The Dreams of the Ancient Ones - RPLOG
Participants
Date
22/6/478
Log
The beings who accepted the job are assembled and allowed to enter the airship. The trip to Cliffside is rather uneventful, and after reaching the outskirts of the city, the airship lands in the outer city, unloading the beings and the cargo. While trade is being done between the merchants around, the group of mercenaries is waved over by a young sparrow being, perhaps a familiar being to those who worked under Ridgewell before. It is the early afternoon with a cool breeze arriving from the west and traveling to the east where the inner city is located with its towering spires and high walls, all in all a rather nice weather for some adventuring.
Zuri spends the entire trip looking tremendously excited. The small salamander has only visited Cliffside a few times before, but every time it has been part of a thrilling adventure. He's out of the airship as soon as he can, and is momentarily distracted by the sights and sounds of the city before his mind returns to the here and now. He notices the sparrow being and plods over to greet him with a cheerful wave.
Cara steps off the ship in her usual attire, staff in hand. As she goes down from the runway, she yawns and stretches her legs. "I'm glad that we made it here though." At that point, she turns her head directly over to the ship, "Come on out, Kazel. I'll be waiting for you at the sparrow." Then, the feline proceeds to nonchalantly walk over to the aforementioned avian.
Cassidy adjusts her tie as she steps off the airship, making her way towards the sparrow, as well. "I'm hoping we get to make a trip back into those ruins. I've been wanting to show you this, Natska," she says to her companion, smiling.
Natska makes her way down from the airship, making sure her gauntlets are on securely and that her sword is ready at her side. She keeps pace with Cassidy, the jaguar on alert and scanning the crowd as they move towards their contact.
Fenris disembarks with the others, taking a deep breath of the cool, Cliffside air. He has donned a loose, sleeveless, open robe for the trip, mainly for the pockets. He smiles out over the city. "It does not look quite so cutthroat from here," he observes with fondness in his voice.
Kazel makes her way off the airship and follows close behind Cara, eventually catching up and walking next to her. The bat has had a slight smile on her face the whole way and took a deep breath of the air once they landed. "It is good to be visiting home."
Looks around as the group starts assembling around him, "Well, well, looks like that Sweetwater only has six different Freeswords, eh?" he idly quips, "Or is it that the Ladies Solacious and the salamander just find the weather here better?" He mentions again with a snicker to himself, "Anyway, for those who don't know me here, Mervyn Pinfield, at your service." he says with an exaggerated bow.
"I am afraid that you won't be visiting ruins today, Lady Solacious. Unless you are willing to trek by yourself to Braevales and then searching around in the mountains." the sparrow begins on a slow gait towards the main street as he continues talking, "And Thera'Dorans look smart when they keep their mouths closed, appearances deceive. But Cliffside is definitely not as bad as you Sweetwater make it sound like." Mervyn then stops and points at the open gate leading to the inner city, "Anyway, Mister Ridgewell is waiting for us inside the inner city, stay close to me, I am definitely not going after you if you are lost in the traffic. During the afternoon some of the streets can get really crowded." And true to his word, beings trod along the roads and pathways littering the outer city, one can only wonder how much busier will it be inside the city proper. "Any questions before we go in? I prefer talking here, less ears spying than inside."
Zuri grins at the sparrow. "I'd never pass up an opportunity to visit Cliffside." He peers around at the rest of the group , then nods at the avian being again. "No questions here, ready to go in sir!"
Cara rolls her eyes for a moment, "I'm from Shralesta and the personal strife between Sweetwater and Cliffside aren't really much of a problem to me." At that point, she shifts a glance over to Kazel and speaks to both her and Pinfield, "Although, I do enjoy the buildings here, we better get going. I have no questions."
"Pity," Cassidy says, following along. "No questions, though. Seeing as I expected there to be ruins, my original ideas are dismissed. So I'll be seeing the nature of the assignment within, I suppose. No problems with that, though."
Natska raises her eyebrows. "Huh. They have heard of me. This must not be so backwater after all..." she murmurs. She gives Cass a small wink, then looks back to their path, careful to not lose their guide.
