((ATTENTION : Mighty Post Ahead))
Finally, after more than a two-year journey the Shuhalal arrived to the site where the flame pillar appeared. The airship circled around the city, letting its occupants see the extent of the destruction that pillar had wrought. The outline of streets was clearly marked, unless these were sewers, which was more likely. From above it could easily be seen that the destruction started in the middle of the city, where a huge round stone was standing.
The huge metallic feet of the dragon-airship extended as it hit the ground. Hit was not a godd word as the landing of the airship was light as a feather. Immediately the five archaeologists, accompanied by three operators left went to work, silently. Thlash headed with a group of two toward the stone in the middle of the ruins.
One group entered the fortress. They could see that the entrance gates had melted under the heat. What they found inside were a few skeletons, charred and nearly decomposed, as well as remains of strange contraptions they had never seen the like before. Unfortunately they could do nothing with the devices, not even guess what they were for, as they were mostly destroyed.
As they took a few skeletons and envelopped them in shadow silk for preservation, they noticed a few ghosts lingering about, probably held by whatever trragedy had taken their lives. Never letting an opportunity go to waste, the Thelash took out one of the soul gems and after a short incantation captured one of the ghosts. That would let them learn more about what happened there, as well as about the language of the race of the ghost.
Meanwhile in the middle of the city Thlash was looking at the stone while his companions were taking samples. Attracted by a strange pull, Thlash chipped out a small piece of the stone and gave it a slight lick. The taste it had was not unfamiliar. It was that of dried blood, dried virginal blood. Deep in thought Thlash walked back to the airship.
Above the city, some shapes were approaching. They were Tengu in nature. A certain Kaku, a minor noble, short and embarrassingly silly was being escorted by five of his personal bodyguard -who were covertly mocking him behind his back, to relieve the tension of the situation- to the city to investigate reports of a dragon landing. When he noticed the huge beast in the middle of the fortress courtyard he became terrified.
Still he looked around and noticed a few shapes lurking in the city, carrying things back and forth. He looked at them and noticed they were in groups of two or three. He singled out a group in which one of the shapes was taller than the others, probalby the leader, he thought. Kaku landed in front of the shape and mustering his fear, said :
"Identify yourself !"
The Thelash he was speaking to, not understanding what the small creature was saying, just pointed in the direction of the airship, hoping the creature would understand that he ought to seek out Thlash, who was probably in that direction.
The Tengu looked there but saw nothing that would interest him and repeated :
"Identify yourself !"
The Thelash sighed. That sigh spoke lengths about how annoyed he was about being interrupted in his work by a creature that had probably no knowledge about the importance of History and Archaeology. The creature was probably so primitive it still lived in caves and hunted its neighbours as a hobby. The Thelash had certainly no problems putting that much meaning into a sigh. Still, he moved toward the airship and motionned for the Tengu to follow.
At his great surprise, the Tengu seemed to understand what he actually wanted and followed. They went back to the airship and on the way there they found Thlash, going toward the airship as well.
After a brief exchange in Shadowwhisper, the language of the Thelash, Thlash was left alone with the creature. He waited there, waiting for the creature to say anything.
"Who are you and what is the reason for your presence here." said Kaku.
Thlash answered by images and feelings.
Imageof a Thelash. Image of Light and Darkness. Image of the flame pillar. Feeling of curiosity.
Kaku seemed to understand what Thlash meant and answered : "This is our holy land. Demons in the form of bipedal dogs tried to claim it and waged war against us. However, we managed to push them back and destroy their city. As we were about to finish it once and for all, they fled and ambushed us with a
bomb. This bomb was the origin of the flame pillar. These bastards fight without honor, bombing long after they have lost and fled the battle field. Curse them."
Then he spat on the ground.
"Where do you come from ?"
Image of the rising sun. Feeling of dread. Feeling of anger. Image of the setting sun. Feeling of curiosity.
"I am deeply sorry, but I do not understand what you are trying to say."
Thlash was disappointed, he wanted to know more about the sinister presence he had felt. Still, he had a mission and it would not be useless to learn more about the war.
Feeling of disappointment. Image of two armies. Image of Tengu and Valtans fighting. Feeling of curiosity.
"I already told you about that. The Dog-demons were unrightfully claiming our land and sent spies to our settlements. Not long after, they started attacking our peasants. We decided to drive them out of our land before they mobilized their whole army against us. And they were sore losers, killing us even after they fled from our might."
Again, he spat on the ground, then he grabbed one of the guards and shows the Thelash his burn scars.
"This is their work." he added.
Thlash was not satisfied with the answer. The images he had received were too blurry to be a truth. Something in what the Tengu had said was a lie, and a lie the Tengu did not believe either. Still, this way of interrogation would not bring more information and if the Tengu was not willing to trust, the Thelash would keep his hood.
Feeling of completeness. Feeling of expectation.
"If you are from the east, from the other side of the sea, perhaps you know about our city Makai. It should be close to your cities."
Feeling of denial. Image of Tengu in a city against the rising sun. Feeling of curiosity.
"From here, go east across the sea until you reach the easter coast. Then follow it south and you should be in Makai. When you have found what you were searching for, you might consider coming with us towards the palace. Lord Madara the great will be pleased to meet you in person instead of just hearing my report."
Now Thlash had learned something interesting. The lord of the Tengu was called Madara and the images Kaku associated with him suggested that Madara was probably very powerful and frightening.
Feeling of urgency. Image of the Thelash leaving. Feeling of being boud to greater powers. Feeling of being unable to take a decision.
"That's unfortunate. Do you have any messages you want me to bring to the Lord ?"
Image of the airship going north-west. Image of the Thelash and the Tengu meeting there. Feeling of interrogation.
"I am sorry to inform you, but my lord has yet to return from negotiation with our northern neighbours. I don#t think the message will reach on time, if you have it that urgent."
Feeling of non-urgency. Feeling of completeness.
Thlash slighlty bowed to the Tengu noble. Kaku bowed as well and said :
"I hope we can meet again sometime. Don't forget to visit Makai."
With that, he and his bodyguards left. Thlash returned to the airship to find an interesting occurrence. A small metallic bird was banging its head against the hull of the ship. What surprised Thlash was that the bird was banging prime numbers. It was obviously a sign of intelligence, more intelligence than the Tengu had shown.
The bird and Thlash spent hours looking at each other and the bird attempted multiple times to communicate with Thlash, who had absolutely no idea what the thing was trying to tell him. Finally the bird drew an arrow on the ground, the arrow pointed north-west. Thlash finally understood and nodded to the bird. The bird left. Thlash went back into the ship to study the soul that had been captured.
((That was a Mighty Post. And I still have to post my map.))
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Topic: Battle of the Gods II: an RP Thread (Read 106375 times)