Ixchel at Home - RPLOG
Participants
Date
23/2/2016
Log
The temple rises from the forest, ancient and strange. Hard to believe the place has only been there for a few months. The weathered stone pyramid looks like it belongs in the wilds of Central America, not in the leafy forest outside of Fairhaven, but those are the times we live in. Stone steps lead upward to an open entrance, though a waterfall of mist cascades down the stairway. Looks like something is up.
Winter had always enjoyed her walks in the eastern forest. Today was no different. Well, that wasn't quite true. Something was decidedly off. A smell in the air, perhaps. A subtle shift of temperatures and humidity. Whatever it was, it slowly but surely led her towards the Pyramid. Sure, she had seen it before when but payed it no heed. Perhaps it was time to get a closer look.
Her large wings were folded behind her back, deciding not to fly this time. Her skin, normally kept soft and smooth had hardened. Perhaps a subconcious reflex, forming itself into a chitinous, onyx material. Strange glyphs adorned this natural armor, glowing a dull white. Her plated tail swung lazily behind her. A succubus made for battle is what she looked like. Though true to her kind, she still possessed curves in all the right places. Not to mention a particularly sweet undertone to her scent.
Edel didn't often have many 'reasons' for going anywhere, being a woman of whimsy. And it happened to be close to home anyway, so might as well stretch the legs and go see it, right? And that's exactly what she was doing, dressed in her warm, black and gold silk robes. As regal as ever, she was.
Forkbomb stares off at the temple, looking, for the life of him, as though he was heading towards an actual Transylvanian Castle with vampires and werewolves and blood oaths to vanquish Dracula and all that jazz. He wore a banner 'round his mouth, feeling as though, whatever the mist was, probably wasn't friendly to human anatomy.He hiked up to the pyramid, even though he /very/ much looked out of his element doing anything resembling outdoorsman activities. "Forewarning Zephyr," He mumbled, maybe a tad bitterly. "Not exactly the kind of agent you really want to put in an ancient temple filled with Indiana Jones shit. Although, if it has an ancient Mayan computer somewhere in there, consider it fucking hacked."
Naiko clicks, "Didn't anyone ever tell you, curiosity killed the cat? Luckily, I am no cat." Just as she spoke that line, a possibly unfamiliar mutant, sitting on a tree stump appeared out of thin air, undoing whatever nanomagic or illusion she had in effect to hide her presence from the others. Naiko never cared much about dead civilizations, but the recent activity concerning the pyramid certainly caught her curiosity. And most likely Zephyr's. Shortly, the morph made its way towards the human, and possibly, the group, swaying her long, pointy tail around. She added with a faint smile at the human's comment, "Indiana Jones. Now, now, I haven't heard that name in a while. But if you do need the medical, tech and research aid, I'm here to help.""
Cura glances at a distance to the strange construction that has errected itself outside of the city. The talakai looks to it with a grin as shi sends notes to hir superiors using hir wrist mounted Comm. "Well well... what do we have here?" The kai hops down from hir perch and a tree and impacts the ground with a slight grunt. Shi then begins the treck to what may just be a valuable source of information RSX may require.
Here at the base of the pyramid, it is unseasonably warm and damp. If you closed your eyes, you could imagine you were deep in some amazonian jungle. The mist trickling down the stairs is warm and reaches nearly knee high, but does not give any resistance to climbing. There is a pleasant scent to the warm fog, though it is hard to place.
Winter glances around at the people that had also heard the call of the strange. The somewhat uncommon appearance of Naiko earning a double take from the demoness. She shoots her a bright white smile as Winter ties her hair up behind her in a make-shift pony-tail with the help of a scrunchie. "Indiana who? Is this his dwelling?" she asks as she cranes her head up, trying to locate an entrance somewhere into the pyramid itself.
Edel looks up at the temple, adjusting her glasses. "Looks like fun to me," she says, glancing around at the others. "I don't think I've met any of you before. I'm Edel," she offers, giving a slight bow.
