Farm Fortune - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
19/4/477
Log
The day is nice and clear today, and the farms smell of upsprung flora. Workers can be seen going to and fro about their business, and in the middle of a crossroads stand a serpent. She looks at a piece of paper and smiles as she stretches, waiting for her requested help to arrive, humming gently to herself. She eyes a squirkik, who in turn eyes her from time to time, a silent battle of will and the occasional spark in the air offering a glimpse into her mindset.
Cassidy doesn't take long at all to get on the scene. She missed out on finding shiny things last time, and she wasn't about to have a repeat issue of that, even if she had to kill someone! Hopefully she wouldn't. But either way, she responded to the call of treasure, all done up in her battle garb, but leaving her cowl and mask pulled down. "Are we looking for anything in particular?" She asks with a little wave as she approaches the serpent, a soft smile on her face.
A treasure hunt! That certainly sounded like a lot of fun to Cedric. It had been a while since he'd gone on a good treasure hunt. He couldn't resist, and had made his way from Firmament down to the farm to find out more about the job. Upon arriving at the farm, he spotted the familiar serpent at the crossroads, and began his approach casually towards her with a wave. "Hello! I heard you were looking for some assistance!" he exclaims happily in greeting.
Glein isn't far behind Cedric, figuring he'd tag along. After all, everything he'd been seeing so far, he was gonna need coin to get his buearu set up, and who knows, a treasure hunt could likely provide some good amount of start-up funding to at teh very least get the right location. That is, if those particpating were earning a portion of the earnings. If not, well, it'd be a good chance to see who else was joining and maybe build connections and contacts with them.
A flick of Flora's tails, and she rides in on her golem like usual, her ears twitching a tad. "Flora... Flora isn't sure about this, but it's better than doing nothing, yes yes. And maybe it'll be fun, yes."
Matthews humms gently as he makes his way shortly behind Flora, his usual fair of clothing replaced by medium thickness leather and a black leather jacket. His bow slung upon his back and almost comically enough, a parasoul tucked below his arm as his right hand straightens his hair. "Trust me, it'll be fun... Besides, you cannot stay in the lab all day. Well, you could, but it'd be a tad bit unhealthy I think M'lady."
While not a treasure hunter in the traditional sense, Kaelli was always on the lookout for new and interesting things. As such, the pale feline arrived at the farm in battle garb. Today, that consisted of heavy fullplate, a massive tower shield and a spear on hand. Humming a jaunty little tune, the feline made her way to the gathering and hefted her spear briefly in greeting to those she knew.
Bite stands staring for a few moments, apparently lost in though, but when Cassidy and Cedric speak to her she jumps in place, the squirkik lighting aflame. The creature runs around a bit, finaly darting off away from its attackers. The serpent who caused this turns and smiles to the arriving group, looking them over. "Hello sssweeties, it's nice to see you all. And hello Miss Flora!" The serpent lets everyone get in closer and hisses "So, a farmer died a few days ago. It's not a big surprise, but he had no Kin. What he did have, was a treasure, and I have a map! It's buried somewhere beneath his property! I'd like help so it doesn't take me all day to find it, will you help me sssweeties?"
Cassidy folds her arms and glances around at the others before nodding. "Sure, why not. I'm not the diggiest person, but I'm pretty okay at finding things, I like to think. Strange that he has a treasure map of the farm! I half expect it to be like... A dead loved one that he had buried."
Cedric waves to the other beings who've gathered before he gives Bite a dubious glance, his eyes wandering towards the map for a moment. "Seems awful... distasteful to go searching for a dead man's treasure while his body's not even cold yet." he says, although his tone sounds a bit more like teasing than actual displeasure with the idea. "But if he has no next of kin to inherit... we might as well take a look, yeah? I'm in." he adds, grinning brightly to the serpent. He does rather like the idea of treasure, even if the acquisition of said treasure might be a touch on the ghastly side...
Thinking on the matter a moment, Glein shrugs. "Not much else I got going on, and who knows, might be worthwhile for us, and the deceased." He says, nodding. He had his weapons on under his cloak, but no need to point that out. If this was just an old man's little secret, there'd be no need for fighting. If it was more, well, they'd find out as they looked.
"Flora could be in the lab all day just fine... Flora also works on other things, though. Flora has been thinking on a new golem-design, yes. And Flora's getting hungry again," she mumbles, shrugging lightly, before looking towards Bite. "Does... Is miss Bite sure we should be doing this?" she finally asks, her head canted a tad to the side
Matthews chuckles gently as she adjusts the parasoul under his arm before giving a bow to those present, smirking as Flora speaks. "Fair enough, but a little extra side event never hurt really... And what do you mean you're hungry? It hasn't been that long since lunch... None the less, I can make a grilled chicken for you when we get back to the manor M'lady." He clears his throat for a moment before looking to Bite and them with a smile. "Treasure? Do we have any indication what it is, and if you know of it how many others do as well Ma'am?"
