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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 1, 2022 20:06:25 GMT -5
This was such a bad idea. Shaa had been in and out of the Ash Lands several times several times this year and always wonders why he comes back. It’s dark, it’s dirty, it smells like sulfur even indoors. Shaa knew of some Minotaur that live here because they lost a bet. Shaa pulls out a parchment and reviews the contents.
The parchment outlines a request made by some volcanic researchers who had apparently lost a colleague during the course of his research. He fell in a lava pit. End of quest. The fact that these guys wanted to confirm their friend wasn’t crispy bits was the most surprising part of the whole thing. That’s ok though. Money for him, peace of mind for them. Truth be told, if Shaa had a friend missing here, he would be the first one looking. Didn’t mean he was super happy about it.
The other part of this was that the researchers had apparently contracted with another adventurer to help with the search. It was a tough climb up to Mount Drakholt and Shaa hoped they were up to the task. He wasn’t looking for two people to drag down off of the mountain.
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 2, 2022 23:26:12 GMT -5
I hadn't been expecting for the motherland of my paternal heritage to be a paradise- it was called the Ash Lands, and known for having volcanoes and being the birthplace of demon-spawn. Of course, knowing that and experiencing it for myself were two different things. The very air felt heavy in in my lungs and on my wings, heat wafted upwards from lava pools, a stark contrast to the sunless frost that perpetually covered the surrounding villages. I have to say, being a winter bird hybrid, I definitely prefer the cold. I've been shedding so much I'll go bald. I tried to stay in the air as much as I could, but even flying as high as was safe, I couldn't get away from the acrid smell of sulfur and waves of heat. Perfect place to destroy evidence. … ooookay? I landed and looked around. I came to the Ash Lands to do some exploring and pay respects on behalf of Dad and myself. And learn about the demonic arts. No, and maybe how to control demonic instinct. Coincidentally, there was a team of researchers who had lost a colleague in the area. A free ride for me, a chance to help someone else and get a little cash, it was too good to be true. I looked around, and saw figure a just far enough away that I couldn't make out their face, looking as out of place as I did amidst the lava pools and occasional Tiefling cult. I put my mask on and fixed my cloak before approaching him.
"Hi"
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 3, 2022 7:37:03 GMT -5
Shaa watched as the avian…no avian-hybrid approached him. He seemed friendly enough which was good but what in the world was a snow bird doing in the Ashlands of all places? Shaa got a picture of trying to run an ice cube through a hot springs in his head. While having someone air bound while on a search could be helpful for sure, Shaa wasn’t entirely convinced this was going to be an easy “search and rescue” kind of job. Something didn’t smell right.
Ummm yeah, hey man. The name is Shaa, nice you meet you. Shaa extended a giant, stoney hand to the bird man. So you are the one that they ropped into this as well hunh? He looked up towards the volcano and squinted a bit as if looking at something really far away. Well, the Ashlands is no place to hang around for fun, I can tell you that. If you are ready to go, I think we better head on out. Some of these mountains can be unpredictable at the best times. The longer we wait, the less likely we will find…. Shaa checks the scroll again, furrowing his brow. Roger the researcher. Shaa gets a quizzical look on his face. Roger the researcher? You have to be kidding me. He shakes his head a bit at the alliteration. Ok, this way…oh, what was your name?
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 5, 2022 21:51:31 GMT -5
I suppressed an unprofessional snort at the alliteration and his incredulous reaction. Instead I smiled and introduced myself. "You can call me … Fractale, it’s nice to meet you too, Shaa”. It still felt a little weird calling myself by that name, but I've been trying to think of it in a poetic way. Like I'm carrying her and she's been watching me all this while. (Would she proud? I've gotten so much stronger now but.…That's something I'll think about when it…hurts less.) It feels like another way of distancing myself. Like I'm my own character, and as Fractale, I'm NOT me. I'm some amalgamation of myself and her memory.
