A small ruin in the woods. - RPLOG
Participants
Date
2/4/479
Log
The place in the forest is dominated by a smallish hill which is mostly free of trees and has what looks to be a newly caved in cliff on one side. It is here where the distinct metal parts of a creator ruin poke out of it and it is also the side where a couple of tents have been erected. Three beings stand at the site, one, an aging lizard with spectacles on his nose, is dressed in brown robes, while the two younger looking ones, a pig and a magpie, are wearing heavy armor and are holding pikes.
A large platypus saunters along the trail with a small rucksack slung over one meaty shoulder. "What's all this then?" he asks in a liltling accent that a well traveled being might recognize as being from Braevales, "Didn't expect a welcoming party till I got closer to the city, but this is right fine of you." The chocolate colored monotreme lowers his sack to the ground and adjusts the suspenders that hold up his canvas trousers on his hefty frame and waits for an explanation.
A tiny little otter ends up joining the group in the forest. She has a sword and axe on her hip, and a musket over her shoulders. All scaled for her size. The platypus' words get an odd look before she turns to the lizard with a bright smile. "Hi there! Name's Erika. Saw your request at the Freeswords, yeah? I'm here to help."
a young dog jogs up to the group, ears perked excitedly as his tail wags "Oh man, oh man! This is it right, the new ruins the found!" he looks between the people already gathered "This is going to be great!" The pup wears dulled chainmail and carries a bow, brace of arrows and a swift sword on his belt.
The being following behind the majority of those present, his heavy cloak swaying in teh decent breeze of the encroching evening, looks over the site ahead of him. While he appeared, at a glance anyways, to bear no weapons, it simply would take a smart or observant being to see he was quite well armed actually. His expression however, is a blank mask, even as his eyes shift to take in everything before him.
The golden jackaless Fayrmune arrives on the scene. She is garbed not in her usual casual battle dress, but wearing a plated cuirass over her chest with some sturdy garments covering her legs and arms. Her daisho is sheathed at her hip, but she also has a musket slung over her back. She has a wide-brimmed straw hat atop her head, with her ears poking through a hole on either side.
The lizard looks up at the ragtag group of beings and takes a few steps toward them and welcomes them with a few formal words as they come close enough, after which he starts to explain. "You must be the freeswords who are here to help us secure the ruin, yes?" He looks at each being for a moment, then nods. "Yes, you should not have any trouble with anything that might be in there. Not that we are expecting it to be guarded at all, but you know, better safe than sorry."
"Creators, is it?" the burly platypus says pleasantly, his voice like an old leather armchair, "Well, then, how could I pass it up?" He sets his rucksack down and fishes out a few items, including a short staff and a strange, metalliic gauntlet that he slides over his hand and forearm. "Watch my things, lad?" he asks, then joins the rest of the crew.
Erika nods her head, continuing to smile brightly. There's the soft clink of metal against metal as she pulls her musket from over her shoulder. "Sure thing!" Her eyes drift down and narrow as she critically examines her musket. "Don' know if this thing's got the power needed to get through some of the things that might be in there. Can't hurt to try, though!"
The spider-being simply nods. "Can you point us to the entrence?" He says, his hands checking his weapons under his cloak subtlly. Pistol, blade, all good. His armor was in order as well. So for this assassin-turn-freelancer, he simply needed a target, if it came to that. For now though, learning what they could of their 'field' would be helpful in knowing what they could and would be capable of doing.
Iorek seems to be focusing most of his attention on not jumping around like a child and maintains his compusure looking around the rest of the group. "Yeah, I guess you never know with these ruins what to expect."
Fayrmune looks over the group. "I'm ready when everyone else is.", she says with a tinge of excitement in her voice. She keeps her expression reserved. "Though I am hoping we do not encounter too much hostility within."
The lizard points them to the entrance of the ruin, a tear in the underside of it, that seems easily climbable even for an unfit being. "Remember, do not take anything from the ruin. We will search you when you come out again, I am sure you understand."
Erika makes her way over to the indicated entrance and looks up at it. After a couple futile jumps made in an attempt to grasp the edge of the tear she shakes her head. "Yeah. This ain't going to work. Someone mind giving me a boost up in there? I mean, you find a crevace you need someone to go poking through, I'm your woman! Reaching the top shelf? Not so much."
Iorek wanders up to the crack behind Erika "Sure, no problem!" the young pup helps Erika to make her way up before he climbs up himself, bow in hand he surveys the area.
