A Chance Encounter, Part 1 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/2/479
Log
It is a clear, cold morning in the city of Braevales, as to be expected from the mountainous west of Cliffside. Whether the involved beings arrived by airship or where already in Cliffside they all converged towards the city gates of Braevales where the Pathfinder's Society caravan was preparing to move towards the ruins.
A tall great bustard being and a shorter, and much younger, jasmine being can be seen talking to each other. The moment they finish the jasmine being departs a couple of minutes before the sellswords begin lining up in front of the great bustard
Zuri walks up from Braevales itself, having spent the night in a local inn. He steps around the bustard, giving him a bright smile, but paces forth to go stand next to the hired hands as they start to congregate. The small salamander is well dressed as usual, having opted for a light brown jacket worn a vest and shirt, and thick canvas pants that drape over thick hiking boots. "G'mornin'" He calls out to everyone before turning his attention to the avian being.
Keyon steps off of the airship, falling into line besides the other Sellswords as they start to congregate around the bustard. He was dressed similarly to the 'mander, except he was wearing a tunic and a pair of long pants that draped over a pair of non-descript work boots and a short overcoat. He was mostly silent when falling in, however he gives a nod to the bustard and the jasmine as he does so.
Lucas walks off of the airship, a dagger resting on one hip, rapier on the other. He looks around, and swallows, pulling a hand up to his muzzle to rub at the bridge of his muzzle. "God, what am I doing here? I'm not ready for this, am I?" He sighs and shakes his head. "Come on Lucas, you've been training for this, you can do it. Chest out, head high, get going." He catches sight of the jasmine and raises an eyebrow, then lines up in front of the bustard. "Um, L-Lucas Riverkin... reporting for duty?" he says uncertainly.
From this distance the assembled sellswords get a better look at the great bustard. A tall being in an immaculate attire and sporting a non-sense expression, "Greetings, Freeswords, you may address me as Alfred." the bustard says as he eyes the group, "Mister Pondleaf, your involvement in this expedition will be noted down." Alfred adds when he notices the salamander before looking at other newcomers, "As a reminder: You have signed a contract for the Pathfinder's Society. Client, Ridgewell Aeneanas. Payment, a hundred crowns per being. Job description, you are all hired to secure an underground section of an ancients city, eliminating all threats, and reporting what you find. Nothing else. Things to note, the client demands that all collateral damage to be kept to a minimum and no looting or souvenir taking should occur. The Pathfinder's Society is not responsible for your protection if you break those rules, and remember that our client is an elder candidate, so don't try to get on his bad side."
After his lecture, Alfred steps aside and points at the empty cart behind him, "If you still accept this job please enter the cart behind it. It will take you to your destination. Otherwise, you can leave."
Lucas shakily nods his head, hands resting on his weapons as he tries to look presentable and professional. He looks around, turning in a full circle once before stopping and chuckling awkwardly. He walks over to the cart and climbs into it. He tries to sit down, but fumbles with the large sword resting on his hip. He resigns to pulling it off and setting it in his lap as he sits down. "I'm going to get killed, aren't I?" he asks himself quietly, head handing in a shake.
Keyon nods, and strolls over to the cart, reaching up and hopping over the lip, sitting down near the back of the cart. Adjusting his overcoat slightly, he leans back against the side of the cart and waiting for departure. Giving a quick glance to the nervious otter, he offers a smile, but not much else.
The jovial salamander is one of the first onto the cart, leaping inside and tucking his jacket neatly into place before settling down. He glances around with that big bright smile of his. "Everyone excited to explore those Ancient ruins?" He doesn't wait for an answer, instead he reaches for his satchel and retrieves.. a pack of chocolate biscuits, which he starts to pass around to any beings that accept one. "Best part about being near Cliffside.. Cliffside chocolate is way cheaper here!"
"In the unfortunate event of your death, the Society will deliver the remains to your next of kin." Alfred responds to the nervous otter in a mater-of-fact manner. "You will meet a being by the name of Mervyn once you reach your destination. He is your liaison with Mister Aeneanas, and he will guide you through the explored portion of the ruins." With that said, the bustard moves away from the cart as the caravan begins moving.
