[img]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/jelost/candlewick/maproom.jpg[/img]

[quote=Moss]She grabbed the hammer, then whirled around to face the man who'd woken her. "Fok'n get back!" she shouted, holding it tight in one hand . . .[/quote]
The hammer was heavy for its size, and its dark handle was well-worn. The head of it was ornately carved, with initials scratched into the top. When Moss yanked the hammer from the table, a small puff of bone dust drifted into the air; bits of tiny bone dropped from the bone-powdered hammer.

[quote=Chris]Forgoing opening the door he took a step back and held his hands out where she could see them. . . . [/quote]
[quote=Moss]Moss didn't lower release her hammer, but she did seem to relax a little bit. . . . Her attention turned back to the room, and she scuttled over to the long map on the table she'd snagged the hammer from. It was...definitely a map, that was for sure. It looked like one anyway, or what she imagined a map looked like -she'd never actually seen on before.[/quote]
The map was huge and incomplete, and very obviously had been drawn by several different hands. There were coffee stains, blood stains, pencil and charcoal marks, and of course the fading and fraying that comes with age and saltwater air. There were no continents, but only islands drawn out with scribbles of writing that were too faded or blurred to read. Several of the islands were marked out with Xes; many of these were accompanied by faded lists of what might be names. And then in the corner was an articulate drawing of a feather with exquisite markings.

The bloodstained pendulum which stood over the map seemed to be swaying in the same direction, unaffected by the sway of the ship. It almost seemed to be urging toward an unknown spot on the map, left blank and unexplored.

The ceiling above creaked with footsteps. People were moving and talking in the room above.

[quote=muffled voices from above][i]Oh mercy . . . Et dimitte nobis . . . nos dimisimus debitoribus . . . believe I am dead . . . are you? . . . loved to wake up . . . [incomprehensible muttering] . . .[/i][/quote]

[quote=Elin]. . .  he jumped up he ran . . . He dashed around as the parchments and pencils flew all over the place . . . this ball that kept rolling passed nearly hit him twice . . .[/quote]
Elin flung himself around the room, scattering paper that had been still for ages. Revealed on the floor among the old maps and notes was an old flintlock pistol, charred with use and well-worn. Across the room, a pocketwatch glimmered, its gold chain tarnished by age. It was delicately engraved with ornate patterns -- and it was ticking.

[quote=Moss] He glared daggers at her, holding onto his tail like it was a lifeline. She gripped the hammer with both hands and glared back.[/quote]
[quote=Tommy]"Now let's just wait a minute here." He said in his deepest voice, "First....why don't we lower that-there hammer real slow."[/quote]
[quote=Moss]Moss felt her throat close up when he looked at her, and only gripped the hammer tighter when he told her to lower it.[/quote]

[quote=Tam Tam]Pale hands pulled gently at the soft chutes as she knelt, feeling their complete and utter 'realness.' Blue eyes fixated upon some shiny pendulum on some exotic and chaotic table.[/quote]
The tiny saplings which grew resiliently out of the floor were not quite green in color; they had a purplish sheen to them, and a light oil and a faint smell of strawberry sugar came off the leaves onto Tam Tam's fingers. Their stems were prickly, and promised of future thorns given time to grow.

The pendulum was dark with old blood, and it swung sharply on its silvery thread. It didn't appear to be affected at all by the rocking of the ship, but more insistently sliced the air in one firm, confident direction. It hadn't been doing that before.

[quote=Chris]Deciding that it would be better not to trapped in a room with strangers Chris opened the door. The wind rushed in and the loose maps strewn about began to flutter around. . . . He had misjudged the mess the wind was creating and closed the door a bit so they would at least have the light without so much of the wind.[/quote]
Maps, paper, notes, bone dust, charcoal shavings, all of it flung into the wind that was released like a torrent in the room. The keys jangled against the wall. The door in the column at the center of the room creaked open a crack, pulled by the change in air pressure; inside was a tiny dark enclosure piled with boxes of crackers and flatbread, sealed bags of dried meats, stacks of unlabeled cans, and a ladder that led upward.

The plantlife that grew throughout the room seemed to grow a bit brighter and strained immediately toward the light that was let in. An observant person might realize that within those few moments of light, the little saplings were just a bit bigger than they had been before. The walls creaked -- but then, the entire ship was constantly creaking, wasn't it?

[quote=Elin]The wind also made his hair a mess and papers kept hitting into him and all over the place as the one globe rolled passed him again. . . . he backed away a bit then fell in a pile of papers . . . He stayed still only his ears sticking out as he thought to himself he was well hidden.[/quote]
Elin would find something digging into his leg where he sat: it was a little silvery key, no bigger than his finger. It was rather fancy and quite shiny, with delicate etchings and curiously patterned teeth.

