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 Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:26 pm
"Phew. Almost done." Hibon had already moved quite a few of the large and medium sized rocks and slabs, barring the path to the supposed doors that led underground, ow stopping to wipe his arm across his forehead. "I was able to get a lot of that stuff outta the way, but... these last few are huge."
Nahara smiled sheepishly, nodding to Sunstrike, as she got up from her perch. "I guess I'll use this." She remained where she stood, and spread out both arms, murmuring an incantation to herself, as art began to swirl from body, and then over to the pile of rubble itself. The art then enveloped the slabs of stone, giving them a faint glow of aura, before it faded away.
"I get it... It's a 'decrease weight' spell." Hibon commented, wactching as Nahara finished up. "I guess my sister can use some magic, huh?"
"Well yeah, of course I can! I wouldn't be much of a mage if I couldn't..." Nahara said, smiling lightly, and clapping her hands together.
"Is 'some' enough?" Hibon said ryly, scraching the side of his head idly.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:46 pm
Sunstrike lifted up a sandaled foot and slammed it into the rock.
"o.o O.O!!??" And promptly fell into the hole made, with a scattering of dust and rock as his balance was thrown off by the now hollow stone.
"It's enough~..."Came the muffled voice, half in the door half out.
He blinked in the sudden darkness and lifted himself up. Light not blocked by his body filtered a little ways in, dust from the crash creating a hazy atmosphere. But he could only see a little bit of a hallway, not much different from the rest of the ruins, before blackness swallowed everything...
Sunstrike gulped..."We should really be careful now..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:21 am
"Heads up!!" Hibon yelled out down to Sunstrike, as he tossed a length of rope down, having secured it against a few of the slabs of rock nearby. He'd gotten the rope after dressing himself again.
"My turn." Nahara said, making her way to the hole Sunstrike made, dangling her legs, ready to jump down. "Huh?" Hibon looked to her and and waved his hands around. "Whoa, hold on! This is a man's job, right Sunstrike?"
Nahara turned and gave him a deathly glare, under which Hibon wilted immediately.
"Uh...heh heh." Walking forward, and running a hand through his hair, he laughed. "Well, let's do it together, then. It'll be quicker that way... right?"
"Hmpth." Nahara slid her way down into the hole, and landed with a soft thudd, while Hibon slid down and landed on his rear, getting up and dusting himself off as he looked around.
"S'dark in here."
"Okay! Step aside! You reek of sweat." Nahara said as she made her way forward.
"'The hecks your problem?" Hibon said, while sniffing himself.
A simple flare was tossed forward, giving a brief area of illumination ahead, and it was there that the reason for the pitch blackness, was because their was actuall a wall there, barring the way deeper within.
"Hmmm..." Nahara brushed a hand against the wall's surface, dusting it off, a little. "It's here... there's a door here."
"Can you open it?" Hibon said, scratching at the back of his head.
"If I give it a closer look, I should be able to."
"I'm sure you could just cast an 'Unlock' Spell and open it right up. Thanks for volunteering!" Hibon said, as he set down and began eating, his back to Nahara.
"You're a real slave driver, you know that?" Nahara sighed, as she stepped back a bit. "Sitting there grinning like a devil straight out of hell..." She pushed her hands out in front of her, eyes closed as she focused. "This is about all the magic I'm good for today." Arts began to focus from her hands and flow into the wall itself. "Casting spells can get tiring, you know." Her lips moved as she whispered some archaic language, and then the stones within the wall began to shift and move out of the way, as if they had never existed.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:48 am
Sunstrike raised his goggles and peered through the gap, his eyes glowed strangly in the dark place. Reflexively he narrowed them...his night/darkness vision was horrible, even in daylight he was slightly nearsighted...
"I'll go first, if that's okay...we run into trouble, you guys can run faster then me." Probably a lie, but he wasn't about to let either of them go down there ahead of him...mostly because he didn't want the responibility of telling Dain he'd lost one of the older mans grankids because he was scared to go into the dark alone.
