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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 4, 2024 21:55:22 GMT -5
"I don't think you need to worry about that for too much longer." The wereboar slowly starts to squeeze the trigger. Back topside, Fish hops out of Eirynor's arms and starts walking. One, they would avoid the indignity of being carried and two, the both needed their hands to speak. It was their only form of communication after all. Fish looks around at the broken traps and the mess made of this hallway. Amatuers. Too stupid to know how to disarm a trap, so just barrel through it. Maybe they took a golem and found out how to activate it then made it take the traps....Either way Fish isn't entirely concerned about that at the moment. Strangely, Fish is worried about finding Shael. Something about "people are not expendable" and "you should treat people nice, not like tools" and other such nonsense being taught to the young Fish. Their tiny hand suddenly shoots up to stop Eirynor before hopping ahead of them. Inbetween their little talons is a small bundle of hairs, rough and coarse.[1] Boar? Someone wouldn't bother bringing a pet through here even as a literal meat shield. It was then that Fish heard it. In the blink of an eye, Fish unholsters their crossbow and fires a shot.[2] The bolt soars down the hall bouncing off the wall to round the corner.[3] It impacts the other near wall, causing a tiny explosion that sends a spray of dust and unfortunately glitter into the wereboar's eyes.[4] "ACH WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"
1. Investigation Kit, 3/3 2. Quick Draw 3. True Hunter 4. Cheap Shot Quest Name: Information Retrieval Chapter: Two Description: The information was right there, within reach of you, however it slipped right through as another party managed to nab it. Be it thieves looking to sell it, or cultist trying to figure it out themselves, they somehow got the jump on you. So your new mission is to hunt them down and get the information back. You can go about it however you desire, sneaking into their base while they sleep, or killing them all where they stand. What's important is you get the artifacts, clues or information back to us. Requirements: - Requires at least two people (you and one other, the other does not need to be interested in the guild) - You must make at least 6 post with each post being 150 words to complete the mission. - You must locate those who stole the information from you and get it back anyway you like. - Once you complete this mission you gain entrance into the mages guild.
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Ash Rose Jackals
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 10, 2024 21:44:21 GMT -5
Shael blinks in surprise as the wereboar is blinded by a spray of sparkling glitter. A smile creeps across her face. "Heh, you poor dumb pig."
As the other tomb raiders draw their weapons, Shael's hand shoots to her side to grab the bladed whip coiled at her hip.[1] Though the tight quarters aren't great for fighting, they are great for funneling foes into the path of the sharp lash. She snaps the whip forward as it ignites in an eerie blue flame. She manages to land a hit against one of the goons, slicing his hand open and searing the skin which boils and blisters.
"Agh!" He shouts as he drops his sword to the floor where it clatters loudly against the dusty stone.
Shael coils the whip back and then snaps it forward again, going for the weapons of the other thugs or their faces to incapacitate them. The snap from her whip reverberates down the corridor and up to where Fish and Eirynor are.
Eirynor turns invisible and skulks ahead completely silent with only the slight disturbance of dust to tell Fish where the tall half-elf is.[2,3] He descends the stairs quickly until he's at the backs of the raiders who are struggling to disarm Shael given the better reach of her weapon.
The half-elf takes no time to run his flaming blade through the back of one of the goons.[4] If they wanted to ask any questions, which he isn't too interested in anyway, they would only need one left alive.
The skewered goon cries out in pain and surprise, blood welling up in their throat and dripping from their mouth as their eyes roll back in their sockets.
A heftier dwarven woman in a cloak whirls around to see Eirynor now that his ambush is complete. She reaches beneath her cloak and flings a throwing knife at the swordsman.
Eirynor shifts the body of the other goon in the path of the flying blade.
"Ye piece o' shit!" She shouts in anger as the blade sinks into her comrade.
[1] Blade Novice - bladed whip (fire and unholy rune) [2] Invisibility [3] Silent Step [4] Blade Novice - longsword (fire and unholy rune)
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The Tinkertons
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 11, 2024 17:37:07 GMT -5
The bandit yells across the hall at Eirynor, but before she can charge something stops her. The faces of bandits left behind suddenly go white as their hands tremble. For some reason, their bodies now feel heavy and pulses quicken.[1]
A sound starts to eminate from the shadows where Fish is still hidden. It sounds like feet dragging against stone, large and heavy feet. Each moment the bandits spend in frozen fear, the closer the footsteps get. Closer....closer.[2] Eventually metal clanks against stone as they drop their weapons and run, starting to scramble past the group and towards the exit.
"SCREW THIS PLACE YOU CAN BE MUMMY FOOD I'M OUT." She shouts back down the hallway as she runs.
Fish eventually pops up from the darkness and hops down the stairs towards Eirynor and Shael. The bird gives Shael a once over examination.