"Farmer's treasure?" the tigress murmured aloud, musing over the thought and the prospect of digging across farm land. She'd need a good, long soak tonight. "Well! This could be fun." Glancing around the area, her tail swished in approval at being out of doors. Looking over, the feline's mismatched eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of Matthews and a small smile tugged at her lips as she recognized the man from Flora's sketch. It was good that the other tigress had located her friend. To that end, Kaelli paused a moment to incline her head in a polite greeting to Flora before she refocused her attention on Bite. "Was the farmer..ah..a friend? Con..dol..ences if they were." Having a bit of trouble on her pronunciation, the woman's accent made the longer word a bit sharp as she took her time with the syllables.
Bite nods to Kaelli."Yes, but I knew it was coming for a while. He gave me the map, if he told anyone else I might be a little cross but considering he told me I have every right to go and take his most prized posession, if only to keep it safe when someone tries to get that place for themselves, it was a really nice farm." she hisses and grins. "SO! We should be doing this before it gets dark!" she announces and leads the way over towards a rather standard farmers house, with a neatly cared for bit of land just behind it. There is a lone horse within a confined pin, who Bite frowns at. "Sssweeties I'm going to divy out a little bit of help to all of you and put you in a few areas to look, while I tend to Tum-Tum, I hope, and then I'll join you. I don't know how long they've been stuck there all alone, someone was supposed to come get him he said."
Cassidy rubs her chin and points towards one of the x's and glances around to try to recognize where it might be in the real world. "I think I'll go looking for this one!" With without further hesitation, she sets off at a hasty pace, looking for a shovel as she goes. If worst comes to worst, she won't hesitate to use her hands.
Cedric nods, taking a look at the map and off towards the corresponding fences. "Seems simple enough..." he says confidently and pokes a finger at one of the other x's. "I think I'll start here then." the badger smiles and wanders off towards the direction of his target.
Glein looks over the map, and compares it to the environment around them on teh farm. Noting a corrisponding clear area on the farm with the area on the map, he looks for a cluster of x's he could check over. Seeing 2, he nods. "I'll handle these two." He states, pointing at the pair in question, and seached for a shovel quickly before heading to the location he'd chosen.
"Flora means she's hungry, yes. Means Flora wants something to eat. And it can't be that simple, no. Can't be those marks... It's a puzzle, Flora thinks... Are there any other things on the map?" she mumbles, frowning lightly as she looks about the area... "Marks are too evenly spaced, too," she mumbles..."
Matthews reaches into his back pouch, before holding some jerky up to Flora as he smiles. "Then it's a good thing I brought a snack for you M'lady. I have apples as well if you want them." He ponders for a moment as he reaches up to stroke his chin and look at the X's, before moving to finda shovel and head to the fence's. "Perhaps it is M'lady, you'd be better at solving it than I would... So I shall offer my hands as a shovel in the meantime."
Kaelli nods in turns, showing her understanding. All the same, the serpent was given a gentle hand upon the shoulder for the passing of a friend. Once the plan was laid out, the feline listened attentively and gazed down at the map while removing the outer layers of her heavy armour and securing it in her ever-present bag. As the others move off to their select spots, she gave another nod and set off to one of the remaining points to begin working. Luckily, the tigress preferred her items be utilitarian! As such, it didn't take her very long at all to juryrig a shovel from one of the larger sectional plates that formed her armour.
The serpent waves for FLora to follow her towards the horse, as she hisses "I'm not sure sssweetie. The marks are all concentrated along the fence and one corner of the farm." She hands Flora the map to look at, the farm depicted a little behind the times but rather accurate, most things where they should be. The more recent additions, the horse and his surroundings, are all that don't stand out immediately upon a glance. The group out digging do remarkably well for themselves, finding paydirt almost immediately
Cassidy finds a box! And it's not looking too good, so rather then try to bring it out, she decides to open it and... Well, that's not very fancy or loot-able at all. "Eugh. Let's just... Put this back." She nudges the lid closed over the deformed skeleton and takes a step back, glancing around towards the others.
The badger hadn't bothered to bring a shovel to his spot of choice, but it hardly mattered much! Cedric rolled up the sleeves of his tunic and prepared to get down and dirty, shovelling away at the ground with both hands and digging with all his might, getting himself absolutely filthly in the process as he proceeds to unearth a wooden chest that seems to be in serious disrepair. He manages to force the container open and finds within a carving of a Monkey Folk, and a note that seems to have been written by a very young being. Cedric turns the carving over in his dirt-covered hand to get a better look at it, glancing from the item to the note and chuckling. "Huh... that's kind of precious." he says to himself with a little grin.