Fenris keeps his thoughts to himself, though he smiles and gives a little bow to Mervyn. The big cat follows along easily, as though familiar with the streets and people.
Kazel shakes her head at the avian. "I am good to go as well." The graceful bat makes her way through the crowded streets of her home while staying near Cara. Ever so often she has to smile at random things and memories as she passes through the streets.
Nods his head, "Well then, good no questions." he says before looking at Cara and shrugging, giving Natska a smirk, "What can I say? I do enjoy learning more about barbaric peoples and their cultures, as simple as it maybe." the sparrow quips back as he continues walking through the street.The group finally enter the city proper from the open gate, with a curt nod from the guards standing there. The inner city sure takes on another appearance with spies rising up high if any being bothers looking upward and extremely busy streets that would make this a pickpocket's dream location.
It takes the group a good portion of an hour as they zigzag across the different streets, moving from squares to side alleyways and back again to main roads before they finally reach their destination, a relatively small square populated with a number of buildings and an exquisite marble water fountain in the middle. It is obvious from the impressive buildings here that this is one of the richer parts of the city, and from the shop signs and relatively low number of beings around, a square mainly dealing with esoteric and scholarly pursuits. "Here we are." he says as he moves closer to one of the buildings, opening the door and motioning from the group inside with a curt bow, "Mister Ridgewell will be waiting for you inside.
Any who enter the building will be met by a rather humbly decorated foyer, a number of book shelves strewn around the wall with benches and chairs for any guests. With a couple of windows at the entrance's door shining in the daylight into the room.
Zuri rather openly gawps as the group navigates through the city, having all the look of a wide-eyed tourist to him. He smiles up at the sparrow being and nods. "Thank you sir!" He quickly darts inside, looking for the friendly jasmine being and walking over to him, tail snaking excitedly behind him. "Mister Ridgewell, we're here!"
Cara walks through the elaborately decorated room, "Wow, Mister Ridgewell really did his best on making this place look nice." As she heads over to the one of the chairs, she stops for a moment and smiles to Kazel, "Have you been here before?"
Cassidy rubs her chin as she glances around the foyer, ears flicking. "It's been quite some time since I've been in the city proper," she says, glancing towards Natska. "Last time I was here was when I bought that necklace for you. Oh, and thank you," she says to the sparrow, tipping her hat before moving to enter the building.
Still smiling at her newly discovered fame, Natska enters the foyer with the others. Her ears perk as she listens to the other Freeswords, and she idly examines the room from her spot near her fennec. "Yes, it has been a while! It's always nice to visit though."
Fenris smiles, looking over the square. "Well," he says, "This brings back memories. Looks like Bandurberg's shop is even here still! I guess it would make sense for Ridgewell to set up in Cliff Flower." He follows the others gamely into the indicated building.
Kazel slips past the sparrow and through the door. Cara's question is met by the bat shaking her head. "Not in this part of the city. Interesting place though." She quickly and quietly goes to inspect the goods on display.
Mervyn waits until all are inside, giving a raised eyebrow at Fenris, "Indeed..." he says before shrugging, "Anyway, dont touch anything you lot, Mister Ridgewell will be meeting you shortly. Now excuse me, I have other things to attend." And with that, the sparrow closes the door and disappears into the city once more.
The beings don't have to wait long as half a minute after, one of the side doors and opens and from it arrives the slightly chubby jasmine, "Ah, greetings there, good friends." the jolly jasmine says to the group. "Please, do take a seat, there are plenty around." With a wide grin, Ridgewell seats on a rather comfy looking chair at the other end of the foyer, obviously designed for him when he is meeting people in here, "I do hope you had a safe journey, my friend here was waiting until I got her some 'champions'." he says with chuckle before looking back at the group, "Do you have any queries before I start explaining your job?" he asks as he gives Cassidy a glance and Zuri a longer look, "Good to see you two again, I hope you had fun spelunking last time!"
Zuri's smile brightens more as he finally spots Ridgewell. The small salamander hops over to him, standing a few feet in front of the chair he's reclining on and looking up at him. "Yea, last time was great fun! Are we going to do more of the same? We barely got to see it last time, but everything we saw in there was spectacular!"
