Discovery of the festering Pits - RPLOG
Participants
Date
5/11/476
Log
Late afternoon in the swamps, on the boardwalks just outside the small coastal town of Scraggly Root. Folk are already beginning to wind down their activities for the day, and yet a single coral snake waits at the main junction for the hired help from the city. By and large they do arrive, and he steps up to the transports to greet them.
"For those whom I haven't met before, I'm Francis." The ranger cracks a wry grin as he recognises Angus and Mazurek from before, and the rest are given a quick, cordial nod. "Glad to have you folk here, again or otherwise. Would've handled this myself, to be honest, but the folk of Scraggly Root are free enough to spend their money how and when they please. Now, let's get settled and I'll discuss what's been going on..."
"Hello again Francis, it's good to see you." The familiar fox kit greets, tipping the brim of his hat to the coral snake as he steps up next to him. Angus had decided to change up his uniform a little bit, discarding his boot as he remembers what happened last time he had decided to wear some in the swamp.....he still couldn't repair the boot.
Wandering aimlessly into such a hazardous domain was probably not the wisest thing...although Dupree isn't totally unprotected
Wandering aimlessly into such a hazardous domain was probably not the wisest thing...although Dupree isn't totally unprotected
Mazurek is one of those off the transport. Yes, he is in his dragon form. Yes, he is minimally dressed yet again. It's a swamp, dangit, and he is one of those reptilian types. The Dragon bows to Francis when the serpentine Ranger greets them, "I am liking it out here the more I come. I don't suppose you have lodging available for my occasional temporary stays here?"
Winds from a zephyr come from the air. They carry a tall vixen that almost slam with the ground. Alanis gets up and cleans her clothes. "I'm sorry, I'm late, as you can see. but there was the biggest squiikik i never saw before. Ehmm My name is Alanis, by the way"
Flying in after getting ready, Angel lands next to Angus, looking him over, "My Lord, how am I ever going to teach you to fly right if you take off for some adventure?" she asks, looking around to everyone. She has wrapping on her hind paws, and is willing to bet hard tallons for forehands would keep any biting things off of them. She has a modified face mask covering all but a slit for her eyes. Wings poking out the back of some very specially made leather clothing, that is slightly too small on her in this form, but, she would live. A long cloak, which she folds her wings under. Looking over, she recognizes Maz, giving him a slight head nod, then over to the horse, tilting her head, friend.. foe.. or victum. She didn't even need to think on the fox that comes landing in, a frienemy, that one.
"Well, then. Down to business, then - as was mentioned in the job request, there've been noises coming from within the deep swamp. Apparently, some of the folk who went out to fix the boardwalks swear up and down by the Creators that they managed to hear voices while out there - I'd be more dismissive of them if they'd obviously tried to embellish the tale, but no, what they apparently heard were just normal folk speaking. Couldn't make out what, but it was definitely someone.
"Which is why I'm a bit worried, to be honest - it doesn't sound like something someone would make up just for attention, and there's no reason for anyone save the likes of me to be out there that deep into the muck. As I said, would go myself...but apparently this is what folks want, so who am I to complain? I'll answer any questions you may have, and then we'll be off."
Angus smirks as more being appear. "Ah, Maz, Angel, Alanis. How are you three!" He greets, before he notices Dupree as well and gives them a wave. At the mention of flying he loses color in his face, shaking his head a bit. "Um...ya-ya, you're right." He comments, the fox had only ever learned to fly using air magic, but wings? That should be intresting. Turning back to the ranger he gives him a smile. "Well then, lets not waste time chatting then...."
Dupree pricks her ears at the briefing. Voices speaking? Only one thing to do. She raised a hand to her mouth and called--"Hello, Voices? This is Dupree! We're coming to help you!" Glancing around with those misaligned eyes, she keeps her ears high ,although she hears no response besides a distant local telling her to "shut that yap, ya daft mare!"
Alanis step forward and says "I have a question, Could we send someone flying to check what ahead?"
Mazurek isn't surprised that his query regarding the temporary home isn't answered. It would happen in due course, really. He salutes Angus when addressed and nods to Angel, "Greetings to you, Lord Angus, Lady Angel. What's this about Angus needing to learn how to fly?" Then he turns a quizzical look toward Dupree, "Are you feeling okay, miss?" Then to the Ranger, "Since we're headed into the deep swamp, do you have some of those masks on the off chance that we hit those gas pockets?"
