The secret ham - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
30/4/477
Log
The mountain stands firm as ever, towering over the path, and a tall heavy clan hawk who appears rather well geared for such a trek. His clan symbol proudly displayed on his necklace, he polishes a small musket, and a brilliantly shiny cutlass, tapping his foot expectantly for the arrivals to guide along. The mountain looks dangerous, but peculiarly there is a system of ropes and such things stationed all along it.
Fenris grins as he looks up at the mountain. "Creators, that's gorgeous," he says, adjusting his long coat to block the cold mountain winds, "I've spent too long in the city, I think." The tiger saunters up to the guide and gives him a lazy salute, "Fenris of the Lightbringers, reporting for duty, sir," he says with a smile.
Cedric steps up to the side of the tiger, also glancing up the mountain with an appreciative whistle. "Never seen this one before." he says, nodding to the guide and to Fenris. "Hello! I'm Cedric. I'm just a curious badger, nothing fancy." he says with a nod as he introduces himself to the being. Noticing the system of ropes and such, he begins to look a little bit excited at the prospect of a dangerous and exciting climb.
Amaterasu slowly makes her way up the mountain. That biting wind! She pulled her cloak about her tighter and shook away some of the cold. "Riiiixo.... You didn't say a place so high would be so cold!" she whined Though, she had to admit, the infinity symbols of her eyes were definitely attracted to the beauty if the place. "Oh... wow..." she was breathless... Not getting around because of illness really did stunt her view of the world.
Jendayi makes her way up clad in a rather thin and tattered traveller's cloak over her leather armor, seemingly ill-suited for actually defending one from the cold. Still, the sphinx is undaunted, gazing up at the mountain as though her immense height was challenged! Her artifacts are attached to her belt- a twirligig, a divine shield and a sacred doctor, though her rather ramshackle-looking oiled crusher is strapped to her back over her pack. She nods to the hawk and takes a moment to briefly glance over the others, offering a few smiles and waves.
Ictus wanders up to the group, looking around curiously and sighs before looking to the hawk, "Corporal Ictus Solacious... At your service." he gives a faint smile, almost as if it is forced... Before he looks out over the mountain
Amaterasu is but a foxxy mage XP
Rixo trundles up the mountain, all done up in her black plate as always, warhammer propped up on her shoulder as she gives a slow, rumbling chuckle. "Might be worth taking note of then, Amaterasu. The mountains can be cold. I'm used to it, so I guess I don't notice it as much." Or maybe it was the lined plate she was wearing. Metal gets cold, but it does wonders against the wind. "Quite a view though, isn't it?"
The hawk looks out over the gropu, noting the introductions he offers himself. "I'm Bolum, I'm not sure I know any of you but I will be your guide today. We will ascend the pre-aided route, to speed along the process as the scholar involved is impatient. Let us begin, this path will be far less dangerous than usual, just climb and secure yourself, you should all be fine. I hope." he says as he waves an arm upward, and begins to lead the way. "I trust you are prepared for the temple, it has proven to be twisted in the past. Those who fear ham should leave now."
The last sentence is said in a rather amused, sarcastic tone.
Fenris blinks. Those who fear ham? His confused expression gives way to a grin of pure glee. This was definitely a kitsune temple! He checks his gear one last time and gives a wave to those he recognizes in the group, including a quick salute to Ictus. "All set," he says.
Cedric returns the tiger's wave before sticking out his chest in a somewhat exaggerated way. "I, for one, fear naught savory breakfast meats nor amateur comedian!" he exclaims with an amused grin at the hawk, pulling his travelpack up over his shoulder and walking forward with purpose. "Well then, lead the way Mr. Bolum!"
Amaterasu uhs... "Fear... Ham? The hell kinda place..." she then looked to Fenris, watching him ascend with pure glee on his face "What?" pulling her robes about her she pulled her staff from her back, the bone-white stylized peice of wood aiding her by digging into the ground with each placement. Running her fingers along one of the equations on the head it produced a wave of heat centered on the girl to warm her a bit "I am thankful I am a mage." she gave standing by Rixo, the imposing girl in platemail dwarfing the foxxy mage. She followed after everyone else easily enough "I dont have your armor Rixo, I'm trusting you to be my shield. You can trust me to watch your back."
