The Ancients' Mountains - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/2/478
Log
Fenris, er Elise bites her lip and holds her breath for a moment as the stone tumbles away noisily. Realizing that there is no time to waste, she pads further up the incline, hoping to be in position to still catch the sentry off guard before he can sound the alarm.
Cassidy reaches out to tap Elise on the shoulder, putting a finger to the painted on smile of her mask. She lifts a gloved hand and dips it into her coat, withdrawing a small black pouch. Pulling it open, she dumps some of the sleeping powder into the palm of her hand before curling her fingers lightly around it.
The sentry arrives towards the incline, the wolf being looking around with a raised eyebrow as he notices nothing strange. With a shrug, he waves towards the other two before going back up towards his position.
Cirra remains below, not really good at stealth, but if she needs to join the fray she will. if the sparrow doesn't understand her signing, she's not exactly in a position where her chalkboard would be helpful. Though her armor probably does have active magic signatures on it, as well as the formulae writting in several locations: the back of each hand, the pendant on her neck and along the hilt of her swords.
Elise nods to Cassidy, getting the message. The curvaceous Kangaroo slips from her hiding place to get closer, but one of her wide paws hits a patch of gravels, sending her skidding and crashing to her thick rump with a loud scraping noise!
Cassidy stares at Elise as she falls, bringing her other hand up and pressing it against her face. "And you said you were prepared," she murmurs teasingly before starting up the incline herself. Figuring that the noise might attract attention again, she stands right near the top, powder ready to greet anyone that might come investigating.
Zuri stalks further up the path, the small salamander keeping a low profile as he seeks to flank the sentry and catch him off guard. He reverses the grip on his right hand side dagger with a little twirl. The blade is small, really, barely a paring knife by the standards of taller beings. He studies his target for just a moment when he hears Elise slip on gravel. Knowing that this could be it he walks around to the other side of the boulder and prepares to dash to the third sentry if he spots Elise, already planning an attack to disable him if he makes a move towards her.
After Elise's rather embarrassing blunder, the wolf turns around to spot a curvy kangaroo sitting on her rump in front of the incline. The wolf tilts his head with confusion, quickly turning around and motioning to the other two sentries, before moving towards Elise, "What exactly are ye doing her, missie?" the wolf asks with a growl. Moving closer to Elise, the wolf has no time to react as Zuri jumps on him and strikes him in his calf, with Cassidy's own powder ensuring that the wolf is too lethargic to manage a scream. The wolf slumps down in front of the smaller salamander and the kangaroo. On the distance his two fellows could be spotted coming closer, thankfully a boulder is blocking their vision proper but they will notice their mate in merely a matter of a minute.
Down near the cliff, the sparrow notices the sentries moving away, "Looks like your friends have done their job, hopefully." He says before he motions to the soldier near him and pointing upwards, "Well let us move towards their aid then." He tells the shark and the moose. "So, in Shralesta you guys keep your enchantments clearly visible to anyone to see, eh?" the sparrow asks with a little chuckle, "Sounds like a good way to give your enemy an advantage if they know mathemagic."
Deeper into the cliff the brigand's camp is obviously noticeable with a number of tents, but right now is not a good time to study the camp while two other guards are moving in.
Cirra smirks as the sparrow makes a rather astute, though wrong observation. Cirra typically keeps them hidden from view, and the fact that they are in polar coordinates should be a good enough deterrent to keep and enemy from drawing them or understanding them. Not to mention, it's more of a threat, considering what she's packing, she shrugs a bit as she follows the sparrow up the mountain. It's not like she has anything like a rival or someone who would want her specifically dead.
Elise snorts and rolls quickly to her feet. "Shush you," she hisses, but it is through a bit of a smile. She nods at the approaching sentries and hooks the fallen soldier under the armpits, dragging him up behind the nearby boulder. The kangaroo stretches her neck and shakes out her shoulders, ready for a fight.
Cassidy folds her hands behind her bag and stands straight, waiting. She had no reason to act, yet, and with luck they'd either pass right by the boulder without looking at her, or they'd be startled by her appearance.
