The Reliquary of Ahazi, part 2
Log Info
- Title: The Reliquary of Ahazi Part 2
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Dax, Aryia, Paenitia, Venom, Seyardu, Ravendar, Lyme
- Place: Farmlands of Alexandros
- Time: Wednesday, June 16, 2021, 10:07 PM
- Summary: The adventurers are at a farm. They are at this farm, because the farm's neighbour asked them to resolve a problem. The farm's neighbour asked them to resolve a problem before she would let them on her land to search for the Reliquary of Ahazi. The search for the Reliquary of Ahazi was a job posted at the Explorer's Guild for an Alexandrian Mages council. The Mages council were posting the job because of a tip from Lady Akoniril Belvade. Lady Akoniril Belvade game them the tip out of the goodness of her heart or as part of some machinations of Taara, Goddess of lies. Who knows that Taara wants, but Kempas, the farmer they are dealing with, wants them to go to another farm and get them to move their well. Dax, who has been with the party the whole time don't anyone say nuthin' about that, has had it with iterative requests and suggests the party return to the farm and search for the thing they're supposed to find. Farmers can't stop her, and farmers will be dealt with after. Paenitia agrees, Dax can go dig dirt, and she will speak to the farmers. The party splits up, with Dax, Aryia, Venom and Lyme sneaking back and excavating landscape, while the two Luchts and their Sith'Makar friend go round the farms. Paenitia and Seyardu handle the negotiations, while Ravendar plays soothing music. The diggers dig up a mosaic of Animus. The talkers talk until the farmers are tired and the cows come home. Everyone meets up and agrees, it's been exhausting.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dax 5'0" 110 Lb Human Female A 5' tall red haired human with piercings and tats. Aryia 4'8" 110 Lb Shadow Elf Female A heavily scarred mul with a curious look about her. Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Venom 5'6" 130 Lb Human Female A woman(?) about 5'6" in a ragged black veil and poncho. Seyardu 5'6" 150 Lb Sith-Makar Female A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint. Ravendar 3'1" 40 Lb Halfling Male A red-haired Lucht Siuil man. Lyme 7'2" 435 Lb Orc Butch Black-skinned oruch of suitable stature. =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Whirlpool Otyugh I am stinky! =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Previously
Davienne scrubs at her face and nods. "Well, we got an agreement with Kempas. How about three of us go and get started on the ruins? Two of us go and help work out the social isses. Because, I mean, seems like these folks need it anyway." Rubbing the back of her head she wrinkles her nose.
Venom takes all this in with her usual, presumed, stoicism as the prerequisites for completing their objective begin to mount.
By farmhouse ten, though, should it get that far, her gun may well start talking to her.
Still, she notes Aryia's agitation and begins to sign in turn, "Perhaps we should set up a guard." she recommends. <handspeech>
Then, she whistles to try and get Davienne's attention, and repeats the signalling should she get it.
Ravendar keeps his smile as they explain to Aldis Kempa why they are here and what they are looking to. He nods, "Of course we'll see what we can do." He looks to the others, "YOu don't think that this is all some sort of set up where we are just going to keep ground around to different farms each with it's own problem with their neighbor." He nods in agreement with Davienne, "Sounds like a good plan to me."
"I do not understand. You both have wells, and they are both on your own property, I am assuming. Do they take too much water? Is it not good for the both of you, that you can use the water in the ground from the other persons land?" The sith'makar inquired, trying not to get too confused. "Would it even be possible for land this close together to move the well so they would not interfere?"
"This thought come to me, yes." Paenitia says, "And we go around until we circle to where we started."
"Oh, be careful Friend Dragon, they will ask us to dig that well."
Now
"Yeah, well, that's not how it works. We're on the same water source, and he knew it when he built it. You get him to switch to the other just as good source and we're golden," she replies.
Oh no indeed.
The human woman, Dax, has been here the whole time but hasn't been saying much. Whether from the amount of dried meat she's been snacking on, or the small sips from a flask she keeps with her, they've been keeping her mouth busy - until now. "It be a war of the wells, then is it? Yer sayin' we should go, drag this Algrims fella over 'ere, so ya can 'take care of teh problem'?" She looks around, nodding her head, "How 'ard can bringin' a farmer to his doom be? Fer sure, that's what yer askin'? Cause if he asks us to the do the same to you. What then? We're goin' back and forth, ta the highest bidder, an' its just as likely ya both end up dead. At the end of the day, our interest is jus' investigatin', but up to ya how this plays out." Her orcish claws always strapped on and ready to be used as needed, her gauntlet covered arm, and just her willingness to talk about the demise of these farmers. She offers a disconcerting shrug, waiting for a response.
