Latest revision as of 02:33, 7 August 2015

Participants

• Cara
• Cassidy
• Cedric
• Fenris
• Kazel
• Natska
• Selena

Date

6/8/478

Log

The impromptu questionnaire is cut mercifully short as she actually steps onto the boat, shuddering a little. "I never liked these things, you know." She comments to nobody in particular - though probably mostly at the three beings she definitely knew. "But what about yourselves? have you been up to much since we last spoke?"

The Lioness's question is responded to with a simple, "Well, if you'd be so kind, what should we all call you?" Palpable relief washes over the wolfess when she sees the bat exit the cabin; "And I'm very glad that isn't who I was expecting. The last bat I went on a trip to an island with shouldn't be going anywhere near anyone at all." she notes offhandedly. "Almost like Deja vu."

Selena laughs quietly, shaking her head for a few moments. "I've been around. I actually got back a about a month or two ago; I've been busy catching up with the academy and some students."

The short discussion is cut short as she steps onto the boat, shuddering a little. "I never liked these things, you know." She comments to nobody in particular - though probably mostly at the three beings she definitely knew. "So what about yourselves? have you been up to much since we last spoke?"

Palpable relief washes over the wolfess when she sees the bat exit the cabin; "I'm very glad that isn't who I was expecting. The last bat I went on a trip to an island with shouldn't be going anywhere near anyone at all." she notes offhandedly. "Almost like Deja vu, this entire situation. What should I call you, then? I don't think we've met."

Fenris shakes his head at Selena. "Nothing that needs airing on a ship bound for Ishara," he says, "But I am sure there will be time later to regale you with tales of exploration and daring-do!" He looks at Kazel. "And speaking of exploration," he continues, "What exactly are we going to Ishara FOR? It is not exactly my first choice for a pleasure cruise. There was mention of some kind of ruins?"

The scruffy-looking ferret hangs off a little to the side of everyone else, because 'definitely not in any way, shape or form Cedric' doesn't know any of these people. "Y'got anythin' good t'eat or drink on this tub?" he asks, putting on a fake accent as he asks his question.

Cassidy rubs the back of her head with a gloved hand, nodding. "A few bits and odds and ends. But nothing... Serious, I guess! Nothing of much note. Just various freesword assignments, the usual! But nothing life changing. Nice to see you're back home, though! How're the classes?"

Natska gives Kazel a small nod of recognition, and a smile; she frowns a little at the mission, then shrugs her shoulders. "I'd like to know who we are working for, if you can tell us, too. And why Ishara." She nods at Cass' statement, too, agreeing. "A lot of random things. Nothing too crazy."

Cara turns to everyone else with a smile as she listens, "Well, I'm just glad that we're going to explore ruins again. Hopefully it won't be like the swamp cave." At that point, she instantly turns to Kazel and asks with a smile as she sits down on the deck of the ship, "How have things been for you, Kazel? I've been doing freesword assignments, mostly being an exterminator for pests."

Kazel ponders for a moment, choosing her words a lot more carefully than usually. "Well for those who do not know me, I am Kazel Silverwing and yes we are headed to Ishara to explore some ruins. Ruins that may or may not even be there or worth it. My contact, who I am not in a position to disclose, has not told me much more than that and that if they are what they think it is they will want all we can find in those ruins. The smallest gold coin to the biggest statue. We are all paid handsomely to determine the position of these ruins, if they are real, and to secure the area for the workers." The bat takes a deep breath of the ocean air before turning to Cara and the ferret. "I have been well and food is being served at the regular hours under deck."

"Well, Kazel, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Selena." the wolfess greets, offering out her hand. "Hopefully some of the things they're hoping to find will make their way to the academy. I wouldn't mind having some things other than old magic to study every now and then." She notes, settling herself down towards the middle of the ship. "Fair enough, Natska, Cassidy." The wolfess nods back to Fenris - perhaps somewhat belatedly. "No, nothing of that sort. Unless you have something specific you'd like to ask or talk about?"

Fenris frowns. "That's the kind of vague answers and fuzzy planning that landed my sorry butt on Ishara the last time I was there,' he says, "But it will have to do if we have nothing better." The tiger turns his attention to the rough ferret sailor. "You any good at cards?" he asks, "Looks like the scholars will be too busy to entertain me." He produces a pack of cards from a deep pocket. "Cripple Mister Onion is a favorite, but I am up for just about anything," he says, "I'll even tell your fortune if you like. Anything to distract from the destination."

