Mountaineering Explanations
Log Info
- Title: Mountaineering Explanations
- Emitter: Slixvah
- Place: Skycurtain Mountains
- Summary: In the ruins of the Sliabhgeiko Aerie within the Sky Curtain mountains, the investigators parse through their findings: a golden sash, the den of a massive and terrifying beast, and a towering earth elemental endearingly named Pebble.
"... w-wha' in th' fuck is Pebble doing here??"
The choked words from the party's pilot hang in the thin air of the destroyed Aerie mountainside. whistling winds from the center ravine are really the only thing that stain the silence. Save for the rumbling of the three story tall elemental that has seemed to all but given up on any sort of persuit. Too far away, too little earth. And just enough intelligence to know that closing the distance would end in being eroded to nothing.
The older egalrin of white and green feathers and a handful of bolas kneels next to Slixvah, placing a hand on her back as she's trying to get to her feet. She's reeling a bit- this is the first time she's seen her home destroyed, even if she's known of it for some time now.
Dirt crunches under the ground of the green egalrin man with a bow as he approaches with a nocked arrow, glancing to the mountainside ridges. "I... take it you all found somethin'?" he rhetorically asks the group. Taller than that of the older man, Aelwyn remembers that his is one of Slix's many siblings. "Everyone okay?"
"Green! Ranger!" Aelwyn greets with his arms spread, teeth in wide macabre display. His glaive attempted to flicker its flames in this thin atmosphere. "And Ribbon! Just in time!" The green feathered egalrin gets a wide-rer grin. "And it is very good to see Ribbon's family in good health." The said ribbon gets a flicker of his tongue at her.
The makari continues walking forward - but at some point, he reaches behind him and flicks open a water skin - some of which he quietly dumps over Rune's gore covered head. "One should not revel in such fine display of brutality, perhaps - lest one wishes to invest in disposable clothing." He tells the half-sil with a flicker of his tongue, before holding out the rest of the waterskin to her.
To Slixvah's question, the Dragoon rolls his shoulders. "Only a piece of cloth stuck onto the inconvenienced pile of rocks." The draconian replies, then turns towards Eztli and Rune. "Did we find anything else?"
The continued rumblings of the elemental are given a wary look from Rune as takes a moment to retrieve a wrapped towel from one of her side-pouches and cleans the blood from her blades. It doesn't do much for the splatter along her armor and up along one cheek - some of which is very clearly her own. "We found a... whatever the heck that was." She motions at the Bandersnatch.
Then, looking at the two Egalrin, "So... you know the elemental lurking over yonder? I'd thought that it might have been part of the landslide problem." She shifts her weight, wincing slightly at the motion as the adrenaline of the fight wares off.
"Fftpbh." She lets out a sputtering sound as water is poured over her head. "At least some of us /wear/ clothing." She flicks a few drops of water in the Makari's direction.
Eztli, the small dragon that was with them on the other side of the ravine, was left with a disappointingly undercooked creature in front of them, an angry golem on the other side, and more people arriving.
"It's Eztli, I'm still here." The brass dragon offers in a low growl of tradespeak. "...wait, you know this elemental? Aside from them and the thing attached to them, I think the sash we found is from Rune."
The green ranger gives Aelwyn a squint briefly before quirking a brow. "... you're th' server at the TarRaCe," he recognizes, his gaze sliding past Aelwyn, to the bandersnatch, then to Rune's gore-clad self. He grimaces. "Tha' thing wasn' here last ti' me and Papaw was."
It's only until then the trio of egalrin settle their attention on Eztli. The two men stare on in mild shock. Slixvah, still taking in the entire scene of her destroyed home, shifts from quietly sniffling to breaking out into a cackling laughter. "Oh-! Hahaha-! Thi' is such a drag-on!" She's laugh-crying.
The older egalrin sighs, shaking his head as he keeps a hand on Slix's back while rising to his feet. "My daughta' will be 'aight," he assures. "It's her way of copin'. But uh- an elemental would explain a hell'uva lot."
"M'name's Zanzimar. This here is Brezunal, Slivvie and I's Papaw. You said y'found some kinda sash from Rune? Can I see?"
The green ranger requests, holding out a hand.
GAME: Aryia rolls 1d3: (3): 3
Ah, burned, hurt, and exposed. Aelwyn's expression freezes, and then he lowers his arms. He gives a click of his tongue and tilts his head towards Rune. "Scales do rinse cleaner than black leather, though this one shan't take away the impression of her look." Speaking of impressions, he lets out a long exhale. "Surely this one makes a better impression than just the server at the TarRaCe."
Banter aside, the Dragoon looks at the small Dragon. "Rune, yes!" The rogue gets another teasing look. "This one has seen that golden sash before on the hips of arcanists."
