Purification - RPLOG
Participants
Date
30/11/476
Log
With the onset of winter, the coastal swamps are muted. While they don't freeze over, the cold has nevertheless quietened things down considerably as most of the swamp fauna has gone into hibernation.
Today, a group of academicians has gathered at a certain spot in the deep mire, under heavy guard by a contingent of hired swords and rangers alike. There doesn't seem to be anyone distinctly in charge - at least, not with the way they've begun squabbling over how to best deal with the sundered stone altar that until recently was a dedication point.
Rixo shuffles up towards the group and tugs her helmet off, tucking it under her arm as she watches the debate. "So. I'm assuming this is the place, then. Intellectuals always argue when they get together."
Staff in hand Angus approaches, his new golem following doggedly behind him through the rough terrain. "Good evening everyone, I assume we are here for that?" He asks of no one in particular as he points to wards the destroyed dedication point, giving Rixo a tip of the hat in greeting as his golem slides up behind him and stands idly.
Kurzon's pressence is one that should have perhaps been expected, certainly his manner and mindset have always drawn him to this place. With his cloak pulled up and his armor fastened and girded against the cold, he is as often a ebon monoilith standing tall amidst beings. His golden gaze upon the ruins, his notebook open before him , the cowl of his cloak lit by burning lines of force that speak of his desire to purge and see more assistance in purging evil be brought forth.
"I am ready when you come to a consensus, having sketched the pieces I can see, we can perhaps speculate on the arrangement and repairs.
"
Issi slogs though the bog towards the shattered artefact, thinking that now she's more ready to face what's here. She has a little knowledge of spellcraft, for now she is just here to make sure nothing further happens. Signing to the group of squabblers. (This is not the time nor the place for this.)
"There is a great difference between arguments and debates," Falx intones to Rixo as he approaches, "though this seems more of the former." He mainly returned because of his presence before, as well as his more than passing interest in creator technology. He gives a quick glance to Angus and his golem as well as one to Kurzon and Issi. His gaze fixes on Kurzon a moment when he states, "Repairs may not be as simple as placing parts where they belong, there could easily be more involved." He then looks to the artifact, simply stating, "Would it not be best for someone knowledgable in the appropriate fields to provide insight as to the first step in reparation?"
Selena sighs quietly as she makes her way through the swamp, laughing quietly at the 'discourse'. Angus's golem prompts a somewhat suprised look from the wolfess, then an almost slightly disappointed one when she recognises the fox responsible for it. "Angus, I didn't realise you were making these things too." She greets, looking about for a moment. "And Rixo, I haven't seen you in a very long time. Have you been all right?"
Turning her attention to the wreckage itself, she shakes her head in response to the wasp - "Frankly, I think it'd be ill-advised to reconstruct any dedication site here of all places. Better to record the math used and build one elsewhere, so a certain old one can't just take it again."
"This thing is clearly damaged beyond all use. We should write it off completely and forget that we ever took the time to come out here."
"There's the matter of Creator Steel! Besides, even if it's beyond salvaging, could it not be studied to see how it was -"
"I'm not comfortable with having that thing around me. Have you read the reports on how it ended up this way?"
"But...creator steel!"
The back and forth is aggravating, but at least Selena's presence and words have a little more clout than the average being's would. At least, everyone seems to agree that trying to recreate it here would be quite silly, and that it should be studied in further detail, but the rest is up in the air. Perhaps someone should examine the wrecked artifact in closer detail, and then perhaps devise a plan as to what to do. These poor fellows simply don't - but that's the problem with fieldwork without a clearly-defined goal.
Rixo smiles at Selana and nods. "Yes, it has been a while! I decided to wander for a bit, as usual, but I am back now! And I have been well, yes." She looks over at the researchers and shrugs to herself, content to let them speak amongst themselves for now.
Angus turns to face Selena as she speaks. "Ya, Sierra helped me create this Golem....I've been messing around ever since." He smiles a bit before he focuses back on the problem at hand, stepping up to the dedication point to study it. "Why not just carry it back? Get a few carts, and a lot of strong backs."
