The Gallows Quarry Heist - RPLOG
Participants
Date
20/7/476
Log
The order was out, calling for any trustworthy gifted being to immediately head out and investigate the quarry. Rumors have been rampant, folks asking why their life bonds haven't returned home from their day of work yet. Waiting for the party to arrive is a rather large looking bull with a yellow and metal helmet on his head, his deadly horns poking out of cut-out holes and standing proud and sharpened. Near him is a standard spear wielding Firmament guard as they both look around a bit anxiously. Within the quarry, one may easily spot the gigantic pile of stone, along with many other guards walking about, presumably looking around for something.
Selena lands nearby in a puff of sand and gravel, moving quickly over to the supposed commander and gesturing to the pile of rubble. "What happened and is there anything I should be informed of before I start moving rubble aside?" She asks bluntly, tapping a foot on the ground with evident impatience. "If there are people in there, we're wasting time."
Mirana walks up herself, a bit out of breath, her machines fallowing along with her. She arrives just in time to hear Selena's question and comment, and can only give a nod in agreement, "Lets get them out of there and wounds treated." she defers to Selena better skills with math, and prepares her medical kits as well as her creator healer.
Ictus grumbles as Selena flies overhead and shakes his head, "Wish I could do that..." he sighs as he looks around though and nods in agreement as he eyes the surroundings for anyone in need of assistance
"Trust me, it's not all it's crack up to be." Mutters the fox at Itcus' side as he looks over the edge of the quarry, and kicks a pebble in. Angus watches it fall, before he turns to walk over to the Bull as well, staring at his sisters small army in surprise.
Kialla again, in crisis, is trotting along after Mira, a bit flustered. Two emergencies in one day. Though, she has more equipment with her this time than she had previously. She gives a soft phew when they reach the quarry. Looking down at Mira, then Angus, whom she'd already met once before. And then to Ictus, and someone she hadn't met yet. She smiled nonetheless, a change from her rather constant nuetral expression.
The bull watches as Selena flew in, giving him a bit of a shock, but the strong looking and heavy bovine quickly recovered and cleared his throat before starting to speak. The guard slapped the bottom of his spear upon the ground and gave a salute. "The name's Granite," the bull commands with a booming and deep baritone voice. "I'm the head of operations here. You may have noticed we haven't attempted to remove any of the pile there. There's a reason for that." The bull gives a gesture towards the guard with his head and soon he produces a strange bit of parchment and hands it to Granite. The backside shows an interesting symbol, looking like a silhouette of a wolf jumping over a gallows pole. "This wasn't an accident it would appear. After the incident, one of the workers found this note. It seems to be an act of terrorism, which is what the hush is all about. Please allow me to read it to you." After clearing his throat, the bull begins to read off the note.
"Power by birth, a silly farse. How much do you care, sweet nobles, of your people? When we close the curtains, who will be clapping? Death shall be swift for actors and audiance who dare remove the stage props. The eyes of critics are sharp, consequences cutting deep for poor performance. Cleanse your sins with a shower of coin, five hundred thousand in number."
After his reading, the guard pulls out another piece of paper, this one looking much like a map. "The crown wishes for this matter to be settled fast. Rumors spreading about possible terrorism would be rather unfortunate, especially during the weapon merchant's visit later today."
Selena mutters something under her breath. "And you're leaving the pile there because of a few threats?" She demands, moving over to the pile of rubble anyway. "Your job is to keep people safe, isn't it? And you're turning a blind eye to this many people in danger because of a threat you should be prepared to deal with?" The wolfess mutters something under her breath and examines the pile a little more closely. "We need two things: Beings ready to intercept arrows, and someone to move the rocks from a defensible position. I think you know that already, though. Let's not waste any more time."
Angus blinks..terrorists, really? Now this has definitly gotten worse, he frowns as he looks to the parchment. Great, more fools who believe they were better then nobles. Yet when push comes to shove they spill blood just as easily as everyone else. His ears perk up as he listens to the Bull. "Weapons Merchant? What weapons merchant?" He looks to the bull, before he turns to Selena. "Wait! ...they could of booby trapped it." He comments, glaring at the rubble.