Back to the trio of egalrin. "The elemental was called Pebbles, yes? Is it a familiar or...?" He asks, then looks across the gap at the inanimate pile of rocks. "... this one does feel it might not be easy on our blades." Chipped edges, a tragedy.
"Nice to meet you both." Rune offers, pulling some now-wet hair off of her forehead and shaking her arms off to try to dry some of the lingering water and blood from herself. "You can call me Rune. No relation to the magical place. Just an amusing and confusing coincidence given the subject matter."
Giving up on any attempt at regaining a semblance of a normal appearance, the bedraggled rogue folds her arms across her chest. "Aelwyn's right, I think the only reason we haven't been severely damaging our blades trying to take down living rock is that 'Pebbles' is stuck over there and we're over here." She raises an eyebrow. "So... what's the deal with it?"
"Yeah, it's real nice, means I need to feel less bad about dumping a bucket of water on his head." Eztli chuckles, a somewhat unsettling sound coming from a dragon. "Oh, yeah, that sash, the Rune, not Rune sash that-"
There's a moment as the dragon is patting their sides, coupled with a growl of frustration. "Ah, I was hoping to get to enjoy this a bit longer." Eztli grumbles as their current form bursts into flames, leaving the small sorceress back to normal. "Just a moment, please." She offers while snapping her fingers, causing the blood and gore on the rogue to vaporize, leaving a faint smell of ozone. "Afraid I can't do anything for what's on your face or skin, but hope that's a little better."
Finished with that she manages to find the golden sash in her bag, which she hands off to ranger. "Zanzimar and Brezunal, real nice to meet-cha."
Zanzimar looks a little confused at Aelwyn. Slix continues to cackle, tears clouding her eyes. "Zazni ain' gonna get it, Flutter! He's a bit thick skull'd fo' a-a bird brain!"
Said bird brain idly topples Slix over with a flick of a wing, as she rolls over, clutching her gut, still laughing.
"Ah. Please ta meet ya as well, Miss Rune. Slivvie's told me loads 'bout her friends, quite an impressive lot, I'd so say," Brezunal inclines his head, a weak smile cresting his features.
The brother hesitantly steps towards once-dragon, before reaching out and taking the shimmery gold sash. Steps back, inspects.
Between fits, Slixvah gets out- "Pebbles is-is one of the school mascots at- oh my Dana, look at 'em bein' a little rock pile!"
Pebbles is doing nothing save for sitting there. The tiny rock that makes its head staring directly at the party. Motionless
The golden sash is all but whipped at Slix's side. "OW!"
"Can you focus, please?" Zanzimar huffs. Siblings.
Slix looks up, pouting. "Well, like I was sayin', Pebbles was th' school mascot at-" Her eyes widen at the sash. "-the... University o' Heuristic Practition..." She goes quiet.
GAME: Aelwyn rolls knowledge/nobility: (5)+3: 8
GAME: Aelwyn rolls knowledge/local: (15)+3: 18
GAME: Eztli rolls knowledge/nobility: (15)+4: 19
Aelwyn looks at the egalrin antics for a moment, then turns to look at the rest of the party. "This one can agree that this is roughly how it went when this one last saw Green Ranger and Ribbon together." He then states, flatly. "Perhaps with more violence aimed at this one's direction." The Dragoon then reoffers the waterskin to Rune.
At the mention of the university, the ruddy sith-makar tilts his head and considers - but nope, nothing. Another university of fancy words he has filed away and duly forgot. So he turns towards Eztli instead, looking at her expectantly. "This one feels the places filled with books should first study upon how to come up with more memorable names."
GAME: Rune rolls knowledge/local: (16)+12: 28
The snap of fingers and the quick burst of ozone that causes Rune's nose to twitch is then followed by a look of relief as she quirks a half-smile towards Eztli, "Most appreciated. Someday, I should try to figure out how to do that. I get in enough messes that it might come in handy."
However, her eyes quickly focus on the trio of Egalrin, looking more than a little confused. "So you had a murderous elemental as your school mascot? Isn't that... a little detremental to the student body? Like, all of the student bodies."
Lifting a hand, she scratches at the side of her face, picking at a bit of dried blood. "Speaking of the University, wasn't that place like... really well known for matters of magic and arcane ... stuff?" The rogue really doesn't know much about magic. "I mean, not that there's been many visitors in the last couple of years from what the Arcanists have muttered about."
Looking a bit sheepish, she shrugs, "You overhear a lot when picking up messages. Seemed pretty well known for magical knowledge. And with things being so weird right now magic-wise..." She trails off.
