Re: A New World

Fury of the Tempest Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:13 am

Arcantos heard the words coming from outside, as well as seeing the light and hearing the mole speak. When the light died down, Arcantos jumped up to the hole to see what was going on. Seeing no signs of the gryphons except the priest on the floor as well as his fellow two companions he dropped down and grabbed his captive before jumping back up, going through the hole and to the others. As he did, he called out to the others. "The gryphons should have some captives, most likely in a high place if they can't fly. I suggest we go find and aid them."

Curunir Tue Oct 29, 2013 2:32 am

Keeper looks at the priest- beak open in a great grin, eyes still open- but blinded white from the intense light that he should not looked at for as long as he had. He's definitely dead. His helmet lays at his feet- upon closer inspection, there is definitely a dragon's skull beneath the bejeweled jade-encrusted exterior. The inside of the skull is covered in glyphs- describing the dragon's long life as high priest of Omecoatl in Coatlcalli almost a century ago. The skull is clearly strongly magical- but inactive. What sort of magic lies on it remains unclear.

The priest's rings are magical- clearly for aiding the sort of glyph-working magic he had used to reveal Piasa.

The rest of his belongings seem to be mostly markings of station- his bracelets identifying his status as a priest of Omecoatl, and an expert in dragon-lore (by the reckoning of the Coatltec at least). He is wearing a cloak of the durable discarded feathers of dragons- lightly enchanted to further prevent wear and tear.

The last thing he was carrying was a large bag. Something inside the bag moves- a young sapphire dragon, thin and no larger than a dog, lies sleeping inside.

Spoiler:

mjh6 Tue Oct 29, 2013 2:38 am

Ch'aska cautiously made her way upstairs. From what the voices upstairs were saying, the griffins were gone, so she carefully called out "Hello? Who's up there?"

Marona Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:32 am

Keeper pokes the dragon-in-a-sack with her tail and asks, "Are you ok little one?"

Spoiler:

Curunir Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:38 am

Marona's Questions:

Deathstorm50 Tue Oct 29, 2013 10:39 am

As the rush of power that fueled his blinding glare left him, Piasa felt unbelievably drained. He hovered in the air for a bit, catching his breath, when Keeper complimented him.

Marona wrote:Keeper seeing the griffons flee and not wanting to damage the city any more than she possibly already had, let the whirling winds die down and the smoke and embers dissipate. She then flew over to Piasa and said, "Those were good words young one. I will go see what the priest had on him, as I am learned in the way of such things. Perhaps you should go check on the impertinent one?" Without waiting for a reply she flew down to examine the dead priest and his belongings.

"Thank you for your praise, but I truly do not deserve it. I was... exaggerating... what I knew we could do. If the priest had not fallen, I am not sure we would have won the fight. I shall do as you ask, and check on the 'impertinent one', as you say." He flew down to where he saw Arcantos flying up to meet them.

Fury of the Tempest wrote:Arcantos heard the words coming from outside, as well as seeing the light and hearing the mole speak. When the light died down, Arcantos jumped up to the hole to see what was going on. Seeing no signs of the gryphons except the priest on the floor as well as his fellow two companions he dropped down and grabbed his captive before jumping back up, going through the hole and to the others. As he did, he called out to the others. "The gryphons should have some captives, most likely in a high place if they can't fly. I suggest we go find and aid them."

"I agree, but you need to restrain him first. We may be able to glean some information from him. I shall begin searching for the captives at once." Piasa was about to start getting a dragons-eye view of the city when a voice called out from the stairwell.

mjh6 wrote:Ch'aska cautiously made her way upstairs. From what the voices upstairs were saying, the griffins were gone, so she carefully called out "Hello? Who's up there?"

"Hello? Who is that, and do you know where the griffons' captives are?" Piasa slowly made his way over the place the voice sounded from.

OOC:

mjh6 Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:24 am

Ch'aska gave a half smile. "I guess I'd be one of their captives. A few of us were escaping when we saw...that, and I wanted to see what was -"Ch'aska trailed of when she first saw the crystal dragon.

ooc:

Deathstorm50 Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:07 am

"Ah, yes, that. I'm sorry if it frightened you, but we couldn't very well just allow those griffons to come and spirit us away for whatever strange rituals they do." Piasa gave a predatory grin, showing his crystalline teeth, " After all, it is much easier to "persuade" others when you make them believe we have the upper hand. It certainly helps that the priest that directed them was almost certainly insane, if his manner of dress and speech were any indicator." At that, he turned his head back to where Keeper was searching the priest's body, and called out to her, "Have you found anything significant yet?"