On one of the pages in his hiding place was a scrawled drawing. This drawing was of a young woman wearing ancient clothes, with no hair on her head, holding a feather. It had been drawn in a hurry, and was little more than a sketch without a face: but whoever had drawn it had thought it important.

[quote=Tam Tam]The stuffed bunny slung over her shoulder did not seem to mind the wind . . . Tamara Jane wiped away at her tears as she rushed towards the partially opened door.[/quote]
[quote=Moss] . . . "Ay!" Moss snapped, watching the girl. "Are you outcha god'm mind? We can't just go out there, what if the fokers who put us in here are out there?"[/quote]

[quote=Chris] . . . he grabbed the metal box and looked it over. It definitely looked in better shape than everything else in the room. The intricate patterns also made it the most out of place given the setting . . . He was curious about the objects contents but it appeared that it was locked. The keys by the door surely would not fit the tiny key hole. Shuffling around some of the maps and books he searched for the key.[/quote]
Chris would not, in fact, find the key he was looking for. He would, however, find several drawings of landscapes in France in the 1700s: city streets, ship docks, rolling hills, houses made of stone, portraits of people and of a great monster with a dozen slitted eyes and teeth like splintered blades.

A globe stopped against Chris' leg. It was old and worn, and appeared to have been whitewashed and painted over with a new scene of waters and islands that were certainly not Earth. Something rattled and scrabbled like little living claws inside it.

[quote=Tam Tam]She pulled open the door and marched outside . . .[/quote]
[quote=Tommy]He followed the strange girl out of the room, shutting the door quickly behind him because of the wind blowing the maps everywhere.[/quote]
The light and the wind flooded the room again, and this time the saplings stretched themselves out toward the door, spreading their leaves. The wood of the walls and the floor shifted just slightly -- squirming imperceptibly, each panel like a stone snake awakening. And then the door was shut again, and everything went suddenly still.

[quote=Moss]Her hammer lowered, but still gripped tight, she began to look around again. Nothing caught her attention though, she'd gotten her deal from the room already, and if the two outside weren't dead soon, she'd probably be heading out there herself.[/quote]
Moss' head would begin to feel light; she had been the closest to the bone dust on the table, close enough to breathe it in. She might see some movement in the corner of her eye -- like a tall, long, wisp of a figure standing with its white bony head near the ceiling, big eyes hollow like a skull's -- but when she looked, it was gone.

[img]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/jelost/candlewick/deck.jpg[/img]

It had once been a ship's deck. Now, it was the beginnings of a forest.

The saltwater splashed over great branches and shimmering purple-green leaves that twisted and clung to the banisters and cannons. The floor of the deck -- which had at one time shone with polish -- was nothing but bark and roots and leaves and brush.

The old rigging, sewn through with leafy vines, whistled as it rippled in the salty wind. The masts still rose strong, though they had grown branches and were flowering as if they'd become trees once again. The sails were mostly gone -- tatters of their former selves -- but they had not been of cloth. They still shimmered a bit in the gray sunlight, made of something pale and glassy. Old pipes and levers and machines were barely visible under the masses of vines and leaves that enveloped them.

Just outside the map room was the helm; it was made of metal and polished dark wood and tarnished brass, and it looked out over the length of the ship from its perch at the edge of a landing. The helm was wrapped securely by a tangled net of small vines, pulled taut in such a way that the wheel was forbidden to move no matter how the wind and the waves tossed the ship. Beside the helm, equally secured, was a long rusted lever.

Two stairways to the sides led down to the deck below.

A short stairway to one side led up to the small landing just above and behind them; at the top of that landing at the rearmost of the ship was a closed dome structure with a door and little else.

[quote=Tam Tam]The wind blasted into her face and the salty wetness of the outside gave her heart a skip of a beat, even though she had to shield her face with both hands.[/quote]

[quote=brass horn on the wall][i]. . . don't know . . . confused here . . . we will . . . Zosime . . . idea what . . . Credo fiunt ex aere . . .[/i][/quote]
On the wall outside the door they'd just come out of was a brass horn connected to a pipe that led down into the floor. The disembodied voices that drifted between the crashing of waves emitted from this device.

