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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[Even though nobody seems to be listening to him, Davies again elects not to push his luck. He slips through the new gap after Namur - easily, as you could guess from how weedy he is without his bag - and squelches into the long, pitch-black hallway beyond.

Still unnoticeable to anyone but Namur, the scent of the GF wafts through the rank air from further down the hallway.]

Er, are you sure? Those beasts could be anywhere -

[He's wrong, though.]

Aah!

[The little crude spear that zips past an inch away from his nose and thunks onto the damp floor somewhere out of sight could only have come from the
opposite direction to that strange, flickering smell. And if that wasn't enough of a clue, the dozen or so Rat Soldiers suddenly charging out of the darkness with shields at the ready probably should be.]

[Maria eels through the gap after Davies, her jaw set. Rat soldiers on one side, and whatever Namur seems to be heading away from on the other... She doesn't like this, but she knows Namur can handle himself in qa fight easily. That continues to leave her at the rear until ordered elsewhere.]

[Namur rounds on the rats, sighing.]

Y' got jus' this many, right? Somethin' big's over this way, so that's where we're headin'. Don't take too long, a'ight? C'mon, Davies, shit's gonna get hot 'round here an' I don't want y' gettin' set on fire.

[Namur heads down the hall toward the flickering GF smell, moving cautiously. He doesn't want to leave Maria too far behind, but he wants to hurry forward, too.]

[Disoriented from the near miss, but fully agreeing that he doesn't want to be set on fire, Davies hurries after him.

The Rat Soldiers aren't keen to let them escape that easily, though. As the loosely coordinated platoon swoops in, several of them break away from the pack in pursuit, hoping to batter their way past Maria with their oddly polished-looking wooden shields. The rest, spears out, go right for her stomach without a scrap of self-preservation instinct.

Up ahead, far from the current commotion, there's another roar - and then a crash, one that shakes the walls. Whatever's down there, it's getting agitated...]

Incoming, Namur! There's too many to stop easily!

[Well, there's only one real thing to do in this sort of situation, against this sort of numbers. Maria flings up an arm and begins summoning Ifrit, letting the GF's HP take the blows meant for her while she buys the seconds needed to bring it out.]

[Gritting his teeth, Namur wrenches himself around and thunders past Davies, running half on his hands, fire from the elemental junction leaving small scorch marks on the ground. If anything manages to make it past Ifrit, Namur's teeth are likely to make short work of it. He's glad she summoned the GF though- they haven't got time to be screwing around with rats when something bigger- maybe a new GF itself- is coming from the other direction.]

[The Rat Soldiers that took off on their own a moment ago squeal right into Namur, and that's the last thing they ever do. Neither those little wooden shields nor the small utility belts strapped around their waists are likely to taste good, though.

Meanwhile, the other monsters continue to fling themselves and their spears at Ifrit. Seems like they really don't want these intruders getting to the end of that hallway, huh?]

[That won't last long. Maria completes the summon, Boosting Ifrit as the GF bursts forth from the ground in a wash of hellfire to boot a giant flaming rock into the midst.]

[The rock doesn't even get a chance to touch them; where it lands, it grinds against the ancient stone and rolls away into the shadows amid nothing but embers, the dying echoes of piercing rodent screams, and some quiet hissing close to the floor.

Wait, what?

No, no, not "what". BOOM.

The explosion is louder than it's forceful, though the shockwave could certainly knock somebody off their feet if they aren't paying attention - as it does Davis a moment later. But even more distracting than the noise is what bursts forth from it, or more accurately from a dozen or so crude smoke bombs nestled in a dozen or so of those damaged utility belts: a dozen all-enveloping clouds of acrid, eye-watering smoke, quickly merging and billowing and choking the dank corridor.]

Edited (wording) 2014-01-18 23:23 (UTC)

Shit, get out, get out, get out!

[Namur skids, turning and scrambling back the way he came as the smoke advances, pushing Maria and grabbing up Davies as he goes.]

[Maria uses some very unladylike words as she scrambles on in the direction Namur shoves her -- wait, which direction was that?!]

We should be going the other way! We can't turn back NOW!

Don't go back through the rocks, keep goin' straight! 'S where we wanna go anyway!

[He slings Davies up over his shoulder so the man's dangling limbs won't trip him up on accident.]

[Davies yelps as he's swept off his feet, but puts up about as much resistance as a rubber band.

As they pound along the long, monotonous hallway, the air begins to clear again, but the rumbling up ahead only intensifies. There aren't any monsters left to pursue them, and no other obstructions before, eventually, a pair of enormous, ornately-carved stone doors looms out of the shadows.

Without a doubt, the smell and the incessant bellowing are coming from just past them - by now, even a congested regular human could pick up on the stink of wet fur - but there's still no visible sign of its source.]

[Despite the urgency of the situation, Maria draws her gunblades again on the run. They sure didn't make running easier, but she could handle it, and she definitely did NOT want to be unarmed.]

[Namur pauses at the stone doors long enough to put Davies down and catch his breath. He wipes his face with a still-damp sleeve that doesn't feel nearly as cool as he hoped it would.]

Damn bastard Ifrit.

[The words don't have as much venom as one might expect, however.]

