<Erin> Erin leaves the room she was searching and checks out another couple at random, expecting to find more cultural artifacts!
* Yomi glances to the south, asking, "Want to check the rest of the rooms, then, before we proceed?"
<Brunilda> "Yes, there's no telling what insight they might provide into the lives of whomever lived here. I think these coins either belonged to a collector, or these people had no standardised mint - finding more would help to clarify," Brunilda nods, doing the same as Erin in checking other rooms.
<El-Cideon> Erin finds that writing over the bed is a common embellishment to the rooms, generally for the same purpose as before. Her next searches turn up a globe of sorts. The sphere itself is made of a silvery metal, set in a semicircular arch rooted in a small stand of stone. There's some corrosion to the metal, but the object's stood up however many years of neglect well enough--it still turns, though with a dreadful squeaking. (more)
<El-Cideon> The outlines of the continents are not ones Erin recognizes. Indeed, the world displayed seems to have notably less sea cover than does the Earth. Brunilda finds no more coins in the other rooms, though she does see a prominent mural covering a quarter of the wall in one cell. (more)
<El-Cideon> The colors are badly faded, but it's possible to make out a crowd of Grahl standing before a portal--some kind of freestanding rent in the air--on a mountaintop, while catastrophic fire and destruction tears the land below. The style seems to attempt simple realism, though you think it's amateur work.
<Brunilda> "Erin, come and tell me what you make of this?" Brunilda calls over to her fellow scholar. "It looks like a wormhole or some such, and it shows that these people once lived on the surface."
* Yomi can't restrain her curiousity, heading over to take a look as well even if she can't quite contribute herself.
<Erin> Erin trots towards the mural and studies it for a moment, though her face falls shortly afterwards. "Yes, there's a globe in the other room," she replies. "This must've been created shortly after their exile. And it seems they fled the land as it burned all around them..."
<Brunilda> "But fled from where?" Brunilda asks. "There's no archaeological record of these people that I've heard of, and I can't tell just from these pictures but I doubt they appear in the fossil record, either."
<Erin> "It is surely related to Elgin. It must have consumed their world! It's just like the vision I had," she continues. "It's all come together! The rifts we travel through must have been their way of escaping! Brunilda, it's-" Erin frowns. "Who knows how long ago this actually happened?"
<Yomi> "They don't feel like they came from this world, so a different one, then?"
<Brunilda> "They definitely appear to be higher primates, so if on Earth it would have to be within the last five million years at the absolute most," Brunilda declares.
<Erin> "I can't be certain of that. Yomi, they are of supernatural origin, correct?"
* Yomi shrugs. "Otherworldly is a good word for it, too. They're not natives, they don't belong here in some way."
* Yomi shudders, then. "Some things shouldn't belong but do, like those dog-sized rats. It can be very confusing."
<Brunilda> "There are theories that life once existed on Mars, long ago... the supposed canals have been discredited, but even so... And there's no telling what could exist beneath the thick murk of Venus's atmosphere," Brunilda hums, engaged with the possibility.
<Erin> "We already know humans have penetrated these tunnels at some point in the past, don't we? Perhaps they brought things with them." She gestures to the mural. "In any case, I'm sure the rifts relate to their escape, and I'm sure their world was ripped apart by Elgin in the past..." (More)
<Erin> "Or.. or I have it backwards? The humans were here first! And the creatures were invaders from a blasted world. That would make sense. That's why the power generators are harmful to them, and seen as foreign- they wouldn't build anything that is outright lethal to themselves..."
<Yomi> "So humans with incredible magic lived... where, underground? And then demons came from another world and fought with them?"
<Brunilda> "So, if we have a timeline... humans developed some subterranean civilisation, perhaps on the order of five thousand years ago, employing wormholes and other 'magic' as part of their technology... perhaps it was the existence of such wormholes already that allowed these aliens to 'link' with the existing network and transport themselves across millions of miles to our world? Then there
<Brunilda> was a struggle of sorts, which resulted in the destruction of the human underground civilisation, while the aliens descended back into savagery?" Brunilda theorises.
<Yomi> "Maybe the humans descended to savagery, too," Yomi muses. "Or they could only look like humans. We never quite confirmed they were our ancestors, did we? For all we know they were what humans called angels."
