Topic: [CoA] Lands of Auralon IC

[SimplyNecro]

"I’m sure we can handle a few bandits." Arcold said confidently. "From what our technical friend here says, it appears the underways are our best choice. We’ll take this entrance." He continued, pointing to a spot that was reported to be safe, or at least safer.

"And don’t you worry bard, I’ll write them down for you. I’m sure you won’t be short of material to add to your story." He said rather comely. "Just be sure to get the gory niceties right." He added half jokingly. "More to the point though…" his tone slowly returned to its former gruffness "… We will need some time to gather supplies. The underways may be infested with bandits that we can handle, but it also happens to be the least mapped out area. I’m sure that’s just one reason such vermin would choose it as a hideout, once we’re passed the bandits though there’s no telling what could be waiting for us down there."

"So, if there are no other questions, suggestions, or concerns, I say we take an hour or two to gather some supplies for this expedition. We meet back at the gates and head off from there."

[Crazen]

Castur arrived at the gate and hour and three quarters after the meeting adjourned. he had with him his weapons, 


also with him was a very sad looking Kryloth (a 5 foot white chicken-frog thing. eats slugs and shrubs) packed with supplies; dried food, ammunition, lanterns, spare cloth, leather clay tablets, And a full trauma kit, supplemented with a verity of homebrewed remedies and powders; being a man of singleminded and ridged study, his spiritual abilities only allowed for increasing the speed of the healing process*

on his person where his, flute, zither, Blade (though its weight, size, and that it appeared to be made of concrete, made it more of a crushing weapon), and bolt launcher.

He greeted those who had arrived and waited for the others.


*(eight hundred times faster, as it is. if that sounds like a lot, remember most normal injuries take days or Weeks to heal. unfortunately this cant heal himself, as graid regenerate extremely slowly compared to many races)

[SimplyNecro]

One by one the party made their way to the gates, greetings where exchanged, last minute information was shared and final provisions where gathered. Armed and armored, the group made their way out of the gates and headed into the wilderness. Even from Dartterkirk the peaks of the Giant’s towers could be seen from a distance…

Aside from the occasional random growl of some predator and the constant, sleepy chirping of avian flora as day turned to dusk, the journey to the giant’s city was relatively uneventful. The only moments of short conversation mostly consisted of references to map, not so much to make sure that they were on the right path to the city (considering they could see it from their position) but to make sure they were heading to the right entrance.

"It’s here…" Alcord said almost excitedly as he drew his sword and began to hack at a wall of flora, each cut of the foliage slowly revealed a solid, metallic, surface behind it. Soon the Vrin ceased his rampant slashing and stepped back from his work. In front of the group was a large circular hatch, attached to a stone like wall, a recorded entrance into the underway. The party’s strongest members loosened the hatches locks and slowly opened it, the hatch making a squeaky groan all the way.

Nothing but darkness greeted them. In front of the group lay an impermeable void. The only source of light consisting of the occasional spark flickering in the distance before being swallowed by the hungry gloom. The silence was strong enough that the noise of the wilderness behind them seem to quiet in respect to the scene. The only sound that occasionally interrupted the quiet was the occasional "drip-drip" of leaking water and the rapid scuttling and hisses of startled vermin. Arcold pulled out one of the illuminator’s Vor’kera had passed out and lit it, lighting a small span in front of him, yet even then, the shadows seemingly had minds of their own as they tried to snuff out the light where ever it shined. Slowly he stepped in first.

"This is it. Don’t let your guard down for a second." He said as he headed inside.

[Cyst]

Yuta scoffed at Alcord's use of ancient technology, the thing could fail at any moment. He snapped his fingers and held a ball of light in his palm and walked down. "Alcord, allow me. Leave the toys in your bag and let true power illuminate our path."

[Gnoll]

Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing crash. Those inside turned about to notice a rather large (relatively speaking) individual making apologetic faces.

"Sorry about that," the Pentekonterus chuckled, "but you know how unwieldy these things are!" He was stumbling about around the gate.

"My name is Hurgigus Althar. I've come seeking the strongest opponents to face and defeat! The crash you heard was my weapon of choice hitting that metal thing back there."

Indeed, there was a flail attached to his horns, swinging about, and several of the scars on his back looked as if he had hit himself with it once or twice.

Tapping his foot twice, he uttered, "so, did I interrupt anything?"