Were poor Forky to be thinking normally, he'd probably not even be surprised to see a friggin' Xenomorph pop out of the woods out of goddamned nowhere. Okay, beyond the whole H.R. Geiger sort of eerie uncanny-valley fear. As it is, he turned into a flailing, yelping mess on the first English words he's heard.And now he's, yet again, being asked who Indiana Jones is. Fuck the nanites, Harrison Ford should not be an unrecognizable name.serious m. Okay, so. Movie night. Sometime soon, when I find a copy of those. Seriously. I should not have to explain to anyone why removing a gold statue from a pressure pad is a very bad idea.square He uneasily looks around. Okay, the... Really, really hot demoness. The fraggin' Xenomorph. Dog lady who, for whatever reason, makes him very fond of the word 'wow'. Anyone else going to pop out of nowhere? Nobody? Fine. sentences ow, uh. You all seem like people of many talents. Which one of you has 'carry an awesome computer hacker up a pyramid' on their list?sow
The morph/alien thing, whatever it was, waved a friendly smile towards Winter, replying the succubus. "Well, it was a movie. Like the lad here said, we need a movie night should we recover any tapes of it. After all, those are really good movies." Addressing Fork and apologizing as she bowed her head lightly, the morph gently added, "Sorry for the scare. It wasn't exactly intended. As for the rest of you, I probably don't know any of you either. You can call me Naiko. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Cura glances about as shi enters a gathering of what seems to be would be explorers. The kai offers those around a smile.... just about till shi begins to feel the familiar effect of an Uberfox's influence. Cura then asks, "You all here to check the place out aswell?" shi gives forkbomb a chuckle before turning to Naiko, "I belive we have met before.... in different forms." shi then glances back to the temple before stating, "Well, it is just a suddenly appearing temple shrouded in mystery, what is the worst that could happen?" The kai then begins to make hir way to the entrance, eager to begin the adventure that most likely awaits inside.
The hike up the side of the pyramid is long and tedious and tiring, but the pleasantly scented mist is a nice distraction. The wide stone entrance into the pyramid leads into a small antechamber, decorated in Mayan symbols. It looks like someone may have been here before, because a passage in the floor is open and the scented mist bubbles up from within.
Winter gives off a throaty laugh at Forkbombs incoherent ramblings. "Ah, one of those moving picture things. I see! You'll have to tell me all about it sometime. I'm Winter, by the by." she says as she bends at the waist, scooping one arm behind the human's knees, the other behind his back. The demoness somewhat effortlessly scoops him up in her arms, carrying him like a bride over the threshold to their new abode. And with that, she makes her way up the pyramid to the entrance. "Good thing you're so skinny!" she remarks with a wry grin. Once finally up, she gently puts him down on his feet. The succubus takes a moment to stretch as well as sniff the air, peering into the entrance as if trying to judge if it was dangerous in any way. Not that she had much experience with these sorts of things. Instincts had kept her alive so far and perhaps that would be enough. "Smells nice up here, no?"
Edel frowns a little as she reaches the entrance, brushing her hair back. "Such climbs do not usually take so much out of me... How unusual. It's nice to meet you all though," she says, fishing up her flask and bringing it up for a sip. That should help with the fatigue. "So what brings you all out this way? Just out for a stroll? Sight seeing?"
Forkbomb looks mildly high when he gets to the top. Getting a closer look at Winter's lovely curves when she proves that she has 'carry a nerd up up the side of a gorrammed pyramid' on her list of talents didn't hurt either. "You, uh. You're really pretty, you know that?" Reel it back, there, Forky. "I mean, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it smells really nice up here. Shit, um. You think that this place is gonna get to our heads? I'm, uh. I'm feeling mighty fine. This place smells nice." Think of old grannies. Think of dead puppies. Think of the horrible gut reaction you have when you have to open up a law textbook. Okay, that did it. "Thank you. Now, uh." He unslings his laser rifle and primes the battery. "Who wants point?"
Naiko tilts her head lightly at Cura as the Talakai does seem familiar, replying her, "True. We've met before a couple of times. Though I believe I was a giant robot thingy with a lot of cannons and other weaponry. Heh. Naval buster." Slowly, the morph begins the hike. Even though the hike seems to get some members of the small expedition slightly winded up, such as her, Naiko doesn't seem to breathe. At all. Chitchatting with Edel, Winter and possibly Forky on the way up, she says, "Well. Nice to meet you too, Winter. I suppose we're all here due to curiosity. Perhaps a bit f sight seeing. Treasure. Research. Who knows? And hey, hacker dude." She directs her gaze towards the lad, "Remember the movies, hopefully this mist isn't poison. Anyway, I guess I can take point. If anything happens, I'll deploy my drones."
Cura nods and smiles to Naiko for a moment before resuming hir ascent. grins as shi reaches the entrance , the talakai herm looks to the other with a smirk before slowly advancing into the structure itself, wary of anything lurking within.
Nothing seems to be lying in wait. Aside from the mists bubbling up in the center of the antechamber. A closer look reveals steps leading downward, though visibility as almost nil past the first step or two.
