Revision as of 06:25, 19 April 2014

Participants

• Angus
• Bite_PC
• Cassidy
• Dio
• Jendayi
• Jera
• Kalt
• Mazurek
• Selena
• Siyu
• Sveta

Date

19/4/477

Log

The pool ripples and undulates gently, waiting for Angus to call to it.

Angus approaches the edge of the water, having been called here by the spirit he had done what he was asked. Turning he regards those that had followed him before turning back once more, grinding the butt of his staff into the surface of the island as he clears his throat before speaking in a load, strong voice. "Ser'ther, I have come as you have asked, and brought others with me as well."

Cassidy keeps her cowl tugged up, as usual when traveling, but she leaves her mask down as she shuffles around behind Angus, frowning. "So... What's this we're going to be doing? How does this all work out?" She bites her lip, looking on anxiously as she peers into the water.

Dio follows along diligently behind the others, carrying around his typical gear of a tower shield and a fine spear at his side. And of course, with such a lovely lake atmosphere, who wouldn't bring tasty treats to snack upon during the trip? Or at least Dio would considering his favored snack of jerky secured in his pocket and teeth. "This ain't another plan to bathe me 'gain, is it," the lion questions after ripping apart a piece of jerky and swallowing it down.

Kalt sighs as she leans on her own walking staff, a simple branch she had picked up on their voyage up the mountains. She was clad in most of her armor today, the main changes being the lack of her left armguards and shoulder pauldron, along with her two handed weapons. Her left arm is still kept in it's place with a thick band of cloth, and a piece of heavy metal wrapped over her shoulder... The vixen having won the argument with angus that she'd be damned if she missed out on meeting a spirit today. She chuckles gently at Cassidy as she tries to not lean on the ruins, or do anything to accidentally insult the spirit. "Aw just go relaxin' Cassidy... Figurin' he'll tell us when he's needin' to an' such eh? You ever go meetin' a spirit before Cassidy?" She snerks slightly at Dio's comment and looks over to the lion as she sticks her tongue out. "What if'n it were? You're a tad bit outta dry land to be remainin' dry if'n you had to go runnin'!"

Jera watches from a few steps back, watching the group's back. A year of being away has completely disconnected him from affairs, the kit fox not even recognizing most of the people here. He thought that he would do his job best just with his bow at the ready, watching for danger, and that he does.

Siyu is dressed a little warmer, the rodent is of course, ready to help his friendly spirits. Especially a cousin of his own, he'll just brush down his outfit, and wait to see what he has to do. He's come equiped as best he can, just chittering. "This is...umph, interesting..." is his first comment. He draws a deep breath, "Lord Solacious, I am bound to this quest as are you, twined spirits, I'll do what I can...did he give you no more information? Just to bring followers here with you?" he inquires.

Mazurek has joined the expedition, having been out of contact with everyone in existance for quite some time. He had been hibernating, even blocking all entrances to his underground lair except for the watery one. Something had awakened him with enough time to spare to answer the call for this little venture. Going up into the mountains meant that the Iguana chose to join up with his draconic powers, giving him the needed immunity to the natural elements to be quite comfortable. For attire, the dragon actually wears more than he usually does. Shorts is as his usual, but this trip he's actually in a short sleeve shirt, customized of course to account for his wings. There is nothing said by the towering, ten foot, draconic iguana. He moves away from the group a little and keeps a silent watch on the surroundings.

Bite looks around the area instinctively for loot, her soul gem not letting her rest as she sways towards their destination. As Angus speaks she stretches and listens, this should prove interesting.

Jendayi arrives in a rather basic set of plate as armor goes, flamberge hoisted over her shoulder, taking a deep breath and glancing around at the other folk who've taken up the job offer. The sphinx seems a little bit anxious, though keeps her composture, offering waves and smiles to the others.

Nothing happens for a few empty moments, and then the water starts to fizz, froth and gather itself upwards in a long, sinuous shape, the pool's surface draining slightly as more and more water is drawn into the physical form the spirit is assuming. At last, a nondescript serpent is formed, perhaps four to five times as tall as a being, icy fangs displayed as it surveys the room.