"You are not dead or significantly injured. Good work." They start to hop past the two to resume their trek down the hallway and whatever area the goons were guarding.
1. Foreboding Presence 2. Sound Throwing
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 11, 2024 19:26:59 GMT -5
Shael blinks as the raiders quickly give up and flee. "Huh. That works. Good job, little bird friend."
Meanwhile, Eirynor pushes the corpse of the one guy off the blade of his longsword. As the body slump to the floor unmoving, he flicks the blood across the wall and sheathes the blade.
"Hold on, I gotta go find my knives back in the other room."
Eirynor signs that they can just replace them, but the dark elf either ignores him or doesn't understand what he's trying to communicate and just heads back to where the chute dropped her after picking up one of the lit torches the tomb raiders dropped.
The swordsman sighs and follows Fish down another corridor which eventually opens up into a chamber lined with shelves. Most of them are empty or their contents have long since been eaten away by beetles and other insects that snuck their way into the tomb over time. Nothing stands out as being of particular value, though he does spot one of the stone golems discarded in the corner. Either the raiders already cleaned the place out of anything noteworthy, or things are better hidden somewhere.
After a few moments of searching the room, Shael catches back up with the group.
"Found my knives, just took digging through sooooo much sand and like three skeletons. You find the thingy yet?"
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 13, 2024 12:26:08 GMT -5
Fish pauses in the hallway a moment, looking up at the ceiling then around the surrounding area. Why did Shael end up here? Was there something wrong in the trap that she ended up here? Seems kind of odd to drop someone here with no spike pit or acid pool waiting. Maybe a very tall drop to make the whole path of bones thing make sense....This is why Fish hates metaphors.
They continue forward after a moment and look through the empty room. This is why people are dumped here...it seems like a treasure room, but likely trapped in some fashion. Either trapping them here or by the look of some of the skeletons, spikes and arrows. They look between all the items or alcoves. What's the secret here?
The notebook is quickly retrieved from their pouch as Fish flicks open the clasp and starts riffling through pages. What were the heiroglyphics again? Logogramss were another thing Fish disliked....just invent an alphabetic writing system.
Fish's talon traces through their notes before their eyes suddenly snap up to the empty alcoves. They look down to their notes then back to the alcoves before snapping the notebook shut.
"Fish has good and bad news....the good news is Fish has figured out how to open the secret chamber....the bad news is it requires a heart and blood.....The paths above were worn and Fish as missing some of the symbols. The Path of Life Fire, The Path of True Gold, and the Path of Bones, that one we knew....the heart pumps the blood and warms the body, blood contains trace amounts of gold but is also just as valuable to the body...there is plenty of bone dust around here already, Fish can collect that part."
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Ash Rose Jackals
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 24, 2024 15:16:37 GMT -5
Blood, heart, and bone. They certainly have no shortage of the latter, and the blood is easy enough to offer. It's the heart that's the problem. It almost sounds like the puzzle expects a sacrifice one of their own to be divided between the alcoves to gain access to whatever is hidden beyond. It's a steep price of entry, and one the three of them are not likely to take.
For a moment, Eirynor does consider carving up the one bandit he managed to down earlier. It'd be gruesome, but it would do the job.
It takes Shael a few extra minutes to understand what Fish is communicating, but once she gets the gist her face lights up with excitement.
"OH! I can handle the heart part!" Shael exclaims.
Eirynor looks at her with a raised eyebrow, skeptical that she even understands what is needed here. His skepticism only grows as the young dark elf starts rifling through her bag for something. She pulls some shriveled-up pieces of dried meat from her pocket. No doubt a piece of rations, though it's an odd shape and color to be just normal jerky.
"We can use this!" She holds it out to Fish. "It's rabbit heart! Indra loves to snack on them, so I always try to keep a few on hand."
Eirynor is so glad that it turns out to not be meat from some sort of bird. He can't imagine Fish would take that well. He sighs and signs to Fish that they can use the blood still slicked along the edge of his blade.
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 24, 2024 20:47:30 GMT -5
"Fish is not sure if that will work but," As Fish pauses they look to the bandits. "It might be the best option."
They may pretend to be a thief with no moral scruples, and that is true, there is some common decency in them. If it wasn't necessary to split open their chests and steal their hearts, then Fish could find that an acceptable solution.
Fish nods at Eirynor and takes a small sieve and bowl from their pouches. They take a moment to sift the bone dust from the sand, taking a few turns to make sure it is as pure as possible. Once everything is set, they motion with their head to the others to head to their altar.
As each ingredient is poured the recepticles in the alcoves start to sink lower and lower until there is a clunking sound from each one. Slowly a wall starts to part and leads to a staircase that descends a story or two.
