A dark dawning - RPLOG
Participants
Date
3/11/477
Log
The Air Ship cut in through the treacherous mountains as the sun begins to set, casting it's amber glow around the country side as the adventurers are left to wait for the ship to dock. Thankfully, the docking takes little time, and soon enough the group is ushered out into what appears to be a make shift fort, built right where they had cleared not too long ago... Large walls serving to block out the lethal denziens of the heavily forested path, and a few basic buildings residing for the workers and 'guards'. In the center of the makeshift camp, near the nations flag, stood Varlin Blackback. The noble skunk having clad himself with a thick chainmail jacket, with an ornate coat covering it. His spectacles resting slightly down his snout as he toys with the handle of his saber slowly. "Well... Any moment now I do suppose... Good the ship is punctual in the least."
Fenris arrives undisguised today. As much fun as it is to make up new aliases, it is nice to see and be seen as yourself now and then. The liger shakes his short white mane and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his long, dark coat as he saunters toward the center of the camp. "Hello, Lord Blackback," he says amiably, "What excitement do you have planned for us today?"
Cassidy folds her hands behind her back, waiting for the ship to come to a rest as she smiles up at Natska. "This is such a fascinating place, don't you think? To imagine... All these dangerous creatures, not too far from our home!" She chuckles softly and brushes off the sleeve of her deep violet tailcoat before propping her hand on the grimoire hanging from her hip.
Natska nods her head. The jaguar is wearing a dress similar to one of Cassidy's, a heavier garment in crimson and black, and she has her book of math in hand as she goes over her reference equations a few last times. "I know. I am not sure if they have anything that compares to the bone dragons, but they are certainly something!" She bows her head to Varlin as she exits the ship. "We are here. Do they attack each night?"
Cirra herself is dressed more subtly than normal, in her oilskin jacket over her typical wetsuit. Her Aranian affiliation is obvious, though, with the emblem of the Order. A menacing sabre hangs at her belt, though those who know her know that it's her magic that makes her dangerous. She waves and joins Cassidy and Natska, wondering what the job will be like.
Thelergramor lugs his heavy weapons along with him. CAnnon, guisarme, other stuff... Shirtless as he tends to be. Wearing a hood/mask thing that resembles the hood of a ghillie suit. Walks over and speaks to Cassidy and Natska: "Bone dragons aren't that bad. Hope they have something worse here." Bravado. For the ladies, of course. Turns to Cirra. "Cirra." And Fenris: "Fenris." Having spoken, he gets ready to be told what to do.
Surabhi offers a quiet, enigmatic smile as she fastens her straps and buckles, peers into the scenery below. Such a fascinating, pristine environment,full of flora and fauna that had survived for centuries without them...and here they were, coming to lay waste to it all. Ah well, It's what the Stronghearts had done when Promise was truly wild and Sweetwater was but a mere village along the eponymous river. Only fitting that she's here now.
A long, drooping ear flops at Thelergramor's words. "No greetin' for me, Wolf?" she asks with a chuckle, tucking her coif into her padded uniform. "Just because I'm a couple years older than the average Freesword doesn't mean I can't still run with y'all." With that, she begins sorting through a kit bag full of medical supplies, humming an old work song to herself.
"I'd rather not think about what would occur, should these creatures make contact with our homes... It is better to have them sealed off here thanks to the mountains." Varlin's voice coming slow and smooth as he reaches up to push his spectacles up to sit higher. "If we didn't need resources for a colonization effort, I'd have ordered it burned to the last tree before starting over... But, as we shall need these resources, we must sadly do this the hard way." The Noble skunk walking to the walls, as he motions the group to follow him before coming to a stop at the gates.
"As for if they attack every night? Yes. Yes they do. Those whom were here last time may remember those eight legged insectoid creatures? Well, it appears they were children of sorts. Meaning, that yes there are much, much larger ones out there... We found a larger beast carcass entombed in thick web like substance during one of our scouting missions, if you wanted a better idea." The noble's hand motioning to one of the mercenaries, whom brings him a bright torch. "As for what I wish you to do? We have knowledge of a nest, and if my scout is to be believed, there may be something I want in that nest. Now, I cannot take my guards and go, but... I can hire a group of body guards, or retrival experts I suppose. As such, that is where you lot come in. You shall accompany me, we shall kill some of the bastards, burn their nests, and see if what is hidden is what I seek."
