Weights and messages - RPLOG

Participants

• Bite_PC
• Cedric
• Mazurek

Date

16/4/476

Log

At the pre-assigned meeting place, the edge of firmament, stands a lone sparrow. He wears a black leather jacket and a cocky grin as he holds a strand of some form of plant in his mouth, awaiting arrivals for the task at hand.

Another bird arrives to the meeting place, this one not wearing a thing for the simple reason of being a quadruped. Flying in and landing gracefully, the raven-panther hybridized griffon fluffs his feathers afterward and pads over to the sparrow. Hopefully this one isn't called Jack...

Arriving at the meeting place shortly after is the dark-armored badger. Cedric wasn't really sure as to how he might be able to help with airship construction, but they didn't seem to list any qualifications for the job. Hopefully this time it wouldn't involve any devious cats.

The sparrow looks up and spits out the contents of his mouth on the ground. "Hey! My names Jim." he says with a look and a nod of his head. "So my boss wants to add something new to his next airship, but he needs someone to go fetch some parts for the thing. Are you up for it? It'll be dangerous, creator ruins aren't a cake-walk. I just need you to bring some good parts back to me here and you'll all get your due reward. Hows that sound?"

Mazurek chirps with a tilt of the head, "Entering some Creator Ruins for some parts? I won't be the best sort to do the critical delving, but I can hold back most threats. What is needed and where will we be going?" He looks to the badger and back, "The two of us can fly there if nobody else is coming along with us."

The job actually sounds rather promising to the young badger. He's never had the pleasure of seeing creator ruins for himself before. Cedric gives a nod to Jim the Sparrow, introducing himself in a friendly tone of voice, "I'm Cedric. Nice to meet you, Jim." He turns his head to the griffon, nodding. "The job sounds good to me." he adds, waiting to find out if they'll be escorting anyone else to said ruins.

Jim says "You'll be bringing... where did he go. Ricky! Get out here." says Jim, a weasel coming out to the group staggering drunk. "Reporting sir!" he calls out with a sloppy salute. "Ricky you're a mess. Sober up on the way over and help these folks get what we need." he says with a shake of his head. "Sorry you'll have to put up with this grunt, but he knows what we're looking for." the sparrow says rather cooly.

The griffon breaks out into a fairly wide grin upon hearing the weasel is drunk, "I know the perfect way to sober drunks up." He pads over to Rickey and actually begins to bat him with his wings, playing with him a little, "I'll take him into the air for a while and the cold should help, no?"

Cedric chuckles a little at the appearance of the drunken weasel. "Alright." he says to the sparrow as Mazurek bats the weasel with his wing. "Should be fine, I think. He any good in a fight, d'you know?" the badger inquires to Jim of Ricky's prowess.

The weasel blinks and shakes his head. "I do enough flying I'll be uh..." he says as he looks like he might vomit, the sparrow just rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Get going Ricky." he says as he waves the folks off. "He's a coward, don't expect him to pull his weight. He'll get you through alright, if he's not too drunk, or hung over, but I'd say you're going to be fighting on your own."

Mazurek nods, "Fair enough." He pads over to Cedric and settles on his belly, "Climb aboard, friend. We'll be going the easy route this time around." As for the drunk... Well, he gets forced to endure the ride of his life, for when the group sets out he is picked up by the arms by the griffon's hind legs. One way to get sober real fast is to take in nice, crisp, cold air.

Cedric nods to Mazurek and climbs aboard as gracefully as he can, taking care not to ruffle too many feathers, so to speak. "That's a shame... though I'm sure his sword arm would be too wobbly to be of much use today, anyhow." he says before waving to Jim. "Well anyway, we'll do our best."

As the griffon takes off Jim goes back to being cool, staying in place for a while before he walks off. Ricky doesn't fair so well as he's grabbed, taking it as a chance to blow chunks, a piece of the splatter disgusting some poor mother below them as they head out of town. Ricky points the general direction with ease, although he doesn't seem to know where it is exactly.

The griffon takes the two out to the east as high as they can safely go. Hopefully the weasel sobers up during this trip, for they continue until the avian actually starts to descend. Straight ahead is their destination and he can't help but ask, "Does anyone else see that shiny thing below? It's calling to me and I must know what it is!"