"YOU HAVE PASSED THE TRIALS OF THE FLESH, BUT DO YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH OF MIND TO HANDLE THE KNOWLEDGE CONTAINED WITHIN?" Another ghostly voices booms out.
Fish is already headed down the staircase before the voice finishes its warning. The staircase comes down to a large library, though to call it a library assumes it is organized. This is anything but. Scrolls, books, and tomes are scattered around the floor, no shelving seems to exist. More skeletons litter the floor, though significantly less, each one clutching onto a book.
"Fish understands...some books in here must be cursed. Picking the wrong books will likely cause a madness....Fish would recommend not touching anything."
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 24, 2024 23:12:22 GMT -5
Shael props her hands on her hips and looks hella smug as her little preserved snack ends up working well enough to satisfy the puzzle.
"Heh."
She would brag more, but Fish has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting despite being the smallest of them, so she keeps her self-praise confined to her inner monologue.
Eirynor follows Fish closely, ready to defend the thief if needed. Though this next challenge seems more about sheer luck than strength or smarts. He looks around the library at all the dusty tomes and scrolls. The amount of knowledge here is astounding, or at least it would be if they could read any of it. Most of the tomes are written in long lost ancient languages the half-elf has no knowledge of.
As Fish points out that they shouldn't touch anything, Eirynor backs up into the doorway to block Shael from even entering the space.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" The young dark elf asks in an indignant tone.
Eirynor shoots her a look and signs that there's no way he's going to risk her setting off another trap in here. A fall and physial traps were one thing, a magical curse is a whole other beast. He's not sure about Fish, but he knows that both he and the teenager have no magic to counteract such traps. If they screw up here, he's not sure Fish would be able to save either of them.
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 24, 2024 23:54:44 GMT -5
The instinct isn't wrong. Fish could do a lot for physical traps, even some magical traps, but mental attacks was something they were still working on. The amount of explaining they would need to do to Zarius if one of his minions came back struck by madness or insanity was not something Fish was keen on doing.
For people like this unwitting tomb raiders, it was about luck. For Fish it was skill....or well...science. They reach under their scarves and pull out a pair of goggles, clicking the lenses together in front of their eyes.[1]
As Fish looks through the glasses, nearly every single book in here is trapped. Needle in the haystack method, not bad. Among all of the mess there is a single book that isn't trapped. Fish hops over to collect it. It feels like there are inches of dust that come off as Fish gives it a wipe.
Old Zenavian...Fish can translate this at home. They turn to head back before noticing some trinkets that stood up to the test of time. Fish tucks the book away and hops over to the pair.
To Eirynor, Fish offers up a bracelet. It will take some cleaning and polishing, but it could sell for quite a bit or just make a nice accompaniment. To Shael, Fish offers an obsidian bladed dagger. Given the markings that match others in the pyramid, it was probably a part of the rituals. Again, a nice thing to sell or add to the collection.
"Fish believes this is the tome that Fish was sent after....We should be careful of more bandits on the way out. They likely noticed both Indra and the lack of their associates coming out."
1. Arcane Glasses
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Ash Rose Jackals
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 25, 2024 11:39:28 GMT -5
Eirynor watches Fish closely as they pick through the messy library. He can feel his own body grow more tense each second as he anticipates something going horridly wrong and Fish needing to be rushed out of there. Supporting Fish in this mission means ensuring that the little birdfolk doesn't get hurt or worse.
So far, Fish has proven they're more than capable of taking care of themselves, and admittedly their actions have saved the two older elfkin more than they have managed to do for themselves. But at any moment that could change. Any moment something could go horribly wrong.
Eventually, Fish manages to retrieve a book and safely return to the group. Eirynor's shoulders relax just as Fish holds up something to him. He takes it and turns the bracelet around in his hand, confused as to why Fish is giving this to him in the first place.
Shael eagerly takes the dagger offered to her. "Oooooh, I wonder if this thing works on ghosts."
Eirynor rolls his eyes before nodding to indicate that he agrees with Fish's concerns about their exit. There is a very good chance the tomb raiders would lay a trap just outside the entrance to the tomb. Easier to loot the bodies of those who survived the traps than to deal with the traps themselves after all.
The half-elf offers to go first while invisible to avoid being detected upon exiting. If he sees things are all clear, he'll let them know.
Heading back the way they came, they don't have any further trouble from the traps they've already bypassed. However, it does look like the bandits did try to tip over one of the moving statues to make it harder for them to get out. Too bad for them they only managed to jam it against the wall so it just looks like someone didn't understand that all shapes go through the square hole.
It's easy enough to squeeze past the statue and continue down the corridor until they see the light of day pouring through the tomb's entrance.
Aaaaand then they hear a roar and terrified screaming.
