Ruins of the Ancients - Battlemamono RP

[TehDanimal1]

"Sir, if at all possible, would it be best if I stayed closer to the back? I may be fit, But I'm no hand to hand fighter. Thats what I hired my bodyguard for after all." I give Shanika a knowing grin, one she returned in kind before I went back to talking.

"It would also give me some time to use the appropriate spells if it should come down to it."

"Magnus, sir I agree it would be best to put Xander in the back, might I suggest a formation of Shanika taking point, Ilaria and I flanking you in the middle and Itami between you and Shanika?" As I was making my opinion for the formation I tossed Ilaria her bow and quiver, then I got one of the Light Essence tech and strapped it to the bottom of my Lighting Rifle. Then I checked my Blades and blessed everything for good luck.

[KillMoves]

Whatever was in that cave made everyone jumpy. It appeared that the magic around the place was distorted. Not that I knew what that meant but I guessed we were about to find out once we go into the cave. It had bad idea written all over it but I suppose we were the guys who charged into bad ideas to teach everyone else a lesson.

My bow was in tip-top condition and my quiver is fully stocked, some normal arrows and a whole bunch of enchanted arrows. I was prepared as I could be. The only question is will it be enough for what was waiting for us down there.

"Magnus, sir I agree it would be best to put Xander in the back, might I suggest a formation of Shanika taking point, Ilaria and I flanking you in the middle and Itami between you and Shanika?".

"No, no." I objected. "Somebody needs to watch the rear just in case someone or something decides to be sneaky." I then give out my alternative formation. "I think we should put... Shanika, right? Shanika behind Xander so she can protect him if anyone or anything decides to hit us from the rear." It was just an initial formation. I'm sure it'll all get broken up once things get hairy.

"Let me take point." I don't know if it was my withdrawal or my blind heroism who was talking. It was probably both.

[TehDanimal1]

"No, no." I objected. "Somebody needs to watch the rear just in case someone or something decides to be sneaky." I then give out my alternative formation. "I think we should put... Shanika, right? Shanika behind Xander so she can protect him if anyone or anything decides to hit us from the rear." It was just an initial formation. I'm sure it'll all get broken up once things get hairy.

"Let me take point." I don't know if it was my withdrawal or my blind heroism who was talking. It was probably both.

I wanted to argue the point that having a strong frontline fighter up at point would be nice but he seemed so keen on being point himself which was my second option. However, I doubt anything will come from behind since if you looked at the entrance, it looked like someone wanted to prevent things from coming in.

[DogKama]

"Badass parasites?" Magnus scoff at the thought.

The suggestion wasn't farfetched but the lingering image of something able to hivemind many solitary predators into working together wasn't a complying idea he wanted to think about; but that didn't account for the well crafted, antimagik collars each beast was sporting. He almost didn't hear someone approaching.

"Captain Magnus. I just did a bit of a survey of the area to check on the magical energies... and... well... I'll try to put this lightly, something in the area is damaged. The magic of this place is... for lack of a better term, broken in some way. I fear that the worst of it is in the cave... so, even if your not a mage you might start to feel some effects the closer we get to the source.Also I fear a mage like myself will probably have a hard time using spells in this type of environment... and the mamono of our group might also have a hard time of it as well. I can't even begin to describe what might be capable of doing something like this either... I can't say I've ever come across anything like this in my studies."

That was something, and quite useful to! Magnus turned to Xander wanting to ask some questions but didn't once he noticed how he anxiously held his staff, like he was nervous or expecting something to happen. He turned to ask Itami for his thoughts when Xander came back to reality and asked to placed in the rear of their group. Magnus didn't know what to say.

Did he(or they) really think it was a good idea to explore that cave, especially after Xander's concerning report? He nearly told him not to worry about exploring the cave when suddenly Giovanni came from nowhere agreeing with Xander. This was getting out of control, he was about to tell them both no when Itami jumped in wanting to put the Bouldacaeas with Xander in the back before selflessly volunteering to take point in this supposed spelunking. Yet, he was out numbered and with no other leads besides this cave and the owlbeast tracks around it, Magnus didn't really have much choice.


"Itami will take point about two strides ahead with Giovanni, Ilaria and I in the middle. Xander and his boulder will be directly behind us." he declared, signaling the mamono over to repeat what he just said.

"It should be obvious, check your possessions and be ready in two minutes. Answer nature's call(bathroom) if you have to otherwise you're holding it."

[TehDanimal1]

"It should be obvious, check your possessions and be ready in two minutes. Answer nature's call(bathroom) if you have to otherwise you're holding it."