Glein is digging away as he find a long box, sturdy and large. Not quite sure what he found, he digs around it, looking to see if he notices anything strange about it in the process. So far as he can tell, it's just a box.
Flora nods and points at Cassidy. "Miss cassidy found something... Flora doesn't even want to know about, by the looks of things. Mister Cedric found... A toy? Something like that. Doesn't sound like 'great treasure' to Flora. IF there is great treasure, it'll be somewhere not marked, but possible to figure out with the map, yes yes. And considering the only thing not marked on the map is... Here... Does miss Bite see where Flora is going?" she mumbles, pointing at the area on the map where the horse's pen would be.
Matthews takes his shovel and digs quickly, the tomcat working with a look of determination about his features as a nice mount of dirt pile up next to him... Until finally, he's hit something! Lifting a box from the hole, he flips it open and pulls the note inside out. Chuckling gently as he closes the box and sets it under his arm, rising from the hole as he turns to look at Flora and Bite before turning to march off slightly to start on the next X to dig in.
Also found a box! A rather sturdy, heavy duty looking box... Well, maybe that was a good sign? Not really paying attention to the others as curiosity over her own find took over, the feline kept digging to unearth more of the container and investigate further. Taking care to dig around the item, the tigress eventually unearthed enough of the long crate to feel secure in opening it without possibly damaging the unknown contents. Hefting the lid up, she encountered...well, that was just ill-luck! A large skeleton, Heavy Folk one would image. About to secure the lid to the burial crate once more, a glimmer caught her eye. There was something in the departed being's hands. Chewing momentarily on her lower lip, the feline was torn between curiosity and respect for the dead. Eventually, it was curiosity that won out and she reached out to try to retrieve the object to see exactly what it was. Murmuring a prayer for forgiveness all the while, the pale tigress tried to gingerly slip the item from the skeleton's grasp.
Bite nods. "Well! Then let us get Tum-Tum taken care of and have a look at that shall we?" she hisses with a smile, approaching the horse and taking it slow, ensuring to not spook the not her horse. After a while she leads him away from the enclosure. It looks like the group around them is having a lot of luck digging up random things on the farm. "Okay sssweeties let's get to it!"
Cassidy starts to shovel the dirt back onto the box she had dug up, whistling innocently. Nobody needed to know about this. It wouldn't look good on her reputation if a noble was caught digging up graves. "Did anyone find anything nice?" she calls out to the others.
Cedric sets the worn chest aside and pushes some of the dirt back into the hole he'd just messily dug. He folds the note back up and hearing Cassidy call out he wanders over to show her the carving of the ape being. "Yeah, a little trinket. I think a child must've made this. It's kind of cute though, right?" he chuckles.
Glein pulling a knife hidden in it's sheath on hsi back under teh sash, the wedges it into the side of hte box, along what appears to be a seem of sorts. Wedging it enough, and working the blade, he gets it open enough to get teh shovel wedged in, and using it as a lever, cranked open the box. Inside was a tall, decomposing skeleton. "Am I the only one to find a coffin with this?" He asked aloud, noting the box clasped in the skeleton's hands. Putting the shovel aside, he uses his knife again to pry the boney fingers apart to get at the box. Once done, he lifts it up, and opens the box carefully. Inside he finds... a jacket, clearly made for traveling. Putting it back in the box, and setting it aside, he closes the coffin again, and begins shoveling the dirt he'd dug up to cover the coffin again.
Flora smiles and sets to work. Or rather, she guides Tigris over, the large golem digging into the earth for the smaller tiger still on its back. Meanwhile, Flora looks towards the box a moment, her tails twitching behind her. "So... Flora concludes... Miss Cassidy found someone she doesn't even want to show to us, probably a dead being, yes... Flora can't think of much else... Mister Cedric found... A toy... Mister Glein found another dead being... Matthews found a box, and miss Kaelli... Miss Kaelli seemed hesitant as well. Wasn't an inherrently good thing either. Flora thinks that if Flora doesn't find anything, Flora still does better, on average. Flora is also not sure the owner was really a farmer anymore... And Flora isn't really hungry anymore, either," she mumbles as she looks at the remainder of her jerky.
Matthews sticks his shovel in the dirt as he sees Tigris begin to dig, making his way over to the two as he drums his fingers on the box. "So, figured out where all the treasure is supposed to be then eh?" His tail flicking gently behind him as he looks at the plethora of people finding dead bodies, before looking to Flora. "To be fair, bodies do make good compost..."
It was lovely.. Examining the item for any specific markings, Kaelli frowned and hoisted herself out of the hole. "There is..body here too. With expensive pin." the tigress called, confirming that situation. Why was there a body here? If one were to judge by the brooch alone, it would seem that this was a noble, or a merchant of no small success. Perhaps someone with a family heirloom? Either way, the feline was not quite keen on replacing the body until she knew why it was there. As other reported having found graves as well, the tigress' uncharacteristic frown deepened. "What IS this place?" she muttered aloud.