<Erin> "The ghost we encountered appeared human, and if we assume this took place within the last few millenia, I would say the odds of them being human are quite high. It's impossible to know why they developed an underground civilization, however..."
<Brunilda> "We'd have to find remains to be sure," Brunilda shrugs. "Angels didn't look anything like humans in the Old Testament, though. That whitewash only came in the last few decades."
<Erin> "Let's explore the rest of this area. I think we can assume this place was conquered by the Grahl swiftly... and I suppose that's likely the case for all the areas near to these transportation rifts." Erin heads out of the current room, and heads towards the junction at the opposite end, intending to start by going left!
<Yomi> "I just have to say that I find it more plausible that the demons could lose their grasp on civilization while trapped here and cutoff from their... magical technology, I suppose is the term. On the other hand, even if the humans lost, if they went to the surface then how come all their knowledge has been lost so easily?"
<Brunilda> "The only way to the surface seems to be through these gateways," Brunilda observes. "If the aliens controlled them, no humans would have escaped to tell the tales."
<Yomi> "So if the people here were all wiped out to the last, how can they still be the same humans as us?"
<El-Cideon> Erin's chosen path travels in a long curve along her left. Along the left wall are more cells; along the right wall are several doors into a larger, longer room. The passage terminates in a set of stone double doors, half open, darkness on the other side.
* Brunilda just looks at Yomi, uncomprehending for a moment. "If everyone in Australia suddenly died, it wouldn't make them any less human."
<Erin> "No human civilization has a history of anything like this," replies Erin. "Perhaps the humans here deliberately separated themselves from others, and worked to build a hidden civilization on their own."
<Yomi> "These portals are all over the world," Yomi clarifies. "I find it hard to believe that everywhere, some humans just went below and made something so marvelous, while on the surface the rest of them... what, fought lions with spears?"
* Brunilda snorts. "Don't underestimate our ancestors, Yomi. The Great Pyramids were built five thousand years ago, too."
* Yomi shrugs. "Mecca and Jerusalem are ancient enough, but Erin didn't sense the slightest spark of magic there."
<Erin> "But there's no trace on the surface of whatever the original civilization was the created the rifts in the first place," replies Erin. "There's clearly a great unknown here, and there was clearly some link between here and the rest of the world. Since we saw a human, albeit its late spirit..."
<Yomi> "Hey, Erin, about the written languages here," Yomi suddenly says. "Are they human or demonic, you think?"
<Brunilda> "Jerusalem is close to the same age, although it wasn't much of the same city you know today back then. Mecca isn't quite as old," Brunilda replies. "But the point is that not all of humanity is equal. Today while the industrial powers of the world fly their aircraft through the skies and ply the seas with mighty ironclads, communicating across the globe with radio waves, we still have
<Brunilda> tribesmen in Africa fighting lions with spears."
<Erin> "The etchings are most likely of Grahl origin," replies Erin. "But there's another language used on the power cores themselves that's of... well. It is exceedingly difficult to translate, even with magic."
<Erin> Erin pauses. "No, I might be wrong. These etchings were also used for the various signs and instructions we've found in the past..."
<Erin> "Well, it's a question that can be answered easily enough, I must admit. If we go back to Japan, we can just ask them."
* Yomi nods slowly. "I think I get you now, Brunilda. So you think that some really ancient civilization, like... I don't know, Atlantis, just sent people all over the world and built these portals in secret?"
<Erin> "You know... there's the spiritual connection, too," notes Erin, thoughtfully. "Why are all the rifts found in the region of relatively modern religious constructions? It can't be by chance..."
<Yomi> "Isn't that due to ley lines? They might draw people towards them."
<Brunilda> "Perhaps they all descended at the same place but then made portals to other parts of the world for whatever reasons - desire to explore, to study, as an emergency escape if some disaster affected one area... I don't know their motives yet. But it's easily possible for there to be an advanced civilisation at one point and still have primitives elsewhere at the same time," Brunilda nods.
<Brunilda> "Maybe the presence of the wormholes, even inactive, registers on the subconscious mind enough to make such places feel 'closer to God'?"
* Yomi nods. "And barring that, maybe someone's guiding those who build the shrines to safeguard those portals. Somehow."
