Onboard the SS BadSurprise - RPLOG
Participants
Date
7/8/477
Log
The little forest clearing is crowded with beings, including members of the guard, a pair of machine priests, a few anxious scholars and the genderless form of Hedge, the otherworldy servant of the fled Creator fugitive Joe Preston.
Town guards usher those who have responded to the call to where a goat wearing a captain's badge waits with Hedge to give them their instructions. From the side of a nearby hill juts an uncovered door of steel.
Cassidy drops from the sky to land in the clear with a light thud, cloak draping down over her form in a most dramatic fashion. She rises up to her full height, all four-odd feet of it and adjusts her top hat before dipping into a bow. "Good evening! I have arrived to help."
Scarf pulled up over his plague mask, wearing his coat and hat with his full assortment of weapons, Thelergramor steps into the clearing. Shortbow in hand, he walks toward the captain. No words, too focused on finding and killing the fugitive; regardless of whether anyone wants him alive.
Sara emerges from behind a dense copse of foliage, her arm stretched out to bend a low branch out of the way only momentarilly before she passes by and lets it loose. After making her way to the general group the lizard woman lowers the hood of her cloak and looks to the captain who gets a brief nod of greeting, "Hello, you sent for us? What do you need?" following afterwards before she looks to the others that had reached the area before her and offers both Thelergramor, and Cassidy a brief, yet rather friendly wave.
Noosha, the obnoxiously pink Hyena, scampers to heed the call. More state-sanctioned chaos! Maybe this time she could find something of more worth than a whirring sceptre. And if not...there was the patronize of sobs bloodletting, and she was curious to see how these Creators worked...
Perhaps not the best fit for tracking a criminal, Selena makes her way through the area at a steady pace - clearly not in a rush to be there despite the crowd of beings already falling in to ask questions of the one who put up the call for help. The questions of those already present seem to cover the bases she was interested in anyway, leaving her to wait for a response and nod in acknowledgement to the beings she was familiar with.
Jera makes his way into the clearing, looking at all his friends and looking over the area to study the scene for a minute. He finally folds his hands across his chest, blowing a soft huff. "Tons of treasure hunters, huh?" The vulpine taps his arm as he joins up with the familiar group. "Evening, friends."
Natska walks up to the clearing as well, having landed farther away than Cass; she touches the brim of her hat and nods her head in greeting to the assembled team, both the Freeswords and the officials. "What's the situation?" she asks, stopping next to Cass.
The officious looking goat nods to the gathered volunteers. "I am Captain Greyloch," he says, "I have been placed over the investigations concerning the fugitive Creator." He steps aside to show where the nude, genderless form of Hedge is standing with two other guards. "The rabbit will brief you on the contents of the vault," he says gruffly, "All we expect from you is to clear the way for our retrieval team. You will be payed well for your efforts."
Hedge looks nervously at the group, and then at one of the machine priests attending him. The priest hold out a hand, revealing a small, white sphere and the rabbit relaxes. He begins to talk, his words garbled and unintelligible, but a moment later, the voice of the machine spirit picks up. "I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have a TRANSLATOR instead of having to Butcher your language!" the rabbit says, "I felt like such a SAVAGE." It is obvious that the rabbit is using a number of phrases that the machine can't translate perfectly. "Mister Preston has managed to land and hide several of these her on PROMISE," he continues, "But this is the only one I know the location of. I can open the door for you, but it will be up to you to disable the SECURITY DEVICES. The easiest way will be to disable the POWER SOURCE located in the front of the ship." He looks around at the gathered beings, much more at ease, now that he can communicate. "Any questions?"
Cassidy gives a warm smile to Natska behind her mask, nodding. Jera and the others get a tip of the hat as well, before she listens to Hedge explain the situation. "Hm. Sounds simple enough. Front of... The ship. Where will we be entering? The 'side'? it would help to know which way the front is, if you could tell us."
Security devices, eh? Noosha swaps soul gems with a deft motion
Thelergramor shakes his head. "What kind of security systems. And you said several of these? So we're not actually sure he's in there." He then coughs behind his mask, looks to the others. "I'm killing him if we find him. If no one objects, of course." Still owes Joe for a few days of pain and a couple scars from his homes security.
