"One of Ponce de Leon's puzzles?" Nathan guesses, falling into step behind him. He's just going to focus on that and not the maybe-probably pile of bodies Elijah has left in his wake. It's easier that way for everyone.
Elijah nods, stepping away from the apparatus so that Nate can have a better look. "I speak a great many languages, but I've never been able to completely decipher his particular brand of symbology."
It's incredibly frustrating. He doesn't like it.
Elena makes her way closer, leaning to the side so that she can peer over Nate's shoulder. "Have you seen something like this before?"
Frowning thoughtfully, Nathan steps into the space Elijah vacated, looking it over. After a beat, preempting Elena's question by less than a heartbeat, he starts to reach for the journal in his pocket. He glances back at her, as he flips it open, before turning his attentions to it entirely.
"I think so," he starts. Finding the page he was looking for, he taps it with a finger and holds it up for her inspection, over his shoulder. "When we got separated, earlier, there were these statues that had this repeating pattern." He'd jotted them down at random, not sure what they meant, if anything -- if worse came to worst, he figured it was something he could pick at later, after this was all over. Turns out it's coming in handy, now. Mostly because they're on metal plates that are attached to the apparatus.
"And here they are again," he points out, gesturing to the plates.
Elena glances back and forth between the two before nodding. That definitely looks like a match. She eyes the plates carefully for a moment, before moving to stand next to him more.
"Yeah," he agrees absently, taking another moment to commit the symbols to at least short-term memory. When he seems satisfied, he closes the journal and returns it to his pocket, before settling his hands on one of the plates. "You ready?"
Elijah steps back and lets to the nerds do their thing. Elena nods, and after taking a deep breath, she starts drawing the plates into their proper place, giving space for Nate to do the same.
Nate mirrors her, pushing plates into position. While he expects there to have to be a button to push, to lock it in when they're finished, the apparatus takes over when they do, the plates setting in with a note of finality. They won't be moved again.
"Whoa," Nate breathes effectually, taking a half-step back. In the silence that falls afterwards, something nearby clicks, rumbles, and Nate glances in that direction. "Okay, well ... that did something."
"Step back, please." Elijah says rather politely, moving to place himself between the vulnerable humans and whatever's on the other side. As the space continues to rumble, the two pieces of stone part and open to reveal an empty room.
On the far side of the room is a chair, with a man chained to it. Two wooden buckets sit on either side of him that he's currently bleeding into. His head lifts slowly, and as his hair falls away, it reveals a distinctive looking medallion that almost seems to glow.
"Elijah?" the man croaks, then his eyes fall to the two people behind him. "Do not let them come closer. I can't promise I can maintain control."
"Don't worry, brother. I promised them my protection." Elijah reaches for his brother, and Elena speaks up.
"Wait!" She makes a face as she looks around. "Doesn't this feel a little too easy to you?"
"Considering all the trouble they went to, to keep this guy locked away?" Hidden, locked away and only accessible to the chosen few? If it were this easy, anyone could do it and would have. It were this easy, there'd be a fucking tourist attraction set up around this place and Elijah's brother.
"Yeah, this definitely seems kinda hinky," he agrees, that in mind. A pause, then apologetically, he asks, "Just give us a minute, here, okay?"
Elijah looks uncertain about that prospect, but keeps his gaze on his brother, not wanting to risk his hunger hurting the people he swore would make it out of this in one piece. "If you think it's some kind of rigged trap, I can withstand most things."
"Yeah, but they had to know you would be coming for him eventually, right?" Elena points out. "It makes sense that they would build a trap for someone like you."
Elijah weighs that information again, before taking a step back and grabbing one of the bodies that are still warm and have most of their blood. It looks like this particular man died of a broken neck over a removed heart. He then takes it and tosses it in the direction of his brother. As the weight of the body crosses the threshold, the walls of the room part slightly and drench it in sunlight.
Elijah doesn't seem bothered, but Finn begins to smoke lightly, on the parts of him that are exposed to the sun's rays. "I can handle a little sunlight."
"Somehow, I think it's gonna be more than just a little sunlight," Nathan answers, turning his attentions to the walls. He scans them for several seconds, muttering, "I wonder if there's a way to turn it off." Then, louder and to Elijah, he offers, "Unless you wanna try and, like, run in, grab him and run out?"
Finn's body is starting to smoke more, and he looks over at his brother. "Elijah ..."