~Oh. Right. Yes. I did ask for your help in gathering those of your kind, although I didn't expect quite this many. Good work.~ The spirit's "voice" is quite relaxed, as opposed to some others. ~Yes, there is a task I would like to ask of you. I have to live here, as your kind would put it, or at least, when I manifest myself in this plane - even though the lake's surface is clean, there are things that have been thrown into the lake over time, and while many have resurfaced along with this place, others have not. Some of them are quite interesting, and I think they may help, even if indirectly, in the efforts against my fallen brethren.

~Now, I would be getting them myself, but stuffy Kedrac has very strange rules on what is "direct intervention" when it comes to this sort of thing. He thinks of it in black and white, you see, as you would put it. Hence, under Angus' guidance, I'd love you to help clean out the lakebed.~ A pause. ~That was a mouthful, wasn't it? Well, you can keep anything you find. I no longer have as many supplicants as I used to have, back in the day.~

Angus taps his staff a little nervously as he waits for the spirit to surface, turning to give both Kalt and Cassidy a smile to try and keep up the facade that he knew exactly what he was doing. As the spirit appears he finally takes a deep breath and nods. "I did the best I could, had a feeling you might of needed them." He answers, but as soon as he is given the task he blinks a little, and nods. "That is a generous offer, thank you."

Cassidy folds her arms and shrugs, looking over towards Kalt. "I suppose he will, yes... And no, I have not seen one before. That's part of why I came. I want to. How's your arm doing? Getting better, I hope?" Her ears perk as she hears the spirit before looking towards Angus. "What are we to be doing, exactly? What're we cleaning up? I'm all for finding treasure!"

Dio was about to take a liberal bite out of his cured meat snack, but Kalt's comment tempoarily ceased his motion. "We'll see 'bout that, lass! I'm on to yer master plan ya got cooked up 'ere. Takin' a poor innocent lion like me to a spirit jus' to get a silly bath. It was a good plan, but I'm on to ya." The lion nods his head proudly and finally takes another bite while listening to the spirit and his mighty request. "O', is that all, lad? Jus' a little trash pickup? Well, it is a shame seein' a nice place like this with trash floatin' 'round in it. Suppose I could 'elp out a bit."

Kalt blinks as she watches the spirit form, whistling lowly as she seems a little aw struck at it's method of appearance... She hasn't seen something like that before. Sure enough though she slowly dips her head to the spirit while clearing her throat. "I uh, yeah not a problem... M'figurin' if'n somebody can go an' be castin' water breathin' on us all an' such it'd be goin' a tad bit quicker." Still, she's not one to dawdle too much, and is quick to begin detaching her armor pieces while ensuring her left arm is indeed firmly tied down, leaving her weighted boots on for if someone casts the water breathing spell.

Jera ponders for a bit as he hears the instruction to clear the lake. Not one to get wet, he closes his eyes and focuses his magic for a bit, using his bow to help center all of his magic. A light breeze blows, and the kit fox smiles as he moves to sit on the edge of the lake and kicks water up, testing how well his made up spell works.

Siyu blink, blinks a little bit, "A clean up I...well..." he rubs the back of his head and he tugs upon his ear, looking around, "Well I guess...I guess those of the water clan will take quite a liking to this mission" he coughs a bit. "I'll do what I can, I mean, I think we have some rope. I'll try to find some trees and set up a block and tackle for anything...too heavy. I'll try to help as best I can."

Mazurek listens to the quest that has been assigned by the watery serpent, looking between it and Angus. He finally speaks up, "I do not have need of any Maths to assist with underwater breathing while I am in this form. Angus, it appears that I have, once again, missed quite a bit while in hibernation. I will assist with clearing the lake."

Bite watches the unveiling of the huge snake, her mind sparking as she smiles. "Okay great snake! I'd love to go swimming and treasure hunting for you." she hisses and looks to the others. "I'm going in." she hisses with a smirk as she waves to the rest of the group, stripping her robe and outfit down to her swim suit two piece and, when reaching the destination.

Jendayi is all ears when the spirit talks, unable to help but stare as it does. She frowns a little disdainfully at the mention of going into the lake, meaning all the fun of getting out of the damn plate armor, a task she sets upon right away. "This sounds like it will be a pleasant job. Just... Not this... Part," she mumbles those last words to herself through gritted teeth as she struggles with her armor 'til she's finally free of it, leaving her in her basic clothes.