"Don't worry, I don't bite, much." The makari snickers for a moment as the sash is considered, whipped, and identified. "It's a really handy spell to know. I hate doing laundry." Eztli responds, watching and turning to Aelwyn. "Nah, it is a weird name. Only heard about it back in the day and how my universities were so much better, but like, heuristic? Sounds like a glorified study hall if no one's teaching you stuff."
"So, I take it that it's not supposed to be here, then?"
GAME: Slixvah rolls knowledge/arcana: (18)+18: 36
Slixvah shakes her head vigorously, and her feathers fluff up in a ruffle as she scrabbles to her feet. She smacks her cheeks a few times. "Pebbles was prett' tame, not gonna lie," she croaks out, focusing on the sash. "Used ta take us ta classes and what not, be at events. Theys was with th' other mascots. Ya got Pebble, Puddle, Puff, and Pyre. But why is they... here?"
She manages to tear her attention away from the fabric to focus on Rune and Eztli. Her throat bobs. "Y...eah. It's a glorified study hall. Basically. Bu' uh... wit' mojo bein' all weird like Ruru said..." She rubs at her face. "... I didn' think they wouldn' show up at the Society. They liked toutin' how rigid they are 'bout they magic methods."
Zanzimar clears his throat. "So... Pebble ain' supposed to be here?"
"No. They's a sweetie, but they look... wrong?" she mentions, stepping towards the ravine to look at Pebble. Her wings half open out of habit. An updraft to get around town. She squints. "... what is that prism thingy..?" she asks, pointing at the tiny glowing crystal jammed into the side of the elemental. "... and why is it hijackin' my rocky boi?"
Aelwyn looks at the talk of magic, then at the elemental. Then back at Slixvah. "... this one finds schools even stranger now. Yes, the crystal had the cloth."
Turning around, he tilts his hips and clicks his teeth. "Perhaps we should take the crystal and find out?" He wonders, looking at the others. "This one does find the sash of Rune awfully convenient in this story."
"Earth, water, air, fire?" Rune guesses, aligning each mascot with an element matching their name. "Do I want to know what happened to the other three?" A quick flick of her eyes towards the Earth Elemental has her looking unsettled at the idea of there being more of them running around.
"I mean, I'm no expert on elementals, and prefer to stay far away from them if I can help it. Is that gem thing not normal?" The rogue blinks in surprise, "We just sort of... found it that way."
As Aelwyn suggests trying to take the crystal, she touches a finger to her own nose and makes a statement of: "Not it."
"Ah, yeah, sorry. That was pretty harsh. And it's uncharted territory and all that." Eztli shrugs, leaning against the bridge and watching the elemental. "Yeah, that prism there, I thought it did something to create them, but you're saying it wasn't there before? Sounds like something's up to me."
"I could try dispelling whatever that thing is, maybe." The makari offers. "I could try and grab it too, if it's too hard for a big strong cavalier like Aelwyn to manage."
"Well it was nice an' coo' an' all until they threw a bitch fit an' kicked me out," Slixvah mentions to Aelwyn before turning back to look at the elemental. "... the sash denotes graduation. A Golden Sash Archivist. Someone just doesn't /leave/ they sash. Das like a cavalier leavin' they Mark behind."
She looks at Rune, a wan look of amusement crossing her features. "Bingo, honey. I... dunno what happened to th' others. They were jus'... chill." She shakes her head. "Ain' normal. Ain' seen th' crystal befo' but its certainly fussin' wit' Pebble's head. Err... brain. Whatever."
She looks at Rune touching her nose. Then back to her father and brother. They're touching their beak. "Gods damn it," Slix sighs, turning back to Eztli. "You an' me can try and dispel it, yuh. Should knock 'em outta it."
She holds a hand up. "No. Don't. Pebble can punt. Pebble can punt real right. I don' want Flutter ta get punted off the mountain."
Meanwhile, the brother moves on to rub his beak and inspect the den of the bandersnatch. Muttering aloud, "... someone planted the sash here on purpose recently. Otherwise th' wind woulda flung it away. And this nest is fresh..."
Aelwyn looks at the curious gesture made by Rune, then flashes his teeth at Eztli. "Ah, but why would this ruin the fun for everyone?" He flicks his tail and looks back at Slixvah. He eyes the drop afterwards - and after a moment, he gestures towards the other makari.
"Dragon can fly. It would be a great exercise in riding one." He flashes his teeth. "But this one _supposes_ dispelling it is an option." He eyes the drop once more, then clicks his teeth. "And Pebbles has been here since the landslide? It is strange."
"So... it's possible we may have other wayward elementals lurking around." This seems to put a bit of a sour taste in her mouth, the rogue's lips forming a thin line. "Just my favorite thing..." She drips sarcasm.
Thankfully, she isn't the only one who has realized that they can opt out of dealing with the elementals, and she offers a small smile to Slixvah's father and brother, before relaxing her stance a little. It eases some of the weight on the wounds she's pretending not to have.