<Erin> Erin walks towards the longer room, and opens the doors into it. "The ley lines might be the only places the portals would work, and if they have an effect on the populace.. yes, that would make sense," she muses.
<El-Cideon> The room curves in an arc thirty feet long. A stone table follows its contours for most of the room's length, a podium of sorts at one end, with low benches on either side. There are windows along the wall opposite the doors; many are closed with heavy shutters, but in some places the shutters have fallen to the floor and the windows gape onto darkness. Various knicknacks lie strewn about the table.
<Brunilda> "A lecture hall or somesuch?" Brunilda muses as she takes in the room, going over to peer out a window.
<Erin> "Certainly a meeting room of some sort," replies Erin, walking to inspect the things on the table.
<El-Cideon> Brunilda sees that...it's very dark outside! Most of the objects on the table are random chunks of stone, a few mugs, what looks like a belt buckle...Most of them are set in square patterns, as though they once held something down. Amidst the debris is also a reddish marble and a clear, fist-sized sphere of crystal shot through with silver filaments (it looks a bit like someone trapped a sea urchin in glass, really).
* Erin checks them for signs of magic!
<Erin> "Well, this is something we've seen before. And something we haven't, too," she notes, reaching to put the two spheres into her travelling bag.
* Brunilda shakes her head and goes to join Erin in appraising the debris. "Decorations, or did these have some other significance, I wonder?"
<Erin> "The red marble is the same as our communications orb. I'm not sure on the crystal, but it's certainly magical. I'll inspect it properly later."
<Yomi> "Why not try to use the marble, then?"
<Erin> "In the off-chance someone else has another?"
<Yomi> "Yes. Plus it's smaller than ours, so it has to be divided already. Maybe you'll see where the base is, and could try your teleport in a pinch?"
<Erin> "It doesn't work that way," replies Erin, though she picks up the orb and thinks 'Hello?' into it.
<El-Cideon> The marble lights up in the manner you're familiar with and seems to be working, but there's no response.
* Erin peers into the marble to see if she can tell the surroundings of it's counterpart!
<El-Cideon> You can only tell that it's very, very dark on the other side.
<Erin> With her magical powers, Erin has no trouble making herself able to see in the dark.
<El-Cideon> From what you can tell, it's at the bottom of a ravine. Stone walls rise out of sight on either side.
<Erin> "It's at the bottom of a gorge somewhere. Given the range of the stone, it could be anywhere at all," notes Erin, pocketing it and walking to inspect the podium.
<El-Cideon> Looks made for someone a bit shorter than the average human. Otherwise there's nothing remarkable about it.
<Erin> With the inspection completed, Erin heads outside to check out the large double doors at the end of the corridor.
<El-Cideon> This room is essentially a large dome, large enough that Erin's enhanced vision can only barely see the ceiling and far end of it. There's a low stone basin in the center of the room, set amidst a few low steps. Benches litter the room, curved as if meant to ring the basin, though most are pushed up against walls or stacked in twos or threes just inside the doors. (more)
<El-Cideon> The ceiling is a riot of elaborate knotwork--past head-height or so, every inch of it is intricately carved. Off to your right, a series of high doors open out into darkness.
* Brunilda looks up at the pattern on the ceiling. "Interesting pattern... I wonder what this room was for?"
<Yomi> "Chapel, maybe?"
* Erin walks towards the basin and takes a look at what's inside. "Or an entrance hall, perhaps?"
<El-Cideon> "It has the look of one," Paula agrees with a nod to Yomi. "Attention is obviously meant to be drawn to the center of the room."
<El-Cideon> Erin sees a series of spigots that suggest this was once a fountain. It's dry now, though, naught but dust inside.
<El-Cideon> A pair of emblems sit on the floor not far from it, small badges. You can recognize the insignia as the same type you found adventuring in Japan.
<Yomi> "How old are the bracelets that we use to get through the portals, you think?" Yomi asks all of a sudden.
<Erin> "I can't say. I did wonder where they were first found."
<Erin> Erin walks towards the high doors, intent on seeing what lies beyond them.
<Yomi> "Same here. After all, if they were the original artifacts to get past the portals," Yomi says, walking by Erin's side, "then someone must have gotten out of here after all. And maybe they brought more with them."