Climbing up, the spider eases into the crevace once the first three have done so, looking around to see what he could spot. While he doesn't draw his weapons, as there has yet to be a need for it, he is ready to do so once danger present itself. "Oh, I imagine we ought to introduce ourselves while we've the chance. I'm Glein." He simply states, his focus not really lingering on the others if they introduce themselves as well.
Somewhat weighed down by her armor, the jackaless is slower to climb but makes it up to the crevace nonetheless. "I'm Fayrmune, ronin.", she says, introducing herself briefly. "Does anyone have a light source?", she asks.
The entrance area of the ruin is relatively dark, the only light coming from the hole the group entered through. The metal walls and especially the floor are dented in many places and one corner has filled with dirt from the ceiling. There is however a door that can be seen here, next to it, on the wall, they typical buttons with symbols on them that so many creator ruins have.
Erika squints in the darkness when she's given a boost up. "Thanks," the otter calls down, before making her way to the door, studying it and the buttons. "Think these things still work? And no light here. I've got a little bit of skill with fire magic, but I don't know if it'll be enough to give us something bright enough to see by, continually."
Iorek lights up a torch as he wraps his tail around it, holding the light with that, leaving his hands free for the bow. "I got it. Oh and yeah, sorry I'm Iorek, nice to meet you all." he grins "I've only been in creator ruins once and got them working eventually, but I think that was luck."
Glein nods, and walks forward, examining what was present before them. "I can't say I've ever been in the ruins of a Creator, but there is a fair bit I still have to learn." He states, walking to the buttons, and examining it.
"I can take point, if no one minds.", Fay says. "I came more heavily guarded than usual. I will need our torchbearer nearby though, so I can see, obviously." She unsheathes the longer of her two blades and holds it in both hands.
A red light springs to live for afew seconds as Glein steps close and one half of the split door opens a couple inches, while the other sparks a couple of times, stopping at the same time the other door stops moving and the light goes out.
The Platypus finally pipes up from the back where he has been following gamely along. "Why don't you give me a crack at that, boyo," he says, shoukdering his considerable bulk to the front of the group, "Got a touch for this sorta think, ye ken." The burly monotreme bends over the panel to fiddle with the wires and controls for a moment. Better to try this way before forcing the door. Though he looks as though he could do that too.
Erika moves forward, narrowing her eyes as she examines the partially-opened door in the dim light. "I think I can fit through that. Might want to let me slip ahead first to make sure there's nothing on the other side that's going to spring out at us once the door is all the way open. Or that will react to the sound of it being forced open." Having said that the tiny otter moves to the opening, pushing herself through to get an idea of what waits on the other side.
The Platypus frowns at the fried panel, then shrugs. "Step back, boys and girls," he says, then squats and heaves!
The door opens and gives access to a long hallways that is shrouded in darkness, the torch reveals that the door was at the very end of the hallway and both doors that are visible in the shine of the torch are on the left side.
Iorek holds his tail up so the torch is above his shoulder as he nods his aknowledgement to Fayrmune, his ears perking as the doors groan open and stop, he decides to let the more experienced freeswords take the lead and follows along. The pup stares bewildered as the platypus wrenches open the doors with surprisingly little effort, his jaw hanging open as he's stunned.
With the doors pulled open, Glein steps to teh side, and looks in, seeing only hallway in in shrouded shadows and darkness. "Well, that's one way to open the door." He states, looking at teh space ahead of them, and drew his blade, the nigh-silent whisp of sound from it leaving it's sheath barely heard. He held it blade down, as he stepped through the now opened doorway, though he doesn't go far, mostly to the side while those with the lights step in.
Fayrmune cautiously steps through the opened door, steel bared in front of her. She only ventures in as far as the light from Iorek's torch allows her to see the floor. Her ears are perked and ready to fend off danger.
The as yet unnamed Platypus dusts his hands off and wanders into the darkened corridor. "Dark as my Aunt Edna's heart in here," he says amiably. He raises his ungauntleted hand with an odd little box in it that starts to glow with a steady white light. Creator fire, probably, though hiw this being has it is a mystery. The monotreme wanders gamely around the hall, looking at the walls for some reason. "What're we after again?" he asks.
Erika waits for Fayrmune to take the lead, as she mentioned doing, and starts to follow the jackal. She glances at the platypus and comments, "Jus' clearing it out. Taking care of any hostiles, traps... Stuff like that."
Iorek sticks close to the group, giving the door a little shove as he walks through, trying to gauge how he opened them.