Anyway, I've got to get used to it- I can't keep using sections of my actual name, and I know that I want to take up her mantle. So instead of dreading the next time that Shaa would call me with her name, I reviewed what information had been posted in the request a loud for the both of us to make sure we were on the same page. “This plateau was Roger’s last known location. The team of researchers up here about two weeks ago, and nobody knows exactly what happened since the team only realized he was missing while doing a headcount, at which point he could have been missing for up to an hour.” I looked around at the large outcrop that we were standing on, almost like a little plateau chiseled into the side of the mountain. There were a few that dotted this face of the mountain, each having a unique collage of rocks and lava pits of varying size, shape, and deadliness. One such lava pit had people chanting in a circle around it. "Perhaps we could ask some locals if they know anything?"
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 6, 2022 20:31:25 GMT -5
Shaa looked at the circle of locals. Narrowing down the option was certainly as good place to start as any. Fractale was it? Ok, nice to meet you. Yeah, sniffing out the locals sounds good, let’s see if they know anything useful. The two adventurers headed to the lava pit where the people were chanting. As the two got closer, the chants stopped abruptly. One of the men in some colored robes faced them
Can I help you…gentlemen? said the man in the robe coolly.
Shaa noted the pause on the word gentleman. He got this kind of passive aggressive word jabs all of the time so he just ignored it. Yes hello. We are sorry, we didn’t want to interrupt your chanting. We are just trying to get some local insight for a missing person.
Surely you aren’t implying we had anything to do with that are you? said the man, raising an eyebrow. We have been here praying for a long while now. No no Shaa assured them. We are just trying to confirm if you have seen anything or anyone that might be helpful in the search.
The robed man slouched a bit and scrutinized the two closely. People get lost up here all of the time. he hedged. Most come back on their own but, of course, there are plenty that never come back at all. We pray here to the mountain gods for safety. The paths are treacherous you see.
From the back of the group comes another voice. Well there was that odd noise. Shaa turned to her and asked. What odd noise? The woman walked a bit closer. The other day, when we were up on the ridge. It was very unnatural, at least for up here. The robed man considered for a moment. Yes, that’s true. We have never heard a noise quite like that before. Not sure what it has to do with missing people, we never found the source. The woman pointed to a small path. If you go that way, after a couple hours you will come to a small outcropping then the ridge. It was there we heard it.
Shaa thanked the group and took Fractale to the side. Might be something, might be nothing. Might be worth checking out. What do you think?
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 9, 2022 18:07:41 GMT -5
Shame that they'd stopped chanting. I wasn't able to make out the words, but I'm pretty sure that they were speaking an archaic dialect of Infernal. Note to self, ask them about it and maybe join them if I have the chance. They were wary and a little defensive, but Tieflings were often blamed for felonies that they didn't commit, so that wasn't the best indicator of whether they were guilty or not- especially since they perceive us as outsiders. Still it we got... something out of them.
"A strange noise you say? Could you describe it?"
She wrinkled her brow “it sounded like… a combination between the crack of thunder and the hiss of magma.” Thunder and magma, huh?
Shaa took me to the side asking if we should check it out. “Yeah, it’s as good a lead as we’re going to get”. I turned to face the cult again “Thank you for your cooperation, have a nice day!” before we headed over to where the lady had directed us. We were pretty close to the edge of this outcrop t first glance it looked like the rest of the rock protrusion- there was a lavapool that gushed over down the side of the tiny cliff face like a sluggish firey water fall, rocky ground everywhere, the works. “Let’s investigate”
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 10, 2022 8:58:25 GMT -5
As the two started up the path, Shaa got curious about his new companion. Other than the fact that he was hired and the obvious stuff from the outside, he really didn’t know anything about him. If they got into any trouble, which was like every 15 minutes around here, he needed a better sense of what this guy could do. There was just something off about him that Shaa couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe the fumes were getting to him.
Shaa was about to ask some follow up questions when he noticed another pair of travelers up the road. In light armor and climbing gear, they looked about as tough as the rocks they were walking on. One appeared to be human while the other was some sort of halfling. Shorter but stocky and solid. Shaa waved at them as they approached.
Hey guys, watcha doing up here? Shaa inquired with a friendly tone.
Oh just doing some climbing. Said the man. How about you all?
Guy went missing earlier, we are going up to see if we can find him.
The halfling gave a side glance to the man. Is that so? The man continued. Well that’s too bad. Rough thing to get lost up here. We’ll keep an eye out and send him down if we see him.
Appreciate that…thanks.
You two stay safe yourselves.