<El-Cideon> "Kurou couldn't tell either," Suzume says. "They could have been new or thousands of years old. It's hard to tell. They are in good condition, though."
<Yomi> "How did he ever get them, anyway?"
<El-Cideon> Erin finds the arches lead out onto a balcony about as broad as the domed room. It reaches out ten feet into the darkness. Looking out and around, you can see little but a great black void. About forty feet below you, however, a stone ledge--wide enough to walk along safely--runs along the cliff face the balcony is built into. (more)
<El-Cideon> You can also barely make out, off to your left, about ten feet from the edge of the balcony, a series of depressions in the cliff wall that look to form a ladder of sorts.
<Erin> "I don't feel up to exploring the environment just yet- although I do hope to one day travel from one transportation point to another in this world," notes Erin, retreating back inside. "Let's see where the other corridors lead?"
<El-Cideon> Suzume shrugs. "He conned someone out of them. I don't know all the details, but I think he found the first one by accident. He was always looking for old, magical things. I think whoever he got it from didn't know it was anything special, just a pretty piece of stone."
<Brunilda> "Maybe a few people were outside on the surface when the aliens arrived, or managed to escape before control of the gateways were lost? Isolated they'd have had no choice but to assimilate with whatever local cultures they were close to or else become a victim of the environment. Their bracelets would appear as mere fancy jewelry and be passed about or lost until found at some
<Brunilda> archaelogical dig?" Brunilda supposes.
<Erin> "They must have had surface contact, even if just a few to watch what happens to the topside civilizations." Erin starts to head back to the junction, intending to the the next path going clockwise.
<El-Cideon> It isn't long before this path opens up into another room. It slopes down sixty feet or so and then a long hall is before you. Tall ceiling, Erin's vision just barely spying it, supported by a series of spiral columns. The floor is tiled--here and there patches are scorched and blown away, but the pattern in the center of the room is clear enough. A chain circle, a rather complicated Mobius strip perhaps. In the left wall of the hall a large aperture can be seen, tall and with double-doors again.
* Erin continues to scan for signs of magic, and flips on a torch for the benefit of everyone else.
<Brunilda> "The spiral motif seems similar to the carvings on the ceiling in that other room... an architectural fad or does it have some deeper symbolism?" Brunilda wonders, looking over the coins to see if any show a similar theme on their facings.
<El-Cideon> The design isn't prevalent on the coins Brunilda has collected.
<Erin> "An unending path?" wonders Erin, finding nothing of interest and heading towards the second set of double-doors.
<Brunilda> "Hmm... then again, this was likely built by the original human inhabitants, whereas these coins seem alien in design, so it's unlikely to have much commonality," Brunilda admits to herself, putting the coins away and following along.
<El-Cideon> One of them is nudged slightly open. On the other side, Erin can see the great void that passes for Outside here. A short set of steps zigzag down to a broad shelf that overlooks the abyss. It seems to continue to either side, out of sight.
<Erin> "This place has a lot of exits," notes Erin. "After we finish exploring the interior, do you want to check out the outside?"
<Brunilda> "We should explore as much as possible," Brunilda agrees eagerly.
<Yomi> "Of course. We still have to see that tomb. Power plant. Whichever."
* Erin starts to lead the way back to the final path from the junction.
<El-Cideon> The final passage leads to another long hall, though this is much smaller, plainer. There's no real ornamentation here, just mundane, bare stone. The room is about forty feet long, half that wide, and not much taller than a human. There are a series of long tables here, and something looking like a counter at the far end (not far from this, a small door leads further on). (more)
<El-Cideon> Some of the tables are shattered. Those that stand bear stone cutlery; the broken ones bear scorch marks and, here and there, a remnant of blackened, crystallized bone fused to the stone. More than one remnant recognizably holds Grahl horns still. At a quick estimate, it seems at least twenty or so died here.
* Yomi looks for a remnant that very clearly doesn't have horns, and not just because they were blasted off.
<El-Cideon> Yomi doesn't see bones that are recognizably something other than Grahl.
<Brunilda> "A pity there's no intact skeletons to properly compare their physiology with humans," Brunilda comments, studying the crystallised remains.
<Erin> "A cafeteria. These people were attacked here?" muses Erin, heading for the counter at the opposite end.