~Well, it appears that you have no complaints and your subordinates are more than willing to help. You have your instructions, little caller, so relay them, but feel free to ask again if you have any questions.~

with that, the serpent recedes into the pool, gradually disappearing until the water's surface is still once more.

Angus nods as he works the clasps on his cloak, letting it fall to the ground as he places his staff upon it. Taking off his armor he turns to the rest of the group that are still standing on land. "From what the spirit has told me We have our work cut out for us. The first thing we should focus on is an intresting Stone that was left behind at the bottom of the lake bed, I don't know its size, or its dimensions but I'm hoping that at least two dragons can pull it up without problem, who here knows how to cast a water breathing spell?"

Cassidy begins to disrobe, setting her weapons on the ground, first, save for her knife which she keeps on hand. Once she's out of her armour and down to her blue, two-piece swimwear, she starts to stretch out and limber up, nodding. "I don't, but I'm ready to do whatever!"

Clank! Dio's tower shield comes crashing to the floor. If any diving is to be done, can't have a heavy tower shield on one's back. Next comes his heavy armor to join the pile, but he keeps his spear handy just in case he might need to hook something later. The lion switches his soul gems around and deposits his snack upon the floor before running some calculations in his head. Within a few moments, various group members are surrounded with a nurturing shield of water to help swim about and resist hostile elements. "That should 'elp out a bit. Might be able to 'elp out a bit more too," he says, thinking of a few more calculations.

Kalt stretches her arm and legs as she stands ready in her burlap shirt and pants, leaving her sword strapped around her waist just in case. "M'figurin' us who ain't dragons are best goin' an' pickin' the smaller stuff up an' such?" She does reach into her bags to take a quick swig of her dulling potion however before shaking herself as it kicks in, standing ready to be told where in the water to go looking. "Maybe if'n we're lucky, we'll be findin' sumptin rather handy eh?"

"Why is everyone taking their armor off?" Jera giggles as he takes off his chainmail, but leaves the padded leather on. He takes a deeeeeep breath and then pushes himself off his seat and just disappears into the clean water! Sinking like a stone with the added weight of his armor. He walks around the lakebed, deciding to play it safe with his gimmicky method of staying alive at the moment and walk near the edge, very, very slowly.

Siyu will set up his wagon area, if no one has any objections. The rodent himself will strip down to a tight pair of linen shorts, his vanilla scent clinging to him if anyone gets close. But he'll work diligently. He doesn't swim, he can't. He hates these larger bodies of water but he'll try his best. The ropes are laid out the willow trees are secured and examined. He doesnt' want to damage anything so he'll make sure to relay the various ropes. Making sure they're laid out and everything is ready! Small objects of course should be easy to get out on their own, but he anticipates that any objects a spirit would find objectionable would be...well...a bit too large to lift by a single person. Ready for the operations onece they are found.

Bite estuffs what she can onto her person, namely a toxic sea barb on a stick, a knife, and her snare, a leviathans tooth resting as a necklace around her. She leaves her beloved gold decorated armor in the pile and then, looking the group over dives down to find the stone that they were looking for with a "Come on sssweeties, I'm sure we can do it."

Jendayi ends up deciding that the idea of going through the water is slightly too risky-sounding of an idea for her tastes, and instead merely watches over the equipment left behind- a task she at least feels somewhat at home with.

For those who are underwater, the lake is a rather peaceful sight. The sunpetal lilies have closed their blossoms for the night, and while a few fisk swim about in the dim water, they all seem rather languid and uninterested in anything. The only real obstacle is the darker parts of the lake where the starlight doesn't penetrate as far, drastically cutting visibility.

The pillars supporting the ruins go all the way down into the thin layer of mud that coats the lakebed, various water plants clinging to them for support. Various blocky shapes are visible in the darkness, with hints of smaller objects about - those about Bite's glowing body are revealed to be huge chunks of marble, broken off from the ruins and clearly immensely heavy. A few ancient jars lie about, some of them broken, but otherwise preserved well by the cold water, down to the serpentine squiggles drawn in dye. Seems like the spirit wasn't lying - there's a lot to clean up.