OOC:

Curunir Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:53 pm

Keeper nods. "Yes."

She makes her way back with the spoils from the griffon priest.

"He was carrying this little one- he seems unbound and unharmed, though asleep for the moment."

She shows Piasa the young dragon in the bag

"Most of the rest were decorative items, indications of his station"

she shows the bracelets and the cape of feathers

"These rings seem to have aided the priest in his glyph-magic we saw earlier. The skull is that of a dragon-priest of the Coatltec, and is also magical- though I know not how."

Spoiler:

Fury of the Tempest Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:06 pm

Arcantos turned at the call, seeing Ch'aska at the stairs, he was going to speak. However, Piasa beat him to it. Once the crystal dragon was done with his explanation, the bipedal dragon spoke up. "If you and the other captives need any assistance, I will be happy to help. Considering the size of the party, I doubt they'll be any more captives."

It was then that Keeper shared what he had found, the dragon frowning as he also saw the little dragon, making him mutter under his breath. "Wonder why that gyrphon had him..." Then Keeper went on to explain the rest of the items, which took Arcantos's interest. Going over to Keeper, he said. "I a talent in magic myself, so perhaps I might be able to figure out what enchantment the skull has. In fact, I should be able to use those rings of yours to help that. Glyph magic isn't my specialty, but I do know a few. Including one for identification."

Deathstorm50 Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:49 pm

"They had a youngling? All the way out here? There aren't any dragon settlements anywhere near Kukulkin, as far as I remember. Piasa threw a nasty look at the corpse of the priest. "Whatever these priests are gathering prisoners for, they must've gone to extreme lengths to get this one. The drakes I was raised by were always very protective of their young. Whatever his case may be, we should take him with us. Even if we can't find his tribe, or if his tribe even still exists, he'll need good Draconic role models to look up to." He then tried to think of any properties young dragons were said to have in the old tales that a dragon-priest might use for a ritual.

OOC:

mjh6 Wed Nov 06, 2013 9:00 pm

As Ch'aska walked over to where the other dragons were standing, she said, "I don't know how much help we need. One of them was injured by the kidnapping, but I was able to stop the bleeding for now. They might have left already, actually, but I wanted to stay for a bit and find out what was going on. " Ch'aska coughed a bit awkwardly. " "So if you don't mind my asking, what did happen exactly?"

Deathstorm50 Wed Nov 06, 2013 9:55 pm

mjh6 wrote:As Ch'aska walked over to where the other dragons were standing, she said, "I don't know how much help we need. One of them was injured by the kidnapping, but I was able to stop the bleeding for now. They might have left already, actually, but I wanted to stay for a bit and find out what was going on. " Ch'aska coughed a bit awkwardly. " "So if you don't mind my asking, what did happen exactly?"

Brought out of his ponderings, Piasa looked towards the llama. "Oh, how rude of us. My name is Piasa, the bipedal one is Arcantos, and the one holding the priest's effects is Keeper. We had gathered here, in this most ancient city of the dragons, to study the Great Calendar, which resides in this temple. Arcantos had been here for a while before me and Keeper, and none of us knew the others before today. We had all come here to study the calendar during the passing of the age, the end of this Great Calendar's cycle. Sadly, we discovered that a band of griffons had much the same idea, and had apparently been observing us. Keeper tried to talk with them, Arcantos hid, and I hid under the ground, trying to maneuver myself into a better place. The priest was having none of that, and used his glyph magic to reveal me. Keeper did some truly impressive feats with her natural smoke and fire, working it into a massive hurricane-sculpture of a dragon. I flew above the dragon, delivered a speech about how they were not welcome here, and blinded them. It worked just a little bit too well, and the priest fell over, dead. That's pretty much our story so far. How about you? Who are you, and how did you come to be here?" Piasa wasn't particularly invested in this conversation, his mind still mostly taken up with thought of times long ago and myths long since past, and what they might have to do with griffons and younlings.

Spoiler:

Fury of the Tempest Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:34 pm

"Might I add that I had to observe the gryphon's without being seen myself? And that after one of the scouts headed towards my position, I managed to ambush him and knock him out without a struggle?" Arcantos said, a little irritated at how small his part was in the events that occurred, and was determined to at least have what he did known. Even if it was to someone that was a prisoner to the gryphons... ... ... Wait...

"May you show me where you where imprisoned? The rope which I have no doubt was used to bind you would serve just as well for our prisoner."

Curunir Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:01 pm

"Sure, you can have the rings... and take a look at the skull. I got what I wanted from them. This dragon seemed to have lived an interesting life, even if it was in the service of those griffons."