Jendayi follows closely behind the hawk, narrowing her eyes. What threat could ham possibly pose? Must've been a mispronunciation...? "You... You mean harm, yes? Not dead pig flesh?" She scratches at the back of her head with a massive hand, peering around at the others as though they might have an answer.
Ictus checks his equipment before he shakes his head to clear it, "I'm sorry, I thought you said ham?" he blinks is disbelief before turning to the others, "Well met, and good to see you again Cedric, Rixo." he looks to Fenris and nods, "Good to see you private." he looks to Amaterasu and nods, "Ah, good to see a mathemagician here with us." he looks to Jendayi and shrugs in similar confusion as his three tails sway
Rixo thumps her free hand against her breastplate and nods at Amaterasu. "Yes, don't worry! Just stick behind me and I'll keep you safe as best as I can. If nothing else, I'll be between you and whatever wants to hurt you!" She shuffles after the hawk, herself, humming under her helmet. Ham? Well, wouldn't be the strangest thing she's found out in her explorations.
With a start they start to ascend the mountain, luckly no one seems to have failed their impromtu gym class, as they are all aided by Bolum. "Well... flesh is the wrong word." he adds with a chuckle, climbing the mountain with grace and ease as he waits for the others. "We'll be reaching the top in time, please, enjoy your climb, the view is quite scenic from up here. Just don't look down, look out, don't need any nervous nautilus up here. Come."
Fenris enjoys the hike immensely. The cool mountain air and the invigorating walk were cleansing after dealing with all the dirt and commotion of the city. "I really need to do this more often," he smiles and begins to sing an old walking tune in a strange language, just for the sheer pleasure of it.
Cedric nods to Ictus and the others, "Oh! Greetings. It has been quite a while! Sorry, I nearly didn't recognize you! How've you been?" he says to the fox with a friendly wave. Afterwards, the badger takes to the mountain climbing expedition. He seems to be quite at it, and it appears he's partaken of similar hobbies at least once or twice in his life, as he scales the mountain behind Bolum. There is a point where his footing gives for a second, and Cedric stifles a gasp while his heartbeat races. "Geez... how exciting! Right!?" he calls to the others in the group with a grin as he continues the climb upwards and hoists himself up over the edge. With a curious look, he turns to Fenris, nodding. "I love this sort of thing. You really should do it more often!" he exclaims with a wide beaming smile before adding a question, "You think Snowmark might like this kinda thing?". He peers down over the edge and scratches his cheek. "Maybe some Cliffside style diving..." he muses, not bothered much by the height.
Amaterasu having been from cliifside gently used her staff to prevent him from leaning too far "Let us refrain from tiring ourselves with excitement before we get to the temple. Ther is a decent chance of traps, I imagine." she doesnt partake in the tune much, but they could tell that she was following it, her staf thudding into the ground on the downbeats. "I'm quite sure lord Snowmark would enjoy such an endeavor. He seems like the puma who would. As for my relatives, I could say without a doubt maybe one might." The coat of arms on her coat if not noticed before was there, plain as day. She was Wirefur nobility. Though, she carried herself like a normal person. Perhaps she wasn't raised a wirefur?
Jendayi is not quite so graceful as she climbs, her own natural weight along with that added by her machines a bit overburdening but she still manages to follow the hawk without too much trouble beyond lagging behind. She finds herself more focused at the task at hand than on the scenery, though when she makes it to the top she does take a moment to catch her breath and look at the view. "Beautiful," she quickly remarks. She does mumble to herself something about 'too damn cold' and rub at her arms.
Ictus chuckles at Bolum and shakes his head, "I'm not afraid of heights." he looks out over the mountainside before starting his ascent and smirks at Cedric, "I'm sure." he hmms? at Amaterasu and nods at that, "Indeed, anyone good with traps by chance?" he eyes that coat of arms and frowns, but otherwise ignores it. Once at the top he looks over at Jendayi with a snicker, "It is beautiful." being of the arctic fox type has it's advantages!