Sara only tilts her head as the rabbit begins to speak the first language, her oblivious expression only showing the confussion as to what the creature had been speaking. Though it soon softens as it turns to common, "Indeed.. as Cassidy had mentioned, where will we be entering?" she then cranes her neck to look to the metal door and points, "There? Or is there another, safer entrance? But other than that, what can we expect when inside? I suspect golems? Any other sorts of traps? And furthermore, will you be following? Or at the very least offer some way of translating what we'll see in there? I'm not sure about the rest here, but I'm a bit rusty on the subject."
Security devices, eh? Noosha swaps soul gems with a deft motion of one hand, checking through the inside of her blouse worth the other. Razor, hatchet, lock picks, a keen-edged dagger or two. Everything is in order. Her preparations finished, she squeezes between the legs of taller folk, popping out toward the front of the line with her ears pricked.
Selena chuckles quietly at jera's commentary as the kit fox arrives on scene. "Not all of us are here as Treasure hunters, and I don't see Bite anywhere. I think it's safe to say there's a little bit more seriousness in the group." The wolfess watches on as Hedge makes his comments.
"Pardon, but what exactly are they here for in the first place? You mention parson maanged to land them, but to hide them implies an agenda beyond the tourism and visits that were discusses in our courts, if I recall correctly." She asks, aparrently less concerned with entry and the security system than why such things were a concern in the first place.
"Mmhmm. Keep in mind we...don't exactly know much about your world. Well, compared to what you know about ours. I'd..." Jera swallows a bit. "I'd rather not have our world destroyed to curb black market smuggling, you know."
Natska gives Cass a small smile and then coughs once into her gloved hand and levels a serious look at Thel. "Only use lethal force if it is absolutely necessary," she chides the wolf. Her ear flicks, and she listens for answers from the rabbit. "Oh my. We're going to be *on* a Creator ship! What a rush!" The last thing that Jera says catches her attention, though, and she freezes. "Waaaait, what?"
"Oh! Yes," Hedge says, "This is the rear hatch of the ship. I believe that he used some sort of EARTH MAGIC to bury this vessel when it landed." He leads the group over to the exposed hatch, accompanied by a guard and a machine priest. "I do not believe that Mister Preston is on this vessel," he says, "As it has no actual flight capability on its own. This is only a NO SUBSTITUTE FOUND and is only for dropped deliveries. You would need a NO SUBSTITUTE FOUND to launch these back into space." The rabbit slides aside a panel and carefully inputs some sort of code. "I only have codes to open the hatch and disable defenses in the crew quarters here at the rear of the vessel," he says, "It will be up to you to get past the DEFENSE GOLEMS and SCORCHERS and any other nasty traps Mister Preston has developed. I do not even know what he has hidden in there." With a WHOOSH of air, the hatch slides aside, revealing the ship's dim interior. "I don't really know why these drops were made. Maybe just things for the CREATOR'S comfort. Any other questions?" he asks.
Cassidy takes a deep breath and folds her hands behind her back. "Yes, that sounds fine, then. Would anyone like to take the lead? And I do hope all of you take caution," she says, looking towards Thelergramor and Noosha in particular. "I would rather someone not trigger a trap in their frenzy and impatience that gets us all injured. I don't think I have to tell most of you that, though."
The machine priest with Hedge steps forward. "This mission is led by the Church in cooperation with Mister Parson to detail the crimes of Joseph Preston," he announces, "All items inside must be brought before the church. As for reading the signs inside, all you need to know are these." He then produces two scraps of paper with strange creator writing. "This one will point you toward the front of the ship," he says, handing over one scrap, "And this one is a standard emblem for a power source."
Thelergramor shrugs, adjusts his mask, slings his shortbow over his shoulder. "I'll go first." Another cough before he mumbles to himself: "...No sense sending the 'good people' in first..." Thel moves forward slowly, watching for anything that might trigger a security device. Pulls his axe from his belt.