Cedric holds on as tight as can during the flight, taking a look around. He's finding the ride fairly enjoyable... probably more so than the inebriated weasel. At the griffon's voice he looks downward trying to spot the shiny thing he's mentioned. "No clue..." he replies, wondering what it could possibly be.

At the griffons approach, the entrance to the ruins appears very modest, mildly overtaken by foliage. The shiny object appears to be a very large, shiny ball, with metal in some places, and in others a rough black pliable material. It is far colder than the surrounding area, one can tell by the feel of the area as they approach, and it rests atop what appear to be the bones of some poor being, who belonged to the heavy clan from the looks of the little metal trinket bearing the clans image. Ricky slowly approaches the thing, looking all around as though he were expecting some form of trap, but is quickly put at ease as he approaches it more quickly.

Mazurek fortunately had the mind to set the weasel down before touching down completely. The chill around the area is notable, even for him these days. He will let Cedric down to walk if he desires it, but otherwise stays close to the weasel, "So it's not something this kleptomaniacal bird instinct of mine can claim. Fortunate for us." He looks around for possible clues, "Should I spend the precious few minutes it takes to turn into my dragon form for total comfort?"

Cedric steps down from the griffon's back and follows the weasel. "Is this the right place?" he asks the weasel before turning back to Mazurek. "Um... if it'd make you more comfortable." he replies, unfamiliar with the dragon form, personally. He continues following Ricky towards the thing.

The weasel looks slightly confused, unsure what to make of the object. After some contemplation he puts his hands on it and pulls back. "It's freezing." he says before he touches it again and tries to move it from the body, failing miserablely. Despite being a ball it appears to sink in on the bottom where some of the pliable material touches the ground. "And heavy." he says before sighing. "It's not what we're here for but... do you wanna try and see what it is?" he says with a smile, producing a knife and a small hammer.

Mazurek squawks as a feather is tugged by the badger during his dismounting. Looking back a little he makes sure the dismounting is less work on the rider by settling to his belly in the meantime, "I can fly easily in this form, but as a dragon I will not be affected by the natural elements. I can use some maths to keep us warm no matter which form I choose, though." That and he can hold things MUCH better as a dragon... It doesn't take long for him to decide, "Before you do anything, let me take the time to change." He focuses on changing, eyes closing. First his form changes to his natural iguana form, which takes all of ten seconds or so, but he continues to focus afterward, summoning up the power to change dedications from Griffon to Dragon, complete with transformation...if at all possible all the way out here.

Cedric is a very curious badger, and even though this might be a dangerous waste of time, he can't push aside his desire to figure out what this thing is. He takes a moment to decide whether he wants to know badly enough to wind up as crushed as the body underneath. Finally he decides to throw his caution to the wind (along with his better judgement) and nods to the weasel. "Yes. Yes, I wanna find out. I think we've got some time on our hands here, but let's wait for a moment, before you have at it." he says, gesturing towards Mazurek with the back of his hand.

The dragon has full chance to transform himself, before the weasel takes his two tools and inspects the object, looking for anything different. He eventually finds it, a small spot near the underside provides what appears to be a small, circular raised section that when touched, depresses into a slot before popping back into place. As it is pressed, a sound of air rushing past is heard as a wave of heat grazes over the party. As it does the sphere begins to shrink in size, the object no longer frigid, and the pliable portions of the ball receed into the metal frame, almost from view. The only sound beyond the rush of air is a slosh that quickly diminishes before going silent, leaving a very puzzled weasel. He nudges it, pulling back at the heat before giving it a nudge with his boot to which it responds by giving way and moving off of the skeleton.

Mazurek is actually glad he chose to transform, even if he might not really be presentable in the end. The rush of heat does not bother him like it would have as a griffon, and the now-elevent foot reptile steps forward to catch the hot ball-thing as it rolls off the skeleton, "Nice move. Better hope this thing doesn't need to stay on it to function again."

Cedric gives a cough at the wave of heated air and watches the ball roll off the remains, curiously. He looks to the weasel, asking, "So... any idea what this is, yet?" he tries not to sound too impatient with Ricky, he's just very, very curious now. Just as a precaution, he draws his polearm from its sheath on his back.

