the very bottom, where was an inscription. "'When three become one, the power of protection will be yours. Find the others.' So... This is just one piece?" Pilar looked to Yozenra. "There must be something special about this song, but it sounds like it has to be played with two others... If Daedria herself left it here, it must be a powerful piece of bardic magic." She rolled the scroll back up. "I suppose I have more work to do. For now though, let's get out of here. I don't know about you but I'm tired." "Hardly seems a fitting prize..." Yozenra frowns, but what does she know about bardiac matters? She stretches her arms overheard and agrees with Pilar's statement. "I'm Exhausted. Let's go home."