The scarred mul of the group, so far known to everyone as being physically mute, raises her brow at the suggestion. "O... K?" the elf slowly signs with two letters. "We're not... hired farm mercs here, if that's what you're suggesting." <Handspeech>
Kempas stares at Dax for a long moment. His casual step back was not even a little subtle.
"I don't want 'em /dead/." Adventurers are in fact frightening.
"Okay!" Paenitia sits up in her saddle, having taken a moment to take out a bag of sunflower seeds. She reaches a handful out to Ramirez, who eats all of that. "It is the quest for the Windmill at the end of the Well!"
"It is glorious adventure," She tells Dax, noting Kempas' retreat, "The trudge from farm to farm. Meet the common folk. Discuss the troubles."
She sounds incredibly cheerful. "This is much done among the Lucht Siuil." Perhaps that's why.
She looks down at Aryia and Venom from her high hippogryph, and holds out her armoured gauntlest, "I cannot make the signs. If you think the ruins need good guarding. You are the ones for that. I go to see what next request is."
"Ramirez! Onward." She'll get a head start if no one follows. The pair are happy to be out of Alexandria, galavanting around.
"So it seems this will happen, after all." signs the veiled woman. <<Handspeech>
Her poncho rises and falls somewhat about her frame before the shrouded head gives a mild shake. As most of the more vocal members of the group have weigned in primarily on this course, she turns to the pierced snacker and shakes her head again and wags a finger side to side with a couple of tsks.
Venom gives another look to Aryia and signs, "Force now may complicate, later."
Aryia nods in agreement to Venom, stepping beside them. "Right. We may have to split off to keep an eye on the ruins while they get approval." <Handspeech>
"But the land is close together. Switching to another underground source of water seems unfeasible given the land, they would be infringing on the lands of other people, or having wells too far from where they would be usable." The sith'makar said, not bringing up the threat yet. "If the water is beneath their land as well, and the well is on their land, is it not okay for them as well? You are using water beneath their land too, if that is the case."
"Ohhhhhh, ya don't want 'im dead, do ya?" Dax shakes her head seeming taken aback, and a bit confused, "Yer not bein' very clear. And I've got no time to listen carefully. So, let's have it this way. We do, what we gotta do, right here an' now. And then, we come back an' settle yer well problem. Ya know, wit' the proper care and patience tha' ya probably want, but I don't have time fer right now." Dax tilts her head to the side, grimacing a little bit, then sips at her flask. "Or, I mean, I can go take care of it, right quick, stoppin' yer grievance" a pregnant pause, "Dead. Which is it?"
Looking over to Paenitia she raises a brow, "Hold up, lil' knight, I think we have an agreement comin' real soon. Don't we Mister... I've already fergotten yer name. What was it again? So I can tell yer neighbor who sent me? These other folks are tryin' ta reason wit' you, but we've got more important things ta be doin' than solvin' yer petty disagreements. Once them important things are done, though... we sure can waste our time wit' ya an' yers." Following off of the silver scaled Sith'makar's words.
"Our well is older," says Aldis, still keeping an eye warily on Dax. And Ramirez for that matter.
"No one wants anyone dead! I just want him to stop stealing my water so I can feed my farm in peace!" He is very increasingly agitated.
"My friend, there is nothing here that needs be slay." Paenita turns her hippogryph right around and returns. Her mask is ever grinning, a wide smile, contrasting the firmness in his voice, "The man is innocent. His neighbour pull him in. The neighbour does not wish us to search for the Reliquary, the task we are set on by the Priestess of Taara, until he do work."
"I am not the one to fix the fence or dig the well. I seek the ruse the Lie Priestess play, and perhaps it is this, to threaten the common folk and infight the adventurers."
She looks at Kempas, which is perhaps not as assuring as it might be. She's a little woman on a rather unusual mount, with a crazy mask. "You will not be harmed, this is my vow."
GAME: Ravendar rolls sense motive: (12)+2: 14
Ravendar looks to the others and he frowns at them, "Please stop with the threats and talk of violence. There is a way that we can resolve this peacefully for all parties." He turns towards the farmer, "Mister Kempas I apologize for my companions, they are eager to find a solution to your problem and as the old saying goes when you have only a hammer everything looks like a nail. I understand your concerns, you had a well here before your neighbor and you are worried that the instillation of a new well will draw water away from your's. We'll go speak to your neighbor and perhaps we can work out some sort of compromise between the two of you. After all you want to be a good neighbor and I'm sure if your neighbor was suffering in some way you'd help them. You can trust me Mister Kempas, I won't stop until there is an accord between you and your neighbor."