The weasel watches the dragon stop it and says "Umm... Maybe hold it by the metal part and... press the thing again?" he suggests, watching the thing carefully. The heat slowly disspiates but the ball still retains a great deal of it.

Mazurek holds the ball as if it is as cool as can be, showing no sign that it is harming him whatsoever even though it is more than obvious that is it very hot. He turns it so that he is holding it as instructed and then uses his tail to press the button once again, "Like this?" He did note the previous effect it had, and wonders if it will happen again.

Cedric watches on in anticpation, both nervous and excited to see what's going to happen with this ball. He doesn't really have any suggestions to offer in this situation, as this sort of thing is far beyond his expertise. He stands quietly somewhere between the weasel and the dragon, bracing himself for whatever horrors they may have just unleashed.

The object, one pressed draws in a woosh of air, the only uncomfortable effect of this is that it becomes hard to breathe for a short time, and then the area feels unbearably dry. The object makes a "breep" sound once before it slowly expands its pliable section again, the object seeming to fill with a slosh before it becomes unbearbly heavy and cold once more. The weasel moves to touch it again, not very mindful of the dragon as he does so. "It appears to be of great weight at whim." he says finally, rubbing his forehead. "Can we bring it with us? It could prove useful." he says with a nod.

The dragon's arms and legs bulge a bit as the object increases its weight while he still holds it. Yet again he doesn't let it go even though it is once again very cold, "Yes, indeed, it seems very heavy. We would be fools not to take it with us, though I am likely to be a target if we run into any battles." Then again he still has his tail and his maths. With the object in tow he actually takes the lead entering the passage.

Cedric seems to relax a little as he follows the dragon into the passage. "I'm just glad it didn't blow everything up." he remarks, keeping his weapon drawn and resting on his shoulder as he makes his way. He stops for a moment to turn his head, calling back to the weasel, "You coming, Ricky?"

The weasel follows along behind the group for a while, the passage riddled with vines and the like. It appears this section of the ruin has been completely emptied, someone has even tried to remove the walls from the looks of it. Scattered about are various scraps of metal, some of which Ricky snatches up and tosses into a bag, apparently part of some grand mechanics that no longer exist here. He finally takes the lead, looking at the heavy object and saying "You know, you might be more useful if you hit the button again and it was lighter." he quips, looking the dragon over before rubbing his forehead once more.

The dragon hisses and turns his head to one side swiftly, his body following suit just as quickly as the weight of the object allows. He mutters something before a flame appears over his tail, using some fire math to light up the area. Just don't mistake him for a Charizard here as the flame isn't ignoring over his flesh at all. He is looking for something, but isn't voicing what.

The badger shuts his eyelids in response to the sudden light of the fire math, his eyes having only recently adjusted to the darkness of the passage. He continues walking along as he opens his eyes and addresses the weasel quietly, "Any sign of what we're looking for yet?" he asks.

The area is lit up! Revealing some very active plants creeping along the wall and floors towards the group. The weasel stammers a bit and darts off ahead, tossing a smoke bomb behind him which has the effect of obscuring the approaching plants, and clouding the visibility provided by the light. "Lets go!" he blurts out a short distance ahead, he seems pretty slow right now, but the vines don't seem to be having any trouble with the optical ruse.

Mazurek wasn't quite expecting what he ends up spotting the moment he looks around after putting some light on the subject. He reacts in a similar manner to the weasel, but in this instance he lets it out as a blast of fire from an open mouth, working some more fire maths directly at the vines. He is not anywhere near as fast at running as the other two are, thanks to the heavy burden.

Cedric is shocked as he comes to see the moving plants, and instead of running ahead with the weasel, he sticks back with Mazurek, brandishing his life drinker polearm at the tangle of living tangle of vines, attempting to stab at those nearest to him.

The life drinker cuts apart a piece of the approaching mass, the fireball damaging and slowing its approach and giving the group some breathing room as they all run a fair feat into what appears less stripped creator ruins. With a sudden surge the plants move forward, enagaging the party.