The disguised Cedric nods to Kazel after she introduces herself, and gives a fake name in return. "Just call me Richard." he introduces himself, and makes a low grunt to Fenris as he's stopped, just to head below deck. "Not too lucky a fella', m'self, but I'll play ya a few rounds." he says, not wanting to raise too much suspicion with the tiger by outright refusing. "Join me below deck t'wait some grub whilst we play?" he asks.

"Sometime, under better circumstances, we should talk!" Cassidy says to Selena, grinning. "About magic. I have a concept. Something to talk to you about, but this isn't really the time and place for it! Sometime, though." She looks towards Natska and nods. "This should be an interesting enough trip, at least."

Natska makes a small noise in agreement, then nods again. "I'd like to stow my bag, and then I wouldn't mind spending some time on deck, watching the ocean. Unless you wanted to hang out below with everyone else, Cass."

Cara asks, "Does anyone have any idea how to disarm any possible traps that might be in the ruins though?" The feline shrugs and continues rather calmly, "I just think that it might be good to have for this trip. Anyway, I hope that the research on what we recover will be worth the rather pleasant trip to Ishara, and by pleasant I mean eventful."

A couple of days later, the ship finally reaches its destination. A relatively small and flat island, covered in thick jungle. The journey was surprisingly uneventful and pleasant, so that everyone is at their full mental and physical capacity. The gangplank is lowered and the Freeswords step on shore, Kazel leading. "Alright, the ship will wait here while we explore the island. It should be uninhabitated from what I read in the report I was given, but it was already a few years old. Any questions before we head out?"

Selena raises an eyebrow, looking over the island for a few moments. "A few years ago? where did you get the report from, Kazel?" she asks somewhat perplexedly. "I feel like I've been here before, but a lot changes over a few years..." She muses, rubbing her cheek.

Stepping from the gangplank to the island, 'Richard' the ferret sailor takes a good look around. He crouches down at the spot where he first notices the scant traces of a path leading into the island. "Not sure it were recent, but there's def'nat'ly been some foot traffic 'round hereabouts." he says with that thick accent. "Could use an extra pair 'o eyes t'be sure."

Cassidy had changed while the trip was underway! When she comes up and makes her way off the boat, she's dressed in her suit without the... Suit. A pair of black slacks, a crisp white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled back, and not much else, save for her weapons. "Yeah, looks like there's a bit of a trail there."

Natska frowns, at both the age of the information and the evidence that others are probably here as well; after a moment though the jaguar shrugs her shoulders, checks her blades, and makes sure her hat is properly settled. "Oh well. This is why we make good money."

Cara smiles and pats the ferret sailor on the back. "Thank you, Richard. You just saved us the time to find the route ourselves." As expected, she is wearing a nice pair of flexible pants and a blue light t-shirt. She promptly draws her sabre and grins cheerfully, "I like being careful here."

Kazel frowns slightly. "The reports were given to me by my contact and I can guarantee for their capability. It was the best they could do. Lets head up that track you found, yes? It should be out best bet at this point." She opens her tiny black booklet and checks something, before putting it back into her satchel and turning her attention to Selena. "I was informed that there was an expedition to this island a few years ago, it was a bloodbath."

Selena nods back to the bat, biting her cheek. "Group of apostate trying to settle here and the sweetwater military were involved?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows. "Because that sounds exactly like one of the earlier expeditions I went on here. There were supposed to be negotiations." she murmurs to nobody in particular, staying close to the group and continuing on through the forest. "I think this might be the island that happened on."

"Bloodbath," Fenris says, crossing the little beach, "That is exactly the word I wanted to hear upon arriving back in Ishara." The big tiger gives his gear a quick once over before drawing a black machete and stepping onto the trail. "So no ancient ruins last time, Selena?" he asks.

"Bloodbath, eh?" Ferret-Cedric says, standing up straight again and glancing around a bit nervously. Bloodbaths don't sound like much fun! At any rate, he's not wandering off by himself, so he'll wait for everyone to decide what to do first. He checks his belt pouch and pack to make sure he hasn't forgotten anything back on the ship.

