witchesreign | SeeD field exam

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SeeD field exam

Incongruous architecture and reports of suspicious noise around ruins recently unearthed on a Trabia farm have led the local town council to suspect off-world involvement. SeeD has been hired to provide a thorough safety assessment of the site, with an eye for potential future development.

[The town council, who hired SeeD for this mission, have supplied a check list for Namur and Maria to refer to, things like monsters, structural integrity, and other hazards. Amid whining about the overnight appearance of these ruins "DEVASTATING!!" his potato crop and some sideeying of Namur, the farmer with sudden ancient ruins on his farm has shown them to the entrance, handed them flashlights, and gone back to his work.

[The entrance is actually a small cave, half-sunken into the ground; Trabian excavators have dug up enough of the earth around it to get inside. It's dark and dusty inside, but well away from the entrance, one can start to make out what may have once been a city (note: visual guide for architectural style and atmosphere only, not layout) in the stone, about ten metres down: Crumbling walls of a blue stone not found in Trabia, ornate stone doors in the most solid-looking wall with a sign carved nearby, worn pavement in that same blue stone, the ends of clay pipes sticking out of the ground, large boulders dotted around the area.

[There happens to be a ladder down to this level, though one that's seen better days.]

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[Maria, probably not unexpectedly, had the exact same reaction Namur did. She may not have raw fishman strength, but those legs had enough muscle to make a kick count. She took his gesture as an order and immediately began moving perpendicular to their route, circling the building as he preferred.]

[One after the other, the unfortunate Rats thud into what probably used to be a wall opposite the building they're facing. For a second, the only sound is that of settling dust, the gritty kind that gets right into your sinuses - but then, a couple of telltale metallic clanks echo from somewhere closer to the ground. Tenacious was right, too.

As the two closest monsters launch themselves at their respective targets once more, their two friends inch closer, still curled up behind their plating, which scrapes unpleasantly across the old paving as they move. And more of those scraping noises are fading into earshot, swarming from the shadows of the surrounding ruined buildings, hoping to hem the unwelcome strangers in...]

[Namur turns and sucker punches the one that launched itself at him, sending it back. He switched his elemental junction to Ifrit earlier, so not only is the poor thing getting a giant fist to the face, it's a giant flaming fist to the face. He cross punches Maria's assailant to the side as well, moving around between her and the nearest bunch.]

Well shit that was fast.

[Okay, then. There's a lot of them and they're weak to fire, so. He advances on the group in front slowly, letting them gather up more if they want. When a good bunch of them are close enough, he stops.

Then he summons Ifrit.

How do the rats feel about Hell Fire?]

[There's a piercing smell, recognisable as burning hair and meat but with a distinctly metallic edge. Apparently, the answer for the Rats on the front line is that they don't survive long enough to feel much of anything. The luckier ones huddled behind them seem to lose their nerve; they disperse, a panicked mob rather than a unified wave, some of the more singed-looking stragglers trampled as the rest of the Rats scatter beneath the smoke. Within seconds, the ruins are as silent as they've ever been.

The smoke itself is another matter. Down here, in the depths of a cavern that may not have felt a real breeze in hundreds of years, it lingers, clinging to clothes and the omnipresent, choking damp. Nobody's going to be smelling anything useful for a long while unless they clear out of here fast.]

[Sounds like Namur has them covered. Maria breaks into a quick jog, intending to circle the large structure they'd been blocking off, to find another path to and in it -- or failing that, report back that none exists.]

[The building is larger than it might initially have seemed in the dim torchlight - but apparently not as large as it once was, because after Maria turns a corner onto the desolate remains of a grand courtyard, she'll find the area so thoroughly buried in rock and fallen stone that this side of the structure looks more like it grew out of the side of the cavern than something that suffered a landslide. There's clearly no way any human could get inside from here... at least, not from ground level.

If she shines her flashlight in just the right direction, however, she may just be able to spot the outline of a balcony high up on what appears to be the third floor, complete with one window that doesn't seem to be blocked off. But how to get up there, faced with walls this sheer?]