Zuri finishes his quick attack by pressing himself down onto the fallen sentry, quickly assessing the wolf has been downed by the combination of his attack and the numbing powder. He sees Elise dash over and grab the wolf to carry him back, and he helps as best as he can by gripping one of the wolf's limbs and dashing back behind the boulder. He's panting tiredly as he arrives at the save place, giving Cassidy a mischievous grin and a thumbs up. "Good show, that." He turns to Elise, smiles at her, and returns to his position behind the far end of the boulder, waiting for the group's next move, or for a chance to pounce.
The second group is already in the middle of the incline as the two other sentries arrive on the scene, closing in on the boulders, "Where is that bastard, Johnny." Says a badger being as he shakes his head, "That wolf and his pranks." He says with a grunt. The other being, a red squirrel lets out a hmm and points at the ground, "Isn't that blood?" he says as he moves closer with the badger.
Cirra taps the Sparrow on the shoulder, tryign to get him to notice that the others seem to be hiding still, and that it might not be a good idea to head up to the camp just yet.
"Good enough," Elise mutters, then spins into action! The kangaroo leaps from hiding to land lightly on one wide paw. She spins hard in a dizzying piriouette to lash out at the nearest guard with her thick, powerful tail.
Cassidy raises her brow as Elise leaps into action. She starts to move forward, but reconsiders and turns around to move around the other side of the boulder, if she can. She'll take the sentries from behind, if Fenris and Zuri don't deal with them first.
Zuri watches as Elise darts off and leaps so acrobatically at one of the guards. Taking advantage of the massive distraction presented by an enormous spinning kanga-being, he darts out of his hiding place towards the other guard, low to the ground. Hopefully, with the guard distracted it will be easy to flank him and drive a blade into knee, again seeking to disable him from causing further harm to anyone rather than going for a straight kill.
As the guards move closer, Elise jumps acrobatically and swings her tail at the two guards, hitting the squirrel and knocking him on the ground, but the badger manages to dodge her attack, ducking under the tail just in time to see Zuri attacking and aiming at his leg, "Bastards." The badger mutters as he parries Zuri's blade with his spear before raising it and bringing it down at Zuri screaming, "INTRUDERS!" as he does so. Luckily with Zuri's fast reflexes he manages to dodge the badger.
There is noticeable movements in the camp as the brigands begin arming themselves and jumping to the aid of their ally. Two brigands with muskets can already be seen moving closer in to snipe at the group. The sparrow sighs as he hears the scream, "Well here goes surprise." He mutters as the second group reaches the incline, "Well Carl time to get our hands dirty." He says as the kilted soldier next to him brandishes his claymore and moves in to attack.
Cirra, noticing the action going on nearby, pauses, watches the battlefield about to unfold before unleashing a powerful hailstorm upon her foes. It's not for no reason she is called Cirra Stormborn.
Elise snaps a hard kick at the badger's chin. If there was one good thing that had come from all this, it was those powerful legs! "I guess I'm just not equipped for stealth, Cassidy," she admits as the fox comes around the other side of the boulder, "But I can certainly do action!" She spins her own spear in her hands, ready for a fight!
"That's why I prefer to engage in my stealth alone," Cassidy says, drawing her rapier and trying to smack the badger in the back of the head with the pommel from behind. "Boo." She glances over her shoulder at the forming storm, ears perked aside her hat.
Zuri narrowly avoids the blow, feeling the spear tug at and rip the hem of his jacket. He twirls around to face the guard again, squinting and flipping his daggers to a defensive grip. With all surprise lost, he has to fight dirtier. The salamander dances to the side, twirling with his tail as a distraction while aiming for the guard's thigh, a stab intended to puncture deep and bleed strongly.
The badger grunts as he tries to shift his body to block the kangaroo's kick but too late, the hit striking him up his chin, sending him tilting backwards to which Cassidy ever-so-kindly reserves by hitting him square onto his head and sending him collapsing forward, good thing he was wearing a helmet or that hit might have done more than knock him out. Zuri, perhaps out of mercy or kindness decides to NOT stab the downed badger.
Cirra's storm manages to catch the two musketmen, locking them inside the storm, getting pelted by the ice shards as they try to get out. IN but a couple of seconds, three other brigands circumnavigate the storm and charge the group, following behind them a robed raven who utters some sort of incantation and gestures towards the short salamander, quite suddenly sickle shaped zephyrs head towards the salamander, who luckily manages to avoid them, only barely so.