Cassidy shakes her head, pulling a face. "Yeah, that's certainly not a good sign. If there's anyone here, then, I doubt their intentions are good. But let's hope it's all abandoned by now," she says, checking the knife holsters on her legs. "I'd prefer not to have to do any hurting today."

Natska rolls her shoulders in a small shrug as she starts off, then pauses, looking over at Selena. "They... what? Why would they get involved with that?" she asks, curious.

Cara quickly turns to the runed wolf with her mouth completely open with shock. "There was a bloodbath here and we are apparently going onto the same island that it occurred on." She promptly sighs and brings a gloved hand her face, "Okay, maybe if we're lucky, the inhabitants might not attack us." The feline sheathes her sword instead and brings out her martial staff, "This would probably be better to use. Also, I agree with you on avoiding bloodshed today, Cassidy."

Kazel raises her hands in defense. "Wait, wait. They killed all the inhabitants, the group was mostly fine from what I read. And yes, it is quite possible that this might be the same island. From what I read your group left as fast as they came, so they might have overlooked the ruins." The bat takes point and starts marching inland, following the path that Cedric pointed out.

Selena nods back to Kazel, sighing. "If this is the island I'm thinking of, there was a small colony of apostate living here before. One of the Sweetwater guard captians had it in for them from the start. After we'd started negotiations, they came in and started killing them without much warning." She explains, voice taking a somber tone. "That captain should've died." the wolfess shakes her head slightly, continuing on. "But yes, they were the only people on the island, and we didn't come to look at the ruins."

Fenris walks quietly along the trail, machete in hand to cut down any impeding vines along the way. "This is the right way?" he asks.

Not-Cedric follows along, looking at the ground to see if they're still following the trail... but honestly, he can't really tell anymore with everyone else already walking it. "Er... reckon so. S'hard to tell now." comes the ferret's gruff-voiced reply. He makes his way more in the middle of the group, keeping watch at both his sides for any incoming trouble there.

Cassidy nods at Selena. "I am... Inclined to agree with you. That is unacceptable behaviour from our military, I should think. But what's in the past is in the past, I guess. I hope they were made to pay for their actions eventually," she says with a nod as she winds along after the others.

Natska remains quiet as she listens to the talk, ears perked; after a moment, she gives her head a little shake, focusing more on the path and the island around them now.

Cara keeps quiet for the most part as she holds her staff with both hands. As the group walks along, she begins surveying everything around in the hopes that she might be able to stop a possible ambush from occurring. Maybe some lighthearted thinking might cheer everyone up, "So, who wants to bet one hundred crowns that we'll run into a trap or ambush of some sort today?"

The group is making a decent speed through the thick jungle, but there is an eerie feeling of getting watched spreading across the adventures. The forest is become increasingly dense and dark as Cara suddenly spots a pair of glowing, yellow eyes in a bush. The creature leaps into the path of the group and quickly darts off into the jungle again. Cat sized and probably harmless.

The bat twitches her ears. "You would think we would have seen something by now. Other than jumpy little cats that is."

Cara raises an eyebrow as a nice bit of light seems to show up somewhere in the jungle. It's not too far from here and it's easy enough to notice. "Uh, guys. I think I just noticed an area that has plenty of light. We should go after it." She instantly walks to the front of the group and smiles, "Just follow me and we should be able to make it there."

Selena turns, looking back to Cara for a moment before nodding. "Probably. I feel live we've been watched; it might be a decent idea to scout out the area." She replies, taking a deep breath and quickly looking around the surrounding area to make sure everyone was still around.

Fenris has nothing to add, so he follows along, scanning the trees and foliage.

Cedric glances off after the suprise cat that had jumped in the middle of the path, and continues to follow along towards the light. He doesn't have much to add to the conversation, so he just checks to make sure his weapons are at the ready... just in case!

Cassidy furrows her brow, reaching down and pulling up a pair of throwing knives, one in each hand. "I believe we are, yes," she says, nodding to Selena. "Something really doesn't feel right about this. This whole expedition, suddenly."

Natska nods her head at Cara, following the tigress towards the clearing. "Such a thick jungle."