[quote=Tommy]The sunlight seemed to hurt his eyes, it felt like it had been days since he had seen it. . . . "Er...uh..." He said, looking for something to say just to make the situation on the ship less stressful, "So...uh... what 'id you say yur' name was?"[/quote]

[quote=Tam Tam]Another swelling of big wet hit the hull and the boat lurched violently once more and TamTam lost her grip on the wooden frame. Another gust of wind in her face, driving back and TamTam lost her footing on the wet wooden deck. Perhaps the weather and rough seas wanted her for themselves. Tamara Jane rolled in a backwards somersault or two, hopefully not towards the outer railing and closer towards the frothing, greedy cold waters.[/quote]
Tamara crashed through spiked vines and sharp branches; her ribs banged on the edge of the landing banister and she fell heels-over-head toward the deck below, where she rolled, skidded, slammed spine-first into a lever sticking out of the floor, and stopped against the outer railing. She was covered in bark, bramble, cuts, bruises, and strawberry-scented oil. Just beyond the railing, the water seethed and hissed and crashed. Saltwater spray dampened her clothes. She had only barely missed cracking her head against a vine-encased cannon that was chained down just beside her.

The lever that she'd accidentally pushed down in her fall was vibrating slightly.

The sky was a soft moving gray, and the water was bleak and choppy. The remains of the tattered sails high above whipped in the wind.

Something moved in the corner of her eye. A gray fox stood beside her, with her stuffed rabbit held tightly in its mouth.

Even Tommy, watching from above, would not have seen where the animal had come from.


[center][img]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/jelost/candlewick/1561_grey_fox_kit_3846.jpg[/img][/center]


[img]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/jelost/candlewick/engineroom2.jpg[/img]

[quote=Connor]. . . he still found himself feeling more at ease when he felt the hilt of his sword bayonet, even though it was notched and worn from being used for everything other than its intended purpose.[/quote]
It was imperceptible -- especially while no one was paying much attention to it -- but the blade of Connor's bayonet was slightly brighter than he might have remembered it to be. It was as if something deep within it were glowing -- but even upon close inspection, it might only be a trick of the dim light.

[quote=Risa]She noticed the door and quickly ran to it and tried to open it, but since it was locked it did not budge.[/quote]
The iron turnkey lock rattled when Risa tugged at it, but there was a second kind of resistance: as if something or someone was pulling the door in the opposite direction.

[quote=Samira]Her thin hands darted over the pile of strewn tools and carefully removed a heavy, wrench-like tool, pulling her sweater sleeve over her hand first to keep the oil from causing it to slip from her grasp. Heart pumping, she scanned the walls in either direction, looking for a way out. Having a weapon did not make her feel any safer. [/quote]
The tool that Samira held was made of iron and smelled sharply of rust and old metal and oil. One end of it was darker than the rest, stained with something deep red. There were sharper instruments in the toolbox as well, along with a few oddly contrived gadgets with uncertain purposes. From her position here Samira might see a sledgehammer propped against the wall, draped in vines.

There were only three ways out that could be seen: two ladders that led up to trap doors in the ceiling on opposite walls, and the locked door. It was unknown where the ladders leading down into the gear wells might possibly lead other than to an assumable dead end.

[quote=Risa]“Hey put that down. You're going to get your clothes dirty. I've already tried the door, it's locked.” She then pointed to the horn. “We're waiting to hear a response for the speaker here. Maybe someone can come and let us out.”[/quote]
[quote=Connor]"Don't be too afraid, we're all friends here." Connor said, though he kept his hand hovering near the hilt of his sword bayonet. He nodded to the other two with him. "They haven't tried to lynch me for being Irish, so I'll vouch for them."[/quote]
[quote=Suichiro]"I'm Suichiro Hamani, you may call me Suichi if you'd like. You're safe with us. We only just woke up as well. What's your name?"[/quote]

While they all spoke to one another, a noise and a voice crept through the brass horn by the door.

[quote=brass horn on the wall][i][howling wind] . . . uh . . . what 'id . . . say . . . name . . . ?[/i][/quote]
The floor gave a sudden lurch, throwing everyone off-balance and crashing into the pipes and machinery and leafy vines.

[i]hkssss-a-a-a-a-a-o-o[/i]

Something hissed and cackled and moved in the shadows behind the machines, startled when Risa knocked over a pile of loose pipes that clattered and clanged on the floor.

Something long and dark darted up the wall. It was only visible for a moment, but appeared like a huge skittering lizard as long as a man was tall. It moved quick as lightning, and it curled itself behind one of the ladders at the ceiling. The leaves on the walls trembled in its wake.

From that moment it sat perfectly still, a dark presence in the corner of the ceiling, with a slitted red eye watching, unblinking.

[i]clik-clak. grrrrrroooooaaaannn. CLACK. whrrrrrr . . .[/i]

There were noises from above as something mechanical was triggered. A loose thick wire tangled among the gears slowly tightened. A few sprockets moved and groaned against the vines that bound them. When the wire was tight, everything stopped, strained, unable to move any farther in the constraint of the dislodged wires and crisscrossed vines.