Cirra leaves the storm to take care of the two men inside it, drawing her blade and hoping to cross the battlefield in order to meet the mage in combat. She hopes her high speed and a boost of wind will help her catch up to him in order to prevent him from casting another spell.
Elise charges toward the approaching brigands, laughing and whooping! "It has been too long!" she cries out as she leaps into the air, long bladed spear whistling as it spins. Fenris's first Freesword mission when he arrived in Firmament had been fighting bandits like this. It was almost nostalgic!
Cassidy rubs her chin, taking stock of the battle field. She contemplates taking out that mage, but opts not to spoil Cirra's fun. Instead, she singles out one of the poor charging brigands and sighs. She wanted someone with more... Bravado. A snap of her fingers, and she tries to pinpoint the moving brigand with a flash of lightning from the heavens. A large one.
Zuri steps back away from the falling badger, returning his daggers to a forward grip and smirking down at the being. "You put up a good fight.." He turns around, and his eyes widen as he sees the incoming projectile attack. He barely has the time to utter a rather rude curse before he ducks to the ground, the attack overshooting him narrowly. He stands back up, still wide eyed. "That was close!" He watches his companions dart off, and picks up speed after them, daggers at the ready. Again taking advantage of the imposing kanga-being as a distraction, he slides off to the side and leaps acrobatically, twirling in the air to lash at a guard's arm with one of his blades.
Elise strikes like lightning from above! Her spear's long, leaf shaped blade flashing in the light of the sun as it descends on the unfortunate bandit! Doubtless he sees his life flash before his eyes as the blad slashes down. . . and neatly slices through his belt, dropping his trousers around his ankles. The poor slob looks up just in time to look puzzled as the but of the kangaroo's spear jerks back up, sending him reeling backward to trip over his own downed clothes.
And the combat begins! Cirra manages to weave her way through the brigands and reach the mage, who greets her with another cutting winds spell. The shark attempts to dodge the attack, but it manages to hit her square in the chest, thankfully her calcified flesh spell manages to absorb the attack before crumbling down around her.
One of the unlucky bandits can only manage to look in surprise as a thunderbolt descends upon him from the heavens, frying him to a crisp, an almost unnatural scream booming from him before he falls on the ground, dead and smelling of ozone with small sparks of electricity jumping on his metal weapon. Zuri's target does not fare any better, well he does in a way, as the nimble salamander manages to cut a gashing wound in his target's arms who attempts to strike at the salamander with his sword in retaliation, which Zuri dodges swiftly. Noticing his two other allies have fallen, the brigand simply drops his swords and grabs his wound before scowling at Zuri, "You win you little scamp, I surrender." He mutters.
Cirra winces as her protection is eroded by the sharp winds of her opponent. She has her own advantage, and that is the blade she swings across at him, aiming for a quick, decisive blow. She brings it down on him cutting his armor cleanly.
Seeing Cirra engaging the troublesome mage face to face, Elise puts a heavy paw on the chest of her own fallen foe and pulls a boomerang, of all things, from her belt. The kangaroo, lines up and flings the weapon, hoping to brain the raven, or at least give the shark an opening.
With her foe down and the rest following suit, Cass is content to remain on standby. She keeps an eye on the one that surrendered, though, adjusting her hat with her free hand. "Seems like you're the smart one."
Zuri twirls his daggers in his hands, smirking at the brigand. He nods at him. "Good choice my fellow being. Bitter's kiss is much nastier than his twin brother's, eh?" The salamander is referring to one of his daggers, the one held in his offhand.. not that anyone would know this, but he doesn't explain it any further. He looks sideways at the still resisting brigand, quirking an eyebrow. "Better tell your friend to surrender, before.." He glances briefly to the side, at his companions as they ready another flurry of attacks. "Actually, too late for him I imagine.." He looks up at Cassidy and nods at her.
The raven mage tries to dodge Cirra's attack but the shark manages to strike him anyway, cutting through his leather armor and leaving a rather nasty wound on his chest. The raven lets out a squawk of pain before being hit by a boomerang that knocks him out on the floor, unconscious from the looks of it., the boomerang returning back to the kangaroo soon after.