Not finding anything too threatning at the entrance, Winter happily makes her way inside at the fore front. Big, armoured and full of sharp edges on her fingers she wasn't too scared of any physical confrontations that might happen. "Well, isn't this exiting? I'll happily take point. Just... try not to shoot me TOO much, Forkie. You and your wily trigger finger." she says with amusement. She takes a deep breath of the delightful scent that eminiated from the pyramids entrance. It complemented her own peculiar pheromone-laced aura that she extruded naturally nicely. "Kinda dark in here..." she says as she concentrates for a moment, conjuring a small ghostly-blue flame in the palm of her hand to illuminate the passageway. It might not do all that much for those behind her, other than making shadows dance on the walls.
Edel tests the string on her bow before nodding at Winter, slinging it around her back again. "If you wish to lead on, by all means! I make a terrible person to put on point, given my size. Not much of a defender, I'm afraid," she jests, before folding her hands behind her back, ready to move down the stairs.
Forkbomb quickly notes, send 'll have you know nothing about me goes off without fully intending to.square Mental self-five. That being said, she's totally friggin' right. He can't see shit in the dark of this place. He slowly slid back the laser rifle and instead pulled out his pistol and aerosol can as he cautiously slid down the stairs. Hey, if he's going to be gassed, two can play at this game.
Naiko follows after Winters, wondering if she did put a flashlight on one of her drones' mounts or not. Not as heavily armoured as Winter, but certainly packing with weaponry and gadgets, she was.. Excited, to say the least. "Nice call using that wisp. An ability mostly from Kitsunes, am I right?" As she finished that line, the morph set the minigun drones on her back to standby mode, waiting for an activation call in case of a threat. She has quite a difficulty with the low light, but knowing where at least one person of the group is is good enough for her.
Cura frowns at the obscuring mist and lets out a growl of annoyance before moving back to rejoin the others. "Almost blind in there, anyone got a plan to clear the fog out?"
The light of Winter's wisp does little to aleviate the gloom, simply adding a bluish tint and glow to the thick fog. It is enough to show the winding spiral steps. Fortunately, they are wide and easy to navigate. It is a bit of a squeeze for the larger members of the party, but the stairway is blissfully short before the group finds themselves in a low hallway. It is just tall enough that the large Naiko and Cura can walk if they hunch over, but it is fairly wide. The mist is still thick here, but the blue of the wisp is joined by a pulsing, purple glow from runes and glyphs that line the walls. This place is definitely active.
The glyphs on the walls are mostly unreadable, but some seem to be etchings showing scenes of healing and of mothers with children and a number of images depicting pregnant women. There seems to be a recurring character of an old woman wearing a headdress of twining snakes and ears like a great cat. The glowing runes and images don't do much to illuminate the path, though and fade quickly into the near distance. From here it seems that the group can proceed either north, or south. At least, they might be north and south. It's easy to get turned around.
Winter lets her fingers on her un-occupied hand brush across the glyphs. They were different from the ones that covered her own skin, that's for sure. "Mmm... it smells nice down here. What is that anyway? Feels tingly! I like it!" she states with a grin on her plump lips. "Everyone alright back there?" she asks.
"I feel pretty good," Edel says, nodding. "Not unlike how I feel at home, curled up in my bed. It's pleasant. Which means I don't like it. I should not be feeling this way in a place like this."
Forkbomb takes a look around at the glyphs on the walls, the pictographs, and the general ambiance, and decides that maybe, /maybe/, there's something he doesn't know that'll bite him in the ass if he doesn't at least bring up that he doesn't. If he's affected by the fog, he doesn't show it outside being a little more sociable than usual. "Hey, uh. Does anyone have an idea of what those pictures and glyphs on the walls are? History and myths and legends and all that aren't really my subject." Why can't an SQL monster attack once? Or have everything in the quest decided by who can code a really good script? He can do that. "Anyone got a marker? Chalk? Spray paint? Starting to think we should maybe start making ourselves a trail of breadcrumbs."
Naiko sighs, looking at the glyphs, attempting to analyze them, even trying to get a small glimpse of whatever they mean. Answering Winter, she replied, "I'm alright. I don't know if I can say the same for you all. This place seems to be getting in your heads. Must be this bloody mist... I don't like it." Turning towards Forky, and answering the hacker, she gently added, "I don't know what the glyphs mean, but they're certainly mayan. This pyramid, however... Hmm... It indicates fertility. Dedicated to a deity. Probably a deity of fertility. This all seems like a huge trap though."
Cura shakes hir head a little before arching hir eyebrows at winters. The kai then turns to Naiko and nods, "Seems like this place is messing with us..." shi waits for Naiko's "Explanation before chuckling. "Of course it is a fertility temple, what else would it be around these parts."