Rixo was quite used to both cold and climbing! So despite her heavy armour, she kept pace with the climbing fairly well, all things considered. "I love the mountains, myself. I feel at home among the rocky crags, despite the issues they sometimes give with my armour. You holding up alright, Amaterasu?"
Atop the mountain is a large temple, the exterior decorated with by now well ciriculated stories of the Kitsune. It is a sight to behold, even with its age. THe hawk smiles and waves the folks around him onward. "COme with me." he offers as they move around the temple, to an outside area past the front entrance. A small work station is set up with a guard clad in heavy armor, an extremely fine zweihander and assorted tools, and a lightly garbed gar, the woman pouring over books with a quill near burning with movement nearby. "This is the help." Bolum calls, to which the gar stands up and looks them all over, giving a wink to Rixo and Jendayi in passing. "So you're here to help me with this blasted temple? Then let's go, I've spent far too much time waiting." She gestures to an irregular opening, dark beyond dark inside. "THat openend up when I messed with a few of the stories, trying to examine the texture for material sake."
Fenris grins up at the impressive temple. "I can't wait to see the inside!" he says happily. Three tails flickering behind him for a brief moment, before returning to just one.
Cedric's eyes linger on the heavily-armored guard for a bit longer than they probably should as he passes through with the others. He bows his head politely to the gar as she looks them all over, giving her a wave in greeting before he speaks, "Amazing..." he says, rubbing his chin as he takes in the sight of the temple, nodding in agreement with Fenris. He glances over at Jendayi in particular, considering her earlier statement about the temperature for a moment as he thinks of something, looking back to the gar with a smile. "Say! I bet you've got some torches around for the journey, no? I think Jendayi here.." he nudges his head in the direction of the machine priestess, "...isn't too fond of the cold and might like to carry one for us." he tells her, looking back to the towering sphinx woman and trying to gauge her reponse to see if she likes the idea. "Oh, I'm Cedric, by the way. Just a curious mathemagician. Nice to meet you, miss!" he introduces himself to her rather jovially.
Amaterasu taps her staff on the ground igniting the top of her staf, allowing the light, and a bit of the heat to exude from the fire "I imagine this is reasonable?" she asks letting the light illuminate the entrance to the passage "I wont be able to light everything with this one or two other torches would be required." she smiles, she was useful! "Can you tell how old this place is?"
Bite
Jendayi responds to the wink with a rather cold, lifeless stare, evidently not terribly receptive to flirtation. She gives Cedric a rather sideways glance at his suggestion, and shrugs a bit- fortunately in a receptive sort of way with a slight nod. "Sure, why not. Fire is good." She stares into the darkness and steps up to peek her head in a ways, trying to see what she can see, if anything at all. "You DO have light, yes?"
Ictus looks over at Rixo and nods at that, "Mountains do have great views." he smiles as he looks out once more before he looks to the gar, "Indeed we are." he looks over the writings curiously, though not a scholar himself so can't make much of it, and shrugs. He nods to Cedric at that, "Indeed." he looks to Ama and ponders, "I hope so." he peers at Jen though and chuckles a little before waiting for the gar to take the lead
Rixo nods at the researcher, her expression hidden behind her helmet. "Rixo. Also a pleasure. I am eager to get to exploring, however, yes, so lead the way. No fire magic or light on my end, though." She keeps her hammer and shield at the ready, just in case, moving to stand in front of Amaterasu as she settles in to follow. "Fortunately, everyone seems to have the light covered."
The researcher gar nods, pulling out torches althogh she stows them when three members of the party light the way for her. "Well, let us go, now!" she says as she pushes past them all, eager to see the interior. The path is cramped, allowing single file entry into a dull looking chamber. THe walls are blank barring a small hole, the floor is blank too besides an odd spot in the corner. The researcher turns and looks around rather puzzled and then moves to examine the hole. "Now what purpose could this serve? Can anyone get through here?" she quizzes.
Fenris focuses briefly and laughs happily as 7 small balls of flame burst into being around him and start to slowly orbit his body. The tiger follows the Gar researcher along the narrow passage and into the nondescript room. He makes a slow circuit of the place, stopping to examine the hole for a moment before being drawn to the corner, where he hunches down to study more carefully.
