[Safer] Lachyn's Training

After only moments in the Dome, Lachyn's head was spinning. The intricate, bewildering web of passages were filled with activity, and he hadn't even bothered to count the rooms he'd stumbled into. Everyone was too busy to pay him much attention, and there had been no sign of Kellith.
What he wouldn't give to have her help here! She'd always had a good memory and a sharp sense of direction. She wouldn't have gotten lost, he was sure, she would have found someone who could direct them to the right place.
Of course, he would have traded his armor and his weapons, and even his lute--everything in his possession, if only it would bring Kellith back.
"There are so many times I don't know what I want, Lachyn, but right now, it's absolutely clear. The only thing I want is to have my brother back, instead of this--this monster that's replaced him. I want my Lachyn back."
He shook his head to chase away the echo of her voice and raised his eyes, casting around, trying to find anything--the shadow of her, a ghost, the faintest sense that she was somewhere nearby.
Nothing.
"New student?" asked a voice. He turned to see a girl standing a few yards down the hallway. She didn't look like the type to be in a school of fighting, with her dark curls tied up in flouncy pigtails on either side of her kind, young, innocent face and glittering shadow above her wide blue eyes.
He nodded, frowning at her. He didn't trust himself to speak.
She reached into her denim shoulder bag and pulled out a notebook. Turning to somewhere in the middle, she scanned the page and announced, "I think Orysius Solian can take another student. Go find him why don't you?"
'Where is he?" asked Lachyn.
"You can find him in his classroom. It's that way." She pointed down yet another hallway. "Room 752."
"Right," he said, "er, thanks. I suppose I--"
But she was gone.
With a sigh and a shake of his head that was something between weariness and frustration, Lachyn walked down the hall, found the right room, knocked three times, and entered.

Welcome to the Intermediate Class. Two things: Be sure to write your posts in a word processor of some sort, and, always put a full break between paragraphs. That's how it's done on the internet; what you have there is book format.

See? Paragraph break with a full blank line.

Just like that. Everything is good, besides that. For your next assignment, have your character enter the Dome. At the entrence, he will meet a Domerii, a butler of the Dome. Domerii are small, pale-skinned, and humanoid. Have the Domerii explain to your character what the Dome is, why your character is here, and that your character will be taught by Orysius Solian. Then, have the Domerii lead your character to his (your character's) new room in the Dome. This part of the assignment will be an exercise for your dialogue skills.

When they arrive at the room, the Domerii should leave. The Dome knows the type of room each of its inhabitants would desire, and so it fills it with all of the necessary commodities and things that inhabitant would like. So, I want you to see your descriptive skills when your character enters his room. End the post after your character has become comfortable in his new room.

What? I have to enter the Dome again?
No, just kidding. Thanks. I write so often that it's hard for me to remember the line break...habit, and a bad one on the internet. x3 I'll edit this post with the lesson as soon as it's done.

Lachyn reached the towering gates and looked up. There was something awe-inspiring about this Dome, something that took his breath away and cleared his mind of everything, even words. Perhaps it was only the sheer size of the place—Lachyn was tall, but it would have taken ten of him, standing on each other's shoulders, to reach the top of the gate—or perhaps it was the sense of power, or the calmness and clarity that it gave him, just by being near it.

He raised one hand to knock, but before he could, the gates swung open to admit him.

Taking a deep breath and smiling despite himself, he entered.

Almost at once, a small man walked over to him. Though he stood very straight and kept his head high, he was barely half Lachyn's size.

The little man bowed politely and looked up. “I am pleased to welcome you to the Dome, young Master.”

“Thank you,” Lachyn said, uncertain.

The little man waited.

“I'm sorry,” Lachyn said after a moment, “but I don't really know what the Dome...is.”

“Of course,” said the man. “Even I don't claim to understand all its secrets, young Master. Great men have spent lifetimes studying it, but no one really knows everything about it. The simplest explanation is that the Dome is what you need it to be. It is the home to the greatest school of battle in the known universe, a place to train your skills, and a place to make new friends, or, if you aren't careful, new enemies.”

Lachyn swallowed.

“But that,” the man continued, “is of no importance. If you don't offend anyone, you will of course be perfectly safe.”

“So the people here are all fighters?” Lachyn asked, looking around. There were no shortage of people, standing in groups or sitting alone, or running here and there like restless, busy squirrels.

“Yes.”

“Even you?”

“Of course not,” the man replied as if this should have been perfectly obvious. Lachyn scowled. “I'm a Domerii.”

Lachyn sighed; this seemed to be a stalemate for him. He wanted to know everything about the Dome, but it seemed every time he asked a question, the Domerii thought he was stupid. “Sorry, sir, but what's a Domerii?”

“We assist the young masters in the Dome and take care of things around here. Perhaps the young Master would like to see his room?”

“You're assuming I would like to stay,” Lachyn said, by now thoroughly irritated. “What's stopping me from walking out right now?”

“If you are meant to be taught at the Dome, all roads will lead you back here,” the Domerii replied.