"And now I am doubly glad I did not get up close and personal with Pebble. I don't really want to end up punted off of a mountain." Rune shakes her head. "Seems to me, that someone had a hand in all of this. Though I can't really imagine what purpose lies behind it all."
GAME: Eztli casts Greater Dispel Magic. Caster Level: 12 DC: 22
GAME: Eztli rolls 1d20+12+2: (18)+12+2: 32
"Ah,right, punting. As funny as it would probably be for a moment, I'd rather not see Aelwyn be punted into a ravine." Eztli sighs. "Guess it's my job to deal with it from a safe distance, then."
The small makari waves one hand in several motions. "The weave of magic is shaped and undone by my hand. Break this object's effect on the elemental." Eztli hisses in draconic, directing the spell at the prism that shoots out suddenly. "There! Not sure if the elemental is safe, but I think we need to investigate that thing. Safely, mind you." She warns, wary of magical crystals and the effects they may have on people who pick them up."
Slixvah meets Aelwyn's gaze, only for her to break contact and settle on one of the destroyed houses next to him. "I think this place has had enough fun for a while," she intones softly before straightening her shoulders. "Pebble can' move from there. They're too big, an' th' landslide displaced them there. If they tried ta go down into the earth..." She leans over to look into the ravine. It narrows considerably further down. "Pebble would fall out and get shattered."
Brezunal gives a subtle closed eye smile to Rune. "As much as I don' wanna put thoughts of bad karma inta the world, Miss Rune, I'm leadin' ta think th' same thing."
Zanzimar dips into the ruins that the den was residing in.
Slixvah adds her own magic onto Eztli's dispelling attempt, a weave of ethereal tendrils intertwining it. Only for the crystal to shoot out of the elemental, clank once. Twice. Thrice. Spin in the air, then roll to a stop, only to get pushed back onto ground properly from the near constant winds buffeting the cliffside.
Pebble stiffens (somehow). Then relaxes (somehow). And then makes little clacking sounds with the rocks on their body in a rhythmic manner while swaying from side to side. Slixvah coos, "Aww. They's really happy."
A white ethereal hand appears, scoops up the now-dormant crystal, and brings it across the way towards Slixvah. As that happens, Zanzimar pops up, holding a strip of leather as large as he is tall. "... I believe Rune and Aelwyn have th' right of it." He turns the leather. It's a massive dog collar, chewed off, with the nametag jingling off it, glinting off the name 'Leggy'.
Garak has arrived.
Aelwyn looks at the magic and feathered business going around him, looking perhaps a bit left out. Maybe he could do a flashy stretch for motivation? But while he was pondering that, he suddenly asks. "Then are the other elementals from the university still on the loose with that..." He gestures at the crystal. "... in them?"
The dog collar makes him tilt his head. "Tch. This one supposes this visit shall be stretching out." He flickers his tongue out at Slixvah and the others.
A skeptical look is cast Slixvah's way at the swaying and clacking from the elemental. "I'm not sure if I like the idea of a happy elemental." It will take more than a mascot for her to change her views on such monsters. "At least... you know where it is now, so it's theoretically possible to mount a rescue." Then, in a quieter tone, she mutters, "Why anyone would want to rescue an elemental..."
And then Zanzimar appears with the collar and nametag. The rogue's expression shifts to a bit of a rueful one. "You know... I might feel bad for that thing being someone's pet... if it wasn't for the fact that it tried to kill us, first. I have the marks to show for it..."
"Guess we need to find out who keeps monsters as pets and leaves them for unsuspecting passers by, and also has the ability to mess with elementals." She lifts her shoulders in a shrug, looking as if both lines of research may be beyond her.
"Nice job, we'll have to figure out what that prism is later." Eztli sighs in relief as everything seems safe for the time being. "That,shit, is one of the elementals named leggy too, or was that on that, thing we fought." They wonder, sounding a bit saddened. You think they had something to do with whoever stuck the sash there? Why would someone even do that in the first place?"
"If there is someone behind this, then we'll get to the bottom of this. They won't get away with whatever reason they have for something this dangerous."
"If ya ever get ta meet 'em all, hopefully they'll change ya mind," Slixvah grins at Rune, reaches out with a bag to dump the prism into. But stares at her brother's finding. "... I... think the bandersnatch is Leggy," she owlishly blinks, answering Eztli. "So someone is a monster pet tamer..? What the... man, I did not have enough booze brought for this...."
With the clues and evidence gathered, the party has quite a number of things to scratch their head over and analyze. "Okay, lets get everyone back home-"
She pauses. Then flaps at her friends, holding up a glowing hand and running at them. "-but not before I fix ya'lls boo boos!"