The badger concentrates for a moment, and with some effort he's able to produce, as opposed to the tiger's smaller balls of flame, a single ball of flame that remains stationary near his shoulder and to the side, not quite near enough to his fur to start burning it. The proximity of the piece of math doesn't seem to bother him so much as he follows the researcher and ther others into the temple until they reach the strange scene. "Oh... what do we have here." he says, crouching down to rest on his haunches as he carefully examines the surroundings. "Careful though... could be a trap, or some sort of... creator device? I'm not sure." he admits, scratching his head as he thinks about it. A green question mark appears on the back of his neck as he turns to the others. "Any ideas?"
Amaterasu walks on, she had a slight odd feeling as she came to where everyone had stopped. "What's the holdup?" she asks trying to see past everyone "Something happen?"
Jendayi takes a peek around and peers at the hole only briefly before her attentions are on the corner, arms crossed. "If it is a Creator device then I would sincerely rather you do not fumble with it foolishly. That being said, if it is a trap, I would appreciate it if someone with hands better for fine work would disarm it all they like." She tries to get a better look at the corner past the others gathered 'round it. "What is so interesting here...?"
Ictus nods to Rixo in agreement, "Yeah, same here. I only know a bit of air magic." he hmms at the researcher gar and shakes his head, "Good question..." he looks over at Cedric and walks over to peek over his shoulder, "No ideas yet..." he eyes the question mark on the neck and tilts his head curiously, but is distracted by a presence... He eyes Amaterasu and frowns as he walks over to her, he grabs her arm and whispers into her ear before turning away to peek into the hole
Rixo sets her hammer's head down and leans on it, glancing around the chamber. "Quite a place, this is. I know I certainly can't fit through that hole. Maybe if I took off my armour. Maybe. But still not likely." She glances over towards Ictus and Amaterasu, having promised to stay nearby the fox woman, frowning slightly under her helmet. "Is everything alright?" she asks the woman.
aS FENRIS PUSHES THE BUTTON, THE WALLS START TO RUMBLE ABOUT. a SMALL CHUTE OPENS UP ON THE EASTERN WALL, AND FROM IT, the sound of tumbling stone. After a few moments, one by one, stone pigs flop onto the ground, They stay still for the longest time, before they seem to spring to life. The stone pigs make strange near oink sounds as they move, systematically moving towards the hole and proceeding inside. After a moment the sound of another buttonn depressing can be heard, and with that a large opening springs from the wall, allowing passage into a stunning chamber. The walls are all etched with strange math, and tales of the Kitsune, but it all seems complete, one spot on the wall missing a chunk. In one corner of the room the three pigs can be standing rather stoic, unmoving. In another corner, a box, with peculiar markings all along it sits, locked fast with some seal.
Fenris laughs brightly as he watches the little stone pigs parade through the hole and open the door. "What a delightful mechanism!" he says, applauding over the little piggies. The tiger saunters unflappably into the great room, taking not of the math etched into the walls, his eyes drawn immediately to the empty spot. He waves to the sealed box. "Ten crowns says that that bit," he points to the bare patch of wall, "Is in that tricky looking box." He turns to the little stone pigs in their corner, "Thank you piggies," he calls, "That was wonderful!"
Cedric nods emphatically in agreement with Fenris as he watches the adorable oinking stone piglets do their thing. "Kitsunes..." he says to himself, shaking his head with a little chuckle. He enters the new room after Fenris and does a slow twirl as he tries to take in all the strange math and writing on the walls. The writings he doesn't seem to understand, but perhaps the maths? He'll need to take a closer look, however. He perks an ear as Fenris points out the box. "Ah... maybe. What's this about a 'bit'?" he asks, not appearing to understand what the tiger means. "I'm not sure about these markings though... I'll leave that to someone with more expertise..." he nods, and returns to examining the math along the walls, taking out a small bound book and a phoenix-feather quill to try copying some of it down as he investigates.