The plants suddenly stop as they are hacked and slashed at, burned and fought back valiantly by Mazurek and Cedric. Suddenly the floor pushes Mazurek and Cedric back on their rumps as Ricky seems to fiddle with a machine on the wall. He stops and stares at them, as the round mounds with extensions that look like pipes swivel and direct at Mazurek and Cedric, before they are assaulted by the vines. The twin creator tech things swivel back around and there is a loud "BRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZT", followed by eight more and blinding flashes of light. When the flashes clear the plants are retreating, charred and blackened vine parts remaining in their wake. The devices then retreat back into the floor.

The dragon had been fighting with his feet, tail, and some of his fire magics throughout the fight. Somehow that was more than enough to hold the things at bay, yet he had retained his hold on the heavy object in his hands. With the sudden knockback caused from below he lets out a cry and a roar as he is knocked back. The heavy device...well, he doesn't exactly lose his hold on that, but it is a bit heavy to hold properly in the prone position he finds himself in, pressing against his chest with his hands still holding it tight.

Cedric fought alongside the dragon, with all his might, which admittedly, isn't all that much in his current soul. Nonetheless he'd managed to help stave off the advancing vines to a standstill, until suddenly he felt the sudden falling sensation, like when you're about to fall asleep and then a startle wakens you. Only this was the floor actually pushing him. The next thing he knows, he's on his backside with loud noises and creator tech destroying the plants. He starts to get to his feet, embarassed at his failure in combat against some dumb vines.

Ricky still stares widely for a few seconds before he catches his breath and sighs. "Come on they have to be here somewhere." he says and waves the group onward. "That was... really cool." he adds, as he reaches a door and beigns to inspect it. It doesn't appear to have been opened yet, this paticular door is free of scratch marks and prying of any sort. He works his magic, and just like that the door slides open. As it does he stares at its contents. It's a very small room, containing shelves of items, and a curious little sign with a man slipping on a puddle, a circle going around it and driving through it.

Mazurek takes a little time to get back up again, having to roll onto his side in order to get the weight off his chest first. He is panting a little by that point even as he rises to his feet once more, even picking the device up again. He makes no sound during all of this, only huffing once he is carrying it again. Of course he is the last to see the new room, yet he stares at the odd sign while bringing his still-flaming tail over for a better look, "Is this some sort of Creator Message?"

Cedric finally gets upright and takes a moment to catch his breath, looking to Mazurek before following the weasel towards the new room. "Hmmm... it could be." he says, scratching his chin thoughtfully. The badger looks a bit nervous, scanning around with his eyes to make sure there's no vines creeping up from anywhere.

The weasel looks at the sign with a tilted head. "It's shaped like one of the creators... right? I mean.. sort of. I've never seen a picture of them with such a round head, and they have no hands or feet or features but maybe it's supposed to look that way?" he decides, looking up at the shelves and smiling, he says "Can you give me a boost, I think I see what we need."

Mazurek looks up and around the shelving after gazing at the sign for a while longer. He isn't sure where the weasel is looking but he is actually forced to set the sphere down again, "Point it out to me and I'll retrieve it. I'm the tallest here." He's elevent feet in height and may be able to reach it without assistance.

Cedric affixes the strange sign with a curious stare as his eyes finally meet it. He pores over it, scratching his head, unable to deceipher the meaning of the pictograph. "Yeah, that sounds good." he says to the other two, distracted. He's probably not tall enough to reach that shelf anyhow, or willing to give the weasel a boost. "Kinda looks like hes dancing on a cloud or something..." he remarks, of the sign.

The weasel points to the pile of hexagonal shaped metal bits, the flat round things with the spirals coming out of them to a point, and the small flexible and stretchable black tube looking thing.

Turning his attention to the objects in question, the Dragon spends a few moments studying them to make sure he isn't going to get stung or anything. If they're relatively safe he'll take them down two at a time and hand them to the weasel.

Cedric tears his attention away from the sign and wanders over to the others, standing nearby, ready to help with any heavy lifting that may be required of him.

The objects are passed down by the tall dragon to the shorter weasel, who stows them into their sack without an issue. "Perhaps we should bring the message back, that it may be studied?" he muses, looking at the sign rather curiously. He looks to the others and says "What do you think? Would you like to bring it back as addditional material for those interested in the creators word?"

Dutifully the dragon passes the objects down until there is nothing left. Afterward he returns his attention to the sign, "Well, I don't think there would be any harm in that. The priests would love to have something new to study, after all. As for what I carried in, I suppose it would only be fair to bring that back as well." He can't help but smirk, "Can't fly back with that, though, and I'm the only one here able to hold it."