After a bit more walking, Shaa put some distance between themselves and the strangers. Shaa spoke low.
That was weird. What ever those guys are doing, it’s not casual hiking. They didn’t even ask the missing persons name. Something is going on around here, I can feel it.
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 15, 2022 23:59:49 GMT -5
I raised an eyebrow under my mask after the hiking duo passed us by. Shaa had pretty much summed up what I was thinking too, excluding the What kind of idiots come to the lava pools for a casual hike? part. I mean, if you’re going to come up here, at least say that you’re researchers or multicultural enthusiasts. Otherwise it’s just terrible acting. Of course, one doesn’t give future victims suspicious people tips on how to hide from me be less suspicious, so instead of voicing my critique I just said, “...Yeah. Should we follow them?” Then it occurred to me that he was, in fact, a hulking seven feet of bull-man in the middle of a mostly flat plateau, and sneaking might be a little difficult for him. Then again, I've seen some very sneaky, very bulky people, so assuming that the minotaur was incapable of concealing his bulk would be.. .large-ist? buff-man-ist? ...I'll settle with biased. I'll let him choose. “Or, if it’s more convenient, one of us can stalk them, and you can continue to investigate this area? Do you think that they might be related to the missing mister?” hehe missing mister that’s an alliteration.
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 16, 2022 8:41:10 GMT -5
Shaa considered the suggestion. Well, you may have noticed but…I’m not exactly the most subtitle of creatures. Shaa waves his hands up and down his large frame, emphasizing his large size. But I am glad that we are both on the same page about those guys.. It was a quandary. Follow the suspicious guys or look for the suspicious noise. There weren’t a lot of easy places to hide and if they saw them, there would not be any easy explanation.
Those guys were weird for sure but we don’t know if they have anything to do with our missing researcher. Could just be a coincidence. We probably risk wasting time that we don’t have following them. Distraction. This was the problem. They needed to focus. We are almost to the outcropping that the chanters mentioned. I say we find the noise. If it’s nothing, we head to pit where Roger disappeared in the first place and look for clues to where he may have wandered off to. If we wait for too long, they won’t last. Shaa felt better about the plan as he said it. Better to follow the stuff you know. Yes.. we should stick together. Shaa didn’t like the fact that his companion suggested splitting up so soon into their trip. Was he in kahoots with the weird hikers? Wouldn’t that beat all to say he would follow them only to join up with them. Maybe it was the desolate terrain but paranoia was starting to creep in. He was starting to feel very alone.
The two kept walking and soon made it to the ridge. Hmmmm don’t hear any weird noises. I hope this isn’t racist or anything but can you..you know….fly around and see if you can spot anything weird?
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 21, 2022 2:11:08 GMT -5
I let out a pensive hum after hearing Shaa's thoughts. He was right, while suspicious, those two hikers didn't have any connections to our case. While the noise only had merit in being in the right vague area in the right time frame, it definitely was a harder lead than two mildly suspicious humanoids hiking in the area several weeks later (would've been easier to just kill them then). Searching the area where the noise came from wouldn't hurt- the guys was probably already long dead, so it wasn't like we were on a time crunch or anything- but covering more ground by air wouldn't hurt. I could go more places too, like if the researcher's corpse had fallen off the out crop and down the mountain somewhere (yeah, this is a great place to trip). The main counter to the I idea was that, with all the smog, I couldn't see much, and having me check by air might make us over confident in out coverage and miss something. Even coming here, I was only able to tell that I'd arrived by the searing light from the lava pools and the sudden plateau in the steep mountain face.
"..Sure," I said, all these thoughts having flown through my head in only a hand full of seconds, ".. I'll check t- from the air … some of the surroundings where he might have fallen. You search the ground area? How about communication? Maybe we reconvene in ….an hour?"
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 21, 2022 11:59:50 GMT -5
Shaa thought about the plan and it seemed to make sense. Ok man, back here in an hour. In truth, Shaa wasn’t excited about the fact his companion had conveniently found an excuse to disappear for an hour, but he wasn’t about to push it. Shaa marked the spot and headed out towards the ridge. After hiking a bit more, he finally arrives to the smokey ridge.