Fenris frowns a little at the description of the job. "What exactly is it you are after here, Lord Blackback?" he asks, "What resources are out here that can't be found without all of this. . . hardship?" Obviously not the word he is thinking. The liger gives a friendly nod to all the familiar faces.
Cassidy smiles at Cirra and offers her a nod before following after Varlin. "Well. Sounds fine to me! Just point us at it, and we'll handle whatever comes our way," she says with a nod before giving Thel a frown and little else. "Going to go with a magical approach today, love? Let's see what kind of things we can manage!"
"Yes. Yes, I am, as you had suggested," Natska replies to Cassidy, exchanging greetings with the other Freeswords as well as they approach the gates. Once there she fishes a piece of crystal, etched with math, and focuses for a few moments; moistures begins condensing around it out of the air until she releases it, and her own elemental of floating ice begins floating behind the jaguar.
Cirra waves to Thelergramor, sliding part of her gloves away to reveal two of her signature spells, with the third on a bracelet on her wrist. She looks over to the Skunk, tilting her head. she guesses that these things will be big and hard to fight. It's been a while since she's had a good fight.
Thelergramor shrugs at Surabhi. "Didn't mean any disrespect. Don't know you. Besides, I'm older than a few of these people. I think." At 24 years of age, is at least older than Cassidy! A tiny victory. Whom frowned at him. Gestures dismissively at his captain and nods at Cirra. Looks back to the skunk. "Right. Just walk in, butcher and burn the nest? Easy enough. Or it should be." It's never that easy...
Surabhi's dewlap exaggerates the frown on her Bovine muzzle somewhat as Varlin speaks of burning the place to the ground. Beings are residents of this planet, not owners, and the planet had a tendency to repay overreaching with wrath. Ah well. That's why she came along--to keep everyone alive, safe, and in line.
"Fair enough. Name's Surabhi Strongheart, and I'll treat ya to some Strongheart Stout once we come back from our little sortie," she replies, extending a hand to the battered Wolf. She chuckles at his words. "Suppose it's more 'simple' than 'easy,' as it were."
"New wood, rare wood to say the least. Sturdier than most of what we have, not to mention rich stone deposits that are more than probable to contain ore, with the final resource being new plant life we could use in medicine and the like." The Noble Skunk pounding on the gate, as two men above begin to push the gates open for the group.
"As for what I seek, well... A little whisper of wind told me of a treasure up around here, an old creator earth shaper that could be used to great extent by us. If such a machine -does- exsist here, well... I do not believe I need to expand on how valuable a find it would be for our nation aye?" Varlin looking back at the group, before he steps out into the cluster of trees before the group, his torch lighting the dense area around him as the shadows flicker and dance, and nothing appears to stay still as he moves. "Come then, the nest is not far... And if we are lucky, we may catch them when they do not expect us."
Fenris follows after in quiet contemplation, though he does let slip a little chuckle at Surabhi's mention of her age. "An earth mover?" he asks, "Not like the big mining machine from Shralesta?" The liger had seen that thing in action in the brief skirmish with Ishara and it was a frightening power. He falls silent though, as they move away from the camp, all senses on high alert for danger.
Cassidy flashes a grin at that. "An earthshaper, huh? That does indeed sound like quite a find! Well, if I wasn't in before, I certainly am now! We were just having a discussion about Creator stuff earlier," she says with a nod to Natska. "Let's see how it turns out!"
Natska listens, her ears perked. She doesn't add anything, though, following with the group and keeping an eye on the woods around them, fingers tracing the silver inlay along her book's cover.
Cirra notes taht their group is awfully magic heavy, but she doesn't mind. Means more awesome for her to experience She follows behind quietly, shrugging. She keeps her eyes peeled for danger, noting that she'd be ready for Creator Tech if they ran into it.
Thelergramor shakes the offered hand quickly, shrugs afterward and answers Surabhi again. "Not busy later. Can do that probably." Turns back to the rest. "So, an earthshaper? More unnecessarily complicated creator shit we'd be better off breaking? Fun." His opinion given, the wolf chuckles. "But, you're in charge here, Blackback." Yawns and follows after the others; trying to remember what he loaded his cannon with. If he even did... Definitely did.