He shivered, okay, enough was enough...he could probably stand to do a little anyway...and Nahara was tapped out, it seemed. Slowly he held out his hand and concentrated...there was a flash and a tiny bang as something compressed and exploded in a small space, and suddenly a little orange wisp floated from his hand and into the tunnel. Sunstrike panted and fought off the urge to growl softly at his lack of decent skills. That wisp should have been twice as big...lighting up enough of the tunnel to see a good distance...with this one they'd be lucky if they could see where they were going.
He heaved a sigh, took Nahara's hand, and began to go in.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:21 pm
"Let's go, Hibon." Nahara said cheerfuly, as she was led forward by Sunstrike.
"Okay! Let's see what kind of treasures await!" Hibon grinned broadly, clomping on after the pair, as he held an old fahsioned torch up for himself, lighting it with some fuel. He stared at the light that Sunstrike had created, a little impressed, staring to the side every which way.
"Something smells..." she said, wrinkling her nose a little, as she looked tot he side of her. Hibon leaned forward, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Hey, don't look at me!" He huffed out his chest, holding the torch high above his head as the trio descended down the tunnel. "Are you sure it isn't just dust or mold? Like the smell of old books or something?" He scratched the bridge of his nose, as he walked at a steady pace behind the both of them.
"No, it's not that... I just can't place my finger on it." Her smiled widened as she turned her head to the side, and looked at Sunstrike. "You know about zombies, right? I heard from my grandfather, that long ago, there was a Necromancer in the lands who was really good at controlling the dead. These ruins couldn't be his mansion, could they?"
"Oh, yeah! Now my blood's pumpin'!" hibon exclaimed, at hearing the last part, pumping his arms up and down furiously.
"If their are any zombies in here, it won't be your fight anyway-- isn't that right Sunstrike?"
Up ahead of them, slowly coming into view, was what looked like a sealed door.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:00 pm
Sunstrike, stopped completely and looked at the other two with wide eyes, before straightening and moving on.
"Ghost stories to keep kids away from the ruins, I imagine..."He mumbled to himself. Sun almost succeeded in convincing his mind this was the case, and all. Til they got to the door. This place is sealed pretty damn tight for just an ordinary bunch of ruins...And then there was that smell...
"Damn...Nahara's tapped out, arn't you?" The girl gave him a hopeless look, and he looked at Hibon. "Anything?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:33 pm
Hibon was just stomping on down after the pair and shrugged his shoulder. He was wearing his Militia uniform today, which consisted of basicaly the same ensamble seen before, but with boots, gloves and a shoulder fitting chest plate made out of the skin of the rock snake.
"Any monsters we might run into are probaly beyond that door." Nahara commented gently, looking back to Hibon.
"Not to mention all the treasure!"
"Of course we can't be sure there is treasure..."
Apparently it was too late, for Hibon was in his little dream world once more. Bwehehehehe... treasure
"Hello? Anybody in there?" Nahara walked the short distance and began poking into Hibon's chest. Poking so much apparently, that she ended up pushing the young man off the ledge...?
"Waaaugh!" Down Hibon went, falling down the side, torch and all.
"He fell..." Nahara said, her eyes blank as she pointed down and looked to Sunstrike.
"........." Hibon lay motionless, twiching slightly as blood dripped from his nose. Apparently the 'ground' they had descended too, was just a raised portion of it, with wide spaces on either side of it... the place was bigger than they thought.
"Hey! You all right?" Nahara called down, peering over the ledge.
"Why you... what the hell ya doin pushin' me all of a sudden like that?!" Hibon jumped to his feet, huffing and throwing a fit.
"Oh. He's alive." Nahara stood up, and smoothed out her tunica, folding her arms across her chest. "It's your fault for spacing out, you dork! Now c'mon. Quit fooling around. Let's check out that door."
Hibon growled, dusting his clothes off and wiping his nose. "Damn brat, making a monkey outta me...ouch." Hibon bent down and picked up his torch, the movement of light revealing something he had not seen. "Hm?" It was a small door, kept closed with a simpel length of wood atop its handles.
"What's this?" Hibon moved on closer to the door, and inspected it, from every angle. "What's a door doing here?" Hibon reached for the wooden beam, grasping it tightly. "I've got a feeling this door might be 'it'." He started to lift and raise the wood off the handles. "It must lead to the treasure!" Hibon's cheeks flushed a virbrant red. "Yeah, I've gotta hunch."