"That sums it up fairly well." Glein says, walking forward as the light is brought to bear, examining what he could with it, but since this was simply just a hallway, so far as he could tell, the only thing they could do was move forward.
"Alrighty, let's go.", Fay says. "Stay close behind me, torchbearer, so I can see, okay?", she asks, giving a glance backwards and a smile. She starts to advance into the dark passage.
As the group proceeds through the hallway it becomes clear that it is not particularly big, there is a grand total of four doors, all closed and with the little buttons next to them. The first three are spaced equally from another, the last hints at a slightly larger room.
The big platypus seems oblivious to the sort of danger that could easily come upon a group like this unawares and wanders over to one of the side rooms and presses the button beside it, babbling something incoherent into the air. What an odd duck. Beaver. Beaverduck?
Erika keeps her musket at the ready as the group proceeds down the hallway. When the side door opens she points her musket towards it, before moving to glance through the door, to see what can be seen.
The door that opened is relatively small. A large metal frame is bolted to one of the walls and has two being sized platforms, one at the bottom and one at the top, made from a metal mesh. Otherwise a couple lockers and a metal cupboard can be seen.
Iorek follows aong obediently, but seems distracted trying to figure out this beaver duck otter thing and what they are, bumping into Fay slightly as he isn't looking where he's going.
"Oh uh, sorry...." he snaps out of it, peeking into the room and sniffing the air, he looks at the lockers "I saw treasure chests like that before, had clothes and books and sstuff inside."
Glancing inside, Glein dismisses the sight. "Remember, we're not here to collect anything we find, we're here to make sure it's safe for those here to examine these things." He states, moving towards teh next door.
Fayrmune nods to Glein. "Yes, yes, but at the same time, we can still investigate boxes without actually taking anything. You never know if they are rigged or something."
The Platypus nods at the open room and moves right along to the next, pressing buttons and muttering incomprehensible words at the door. It might not be helping, but he does it anyway, leaving others to check out the open room.
Erika shakes her head slightly and replies, "I'll leave that to folk better with mechanical stuff than I am, yeah?" Then the small otter is moving for another door. "Let's get these small doors done with quickly. I've the feeling they're all gonna be bunks like that one." Having said that the otter ensures the door she's moving to is both one of the small rooms, and one that nobody else is moving to, hoping it'll open for her and thus let them get through this quicker.
The burly monotreme continues along the hall, opening doors as he goes until he reaches the large door at the end of the hall, pressing the button and continuing hus mantra.
Iorek looks a little confused as to what to do as everyone is splitting up and he has the light source, so he decides to stand in the middle of the corridor so try and help everyone see what they are doing.
Waiting now, Glein simply looks at teh larger door. "If those were rooms, then who wants to guess what awaits us beyond this door?" He asked, jerking his head at teh door in question.
Fayrmune pauses and tilts her head as everyone startrs to split off. "...I think it would be better if we did each room one at a time.", she says cautiously. "Unless someone else has a torch, we need to stick with our canine friend here. There's no telling what sort of pitfalls or objects may be on the floor just waiting to be stepped on."
The small room are very much alike one another, they would be interesting for looters, but there do not seem to be any hostile machine spirits or other dangerous things in them as far as the short examinations of the beings reveal. As Glein steps to the big door the red light from earlier appears atop of it, blinks a couple of times and goes out again, without the door opening.
The Platypus nods at the big door, then starts to fiddle with the panel, whistling some unnamable tune. He has given up on his chattering mantra, but seems to be enjoying himself immensely. "Look alive, boys and girls!" he says, his accent clear, "No tellin' what's past here!"
The door opens to a larger room that has the remains of a couple couches and tables in it, as well as a round glass bulb on the ceiling, which in turn has two pipes sticking out if it. A red light glows in the bulb and the bulb turns, so that the "pipes" face Erika. It only takes moments for the creator device to unleash a couple of bullets at the otter.
Erika stands by, waiting as the door opens. Her brow furrows as the bulb revealed in the room turns, then she lets out a pained yell when it fires on her, one of the bullets hitting her shoulder. The small otter grits her teeth and drops to her knees, raising her musket, taking aim at the glass bulb, and pulling the trigger.
Iorek panics at the loud, repeated gun fire as he dives into one of the side rooms through the open door with a small yelp "Take cover!" as he peers out to look at the odd tube things Erika shot.
With a grunt, Glein pressed against the wall, his pistol quickly being drawn. Spinning to aim around the door, he hefts the pistol and pulls the trigger, not staying long enough to see if he hit it with that snap shot, instead returning to cover and sheathing his sword, so he could begin the process of reloading his pistol.