The trip takes hours as the caravan trudges across the narrow pathways of the Braevales mountains. The morning has turned into an even colder afternoon as the group finally reaches their destination. The caravan stops outside what appears to be a small camp filled with archaeologists and various scholars as well as Cliffside soldiers. A short distance away is the ancients ruin, judging from the colossal wall that spans from one side of the canyon to the other. Dozens of Cliffsiders enter and exit the broken gates of the ruined city, one wonders how this place was not discovered before.
"Disembark!" A voice comes from the the head of the caravan, signalling for the Freeswords to exit their own cart.
Lucas looks over his sword, gripping at the sheath tightly as he settles in on the cart. He lifts his head and offers a weak smile to the bat, then a wider one with the biscuits passed around. "Oh, I forgot they had great chocolate here. Thank you!" he said, spirits brightening as he takes one and passes it on to Keyon. He takes a bite and closes his eyes, leaning back into the cart. "Ah, just what I needed. Nothing calms me like..." His words trail off at mention of death and he sets the rest of the biscuit in his lap as the cart rolls. "I've lost my appetite." Arriving, he slides the rest of the cookie into a pocket before disembarking, securing the sword sheathe back on his hip.
Keyon takes the chocolate and starts to eat it. He only gets one bite in when he hears the mention of death, but shrugs and keeps on eating it. He looks arounds at the doors and the walls, while he waits for the others to fall in. Looking over at the otter, he steps over. 'Don't worry about it. It's not like you're going in alone.' That same, cheerful smile plastered on his face all the while.
Zuri slinks out of the cart, and after checking his equipment like the rest of the soldiers he paces forward towards the walls while admiring them. He lets out a short whistle. "Wowee, what a place. It's been a bit since I visited one of these." He smiles reassuringly at the otter and bat. "Ah, don't mind Alfred, he's just a stickler for rules. It's all just legal mumbo jumbo that he has to say to everyone. We're going to be fine." One wonders, then, why the salamander is carrying three different weapons about his person. "Rats, that is one seriously big door.." He bounds off to stand near the fallen half of the gate, measuring its thicknss compared to his height. "Sheesh..."
As Society members begin to disembark, a young-ish robin being moves towards the Freeswords. The robin smirks as he spots Zuri first trying to measure his height compared to the thickness of the door, the salamander is taller by a head and a shoulder. "Why, hello there Zuri. Heard you and your girl are coming over to visit Cliffside." the robin teases before looking at the rest of the group, "Ok, then. You are the Freeswords, no? Good, we were waiting for the meat shields. Follow me, you can gawk but do not dawdle." With that the robin bounds through the gate and the city in turn.
The city have not changed much since Zuri saw it last, it was now almost fully debris free leaving nothing but the large marble buildings and the defaced statues covering the whole city, now with more beings moving about as well. Of course it becomes apparent after a couple of minutes inside this place that whoever lived in this city, they were obviously all as tall if not taller than your average heavy clan being. The trip through the city takes a good half an hour before the group reach an large open square with a magnificent building on the other side, it must have been the city hall or some other fancy building. "Ok, so the stairs to the underground levels should be inside, any questions before you enter?" the robin says as he begins walking up the stairway leading inside the building, judging from the size of each step those shorter beings will be more climbing than walking here.
Lucas doens't seem encoruaged by Zuri's words, particularly as he's seen the size of the doors. Seeing the bird arrive and call him a meat shield, the otter almost looks like he's going to lose the contents of his stomach, but he grips the handles of his sword and dagger as he follows the robin. He gapes at the size of the beings living in the city, mouth dropping open slightly. "Oh spirits, these beings are huge." He clenches his jaw and looks to the robin. "Um, yeah, what kind of threat should we expect?" He looks to one of the tall beings out of the corner of his eye. "Um, how big are we talking, specifically?"
Keyon exhales somewhat windedly as he climbs up the stairs to the city hall. Looking up at it, he pauses for a moment before realizing something. However, he dismisses the thought, which would've turned into a question had he not remembered why he was there. Instead, he simply shakes his head, rolls up the sleeves of his overcoat, and awaits instructions.
Zuri sticks his tongue out at the robin as he mentions the 'girl'. "Nice to see you again as well Mervyn." He smiles brightly as he follows alongside the other being, his tail flitting side to side excitedly. "Don't worry, we've done this plenty a-times." He peers ahead. "Anything we should know about? Are we the first ones in? Any weird noises or anything of the sort?"