Kurzon's expression is thankfully unreadable in his cowl as he looks back at the wasp. But rather than waste energy or time he moves on, taking the slight with stoicism. Instead he uses the time and energy to continue the examination he'd begun when he started sketching, now taking a moment to label or describe the remaining parts in his notes. "There is much I don't recognise at a glance, we will need to examine this at length to decide how to make repairs, I pray we can even fabricate replacements for some of these finer parts. If we are to attempt dissassembly, we must be careful in the cataloguing of parts and connection points and order of arrangement."
Issi just shakes her head, where or when this thing is repaired will be moot, if it still carries Old One influence. Even if it doesn't right now, Selena is right, building it here wouldn't help. She walks as close to the broken shards as she could, taking out her staff just in case. Maybe this will be the time where the pact comes in handy.
Falx listens to the bickering and shakes his head. "Spellcraft is only part of this equation," he states directly. "As we are dealing with a Creator Artifact, someone knowledgable in such a field will be needed as well." He glances around, then asks, "Why is no Priest of such present for these dealings?" He shakes his head and looks to the artifact. However, he is unable to get a good enough idea of what he's actually looking at at the moment." Perhaps I could get a closer, maybe more in-depth, look, if that would be possible?"
Selena shakes her head as the suggestion is made to carry it back -- "Angus, the problem with that is one, this is a swamp. Two, carrying a full dedication spot like this out would necessitate completely destroying it. That said, more of the math on this wreck is illegible than not, and some is corrupted in its own right." She replies, moving in a bit further to get a closer look at the remaining magic. "For the purposes of this, Falx, I'd treat this as a broken spell, if only to avoid unnecessary zealotry - if a priest is present, then I expect they'd have said their piece already. Dedication points are artifacts, yes, but they aren't as poorly documented as the workings of the creator machines. This IS a spell, for all intents and purposes - just a very complicated one that I wouldn't want to tamper with if I valued my skin."
The academics look at each other, shrug, and must have decided that Falx's request clearly isn't a problem. "Sure," one of them says, before turning to Selena. "Go ahead and have a closer look at it. We're more or less just trying to figure out what's to be done now. Breaking it apart wouldn't be a completely bad idea, but what's this you say about corruption? As far as we can tell, there's nothing on it. It's dead. Clean. Nothing. Zilch." The fellow raps on it with his knuckles. "Breaking it apart wouldn't be too bad, though - I'm sure we can go back and ask to loan a number of creator scorchers to do the cutting work with. Creator steel is immensely valuable in its own right, after all - we wouldn't have to worry about funding the faculty for the rest of the year, at least."
Rixo approaches the dedication point and leans over a little, peering at it. "Valuable is one way to put it, yes. I suppose if that's what everyone thinks is best, I'm fine with it! Seems like a waste, though. I wonder how much history this thing has seen."
Angus was leaning over, about to poke it with his staff to see if anything was going to explode... "Selena's right, would be rather bad if we moved it. Besides, you really want something that was covered in an Old ones slime to be in Firmament? I really don't want to bury more beings if you're wrong about the corruption."
Break it down for salvage!?!?! Kurzon has to restrain his emotions on the topic, though he does rise to his feet in response, putting his notes away to turn his attention upon the others present.
"So we have come to a point of not moving it, not tampering and....breaking it down for...../salvage/? Is this really where we are going?"
Issi keeps hovering around the shattered aretefact, and keeps silent. Though she has to agree, just breaking it down for salvage is a worthless idea. More study of this thing would be optimal, though then again, if it is corrupt that might be moot. She elects to tap one of the shards lightly with her staff, just to see what happens.
Falx shakes his head as he approaches the artifact, though has yet to take a more in-depth look at it. "Despite the magic, it remains an artifact." He looks to Selena. "Would it not be useful to understand, on some level, the inner workings before attempting to reconstruct elsewhere?" He also looks to the academics as they talk about the value of Creator Steel. "I do agree that removing it from the swamp would not be exactly easy or perhaps even worth it, though it could be salvaged and the materials used to construct another elsewhere." Despite speaking of salvaging it, he is also against simply selling said salvage of it. Back to Selena. "Nonetheless, my question stands: Would or would not more knowledge of the artifact itself serve a positive purpose in constructing one elsewhere?"
Selena continues moving about the rubble intently, as though searching for something. It takes a few minutes of largely ignoring the conversation above in favor of close scrutiny before she moves back up and clears her throat.