Mirana listens to the words from the note and frowns. She shakes her head and looks to Ictus, "Sweetie, this..." she is at a lost for words. She looks back to her cousin and brother as well. She walks up to Selena, "I want to save them too, but if there is something to keep us from saving them, then just moving these rocks might trigger the deaths we are trying to prevent." She says with a nod to Angus, then, she looks to the Map.
Ictus blinks at the note and shakes his head sadly, "Seriously?" he sighs a bit and frowns, "That's the biggest..." he shakes his head, "Why don't they ever come at us directly..." as he looks to Selena with a nod before he takes the map to look at, "Mira has a point and so does Angus."
"How do you think I feel, wolf," Granite snarls slightly as he looks towards Selena. "They obviously had the power to trigger one explosion. What's to stop them from firing off a second one? So far, it doesn't seem like anyone has died, and I want to keep it that way."
The bull crosses his arms and breathes a heavy sigh in an attempt to calm himself down a little. "Yeah. Some foreign weapon merchant likes to come into town around this time. Puts on a big show of it. Everyone loves it! However, crowds can draw rumors faster. I'm sure you understand." The guard hands over the map to Mira with a nod. It would appear to be a drop-off location for the supposed ransom a few miles northwest in a not so special looking location. Perhaps 45 minutes of distance.
Kialla mms... "For all we know, props could be the people. Not neccesarily the rubble, or the rocks."
Angus shakes his head. "That might be possible but..." He mutters, something still didn't sit right. "...Mind handing me the parchment with the threat please?" He asks, tapping his chin as he looks over the rubble again. "Cousin, your better at finding traps then I am. Mind taking a look? Maybe they have a spell on it as well or something..."
Selena shakes her head. "You realise that the beings will suffocate if you leave them in there for too long, then?" She replies flatly. "How long have you waited since the explosion? The torches they use down there won't be helping either and I don't expect them to have much food if this is dragged out -- that's what the house is there for. So do you have a plan to correct that beyond sitting and waiting for a rumor? And if not, why call us here?"
Mirana shakes her head again, "Kiall'a is right as well, if we don't do this right... we need more information." She says rather flatly herself. She looks to Selena, "If they are smart beings, they wouldn't be burning many torches in there now. Selena, do you want to potentally kill them by acting too quickly?" she points out the drop point for the money, "We need some eyes here, someone who can move quickly. And can someone please examine those stones, someone with eyes for magic and eyes for traps. Selena is right, we need to get them out of there, but what would be the point if we cause another explosion or an avalanche?" She herself gets busy examining the structure of the mine, to see if it could withstand another shock.
Ictus hmms and nods at that before looking to Angus, "Indeed, I'll see if I can find anything." he moves over to the blockade and looks them over carefully for anything that might indicate a trap
"Sure thing." Granite hands the note over to Angus with a nod. The handwriting looks quite neat! Very easy to read and pleasing to the eye. With another snarl, Granite returns his gaze back over to Selena. "We took a large risk in drilling a few holes for air. We figured these terrorists wouldn't mind their hostages living longer. Though, dehydration and hunger is still a factor. It's been a couple of hours or so and the rumors are already spreading."
The bull looks over to Ictus with a bit of worry. "Careful now..." With a shake of his head, he looks towards the group again. "Indeed. We need someone to check out the ransom location. Another thing about that note... It implies someone might be watching. So before just setting more stuff off, perhaps we should try a little investigation."
Selena shakes her head and moves around the rubble. "If you have holes, they've got a potential supply line." You don't have to worry too much about water, that can be dealt with through some math. She replies simply, checking the holes' width. "And you say 'setting more stuff off'. Pardon for asking, but do we have any idea what kind of explosives were used? Blackpower could be rendered inert if it's made wet, that's easily done. If it's buried under the rubble, there's no way to get to it properly. If they're using grenades of some kind or other thrown explosives, they can be deflected. I haven't seen any powerful enough outside of barrel bombs to cause noticeable damage on this scale.
Ictus comes back from his inspection with a shake of his head, "I can't find anything, if there is something though... They must have it set up nearby." he looks around and ponders, "Lets get them some help, shall we?"