Keeper handed the items to Arcantos.

"Piasa did mention the part about you hiding." Keeper responded to Arcantos' indignation at being left out of the crystal dragon's story. "Though... good job on taking out that scout. We may have dealt with most of the griffons, but that didn't leave us anyone we could question or ransom- and we might have been in trouble if our ruse hadn't worked."

Piasa's history check:

mjh6 Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:12 pm

"There's not much to say about me. I'm a healer from a small village. I was helping my brother gather herbs for the celebrations, we got separated, and I was ambushed and woke up here." Ch'aska turned to Arcantos " Sure, I can take you . There should be enough rope to bind a single griffin in there."

Curunir Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:13 pm

Ch'aska:

mjh6 Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:11 am

Suddenly, an unwelcome thought occurred to Ch'aska. She had thought her brother hadn't been with her, but what if he had been? Was he here somewhere? Or somewhere else? She stammered out, "Well, let's go get that rope, then I can take a look at the prisoner and see what he knows"

Deathstorm50 Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:04 am

"I can't imagine what the priest wanted with the child. He could've been intended for an apprenticeship, servitude, a sacrifice, there's too much we don't know." Piasa sighed. "At least he is unharmed physically. We will have to wait for him to wake to see if all is well mentally." He spoke up a bit to address the llama and Arcantos, "If I am not needed for anything, I have been longing to get a drake's-eye view of this ancient city. I will have Rufus follow you, and he can tell me if you need anything from me." As he spoke, the little mole scampered over to where Arcantos and the llama were talking, while Piasa readied himself for flight.

OOC:

Fury of the Tempest Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:25 pm

Arcantos took the rings, and carefully slipped them on, seeing how well they fit. He turned down the skull however, saying. "I'll get the prisoner bound first. He's our only source of further information, so we don't want to lose him." A frown crossed his face when Keeper mentioned that his hiding was mentioned, but deciding that if he couldn't figure out Arc mentioned it so his reason for hiding, not that he was hiding.

The bipedal dragon walked up to Ch'aksa, when she mentioned about getting the route. Her stammering making him cock his head, though before he spoke. Piasa mentioned that he wanted to get a drake's eye view of the city. "I can carry your mole, and I probably understand him the best." Arcantos said, kneeling down and offering the mole his hand to scramble on. This didn't stop him from continuing with what he was going to do however, as he asked Ch'aksa. "Is something the problem? You got nervous all of the sudden."

mjh6 Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:40 pm

"Oh, it just occurred to me, I thought my brother and I were separated before they snatched me, but now I don't know. It happened so fast... " Ch'aska stared off into space for a moment, before snapping back. " Well, that's just one more reason its a good thing you captured the prisoner, isn't it?

Deathstorm50 Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:01 pm

"Alright, I'll be off, then." Pushing off the ground, Piasa rose higher through the air, until he leveled off and started circling a good few hundred feet up. He quietly observed the city, checking for any other signs of movement. That priest might have had the only band of griffons in the city, but who knows what else might be around? 'Better to be safe than sorry.'

OOC:

Curunir Fri Nov 08, 2013 2:01 pm

Ch'aska and Arcantos fetch the rope that had bound her and the tapirs. The tapirs had taken some of it to help fashion something to carry the injured one, but there was plenty left to restrain the captive griffon. As the last knot is tied on him, he begins to stir.

"Agh, my head.... Serves me right for checking out the ruins, probably got nailed by a falling rock..." The scout silences himself and blinks in surprise as he notices he is bound

Meanwhile, Piasa sees little of note on his aerial survey. No animal life is stirring, likely driven off by the Griffons' arrival and the summoning of the storm. But there also are no griffons or prisoners in sight. Even the fleeing griffons are not visible- they likely ducked down into the jungle at some point. Piasa thinks he sees a figure on a ridge overlooking the city some ways off, but it's only a glimpse- upon closer look, it's hard to tell if anyone had been there ore not.

Fury of the Tempest Fri Nov 08, 2013 2:07 pm

"Close, but I'm afraid you got nailed by a falling dragon, me." Arcantos said coolly, toying with the dragon's skull in front of the prisoner, hoping it would add to the intimidation effect. "The others got chased off save that priest of yours, who died. So... will you co-operate and give us information, or will we have to do this the hard way?"

Persasuion:

Deathstorm50 Fri Nov 08, 2013 4:08 pm

(I've only just realized my companion has better persuasion than Piasa.)

Rufus kept himself hidden behind Arcantos, and attempted to growl in a manner more befitting a much larger creature.

OOC:

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