Once I find that treasure... In his mind, the doors were flung open, and a mountain of gold and diamonds were laying there. "Well now, look what I found! Mountains of gold and silver and gems!!" Women from all over town suddenly draped themselves over his body, catering to his every need. "Ohhh, Hibon. Just what we'd expect of the Militia Hero..."
Hibon's cheeks blushed a deep scarlet now, as he thought about it all. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha "Mwahahaha! Yes, indeed!" Hibon flung open both doors, stepping in and stretching out the hand that held the torch, to illuminate the new area. "Fortune smiles upon me!"
He sniffed the air, finding a very reeking scent suddenly assaulting his senses. "Hm?" His eyes adjusted to the new light, as he blinked. "Somethin' stinks..."
In front of Hibon, a whole host of monsters stared him in the face, snarling and gnashing their teeth together, brandishing clubs, swords and daggers, as well as claws and teeth, charging headlong at the young man.
"WAAAAAUGH! Fortune ain't smiling at all!!"
Suddenly the sound of booted feet caught Nahara's atention, as well as the cries from Hibon. "What's that?!" Coming up the side stairs, yes apparently their were stars that led to the sides, was Hibon, with all the monsters right on his tail.
"Wh.... GOBLINS!!" Nahara stared dumbly forward, as her brother ran past her.
"All I did was open a door behind the stairs!" He said defensively, as he dodged a sword swipe here and there.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:41 pm
Sunstrike blinked as Hibon walked by the two of them. "Your sisters right, Hibon. We can't honestly be sur- ... Is he going to be okay?"
"He fell..."
"You think he landed on his head?" Sunstrike was trying to be serious but Nahara giggled anyway.
"Hope so...it's the hardest part of his body...Hey! You all right?"
Both of them winced as dust and rocks slid off the walls as Hibon yelled at him.
"Oh. He's alive."
"Definatly landed on his head." Nahara giggled again at the comment, and shouted her brother to check it out, just stepping down the slight incline. Sunstrike moved to follow, trying to dispel his sinking feeling.
"Nahara...do...do you hear something?" His strange ears pricked. She looked at him and shrugged.
"S'just the hot air that wasn't knocked out of Hibon...don't worry about it." Another step. And then a crash...followed by more crashing, a distinct yell and a metalic blur that was Hibon. Sunstrike didn't think as the boy rushed past, his pole held horizontally he nailed the lead goblin in the face, just as it started to swipe at Nahara.
The domino effect was incredable. The stairs weren't that wide, and having a metal tip shoved between it's eyes, had the desired effect of spreading it's arms wide in surprise, the force even lifting the creature up a bit, and slam into the one behind it...which send it hurtling into the next...so on and so forth...there was a very messy pile of goblins twitching metallicly at the bottom; crushed, stabbed and broken by each others stupidity.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 5:27 pm
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Hibon cried out, as he approached the main sealed door... and couldn't find even so much as a handle. "Who made this door?!" Hibon struck angrily with his fist, which somehow actually jarred the lock on the other side of it, allowing the doors to swing open.
"GRARR!" Like before, Hibon was met with the stink and the snarls of goblins, as they charged headlong towards him.
"Waaugh!!!" Hibon raised both his arms, only to have a dagger flung at him, which lodged itself deep into his right forearm. "UNGH!" A similar dagger found it's way into his left thigh, and then with a heavy thudd, a goblin finished up by slamming it;'s club against his left forearm. "You sons of bitches!"
Hibon's whole body shook, as he spread out his arms, knocking the goblins closest to him back. Nostriles flaring, like some angry bull his booted feet stamped down in pure fury. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" He bellowed out, enraged, even as he drew out his sword, bringing it up high above his head, to slam down upon the goblin near him.
"Here comes that Militia training!" Nahara yelled out, pointing towards Hibon... even a loud echoing crack and then thudd was heard. Hibon has slammed his blade down atop the goblin's head with pure force.. so much.. that the sword itself actually snapped in two.
The struck goblin, suffice to say, collaped forward with a lump bigger than it's nose atop it's head.