Angel nods to the ranger, "Well.. seems even more work needs doing here.." she says, "Is this a common thing, do you not have help of your own?" she asks, rolling her eyes a moment. "My Lord, whenever you are ready to begin then." she asys, eyeing Maz a moment, "Do I really look like a lady. Do I really, honestly, look like the lady type?" she asks.
The ranger quirks an eyebrow. "Flying? You could, but you'd never see anything through the canopy. And masks...nah, have you forgotten? Just use the same chakra we gave you the last time, that should adeuately protect you from the gas." With that, he hands out a chakra crystal to everyone who doesn't have one.
"It's not a common thing. No one should be out there except the likes of me, and the locals know well enough to stay away. What I intend to do is just have a look-see, and then take it from there. If there's nothing else, we can be setting off." With that, he turns and motions down the boardwalks.
Angus hears more comments about flying and pulls the brim of his hat down a bit, with a shaky hand. "It's nothing Maz....and I'll keep that in mind Angel." He murmurs, tail flickign as he follows after the Ranger. "Wait, what? I think I might of lost that chakra you gave me...."
Alanis place her chakra on her breast. "Ok, I'm ready. Ahmmm... what other things will we see there..?"
As she follows after the Ranger, Dupree turns to the Draconian, smiling broadly. "Oh, I feel wonderful, sir! What about you?" she asks breezily ,not a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
Mazurek makes sure his chakra crystal is present in his pendant before he also does the same with Angus, "It has to be something if it was brought up so suddenly, Angus. I'll help you with it if she'll let me." He then smiles to Angel, "You're still noble in your actions even if you aren't of the Nobility." He takes up the rear of the group, being the largest and all that. Heck, he's almost twice the height of everyone else.
Mazurek makes sure his chakra crystal is present in his pendant before he also does the same with Angus, "It has to be something if it was brought up so suddenly, Angus. I'll help you with it if she'll let me." He then smiles to Angel, "You're still noble in your actions even if you aren't of the Nobility." He takes up the rear of the group, being the largest and all that. Heck, he's almost twice the height of everyone else. To Dupree he smiles and nods, "Just fine, just like most days." A claw is held out to her, "My callsign within the Lightbringers is Lunch. What's yours?"
Angel takes a crystal and afixes it to her pendent. She looks to Angus, "Are you sure you shouldn't be doing some flying?" she asks. Walking along with the ranger, she keeps to the boardwalks. Looking to Maz this time, "Noble... in my actions, no, you don't think..." she looks around again, no way she was 'noble'. Well, nothing she could do about it now, or.. maybe. For now she just follows along.
The sun sinks a little lower as everyone sets out, but that wouldn't have mattered anyway, considering how thick the canopy quickly becomes as one leaves the boardwalks - even the light of midday would have a hard time penetrating through to the mud below. In the muck, somewhere, out there, is the sole of Angus' boot - if it hasn't completely decayed by now, of course. Considering the swamp's environment, the latter is the most likely outcome. It's about an hour before everyone reaches a spot a good distance past the ranger shack - the light is dim, with the calls of the local fauna seeming even louder in the darkness.
"Yeah, this is the general are where the folks said they heard the voices," Francis says, nonchalantly waggling an arm. "Not sure what we're looking for or what you'll find, but one's still getting paid, I suppose. Look around but stick together, watch your footing, and don't wander off. Easy to get lost and stuck in here."
Angus nods a bit to the Ranger as he moves away from the group. "I'm just not that comfortable with flying with wings, as I've never done that before." He frowns as he stops walking, something felt off, and odd pressure starting to build in his skull as he walks. "....Think I got something..." He comments aloud, drawing his Rapier as he takes a few more steps forward, watching his foot a bit as he keeps his eyes moving to scan for anything unfamiliar.
Alanis walks with caution. Avoiding every little pool. She covers her nose. The swamp smell is very strong. It's permeeating in her clothes and boots. It's going to be a hell to remove the smell for the manor's maids. She lifts her tail as high as she can. "So, what kind of thing are we looking for? voices and sounds?"