<El-Cideon> "Oh!" Suzume exclaims on stepping in. "This reminds me of that awful plain full of bones we found in China..."
<Yomi> "A cafeteria sounds right," Yomi agrees. She blinks at Suzume's words. "Speaking of bones, intact ones would still be in China. Kurou killed some of them recently, I recall?"
<El-Cideon> Erin finds a washtub behind the counter, shelves, a primitive stove (holes wind through the ceiling to pipe smoke away).
<Erin> "Presumably, they wouldn't have been disposed of. I'm not sure how long decomposure would take in this environment, either," notes Erin, heading further towards the door at the end.
<El-Cideon> A narrow, winding passageway curves out of sight before you.
<Erin> Ever-eager to proceed into the unknown, Erin starts walking!
<Brunilda> "It's rather cold but not freezing. It would mostly depend on what bacteria is present in the ecosystem. A dead human in a sterile room will still decompose readily simply due to the bacteria already inside of us devouring the necrotic tissue. But if the aliens lack such bacteria to start with..." Brunilda shrugs. "Who can say?"
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods to Yomi. "We met some on our way to the stone cylinder. Kurou was impatient and had Lucia and Hoshi kill them."
<El-Cideon> It's not long before the passageway leads back to the room in which you'd first arrived, Erin finds.
<Erin> "Is that everything?" asks Erin, glancing around the entrance area.
<Brunilda> "It appears so. Shall we explore the exterior, now?" Brunilda asks. "We might yet find natives further out."
<El-Cideon> "I have spent enough time in this tomb," Paula says. "Let's move out?"
<Yomi> "The ones we've come across kept a distance from the buildings since they were occupied with wraiths," Yomi mentions. "The same might hold here. We would probably need to go out quite a ways to find anyone, barring luck."
<Erin> "We're not equipped for a long trip. I don't want to go too far on the chance of getting lost," notes Erin, starting to head back to the room with the basin.
<El-Cideon> The room's as you left it. The only obvious way down from the balcony, though, is that ladder in the wall some ways out. It's not actually that easy to reach from up here.
<Yomi> "We can check the ladder first?" Yomi proposes, trying to make her way towards it.
<Erin> "The other one's probably easier," admits Erin, on re-evaluating the ladder. "It's got... stairs?"
<El-Cideon> It's about ten feet away from the banister, Yomi sees. It might take a bit of a controlled fall to grab on to it.
<Yomi> "Oh, if we must," Yomi says, relenting.
<El-Cideon> The stairs are much more easily navigated! They wind back and forth a couple times before coming down to level ground. About forty feet away is the ledge before the abyss; to your left and right, the stone ledge continues with enough space for a couple to walk side by side without being in much danger of falling over the side; it's slightly narrower along your left, and the rightward path starts descending just at the edge of your vision.
<Brunilda> "Lets go right?" Brunilda suggests, preferring the wider path.
* Erin follows Brunilda's suggestion.
<El-Cideon> It's not long before Erin finds the familiar silver rails before her, just out of sight from the building you just left. There are no cars around, though, and no formal station--just a couple steps up to a platform to make it easier to board the floating car, were one here.
<Brunilda> "Follow the rails? But which way?" Brunilda looks down both directions of the track to see if anything's in sight.
<Erin> "We found trains during our other trips," elaborates Erin, for Brunilda's benefit. "We could even operate them, but obviously there isn't one here. Ah, the distances are rather long..."
<El-Cideon> The tracks seem to start here, actually--the only direction they go at the moment is down the descending slope before you.
<Yomi> "The Germans had to have crossed this on foot," Yomi points out. "Janan did not mention them spending a week here, so our destination is probably not that far."
<Brunilda> "Yes, and we haven't been here that long ourselves. We should continue as much as we can," Brunilda seconds eagerly.
<Erin> "It's possible they didn't find anything within their range," points out Erin, but she shrugs. "Well, we can go on until we get tired, then."
<El-Cideon> You walk on. The path continues at a steady downward grade, making it an easy enough walk for the half hour or so it takes for you to find anything. The path curves around to the southeast, the stone wall to your right unbroken until you come across a couple domed structures that look to have grown out of the wall. One is caved in, a pile of rubble now, though the other has an open door just tall enough for a human. (more)
<El-Cideon> Beyond these, two things can be noticed: there's an intersection of tracks here, though a crater mars the intersection and the rails jut into the air, so much twisted metal. It can easily be walked around, but a car couldn't cross it. (more)
<El-Cideon> The stone around the crater is blackened, pocked and bubbled, with a handful of Grahl bones fused to the ground. Beyond the crater, the rails continue east, and also south, away from the void that looms constantly on your left.