Venom turns to watch the more overt conversation play itself out. Their means and objectives being put forward and, as the friction starts, she slips something from her pack and passes it to the hand holding the reins of her orse, while the other hand signs to Aryia, "You're familiar with thunderstones, yes? Do you have any, in case we need to raise alarm?" - <handspeech>
Aryia's eyes don't seem to recognize the sign flashed, but her brows raise, then furrow. "Yes, I know them. I... don't have any. Sorry." <Handspeech>
Stepping closer, Dax starts to walk forward, "Well, I'm glad we got that settled. Everyone, let's go do the investigatin' of the thing we're supposed to be doin'." She uses so many vague terms, was she paying attention earlier? "When we get back, Mister, we'll solve yer problem the slow, patient, everyone keeps breathin' sorta way." Pausing for a moment, she does look back to Pae and blinks hard, and then reaches up and hits the side of her own head with an open palmed hand a few times. Like, trying to knock the last egg from a chicken...
"What are ya blabberin' on about?" Then to Ravendar, "I ain't threatenin' nobody no how. This fine gentleman is eager ta 'ave his problem solved... afffter we get our task done. Aren't ya fella?" She is smiling big to the guy she's been threatening, "Afterall, what's a few hours, a day, worth of water worth? When we'll be solvin' yer problem fer a lifetime. Agreed?" She puts out her hand for a proper shake, though she looks back to her fellow party members and offers a bigger grin, "Are we... in accord? The most important task first? Then we piss away our time wit' the locals?"
"Yeah, well, you want me to do a thing, she wants me to do a thing but, you know what? Fine. I ain't gonna trouble no one anymore." Dax is clearly making him uncomfortable. He's not sure how violent she actually is, and Alexandrian adventurers have a well earned reputation for extreme violence.
He steps back.
"Yes! We are agreed." Paenitia says happily, after sitting silently on her peacock-andalusian for a little while. "You go, with Aryia and Venom, to creep and search for the Reliquary. Friend Dragon, the troubador and I, we go to the next farm in case to cut short the searching."
'Ruaaaah!' Ramirez interrupts. He was not named. This will not do.
"Yes Ramirez, you go with me. Your plumage, that will sway the next farm, he see you so handsome."
Venom's hand slips under her poncho again as things continue, and, without a 'word', holds two small black stones out toward the Mul'niessa without looking that way while the speakers sort themselves out.
She clucks her tongue as some manner of 'accord' is put out and looks between her assigned partners, head canting with the interplay of the little Knight and the horsey-bird.
Ravendar looks over to Dax, "Sounded like a threat to me. You might think that this well issue is not a big deal, but it obviously is to Mister Kempas. He's trying to save his livelihood and he's asked us to do it. Putting people first is more important than finding some ancient tea cup that time forgotten just because some noblewoman wants a complete set." He looks to Mister Kempas, "Well be back once we've talked to your neighbor." He looks around for the direction of the neighbor and he starts off towards it.
Aryia takes both stones with a dip of her head in thanks. She shoves them into her pockets, one on each side. Not like she keeps much in them anyways.
The elf moves her mount a bit towards Venom, seemingly ready for the plan to do a split up on watching things and doing things.
Heading to the farms
GAME: Paenitia rolls diplomacy: (18)+7: 25 <OOC> Ravendar says, "using perform/string in lieu of diplomacy, +2 for MW Instrument" GAME: Ravendar rolls perform/string: (18)+8+2: 26 GAME: Seyardu rolls diplomacy: (3)+7: 10
"It is not always about payment. If people growing food, they need to be able to keep doing so. A lot of people rely on them, it takes many for a community to prosper." The sith'makar noted. "Very well, just be careful in your search. If anything happens, do no hesitate to seek us out, we will try to resolve things as quickly as possible, though I still do not understand what the issue is with the well."
"I think there two little rivers." Paenitia says, "Underground. Maybe buried ridge of rock separate them. Both the wells on the one stream. Master Kempas, want neighbour move the newer well to the other one."
"There was not another stream mentioned though, if one exists." The sith'makar replies. "There may not be one, and for another farm, no water would mean nothing can grow. I hoper there is a decent solution though, but Kempas never said if the well was actually causing them issues, or if they were just bothered by the existence of them."