I gave a little bit of a sidelong look at the Commander Magnus, hoping that he was trying to lighten a tense mood.

[Firedragon]

All, you enter the cave despite your misgivings - but then again, what choice do you have? A light spell or two ensure you see where you're stepping while you slowly go deeper. Looking around, you notice that this tunnel is surprisingly clean - no debris, no rotting bones of fallen adventurers, no tracks of any kind...
After a while, you also realize that the walls, ceiling and floor are made of some strange substance you've never seen before. It looks and feels a lot like stone, but it's also different. None of you has much experience working with stone, but you're quite sure very few if any stonemasons could make sense of this material.

You continue on deeper into the cave, though you've come to believe that this was once only a small cave and then was expanded by someone. Turning around a corner, you come to a set of double doors made of iron but without any kind of ornamentation (or any obvious way of opening them...). A quick check reveals that these doors must be massive, which begs the question of whether they were intended to keep someone out or someone (or something) in...

[TehDanimal1]

All, you enter the cave despite your misgivings - but then again, what choice do you have? A light spell or two ensure you see where you're stepping while you slowly go deeper. Looking around, you notice that this tunnel is surprisingly clean - no debris, no rotting bones of fallen adventurers, no tracks of any kind...

I've heard of some loci that devour flesh and bone but there was always some evidence of the poor sob left almost as if the beasts was purposely seasoning its meals with fear. But the way this place is so pristine clean, its as if something civilized lives here. I looked over at Ilaria, she gave a reassuring smile and nodded for me to look ahead.

After a while, you also realize that the walls, ceiling and floor are made of some strange substance you've never seen before. It looks and feels a lot like stone, but it's also different. None of you has much experience working with stone, but you're quite sure very few if any stonemasons could make sense of this material.

My curiosity was piqued, maybe one of us could make heads or tails of our surroundings. I looked back real quick to make sure Xander and his "bodyguard" were still with us. That got me thinking, I heard rumors and in some studies, earth and rock mamono have some sort of innate ability to sense stone, figure out what it is and some are even able to eat some stone. "Xander, would you mind asking your "bodyguard" if she can make any sense of our surroundings?"

You continue on deeper into the cave, though you've come to believe that this was once only a small cave and then was expanded by someone. Turning around a corner, you come to a set of double doors made of iron but without any kind of ornamentation (or any obvious way of opening them...). A quick check reveals that these doors must be massive, which begs the question of whether they were intended to keep someone out or someone (or something) in...

I shined the light I had scanning every inch of the door and surface around it, maybe there is something hidden we're missing.

[Animajunki123]

My first impression of the area we where currently investigating was that it was clean. I mean, unnaturally so from the fact that I could find no trace of rotting debris nor garbage nor other things one would normally find in a cave. It was as if someone had taken the time to clean it out. My next observation was that the further we went, the more I came to realize that after a certain point, the cave was not made of a stone nor material I was familiar with. I mean, I'm no stonemason, but I have done a bit of study in the science of geological magics. My next thought was maybe Shanika could perhaps tell me something about the stone itself, maybe give us some insight into the nature. An opinion that was shared by Giovanni when he asked me much the same thing. Turning my attention back to Shanika, I posed that very question to her.

"Do you know anything about the stonework around here Shanika? If not, thats alright, but any little thing would be useful."

regardless of the answer, when we rounded a corner we came upon a massive set of plain iron doors that had no visible way to open them.

"Oh well thats not ominous at all."

I knew there wasn't a visible way to open the door, but there might be a magical one. However, I was incredibly reluctant to nose myself into the magic of this area, just the memory alone of that sickly broken feeling leaving me shivering. I'll hold off on anything magical for a little while until we are sure there is no other alternative.

[KillMoves]

Magnus gave me the go signal and so I was on point, and the first one in the frying pan.

Wading through the darkness, I found that the place was surprisingly clean. Way too clean to be the nest of those owlbeasts. Heading further, the rocks of the cave's walls slowly transitioned into a material I wasn't familiar with. Not that I'm familiar with the stuff. Maybe it's just some fancy stone the rich uses to make their walls to boast their fortune. But then that begs the question, what the heck are they doing down here and why.

I elected to keep quiet about it in the hopes that someone might shed some light about it but based from my buddies' words, it appeared that they didn't know either. I still kept my mouth shut though and pressed onward.

We eventually reached a set of double iron doors. Well, that was the closest term I could use. It had no doorknobs nor decorations. There was nothing in sight that offered a clue as to how to open these. Perhaps that was a hint that we probably shouldn't open it.