<Yomi> The domed structure seems like the place to visit before they have to pick a direction!
<Brunilda> "It's like a bomb went off, here," Brunilda marvels at the crater, before following Yomi into the dome.
<Yomi> "Hard to believe that with weapons like this, the humans lost, isn't it?"
<El-Cideon> It looks like the sort of residence you saw in the first city--central domed room, smaller ones radiating out from it. Firepit in the center, writing ringing the walls. Most of the rooms are barren bedrooms, though one has what looks like an anvil and a scattering of tools.
<Brunilda> "The aliens may have had weapons of their own... otherwise it could have been sheer weight of numbers. Such bombs might be impressive, but it doesn't look like they were used much - more like mines than mortars. A machine gun would have been more effective, I'd wager."
<Yomi> "The writing's different from the controls for that flying car, Erin?" Yomi muses, glancing at the squiggles.
<Erin> "The Grahl were magically powerful," notes Erin. "And I'd bet they had the advantage of numbers, too." Erin continues to read the writing, and searches out magic, as always.
<El-Cideon> The writing outlines an extensive family tree, Erin can tell. About four generations before the final entries, the dating scheme changes, switching from numbers in the thousands to single digits.
<Erin> "Whoever wrote this, they put great stock in their family history..." notes Erin, reporting the change in date before heading over to inspect the area around the anvil.
<El-Cideon> Erin finds a pair of gloves on the ground, intact despite most of the metal tools around being corroded to junk. Not quite sized for a human, but you could probably put them in if you don't mind a bit of a tight fit. They're made of some leathery, gray substance you don't recognize.
<Erin> "Magical smithing gloves, eh..." muses Erin. "I wonder if they forged the enchanted weapons here."
<Yomi> "Maybe they were just heat-resistant?"
<El-Cideon> "Try reaching into a fire to find out?" Sayuri suggests. "Volunteers?"
<Brunilda> "We'd have to light a fire first. Maybe just hold onto them and try once we're out of here?"
<Erin> "Maybe I can figure it our for certain later, with no risk of third-degree burns, yes."
<El-Cideon> "I can try?" Paula offers with a smile. "I don't burn easily. It's been tried."
<Erin> "We can keep our options open?"
<Brunilda> "Well, if there's nothing else here..." Brunilda exits the dome and skirts around the crater and starts heading South.
<El-Cideon> The rails slope downwards further until, after several minutes of walking, you step onto a soft, loamy floor reminiscent of that found in the great cavern in China. Some manner of short, stiff yellow undergrowth crunches quietly underfoot. (more)
<El-Cideon> The cavern ceiling quickly reaches far above you, out of sight, natural stone columns reaching up into the darkness. The rails continue on south.
* Erin proceeds to squelch on the ground, staying quite close to the tracks.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 74."12 [1d100=74]
<Brunilda> "Some sort of fungus," Brunilda remarks, but chooses not to take any samples in case it turns out to grow exponentially with the surplus of energy available on the surface and destroy Egypt.
<El-Cideon> You walk along for another half hour or so, the scenery occasionally broken up by two things: massive chunks of some yellow, crystalline substance embedded in the soil, and narrow metal protrusions jutting from the ground, evenly-spaced, off in the distance. Finally, though, you hear noise up ahead. (more)
<El-Cideon> Yelling, multiple voices, one in particular seeming to call out in an authoritative tone. A cry of pain from one, a shrill clicking noise from...something else...then a thump. Silence for a moment, then the voices continue in a more normal tone.
* Erin waves a hand a moment later, and gains the power to speak and listen to strange languages!
<Yomi> "Ghosts?" Yomi whispers, looking ahead warily.
<Erin> "Live Grahl, I would presume," replies Erin, trying to listen to the speech.
* Brunilda hefts her gamma ray pulse wave modulator. "Something, anyway... doesn't sound friendly," she murmurs.