Selena rubs her eyes, the wolfess aparrently a bit late to the gathering - murmuring something over to an unseen figure before she comes into view proper - the glowing of Kendrac's patterns not doing much to illuminate the area around her, but it does more than nothing.

"...Hmm." Is all she manages as she happens upon the group's possessions, glancing over into the lake tentatively. And despite the majority appearing to be underwater, she calls out a hello anyway - and a perhaps furtile "Do you need any light down there?" That's proven partially rhetorical as she sets a little fire magic over the surface of the water - nothing too large just yet, but a better indicator of her presence than - well, nothing.

Angus looks to the others as he drags off his shirt and places his weapons belt upon the ground as well. "If you can manage to hold your breath long enough there were some rather old pots that the spirit informed me of down there." Turning he looks to the lake again and frowns, his hands moving up to switch out his soul gems. With a deep breath his form changes, the fox becoming a dragon as a Soft golden glow starts to form around him. "I'll see if I can find the stone the spirit spoke of." He comments before taking a rather deep breath and plunging into the waters.

Cassidy saunters down into the water, taking a moment to adapt before deciding to swim after Bite. The snake has light that the fennec doesn't! It's too bad those big ears of her don't glow. That'd be handy. "All of my cardio will help out, hopefully!" Sucking in a deep breath, she starts to go beneath the surface to better follow Bite.

"Good evenin' to ya lass," Dio waves over to the newly arived Selena. While everyone goes diving and such, the lion rolls his shoulder and looks out amongst the surface for any floating objects he can find beneath the wolfess' flame. With a few water magic calculations, he creates simple and gentle waves to hopefully bring something to his attention.

Kalt empties her burlap bag and slings it over her shoulder as she makes her way to the edge of the water, taking a deep breath in before hopping in feet first into the water... It was a lot like mucking the old pond back home, and she knew what it'd take. So then she went to sink to the bottom of the water, letting the spell from dio ease her way down as she holds her breath and looks around... Using the illumination from the various sources to begin to pick up pots and place them and their fragments into her burlap sack for ease of carrying them back up. Her eyes squinting though as she tries to catch if anything glints or give hints of being worth something beneath the pieces.

Jera takes his arrows with the strings attached and decides to clean up the little pieces. He picks up three small fragments of broken pots and then ties them to his arrows, shooting them out on the water. When he hears the satisfied tinkling of broken ceramic through the water, he pulls the strings back.

Siyu looks into his wagon, he's just sort of waiting for people to come to him. But while he waits! He'll work on a fire, someplace to dry off...a cloths line. Oh tea! Tea is good. Tea...prehaps a stew. The rodent just sort of putters as a domestic while the others are in the deep water.

Bite stops and rises as she sees the pots, hissing to the others as loudly as she can "Sssweetie those look like objects of worship, bring them back to the pool. He mentioned not having as many followers, maybe something of sentiment would be nice." before she dives right back down, looking for the stone they seek.

Selena takes a few moments to wave over to Dio. "Hello to you as well. I don't suppose I can get a quick rundown of what's been heppening here?" She asks curiously to nobody in particular - what with most of the beings already underwater - walking around the perimeter of the 'lake' and peering in at the beings moving around below the surface - assuming she can see them.

Kalt blinks as she comes across something while filling up her bag with as many whole pots and fragments as possible, her right hand reaching for her sword which she uses to cut and shove some of the weeds away fromt he top of the half buried brass box... Which then brings up another problem as she noticed it lacked anything for gripping it. She quickly stuck the sword into the much and weeds next to it, so as to serve as a marker as she moved to one of the pillars and used the vines as a grip while climbing until she was free above the water. Gasping as she moves to set the burlap sack on the ledge. "M'needin' a rope or pulley an' such, got sumptin' big I found!"

Jera blinks. At first he thinks it may be a trick of the unsteady light and the odd refraction that the bubble around his head must be causing. And then he rules it off as a ruined remnant, perhaps a stone block. But the dark shape he spies distracts him so much that he doesn't even land his next rain of trash arrows, the weighted arrows sinking back into the water. The kit fox decides to investigate, walking over to the thing he saw with cartoonish bouncing steps to get a closer look, and waving with large motions to try to attract other swimmers' attentions.