Angus blinks, and turns the the Bull again. "Would you happen to have a map of all the tunnels?" He asks politely, smiling a little as a plan hatches and his tails twitch. Turning to the Wolfess he waves an arm "Selena, could you come here a second?"
Mirana nods to Ictus, "Ok sweetie, and Selena is right." Nothing much to add she just gets to work this time, trying to find anything that might hold the explosives. She looks to Kia though, "Cousin, could you help me out, we are looking for something they might be watching us with, or something to hold powder in." she says. Then, another idea strikes her, "Wait, did you see any of them? Who left the note?" she asks.
"We're not quite sure what sort of explosives were used, but it was quite a large blast to be sure," the bulls nods his attention at Selena. "An explosive of this magnitude, and trapping around five workers... Someone must've been planning this quite a ways in advance."
Granite once more makes a gesutre at the guard, who then salutes and wanders off for a few moments. Later, he comes with another map and hands it to the bull. "Here you go. A map of the tunnels. Quite recent as well." The bull taps a finger upon a certain area on the map, an isolated tunnel next to various other tunells. "They're be around this area," he says, handing the map over to Angus. "Whatever idea you have, the weapon merchant carivan is coming soon and a member of the royal family shall be there as part of the yearly celebration. This is highly emabressing on my part and the crown..."
With a sigh, he looks back over to Mirana. "No idea, my lady. One of the workers said he found it and immedietly reported it to me."
Kialla nods to Mira quietly, "I'll help however i can." she coos, humming softly as she.
Selena sighs, glancing back at the rubble. "Well, you have an undefined threat and a foreign weapons show going on. And we have a threat that may well be a bluff." She comments, glancing around the rubble's perimeter for any explosive residue before she moves over to Angus. "What exactly is being transported in this foreign caravan? How valuable would it be?" She asks the guards.
Angus only looks at the map for a second, before he rolls it up and puts it into Selena's hands as he leans in to whisper something. "To be honest...I think we should split up into two groups...one to head to the drop off location, the other to chek out his weapons Merchant."
Mirana looks about with Kia and only notices the obvious, "Well, if they are watching us they are either hidden or using someone who is a Griffen. I don't see any machines or math that would help them keep an eye on us here." she says, looking over to Kia to confirm with her. She takes a deep breath, "Well, if I may then, I'll go talk to the weapons merchant, it seems a... shorter walk then the drop point." she says, her eyes going to the rubble again, "I hope they are.... well... lets just get them out as quick as we can." she says.
Ictus blinks as his ears twitch a second, "Wait... Cousin?" he looks at Mira and then at Kia, "Oh, I see. Nice to meet you." he smiles before he looks to Angus with a nod, "Indeed I was thinking the same." he ponders a moment and shrugs, "I only know what was said sadly..."
"Could be a bluff," the bull agrees. "As for the merchant, the masked fellow sells the crown all sorts of weapons. Sometimes his escorts put on a big show with them and everything. It's a lot of fun. The amount of money with this transaction... Probably more than I'll make in a few lifetimes, that's for sure."
Another guard walks in from the direction of the city and whispers something to the other guard and soon walks off back where he came. "Sir!" He salutes towards the group. "I have received a message that the merchant and his escorts have arrived safely and are just about in the market district."
Selena nods, though she doesn't look to convinced by the report. "You said it was 45 minutes away, didn't you? Just to confirm, but wouldn't it take a little longer than a few minutes for a cart to make it to the market? It's not the shortest trip, but it is an important merchant... As for your idea, I'm not opposed to that. I could probably manage the math, but it'd take some time to do. And a better starting point."
Mirana thinks a moment, "Wait, all the way back in the city?" she asks. A slight sigh, "Ok, if this is some kind of distraction, we are all well distracted. "If it is all the way back in the city, we should get eyes on that drop point, if no one else is going, I'll go, but I'd feel far better with someone with me."
Angus smiles and nods to Selena. "Alright then, just an idea." Looking over to Mira he shakes his head. "Why not allow another to check out the Drop off point. While you and a few others head back to town, your medical skills would be of a lot better use at the Marketplace is someone is attacked."