Amaterasu shivered lightly Ictus' grip on her arm like a vice to her. She actually felt fear begin to well up within her. "Yeah..." Ama responded to Rixo "Just some noble buisiness." she gave a quick glance to the fox who had her arm, before pulling herself free. Handing her staff to Rixo seemed to walk off towards another section of the room, Alone. "See if you can find anything matching the equations on the staff, you know them better then I do!" she asked before removing her spellbook and a quill to take some of the equations down.
Jendayi jerks back and takes a defensive stance as the walls rattle... then relaxes when she notices the pigs. Their activation gives her another good startling before she watches them oink their way over to the hole. "What manner of bizarre machine is this?" Once the door is open she enters the room, still looking over her shoulder before her full attentions settle on the room ahead. She looks over the writing and math, crossing an arm under her chest and tapping her chin with her free hand, elbow rested on the crossed arm. Even as she looks over the maths, she can't help but wonder aloud, "Why pigs? What is with the pigs?"
Ictus hmms? at Rixo and nods, "Yes, everything is fine." he then blinks at the rumbling of the walls and watches as the pigs appear, he tilts his head in confusion before speaking, "Oooookaaay..." he blinks in surprise at the next room and chuckles at the cute pigs, "They are strange... But cute, the creator who designed this place must have had a good sense of humor." his tails twitch with his amusment before he focuses on the box, "Hmm, I believe you may be right Fenris." he looks to Cedric and shakes his head, "The missing part is the bit in the box." he shakes his head at Jendayi and shrugs lightly, "Who knows?"
Rixo peers over the little mass of piggies, snorting as she nods at Amaterasu. "Mmm? Well, if you say so, then." Taking the staff, she looks it over and frowns. "I don't believe we'll find much darkmath here. You should not delay behind like this, though. In such places, being divided is quite dangerous, so I urge you to reconsider." She does make her way towards the next chamber, however, coming to a stop at the entrance to glance back towards Amaterasu for a moment before turning her head to the chamber itself, looking over the walls for anything that looks at all similar to what is on the staff.
The crew makes a decent effort of copying and understandning the math, the scholar working like wildfire to document it all, however the one piece seems to frustrate her to no end. "Gah we need that." she finally says throwing her hands up in the air. She looks to the pigs, still stoic, and says "Why can't you talk?" in a mocking tone, before sighing and looking at the chest. "I'm sorry this is frustrating. Do you really think it is inside the box?" she asks as she moves to the ground stuck fast chest, touching and opeing a latch which makes a bit of mathmagic spark off along the chest and wall, a hidden panel glowing behind the chest. The chest inside the latch is locked with a key. "We need a key... what is this?" she says as she moves to touch the panel. This sets off a strange chain of events. The walls spring alive with mathmagic, the ceilinig droppinig a key onto a suddenly alive again pig, who catches it in waiting and then, mixing itself up with its similar bretherin, scrambles about the room.
Fenris laughs brightly. "This is definitely a Kitsune temple," he says before focusing on the pigs. He picks out what he thinks is the right piggy and flexes some mathemagical muscle. He can feel the resistance of the earth magic in this place, but he manages to slow the pig down just enough to leap onto the pig with a happy whoop! Hopefully it was the right one!
Cedric removes his mathemagical robes for easier movement, but not to worry beings, he's still wearing pants and boots underneath! He charges at one of the crazy stone pigs not currently occupied by Fenris. It's a rough wrangle, but he manages to outspeed the porcine statue and ride it. "Ah... shoot, I didn't think this through! Just a sec, I can get it under control!" he shouts to the others, and then under his breath. "Maybe..." he mutters, trying to get a decent grip with his claws.
Jendayi glances at Ictus and shakes her head a bit. "I... have my sincere doubts that this is a product of the Creators. Unless there was a Creator who really particularly enjoyed pigs and stonework." She's started once again when the walls spark to life, and when she notices the pig make off with a fallen key she is straight to work chasing after it, though she loses sight of it properly amidst the crowd. Cedric, on the other hand, seems to have found it, and after a brief pause she bursts into laughter watching him ride about. "Get the key, tiny man! Wrangle the key from the pig! You have this, my friend!" She pumps her fists and cheers encouragingly. LOOKIT'EMGOOO.