Mervyn raises a brow at Lucas, "Spirits? Did not know that you Sweetwaters worshipped anything but the Creator Saints." he comments off handedly as he guides the group towards the room that leads underground, "No idea. You will be the first group in as per the agreement with the Pathfinder's Society, but expect traps, and maybe if you are lucky a giant glowing jellyfish, right Zuri?" the robin teases as he guides the group down the staircase.
The architecture underground remains similar to the one above ground, but with a lot more torches and magical crystals that act as light sources, "The region you are going to explore is probably the last unexplored portion of this place, unless of course that place happens to have more stairs leading down."
Minutes later the group move through a large cavern room that have access to an ancient-made ungrounded lake before they finally reach their destination. A dark hallway closed by road blocks and a number of soldiers, "Here we are, anything else before we go in? Also grab a magical crystal from the guards, you will need it to see."
Lucas looks away from the statue to the robin. "Pardon, but I'm from Thera'dor. We didn't have the luxury of following things like spirits and creator saints in the town I grew up in," he said, grateful his thick coat of fur hid his blushing. His right arm crosses over his body, pulling the sword from it's sheath. He sighs and shakes his head. "Great, no idea what we're fighting and there are weird floating invertebrates." He approaches a guard and retrieves a crystal, sliding it into the pocket of his coat much like a pocket square, most of the crystal poking out to provide ample light before his free hand reaches into his coat and pulls out a wheellock pistol. "Yeah, will you be covering expenses too?"
Keyon looks into the cavern maw, then back to the robin. He reaches up to take a crystal from a guard which was almost as big as him. Where he is going to store it...is another question entirely, but he finds that one of the pockets on his overcoat suffices. 'Would you happen to have a rough estimate as to how far down we will be going?' He signs as he tucks a part of his sleeve into itself to keep them from rolling down.
Zuri rolls his eyes at Mervyn. "Look, what happened with that tentacle thing in the lake is none of anyone else's business, okay?" He peers at the otter and bat beings with him. "I'm sure we won't be seeing any more of that in here." He goes to grab one of the crystals, but rather than snatch it with either hand he grips it with his prehensile tail. "Okay.. onwards and downwards we go!" He draws his ornate blade, a long and thin sabre whose hilt and grip has been made to resemble a cornucopia. "Keep an eye out for traps. These Ancients love their pressure plates, tripwires and false floors." He starts to make his way down, holding the glowing crystal to the side with his tail as he keeps his gaze low on the floor, carefully observing each piece of masonry before he sets foot on it.
Mervyn raises an eyebrow at Lucas, "Thera'Doran who was too poor to afford a deity, got it." the robin quips as he gestures for the rest of the Freeswords to follow after Zuri as he takes a position behind them. The light exposes more and more of the hallway as the group moves inside, there does it not seem anything particularly eye catching, just old murals, benches and stalls in various states of disrepair, and the telltale signs of an abandoned city.
As the group delves deeper suddenly all of them could hear whispers from the darkness surrounding them, "Go back!", "It's dangerous.", "Escape, do not enter.", and various other haunting noises telling the group to drop their flags and run.
Suddenly, the group arrive in front of a crossroad, the road leading to the right is closed with debris leaving the road to the front and the road to the left, and of course the group could listen to the whispers around them and simply go back.
Lucas grits his teeth and rolls his eyes at the robin, finger rubbing the trigger guard. He raises an eyebrow as the robin takes a position behind them, leveling his pistol as he grips the handle of his rapier tighter. He walks slowly at Zuri's flank, then leaps back as an image fills his eyes. He looks around frantically, finger hovering over the trigger, then stops cold, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "What is going on here?" he asks quietly, his voice shakey. He exhales heavily and slowly lets the hammer return, putting the pistol away for his dagger. "Too jumpy for that damn thing." He looks to the left and the right, then looks to Zuri and Keyon. "So, um, I guess there's not a lot of options here, huh?"