Angus scrounges around in the muck, walking past a few of the pots as he passes by Bite before Jera catches his attention. He starts making his way over to the fox, trying hard not to get stuck in the muck as he wonders what they had found, the bright light around him illumination anything near by.

Cassidy opts not to go -too- deep. Hanging around where there's at least some light, and while she doesn't have a bag she does go about scooping up any rubble she might find in the lakebed, as much as she can carry in her arms, moving her knife to her muzzle, clutching it between her teeth.

"Jus' some clean up fer an' ol' spirit it seems," Dio replies to Selena. "Spirit's tellin' us that there might be somethin' interesting down there and we can keep whatever we might find." The lion turns around once he notices Bite and nods his head. "Got ya, lass. Bring 'em up 'ere an' we'll transport 'em over there," he replies, getting ready to perform just that.

Siyu just sort of watches out on the water, he cranesh is eyes and keeps looking. He gives a faint little hm. waiting as the various things are bubbling and ready at the shoreline, "You guys need help!" he calls out.

Siyu throws that rope then, well, at least there's a bobber on the end of it first, at least casting it as far as he can.

Bite turns tail to follow Angus, but stops for a moment and thene swims up to the surface. "Sssweeties, going to need a lot of help. I think it's a creator altar? It's broken and in pieces." she hisses before returning towards the others. She'll need help regardless, should see what they found first before acting.

Selena raises an eyebrow. "Creator altar? Why would there be something like that in a place like this?" She asks curiously, watching the rope sail out over the lake for a few moments, then shivering a little at the sight of the water. "Trying to pull anything that large out of the water is probably going to make everyone here glad that it IS in pieces." The wolfess sets herself down by the side of the lake. "I don't have a spare pulley assembly on me though, so getting things up is going to be a bit difficult. What else do you need, anything at all?"

Angus bending down to see if he can lift it, getting his hands underneath the heavy stone. He tries for a few minutes, grinding his teeth together as he tugs on it heavily, before giving up on that idea, letting it go as he looks to Jera, then points up towards where Siyu and his pully system roughly was.

Cassidy tugs her rubble and scraps to the surface, taking in a sharp breath as she lays the junk out on the shore to be taken later. Looking amongst the others at the surface, she frowns. "Anyone find anything neat while I was down there? Doesn't look like I managed to," she says, casting a glance over the things she had brought up.

Dio reaches to his chest and switches out his soulgems for something a bit better at heavy lifting. He makes his way towards the rope and prepares to help pull things up should anyone tie something on.

Kalt nods and jumps out to take hold of the rope as her weighted boots drag her back down to the bottom, her lungs full of air again she spies the alter in question and begins to make her way over with the line... After all, creator ruins trumped anything she had found probably, and she could always go back to. She works hard to wrap the line around one of the sections of the altar, before giving an indicating series of tugs on the rope to signify it was as taunt as she thought she could make it. Stepping back then to let the folks on top get to work as she kicks off back to her find to begin to dig in the muck and weeds around it with her right arm while she still had some workable breath.

Jera realizes that he's never going to lift it without enlisting Angus' help. He signs something, hoping that Angus can understand sign language, and then kicks his way to the surface with the help of a few slicing zephyrs propelling him to the surface. He takes another deep breath to freshen his lungs, and then the kit fox seems to grow much larger all of a sudden, two heads sprouting on his shoulders. And now, he takes /three/ deep breaths before sinking back down, trying to lift the object he found.

Siyu gets ready with the pull line, a simple bite collar at the end of the line, basic rigging that's used in the shipping industry. THe latest adventures in logging and the blockade has introduced him to quite a lot of ship techniques. He'll make sure everything is ready to pull, "All right when you're ready I'll need strong backs. I can't pull all of this on my own after all." the rodent in his shorts calls out.

Bite giggles as she decides what to do, moving towards the shore and calling upon her dedication. After a short bit tentacles form at her legs, coming up to grab the rope with Siyu. "Let's do it sssweetie."