Amaterasu was busy writing down the equations when the whooping and hollaring of her companions on this trip caught her attention. Rushing towards the sounds, what she saw made her want to burst out laughing, and smack her head against a wall in exhasperation.
Ictus nods to Rixo in agreement at that, "Yeah, it's doubtful..." he looks to Amaterasu and frowns as she stays away, "Don't go too far now..." he hmms? as the key falls and the pigs catch it, sighing at that, "Oh dear... Looks like we'll have to catch them." he watches Fenris catch one and Cedric another, seeing that Cedric's pig has the key he works some air math to try and trip it! Or at least slow it down! He looks to Jendayi and shrugs at that, "I meant creator in the way of who ever created this place."
Rixo watches Cedric wrestle with the pigs and shakes her head. "That is a job... For people not dressed like I am." She glances over, giving a quiet hum of approval as Ama comes rushing in. She takes another look at the staff and peers around, frowning. "I'm not seeing much like what is on here... But I might have an idea later. Don't let me forget." She offers the staff back to the fox and shoulders her hammer. "Need help over there?" she calls out, rolling her shoulder. "I could try to knock some around for you."
The badger ride the hard stone hog like a champion, the pig flailing and attempting to throw him off to no avail. Cedric steals the key ydeftly, and as soo as they do the scholar rushes them and snatches it, causing the pigs to go silent and still. The key is jammed into the chest, unlocking it and inside, a shard is collected and hastily shoved into the missing slot. The gar quickly records it all, and smiles doing a little dance. "Let's get out of here!" she declares as she moves off.
Fenris laughs and whoops as he rides his stony mount around the room, not remotely disappointed that he had grabbed the wrong pig! When the porcine statue comes to a sudden stop, the tiger laughs again, standing and brushing the dust from his coat. He watches the researcher take her notes for a moment as his little fire bugs find their way back to gently floating around his body. "What did you learn?" he asks, carefully scrutinizing the math along the walls and filing it away for later study.
Cedric hands the key off to the excited gar researcher, a bit dizzy from his wild pig ride as he stumbles a little upon vacating his uncooperative mount and moves to gather up his discarded robes, slipping them into his bag for now. "Well... that was fun... but what happens in the kitsune temple... stays in the kitsune temple." he says, looking rather embarassed as he tries to regain his bearings. "I'm serious, this never happened." he states, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle as he moves to regroup with the others, with a slightly drunken-seeming gait.
Amaterasu after she had finished laughing sauntered back up to Rixo, taking her staff back gingerly, and handing what pages she copied and her own notes on the math "Thank you, Rixo." she smiled. Beneath that, though, hidden deep was a slight feeling of dread.. What was to become of her now?
Jendayi takes a deep breath and collects herself once all's said and done with they key nonsense. She quirks her brow at the gar and shrugs a bit, looking around one last time before walking towards her. "Is that all? Huh. What significance is this of?" She looks a little disappointed. She glances over to the badger and grins a wide, toothy grin, saying nothing but giving him a very meaningful look. Oh dear.
Ictus shakes his head and snickers at his subordinate as he rides the pig, "Alright, alright... Enough of that for now." he can't help but snicker a little more, missing the key being put in place, he blinks at the math wall and studies it a little. He hmms in thought and looks to Cedric with a grin, "Sure." is all he says
Rixo smiles under her helm and nods, gesturing towards the exit. "You're welcome. I was honestly expecting more traps. Or fire. Or angry giants or something." She shrugs and shuffles off. "Anyway. Let's get out of here, like the researcher said. I'm eager for some fresh air."
The scholar says "No all of that is in the main path it seems. This was a lot nicer than that blinding trickery they put your way." as she moves off with her notes. "It tells us more about the Kitsune, and that is quiet important." she adds as she moves out, the guard greeting them and Bolum looking them over. "Well, you all ready to head down?" he says apparently not waiting for them to all take a break. They must either follow him, or proceed without a guide, but either way eventually our heros decend the mountain and go on with their lives.