“Um, okay.” Lachyn blinked. “So I'm, what, destined to be trained here?”

“It seems so.”

“Who teaches me, then?”

“You may have the honor of being trained by Orysius Solian. He is a very prodigious teacher with a legacy here in the Dome and many veteran students.”

That, at least, sounded good. “Excellent,” Lachyn said, and he meant it. “What's this about a room?”

“I will show you.” Without another word, the Domerii trotted off.

Lachyn tried to keep track of the way to get there, but he gave up once he realized that they'd been in the same long hallway several times and yet he was sure they hadn't gone in a circle.

“Things tend to move,” the Domerii explained. “One can leave by one door and only minutes later find himself entering the same room through another door. There are places whose locations cannot change, such as the dining hall, so that will be at least one place to which you can always find your way. If you're lost, I would suggest finding it and asking someone for help.”

Every hallway was full of twists, turns, and tapestries. Niches every few feet contained things like statues, small fountains, miniature trees, half-hidden doors, or students talking or studying, and, on occasion, more than one of the above.

“There are, of course, many hundreds of rooms in the Dome,” said the Domerii as they climbed a flight of wandering stairs. “I doubt highly if any of our students have ever entered them all. Ah, perhaps not that way, I believe a recent battle in the hall has destroyed part of the floor.” He changed direction abruptly.

“How old is the dome?” asked Lachyn, looking at a statue which had been weathered by hands and the forces of time.

“No one knows,” replied the Domerii. “It has many mysteries, and whoever built the original Dome is long gone. That is, of course, assuming that it was built at all. There are those who say it was simply created at the beginning of time.”

“Of course it wasn't,” said Lachyn. “That's impossible.”

But as he looked at a strange tapestry, its threads faded so that the picture was indistinct and pale, frayed at the edges and missing tassels, he was surprised to find he could believe it.

At last, the Domerii stopped in front of a plain wooden door. He fished in a pocket and pulled out a key. “Here you are, young Master. Be sure not to lose it.”

Lachyn fit the key into the lock and turned it. It took a bit of jiggling, but he got it. He looked up to thank the Domerii, but the strange little man was gone.

Shaking his head in bewilderment at the strange ways the Dome worked in, Lachyn entered the room.

It was clean and spacious, but small enough to feel more normal, more real. Two walls were paneled in smooth, pale wood. Two were plaster, painted a clear light blue, like the sky just after sunrise. The far wall was one of these, and it had a large bay window, complete with a window seat, taking up most of the space on it.

The floor, to Lachyn's great surprise and delight, was carpeted in soft cream, and a small mat was thrown, almost carelessly, by the door, a place for him to take off his boots. Above it was a hook for his traveling cloak. On the other side, there were several nails. When he examined them, he found that one pair were just right for holding his sword, one for his sword-belt, and another clearly designed to hold his lute.

The bed was long, with full covers and a proper mattress. A few pillows lay on top of the neatly made blankets, artfully arranged, but casual. He took off his cape and threw it across the room so it lay on the bed, the hem of it trailing on the floor.

He began to examine the whole of the room. The window seat, he discovered, opened up, hiding a storage space. He nodded approvingly and looked out the window at the mountains. He turned away after a second, then did a double-take. Mountains? He hadn't been in the mountains.

A magic window?

Lachyn laughed with delight, really laughed, for the first time in what felt like more than a lifetime. At once, his heart felt lighter, as if the laughter had inflated it like a soap bubble, bright and iridescent. He was as energetic as a small child as he explored the rest of his living quarters, bounding from one corner to another, curious and delighted at each new find.

When he'd finally exhausted every inch of the room, he settled down, grabbed his sword and his lute, fastened his cape back over his shoulders, and set out to find Orysius Solian.

Oh, my, this seems interesting! Most definitely the best find-your-room post I've read in a long time. I want you to do the following for your next lesson:

Have Lachyn lose his way, and end up in a dark chamber. The door he entered to get here locks behind him. Imagine the Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple's hub room (the one with all the lanterns and poes) or perhaps even Woodfall Temple from Majora's Mask. That's the kind of feel I'm going for. In this chamber, there should be little illumination, though enough to see. Lachyn should find a hooded man, one who has also become lost.

Have them exchange a bit of dialogue. The man's personality is up to you, but at some point the man will extend a twin-pronged spear towards Lachyn. He say to Lachyn, "The ghosts told me you have the key."

A fight will ensue, presumably because the man wants the key which Lachyn doesn't have. As it rages on, the lights will become brighter and brighter. I want a good, creative, long fight. As the chamber gets brighter, you are free to use whatever creativity you want to describe how it will look, because it will be this creativity of scenery which will determine your creativity of battle prose. So in other words, make the chamber look however you want, so that you can use interesting and creative things to describe the battle scene.

When the fight is drawing near its climax, the lights reach their brightest, and a buzzer goes off. A booming baritone voice will say "Enough!" and the fight will stop. The sound of footsteps will be heard.

End the post there.