Keyon suddenly clutches his head, gripping his fur tightly as the ringing in his ears becomes stronger before letting up. It takes him a solid minute to get his bearings again, but he shakes the image from his mind. 'It doesn't look that way. So, which way are we going? Left? Straight?' He signs, looking between the two. However, the image has mentally shaken him. He probably would be running for the exit if he wasn't being watched.
Zuri pauses briefly as the whispers are heard by the group, then giggles. "Oh, that's awesome. Good defensive trick huh? Creeeeepy whispers." He slinks towards the center of the room, still keeping an eye out for traps and watching where he puts his feet. Despite the creepy situation the 'mander seems.. quite happy to be here. "So, where to first folks?" He asks, turning aside to look at Lucas and Keyon. "I figure we might as well pick one as we might end up exploring both. How 'bout this way?" He turns away and steps towards the forward path. The 'mander seems confident, moving to explore the passage with his sword held forward at the ready.
The group presses on, Mervyn making a show of yawning in boredom as he just follows the group. The forward path is not that different really, the same architecture, with more and more murals. The ones here are more well-kept showing off the ancients fighting large beasts, debating among each other, and worshipping various spirits.
The path finally opens into a large room. Obvious on either side of the rooms are various openings that will no doubt have projectiles inside them. Some of the stones that make up the floor are slightly raised forming four paths across the room towards the exit, "Which one is the correct path? Do you trust your luck?" a whisper can be heard from the room.
Lucas looks to the bat and tilts his head to the side. "Sorry, I haven't the foggiest idea what you're saying," he said, then looks to Zuri and nods. "By all means, lead the way." He strokes at the handle of his sword and dagger with a finger, then grips the handles tighter at words whispering into his ears, eyes looking at the murals. His eyes come to the holes in the walls, then look at the floor. "This isn't suspicious at all..." he mutters, poking at the floor with the tip of his long, muscular tail.
Keyon glances around the room, seeing a lever. Being the curious sort, he sidles over while the others are busy. 'Hmm, wonder what would happen if I flipped this?' He thinks, and slides the lever to the direction opposite of which it is sitting without much hesitation. Then, he turns to glance at the paths, wondering which one he should choose, but he waits for a general decision.
Zuri watches as Keyon flicks the level, smirking at him. "Well spotted!" He turnss back to the four 'paths', wiggling his snout at them. "I don't get it. We could just walk along the floor. There must be something else to this..." He nibbles on his lip, briefly pondering turning into a pegasus to just fly across the room.. but since a certain blue pegasus is now wanted in Firmament that might be a bad idea. "Okay, I guess I'll just pick a path and give it a go. If I get shredded to bits, tell my plantie I love him." He walks towards the leftmost path and starts to traverse it, walking one stone at a time and ready to leap out of the way.
Whether Zuri chose the right path, or whether the lever disabled the traps, no one would know right now but Zuri is safe and unharmed as he gets to the other side. Mervyn yawns and follows along as well, reaching the otherside, "Get a move on you two."
Lucas watches Zuri, bitting his lower lip as the salamander walks the path, watching each step he took. He sighed when nothing happened, or when the robin crossed. He looks to the bat momentarily and nods. "Thanks for that" h said, then followed after Zuri and Mervyn, taking each step very carefully, his tail lifted to avoid letting it touch anything that might trigger a trap.
Keyon quickly follows along as well behind Lucas, heading over to the other side as carefully as possible, but also trying not to trigger any traps that may or may not still be active. When he reaches the other side, he falls into line.
Zuri fist-pumps when he reaches the opposite side, and greets the other adventurers with a big bright smile. "So far, so good. Good job folks!" He turns around and heads down the next path, curious to see what's down this way that deserves such a strange trap room to buffer it from the outside world.
With all the group across the room, the beings continue on their straight path. Another couple of minutes of nothing but annoying whispers, murals, and various pieces of furniture the group stops when they reach a closed gate, with a large statue standing in front of it. The statue is almost four meters tall and it is of a knight completely covered in armour holding nothing but a mace in his hand.
Beyond belief, the statue actually begins moving, slowly as his vibrating body shakes off the dust that has gathered on it through generations. The statue's armoured head stares into the direction of the group as its mace is raised, preparing to crush any who comes near it. "ONLY THE BRAVE MAY PASS!" a bellowing voice comes from the statue before it goes silent and still again.