Let's go see what this noisyass shit's goin' on 'bout, huh? Tastes like a GF but... not. An' it keeps comin' an' goin', so hell if I know what that's all 'bout. Smell its stink though, don't y'? Jus' gotta pop these doors an' I'll bet we find it. Cover me while I'm pushin', a'ight? Let's hope they ain't got any more a them damn smoke bombs.

[He looks at Davies as he walks up to the door.]

Try not t' die or run 'way 'less it's with us, got it?

[And with that, he leans his shoulder against the door, applying pressure slowly. There's no point in wasting strength if the things are going to open up with a simple push.]

[Barely even a push, as it turns out - no sooner does Namur touch the ancient, slime-coated stone than both doors swing slowly inwards, almost as if moving by themselves, groaning with long-decayed majesty.

The hall inside... well, it must be a hall, because the sides of a natural cavern wouldn't be this smooth or lined with fiercely blazing wooden torches as far as the eye would be able to see if it didn't have to screw shut right away. The ceiling stretches improbably high up, vanishing into shadow. Even the stale air feels more expansive in here, as if it's spread thinner than in the hallway outside.

But that doesn't mean the space is less cramped. In fact, it'll be hard to move any further ahead immediately. Just behind the doors, there's a veritable maze of coffins standing sleek, black and upright, packed densely like trees in some incredibly macabre forest - though peering round them might reveal that it's only the ones closer to the walls that remain intact.

And over the top of them, amid debris and splintered wood, a mountain of shaggy, pure-white fur is visible: an four-legged creature with a gaping maw you could drive a truck through and a horn thick enough to crush it, pawing at the stone floor with enormous blood-red claws and bellowing its distress up to the heavens.]

[Distress... Well, that's not what Namur expected to sense coming off the creature. He's never been great at using haki to tame animals, but... well. It's worth a shot. He holds his arm up in front of Maria, signalling her to stay put, and heads in, stepping slowly but confidently. The same spiritual energy he uses every so often to intimidate and overwhelm others now ripples out in front to pass through and around the creature, only this time it conveys friendship to every cell of its body, and reassurance to the creature's very essence. It better believe Namur's the stronger of the two, but he's willing to help.]

Hey Bigshot. What's got yer fur all in a tangle, huh?

[This is pretty much what Maria would have done or advised -- at the moment, intuition and available evidence tell her this creature is not an active threat, though it may lash out blindly. The shoe's on Namur's foot now, though she keeps an eye on their rear for more rates, and keeps a Stop spell ready in case the beast actually takes down the fishman.]

[Caught in the flow of energy, the creature seems to freeze mid-howl. Its gaping jaws still hanging wide open, it turns its enormous head from side to side, a low growl building in the back of its throat. Insofar as its blankly gleaming eyes betray anything like human emotion, it looks more confused than hostile - but also more wary than reassured.

Because that ripple of energy doesn't quite reach every cell of its body: something in this room is blocking and diverting its path, like rocks in a stream. To those attuned to it, the sensation is patchy, but unsettling enough to be noticeable.

It's certainly unsettling the furry giant. With another rumble, it rises to its paws, shedding splinters and fallen stone, and stomps down hard on the nearest coffin it can see - which happens to be the one standing right by Namur.]

[Not too far from where Maria is standing guard, Davies temporarily forgets that he's flattening himself against one of the grand doors for his own protection and flinches back at the impact, causing him to hit the back of his head. Disoriented, he rubs at it.]

M-My goodness... More of these...?

[Namur barely flinches as the coffin smashes, sending debris exploding outward toward him. Instead, he cooly raises an arm to shield his face, shakes a few splinters out of his own hair, and keeps his attention on the creature.]

Tch. Yeah I think them things're pretty damn tacky too. Y' chained up in here or somethin'? Or maybe yer lookin' for somethin'? Bet y'd smell it if y' was. Here.

[Namur reaches into Davies' bag, likely causing its owner a small heart attack and fishing around for the semicircle of wood he'd bitten off the coffin upstairs, though his fingers may brush over the crystal while he's at it. He feels what he's looking for, and pulls it out to show the horned creature.]

Take a sniff a this'n, huh? Thing was empty when I checked it before but that don't mean it always was.

I think it's trapped, Namur. Just not necessarily physically.

[He's really lucky 'Diplomacy' is not a metric on this exam, because she'd have to fail him on that part. She's glad he hasn't gotten aggressive against... whatever it is, anyway.]

[The creature bellows again, its lingering agitation finally burning out its spiritually induced calm. The rank air down here is more damp than cold, but nevertheless the animal's breath seems to crystallise in the air even as a few more rocks tumble from the ceiling.

With no more warning than that, it swipes violently at the coffin fragment with a paw the size of a car, trying to knock it, Namur, and the next nearest coffins away.]

[Namur gets thrown back, but rolls up onto his feet quickly. He lost the piece in his hand, and unslings his and Davies' packs from his shoulder, tossing them over by the door.]

A'ight then, guess we'll do this the shitty hard way.

[He casts Scan, edging toward the door to intercept any moves the creature might make in that direction.]

[The creature doesn't follow Namur, or even seem interested in him once he moves away. Its ponderous feet come down again and again, attempting to pound the splinters of the coffin it just crushed into the stone floor.

Scan data:
Moloch: A sacred ice monster. Dormant until its essence was drawn from an ancient stone tablet. Its freezing breath renders all foes sluggish. Resists ice, water and wind.
Draw list: Slow, Blizzara, Aura.]

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