<Erin> "They're hunters," notes Erin. "A team of hunters brought something down, probably one of those monsters?"
<Yomi> "Let's try to approach them? I doubt we could follow hunters without being noticed, anyway."
<Erin> "It's not the same tongue as the Ghral we encountered last time, by the way," says Erin. "Yes, let's proceed."
<Brunilda> "They must see our torchlight already," Brunilda points out.
<Erin> "They haven't commented."
<Yomi> One way or the other, the natives are about to see them, as Yomi takes the lead and heads in their general direction!
<El-Cideon> One of them does call out, as you approach with your lights (OOC: Brunilda, feel free to make that linguist check here if you want?). (more)
<Brunilda> roll 1d20+8
* Hatbot --> "Brunilda rolls 1d20+8 and gets 24."12 [1d20=16]
<Brunilda> "Sounds like ancient Babylonian... but I'm not familiar enough to be certain," Brunilda observes with a thoughtful frown as she follows Yomi.
<El-Cideon> There are five of them, Yomi sees, standing around the shattered carcass of some great insectoid monster. You've seen the like before, most recently as roadkill. The hunters are Grahl, attired in something like leather. Some wielding spears, others swords. (more)
<Erin> Erin winces. "We aren't the priestess," she calls back, albeit in a weird clicking tonuge that shouldn't be possible from her lips.
<El-Cideon> There's a moment of silence from them as they look you over. Then the bulk of them look towards the one in the center for guidance, a taller individual with carved horns. After a moment of indecision, he kneels and his fellows follow suit.
<Yomi> "Huh." Yomi blinks. "That's never happened before."
<Brunilda> "They must have different cultural mores than the ones you've encountered previously," Brunilda hazards. "I wonder if they showed the same respect to the Germans who came here?"
<Erin> "Don't look at me! I didn't tell them we're angels or anything," blurts out Erin, glancing back and forth before returning her gaze to the kneeling figures. "Why are you bowing?" she feels compelled to ask them.
<Yomi> "If you tell them we're not, can you make sure they don't misunderstand again and see us as demons?" Yomi patiently requests from Erin.
<El-Cideon> The lead figure looks at Erin. "Should we not?" he says, in some strange mangling of what sounds more like a human language than what you're used to hearing from the Uprooted. "Are you not servants of the Golden Goddess?"
<Erin> "We're just folk," replies Erin. "Explorers, you could say. But, might I ask, who is the priestess, and what was her mission here?"
<El-Cideon> He stands up, warily. The others shortly follow suit. "Priestess Grish leads our settlement. She ventured to the city to cleanse it of the corrupted souls that reside there. If you are not guardian spirits, I must ask...who, or what, are you?"
<Erin> "We're humans from another world," replies Erin, candidly. "I'm afraid we're not spirits, but flesh and blood. We don't mean any harm, but we are in the process of exploring and learning about-" She gestures all around- "This place."
<El-Cideon> "As are we. We have only had months to settle here, since our Goddess struck down the foul barrier erected by the Dark One to confound our expansion. But...I do not understand. 'Humans?' You are cast in Her image."
<Erin> "Can you tell us of your Goddess? Perhaps we can find a way to understand."
<El-Cideon> "You do not know of Her?" He studies you with some apparent skepticism. "I confess I do not know what to make of you. The corrupted souls sometimes mimic her form to mock us...but they never travel in numbers, so you cannot be such. They devour each other as readily as the living. Such is the base nature of the Dark One's touch." (more)
<El-Cideon> A hissing through his teeth before he continues. "The Golden Goddess Ishtar is the beacon of light and strength that guides us. Priestess Grish would be better suited to speaking of her than I, however. I am but a humble hunter." (OOC: Knowledge...History, I believe would be appropriate, if anyone wishes to roll.)
<Erin> roll 1d20+11 sure
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+11 sure and gets 31."12 [1d20=20]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+6 and gets 11."12 [1d20=5]
<Erin> "Well, you were right about the Babylonian connection," notes Erin, in an off-side. "She is a Goddess with only the one Priestess?" she asks.
<El-Cideon> "No, many, in every city, across the realm. Except for those under the Dark One's sway, that is. Priestess Grish merely sees to the well-being of our outpost."
<Erin> "Ah, I see. How long ago did she depart, and when did you expect her to return?"