[Crazen]

"Yes. Have you been following us? For shame.

Still, your welcome to come with us. Just be sure to listen to Arcold here, as the de-facto team leader, Vor'kera, as our guide, and me, as a peacekeeper. feel free to ignore or harass poor Yuta there as you wish. Oclus knows his antisocial tendencies aren't lightening any time soon"

speaking of unprovoked threats of violence against my person, there are definitely things in here,* just a fair distance further in. I count at least one that might be a sort of man, and several that might not.


*(Graid: no taste, no smell, no depth perception. ears like a bat)

[Gnoll]

"Got it."

With that, Hurgigus settled down and began to take in the surroundings. There was sure to be someone worthwhile to fight here.

[GroxGlitch]

"Take note of the crank on the luminators," Vor'kera patted the crank. "they store power from getting cranked, and I haven't cranked them in a while so you might want to do so now." He batted a small piece of debris from his path with the end of his staff. Thinking, he cranked the luminator hard a moment, and as he saw the beam became brighter, he clipped it onto his belt and drew his pistol into his free hand. He flicked off the safety and held it at the ready as he walked. He heard something fall to the floor and he snapped to the source of the sound. He saw a hunched, disfigured creature descending from an alcove in the wall, a jagged knife clutched in one hand. He brought up his handgun and fired off a trio of shots. His first two went wide, hitting the wall beside the bandit and scattering dust into the air. The last two hit their mark, one landing in the shoulder and the last square in the chest. He lowered the gun and groaned, shaking his head.
"Bloody beady-eyed fool. 'Gee, he has a gun, let's try to jump him with a knife.' Moron." He slid out the clip and loaded a new one, the cocking mechanism clicking when the clip took.

[Crazen]

"That was wholly unnecessary!" exclaimed Castur, hurrying to inspect the fallen would-be assailant.

"it had a knife! a knife! she couldn't have hurt you!"

he checked the persons status. this being releyed on a large air circulation system, which was cleanly hit through in the core. the mind was cut off from the flow; he would have to expend a potent heal to keep it from brain death.

"Nakak" he called to his packbeast. "this brevital lost its way at some point, and is quickly losing her chance to ever find it again. take it safely from this place and keep it until it is safe from ending. you know where to go from there."

Nakak gave a soundless confirmation as Castur unloaded his gear and placed the broken figure in it's place. then the creature hurried off with a what could have been a sigh.

"let me clarify things." spoke the graid, facing away from his teamates. "I have won almost four hundred battle with this weapon, and have fired it twice.  I will not allow the reckless ending of the aware. If you end one thoughtfull life in my presence," he said softly, still to no one. "I will eat your face and skin your limbs"

-beat-

"now, let us disperse the remainder. they seem to have turned frantic from the sounds of your sociopathic outburst."

[GroxGlitch]

"Regardless of what it was armed with, it was a poor miserly creature, outcast from society, with no quality of life. These people are bandits, marauders, whatever term you prefer. And if you want to argue the practice of putting them down, you've got a large number of Relic Hunters to talk to. This thing won't ever, as you put it, 'find it's way again'." Vor'kera turned from the Gradient and continued walking, holstering his pistol and cranking up his luminator.

[Cyst]

Approaching Castur slowly, Yuta placed a hand on the Graid's shoulder. "It was uncalled for, yes. But there is little we can do now that the boy used his artefact on the woman. Your compassion for this soul is touching, but lets move on, perhaps we can stop him from killing any others." He turned and cast a small spell, almost tripping Vor'kera but only causing a stumble in his walk.

[GroxGlitch]

Vor'kera turned back with a growl.
"What would you have preferred I do, wait until it's knife was plunged into my stomach before I retaliated?" He snapped, hand coming to a rest on his now-holstered handgun. "How many times have you been down these tunnels? Once, perhaps twice? I've been doing this most of my life, and I've learned one thing; giving people the benefit of the doubt typically ends up with you dead. Compassion and survival are mutually exclusive in this job, something you two don't seem to get." He turned and continued walking.

[Crazen]

it seemed he had misjudged Yuta from that awkward first impression. he would look for a way to honor his words.

Castur silently though that yes, he would have let it stab him. then it would be disarmed. but so many brevitals are fragile. transient.
difficult, difficult.