The mist here is warm, making the whole place feel like a sauna. The mist certainly does not thin, but it seems that the way might be a little clearer to the south. There even seem to be little alcoves along the way, like comfy beds. They actually look tempting. . .
Winter couldn't help but laugh. "Well, everything is about fertility these days. One would think a god of fertility would have their hands full in this day and age." she says as she shines her wispy ball of fire over the alcove, peering inside. "Nice spot for a cat nap. But I think the way looks clearer over here. Maybe we can find the source of this fog this way." she says, moving towards the south. "I mean, it is suspicious, but a trap? Why would a fertility god need a trap anyway. People are popping out children all over the place." she says in response to Naiko.
Naiko shrugs, adding, "Not really everything. As far as I remember there's a temple dedicated to norse deities, even. For one, I prefer that decoration over this one." Looking over over to the alcoves, she tilts her head, shaking her head lightly. "Definitely suspicious. I think this would be easier if this temple was dedicated to that sport mayans used to play, which was more or less football with a bit of fire. And I agree that in order to find the source, we have to proceed inwards, towards the thick fog. Unless anyone has an objection, that is."
"Goddess, I think," Edel says, rubbing her chin as she takes in the room. "I know a few dedicants from here, I think. Though I cannot recall her name off the top of my head... Jaguar, though, I know that much! And very much on the fertility."
Forkbomb half-lids his eyes. "Splendid. Anyone feel like making babies any more than usual, know that's because the The Temple of Doom is making that a thing." His shoulders sag a bit, then huffs. "Alright. So. South. Everyone like south? South is good. Let's ignore the alcoves over there and go south."
Cura glances over to the alcoves before stating, "Ehhh, whats the worst that could happen in a temple of fertility? We get pregnant *heh* my mate beat the temple of doom to the punch." Shi then looks back to the goddess carving and reaches out a hand to touch it.
The hallway is long and the glyphs and sigils light as the group approaches. Up ahead there is a distant glow. This might be the last chance to turn back.
Winter doesn't spot anything particularly interesting near the beds and so the demoness turns on her heel and instead starts making her way to the north and the strange glow. Using one of her large wings, she bats it infront of her, seeking to disperse some of the fog infront of her so she can see where she's going. "I dunno. It doesn't feel like a trap! I think it's rather cozy down here. It doesn't all have to be terrible, does it? Could do with some better moodlighting, though..." she says with a laugh.
Edel shakes her head, taking a deep breath. "That is exactly why it's bad. It -does- feel cozy down here. Like you could take a nice long nap. But it's unnatural. You should not feel such a way down here," she says, giving a resolute nod as she steels herself to press on.
Forkbomb blinks. Wait, shit! Not his stronglady! "Hey! Winter, hold on!" North. North's a good direction anyway. "Okay, okay, so. We're doing rule of left. Nothing down south, so we're doing north, then up if there's no pathways out from the north hallway over there. Eyes open!"
If anything, Naiko continues.. Indifferent. Hell, she already placed 14 mutants like her in this world just a couple of weeks ago, and she's veeeery picky of when to do it. Shifting her gaze over to Edel, she said, "Exactly. I felt this when I decided to breathe this place's air, but when I stopped, this strange feeling did too. Edel completely right here, people." Finally, nodding to the reason in the hacker's plan, she decided to follow him and Winter along. "Rule of left it is then." Muttered the morph, slightly worried about the situation they were in.
Cura chuckles a bit before pushing on ahead to the north. Shi turns hir head back and states, "Regardless of how dangerous or not the situation is I doubt anyone can disagree that we should keep moving. So either follow me, or head up to the exit and wait for us." The kai smirks and walks ahead, slightly less wary of danger then shi was before.
The light to the South fades as the party turns around and only the purple light of the glyphs remains. The mist seems to thicken here until the glow from the walls is only a fuzzy hint in the fog. It is hard to even see a step ahead. It could be dangerous to continue this way.
"Getting kinda dark and spooky up ahead. That warm glow back there sure seemed more inviting, didn't it?" Winter says as she takes the lead. The blue flame hovering in the palm of her hand barely visible in the thick mist. "And I can't just chose not to breathe all of a sudden!" she adds she presses on northwards. Albit at a slightly slower place, making sure her feet don't suddenly step into air and a quick plummet downwards.
"Just test the ground in front of you before you step," Edel says, walking slow behind the others. "Wouldn't want to walk into a wall, or a pit, or fall down stairs or anything. It pays to be careful when you can't see."
