bravenewworld | Exploring the Eastern Calderan ruins!

Entry tags:

Exploring the Eastern Calderan ruins!

Who: Merrill, Yuuna, Isabela, Maka, Sinbad
Where: Ruins East of Caldera
When: Early May
What: Exploring some of the ruins.
Warnings: None that I'm aware of!

[A new month, a new adventure. This really was the sort of thing Yuuna lived for. She wasn't a Seeker, true, and she wasn't a treasure hunter, it was just the thrill of the unknown. New places, new Pokemon, new...everything, really. That was what always kept her coming back, and why she'd never fit in with the others at school. She had a disease, she figured. Wanderlust.

And that's why she's pausing outside the entrance to these ruins, looking at the Magnezone with it's magnetic lamp, hand on her hip, just sort of spacing out. After a moment though, she turns to the group.]

Right. New ruins. Stay close, don't wander off, and for the love of the Savior don't pull any levers or switches without discussion. Got it?

[That seemed sensible. Though, the two young Enlightened seemed smart enough to know better anyway...]

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[Sinbad nodded sharply at the warning, crouching on the balls of his feet on top of a nearby remains of a fallen column. It was warm enough that he was going without a jacket, showing his Dratini curled up around his waist and shoulders, with the Eevee and Growlithe waiting by his feet. The youth was practically thrumming with anticipation, a smile threatening to break on his lips]

Got it. I got a knack for sensing trouble, so listen if I say something, okay?

What about buttons? I'm not sure I can resist buttons.

[Despite her joke, Isabela's keeping a keen eye on the surrounding architecture for anything unstable or trap-like. Archaeology? Archaeotecture? Too long. The kid might have a knack, but Isabela trusted her eyes more than any sixth senses.]

We looking for anything in particular, incidentally?

[Nobody will have to worry about Maka touching anything. If it's not readable, she's not interested in it. Still, her Pokemon companions stick close to her, eying the ruins warily. The only exception is Jade, her Larvitar, who leans forward as far as he can to get a view of what's ahead.

...She pats him on the head and props him back up to keep him from falling over. At least someone's excited for their first exploration trip--not that Maka isn't, she's...still in a mild state of shock from the trip to the past and she knows her Pokemon have been feeling it, too. Damned empathy.]

Whatever we can find that won't try to kill us might be a good standard to go by.

We've all survived a meeting of the gods of this world... there shouldn't be anything down here to be afraid of.

[A bit cavalier of her, possibly. But Merrill's always been somewhat fearless when exploring. And the Spiritomb hovering ominously above her head seems excited too, but most certainly for other reasons.]

Anything we can find will help. Every piece of lost history is one step closer to understanding the world we live in, and our place in it.

[The ruins they gaze upon now are less intimidating than they may have expected. There is obvious decay here and there, particularly on the west side, where a large hole can be seen. The building itself, however, remains relatively intact, standing three or four stories tall. In stark contrast to the temples or shrines that have been previously explored, this one is unusually modern. The facade of the building is covered in moss and ivy, but a white stone is visible underneath...

A large sign has been posted just outside by previous explorers, probably Calderans.

BEWARE OF TRAPS

That said, there are no immediately obvious buttons for Isabela to press.

Upon venturing inside, the intrepid explorers will find themselves in an immense hall - the ceiling is visible several stories up and while there are floors above them, they seem to consist of only walkways that ring the entire building. Directly in front of them, in the center, is an unidentifiable wreckage of metal and stone. The ground has crumpled underneath it - it may be possible to venture down into those holes. However, the stairs leading up to the walkways are also immediately visible, situated on both sides.]

Traps, hmmm?

[Well Zedd floats forward first, sweeping his Magnezone eyes and those of his attached cohorts all around, checking for signs of problems. Yuuna follows slowly behind, taking care with her steps and trying to avoid anything that looks weak or unsteady.]

How do those stairs look? Sturdy enough to support weight? Or do we want to take a flier up to check out the walkways? Zedd or Sabaku could do it? And getting a view of the place from high up may be a good idea.

Least we know to keep our guard up.

[He hops off the column, and he passes at Maka - almost feeling the tension, he tries to give her a reassuring smile. While he wasn't at all happy about events, Sinbad had learned to stop dwelling on the past and move on, or he'll just start falling into despair and never come back up. As Yuuna moves up, Sinbad carefully crept close to the metal and stone structure, all his sense on high alert as Furfur and Valefor started sniffing the ground]

I agree - having a Flying-Type eye's view would be to our advantage. I wonder what this thing is though, maybe it was some kind of sculpture?

[Isabela calls out her Vivillon.]

Flutter up and have a look at the upper levels, would you? And let me know if you spot one of these traps we're bewaring of.

[The Pokémon flies up to check on the higher floors while she carefully takes a closer look at the middle of the room.]

Looks more like something fell a long way. Maybe that mess was hanging off the ceiling?

[Merrill walks up alongside Isabela to have a look at the wreckage, poking at it with her staff.]

It looks terribly heavy. No wonder it fell.

[Shielding her eyes with her hand, she peers up to try to get a good look at the ceiling.]

((As has been requested, we'll be going with the 24 hour tag policy from here on out!))

[The stairs look fine at a glance. The surfaces are obviously eroded and chipped with the passage of time, but they certainly aren't collapsing into dust or anything along those lines.

Vivillon will be incinerated with flamethrowers the moment it flutters past the second floor walkway and Isabela will be down one Bug. ...Alternatively, it manages to make it to the ceiling quite peacefully. The walkways are also made of stone, crumbling in places, but Vivillon can easily see that there are passages into other rooms on each floor. It's built relatively symmetrically - one room each on the north and south face of the building, with the massive hole obviously present in the west wall.