Selena shakes her head. "Believe me when I say I won't be of much help at the rope." She replies simply, instead focussing her attention on the waters ahead, pulling it up from the bottom of the lake forcefully enough to ease the difficulty of lifting the items - though not enough to give the beings caught in the upcurrent any problems beyond the slight roiling brought to the surface as the water is displaced.

It takes a little effort, but with everyone helping on the line and under Angus' direction, the ropes hold and the huge stone remnant is dragged towards the shore. The process is painstakingly repeated three times, and it's likely everyone's sore by the end of it all, but there's still more to be done.

The find isn't that impressive - mostly covered with aquatic weeds and slimy in parts with algae, but easily mistaken for three simple boulders. The lines are worn and weathered, but still recognisable for what they are - the remnants of an old dedication, although one can't really tell what it is.

After all three stones have been lifted Angus stops for a second to stare at Jera, a little surprised to find they were a Cerberus before he moves back to the Surface to take another deep breath. That done he sinks once more and starts searching, allowing his golden glow to help illuminate anything that could be of intrest as he clears out the trash.

Cassidy eyes the altar quietly, humming for a moment before shrugging and diving back into the water, herself, searching around with her hands to see what else she can dig up. Hopefully something interesting, this time!

After all that heavy lifting, Dio takes a moment to relax and sit down while looking at the strange artifact. "Wonder who could've tossed this thing out their wagon," he jokes while laying against the grass.

Kalt finds herself sinking down once more as she had finished clearing most of the muck and weeds, her right hand hooking under the edge of the brass box as she moves to try and stand it up... Which with one hand, is beyond annoying to do. Though she does see the illumination of Angus, and is quick to try and wave/flail for his attention as she stands next to the box. Hopeful he can figure out she may need someone with two working arms, and size, to help her bring it to the surface. Figuring she didn't need the whole pulley system after all for it, given how tired they were after all.

Jera swims much, much faster in the water with three heads, needing only the main head to breathe properly. Left and Right tilt to either side of his body and then starts to blow a steady stream of purified air bubbles to propel him forward towards Kalt, helping her to stand the box upright to make room for others to help. The stream of bubbles rise to the surface, leaving a clear trail behind for those at the surface...

Siyu is a bit excited and he chitters a little bit and wets his lips at the three pieces. He goes to grab some logs, rollers and e wets his lips, "There we go, it's like a puzzle!" he says with a chitter, "While the rest of you are out cleaning the lackbed I think I can just...roll them together, find the right pattern." he takes a bucket, cleaning off the muck, the weeds. A scraper and trying to clean them off once they are on shore. And then when they're all clean, try to rotate and roll them together to form their pattern. He wont' actaully do anything to it. Just try to solve their puzzle.

Cassidy glances over towards Kalt, frowning. She still hadn't found anything, so she might as well go see what it was they needed! Even as someone else goes over, she continues on to see what she could do to help out.

Bite is done with the altar, so she sways over towards the others and decides to lend a hand, and a few tentacles, giggling a bit as she splashes upon approach. She begins the attempted lift.

Selena chuckles as the lion makes his comment on the find, shaking her head. "Well, fancy that." She comments somewhat bemusedly, wasting no time in gazing over the broken up relic before her attention returns to the water as Jera's bubbles rise to the surface en masse. "Just be careful with the pieces. If there's something missing it might be difficult to tell at first. Look at the weathering - and when it broke some fragments could've easily fallen out. It's entirely possible the stone's still brittle in some places courtesy of the spells on it and the results of that erosion. It'd be nice to have an image of the internal parts of the point beforeit's rolled together, so if you'd bear with me a minute..." She replies over her shoulder, producing another upcurrent at the source of the bubbling on the surface. "

It's not hard for Siyu to fit the pieces in his mind like a jigsaw puzzle - there are only three pieces to deal with, after all. The carvings are still appropriately esoteric, but at least it's easy to see that it's large enough to lay a being on, and indeed, the top has a vaguely being-shaped hollow just for that purpose - or so it would seem. Meanwhile, the box gives a little resistance, having being lodged in the muddy lakebed for who knows how long, but comes free with enough effort, throwing up huge clouds of muddy silt in the water.