After pulling a pistol out of her belt and pouring some black powder, adding a patch, a shot and pressing it down into the barrel, and then doing the same for another pistol, does Sara look to the rabbit and then to the Machine Priest and his piece of paper and nods, "Alright, I guess that'll have to be enough. Would be better if we knew more than the basics. Ah well." Once readied Sara reaches out, snags the paper, and makes her way up to the now opened hatch and while still standing outside the hatch, she peers inside, her crimson gaze looking inside the darkness.
Noosha's ears flap as Cassidy gives her warning. "Are you speaking to this one?" she chirps innocently, blinking those big golden eyes at her. "You couldn't be, because this one triggered no traps and caused no structural damage last time!" she concludes triumphantly, skipping to the hatch, her carefree manner belying a watchful gaze as she readies a dagger, as both defense and a makeshift tool. Ears pricked, she follows behind Thel, listening for aught of interest.
Selena raises an eyebrow. "Well, then. I hope Parson will have a statement to make about those crimes soon." She notes, peering at the pair of scraps as they're passed around. "Given these are creator devices, what should we know about deactivating them, exactly? It's one thing to say it would be easy to turn them off, but if we don't know what... thing turns them off, it could end badly." She notes, watching as the others move forwards.
"Also, if you'd like I can send an elemental ahead of us to scout out area ahead without risking any real limbs. It's possible it won't trip any alarms we would, but probably worth a shot."
"Wait wait wait. We're not.../all/ going in, are we?" Jera turns around and makes a vague motion to the crowd. "T-That just sounds like a recipe for trouble. More people means more likely to trigger traps, after all. Especially if Preston was anticipating that he'd be caught."
"Scorchers, huh?" Natska asks, checking to make sure her gloves are snug. "Yea, I don't mind going first if you guys want." The jaguar's tail swishes back and forth, a grin spreading across her face. "Heck, that sounds pretty fun, testing myself ag... oh, OK, Thel. Noosha. If you want! I'll be right behind you two then to keep an eye on things; let me know if you want to swap." She follows after them, a small wind tugging her jacket hem back and forth in time with her swaying tail. "I'd hold off on the elemental, Selena, unless it is capable of rational deduction and delicate precision. We'll be fine!" She gives Jera a small wink as well. "Do you want to sit out here and watch, then?"
Hedge looks from the machine priest to Selena and begins to talk. A moment later the machine spirit kicks in. "I am not sure how to deactivate the POWER SOURCE," he confesses, "I am only a DOMESTIC SERVANT and know little about these vessels."
The machine priest says nothing in response to Selena's question, but looks rather uncomfortable. Seems he does not know much more. "I would recommend against the use of an elemental," he finally says, "Many Creator artifacts react poorly to heat." He turns to Jera. "No," he says, "The retrieval team will not enter until you return and report success. We wish you good luck."
The inside of the vessel is cool and dimly lit by tracks of light that run along the top of a short hallway ending in a closed door much like the hatch on the outside. On either side of the short hallway is a single door, both standing open.
Cassidy glances over at Jera and grins behind her mask. "Well, of course we are! What did you think we were here for? To stand around outside and watch? No, I am eager to go inside of a creator ship! I have never been in one before." She filches around in her satchel for a moment, making sure she's got her pen and field journal. "This will be kind of exciting, don't you think, Natska?" She adjusts her hat and moves in after Noosha and Thelergramor. "I figure when we find it, I can probably break it with a zap of lightning or something. We shall see. How hard could it be to break?"
Thelergramor glances around after crossing the threshold of the ship. "Exciting, yes. Just keep an eye out." He takes a few more slow steps, figuring it's a shitty idea to go first, but, goes first. He moves to walk close to the wall, he carefully works his way towards the open door on the right. He glances towards the other door, then turns towards the one he approached. Looks in the doorway.
"Wouldn't hurt to send an elemental in. Not sure if the golems would react to it, but it never hurts to try.. right?" Sara calls over her shoulder, her eyes fixed on Selena as she speaks. Though it doesn't last before she looks into the dim lighted room again and says, "Well.. in anycase it /does/ sound pretty exciting. Never really seen much regarding creator tech aside from the decayed stuff in the tunnels underneath the waste tunnels." After speaking Sara grips her pistol a little tighter, looks to the paper in her hand, and makes her way into the ship, right behind Thelergramor.
