The rest of the group seemed to be weighing up the situation precisely the same as she: the despair at the room, the magnetism towards the small black gemstone at the heart of it, and a shroud of unease lingering about it all. She nodded emphatically at the young man's inclination not to touch anything - grateful at least that all those remaining of their group seemed to have enough common sense for that (she suspected she might indeed be the worst among them, for being a slave to impulse) - and, to stave off the temptation, picked her way cautiously about the rest of the room to see whether there were any more runes, or other signs amongst the debris, as to whether this was purely as simple as it looked or just another trap, and about how to solve this, how to counteract Her curse.
"Does anyone have anything we might use to wrap it in?" Carmelina mused, not entirely convinced by the idea, but inclining her head back towards the gemstone and yearning for a closer look at it nonetheless; though she was without a pair of gloves to hand, or much else to use but the hems of her dress, and thinking a man's jacket, or some such fabric, might be more convenient -
"Possibly; I wish I could say for sure." Carmelina piped up, at the potential that magic may work again, at idea that they had moved away from Irvingly in the midst of this. "But I daresay it's worth a try," she reasoned, wishing they had not reached a point in the day where she now felt fully out of her depth, and this supposedly her area of expertise - and added wryly - "a little magical assistance would hardly go amiss right now."
Whether they could or not, if the gemstone was the locus of the power - and the power of this kind of magic apt only to grow with age, and festering curses as volatile as they were potent - they would have still have to be careful about doing anything. Magic might make the gemstone's destruction easier (which may finish off Her malicious spirit, but was equally likely to release yet more adverse results); if this tomb was but an illusion, and the gem still out of place, then in Carmelina's mind the best move was returning the gemstone to its true resting place, if it could be located in the world beyond this casino, however risky the process might be rendered by transporting it. They had to do something about all this, that much was plain.
"Does anyone have anything we might use to wrap it in?" Carmelina mused, not entirely convinced by the idea, but inclining her head back towards the gemstone and yearning for a closer look at it nonetheless; though she was without a pair of gloves to hand, or much else to use but the hems of her dress, and thinking a man's jacket, or some such fabric, might be more convenient -
"Possibly; I wish I could say for sure." Carmelina piped up, at the potential that magic may work again, at idea that they had moved away from Irvingly in the midst of this. "But I daresay it's worth a try," she reasoned, wishing they had not reached a point in the day where she now felt fully out of her depth, and this supposedly her area of expertise - and added wryly - "a little magical assistance would hardly go amiss right now."
Whether they could or not, if the gemstone was the locus of the power - and the power of this kind of magic apt only to grow with age, and festering curses as volatile as they were potent - they would have still have to be careful about doing anything. Magic might make the gemstone's destruction easier (which may finish off Her malicious spirit, but was equally likely to release yet more adverse results); if this tomb was but an illusion, and the gem still out of place, then in Carmelina's mind the best move was returning the gemstone to its true resting place, if it could be located in the world beyond this casino, however risky the process might be rendered by transporting it. They had to do something about all this, that much was plain.
