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tushanshu_logs2014-03-11 09:40 pm
softlycall) wrote in tushanshu_logs2014-03-11 09:40 pm
Entry tags:
[closed] Zeshora Ruins
Characters: James Kidd (aread), Anne Bonny (softlycall), Raine Sage (ruinsprofessor), Gene Khan (wrathfulkhan), Amelia (loquaciouslyfeline)
Date: To Be Decided, provisionally 12th-16th March.
Location: Zeshora, the ruins of Kusini.
Situation: [player mission:] After hearing stories of the ancient civilisations of Zeshora and their battles against the Enemy, Kidd and Bonny round up a pack of unlikely - and potentially unwilling - archaeologists to investigate the ruins spread across the southern islands.
Warnings/Rating: Skeletons, some violence against and by giant fictional cats, potential injury, swearing.
[STARTERS: 1. arrival&camp; 2. clifftop fort; 3. sunken archives; 4. savrun ambush]
aread), Anne Bonny (softlycall), Raine Sage (ruinsprofessor), Gene Khan (wrathfulkhan), Amelia (loquaciouslyfeline)Date: To Be Decided, provisionally 12th-16th March.
Location: Zeshora, the ruins of Kusini.
Situation: [player mission:] After hearing stories of the ancient civilisations of Zeshora and their battles against the Enemy, Kidd and Bonny round up a pack of unlikely - and potentially unwilling - archaeologists to investigate the ruins spread across the southern islands.
Warnings/Rating: Skeletons, some violence against and by giant fictional cats, potential injury, swearing.
[STARTERS: 1. arrival&camp; 2. clifftop fort; 3. sunken archives; 4. savrun ambush]
1; arrival and setting up base camp
They choose one of the larger southern islands for their camp, where sections of the city they've tentatively identified as Old Kusini are visible high up in the cliffs above the ocean. What the sea and the wind haven't worn away is covered in faintly luminescent roots that have crept down from gardens and orchards on the clifftop over the ages, though splashes of colour from half-crumbled inner walls and narrative friezes can be seen here and there. The rest of the buildings, presumably, lie beneath the waves and have done since entire sections of the landmass sheered away. A number of fearless rodents the size of small dogs come to investigate as they set up their gear, and an hour later their fearless dinner has finished roasting over a campfire of the driest driftwood they can scavenge for the time being.
The map they 'acquired' from a kedan merchant is incredibly vague, but suggests a number of places both above and below the sea that could be promising. The journey was long enough for some introductions, but hurried enough that opinions and impressions are yet divided. A discussion may be required.
open;
Well, he's eaten worse, and even giant ruins rat is better than no dinner at all. Gene sits alone, silently contemplating the ruins and this entire trip. Amelia's the only person he knows for real here, but even though she's seen the armor before he's still hoping he won't have to use the rings. The fewer people who know about his little talent, the better. As it stands, he's only wearing one ring, his mother's ring with the purple gem. When he ventures into the ruins, he'll don the rest, but for now, just this one will do. It ought to protect him from most anything.
no subject
Protip, Gene. If you want to direct attention away from something, don't keep looking at it.
"That's an odd piece of jewellery."
no subject
"Family heirloom," he replies, resisting the urge to tuck it away again. That'd really look suspicious. "If I believed in luck, I'd call it a good luck charm."
Open
For now, though, her primary concern is learning the lay of the land, and that is what she is spending her time by the campfire doing.
Re: Open
She's in the company of strangers in an even stranger place than she started, and while that's not something ordinarily conducive to being gregarious, it would be prudent to do something about those problems before any other ones come calling. Which they undoubtedly will. So she stands, once she's eaten, and circles around the campfire to stand at a respectful distance from Amelia. "That is the map of the area you have, correct? Would you be averse to sharing?"
She could cite her reasons, but she rather thinks they're obvious. It's only sensible to get a feel for the geography.
no subject
"Yes it is, and not at all. Two minds are better than one, after all." She lays the map out on a relatively flat portion of the ground, not too close to the fire. Losing their only tool of navigation would put them in a right mess. Amelia sits back a moment and starts on her dinner. It's certainly the sort of thing she will only eat when given no other options, and after a few bites she grimaces and puts it down to return to the map.
"Any thoughts on where we should start our investigation in the morning?"
no subject
Maybe she's used to better quality maps, but she's seen worse. At least it's readable. "Perhaps this way," she says in response to Amelia's query, and indicates one of the more significant portions that looks to be above sea level. She pauses to glance around them, frowning a little at the likely steepness of the climb. Cliffs are not usually very friendly, but it's better than the alternative. "Provided we can find a way up. However, I think climbing will be slightly more feasible than locating the portions that have since been submerged. What do you think?"