Elijah grits his teeth, before stepping forward and shoving his hand into the sunlight. For a moment, he seems to be fine, but eventually his hand begins to smoke as well. He makes a face as he steps back. "It seems there is magic involved. Still not guaranteed to be deadly, but a higher probability of ruining my suit."
"There's definitely some kind of locking cuffs," Nathan tells him, circling around Finn hurriedly but carefully. He doesn't want him to burn to death, if he takes too long; he also doesn't want to make things worse, if he's sloppy, however. "Looks like silver, which would be in line with fifteenth, sixteenth century Spain."
A pause and then he adds, "And I'm gonna guess the floor's made up of pressure plates, if our friend is any indication." The guy Elijah threw into the room, he means.
He doubts that the whole floor is one giant pressure plate, if only because that means no one would be able to get to Finn, and the Spanish were definitely using him as a Fountain of Youth. He figures there's some kind of trick to it, instead, so that the right people could get in and out. He's also not sure they passed anything that screamed secret answer to the plates problem, either, but, "Elena, help me move him."
Maybe, if they get the corpse off the trigger, the ceiling will close again and they'll be afforded a few minutes for him to think.
Elena didn't really want to touch a corpse, and she also didn't want to go into the room with the burning, starving vampire, but she doesn't fight him. It's better than nate trying to drag out the body on his own.
She studies the positioning of the body, before moving towards the side, still putting some distance between them and Finn, rather than one of them being closer than they should.
Nathan doesn't really want to touch a body, either, but it's not the first one he has touched, and it's better than the possible alternative -- which is the sun burning Finn to a crisp and Elijah eating them for not having handled this better. That would definitely be worse.
"Just -- just think of it like moving a sack of potatoes," he offers as he takes up the side Elena indicated. It's hard to tell whether he's trying to reassure her or himself, however. Maybe it's both.
She gives him a mild look at that, because this is a very messy and oddly shaped sack of potatoes, but she doesn't comment otherwise. Taking a breath, she braces herself before counting off.
"One, two ..."
And as they both lift, she'll start shifting her end of the body towards the entrance. Nothing changes at first, but as they both cross the threshold, the stone walls recede and the pockets of daylight close.
Nathan shrugs vaguely, helplessly, in response to that look but doesn't add any further commentary. Instead, he counts off with her, lifting on three and with a grunt, and together they move the body out of the light. When the wall slide back into place, Nathan blows out a breath.
"Boy, am I glad that worked."
At least they didn't have to touch a corpse for nothing?
"Yeah, that was my thought, too -- or, like, some kind of path through the room that doesn't trigger the ceiling." He glances back into the room, frowning, before, "I think there's some kinda lip up near the top."
Where the ceiling meets the walls. Where it rotates, if you step on the wrong part of the floor.
"I wonder if I can get up there and take a look around." Maybe there's something he can do, from up there, that will stop the ceiling from triggering. Maybe he'll be able to see where the problem lies, if not there, from above. It might be worth a shot, either way?
It looks sturdy enough, what with it moving around all the time, but it can be hard to tell with old rocks. Sometimes you put the wrong amount of weight on it and it'll crumble right under you.
"If he gets hurt, I could always give him my blood. It will likely heal any damage."
Elena glances back to Elijah with a frown. "That's not exactly comforting."
"Let's kind of -- let's just keep that on the backburner." Nathan really doesn't like the idea of drinking someone's blood any more than Elena does. Nor does the idea of falling to his near-death in the first place tickle his fancy.
"Otherwise, uh -- it should be okay?" It's hard to tell whether he's trying to convince Elena or himself, at this point, that in mind.
Nathan looks right back, offering her a small, almost imperceptible nod. When he finally looks away, it's to glance back at Elijah, eyebrows arching. "Depends on what you mean by 'boost'."
He really doesn't want Elijah pitching him into the wall.
"I know what a boost is," Nathan shoots back, making a face at him. "I was more wondering if 'providing support' involved, like, trebuchet-ing me into the wall or whatever."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
It's incredibly frustrating. He doesn't like it.
Elena makes her way closer, leaning to the side so that she can peer over Nate's shoulder. "Have you seen something like this before?"
no subject
"I think so," he starts. Finding the page he was looking for, he taps it with a finger and holds it up for her inspection, over his shoulder. "When we got separated, earlier, there were these statues that had this repeating pattern." He'd jotted them down at random, not sure what they meant, if anything -- if worse came to worst, he figured it was something he could pick at later, after this was all over. Turns out it's coming in handy, now. Mostly because they're on metal plates that are attached to the apparatus.