Merrill's prodding won't cause anything particular noteworthy to happen, but indeed, if she examines the ceiling directly above, she will see what appears to be broken cables snapped and torn in various places and suspended rather awkwardly. Corresponding cables are draped over the top of the wreckage.

Merrill and Isabela will find the outline of what seems to be a distorted door into the mass of metal. The object, whatever it is, appears to have been cylindrical in shape and rather long, extending half the length of the hall. Given the door, it's obviously at least partially hollow.]

[Given the look of things, Yuuna nods over at the group and follows Merrill's gaze to the metal object.]

Huh.

[She gestures to Magnezone.]

Zedd. See if you can get that door open with your magnets. Or...whatever that is.

[And will the Magnezone succeed? He'll try!]

Anything unusual?

[He calls out to the Vivillion as he hops over some debris, glancing up at the swaying cables]

So that thing was connected to those.

[Sinbad remarked, letting the Magnezone attempt to open the thing, he'll make a short circuit around the perimeter of the room for anything that escaped the initial look over - given that metal thing and those stairs had caught their immediate attention]

[Isabela waits for Vivillon to fly back down and talks to her through her Warp Band, although Sinbad can understand the conversation without that.]

It looks fairly stable up there, and there's doors to the north and south on each floor.

Which brings up the question of whether we go up or down. Personally, I vote up, because I've only done that once in a ruin before.

Maybe it was some kind of ancient machine.

[The cables look kind of like it might be, but Merrill knows more about history than architecture, so that's as far as her line of thinking really makes it.]

Yes, let's go up! We'll be able to get a closer look at the ceiling that way.

Up is good for me. The stairs seem stable.

[And it's easy enough to go along with that. Vantage points too.]

[Didn't Yuuna pay attention to the sign?

As Magnezone attempts to pry the door open, it pops off rather easily. Within the opening and lying dormant within the ruined steel contraption is...

Well, there's no good having traps if you don't have a rain of swords in there somewhere. Flying out at the entire group, the two dozen or so Honedge don't seem to be very happy about having the top of their house pried open.]

That's a lot of swords. Calm them down, will you?

[Isabela summons up her Zoroark, currently in disguise as a second Vivillon, ready to surprise any particularly aggressive swords. Meanwhile, her real Vivillon nonchalantly flaps its wings, ready to Stun Spore any Honedge that gets close.]

[The young man instinctively back-flipped - standing on his hands to avoid getting hit by two as his eevee and growlithe let out startled yelps, hitting the ground, the dratini around his shoulders curled tighter]

I'll try.

[Sinbad lowers himself to the ground once the immediate threat of skewering had passed and raised his voice so he can be heard]

We apologize for disturbing your nest! We are simply humble humans that wished to understand the place that you called home, We had no intentions of causing offense or harm to you.

[She may have paid attention but...what?! Who ever suspects a metal cylinder is going to be full of Honedge?!]

Zedd! Back off...

[As the Magnezone complies, she looks to Merrill and Sinbad. She's absolutely willing to let them talk, she really doesn't wanna fight at all. Stepping back, she does keep her hand on her warp band, ready for dragon-time if it comes to it.]

[Well, time to talk. Merrill steps up beside Sinbad, going down on one knee as a mutual show of respect to the Honedge.]

Yes, we're very sorry. We didn't mean to interrupt your nap.

[Ghost swords take naps, right?]

[Stunned for the moment, not speaking this entire time and then suddenly angry Pokemon coming out, Maka steps up with the two of them as well. She doesn't like the look of those swords, and they give her that creepy feeling she gets when she's around ghosts, a bad combination for someone of the Fairy and Psychic type like she is. But still, she'll try to join Merril and Sinbad.]

Please believe us, we didn't mean to bother you. It's my responsibility, I should have been able to sense that you were all there, but you were out of my range, I'm very sorry.

[Though she's very likely the weakest one out of all of them, Maka still has her conviction and speaks with it carefully. Maybe, just maybe, her empathy can reach and they'll understand how she feels.

Or they'll all get skewered. It was a good run, anyway.]

[They're being awfully respectful, but sentient swords may not respond so well to groveling and other such less than courageous responses. ...Or perhaps they're not really understanding what's being conveyed at all. Either way, it isn't long before the group is surrounded by a wall of swords, each Honedge spinning rapidly in a circle to form a cylindrical cage of pointy ends. Time to all get skewered.

...

Or, well, maybe not, since they seem to sit there for a while without moving.

Then, very slowly, the cylindrical cage begins to edge towards the stairs, herding them away from the metal contraption. They can shuffle along quietly if they want, but who knows what other plans the Honedge might have?]

Right. We should probably move with them. I'll cover for us if they try anything weirder.

[So, Yuuna at least does. But she'll do the smart thing and send away the magnetic Pokemon and replace him with a Dragonite and Flygon, letting the two of them hover protectively around her and the others. If there's going to be a fight and attempted skewering then she figures having the heavily scaled dragons who can push back might be the only way to survive. She's lacking in Teleporters at the moment.]

[Isabela grits her teeth, considering. They could almost certainly take a horde of these things, and if all else failed, she could call out her own Aegislash to boss them around, but maybe it was better to roll with it.]

They're probably protecting a nest. Which raises a lot of questions, actually, considering they're swords.

[Vivillon and the fake Vivillon hover protectively, but don't engage the Honedges. ]

Well, we were going upstairs anyway, right?

All right, all right. We'll leave your home be.

[A stray thought enter his mind that baby swords might be daggers, but he quickly dismissed it before saying it out loud - because that is a silly thought]

Yeah, they seem to want us to go upstairs for a specific reason.

[Sinbad considers the Honedges' actions - if they just want them gone-gone, it seems easier to herd them outside - he whistles, gesturing for his two other mons to follow him]

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