Cedric nods and returns to the location of the sign, "Okay. I think we should probably take it with us..." he says, grasping the sign to carry it with him. "Could be important, better safe than sorry." he adds brightly.

The heros grasp the sign and sphere, the weasel left handling the light bag as they trek back through the hallway. The mounds don't come up as they pass by then, the weasel leaving the machines alone as he passes by. The vines don't seem to want to, or maybe they're just not in any condition to attack the party, remaining till and poised. The weasel looks about very curiously, unsure if he's going to run and leave the area ahead of them or not.

Mazurek notices the way the weasel is acting and can't help but call out to him, "If you don't stay with us during the trek home, you will more than likely become food for the beasts of nature. Do not let your instinctual skittishness rule the day." Yes, he is feeling a little on-guard from how their journey in went, but he at least doesn't need his arms free for defending himself.

Cedric hurries along after the two, holding up the rear and carrying the sign underneath his arm. As he passes them, he makes a face at the still vines, praying like hell that they don't spring up to life before they can make their exit.

The weasel sighs and nods, falliing back to move with Cedric and Mazurek. The dragon is right, he can't make it back on his own. "Alright..." he says as he too eyes the vines, an occasional one twitching but not moving towards the group. After some time, one vine is very brave and makes its slow crawl forward towards the group.

Mazurek notices the one vine coming to life and shakes his head a little, "The plant has decided. Both of you, run. Just don't look back, I'm right behind you." He knows the plant can't be beaten, resiliant as it is, but he will drive it back if needed.

Cedric lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head, he has no other option but to run ahead with the weasel, seeing as he wouldn't make it back on his own were both himself and the dragon to be strangled and whipped to death by vines. But he believes, at least, that Mazurek will be alright and able to push back the vines. "Come on, let's go!" he exclaims to Ricky as he begins his sprint towards the exit.

The weasel stops in his tracks, as though his character was suddenly made of something a little sterner. He looks back to the dragon and says "No, I need you two to get back." in a stammer as he holds his head slightly, the excitement seems to be getting to him, but he grabs a crossbow from his side, trembling as he watches the walls around him and takes a shot at the vine, The vine's girth allows the bolt to strike home, and as it does it catches fire, leaving the burning bit in the tendril. It twists and writhes as it tries to remove itself from the source of the internal damage, not seeming to fully grasp whats going on. Ricky looks pale as the vines near him orient in his direction, not moving for him but seeming to take position to do so.

Mazurek grimaces, "You don't need both of us! Don't be a hero, blast it! Cedric, get him out of here before the vines tear him to pieces for that!" He lets out a roar prior to launching a fireball at a mass of vines, trying to get their attention on him instead of the other two.

It doesn't look like either of the others are going to leave the vines alone, and damn it, he's not running off on his own and leaving -everyone- behind. "If he's not running, I won't either!" Cedric shouts back defiantly before jettisoning a fireball of his own conjuration at the vines.

As the fire licks over the room, growing ever hotter amonst the plantlife the orb in Mazurek's hands seems to get colder to compensate, spouting out "Breep" and some strange tongue. It seems to be repeating the same thing over and over again, only replacing the last section of it's speech, before it moves onto a completely new set of repetitions. The first set is repeated seven times. Ricky moves back towards the entrance, trying to get Mazurek and Cedric to follow.

The sudden activity of the orb in the dragon's hands has him actually stopping in his tracks, getting further behind by the second to stare at it. He might not understand what it is saying, if anything at all, but he recognizes the chill that the orb is giving off. Getting an idea, he searches for the button that was pressed outside before they came in, pressing it with his tail without even saying a word.

Cedric started to follow Ricky towards the entrance in the wake of the flames, "So... you've been carrying a crossbow this whole time, eh?" he observes with an even tone, shaking his head a little bit. He's starting to wonder if an escort was really required for this task, but keeps the thought to himself. As the orb starts to speak, he turns on his heel to notice Mazurek stopped in his tracks and pressing the button on the orb. He doesn't seem to understand the language that the orb is emitting. He can't even tell whether or not the message is a positive or negative one. For all he knows, it might be counting down to the time when it'll open it's spout and start pouring them all some tea.