Shaa looks around into the bleak nothingness of the surrounding area. After looking around the ridge for a bit. Shaa can’t see anything. Then the sound came. Wooooossshhhh! Shaa stood at attention as the strange sound roared in the distance. He ran over to a small path. As he approached, the sound seemed to get even louder. Wooosh! He carefully followed the rocky path as it descended underneath the ridge. Further and further he went until he could see something metallic in the distance. The noise seemed to be coming from some sort of strange device that Shaa didn’t recognize.
What in the world is that thing? He wondered to himself, staring at the strange object. It seemed to be making the noise at regular intervals. Upon closer examination, he noticed some strange runes carved into the rock below it. They looked infernal. Just what are you up to man? Whatever it is, it isn’t good.
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 25, 2022 21:21:52 GMT -5
Hearing the noise, I set out in its direction. It didn’t really sound like the tieling girl had described- more like a gust of wind with a little extra buzz than lava and lightning- but it was a weird noise to try and describe, so kudos to her for trying. I spotted the duo we’d passed turning around and hurrying in that direction as well. Okay, so they’re either on the same quest as we are, or just plain old suspicious. Should I go down there and interrogate ask them? No, Shaa and I are a good ways ahead of them, I’ll tell him and we can face them together. Having strength in numbers would be better, since I don't have much strength. But giving them a little present wouldn’t hurt right? I hummed the rhythm of the chant that the tieflings had been reciting earlier as I doubled back and dropped a firecracker on their head. It wouldn’t hurt them, it was just a little bit of light and noise. I turned around again to find the source of the noise, allowing a little laugh to escape my lips when I heard a faint bang and a pair of surprised shouts.
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 26, 2022 12:14:04 GMT -5
Shaa circled the device I. An effort to get a better idea of its purpose. Other than being noisy and mysterious, Shaa couldn’t see anything that would give him a better idea of it’s function. In a last ditch effort, Shaa attempts to lift it up only to find that it is firmly embedded in the rock. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going anywhere soon. Time to head back and meet with the Avian. Perhaps he would know more about it or who put it here.
Just to be safe, Shaa started calling. Roger! Roger, are you here? Looking around the device, Shaa didn’t see any foot prints other than his own. Even those were starting to disappear in the string winds that pervaded beneath the ridge. Hmmmm no sign of Roger here. I had better just head on back.
It didn’t take long for Shaa to make it back to the pre designated meeting spot. It appeared that he had made it back first but he was early still so he wasn’t too worried yet. Then, in the distance, Shaa could see Fractale swooping in. Sha had always wondered what it would be like to fly around like that. Being the size of a small boulder didn’t really allow that epas a possibility. It was the ground for him. Shaa gives a high wave to the avain so he can see him. He’s coming in, but then Shaa notices he’s coming in faster than he expected. Perhaps he found something after all.
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Post by Natsunats-Shun on Nov 28, 2022 17:22:03 GMT -5
I saw Shaa waving below. Waiting already? That was quick. So I once again donned a more professional bearing, scrubbing my face of the mirth from my prank before tipping into a headlong dive. I pulled up, my talons clacking against the stone as I landed in front of the minotaur, a little out of breath. "The two 'hikers' we saw earlier are making their way to where the noise is coming from. I managed to stall them a little bit, but they're only maybe fifteen minutes behind us. Did you get to check it out, or better yet, get a hold of it?"
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 28, 2022 21:35:27 GMT -5
Shaa shrugged a bit. The answer is Yes and No. Yes, I found the device. It’s pretty big and has some strange writing on it I didn’t recognize. I tried to pick it up but it’s stuck pretty tight to the rick. As a side note, I didn’t see any sign of Roger either. Between you and me, this thing is getting weirder by the minute and we still are no closer to even finding the guy.
Shaa shuffled his hooves in the ground. Ughh, we need to find out what’s going on. Here’s the plan. Let’s get back to the device and hide behind the ridge, if the hikers come for it, we jump them and get some real answers. Who knows, mayvpbevthey can tell us where Roger is. If they don’t come, we leave the device and head out to where he went missing. Like we should have….in the first place. Shaa shook his head.
Shaa motioned over to the path he took to get to the voice. After getting below the ridge, they were shocked to find two of the research team doing something to the device. What in the world are you guys doing here?
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