<El-Cideon> "She set out not long before us. It should only be a matter of hours before she returns. It would be best if you talk to her, I think. I hold no authority over the settlement, only the hunting parties. I am not fit to speak for the whole."
<Erin> "Was her path to take her straight along these tracks?" asks Erin, pointing back the way we came.
<El-Cideon> "She follows the tracks, yes. Outside the great cavern, they lead straight into the dead city. Or so I am told. I have not been there myself."
<Erin> "We didn't pass her, so we must've missed that party. Well.. a moment," says Erin, quickly relaying this information to everyone else. "What do you think we should do?"
<Yomi> "I don't suppose you can get a better description of this goddess that was just here a few months back, just as the Germans were?"
<Erin> Erin rubs her head. "I didn't make that connection," she mumbles, glancing up at the hunter. "Could you describe the appearance of the Goddess to me?"
<El-Cideon> "I have not had the honor of seeing Her in Her full glory, but no city is without its statue and I know her appearance well from that. She is taller than any of us--a head taller than any of you, even. Smooth skin, curved in the same fashion as are all of you. Our settlement has a statue now if you wish to see it."
<Erin> "Yes... yes, let's take a look, shall we? How far is the journey?"
<El-Cideon> "Not far. An hour's walk for us, as we must drag the kill along." He gestures to the others, who wrap up the dead...thing...in a net and start to tow it along. (more)
<El-Cideon> "Keep to the silver road," the leader says. "Pitcher traps lurk in the soil around the cavern. One day we will expunge them from this place, but now we have other priorities. The corrupted seek us out; the pits merely lurk, and can be avoided. Follow me?"
<Erin> "We have a chance to see the goddess in person, but she's human, naturally," notes Erin. "It'll be about an hour's trip. Shall we go?"
<Brunilda> "Be interesting to see," Brunilda readily agrees.
<Yomi> "It's either that or heading into the city of ghosts to rescue their priestess. But she's surely competent enough to get by on her own?"
<Erin> "One would hope?" replies Erin, starting after the hunter.
<El-Cideon> "She sounds rather too human to be much of a goddess," Paula says. "I think I have some experience with this kind of masquerade..."
<Yomi> "Yes, quite~"
<El-Cideon> No interruptions as you trudge along, just more chunks of yellow crystal along either side as you walk down the rails. In time, you see lights ahead. Quite a lot of them, actually--the settlement looks very well lit. A circular wall made of uneven, salvaged stone rings a tower much like you visited in the cavern at China. Torches flare along the wall at regular intervals. (more)
<El-Cideon> The tower itself is caved in at the top floors, but the lower levels look intact; a couple people go in and out as you watch. The settlement itself has the look of a temporary encampment--it's mostly tents and open firepits. A pair of guards step aside from a gap in the wall at some commands form the hunting party leader. (more)
<El-Cideon> You get everyone's attention as you walk by. Guards, craftsmen, villagers--everyone stops what they're doing to watch as you're led to the tower. "Inside is where we gather for worship," the leader says.
<Erin> "And where the statue lies?"
* Yomi understands none of this except that they must be close to their destination, and she's quite excited despite herself!
<El-Cideon> "Yes." He heads inside. The ground floor room of the tower has mostly been cleared out to accommodate a crowd, though it presently only hosts a pair of robed Grahl (white robes, with a striated golden circle across the chest) who stop their conversation and stare as you walk in. The only furnishings of note here are a stairway leading upwards, and the statue. (more)
<El-Cideon> The statue gleams brilliant gold, and whoever crafted it knew a fair bit about mimicking the human form. Seven feet tall, voluptuously female with elegant, commanding features, flowing robes and a great mass of hair tumbling behind. One hand is outstretched, palm upraised.
<Yomi> "Our goddess would be... a busty blonde?" Yomi voices, observing the statue.
<El-Cideon> "In a way, I can't help but admire the ostentatiousness," Paula says.
<Brunilda> "Ishtar was a goddess of fertility and love, as well as war, so the depiction seems quite apt," Brunilda comments as she appraises the statue.
<Erin> "Do you have some sort of holy text?"
<El-Cideon> "Her commandments are simple, but I would again refer you to Priestess Grish for such matters."
<El-Cideon> ~