The orb clicks and there is a rapid blast of heat that washes over the area, the blast is almost four times hotter than the initial unpleasantness from before, and the sphere still seems to be having issues fighting off it's chill, the effects fading slowly. The ball becomes much lighter however, a bit of speed to Mazurek's step being added. Ricky nods, saying "I only had one bolt... I just thought I might need it as my way out someday..." he pants as he moves. The orb's speaking is slowed, but not halted, it starts to perform the same process as before on it's current set of words, before it moves down to another word entirely. THis time it speaks 10 times in total.

Mazurek yelps and draws his head back and his arms out as far as they will go following the sudden blast of heat from the orb. It went everywhere! He has another thing that he hasn't tried yet, and he actually takes the time to send a blast of cold air through the immediate area, combining water and air if that is right. Maybe that will cool it off again?

Cedric doesn't like the feel of that heat pulse and starts backing slowly away from the dragon and his nice, shiny ball. "I think we made it mad... maybe we should just leave it behind and uh... go far away from it?" he says, still inching further away as Mazurek starts mathing with the orb.

Mazurek's magic aggitates the sphere, and the plants are treated to yet another pulse of heat, still crippled by the first, they can only inch forward. The exit is in sight! Ricky dashes ahead, waving the others to follow along as he runs. "We're going to make it!" he cries, the plants doing their very best to snare them.

Mazurek grimaces the moment he notices that his attempt to cool the thing down has no effect. With a shake of his head he fights with his desires, to keep the orb or to toss it away. It's gotten lighter so he can run faster than before. Then again, he doesn't want to know what the thing is finally going to do so he sets it on the ground against a wall before dashing off!

Cedric sighs in relief as the dragon parts with his broken toy and turns to the exit, breaking into a sprint to escape from whatever that orb is about to do. Not to mention all the vines.

The orb stops speaking and then makes a loud woosh as it beings to draw in air, seemingly wishing to normalize but failing. The sphere suddenly explodes, not damaging the walls as much with the blast, instead a mix of firey heat and chilling cold collide at once inside the pathway, the plants simply stop moving as they meet their odd fate. Ricky pants outside, having collapsed directly next to the pile of bones before he jumps up and backs away for a second. "I... can we go... we're done..." he says.

The dragon didn't exactly make it out before the explosion hit. The rush of air that accompanies it knocks him off his feet and sends him flying out of the passageway, his squeals drowned out by the roar of the magical blaze! He crashes into the ground and rolls, only to collide with a large boulder backward.

Cedric somehow managed to make it to the exit before the malfunctioning weight could get him with it's icy hot blast, although he had been backing away towards the exit a bit before the dragon abandoned the tech. He stops near the weasel, doubling over, bracing himself on his knees with both hands and panting heavily from the exertion. "...y-yeah... I really... want to... go home." he sputters out in between deep heaving breaths. He's so over this place.

The weasel smiles and nods to Cedric, standing up slowly and ensuring the goods are well before rushing to Mazurek. "Are you alright?" he asks and checks the dragon, looking back at the still glowing passageway.

Mazurek lies against the boulder, limbs sprawled out. He had the wind knocked out of him from the impact, and it isn't until the weasel starts checking on him that he finally takes his first breath again, only to start coughing. He slowly raises his head, eyes still refocusing after all that. He definitely needs a few minutes to recover from all of that, along with the time it takes to transform into the griffon once again for the journey home. Thankfully there were no splinters of wood in his path or he would have been hurting for sure.

Cedric catches his breath and walks over to the dragon, leaning against the boulder for rest. "At least it was an exciting trip." the badger says brightly, looking at the silver lining. Although he's not really sure that exciting, in this case, is really a good thing. But he's going to try to fool himself into believing it anyway!

The party tends to, and waits for Mazurek to be able to proceed onward before they make the trek back to firmament, the parts and sign in tow. Upon arrival Jim comes forward to meet them with a grin, saying "I knew you could do it, thanks for the job well done. Boss said you can have these as rewards." he says passing out crowns to everyone involved. "He also said I can spread the word about what a good job you did, when Ricky tells me the tale." he adds with an adjustment of his black stained leather jacket. The party then departs to deliver the most precious message from the creators.