[Any stragglers still alive will find themselves the targets of drawcasted Fire spells, until they manage to drag themselves out of range.

And well, there's something to mark on the list of shit to tell the people outside, at least: NO AIR FLOW IS BAD NEWS. Also air quality is shit for some reason. It ain't his fault.

But hey! Now their scent is masked. Namur coughs, drops to a low crouch, and follows Maria around to the back of the building just in time to see the balcony at the same time she does. Or rather, the vague shape of what he intellectually knows is probably a balcony. Whatever. It's pretty high up. Namur could probably get Maria up there with no problems- one of the advantages of having ridiculous upper body strength. Getting himself up there will take a bit more doing.]

Hey, run yer light over the wall 'gain.

[Boarded up windows and irregular ledges make for excellent handholds, after all.]

Edited 2013-09-15 19:40 (UTC)

[The other windows visible from here aren't boarded up, but all of them appear to be blocked by debris either inside or out, and the stone walls of the building itself are eerily smooth given what's become of the city immediately around it.

A little more squinting at the balcony may turn up the silhouette of something dangling off one edge that doesn't quite fit the shape of the rocks strewn around this area, but it's too far away to make out any other details from this side of the structure.]

[And squint he does, his head cocked to one side. Maybe he can use it to climb up.]

Think y' can make that if I chuck y? There's somethin' hangin' over there, I'll try an' get up that way.

I was afraid you'd say that.

[No, she wasn't. She'd been about to suggest it herself, since she knows she can't climb that sheer surface and she can't jump that high unaided.]

I can make it, though. [She pops the flashlight back between her teeth again, the better to have two hands free, then readies herself to go up however he cares to send her.]

[Namur kneels on one knee and leans forward an bit, trying to get down to a workable height but still have his feet solidly beneath him.]

Climb up on my shoulder, then once I get stood up, climb on my hand. Prob'ly only fit one foot, but that's the best I got. Toss y' overhand t' get y' some momentum an' then y'll have t' jump.

[Oh, right. Backup plan if this one fails.]

I'mma stick 'round here 'til yer up, jus' in case it's higher'n it looks. Once yer over, though, head 'round aft an' see if that hangin' thing's secure. Got it?

That's a lot more subdued than I expected from you.

[Seriously, she'd figured he'd just grab her by the stomach and heave. Grabbing onto his shoulder, Maria hauls herself up. She's heavier than she looks, of course; she's one seriously solid girl.]

When you're ready!

[Namur's had Ifrit junctioned to do elemental attacks for awhile now, and it's likely beginning to affect his body in subtle ways- like raising its temperature. He isn't in dangerous territory yet and won't be for awhile, but the change would be noticeable.

Maria's weight doesn't surprise him in the slightest. Most women he's lived and worked with have been of a similar build- strong and lithe from a life on the sea. He puts a hand on her side to support her as he stands, trying hard not to shake his shoulders as he laughs.]

Sheheheh! Ain't always got kelp for brains, jus' most a the time.

[Once he's got his feet under him and feels steady, he moves his hand around and gets it in position for her to step on, palm up and open. This is going to be the hardest part, and they'll have to move quickly. It'd be nice if they could stick to the wall for support but then he'd be tossing her at the bottom of the balcony rather than the side.]

Ready on three. One, two, three!

[The three is almost more of a loud grunt, as he swings his torso around and launches her from his shoulder like a shot put. Good luck up there!]

[She turns a neat flip in midair to land on the balcony. One gunblade flips out like it has a mind of its own, and she quickly sweeps the balcony with its tip to ensure she has it to herself.]

[She does indeed, and it's so quiet up here that the sound of her feet touching down on the ancient stone almost seems to ring. If there was any audience to her acrobatic landing, it certainly isn't coming out of the open window to greet her.

From up here, it's easier to make out what the object covering the side of the balcony was: an enormous vine, thick, tangled and very much alive, spreading from this overhanging ledge across the wall behind it and down the back of the structure, out of sight. How odd.]

[Odd or not, Namur's heading that direction and tugging experimentally on the stalks when he gets there. They feel pretty tough and secured...]