Cara glances towards Kazel for a moment and then promptly shifts her attention over to Ridgewell as she slouches, "Mr. Ridgewell. What are we supposed to do exactly? Are we supposed to do some exploring or will we go treasure hunting in dangerous location?"
"It was a pleasure. I was a little disappointed to learn we wouldn't be doing so again, this time! But it happens. I am happy to help with whatever it is you need, regardless." Cassidy settles into a seat and folds her legs, smiling. "So, please. Do tell! What does this job entail?"
Natska makes a small motion with her hand, then nods in agreement with Cassidy. "My only question is what sort of task needs to be done that has you sending as far as Firmament for assistance," she says, smiling.
Fenris takes a seat in a comfortable looking seat and looks around for the Jasmine's 'Friend,' seeing as he came in alone. "Who did you say was looking for some champions?" he asks, surprised that no one else has asked yet. The tiger has met Ridgewell before, though he was a kangaroo and a woman at the time. . .
Kazel stops looking at the goods displayed in the odd shop and takes a seat near to the others, crossing her legs as she sits down. The bat decides to remain silent for the time being and just listen.
Shakes his head at the salamander, "Sadly, no delving through ruins today!" he answers Zuri before looking back at the group, the aging being says with a solemn expression before grinning again, "But there will be adventure." he says once more in that jovial voice of his, "As for what you have to do? Simple! Just go to sleep." he says with a grin, "Why did I ask for Freeswords from Firmament? Because I can, who is my friends? Daylight is my friend!" he says with a hearty chuckle.
"So, those are your 'champions'?" comes the ethereal voice from all around the room as the light from the windows grows a bit more intense, "I choose not to humor your choice with a question, Ridgewell." the room emits again before Ridgewell stands up, "Well, I guess some of you might guess that this is a spirit we are talking to here. Apparently recent events on Promise have gained the attention of many spirits, and the recent discovery of a full ancient city did not go unnoticed either." Ridgewell says with a grin as he opens a door leading to another room, "Please do go in, and ask any questions you want, I bet the spirit would be more than happy to answer."
Zuri blinks, peering around to try and find a source to the ethereal voice. He looks back at Ridgewell, eyes wide. "A spirit? Another one!" He giggles. "Wow, that's exciting!" He plods over to the adjacent room as bidden, and walks about inside looking around the room as he considers his question. He bites his lip.. what question to ask... He looks up at the ceiling and smiles. "Hi Mister Spirit! I'm Zuri! What's your name?"
Cara listens to the ethereal voice and sighs, "Well, I'm not sure who we're talking with." The fit feline proceeds to make her way over to the room on the left, her tail slowly swishing through the air as she walks. As soon as she is in the room, she asks, "Um, whoever just talked right now, I have a few questions to ask. The first one is what happened to the past inhabitants of the ancient city?"
Cassidy perks her ears at the other voice, lifting a brow. "Well. Adventure is good, all the same. Sleeping, though? Hrm." She pushes herself up all the same, offering a hand to Natska before starting for the door. "I suppose it is safe."
"What city?" Natska asks quietly, taking Cassidy's hand and following her into the other room. She perks her ears at Zuri's question, then looks around, waiting for the answer.
Fenris rises from his seat with a grunt of effort. "I look forward to meeting, Daylight, then," the big tiger says, reaching up and casually fiddling with his ornate soul pendant for a moment before following the others into the next room. He folds his burly arms in front of him, waiting for further instruction, looking askance at Cara's stark boldness.
Kazel gets up slowly. "I have not heard of this city either." She shrugs slightly before making her way to the door, through which she quickly slips, following behind the others who already entered the next room.
The group enters a darkened room, lit only by dim candles, "I meant questions regarding your assignment." the jovial jasmine said with a laugh as he gestured towards the center of the room where apparently a number of pillows had been set up in random positions, with the smell of burning incense even out powering the fragrant scent of the jasmine fellow, "What's with all the occult stuff? Ask the spirit, it wanted it, but please do take a seat on them."