Ravendar listens to Paenitia and the sith'makar as they talk and he gets out his fiddle to play some music, "I'm sure we can find one, it might not be what both of them wan, but we can strive to make it as fair as possible for both sides. You could be right there might be some other circumstances that we don't know about yet. Hopefully the neighbor will be able to give us some answers."
Helping the farmers is exactly what it sounded like: dealing with a complex set of problems each farmer has that leads you to the next farm and the next farm and the next farm and the next farm. It takes hours to deal with the goat farmers water problems as a result, because you have to deal with stolen well water, a loose yak, a small herd of angry pigs, and a set of cantankerous farmers who seem annoyed that you are here and determined to make you useful. Finally, you're telling Farmer Gorush the Tight Fisted that the reason his favorite dog is missing is because it ran off to have puppies that are from the neighbor's dog and that in and of itself is a huge problem you have to untangle. Farmer lives may seem dull, but if this is anything to go by, they're as full of petty grievances as anyone else's.
Paenitia keeps her self and her background well hidden, however she's from the traveling folk and a likely typical large family comprised of many aunts, uncles and cousins. Who gossip, and are always in each other's business. Being the daughter of an innkeeper would only make it worse.
Were she.
So while it might be a surprise that the lone Knight of the Pillar and her magnificient mount can be garallous, it's shouldn't be unexpected. She always sounds cheerful, finds a joke or two to make at someone's expense. Often her own, and goes from farm to farm carrying their concerns.
If she scowls, frowns or is impatient, the Smiling Man is there to cover her face. These feelings are hidden.
The grievances were still as alien to the sith'makar as she was to the farmers, but Seyardu did her best to be understanding. It would be so much better if everyone worked together towards a common goal. But still, some of the problems were genuine, if small. And what was small to one person, was a major grievance to others. A lot to learn and understand.
Ravendar is from a large family so he knows how it goes as well. He's used to arguements and misunderstandings. He works along with his companions to find out the causes of tension in this surprising large farming village. He took keeps a smile on his lips and continues to play at each encounter to keep the spirits of all involved up and to try to help to grease the conversation wheel. He looks at his companions and smiles, "Well it might be taking a while, but hopefully we can get everyone to come to an agreement." He says with a cheerful voice.
It's getting late now...
Reliquary hunters
GAME: Aryia rolls perception: (10)+11: 21 GAME: Dax rolls perception: (16)+0: 16 GAME: Venom rolls perception: (17)+10: 27 GAME: Lyme rolls perception: (18)+4: 22
"Great!" Pause, Dax seemingly got her way and yet... the party is still splitting up. She offers a bit of a shrug, then looks to Aryia and Venom, the silent pair. She grimaces a bit, "Yer leavin' me wit' the hand mumblers?" There's a sigh, as she looks to those two, "Ya heard the lil' knight. We best be goin', an' start this search."
"Keep yer eyes ta the ground, things like this are always below ground. I think witches like the world under more than up above." Dax shakes her head, a bit more serious in tone now that she's talking to the quiet pair. A hand gets waved dismissively in Rav's direction as she talks to him, "I 'eard that 'fore, but it ain't no farmer who's payin' me. Might think about tryin' that." Not at all quieting her voice so Mister Kempas can't hear her. She's now turned her attention completely away from him, as if he's gone and disappeared.
Meanwhile, labor is the order of the day on the hunt for the reliquary. While there is no promise that it's located in this area, for sur, you have begun to dig the foundation out from the soil, a low and ancient stone wall with hints of mosaic flooring beneath it, too scared by time and grime to make out what it is as of yet. Whoever the Ahazi were, however, they certainly knew their construction and elaborate mosaic tiling techniques.
Lyme is good for digging -- this he knows, this he can do. Honest work! And so he puts his back into it, uncovering the mosaic with a certain glee. What? It's art!
Digging? Dax can dig, at least she has that going for her. She didn't bring tools with her but if there's anything nearby she'll certainly use that to help even if it isn't hers. Though if there's nothing around, her hands will do just fine. And it only helps that she's digging next to an oruch. In Yrch-Speach, she'll point to her vambrace down just one arm, and then to the ones on his, "Looks like strong metal." She offers, but then goes right back to digging. Hard work is fun, especially when every so many digs you can take a sip from a flask, then go back to it.
Digging. Yay. Aryia sighs. Used to the work, but not enjoying a single lick of it. Not like she did it for a decade here and there. She was at least grateful this outing hadn't turn into madness like very other job she'd taken. Oh, shit, what was that human expression?