There is absolutely no ulterior motive there whatsoever.
no subject
"Have you any thoughts about what we might find in these ruins?" Amelia has little experience with ancient ruins of any sort; it's simply not her area.
no subject
"I do have a few thoughts, though I'd have to see more to be sure," Raine says next. She casts her gaze upward again, to the spots of color she saw earlier. "There's some kind of art up there, which could mean any number of things -- I have very little context for this culture -- but I'm hoping it'll tell us about what these structures were, and possibly some about how these people lived. This is more or less where the city was, I believe, but likely only a portion remains..." She shakes her head, and sighs. "Open to all the weather and wildlife like this, most of what can degrade will have by now. What we find will be mostly stone, I think, unless more measures to preserve inner areas were taken."
sorry it's so short, my brain is not cooperating right now
She herself has no experience with the remains of ancient civilizations beyond that of Treasure Planet. She had spent a good part of her time on the artificial world in pain, even in a bit of delirium, and with no formal studies in archaeology she had no idea what to make of it. Aside from it being clearly ancient, that is. She is a naval captain, not a scholar.
no worries, I know that feeling
"I've studied them extensively," Raine says, "and will probably spend most of the rest of my life doing so. Even that might not be enough time to unravel all the mysteries those of my home world hold." This is the sound of someone carefully not saying the word 'obsession.' "Fortunately the majority of the laws of nature seem to be the same, so I can apply the same physical principles, even if the historical and cultural aspects are completely different."
If they're talking about life practices now, then there's a question Raine's been turning over. "Do you have a hidden enthusiasm for archaeology, or are you here for other reasons?" Amelia really doesn't seem to quite fit with the others.
Re: no worries, I know that feeling
Amelia shakes her head. "I'm afraid my career is substantially more military. In my home universe, I serve as a captain in the Royal Navy. As for joining this party, the young man over there," here she nods to where Gene is seated across the campsite, "told me of this and invited me along. We've been on a few other ventures together during our stay here."
Not to mention she has a taste for adventure.
no subject
Raine isn't really that surprised to hear that Amelia knows Gene. A personal connection makes sense, if there's none professional. It seems she's in the middle of a group of people who have more than just passing familiarity with each other. For a moment, she indulges in a bit of homesickness, of missing her brother, or anyone who'd have the reflex to wince and find somewhere else to be when the subject of ruins came up in conversation. But there's no point to that feeling, not with so many other things to do, and she puts it aside almost as quickly in favor of something to continue conversation. She grabs for the first interesting thought to hand. "Is there a particular reason you prefer 'universe' to 'world'?"
It might just be a difference in the common parlance, but so far everyone else she's talked to has used world. It's a curious anomaly.
2; clifftop fort ruins and civic gardens
The ruins on the cliff seem an obvious place to look. The path is a mixture of half-crumbled stairs and climbing assisted by ropes and the party's own wits and agility, unless either of the magic-users have some craft to speed the process. Even a brief inspection of the ruin will reveal it to be some kind of fort or defensive structure; there are specks of rust and stained stone where once weapon racks and footlockers stood, and the walls are thicker than others seen amongst the islands. Bones are few and far between; the fighting either never reached this far inland, or they've been since removed by scavengers, time, or the wind howling in from the ocean.
Some features of the architecture stand out: there are no people depicted in any of the faded paintings or reliefs; all of the statues are abstract or plants and animals that look half-familiar. One set of statues shows a family of the rodent creatures from the campsite in flight from a more weathered statue that seems to be some kind of large, four-legged predator, its flared crest and extended tongue both cracked. The eyes of all statues are set with gemstones, and in the creases of their limbs and their open mouths the remnants of some deep black paint absorbs the light. The paint feels wet if touched, and the parts of the statues still coated seem far less damaged by the elements than they have any right to be.
Atop the only tower still standing, the flagstones are worn, yes, but a section of the floor near to one edge is stained with a foul-smelling mix of oil, rotten wood and the black paint. It burns skin when touched, if only mildly, but seems to have done no further harm to the stone. Scrapes on the stone imply that some heavy device once stood on that section, but it has since either rotted away or been removed. A small black chest lies discarded in the opposite corner, and unfortunately its padlock is likewise preserved.
In the central courtyard, which is no longer central and all but overhanging the sea cliff, several intact skeletons can be found in what seems to be a dried-up well built to tap into a natural underground spring, where they have been lodged by the abrupt movement of water during the quakes that broke the land. They seem human, and there are no marks on the bones that would imply a violent death. The teeth have rotted abnormally, and there is, strangely, a faint smell of fresh jasmine that emanates from the depths of the well.
3; the sunken archives
The logs and maps inside the fort's lockbox mention archives, but because nothing is ever easy in this life and this is an expedition rather than a holiday, all navigation indicates that the building stood on a section of island that no longer exists. The building is underneath several tonnes of cliff face and silt by this point. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are a number of tunnels linking the various civic buildings, and one leads directly to the archive building itself. And, if the logs are to believed, there's some device or alchemical craft that should keep the central rooms dry.
The worse news is that most of that tunnel is underwater. As is the entire archive structure. Any equipment that reacts badly to water - guns, nice clothing et cetera - should be left behind, and the swim is several minutes long with reasonably frequent pockets of air. The water is lit by small jellyfish that travel cloudlike in groups; their sting is uncomfortable but not dangerous. Whilst the outer sections of the halls are unrecognisable, there are a pair of large doors, entirely black with untarnished gilt, set back in an alcove. There is no lock, but a series of three silver busts in the shape of women - the first seen in the ruins thus far - spaced around the walls and connected with thin pipes also of silver indicate a mechanism. They can be pressed, but do nothing if pressed one by one or alone:
4; savrun ambush
Whatever they used to be, domestic, hunting, decoration, the savrun of Kusini prefecture are preternaturally intelligent, and haven't seen humans for so long that, like the rodents, they are entirely without fear. Unlike the rodents, this means that on the second night, two feathered great cats lie in wait beside the dead campfire for the returning explorers. Their dark pelts disguise them in the gloom, but four pairs of eyes reflect sickly green back in the light.