In the darkest corner of the room one could all of a sudden notice a shadowy presence, bright crimson eyes the only thing apparent, surrounded by the silhouette of what appears to be a horse straight out of someone's night mare, "I am Zimla, the spirit of what lies beyond the your consciousness." comes the chilling voice, so much in contrast to the previous calm voice, "And you, dreamers, shall prove something for me today."
Ridgewell nods his head and grins once more to the group, "I shall explain everything once you are done. The door is still open for you who want are having second thoughts." the jasmine says with a grin.
Zuri blinks, taking a step back from the appearing spirit defensively as he takes on the frighening sight. "Uuh.. hi, Mister Zimla Sir.." He looks around at the others, gauging their reactions before turning back to the spirit. "N-no second thoughts here. None!" He slinks over to one of the pillows, sitting down as he asks. "S-so um.. what will we be doing exactly? Just sleeping? That's.. that's not so hard." He smiles nervously.
Cara smiles for a moment, "Sweet, this should prove to be fun." The feline quickly whips around and faces Kazel, "Well, I'm pretty sure that we will be able to handle this test. Unless it involves trivia, then I might have trouble." At that point, she faces the spirit with a steely eyed gazed and speaks, "What would you like us to do, Lady Zimla?"
"It's an old ruin of those that came before us, I think," Cassidy says to Natska. "And not just a small ruin, but a whole city of theirs. I haven't gotten to poke around much of it yet, but it's very interesting." She looks towards Zimla and nods. "Yes. I'd like to know what we're doing before I do it."
Natska gives the spirit a small, wary nod as she takes in her appearance. "Mmmhm. What are we here to prove?" she asks, curious.
Fenris bows low to the presence in the corner. "A pleasure as always, Lady of Dreams," he says before straightening and finding a seat. The big tiger sits on a pillow in an attitude of meditation, closing his eyes and resting the backs of his hands on his knees. He starts to breathe slowly and regularly, preparing himself for what the Spirit would teach, leaving the worrying to others.
Kazel smiles brightly. "Lady Zimla, how nice to meet you once more. What will we be doing or dreaming today?" She offers a smile to Cara before settling down on one of the pillows in a cross legged position.
As the beings ask their questions, the mare keeps her hellish gaze on them before suddenly disappearing in front of their eyes as quickly as she appeared. A second later and fair lights begin appearing around the room, hovering in a random manner as the sound of childish giglging could be heard from the room, "Oh, are the big, tough, beings so scared from visiting my realm?" the childish voice comes in a taunting manner, "The rules are simple, you follow your friend and visit my realm. The rest? I have no idea!" he says with a another giggle than soon turn into a thunderous guffaw before the fairy lights disappear, leaving the room empty but for the beings. "
"Well there you go, that spirit is almost as moody as my father!" the jolly jasmine says with a laugh of his own, "Your choice, gentlemen. You either walk out and get no pay or do this 'test' and then rewarded."
Zuri blinks, looking up at where the spirit was just a moment before. "I'm not afraid! It's just new and strange is all!" He peers around at the others, and notes some seem to be comfortable about the whole thing. He sighs and tries to not get distracted by the faerie fire as he relaxed and slowed his breathing, pouting lightly.
Cara shrugs her shoulders and puts her staff away. "Okay, that sounds easy enough." The feline keeps her focus on the small light and slowly takes nice long deep breathes, her chest heaving up and down with the expansion of her diaphragm, "Well, let's begin then."
Cassidy furrows her brow at that, folding her arms. "She was a lot more respectful, last time," she says, before shaking her head. "Well then, Natska. What shall we do? I figure we might as well, unless you have a strong aversion to it," she says, settling down by one of the pillows.
Natska lets out a small grunt, then gives Cass a small shrug. The jaguar takes off her gauntlets and does her best to find a comfortable spot next to Cass, moving her sword to rest across her lap as she closes her eyes.
Fenris is already deep in trance-like meditation, a small smile on his lips.
Kazel fixes her eyes on one of the lights and controls her breathing. The bat slowly drifts away into the realms of dreams, still wearing her full gear.