Well, guess Indra got the jump on the tomb raiders rather than the other way around.
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 25, 2024 20:35:21 GMT -5
For once the bird decides to explain themselves seeing Eirynor's look of confusion, "Either this is the treasure room or the actual vault is somewhere else in the pyramid. Fish has what Fish needs....but Fish did not want Eirynor or Shael to leave without their share. Once back home Fish can try and appraise those for sale if you would like."
That conversation can be held for later though. Heading back through the paths is thankfully easy enough, nothing had seemed to have closed behind them except for ordinary doors that are easy enough to open. Fish readies their crossbow as they ascend back out into the open.
Ready as they are, it seems unnecessary as Indra has taken care of any threats outside. Fish looks up to Shael and Eirynor just to confirm they are also assuming Indra ate any other tomb raiders.
"Fish believes this job is complete then....Fish will detail what is in the book and send a report to Mr. Zarius when it is ready. It will take time for Fish to translate Old Zenaivian, pictographs are often less direct in their meaning and this is likely coded. Fish expects it to take a week depending on how busy The Desert Rose is and if Fish's assistance is needed with any patients."
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Jan 30, 2024 22:47:24 GMT -5
Eirynor looks back down at the bracelet. He isn't used to getting what he considers a gift from someone outside of the family. Eameia always made a huge deal of his birthday even though he long since stopped counting how old he even is. Age just isn't something that elves pay much attention to once they are considered adults by elven standards. Fish's considerate gesture is unexpected as he has not really bonded much with the young aviankin outside of business. He signs that it was not necessary to give them anything for the job, but the gesture and concern are appreciated.
Shael on the other hand, doesn't hesitate to pocket the blade before strolling out of the pyramid. She squints into the sun then grins from ear to ear as she watches Indra toss around the tomb raiders like a cat that just found a mouse to toy with.
"Atta girl! Bet you were real bored out here by yourself!"
Eirynor looks back down at Fish as the young aviankin explains their plans for the book they managed to retrieve. He just nods and keeps a blank expression at the mention of Zarius. They were not to share news of his passing with anyone if they could help it, and while the half-elf is sure Fish would not go around gossiping, it's probably easier to keep the secret going.
"Alright, girl, I think they learned their lesson!" Shael shouts as the tomb raiders lay on the sands groaning in pain.
Indra looks at the group with one of the tomb raiders still dangling from her mouth by the back of their shirt. She drops them unceremoniously on the ground before plodding over to let the group get up onto her back.
Eirynor signs to Fish that they can drop them off at the Desert Rose on their way back to Darkveil if they want.
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Post by Fish the Tinkerer on Jan 31, 2024 20:45:16 GMT -5
"Unless Mr. Zarius would like to discuss the findings with Fish, Fish would prefer to go home."
They watch curiously as Indra stomps around with the raiders before tossing them aside. The urge to go pilfer their bodies is resisted, but it is tempting. They probably didn't even know what they were after in this place, just hoping for treasure.
Going after treasure is fine, Fish was doing the same thing, but Fish did honestly hate squandered knowledge. Even ancient places like this have useful information and other ways of looking at things and understanding the information.
Fish tucks all of their things back into the appropriate bags and tightens the straps. Flying was the fastest and most convienient method of travel, but it didn't mean Fish had to like it.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Feb 3, 2024 19:37:59 GMT -5
Eirynor nods and signs that they will send Fish a letter if any further communication is needed after they return to Darkveil. For now, they would drop the little birdfolk off at the Desert Rose before continuing on their own way home.
Shael watches Fish reluctantly get up on Indra so they can head out before she turns her attention to Eirynor. "Y'know. We could tell them."
The half-elf shoots her a warning look, taking out a notepad and scrawling on it quickly.
Don't.
Shael frowns and crosses her arms. Despite how she hates keeping up this rouse, she keeps her voice down so they're not overheard.
"People are going to figure it out eventually you know. And they're probably gonna be most pissed that they were lied to for so long."
She has a point. He knows she has a point. But he wouldn't go against orders like that, even if there were people who deserved to know the truth of the matter. Even if those same people will likely resent them for the secrecy no matter what excuse they offer when the lie is ultimately revealed.
He shakes his head and tucks the notepad away, giving Shael one more pointed look before going and joining Fish on the back of the silver drake.
Shael puts her hand into her pocket and runs her thumb along the edge of the blade Fish gave her. It didn't feel right. None of this feels right. Gods. Why'd that asshole have to go and die and make things worse? Even dead, he's still a jerk. She sighs and climbs up onto Indra's back, makes sure that Fish and Eirynor are ready to leave, and then clicks her tongue to the drake.
Indra takes off across the seemingly endless sea of sand, a glint of silver against the bright blue sky as they fly back to the Oasis and beyond.
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