"Simply put, there's a spell inlaid on this rubble that's set to trigger when a large congregation of beings is in the area. At that point, some kind of plague would infect those in the nearby area." She states loudly - and with a uniquely severe tone of voice - though it's questionable if such a claim would be respected. "Given this is the work of an old one, it's questionable if a being breaking up the remains would negate the effect, trigger it immediately or cause it to emanate from all the parts."
That said, she turns back to falx and shakes her head. "It's no different from any other multipartite spell as far as I've seen. If you didn't hear me before, the majority of the math on this relic is unintelligible from the damage to it. I'm not going to repeat that again. If we were going to tear apart a dedication point and examine it in detail, I'd suggest the Kitsune or Dragon points, as there's a lot more information regarding those dedications and both points are more easily accessible and intact."
Rixo folds her arms and nods. "I would love to learn more about it. I still think it would be a waste to destroy it and sell it." She shakes her head and steps back to look amongst the others. "Either way, we can't just stand around here forever- or at least I don't want to. So. How should we proceed, hmm?"
Angus starts poking it with his staff. "You're telling me that you want to melt down a sight for a dedication because you want more crown?" That definitly didn't sit well with the fox, standing up to make a comment. Before Selena's words stop him cold. "....Ah, I see. Someones a dirty, rotten, cheater." He mutters, not expecting to be right when he spoke earlier of what would happen if this was brought back...
Kurzon's hands stray reflexively to his hammer and token in turn, his cowled features little more than shifting silver patterns of blazing force.
"There is no further discussion required on this matter. We already have a fair number here as it is, we are fortunate to not have already triggered the trap. We will /not/ be breaking it down, nor transporting it. This site needs to be barred and proteced until it can be properly purified..."
He pauses for a moment before his stride has him towering over Issi and her staff before growling out a hopeful query. "Do you think your patron's power would be capable?"
Issi blinks and looks up at Kurzon, shaking her head, signing (Its possible. I don't know the extent of my power within the pact, however I am more than willing to try. Such a curse should not be unleashed on anyone.) She looks at her staff pensivly for a moment, will the spell go off if she fails? (What do you need me to do?)
Falx huffs at Selena's reaction. "Stubborness doesn't mean deaf," he replies in mostly monotone. He also doesn't move much at the statements. "As for the spell, either it's too late and we are all doomed to be infected or the congregation around it is currently not large enough for the effect." Back to the artifact. "Nonetheless, such a presence upon the artifact implies that any actions involving it currently can be considered impossible until the corruption is lifted." He gives a cursory glance to Angus for his statement, noting his own personal agreement. However, he also turns to Kurzon and Issi, though remains silent, quite curious as to the situation as it unfolds.
Selena looks back to Anus as he announces his own position - "I'm curious what made you think there was some kind of trap here, Angus. That said, you have more experience with... Ahem, that old one than any other person here." She comments, settling herself down. "I am curious if this constitues a breach of 'the rules' though." She muses.
"Well, Falx, if I wasn't clear enough the first time..." She replies simply - "But yes, evidently it's set for a significant number of beings. For example, the number you'd find in some part of Firmament." Blunt enough, at least. "I don't think Kendrac's abilities extend to inanimate objects either."
Rixo rubs her face with a plated hand and looks at Kurzon. "Well, if we don't have any better ideas perhaps we should do as he suggests. If we cannot remove the corruption now, perhaps we should try to quarantine the place til we can."
Angus perks his ears up and turns to Selena. "Hm? Nasty, sneak, strikes from the shadows, acts big and bad but he's a coward. That's what the old one that we are up against is." Turning to Kurzon he tilts his head, rolling his eyes a bit as he leans against his staff. Curious as to see if he can help in this somehow.
Kurzon is fairly certain of what he'd like to try on this matter, so he is rather direct in manner when he next speaks.
"I thank you revered scholars for your efforts thus far, but I am instructing you now to pack up and withdraw from proximity, we will not be tampering willy nilly with this site...Lord Solacious!"
Turning as he speaks, he lowers his cowl, silver chevrons, helixes and other lines of force burning across his grim features as he addresses the noble respectfully.
"Do you think yourself and this small miss could combine your desires in an attempt to pruify this site whilst I use my body in an attempt to shield you from harm? After an attempt we can Ask the good miss Selena to look again to see if your efforts were fruitful or if we need just bar this place from public access."