"And here they are again," he points out, gesturing to the plates.
no subject
"I take the right, you take the left?"
no subject
no subject
no subject
"Whoa," Nate breathes effectually, taking a half-step back. In the silence that falls afterwards, something nearby clicks, rumbles, and Nate glances in that direction. "Okay, well ... that did something."
no subject
On the far side of the room is a chair, with a man chained to it. Two wooden buckets sit on either side of him that he's currently bleeding into. His head lifts slowly, and as his hair falls away, it reveals a distinctive looking medallion that almost seems to glow.
"Elijah?" the man croaks, then his eyes fall to the two people behind him. "Do not let them come closer. I can't promise I can maintain control."
"Don't worry, brother. I promised them my protection." Elijah reaches for his brother, and Elena speaks up.
"Wait!" She makes a face as she looks around. "Doesn't this feel a little too easy to you?"
no subject
"Yeah, this definitely seems kinda hinky," he agrees, that in mind. A pause, then apologetically, he asks, "Just give us a minute, here, okay?"
no subject
"Yeah, but they had to know you would be coming for him eventually, right?" Elena points out. "It makes sense that they would build a trap for someone like you."
Elijah weighs that information again, before taking a step back and grabbing one of the bodies that are still warm and have most of their blood. It looks like this particular man died of a broken neck over a removed heart. He then takes it and tosses it in the direction of his brother. As the weight of the body crosses the threshold, the walls of the room part slightly and drench it in sunlight.
Elijah doesn't seem bothered, but Finn begins to smoke lightly, on the parts of him that are exposed to the sun's rays. "I can handle a little sunlight."
no subject
He's still not sure that's a good idea.
no subject
Elijah grits his teeth, before stepping forward and shoving his hand into the sunlight. For a moment, he seems to be fine, but eventually his hand begins to smoke as well. He makes a face as he steps back. "It seems there is magic involved. Still not guaranteed to be deadly, but a higher probability of ruining my suit."
Which is a shame. It's a very expensive suit.
"What do you see in terms of restraints?"
no subject
A pause and then he adds, "And I'm gonna guess the floor's made up of pressure plates, if our friend is any indication." The guy Elijah threw into the room, he means.
He doubts that the whole floor is one giant pressure plate, if only because that means no one would be able to get to Finn, and the Spanish were definitely using him as a Fountain of Youth. He figures there's some kind of trick to it, instead, so that the right people could get in and out. He's also not sure they passed anything that screamed secret answer to the plates problem, either, but, "Elena, help me move him."
Maybe, if they get the corpse off the trigger, the ceiling will close again and they'll be afforded a few minutes for him to think.
no subject
She studies the positioning of the body, before moving towards the side, still putting some distance between them and Finn, rather than one of them being closer than they should.
"Take the other shoulder."
no subject
"Just -- just think of it like moving a sack of potatoes," he offers as he takes up the side Elena indicated. It's hard to tell whether he's trying to reassure her or himself, however. Maybe it's both.
no subject
"One, two ..."
And as they both lift, she'll start shifting her end of the body towards the entrance. Nothing changes at first, but as they both cross the threshold, the stone walls recede and the pockets of daylight close.
no subject
"Boy, am I glad that worked."
At least they didn't have to touch a corpse for nothing?
no subject
He's doing his best to keep his promise here. Elena rubs the back of her neck, trying to examine the room from a distance.
"There has to be some kind of failsafe. Otherwise how did people get in there without turning Finn into a bonfire?"
no subject
Where the ceiling meets the walls. Where it rotates, if you step on the wrong part of the floor.
"I wonder if I can get up there and take a look around." Maybe there's something he can do, from up there, that will stop the ceiling from triggering. Maybe he'll be able to see where the problem lies, if not there, from above. It might be worth a shot, either way?
no subject
It looks sturdy enough, what with it moving around all the time, but it can be hard to tell with old rocks. Sometimes you put the wrong amount of weight on it and it'll crumble right under you.
"If he gets hurt, I could always give him my blood. It will likely heal any damage."
Elena glances back to Elijah with a frown. "That's not exactly comforting."
no subject
"Otherwise, uh -- it should be okay?" It's hard to tell whether he's trying to convince Elena or himself, at this point, that in mind.
no subject
Elijah goes and moves near the walls, before glancing back to the couple. "Would you like me to give you a boost?"
no subject
He really doesn't want Elijah pitching him into the wall.
no subject
"Provide a base of support as you examine a space far above your head." Obviously.
Elena just leans back to watch, because either way, this should be entertaining.
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)