Dupree takes Maz's hand as they troop along, with a shake and a barely-supressed giggle. "Lunch! Hee..." Trailing off, she gives him an uneven blink, focusing on him with one eye whil"e the other seems to peer ahead. "Oh, I'm not a member yet, I don't think. The Fox," she nods towards Angus, "said he would tell me more of them, but he hasn't yet." Her smile dims slightly at this.
Mazurek does not release Dupree's hand during the trip, more for her benefit than his own. His steps are long and slow, more sure than anyone else's at the moment. Being barefoot does have its advantages and all, what with not needing to worry about losing anything, "I met the group leader over some lunch out on the beach. I was meditating on the beach at the time. I will leave it up to the Fox to tell you about it. His name is Angus, by the way." After that hour passes he obeys the request and splits off from the others, beginning his search for anything suspicious.
Angel walks beside Angus the whole way, but when she notices he acting funny, she looks around, "My Lord, is something wrong?" she asks. She quickly swaps her soul gem around hoping to be of help in a moment, should this be some dark magic working over her lord and master. She isn't sure being a griffen is the best idea right now, but it is what she chose to be. She looks around with her keen eyes, trying to spot anything that might cause trouble, but, perhaps hearing would have been better.
Indeed, the presence troubling Angus becomes more prominent as he approaches that direction, intensifying to a throbbing headache that thankfully at least doesn't get any worse. Those following him don't seem so affected, though, for some reason or the other - one can only guess at why, although there might be a few good guesses. Eventually, though, this strange Angus-sense leads everyone to a clearing of sorts, called as much only because the trees have parted ever so slightly about the roots of a number of fetid pools.
It seems like someone was making a lot of compost here - and it smells like that, too, with bits of plant matter and other bits and pieces slowly sinking into the tar pits. Everyone's chakra protects them from the worst of the fetid gases rising from the pools, but there's not much that can be done for the smell - it burns the tongue, even if one breathes through their mouth. Every now and then a large bubble rises to the surface, popping with a splut.
Angus frowns, grinding his teeth together as a headache starts up. "Something is wrong...." He comments to Angel as he turns his head this way and that to see if there was anything around, anything that could actually explain why he was now having a headache.
Alanis gets closer to the clearing. This smell, it's quite strong here. Well, maybe it's a good thing, with such stinky clothes, she can go to the market a buy new boots and maybe a jacket. Wait. This smell. "Do you know? this smell, Could this be that kind of gas that explode with fire? The kind of fire from fire swords and fire magic?"
As the gang ventures ever deeper into the miasma, a fog envelops Dupree as she lags behind...and as a swamp bubble surfaces with a wet splut, the haze disappears, and she with it.
Mazurek ends up following Angus when he finally notices the fox acting strangely. Of course it is with the help of Angel that he finally notices, but still... The stench is definitely overpowering, especially for one as tall as he is. Things rise that might want to fall instead, after all. Gagging, he actually decides to hold his breath for now so his throat doesn't suffer the consequences even though his eyes are now watering. Blasted stench.
Angel gags a bit on the stench herself, wondering about, and trying to figure out what could be plaguing her lord. She looks around, being very careful, and examining the tar pits first, trying to keep her foot safe, and figure out where that feeling of darkness was coming from. She examines closely anything she comes across, but doesn't let Angus out of her sight. When she notices that Dupree was missing she looks around, "Wait... aren't we short a horse?"
When it comes down to it, then darkness seems to be coming from the pools themselves - however, they don't seem to be reacting aggressively, as a shadow nest might be expected to when faced with a potential threat. They don't look much like that, though, instead more like...well, tar pits.
"It's clear that someone's been here," Francis mutters. "You can tell by the signs." What signs, though, are a little unclear, and he doesn't elaborate. "And there goes one, just as I feared. You folks stay here and look around. I'll go search for our missing mare. Holler out if you find anything."
Angus rubs at his muzzle with his right hand gently, his headache getting to the point where it was just annoying as he walks over to one of the tar pits. What was causing his headache? He stands at the edge of the pit, staring into it as his tail twitches before he moves over to where the compost smell was coming from.