As the group reaches the clearing, they instictively halt. There are a couple of tents here as well as a small hill made completely out of bones. Five beings suddenly look up as they hear the idle chatter and their eyes widen as they spot the group. They seem to have been in the middle of some kind of ritual, their faces painted with withe dye to represent skulls. Only a moment after spotting the group the quintet of beings runs for the hills, or rather the jungle.

Kazel is the first to talk again. "Well..we are not alone. But they seem more scared of us than we of them." The bat takes a few steps forward to inspect the hill of bones as she suddenly makes a leap back. "This is bad."

And that was all the bat was able to say before the bones start moving as if guided by an invisible hand. Connecting and joining each other, until the group finds itself opposed to a behemoth of a bone dragon, easily five meters tall and twice as long, without counting the whip like tail. The creature roars and charges!

"Really?" Selena sighs, "Really. Bone dragons here of all places." She grumbles. "Well, that's just fantastic." The canine grumbles - it's difficult to tell if she's annoyed, impressed or something else. Keeping her distance, the wolfess conjures and launches a large volley of ice towards the bone dragon and the camp it was summoned from.

"The real question here," Fenris says, sprinting to flank the skeletal dragon, "Is did they summon it? Or fail to banish it?" The deceptively agile feline darts in to place a swift kick hard on the beast's exposed joints.

Hooray! Bone dragon! Oh happy day! The mysterious ferret, 'Richard' draws his very large broadsword from it's position on his back (where was he hiding it?). There's nothing particularly special about the sword itself, it seems, but he draws it and rushes in to sweep at the bone dragon in a wide arc.

Cassidy tilts her head, watching as the beings run off. "Well..." She adjusts her top hat and frowns. "This isn't what I expected to stumble across, certainly." She returns her knives to their places, readying a bit of magic instead. A thunderbolt lancing from her outstretched hand.

Quick on her feet, Natska darts out of the way of the charging bone dragon; her heavy parrying blade slips into her off hand, but she doesn't close in with it, prefering to keep her distance from the behemoth. The jaguar circles her way back towards Cassidy, focusing a moment and throwing strikes of air magic at the beast.

Cara leaps away from the large monster before it hits her with its bulk. As she gets back to her feet, she puts her staff away and brings up her gloved hands, which apparently have claws at the end of them now. She instantly jumps toward the beast and begins to punch the legs with her armored fists.

The beast's bones creak under the combined attacks of the group, most of them hitting their mark, except for Natska's air attack which passes through the openings between the creature's bones. The joint Fenris had attacked even gives in for a moment, but quickly reconstructs itself. The slow beast claws at a number of the Beings, but they all swiftly avoid the attacks.

The bone dragon directs its empty eye sockets at Fenris and suddenly has the tiger in its, thankfully toothless, maw. It shakes its head quickly a few times, before throwing Fenris away and of into the bushes near the clearing.

Kazel closes the ventail of her helmet and charges the beast with her spear, going for the kneecaps of the frontlegs with her burning weapon.

Selena moves out into the clearing briefly, cursing for a moment as Fenris is tossed aside, quickly calling forth her fire elemental in a gout of smoke and flame, sending the elemental between any other back-line fighters and the dragon, having ignite some of the less accessible parts of the beast.

The ferret kitsune lets out a mighty roar as he continues to hack away at the bone dragon with his giant sword! The mustelid's berserker roar seems to help him focus on slaying this fiendish bone dragon. He is somewhat enraged that this mockery of life has the nerve to attack him and his party! Does it not know who he is!?

Cassidy ponders for a moment before directing a point of air at one of the beasts vertebrae, trying to knock it out of place, or at least put a kink in its movements. Her usual methods of attack don't work so well against creatures of bone.

Natska eyes the fight, biding her time for the perfect opportunity to pounce; once she sees the bone dragon's attention elsewhere, she leaps forward in a blur, lashing out with a quick flurry of punches and elbow strikes at what, she hopes, are vulnerable bits.

Cara shouts as Fenris goes flying, "And there goes the fluffball right now." At that point, she glares at the beast and immediately runs to the side of its skull before punching away at it with a large flurry of punches.