The sound of footsteps can be heard from the incline as a squad of Red Wall soldiers arrive on the scene with a puffin being clad in a dark red and green kilt, signifying another officer, "Ah, I see that ye 've gotten ta bastards. Get back to ta caravan will ye." He adds as he motions for his squad to move in, "Me lads will get ta bastards back to Braevales." He adds before moving in. Looks like the only thing the group can do now is return back to the caravan and continue their journey.
Cirra grins a bit, Glad she doesn't have to follow up with another wound. She smiles back to the Kangaroo. <Thank you, Elise.> She returns to the group, adrenalin fading from her body as she slows her breathing, magic deactivating as she looks to lean on Cassidy for support.
Elise nods, tucking her weapons back into their holsters. "Sorry to spoil the surprise," she says, long ears folding back," I really just don't kniw what to do with these things sometimes!" She stomps her wide paws and shoots a quick grin to Cirra. "No problem at all, Sweetheart," she says before turning back to the incline and swaying away. "Last one to the caravan is a Cackle's Egg!"
Cassidy bows her head and turns about face, wandering back towards the caravan. "Shame to have to kill that one. I might have to see about a lower-tuning version for adequate stunning, instead of lethality..."
Zuri looks around at the group as they all start heading back to the caravan. He follows along, sprinting after them to keep up with the much taller beings and their much larger paces. His blades are quickly sheathed and cloak tightened back up again. A proper gentlebeing should always be presentable, after all!
The group moves back towards their forward scouting position with the sparrow and the two soldiers. They walk for nearly an hour more throughout the treacherous paths between the highlands and the mountains of western Cliffside. The group reaches a certain widening path between two mountains that curves slightly to the east, the sparrow sending one of the soldiers to quickly scout the frontal regions as the group slowly marched.
Soon enough, the soldiers returned and nodded his head towards the sparrow, "Ta thing ta Aeneanas wanted, I think we found it." He said with a nod. The sparrow widens his eyes, "Then what are you waiting for?! Go with Carl and inform Mister Ridgewell at once!" the sparrow said in a rather excited tone before motioning to the group, "Well ladies and gents, our prize is within reach." He said with a grin on his beak, "Shall we move on?" the sparrow added while motioning towards the curved path as the two soldiers darted off towards the caravan.
Cirra blinks at the curved path, but is glad for the hour of only marching she had to do, as it gave her body a little time to recover after the battle. She nods a bit, ready to head up the path, though uncertain what lies ahead.
"Ready for anything!" Elise says happily. She had enjoyed that fight! Well her bits anyway. The cooked being was undesirable, and she intended to talk to Cassidy about it sometime. "What are we looking for?" she asks.
Cassidy rubs at the back of her head with her gloved hands, nodding. "Well, if we're here, we might as well be ready and get a move on, hm? I'd like to be back home before -too- long!"
Zuri follows along with the group, staying quiet without much else to add. He rubs at the ripped hem of his jacket, the little souvenir left by the spear-wielding brigand. "This will need to be fixed the second we're back in Sweetwater.."
Having patched up those who needed it, Mindaugas casts his cold glare at Cassidy. He was pleased (as much as he ever is) that the majority of them had managed to maintain their civility and keep from overdoing it, but she seemed rather cavalier about the death she had caused.
"May the rrest of the jourrney be in peace, then," he declares solemnly to nobody in particular, before resting a large hand on Zuri's shoulder. "I am no tailorr, but on the trrip home, I can mend it if it you wish. Must be easierr than stitching up beings, no?" he asks in a tone that almost suggests a dark-humoured jest, though it's hard to read his deadpan tone and seemingly permanent frown...
Waves the inquisitive members off, "You will see once we get there , you should feel honoured really." The sparrow says as he continues his march with the group, not twenty minutes later do the group finally spot at the distance what looks like a rather imposing, yet ruined gate, one of its imposing doors lying on the ground while the other massive door is dented and strewn wide open, and white walls. Standing at almost twenty foot tall from one side of the passage to the other side, one would assume that behind that imposing gate is a city, and one could spot the outlines of a city from this distance as well.
As the group gets nearer, the markings and architecture of the walls and gate become clearer, obviously not made by beings at all, "An ancients city. . . " the sparrow simply says as he continues walking towards the city, "A scouting party discovered it a couple of weeks ago, amazing that it remained hidden here no?" he says with a smirk.