He trotted to the front of the group, striding next to Vor'kera. the others could not see or hear them clearly. he adjusted the braids of his dark hairs. when he spoke, his tone was warm and open.
"Vor, I want us to come to an acceptance of eachother, and an understanding. first, I would like to show you something."

Grasping his left forearm, Castur undid the strap of his leather armor, revealing the arm below.

"it's my fourth set. I made these ones myself, you know. mostly out of bronze. they use no power, just very intracite clockwork. that took me time you can't imagine. but they function well, and are connected through. more importantly, they are indistinguishable from the real thing. this is important, because a graid with no hands is a graid who has ended another, with Malice aforethought."

"it was a bad day. I was wrapped in chains for the operation. afterward my captor let me go, I thought immediately of replacing my loss. it took a long time of careful anatomical study to learn how to properly construct and meld them to me. and the anger in me diminished. I came to find peace in the structures of the body. that is how and why I became a doctor.

"now I have saved the existence of thousands. someday, maybe, I shall have saved more than I have ended"

[SimplyNecro]

Arcold rolled his three eyes at the before him. He could care less about the creature Vor’Kera had injured, but Castur’s insistence on helping “The Aware” was possibly going to be trouble. He didn’t need the group to start in-fighting at the wrong moment, but then again most of them seemed to be above that, and even then at least they seemed to be trying to make amends. There were tensions, but it was unlikely to be too much of a problem if the life and limb where suddenly put on the line.

Cranking the illuminator Vor’Kera had gave him; he added his own light to the ever present darkness and lead on, Yuta by his side casting his magical glow to reveal the path.

The party proceeded on and the tunnels remained eerily quiet, the only noise breaking the silence was the occasional spark from ancient wires and the shifting debris of small scavengers fleeing into the darkness, but this was hardly a comfort. The underway was supposed to be infested with bandits and marauders, yet the group had yet to encounter a single living band of these dregs. Dead bandits and marauders however, where in ready supply; there were plenty of them to fill a graveyard. The group passed by many abandoned encampment as they explored, inhabited only by a collection of corpses. There were definite signs of battle, the deads wounds suggested they were killed with sword, gunfire, and every now again one looked as though it was savagely torn apart limb by limb. Furthermore, the corpses seemed rather fresh, decomposition had begun to set in but whatever battles that broke out here could have only happened a day or two ago.

The shadows slowly began to recede, and the tunnels began to open up into what looked like a station, a meeting point the giants once used to act as crossroads for their massive transit system. The situation here was the same as the tunnels: Lots of dead bodies. Only these looked far better armed than the raiders they found in the tunnels. Their armor and weapons suggested that this must have been a band of Relic Hunters, one of the groups that had disappeared into the ruins and never emerged. The state of the corpses however was cause for alarm, while the condition of the bandit bodies suggested a battle from days ago, these corpses could have only been made mere hours ago.

A sudden rustle was heard as a figure slowly shambled from the shadows, a humanoid figure that was unmistakably a Photos.

“Ca-Castur?” The Photos wheezed out as he limped towards the group. The individual in question as one Lar’vios, a rather green, but talented Relic Hunter, on his last venture into the ruins he had gotten injured and had sought out the healers help, his wounds were not exactly fatal at the time but without a doctor they could have easily proved critical if not treated. However Lar’vios was hardly daunted by the wounds he sustained last time and had went back into the ruins with his group after he healed. He was never heard from again. Here he was now however and these wounds he possessed now where hardly scratches…

Large amounts of blood was dripping out of the Photos side; he managed a few steps to Castur before falling on his knees and leaning on a nearby pillar. Letting a rather a small sack fall to the ground as he groaned.

[GroxGlitch]

"Lar'vios?" Vor'kera said, alarmed. "What in the Creator's name happened here?" Vor'kera sifted through one of his bags a moment before bending down, holding a strange device in two hands. He placed it on the floor, and with a flip of a switch, a bright flash took the room before settling to a calmer light. Most of the room was lit by this small device, a rapidly spinning crystal suspended in it's center. The scene revealed in the light was a bloodbath in every sense of the word. Vor'kera strode to the fallen Relic Hunters, more than a few of which were Photos.
"Such destruction," He noted, stepping over the remains of priceless artefacts that had been cleaved in half or blown to bits. He did not check for signs of life; they were clearly dead.
"Can you heal him, Castur?" He asked.