The dragons creaks once more, then its movements become rigid and rips start falling off its spine. Then the hindlegs fall off and the whole thing collapses back into a pile of bones. Those who were close enough to be endangered by the falling bones all managed to leap or roll away before being buried under the dead creature.

Kazel takes off her helmet and looks around. "Well. That was weird. At least it is gone now. Someone go check up on Fenris." The bat turns to inspect the bone hill.

Selena makes her way quickly over the debris, a gesture of her wrist sending her elemental over the bones just in case as she heads over to Fenris, easing the cat out of the bushes. "The Cultists have probably run off - None of you see any of them, do you?" she calls over to the others.

Fenris limps from his landing spot in the foliage with a little help from Selena. "I'll live," he mutters, "Somebody bring me a couple of straight bones." The fluffy feline sits down carefully and fiddles a bit with his soul pendant, then digs about in his belt pouches.

Cedric takes some deep breaths and calms himself down a little as he surveys the area to try to get a clue as to the whereabouts of the cultists. He places his broadsword back in its place and exhales sharply. "Not a damn clue... lost 'em in all the excitement wi' this bag o' bones here." he says, nudging one of the fallen creature's bones with the toe of his boot before dragging a couple of what look to be femurs to the tiger.

Cassidy frowns over at Fenris, tilting her head. "Are you alright there?" She asks with a frown, reaching up to remove her hat for a moment, just long enough to brush her hair back before setting it atop her head again. "And no... I don't think I see them. Might've run off to a larger group?"

Natska slips her parrying blade away, then moves over towards Fenris; she hesitates at the request, then digs into her adventure bag and gets a bandage roll to offer Fenris to help with the splint.

Cara walks directly over to the bones for a moment and picks one of them up after she begins looking for any signs of whoever summoned the beast, "Well, that's rather unsettling." At that point, she notices the rather beaten up tiger out of the corner of her eye and she smiles largely, "Hey, our fluffy friend is still okay!" She instantly walks over to him and places the bone next to him. "So, I made sure to punch the skull that threw you after you went flying."

Kazel looks up at Fenris and gives him a nod. "Are you largely okay?"

Now that the threat is gone the group is able to take in the clearing better and there does seem to be something else here. Between the tents there is what seems to be an open trapdoor, complete with a flight of stairs that lead down into the forest ground.

"Straight bones? why are you looking for those?" Selena asks a little perplexedly, moving over to the perimiter of the bone pile and taking a quick look. "I have some dulling potions if you'd like one, Fenris." the wolfess adds. "... So, that trapdoor." She adds, turning back to the group. "I can send my elemental down before anyone else, but it'd probably be best to rest up a bit now just in case."

Fenris only grunts in reply to Kazel's question, accepting both bones and bandages as he makes a quick, but professional splint for his ankle. He then produces a little white box, that he holds over the afflicted joint. It lights with a pale, white glow and produces a beam of blueish light over the tiger's ankle before producing a happy little chiming sound. The big feline at the machine for a moment, apparently reading, then sighs and rises to his feet with a grunt of exertion. He limps over to the others. "I can walk, at least," he says, though he is still clearly pained by his injuries.

Cedric takes another look around, heading over to the trapdoor to take a look inside. He'll wait until everyone's ready to go inside.

"Probably for a splint," Cassidy says to Selena, nodding, before looking towards Fenris. "Ah, yes! A splint indeed." She's not much of a medic, so instead moves off to join Cedric in waiting by the trapdoor.

Natska nods her head at Fenris as he gets up and limps over. "Alright, Fenris," she says. "If you need me to carry you back to the ship just let me know; it's no problem." She smiles, then joins Cassidy, waiting by the trapdoor.

Cara stretches for a moment and walks up to the trapdoor, "Well, it shouldn't take a genius to realize that there are probably a few traps in there. Although I'm wondering how anyone could have made an underground area all the way out here."

Kazel inspects the trapdoor and then the party. "Well, maybe this is out ruin, seems it bit small though. I will take point." The bat makes her way down the stairs and beckons the group to follow her. She ignites a torch from her satchel with some fire math, raising it above her head as she reaches the end of the stairs.

The stairs lead to a small room, not bigger than fifteen meters long and wide with what must have been brilliantly detailed reliefs on the walls, but now they are defaced and ruined and obviously not by time, but by malicious acts of vandalism. Broken statues and vases litter the place.

