Lost Temple - RPLOG
Participants
Date
17/11/479
Log
It is hot and the sun is high in the sky. Amar Widestripe is sitting on a rather large, folding, canvas chair out in the winding branches of the Silvervein Pass beyond the Iron Reach. "Move the umbrella a bit, Gavin," he tells his muscular ursine manservant, who complies quickly. The corpulent, purple tiger raises a flask to his lips and looks out over the landscape. "They should be along soon," he says, and heaves himself from his seat to greet incoming Freeswords.
A Coyote comes around the bend, straightening his disheveled outfit and checking...checking his pockets? That's an awful lot of pockets... The Freesword pats himself down, as one might to make sure they weren't forgetting something. He pauses, patting a spot, blinks and digs through his pocket before grinning and pulling out a throwing knife, slotting it back into place, where it belongs. The canine grins and makes his way over to two beings. "I take it you're the one that left the notice?" he asks, slipping his hands into his pockets.
A small shape in the sky slowly gains in definition and size as Zuri, a small blue-feathered pegasus being makes his final approach on Silvervein Pass. The small being swoops as far down as he can without hitting the canyon walls, then slowly flaps the rest of the distance, landing almost-gracefully on his little hoofies. He peers around, and spots in the distance the rather corpulent but familiar feline. "Amar!" He shouts out, far too distant for his voice to be properly heard. He runs the rest of the way, ducking around the underbrush characteristic of this region as he finds his path as best as he can, until finally reappearing from behind a rock closer to the other beings. "Hi Amar!" He says again. "Hi Gavin! And uh.. hi there!" He beams brightly at Mal. "I hope I'm not late for the exploration thingy! I brought snacks and water for everyone!"
"Right on time, Mister Pondleaf," Amar says, resting his fat paws on his fatter stomach, "I am glad to see you all here. I had feared that poor Gavin here would have to leave me here on my own to go searching this place." The obese tiger waves to the group to follow him and he waddles around a tall rock formation to where a landslide has left skree and rubble spread out in a narrow ravine, revealing a dark opening surrounded but what must have once been an elaborately carved arch. The high, stone doors are closed, but one side is broken and caved in, leaving an opening large enough for a being to pass through without difficulty. "There it is," Amar says, grinning, "Ruin's that predate the arrival by a thousand years!" He turns to face the Freeswords, "All you have to do is go in there, scout the place for old traps and things and carry out anything interesting you find. Clearing any traps or complications will net you a fine reward, and if you bring me anything of particular interest, I will certainly reward you for that as well. Any questions?"
The Coyote grimaces, patting himself down again. "I swear I'm forgetting something," he mutters, brow furrowed. He huffs and brushes himself off, tapping each item on his bandoleer. "Whatever, it couldn't have been that important, if I forgot to bring it..." The Freesword's lazy grin returns and he looks to his new companions, rubbing his hands together. "Shouldn't be too hard." After a pause, he leans forward, extending a hand to the Salamander. "Apologies, name's Mal," the Coyote says, introducing himself. Mal looks to Amar and nods. "Alright, that's all? Scout, disarm and loot?" He claps his hands together. "Alright; I'll try not to break much." He pauses before adding, "And, ah, what's the pay like?"
Zuri giggles at Amar. "Yea, that sounds like top fun to me! I love exploring stuff!" He looks over at Mal and shakes the coyote's offered hand. "Nice to meet ya Mal! Zuri." He looks back at Amar. "I don't think we have any questions, no. I presume we're the first ones to go in judging by the state of the place so.. off we go." He looks over at Mal and smiles. "Always more exciting to be the first ones going in, yea?" He flicks his wings and hops over to the entrance into the ruins, peering inside. Seems the little pegasus isn't quite concerned about payment at this point.
Amar strokes his pointed goatee. "The pay is excellent, so long as you don't break ANYTHING," he says, "This is about retrieving priceless antiquities! Find something worth salvaging and I promise, you won't find the remunerations lacking."
Inside the broken door, it is dark, though the daylight filtering in through the entrance provides twilight illumination to the room. It seems to be some sort of antechamber or welcoming hall for whatever this place is. Cracked and broken tiles litter the floor mostly hidden by the dust of centuries. Elaborate friezes on the walls seem to depict tall, lanky figures going about various activities, but time and the elements have ruined much of the paintings and makes it difficult to make anything out. Four tall pillars form a square in the center of the otherwise empty room, each carved in the likeness of a tall, robed creature of some kind, with long, pale features. These too are eroded past real recognition.
Four doors lead from this room, one to each the east and west, and two elaborately carved doors on the north wall, though the one to the right has cracked and caved in.
Mal puts two fingers to his head and gives the tiger a lazy salute. "Not a scratch! Well, that wasn't already there, anyway." The Coyote coughs and gets moving, shaking his head. He looks around as he cautiously enters the antechamber. "Never know when the floor'll give out..." he mutters. The Mercenary looks around and hmms in thought, scratching his neck idly. "Think we're gonna need a few torches," he says, "I seemed to have forgotten to bring some," he says, half-jokingly, grinning his grin at Zuri!
Zuri nods at Mal's words. "Yea, it's gonna get dark plenty quick in here. Lucky I brought a thing!" He shuffles inside his pack and retrieves a tiny glowing crystal, about the size of one's palm. It projects a constant but somewhat faint light in all directions, like a candle. "This should do fine, for now. We can make a torch or two if things get tooooooo dark and spooky in there." He steps further into the room, carefully watching his step and measuring each footstep carefully. "Let's keep an eye out for traps. I guess we should check out that caved-in door first?"
The doors are interesting, all made for creatures as tall as the largest of Heavy Clan beings, but not partucularly wide. The broken doorway, along with the useable one beside it appears to have been an open arch with no actual door. The broken arch seems mostly blocked by rubble, though there is a small space near the top where a small being could squeeze through. Some of the rubble seems to have ornate carvings and a few flecks of some sort of purplish pigment still imbedded in the grooves of said carvings, but in the damage is too great to make out what sort of pattern it might have been in this dim light.