"Huh?" Nahara stared forward, dumbfounded at her brother, not quite beleiving what she had just seen.
"Damn..." Hibon snorted out, still seething, as he tossed aside the useless handle. "Time for a beating!" He bellowed out once more, knuckles formed as he stood his ground against the charging goblin horde. "Come on, you stinkin' dogs!"
Soon, Hibon was in the thick of it, tossing bodies, and slamming heads into walls, a regular, berserk brawler is one was ever seen. Quite frankly, it was a side of Hibon that was rarely seen... and a little surprising, if not comical-- from the usual joking prankster.
"....... Uh, did he just break his new sword?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:20 pm
Sunstrike ducked as a fairly large goblin flew over his head. When colliding with the wall seemed to only daze it, he gave it a good thunk with his staff. It was good that these next corridors were a bit wider, it gave him more room to manuever, which would have been really rough in the narrow passages.
As it was he was merely making sure that none of the gobo's that Hibon tossed got back up to have another go at it, all while making sure he and Nahara didn't get clobbered by suddenly areodynamic bodies.
"Uh...did he just break his new sword." Nahara was watching, stunned as two goblins heads were smacked together with a nasty wet thunk.
"I think he just did....was it expensive?" Slam! Another goblin thinking of getting up got a sandled foot to the head, it richocheted against the wall to meet the same foot before falling over, probably dead, and definately out for the count.
"I think so...Grandfathers gonna kill him..." They both watched like spectators as Hibon used one of the goblins to batter about five of the rest to death.
"Someone should make him stop....I guess." Sun didn't look like he relished the thought...but if the boy kept this up they'd have to carry Hibon out of here once the adreniline died and his body caught up with him. Slowly he began to make his way through the bodies until he reached the boy...most of the goblins were dead....or had run off by now. "Hibon! Wake up boyo...it's not gonna get any deader then it is..." He was talking about the body of a goblin that the boy was now jumping up and down on. Both Sunstrike and Nahara sweatdropped.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:38 pm
"I didn't think that these ruins were that deep..." Nahara said softly, hands folded together in front of her as she walked, her head glancing from side to side. The walls of the tunnel they were now descending lower and lower, the stale air not the best to be breathing, but they managed.
"Ticks me off... jeez." Hibon was still walking behind them both, arms crossed behind his head, staring to the side every now and then. His booted feet would clomp down in a steady rythm, echoing off the tunnel walls.
The trio would cautiously descend the apparently ancient subterranean passageway, and find themselves at the threshold of a magnificent underground grotto. The ruins of the structure above ground descended into this chamber, intersecting a platform engraved with arcane symbols. Water surrounded the dais, and reflected light dappled the surrounding walls. Light, that came out from unseen holes and sections within shorn out rock ceiling and walls, the same hidden passages that allowed cool fresh air to ventilate the area. Upon the slightly raised dais itself, stood a small peaked moutain of rock, sculpted to house a huge slab of obsidian, upon which archaic glyphs were scribed.
Nahara moved forward, walking along the platform, surveying the murals on
the surrounding walls. She recognizes forms much like hers and her companions, those of humans, in these figures, and held up her hand, mentally comparing her anatomy to theirs. She seemed to be trying to put the pieces together.
"This place feels like it's been sealed for hundreds - maybe even thousands - of years. This room was clearly built when the ruins were still still intact." Nahara said gently, as Hibon shuffled forward and bent down, staring into the clear depths of the pool, which grew murkier the deeper it went. It wasn't a strange thing to find underground water sources beneath the sands.
No human hand could have shaped this place - and perhaps it had never been seen by human eyes. The surrounding murals depicted a winged race of humans, and another race, their features so like those of the lizard clan - but beautiful, where theirs were primal. Nahara was trying her best to decipher these images... A great war, but with combatants like none ever seen... The various structures, raised by this winged race, who thus defeated their adversaries... The winged beings again, writhing in agony, apparently losing their wings... And throughout the chamber, inscribed everywhere, images of the lizard clan itself.