"Strange choice of material for a splint, but I guess it's easier than getting some wood from the forest." Selena comments, shrugging slightly as her offer to scout the room with her elemental is ignored, descending into the ruins after Kazel and having it follow after the group. "... What a mess." She comments quietly, shaking her head as the scale of the damage done came into view. "Do we have something that'd be appropriate for moving some of this?" She asks; "It's not going to be easy or fast, moving this out."

Fenris rolls his eyes at Natska, but manages a weak smile. "I would offer to let you try if I weren't certain that it would hurt more than walking," he says, scooting carefully down the steep stairs and staying seated at the bottom. "Isharans," he spits, looking at the vandalism.

Cedric enters the ruins and surveys the damage to the site, frowning as he gets a feel for the extent of it. "Sure enough, it don't look to be an easy task t'move all this rubble." he says, walking over to examine one of the more intact statues, not that that's saying a whole lot. "A real shame, that."

Cassidy makes her way down the stairs with others, glancing around with a thoughtful hum. "I recognize that one," she says, pointing off towards one of the reliefs. "Shaila, it looks like. If only barely, now."

Natska frowns as people begins identifying images, and then slowly shakes her head. "Wonderful. I wonder if this is an old temple, or another entrance to the Houses..." she muses. Then she shrugs at Selena. "I have room in my bag, I thought anything too large for that would not be going somewhere on its own."

Cara slowly frowns upon entering the large room, "Aww, most of this stuff is broken. I'm not even sure if any of this stuff is valuable now." The feline begins to inspect the area for a moment in her efforts to look for something valuable.

Kazel shakes her head at the discovery and sighs. "It matches what my contact told me... a small temple, a shrine really, holding a powerful artifact of the life court." She casts her eyes around the room. "Well, I would say it is safe to assume that those we saw outside are responsible for this. And by their summoning of a bone dragon, I would assume them to by Pyrrha cultists. So the artifact is likely gone for good." She groans. "As for carrying the rubble away and making copies of what is left of the reliefs... we will just have to tell the workers where to go to and keep the area clear of trouble."

Selena raises an eyebrow. "'Powerful artifact of the life court'? That doesn't sound quite right." She comments. "The Spirits haven't been hiding bits and pieces around the world to my knoweldge; the beings that worshipped them, on the other hand, did. I don't suppose you could ask them a little more about that?" the canine asks, shrugging. "Though I'm a bit concerned about cultists on the island." Having said her piece, she starts to work on the broken vases and statues, taking a long look over the larger fragments. "Fitting it would've been to Shaila though." She mutters.

Fenris sighs and runs a hand over his face. "Cultists," he mutters, "I bet even their patrons are ashamed of them sometimes." The tiger stands with a grunt. "I'm no use down here," he says, "I'll go watch up top." The tiger hauls himself up the stairs and finds a place to sit. "Artifacts dedicated to Shaila," he murmurs to himself, "I almost don't want to know."

Cara sighs as she finds nothing. "Great, the annoying cultists just can't leave stuff alone. Geez, you'd think they would know better than to attempt to anger the life court like this. However, I guess they will never learn." The feline walks over to the way that they came and waits for everyone else to finish.

"Well. I s'pose t'aint a complete wash if y'can make somethin' outta this rubble..." The kitsune-ferret says, rolling his shoulders in a defeated shrug, although he's a little more than disappointed that nothing more came of this expedition. He takes another last look around before heading back the way they came to get ready to stand lookout for the workers. He scratches at the collar of his neck, stopping at the steps and looking mildly uncomfortable. After a moment, he takes a torch from his own supplies and lights it up with his own fire math before heading outside. It'll be great to get out of this form in just a few more days.

Cassidy folds her arms, humming. "Well. Not unexpected, I suppose. I was going to be suspicious if we kept stumbling upon all these fancy spirit things all of a sudden... They'd have to be pretty prone to losing things!"

Natska makes a small noise, shakind her head. "I do -not- want to know either, Fenris, that is something I would be happy to give to Kalt's buddy." She nods at Cass. "And yes, strange that they are showing up all over now, but perhaps... perhaps they have always been here, but with the Spirits asleep, their places were better at not being noticed."