Issi nods to Angus. If one wasn't enough, then two might. She signs (It may be worth it to dispel the Old One's work. I don't know if I can do it alone, but I will be putting as much power as I can into it.) With that said, or signed, she stands in the middle of the wreck. Planting her staff onto the biggest chunk she could find and starts to concentrate. Taking deep breaths to keep her focus, despite a lingering nervousness hanging around her.
Falx shakes his headat Selena. "The point I was making," he intones. "However, if purification is possible, that avenue should at least be explored to see if it can be utilized to prevent the artifact from staying pointlessly dangerous." He does, though, take a step back as Kurzon starts to speak to Issi and Angus. He is also prepared to pull back at least somewhat, though is ready to at least attempt to protect Kurzon should anything happen. With what he has in mind, doing it pointlessly could become more trouble than it's worth.
Selena looks back over the wreckage then to Angus and Kurzon. "Well, if you think you can deal with this, then I'm not going to stop you. I'm not comfortable with the possibility of something going wrong at all, I don't know a lot about Ser'ther either." She replies, hanging back a little behind the others and watching intently as they focus themselves.
Rixo shuffles off to seat herself on a root, watching the others. She had no spirits to call on to aid in the task, so she would just remain ready to help if things turned violent for whatever reason.
Clearly relieved that someone is content to take command - or at least, have someone who knows what they're doing. With impressive speed, they clear out the area, giving folks enough space to do as they please.
Angus blinks, ears folding a bit as he's met with a booming voice calling him Lord Solacious. "....No need for formalities ya walking night light." He teases, a little more then just nervous as he has done absolutly nothing like this yet. With a nod to Issi he walks up to stand next to her, taking a deep breath as he plants his staff on the chunk right next to hers. "Well....wish us luck." He comments, flashing Falx a smile before he closes his eyes and starts to focus.
Issi can't see Angus, but she can hear him. She gives a nod, keeping her eyes closed. She feels a little more confidant that the purification will work, putting her mind a little more at ease. The serpent grips her staff a little tighter, giving as much as she can to the purification.
Falx positions himself near Kurzon, Angus, and Issi, though also out of the way, knowing Kurzon will attempt o place himself in harms way should anything go wrong. He also keeps an eye on Issi and Angus, preparing to do whatever is necessary to protect those working to purify, or protect the purifiers. Just in case the attempt at removing the corruption causes the effect to occur anyway.
The air is tense, with plenty of observers present, watching and just waiting for something to happen. Several moments pass, but it's not immediately apparent as to whether things have worked or not - not that it's supposed to have been immediately obvious anyway, considering how subtle the initial trigger was. There's a brief resistance, but neither of them is sure whether it's been overcome or not.
Rixo leans back, folding her arms behind her head. "Try not to break anything, now. Don't need some angry old ones to come be upset with us, eh?"
Angus concentrates, pushing out anything that might be a distraction as his breathing slows. He did not know if what he was doing was actually helping, but he was at least going to try and he keeps the butt of his staff resting on the piece of Creator steel beside him.
Issi can't think of wether or not she was helping, only hoping she was and keeping her mind on the task at hand. By now her head was resting on the end of her staff. If this works, it purges a massive threat but there is still the question on if this fails. She knows she may be safe, and Angus, but what about the others? What happens to them?
Falx remains prepared near the three of them, unsure as to if it's succeeding or not, or even if they were going to set off the trap. Even with such magic, perhaps even a mathemagic defense would suffice in protecting the purifiers. Hopefully.
Selena moves around the wreck cautiously until she reaches the part she was examining prior to the purification attempt, studying the math engraved on the surface carefully, pouring over it for a good few minutes - though it's difficult to tell if it's only one check or several to be absolutely certain. With a final tap of her foot against the surface of the rubble she announces; "From what I can tell the effect's been dispelled. The trigger might still be there, but there's nothing for it to do. It's just fizzle."
One might have expected a bit more flash and show, but subtle is as subtle gets. To be otherwise would be out of character, to put it that way. Nevertheless, some of the more skeptical academics wander over after the all-clear has been given, poking and prodding, trying to find something which they didn't sense and still don't now. There's still the matter of what to be done with the remains, but at least the threat is dispelled for now. That can be saved for another time, it seems.