"Stand back!", Fay orders everyone else as she quickly moves forward to put herself in front of the sentry. Brandishing her katana, she swings high, aiming for the red light of the hostile tech.
The aggressive device is hit twice, finds a new target in the much closer Fayrmune and unleashes four bullets at her as well, but thankfully she fares better than Erika, with three shots missing and her metal armor stopping the last one from harming her.
The burly Platypus taps gently on something n his belt and a gentle, blue bubble appears around him before he steps into the next room. He hurries to find a bit of cover, the whole while chanting unintelligible gibberish toward the angry machine spirit. "Hold on!" he calls, pausing for a second, "I'll get it!" He returns to his chant.
Erika shakes her head slightly and moves around Fayrmune. she doesn't move any closer to the thing, just circles until she has a clearer shot. And then she drops her musket and pulls out another gun, shorter, and with a wider barrel. A blunderbus. Or in anyone elses hands, a blunder-pistol. Taking aim, though less carefully because it's a blunderbuss, the otter fires, hoping that spraying the thing with shot will help keep it down. "Or we can just destroy it and not risk it coming back on when the clients get up here!"
Still reloading his pistol, Glein grumbles. "I am not at all surprised that this stuff is hostile." He mutters, only now tapping away teh amount of gunpowder he'd need into the barrel of the pistol. Reloading firearms is a time consuming process after all!
Fayrmune bares her teeth at the thing that refuses to go down. She ducks away from the gunfire, but lashes up again with her katana, though cringing at the metal-on-metalclang, knowing she'll have to sharpen it after this venture.
There are some very sad noises and a very unpleasant smell that quickly fill the room as black smoke emerges fromthe turret, which seems to have had enough of being shot at and bashed, or simply shorted. The security system out of the picture, the beings can look at the last room of the ruin a bit more and notice cupboards in the back, as well as a rack that, except for one intact one, holds many broken bottles.
"Pity, that," the Platypus sighs, "Probably the only workin' system left on this poor wreck." The burly being starts to wander around the ruined cabin, poking about without any real direction. "Mebey the power supply is still intact," he thinks aloud, "Can't think what else might be worth salvagin'"
"It shot me," Erika replies. "I'm not feeling much pity for returning the favor." The small otter looks around the room, now that there's no risk of catching any more bullets for doing so, then lets out a sigh. "Right. Let's go let the client know we've finished, so I can find someone to take care of this wound for me."
Looking around, Glein shrugs. "It seems as this is all there was to it. Possibly a home for Creators, though it would be odd, as I don't recalling hearing of htem being here until recently." He says, sheathing his blade and hosltering his pistol.
Fayrmune sheathes her blade for the moment. "Yes, I think it would be safe to allow the clients to bring their researcher-types in now.", she says. "It would seem that was the only obvious threat these ruins held."
The group splits up, with Spider and Platypus searching the room and the other three leaving the ruin, reporting to the priest and having him look at the wound while they are at it. The three are searched and given a small reward, in additon to the knowledge of having helped the church, of course.
The burly Platypus watches the others leave, then continues to search around the hundreds of years old detritus. He stops and eyes the lone, unbroken bottle on its rack and picks it up to examine. "Probably beings lived here," he says to Glein, "Part of the Ark's entourage, ye ken."
Erika waits as her wound is tended to, then smiles brightly. "Thank-ya! Should be all clear in there, though I'm afraid we did have to smash up a machine spirit that was attacking us. We, at least those of us out here, didn't touch anything else in there, though."
"Possibly." Glein says, looking over the various bottles, before walking over to the cupboards, opening them to see what lay within.
The Platypus, who has still managed to avoid any sort of introduction waves the bottle at Glein. "Fancy a bottle?" he asks, "Better than 500 years old if you're lucky." He replaces the bottle in the rack and walks away, shaking his head. The big guy looks around once more, then slips away. "Not much to salvage," he tells the beings outside when he reclaims his rucksack.
Erika takes a few minutes to reload her guns, then resecure them. "Right! Well, that's us done then! Make sure to let the Freeswords know that the work is done and whatnot! I'm headed back to rest my shoulder. If you ever need help again feel free to ask for Erika!" And with that the otter turns and starts off, rather loudly, though proficiently, singing a martial tune as she walks.
Shaking his head and walking to the door, he follows Fenris. "Let's hope they can get something out of this." Glein says, before giving a small nod to the beings that were waiting for them, letting them find that no, he didn't take anything with him.