[img]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm243/jelost/candlewick/observatory.jpg[/img]

[quote=Christopher]He took a quick glance at all of the books . . . There had been one book however that had looked brand new . . . Christopher tried to take the new book off of the shelf but it wouldn't move, it seemed almost like it was one with the shelf and wouldn't ever move.[/quote]
The book would indeed not come down: it was entitled [i]The Reaper's Lie[/i] and was bound in ornate leather. Should Christopher continue to pull on the book, he would find that it gave just a fraction. It wasn't sealed fast to the bookcase, but rather was attached by something mechanical that creaked faintly with every tug.

It would take a great deal of effort to pull the book from the shelf, but it might slowly be pried away.

[quote=Sidwell]The fourth object on the floor was his hat. Thoughts interrupted, Sidwell stooped to take it back up, relishing its familiarity.[/quote]
Perhaps unnoticeable at first, a butterfly was hidden inside the top of Sidwell's hat. Its wings were a luminescent silver, with luxurious tails and shimmering antennae.

[quote=Sidwell]There was a low table. Sidwell stepped towards it, squinting at the oddly elegant tangle of brass rings and spheres resting on it . . .[/quote]
As Sidwell watched, the spheres moved. Only when he stepped close would he hear the telltale ticking of clockwork inside the machine.

The sun and all its planets were represented here by smooth metal spheres like huge marbles; though the one that represented the Earth was made of translucent stone that swirled and glimmered deep inside.

The planets were ever so slowly moving -- in the wrong direction. They orbited backwards around the sun.

At the center of the room, the door in the wooden column suddenly shook and rattled in its frame, as if it had been blasted with wind from inside. A moment later it was quiet.

[quote=Zosime]Her hand idly fiddled with a small cluster of leaves growing out of the deck beside her, rubbing the smooth surfaces between forefinger and thumb, and tucked her face tighter into her arm, shielding her eyes from the light.[/quote]
The leaves that grew out of the floor and the walls were slick with a purple-shimmering oil that smelled like strawberries. The oil came off on Zosime's fingers, where it continued to shimmer with a pale purplish reflection.

In the room below the floor, people were shouting.

[quote=muffled voices from below][i]Fok'n get back! . . . lower that . . . real slow . . . this soooo cray! . . . The actual eff . . . You're all crazy! . . . the water!! And her! She's out there! . . .[/i][/quote]

[quote=Dakota]Dakota quickly snapped out of his blind groping. He was on the floor, not in a bed. . . . He subconsciously felt his headphones resting on his neck. His eyes followed the wires to his pocket, and pulled out his iPhone. No service, no WiFi . . . No battery. . . . Dakota took a deep breath as he tied his thick winter hoodie around his waist . . .[/quote]
Music.

Faint, staticky music began to play through Dakota's headphones. It sounded like the crumbled crankings of a broken victrola playing the wistful music of a single warbling violin. It was only for a moment, and then faded into nothing.

[quote=Zosime]Like the pseudo-latin, she felt strangely certain that she could understand this young man's words, even though she knew the sounds coming out of his mouth were unintelligible. . . . "I don't know where we are, or why. It looks like we are all equally confused here. If we are going to get any answers, we will probably need to stick together. My name is Zosime." She looked around the room, taking in the strange furnishings, living wood and unidentifiable metal contrivances. "Does anyone have any idea what any of these things are?"[/quote]
[quote=Sidwell]He stepped a little closer to the metal device, noticing the rock in the floor and the strange, salty tang in the air that he had missed. "...Credo fiunt ex aere," I suppose they are made of brass, he offered in innocent helplessness, uncertain of the Latin phrasing. His world was too small to know much about anything here except the books.[/quote]
The room gave a sudden lurch, throwing them all across the room, and wind rattled against the walls from all sides; it appeared that the walls and the roof were all that stood between them and the sea wind outside. The telescope above them creaked and groaned and dipped down a few inches. Perched atop the lens was something that appeared to be a mouse -- only it glinted metallic. It sat very still on the top of the telescope, and for awhile it wasn't certain whether the thing was alive at all. Until its gleaming tail twitched only slightly.

There were voices outside -- faint but clearly human.

The walls began to move. It was almost unnoticeable, but the bark-covered panels of the walls, the floor and the ceiling moved slightly like old sleeping snakes; the leaves trembled and moved as if in search of sunlight -- but there was none to be had in that dark closed room, lit only by the ambient gray sunlight that filtered in through the living wood.