The dragon...well. He was holding his breath here. He couldn't tell one way or the other what was foul and what was not. He finally brings a claw up to the front of his muzzle and resumes breathing, using his own scent as a cover for the stench. it is in this manner that he finally speaks while heading toward another of the pits for his own inspection, "Any idea what we are looking for, exactly, Angus?" Muffled voice, slightly nasal.
Angel doesn't waste time asking questions, and instead looks around, shadow things were about, darkness around, but she couldn't pin point it yet. So, next she scouts around for signs of someone coming through, like Francis says. "My Lord, leave, don't let yourself be hurt here, nor taken, I don't think I could live with what that would bring or mean." She says, as she tries to scout about and find anything out of the ordinary.
Angus shakes his heade, sheathing his blade as he sighs. "No Angel, we have to find out what is wrong here." He mutters, his ears flicking as he turns to give Maz a bland look. "I have no idea what this is, but its coming from the pit..." Taking a step back he breathes deeply, an eyebrow raised in thought as he walks up to one of the trees. Staring at the markings etched into the bark. "...What in the name of the Creators....Are these....mathemagics?" He asks a little in surprise, just staring in confusion.
Mazurek shakes his head, getting a little lightheaded just from breathing in the fumes again, his tongue tingling from that horrendous taste. Without another word, he holds his breath and heads away from the remainder of the group to investigate the pit itself. He probably won't see much or be of help but it's a start, right?
Angel hears Angus' words and bound over to him, looking over the etchings herself, taking them in, memorizing them to compair them against her limited knowledge. "Coming from the pit?" she asks. She was going to have to be careful, for more then just herself, so, as cautiously and with as little sound as she can, she creeps over toward the pit, trying to feel for anything unusual or out of the ordinary, hoping her sight, or her limited math capacities would help her, but, she decides to take a moment, erecting some defence for herself if something should go wrong, uttering her twisted math, to form the darkness into her own personal barrior.
At length, Francis returns, looking a little more wearing than he was than when he left. "Found her. Silly bint got stuck in some mud and had to pull her out, thankfully it wasn't too bad or deep. Now, what'd you find...?" He listens as everyone recounts their findings, especially Angus, then turns his attention to the carvings on the trees. "These here things are pretty old - you can see there're spots where the bark has already started to regrow. They've been out here for two weeks, maybe three, but it's a definite sign that someone's been around here. And dark magic, you say?"
He scratched his head. "Don't know much about that, but could ask Gordon to come out and have a look. Still, if folk were here, that means voices weren't too out of the question - and if they were recent means they're still somewhere out there. Not here, though, this place hasn't been used in a while, I'd gather."
Angus shrugs. "All I can say is that this is just to wierd. Think you might need to get the crown involved honestly." The fox offers his opinion, weather or not the ranger takes his advice is their problem as he turns around and eyes the pit a little warily as he takes a step back. "All I can say is, my head hurts."
Mazurek stops when the ranger returns, and starts off again shortly after the reports are given. He has nothing to report, himself...but he stops yet again when mention of the Crown is made. He breaks his new silence by asking, "Is this going to turn into an official mission for the Lightbringers?"
Shadows and old ones. Angel hasn't had a personal run in with either in a long long time, and didn't want to have another, but, if it meant her master was in danger, then she'd have another run in. She growls in her through, "And here I though I could be a bit better then that fool of a vixen..." she says to herself, looking back to Angus, "My Lord, I'm taking you out of here, you gave me permission to tell you when you are thinking foolishly, and you are thinking foolishly right now, if the shadows of this place are effecting your head so viciously, you need to leave, now, either we walk you out of here, or I'm going to pick you up and fly you out by force." she says, then looks to Francis, "Shadows or maybe old ones, have taking up here, this is a mission for those more well prepared for this. Maybe a few that can use these 'spirits' I've heard about, or the 'crown'." There is a tone of distaste for both options though, "But I am getting My Lord out of here before anything worse happens."
Francis nods at Angel's words, and hurriedly ushers everyone out. "I don't have a good feeling about this place, either. I'll send in my own report, maybe get someone in from the Academy to take a look at this. For now, though, let's get out of here." With that, he leads everyone out of this place and back to the boardwalks posthaste.