"W-What... is all this..." Nahara traced a hand over the murals, biting her lower lip in confusion. Hibon took a small chip of stone, and dropped it into the depths...a audible plop heard.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 4:20 am
Sunstrike had followed Nahara up onto the dias, and like her, was mulling over the murals...everything was cooler down here...the smell of goblin washed out by the air vents and the water. He walked past as she talked to herself, and reached a hand out to follow the patterns, the groves in stone fresh enough to bite and catch his fingers.
"This is certainly no shrine to a necromancer...if I were to hazard a small guess..."And he stopped, staring at the runes under his hand...Do they look like me?..."No matter. Nahara! C'mon, lets find that moss and get out of here. It's getting cold," He grimaced. "And I loathe the cold..."
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 11:25 am
"Right..." Nahara stepped away from the murals, knowing they had to get what they came for. Being in such an old place was steadily making her feel uneasy in general. Sandled feet echoed across the stone platform, as she bent down, and examined the foliage that was scattered on the ground at various places.
"I don't suppose there's any treasure here... is there?" Hibon said, both arms crossed behind his head as he glanced around, not visibly impressed by the weird writing and drawings.
"We didn't come here for treasure in the first place..." She said softly, as she reaced out and brushed fingertips along some moss. The Odea Moss she had been sent to retrieve was a deep green in colour, very shiny, incredibly slippery and once removed from the host it would start to die disgustingly slimy. While attached to it's host the Odea is in the solid shape of tiny spheres. Occasionally a red sphere will appear on the out side if the plant.
She reached out and carefully dug around the plant, trying to uncover it's roots, so she could pull it out whole, and not damage the plant at all.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 11:50 am
Sunstrike hopped up onto the ledge of the pool next to the desolate Hibon.
"Be happy, boyo!" He patted the boys back. "Treasures usually guarded by worse things then gobo's. My guess is that this is just a general meeting place...Probably had something to do with treaty's and government of sorts. Those places always like to be decorated with these sort of glyphs. So the leaders can be reminded of the mistakes, and celebrate the achievements."
Wonder where they were, the day talks broke down with the humans, Sunstrike thought to himself. On the front lines getting slaughtered along with the rest, I imagine...and doing a good deal of the murdering themselves...at this thought his eyes rested on the two. Truthfully they weren't really children, he had to stop himself from thinking that. Humans just seemed young in general to him...the lifespan being so short...
He sighed and shook his head. He was both...and neither. Absently he wondered what his father was thinking, giving him this appearence on this world...then again, the way Henry went through worlds...maybe this one had been in a different stage last time he had checked, figureing that the creatures wouldn't evolve THAT much, he had made Sunstrike...and now Sunstrike was looking at creatures that had, at one point, looked amazingly like himself. From Hibons claim of "scale-faces" he could only conclude that the creatures had devolved due to the extreme circumstances fifty years ago....could that mean it was possible for Sun to do the same?
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:11 pm
"Ohh.. 'be happy'.." Hibon mimicked, making a silly face at Sunstrike, no doubt going to recieve a swift kick to the face for such an act, even as Nahara busied herself with the moss retrieval.
"Odea Moss..." She echoed out softly, as if reading from a text, but she was really just reciting from memory. "It has a highly potent healing element. A paste needs to be created using the Odea moss along with a drop of blood from the wounded. A chemical reaction then takes place with the blood and the moss, stopping the moss from becoming too much of a liquid and allows a paste to be formed. That paste is then spread over the wound and left to be absorbed into the body. According to the severity of the wound depends on how many times this process should be repeated. The paste does not need to be removed.
After forming a liquid, the Odea Moss then dries out and forms a powder, which is easily stored away in flasks. This powder retains healing properties, however losing a great deal of its potency, the powder is still aiding with the quick recovery of the wounded. The powder is especially highly effective on humans. More frequent dosages are required for larger humanoids. Those who are in tune with nature and/or have a talent in the magical field need to use this paste with extreme caution, as it interacts with the life force of the wounded. Although not deadly, the effect of over-healing their body gives a sense of false euphoria which causes the wounded to react in ways that they normally would not."
Nahara beamed brightly as she succesfulyl removed the plant, and held it up to the light of the grotto. "This.. is Odea Moss."
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