Weirdly, she stops her work, knocks a few times on a tree trunk, then resumes.
Now that that's settled, and the group divides to conquer, Venom and the others go about the challenges of finding the sigsn of this past civilization, and her gun is quiet. Probably. The pierced woman gets a look now and then, but the veiled woman continues her task.
As she trills a quick whistle to get notice drawn to some of the promising signs she's uncovered, then starts to try and clear out any sort of glyph work or inscriptions that may lead to some form of identification while others, perhaps better equipped, clear the heavy load of earth. Aryia's antics hold her attention a moment, before a hand rises to where her mouth should be for another, and the veiled one nods and goes back to trying to clear markers.
Lyme keeps just digging, revealing. Push it away, pile it up. He nods to Dax, speaking in yrch-speak easily. "It's good hard metal, it does it's job and is wonderfully protective. Yours too?" He's even cheerful as he goes, taking a moment to admire what they're revealed from time to time.
"It is witch crafted." Offers Dax back in yrch-speak as an answer as she continues to toss dirt and dig things out. She probably can't keep up with the Oruch but at least she's not too shabby for a human, "Same with these." Taking a moment to show off her claws from Lyme's heritage much more than her own. With a few more nods, she offers, "Can you believe that the others went off to 'talk' with farmers? Solving problems of who's duck is prettier, and stop that man from sleeping with my pig." She snorts and shakes her head with her own comment. Dig dig dig.
It's getting late now...'
Later
It's getting late now. With the sun setting, the farmers are starting to settle in for the night. Their work is done and you've exhausted a lot of problem-solving. By the time you return to the other half of the party, they have considerably dug out a larger section of flooring with some sort of glyph on it, an artistic representation of Animus, the fallen god of magic standing before worshippers who kneel before him, hands in the air. The Great Sage bears with him the Sea of Mana, depicted as a great ephemeral mist that rises into the sky behind him in a pillar. His hand is stretched out towards them with a scroll case, simple and white, held in it.
Elaborate and floral design encircles it.
Large sections are missing, cracked, scorched and defaced. This is all of the image you can make out. No doubt this is merely one stage of several depicted across the entirety of the story it wants to tell.
Lyme asides to Dax in yrch-speak, "Oh, I can. They just needed someone who wasn't them to work it all out." He shrugs. "But, if you don't want to talk, there's always sweating." He gestures at the mosaic, and he pauses. "...and dead gods."
While other react in whatever way they want, "Stupid problems end at the water's edge." Offers Dax, still in Yrch-Speak. When more and more of the flooring is revealed, she just kind of looks at it, "Who did this shoddy work? It is falling apart?" This last part back in Tradespeak, as she shakes her head, and goes immediately back to digging. The dead gods comment not really falling on ears that can understand the depth of them.
Paenitia has had an easy enough day, riding around. She enjoys being in the saddle.
Ramirez has had an easy enough day as well. His mistress is light, always has been, and a good source of treats. There has been plent of water at the farms, and occasionally things to present for.
They arrive and stand on a small hillock, itself likely another wall of a buried ruin, and survey what has been accomplished. "This is good. Now we pry it up and take it to Alexandria."
She sounds serious. "I joke. It is time for bed, my friends, and running from the owner of the goats.
Venom clears dirt away here, scribbles notes in her little pad, there. It's a particular combination of Trade adjectives and vernacular for the aesthetic details, while using Kulthian matrices for their more specific measurements. To that end, she is even using certain measuring tools from somewhere under that poncho to get angles of incidence and the like.
The Yrchblooded seem to be happy with the work, and she largely leaves them to growl, grunt and all to each other in relative peace, only drawing near to take some measurements and add to her notes.
Then she ventures over to where Aryia is working, to do much the same, or even to add another set of muscles to displacing a more difficult clump of earth, should it be needed.
She'll feel this, tomorrow.....
Aryia didn't have a damn clue what the others were talking about. But fatigue started to set in as night fell. And eventually, she saw the inscriptions. She scratches her head. This was god stuff, wasn't it?
She glances to the others. A sigh. God stuff. Great.
Seyardu was still doing okay, but she understood others needing to rest. Especially those who had been uncovering the ruins on the farmland, which was much more taxing. So she set about doing what she could, to start preparing some manner of camp. Even if she did not rest immediately, it still gave her some time to relax and prepare for evening prayers. It was more she could do to help the group she was with looking out for, hopefully.