"An earthmover, hmm? Imagine what it could do for agriculture..." Surabhi murmurs to herself, giving a curious glance to Thel. "Ha! You try breaking your back on the homestead for a month, then tell me we're better off breaking it," she scoffs at the Wolf. "Still an' all, Creator tools do have a way of goin' awry, don't they? I've just started learnin' of their...technology. Between this an' Soullessness, seems there's a lot for me to learn lately."
The big old ears flap again, as she looks over to the liger, curiously. "Hmm?"
The walk, is rather winding and dizzying as the group at times almost seem to take multiple circles before finally the trees around them are slowly becoming covered in thick strands of a sticky webing. Varlin moving to extinguish his torch, as he caps it and sets it in his coat, holding a hand up as he lowers his voice. "Quiet now... The cave is only a bit ahead... We don't want to give ourselves away too early." Sure enough, with what light remains, the group soon comes to see the entrance to a cave in the side of one of the mountains, a large almost carriage sized spider standing guard almost as it scurries about, not having noticed the group yet... Though with it's rate of skittering, if they were silent enough they -could- possibly sneak in behind it...
Fenris breathes deeply of the night air and carefully applies a bit of air and earth magic, willing the ground to be soft and silent beneathe the party's feet and keeping them up wind from the beast before padding quickly and quietly toward the cave. <Here goes!> he signs to his comrades with a bright grin in the darkness. If he can make it in undetected, that will be one more little edge.
Cassidy reaches up to adjust her mask before nodding, placing a single gloved finger over the smile of her mask in compliance to the request for silence. Knowing full well that she makes no footstep sounds, she doesn't worry about it too much, beyond making sure she doesn't open her mouth.
Natska frowns for a moment, making a small motion with her hands. <I'd rather take it out and not leave it behind us...> but she follows Cassidy's lead in quietly skirting around the entrance, wrapping herself in silent air rustling the foliage in the opposite direction.
Cirra's not the best at tactics, so leaves the planning up to the others. If someone starts shooting at her or one of her teammates starts shotting, then she'll join the fray. For now, she knows she can't do stealth So she attempts to do like the others and cloak herself in air.
Thelergramor follows on after the rest, quietly. Or, trying to be. With the stealthiness. Stays low and all that. Knows sign language, barely. Thinks Fenris said 'Go here'. Gestures back: <Go where?> And readies his cannon. Having been kind of given an order by a superior, does of course follow the order and goes... over there... There being the same place Cassidy and Natska went.
Surabhi hangs towards the back--as an armored, hefty Zebu who's never been light on her feet, she's well aware she's not one for stealth. Still, she keeps relatively close to the group, waiting until they've need of a defender...or someone to patch these damn fools up once they charge into the fray. She frowns for a moment at the gestures between the fellows up ahead, before a moment of recognition. Sign language! And of all the things she studied, she never bothered to learn it. She frowns at herself in the dim flickering light, though there's probably no one to see it...
The group appears to make it behind the large creature with relative ease, Varlin following behind them all with his sword drawn before ducking into one of the corners of the cave. The Cave itself is dark, almost pitch dark, save for some glowing fungus that provide natural illumination as the group finds coccoons of web, shaped to fit a being inside. Each deceptevly hollow to the touch, save for the feeling of bone near the center. Seems the spiders had been gathering whomever they could, for a quick and easy meal...
Farther down the path, the cave begins to twist and turn, and the begining of egg sacks can be seen, as well as the sound of scurrying from numerous large creatures... Luckily, it appeared the spiders didn't have their nests too far down below the mountain.
Fenris frowns at the discovery of the being-shaped lunch boxes. Suddenly he feels much less conflicted about burning these things. <Now What?> he signs, <Carry on?>
Cassidy, likewise, frowns at the sight and shakes her head before reaching up to adjust her hat. It's dark, but she's just able to make out Fenris' gesture in the light of the mushrooms. After looking over her shoulder to ensure that Natska and the others were still around, she nods at Fenris and tucks her hands behind her back.
<Burn them all on the way out,> Natska offers. She sticks close to Cassidy's side, her elemental backing the two ladies up.
<Afraid I can't burn them, sorry. I could try to scour them from the face of the earth, though.> Cirra offers in sign, summoning a wisp of her own.
Thelergramor doesn't know what to make of the bonesacks. Pokes one. Or, well, presses on it. Yep. That's bone. Signs at the group; who are likely not even looking at him: <Not fleshy fleshy bits. Will burn them.> Thel is bad with sign language... Meant, 'bones' clearly. Doesn't set fire to it yet, as got the 'on the way out' part. Just follows the others, despite hating that they're leaving an enemy at their back...