How's it look up there?

There's a vine up here! I have the sneaking suspicion that when I seize it and toss it down to you, it's going to turn out to be the tentacle on some hideous plant monster, but I don't see another way up for you!

Yeah, me either...

[Maria doesn't need to drop it, he can reach. But he'd had the same thought about it suddenly trying to choke him the second he's not in a position to fight back. Maybe it would have been a good idea to wrestle Karma a bit more, back when he had the chance. Learn how to deal a bit better with attempted choking from multiple, flexible appendages. Nothing he can do about that now.]

A'ight, be ready t' split this sucker if shit goes down. I'll take a fall better'n gettin' squished.

[Namur punches it fairly hard, just to see if it suddenly curls up or something, and failing that, will jump up and begin climbing.]

[Namur's punch dislodges a few little bits of masonry from up above, which bounce away in the darkness. The vine, springy and more than tough enough to bear even a bulky fishman's weight, doesn't seem to mind in the slightest.

From somewhere inside the building, muffled but practically thunderous in the midst of all this damp silence, there come a couple of wooden-sounding thunks.]

[Climbing faster! Namur's an experienced hand at making his way up rigging, so he gets to the top rather quickly, and shoos Maria on ahead. If something's going to come try and find them all in a tizzy for getting punched, he'd rather be on the other side of the building when it arrives.]

[The most obvious way "ahead" is through the open window - it might seem a little illogical that somebody would have built a ledge here without a visible door or other obvious way to reach it, but if there ever was one, it's nowhere in sight.

The window leads into a room, spacious and perhaps once even airy, although the best you could say for it now is that in here they're more likely to choke on the dust than the damp. The outline of an unblocked doorway is visible at the end opposite the balcony, but watch your step; towards the centre, a few chunks of the stone floor seem to have crumbled away. And what's that persistent tapping noise, fainter than the thumps from before, originating from somewhere below your feet?

Now that the two of them are out of the earlier smoke, there might be a clue in the air: the extremely faint scent of another human evident all the way back at the gates to the ruined city is a lot stronger here. So is the mix of all the other mammalian scents from before, though...]

[The tapping is probably the rats. They had to get their shitty armor from somewhere and Namur doubts they just found it laying around. The taste/smells from earlier also come from below, and one of those may or may not be a capturable Guardian Force. There may or may not be a pissed off plant thing coming for them. The weakass floor may or may not crumble beneath them even if they try skirting the edges near the walls. The shitty building may or may not be a maze, and it would be damn stupid to get lost in it when the place they probably need to go is open to them right now.

They just have to dive in and hope the proverbial sharks are too damn surprised to do anything while they get their bearings and get to cover.

Namur grits his teeth, letting out a long, slow breath between them. He should probably suggest they stick to the walls and go through the door. But that feels like more circling, and he's circled enough to be satisfied. It's time to strike, the quicker the better.]

Okay, goin' t' drop down them holes in the floor.

[He's still keeping his voice low, but anything he can smell can probably smell him, too. It isn't as if there's a current around to move the scent.]

There's a shit ton a critters down there, maybe a human. Y' got any ideas better'n jus' walkin' over an' hopin' the shitty floor crumbles t' our advantage?

I can get to the door safely, but it'd be noisy. [She's confident that with a flip and riding the recoil from her gunblades, she can bypass the unsafe section of the floor entirely.]

Of course, you could always give the floor some encouragement in how it could fall. [She mimes punching the ground.]

[Namur considers that idea, then nods.]

Puts us in a damn shitty spot, though. Got t' assume its enemies down there, an' be ready t' fire on 'em. But they might be jus' people, too. Don't want t' kill 'em 'less we got t'. If that ain't a decision yer willin' t' make on the run, y' can stay up here an' cover me. If I need it.

[He runs his hand over the back of his head. Obviously she isn't going to start shooting if he doesn't need it.]

Y' in or stayin'?

[Namur earns himself an absolutely withering look for his implication. Which of them is the SeeD here? Not willing to make that decision on the run indeed.]

hur hur 'raw fish'

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