"Anyone here know the magic words?"

[DogKama]

"The walls almost feel like concrete." Magnus commented as his party went further into the cave.

For a cave so close to the settlement and possibly having housed a unit of owlbears it was relatively clean. That said, it still had the accumulative layers of dirt, moss, water damage, but little else given the illusion it was simply abandoned; no bones, lingering smells of decay or indication of habitation and the Laws of Nature say such candidates for habitation usually were habit at one time or another.

Further time passed and besides some questions or comments about the cave little else happened, until their party rounded a bend and came face to some of the most expensive looking iron doors Magnus had seen. Coming from a family has his meant they had the influence, power and money to waste on such novelties(especially to make political statements) and being heir of a House meant he had seen their vault at least once. If anything the doors looked just like them only lacking the runes and artistic engravings found on all important items in their house.

"Anyone here know the magic words?"

"In the name of Nu-Rome, open these doors." Magnus chuckled as he slowly walked to the set of doors, placing his right hand on one of the doors.

He left it there absorbing some its coldness before dragging his hand down some before removing it. The doors were in fact made of iron or some other metal based alloy meaning a lot of possibles,the biggest meaning this isn't a really cave...

"This is some sort of facility. Maybe government, or guild backed?"

[DogKama]

"The walls are too even to be natural." Magnus commented as his party went further into the cave.

For a cave so close to the settlement and possibly having housed a unit of owlbears it was relatively clean. That said, it still had the accumulative layers of dirt, moss, water damage, but little else given the illusion it was simply abandoned; no bones, lingering smells of decay or indication of habitation and the Laws of Nature say such candidates for habitation usually were habit at one time or another.

Further time passed and besides some questions or comments about the cave little else happened, until their party rounded a bend and came face to some of the most expensive looking iron doors Magnus had seen. Coming from a family has his meant they had the influence, power and money to waste on such novelties(especially to make political statements) and being heir of a House meant he had seen their vault at least once. If anything the doors looked just like them only lacking the runes and artistic engravings found on all important items in their house.

"Anyone here know the magic words?"

"In the name of Nu-Rome, open these doors." Magnus chuckled as he slowly walked to the set of doors, placing his right hand on one of the doors.

He left it there absorbing some its coldness before dragging his hand down some before removing it. The doors were in fact made of iron or some other metal based alloy meaning a lot of possibles,the biggest meaning this isn't a really cave...

"This is some sort of facility. Maybe government, or guild backed?"

[Firedragon]

All, looking more closely at the portal, you notice that it is without any of the ornamentations you'd expect from a magic vault or the like. It's almost as if whoever created it only cared about its function, not about its appearance. Shanika examines the walls for a moment but then shakes her head. "Sorry, but I have no idea what this is or how it was made. I can only tell you that it looks as if it was made from... sand... or something similar, at least. But don't ask me how it was hardened like this..."

But just when you're ready to give up, Itami steps on a hidden tile in front of the portal. Suddenly, you hear a click followed by a grinding sound. The portal slowly rises into the ceiling, opening the way further into... well, into whatever this is.
A moment after the portal has completely disappeared, small crystal-like areas in the sides of the walls behind the portal begin to glow. They're unlike any of the light crystals you know, but they clearly serve the same function. You also begin to hear a humming sound coming from somewhere deeper inside.

[TehDanimal1]

Who builds a cave out of glass, let alone how and why? This cave is getting stranger... I noticed Itami had shifted forward and then the doors ground their way up into the ceiling, I had my hand on the trigger and Ilaria had an arrow ready for whatever was about to coming storming out. Strangely the hallway that was now in front of us began to light up. "Itami I suggest you might want to ready your bow, if this were my barracks and someone found the way to open it I'd probably send several troops to investigate."

[Animajunki123]

I nodded in understanding as Shanika gave me her answer and smiled at her.

"Thanks. Like I said, anything helps."

Looking back at the walls, I couldn't help but think of what could be made from sand, though Glass was the first thing to come to mind, that wouldn't form naturally unless close to an incredibly powerful heat source. The next though would be sandstone, but that didn't sound right to me either. All I knew was that this cave was not formed naturally, and that's all I could really get out of it. A moment later and the sound of something clicking with the loud rumble of something moving behind me caused me to jump so bad that I dropped my staff and backed into Shanika, the Bouldacaea grabbing me by the shoulders and stopping me from falling to the ground in a panic. I could only look up as she looked down and gave me an amused grin.filled with a gentle push back to my feet.