This dead silence just felt like rubbing it in. Once they were out of range of the initial behemoth, Surabhi tightens her two-handed grip on her sledgehammer and in an irritated, low half-whisper, calls out:
"Y'know, we ain't all hand-talkers here--anyone mind lettin' me know what's goin' on?"
Varlin seems to stop as the group comes to a momentary stand still, looking between them, and the sound of skittering as he motions forward, before lowering his voice to Surabhi. "Sounds ahead, possibly many of them. I may have no issue fighting, but I do have one for fighting by myself. So, if we dont press on, they'll walk back onto us." The skittering stopping for a moment, before the sound of chittering can be heard, and then slowly enough the skittering resumes, though this time it'sheading closer... The vague sight of multiple spider like bodies skittering closer is barely recognizable, giving the freeswords the option to either try and duck and hide in a corner, press an attack, or get caught out in the open!
"Here we go then!" Fenris says quietly, laying his hands on the floor of the cave, "Make it quick!" The liger focuses his concentration on the floor of the cave, keeping it firm and level for his friends, but causing a field of sucking mud for the foul spider beasts before hurrying down the hallway into the inevitable fray!
Cassidy raises her brow as Fenris starts the assault. "Well, miss. It looks like it is time to get dangerous, then." She makes no telling gestures or comments, this time, but instead puts into action a spell to light several of the spiders aflame at once.
Natska's hand waves to the side and her elemental moves in front of her, the ice construct spinning around before spraying a fan of ice into the horde of spiders; for her part, Natska begins working on her math, and the tunnel fills with swirling snow and bitter cold - although it seems to be tightly controlled, and focused on the spider-monsters.
The nurse shark sees the spiders, and focuses on the spell in her left hand. It's not her best, but it should shred the spiders. The spell would also leave her allies untouched. As she starts to focus on it, the water in the air coalesces into icy daggers in the shape of Shark's Teeth, which Cirra then flings at her enemies.
Thelergramor does a thing before anyone else gets into the AoE of his spell. Gets all dark magicky up in this bitch. With the entropic fortune. REally enjoys that spell. Focusing and such on the spiders; just wants to watch them bleed. Or kill each other. Which, he then just glares at them, all basilisk like. Gets all his petrifying gaze on them spiders.
As everyone opts to face down the spiders, she shrugs and shoulders her way to the front of the pack. "Sorry, pardon, don't mind me, just saving y'alls hides here," she calls with a smirk, stepping out in front and crouching, shield at the ready, waiting to deal with any of those eight-legged bastards, should they survive the onslaught from afar.
The tunnel becomes a flurry of snow and ice, mixing with Cassidy's fire spell as the spiders are further locked into place by Fenris' spell! Thel's spell manages to cause two to begin fighting, though as the flurry of magic scours the hall, all that is left behind is five large spider corpses with burnt carapices, and chunks of ice sticking out of them. The spider they had left at the rear doesn't seem to have noticed, fortunatly enough for the group that is... As right now, the path into the main chamber appears to be open, at least until more possibly show up...
Not one for hanging about, Fenris dashes lightly to the main chamber, dodging to one side to make room for the others and to avoid presenting too great a target. The liger quickly scans the room for threats, trusting his friends to keep up.
Cassidy smiles a little as the spiders are rapidly dispatched before she moves off after Fenris. "That wasn't so bad. But I imagine it'll only get harder," she murmurs as she moves after the liger, her steps still devoid of sound.
Natska watches for a moment, then gives her head a small nod. The jaguar falls into place behind Cassidy, the intensity of the swirling snow and wind lessening but not completely dissapating as she keeps her spell running. The ice elemental falls in behind her, spent shards reforming. "We have overwhelming strength. I like that. They don't stand a chance."
Cirra sighs, calming down from her spell before casting a spell at herself and Sarubhi, noting the zebu seems more physical and therefore more likely to be injure by threats. It's her own version of Calcified flesh, but she hopes it will help.
Thelergramor should not have been trusted to keep up; fully intended to kill the one they left behind them. But... Decides that's a bad idea and follows the others. "Damn right, Natska!" Still doesn't know what his cannon is loaded with! Hopes it's a carpet bombing round... Isn't sure! Takes up a position next to Cirra.