The diggers efforts are startling, going from horse droppings to dirt to dirt to a loud clank. The serpent looks back to Kaelli, hissing "It is a farm." before she reacts to the clank, tying the horse up she rushes over to hop the fence and see what has been uncovered. The golem has struck quite the large metal something. She begins to work her earth magics to help clear the way.
Cassidy starts to walk away from her grotesque mishap, stumbling a little as her paw catches on something. Thankfully, she doesn't fall on her face! She does, however, turn around to look at what seems to have nearly tripped her.
Cedric starts to head back towards the others, pocketing his find for now. He crosses the field back towards the horse stables.
Glein finishes reburying the coffin, and takes the time to look over the jacket itself now. The pattern is, strange. Looked like stripes of a sort. Picking it up, and walking towards the rest, he is pondering the item as he reaches the group. "Anyone recognize this pattern stitched on teh front of this coat?" He askes, holding up the jacket for others to see it.
"As much as... Flora appreciates Matthews being here, Flora did not need to hear that, no," she mumbles, frowning lightly, her tails twitching as she look at the large box and grinning. "See? Flora said this was the right spot... Though Flora won't be the one opening it, considering the bodies in the other holes, no. And Matthews? Unless Matthews makes it up to Flora, Matthews will spend the next three nights sleeping in the chair, yes."
Matthews frowns gently as he's threatened with the couch, pulling a apple from his bag to take a large bite out of. "Hmph... I thought it was funny at least, how about I make a chicken feast to make up for it hm?" His attention turning back to the find as he leans forward slightly, trying to wait and discover what's in it.
Kaelli sighed and nodded at the reply and seemed to have a thought on the tip of her tongue before the sound of metal against metal rang out. Dropping down, she quickly but carefully replaced the lid to secure the box before once more hoisting herself up and out to rush over and see what the other tigress had discovered! She would reinter the body once this business was over as a matter of course. It was quite the large task, after all..and it should be done properly. As Glein showed the jacket off, she leaned over to examine it for a moment before shaking her head. "Apologies friend Glein," the feline replied. "It is not familiar. Maybe..for looks?"
Matthews quickly leans over to whisper a quick promise to flora about the size and quality of the meal, before the tomcat's quick to depart back the way they came... He had to get out of trouble now after all, and he was certain he'd hear about what they found!
As the serpent helps unearth the object she opens it up, the large metal container filled to the brim with bits of scrap materials and crown! She does a happy dance as she giggles and smiles. "I think we found it!" she hisses and smiles, looking around. She turns to Flora and adds "You did really well, thank you for your help." she hisses before she moves down to see what exactly all of the contents are.
Cassidy looks down at her little blade in the grass and tilts her head, reaching down to scoop it up. "Huh. Strange thing to leave sitting around... Someone could get hurt," she muses... Giving a suspicious glance around, she quickly stashes it away in her bag and carries on about her business, wandering off towards the serpent.
Cedric wanders up to the pen where the horse is stabled, noticing the large unearthed box with an appreciative whistle. "Huh. Looks like you did pretty well over here!" the badger observes with a chuckle, no real hint of envy conveyed in his voice. All in all, he's pretty happy with the little trinket, making a note to check out that false bottom he noticed on it earlier when he's someplace more private. But even if there's no great hidden treasure in there, the carving is still charming to him in a quaint way.
Glein looks over the contents of the opened metal crate. "That's certainly a haul. Where do you think he got most of it?" He asks, folding the jacket back up and putting it in his pack. He'd have to ge it looked over some other time.
"Flora is... Quite sure Flora doesn't want it, no... If there are bodiees buried in the marked places, and crown in the unmrked one... Flora thinks she'd prefer the guards handle it, yes... Flora... Flora will be going now, unless someone has a reason for Flora to stay," she mumbles, with a rather wry look on her snout. "Flora really doesn't want to know what happened here, no."
Though a portion of her mind was occupied with the strange, strange custom of burying people in the yard and marking their resting places with Xs for a treasure hunt later... The rest of her attention was focused on the biggest, sturdiest box yet! Looking down at what Tigris and Flora had uncovered, Kaelli watched as Bite opened the crate to review a proper treasure! "Ah!" she exclaimed, handing coming together at the content. "How lovely!" Taken aback by Flora's comment, the pale feline blinked and asked, "..Wait! It is..NOT custom..to bury people and mark graves on map? But.." Blinking further, it was clear that the poor tigress was now thoroughly confused.
The loot is divied up by Bite and handed to all those present, before the days end no less. The guards called a little bit later, have a nice long talk with the serpent and question those involved before they depart, laughing to themselves.