I was feeling somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing and managed to pick up my staff with as much intact dignity I could muster. Looking at the opening where the massive metal doors used to be, I could hear a low rumbling deeper in starting up and swallowed, oddly enough, lights began to glow along the wall of the corridor in front of us, as if someone was bidding us to enter. I smiled nervously to the rest of the party and jerked my head to indicate the open way.

"Well... guess we can move on then huh?"

[KillMoves]

Since no one here had a clue what to do with the strange structure before us, we were about ready to head on back.

As I stepped back though, I felt the ground gave way a little as if I stepped on a plate or something. Turns out, I was right. It seems I unintentionally activated the mysterious doors, opening it and making the crystals inside light up for us to see. It lead further into the cave, if it can be called that at this point, where a humming sound was coming from. Not sure whether to peg my misstep as lucky or unlucky. I suppose we'll find out if we kept going.

"So... we heading in?" I ask everybody.

[Firedragon]

All, you enter slowly, expecting to meet some kind of resistance any time now. If this is indeed the source of those strange... modified... owlbeasts, their creators should be somewhere in this complex - and you somehow doubt they're going to be particularly happy about your intrusion.
The corridor shows more signs of being artificial - it's absolutely straigt and smoothly carved with these light crystals (or whatever they are) spaced evenly, while the walls all seem to consist of the same strange material. After some time, you reach the entrance to a large hall. Carefully looking around without entering yet, you can see the openings of three more corridors like the one you're standing in on the other side, while several low, more or less waist-high walls run across the hall itself. Add to that several small raised areas that are clearly supposed to be emplacements, and you're obviously looking about a defensive position. Fortunately, there don't seem to be any guards on duty at the moment. On the other hand, if there was anyone, you might actually get some answers for a change...

[KillMoves]

I readied my bow as we slowly entered, our eyes looking for any sort of activity. So far we've encountered none, which was both relieving that we aren't running into trouble and a bummer that no one's around to give us answers. Though, judging from the size of this place, I'm betting we should encounter someone or something soon. Unless this place is abandoned.

The more thought I gave to it, the more I realized that this place was like a facility of sorts. Whoever was running this place, they definitely thought they'll be using this place for a long time. Whether they're still actually here or not remained to be seen.

[Animajunki123]

After our initial hesitation, I followed along with the rest of the party down the corridor, my mind racing at what could possibly be waiting for us further down the line. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long when a few minutes of walking later and we happened upon what I could only consider a defensive position that guarded three similar hallways. Thankfully, I could see that no one was around to defend as one would expect, but that just made me curious. Who would leave such an easily defended position wide open? Many things came to mind, but I couldn't pin any one explanation as the right one. as we all come to a halt to look upon our surroundings, I lowly whisper so that my companions could hear me.

"So... what do we do now? Do we take one of the hallways or should we be cautious and wait here?"

I direct that question more at magnus more then the rest, but I found it a valid question.

[TehDanimal1]

We finally made it to a junction, luckily no one triggered any traps... to our knowledge. This place seemed eerily devoid of any activity, that we could see. Everyone is quiet, except for breathing and moving, we were pretty silent. Idk if it is out of awe or fear of this place. Maybe we're at a guard post now, and one of those three corridors leads to a barracks maybe? The other two probably lead elsewhere, I decided to voice my opinion. "One of these three corridors must lead to a security barracks that might have a map or some details of this facility, we can either explore one at a time or explore two at once, I would not suggest we explore all three at once then we might be at far greater disadvantage when we come across whoever is here."

[DogKama]

"Impressive" was all Magnus thought the further his team continued into the obviously not natural cave system. The walls and lightening all gave a familiarity that left the Knight Crusader a false sense of knowing; almost like he was walking another hall or street back in the fort.

Still, even with this false sense Magnus knew to stay alert and expect the unexpected as at the moment this was considered a 'hostile environment' until he deemed it weren't.

This proved to be the right mindset as his team finally found the light at the end of the tunnel and opened into a rather large chamber with what resembled basic fortifications. Behind this small series of walls were three other halls branching to the left, center, and right respectfully, giving the impression they were the reason for walls in the first place. This presented his team's next problem: Turn back and report their findings or proceed.

"If something happened to us their would be no help since no one knows where we are." Magnus stated, feeling his squad should understand.

"Naturally I would make a decision and you would follow, but seeing this might effect more than just our lives we'll take a vote. Turn back to report our findings or pick a corridor and hope for the best."