Cirra gazes upon it in awe, curious that such a large structure is both seemingly uninhabited and in remarkably good condition (to her) for its age. She nods to the sparrow, curious if she's going to be needed for more, or if this is whereshe gets her pay.
Cassidy raises her brow at the sight, settling her hands on her hips. "Well now. This is certainly not what I was expecting to find. Quite impressive! The scouts must be proud... And were hansomely paid, I hope!"
Fenris is frozen as she stares. "Yes!" she breathes.
Zuri nods at the moose. "I'd greatly appreciate the favour, my good being. Can't be going back to Sweetwater in this state, hm?" His chuckle in interrupted by the introduction of the ruins, which draws an impressed whistle from him. "Well, now that's something alright.." He glances around the group, noting their reactions.
Mindaugas scratches his chin in contemplation, his tone warming up somewhat. "Imprressive indeed. Such a society, tucked away...will we be explorring these rruins as parrt of ourr duty?" he asks, an edge of eager curiosity to his voice. This was the sort of thing he'd been training and studying for: scouting, exploring, reporting back to the Church...seems he had chosen well to join this mission after all!
As the group gets nearer to the gates, the sound of a cart can be heard behind them, looks like Ridgewell came here as fast as he could. Within a minute the cart has stopped next to the group, with Ridgewell getting off the cart, eyeing the group, "Ah, perfect. I knew those scouts were not making things up." The pudgy jasmine said with a grin, as more beings disembarked off the cart and headed directly towards the ruins, clad in robes and having a scholarly air around them.
Ridgewell gets motions for a soldier who brings him a number of pouches, "You did a good job Freeswords, and for that you deserve your payment." He said with a grin, "Three hundred crowns for each one of you, and a Sweetwater coinage to ensure that you don't get any weird looks back where you came from." He adds in a jovial voice, "Don't worry there is cart will return you back to the city where you can go back to Sweetwater or wherever you want to go." He adds before turning around and heading towards the ruins himself, "Your services are no longer needed." The final statement comments, slightly more stern and with an air of finality to it, well looks like the jasmine here is not going to let a group of sellswords into a new archeological site. A pity as one can already peek at the magnificent ruins inside the city, noticeable even now is the head of Shaila, the spirit of family and fertility, thrown near the gate, the giant figure must have been part of the gate's adornments before it was destroyed.
Cirra nods, looking over the statue and Signing to Ridgewell. <I will return, and I will find out what is here. This is seriously making me itch jsut looking at it.>
Zuri spares one quick look at the ruins. He's not much of one for history and archeology, but even he can recognize something fascinating about this place. Still, his work here is done, and he collects his payment with a smile. "Pleasure doing business, Mister Ridgewell. Do send word if you need of us again, we'd be more than happy to assist!" He pockets his share and returns to the caravan, already eager to return home.
Mindaugas
Mindaugas's drooping face falls at this sudden dismissal...though it's a bit hard to tell, given his usual appearance. He nods in accepting his pay, proffering another heavy handshake to Ridgewell. "It was a pleasurre to be of your assistance, Misterr Rridgewell, and if I may be of assistance as a scout orr Churrcch liasion, I am at yourr serrvice." That said, the Moose turns reluctantly to head back to the ship--but since he has no contacts in Cliffside, he'll have to wait for response back in Sweetwater...
Cassidy tilts her head and frowns behind her mask. "Yes, I think I'll be with you, Cirra. I definitely want to see what's in there, one way or another. We'll come back sometime. For now, I want to get home," she says, turning to wander back towards the caravan.
Ridgewell does not even bother to look back or answer Cassidy's and Cirra's complaints, but continues on his way towards the ruins. The rest of the caravan is already starting to arrive, unloading supplies and even beginning the set-up of tents and other necessary structures for a camp. The Red Wall soldiers are already taking up positions around the ruins, a squad moving inside to clear out any possible pests. As the group load up in the caravan, they can notice the same treatment happening to the rest of the mercenaries, all of them being handed their payment and sent on their way. After three hours or so of a rather dull journey, the cart arrives back towards Braevales, leaving the beings to their own devices of whether going back towards Sweetwater or staying here.
