Player Plot: The Crystal Temple's Secret

[princeandscholar]

Who: Characters signed up for this quest
When: 12th
Where: The Crystal Temple in Sen Devadatta
What: The Heroes of Light vs. Bahamut's Temple
Warnings/Notes: None


IC | Arrival

After a long flight to the Empire, a visit to Parasraya, and a meetup at the capital, the expedition members are loaded onto vehicles and delivered to their destination: the magnificent Crystal Temple. Alas, there is no time for a leisurely tour as the company gathers outside with caving gear and weaponry.

Once all party members are assembled, Orcelito addresses everyone:
"Thank you for coming. I know it was a long flight and there was a lot of preparation. Your presence here is appreciated, and we will be underway shortly.”

He gestures towards the Crystal Temple. “Two teams will be escorted into the basement of the temple. The rest will travel into the forest to look for a way in through the network of caverns. We have leads on where to start searching, so we can make the most of our time.

“As mentioned in the letter, the ruins have deteriorated over the years. Bahamut’s Temple is ancient, and parts of it are no longer standing. I’ve been told that some areas may be flooded or unstable.”

Orcelito pauses, scanning the group. He lowers his tone as he adds, "If you find evidence to suggest someone has tampered with the ruins recently, let me know. As well, please refrain from disturbing the ruins more than necessary. We are here on the Empire's good grace, after all."

And one more thing. "I understand it will be inconvenient, but the order not to use the Mognet is especially imperative while we're here. If you need to send a message to another team, ask one of the Moogles. They are here to help."

From where she hovers by his shoulder, Marigold waves the free paw that’s not clutching a lantern. Those traveling with their Moogle companions will notice they've been given similar lights.

Finally, he smiles; Orcelito may not know everyone here, but he's committed to leading each of them out safely. “Don’t take unnecessary risks. Look after each other.”

Once the orientation is complete, the parties are split. Orcelito turns to lead the way into the temple where a researcher stands ready to guide them to the basement. The other group will find a vehicle waiting to carry them to the forest nearby.


Team Thread Links
Team A thread: Orcelito, Tidus, Rutile, Naoto, Snow White
Team B thread : Ashelia, Castor, Terra, Klonoa, Frisk, Madhuri
Team C thread: Finn, Regis, Adrien, Sephiroth, Ursula, Papyrus, Kanji
Conclusion

Comments

[einspine]

Nodding, Papyrus takes on a defensive stance. For now, he'll make Cool Scientist his active asterisk, just in case they need to stun a surprise foe. Blue bones do have their perks, after all.

Should it turn out they need more force to open the door, he'll gladly switch back to Magitek for a little added ice.

For now, he stays silent- he knows his voice is loud, and the last thing they need is further reason for surprise attacks. Still, he does offer Adrien a quick thumbs up.

[princeandscholar]

Though the door is unmagical in nature, it has been inert for a long, long time. But steadily, at the notes take hold, the party can hear a low grinding starting from within. Warped and bent though it is, the large bolt retreats. The door trembles, shaking off centuries of dust and gravel, and a deep, reverberating boom echoes in the cavern… as one might expect from knocking at a metal door. With a grace that defies its state, the door cracks free of its frame. (The party will have to finish pulling it open, which can be done by anyone with a physical power stat of B or higher, but the hard part is past!)

From inside comes a cold gust of stale air. It's still pitch-back, but shining a light within rewards the team with the sight of cultivated stonework. This floor is in significantly better condition! The flagstones are covered in dust, but they are mostly intact. Empty wall sconces line an otherwise plain corridor ahead.

Finn's Gunslinger job has physical power at B!

[hatejakku]

After the echoing has finally come to a stop, Finn pauses and listens to the other side. The only sound that hits him is the rush of cold air, though. While the crack is too small for anyone in their party (save maybe for the Moogles) to fit through, he puts a hand on one side and tries to give a hard push.

And with luck! The door gives slightly, so he braces himself, grabs with both hands, and puts his back into it. "See anything?" he grunts after the door has given a little more.

[beariot]

Ursula sent out a series of small flames to light up the chamber, having to put a bit more mana into them to keep them burining in spite of the cold. This room hadn't decayed nearly as much, and even had some lovely architecture to behold. But Ursula couldn't help noticing...

"It looks like this place was cleared out. All of the sconces are empty, had there been anything there previously. The people maintaining the shrine may have taken everything with them when it was abandoned."

[einspine]

"WELL, THAT'S INCONVENIENT." Sighing, Papyrus follows along. Sadly, he lacks much in the way of illumination skills, lest he switch to something like Magitek Knight. For now, he'll led Ursula take the lead, along with any others more gifted in that particular brand of spellcasting.

"STILL, THERE COULD BE MORE HIDDEN FURTHER WITHIN! PERHAPS SOMETHING THEY OVERLOOKED. A SECRET CORRIDOR, PERHAPS? I THINK IT'S TOO EARLY TO GIVE UP..."

After all, they just got here! Who knows what lies in this mysterious ruin? Perhaps an engaging puzzle? He'd take that over a fight.

[neverbeamemory]

It had been during one of his long, sweeping looks around the area before the door that the reverberating boom of the door signaled that finally, the door had opened. Immediately Sephiroth snapped his attention back to the door and those that were nearest it, taking a few steps closer; he might even have stepped in to force the door further open himself, but thankfully he hadn't needed to intervene.

It seemed almost too easy, but that was starting to become something of a recurring trend.

Jennifer fluttered up behind Sephiroth, lantern at the ready for when the group chooses to advance into the corridor. His intention to keep somewhere in the middle-back of the group as they pressed onward.

[princeandscholar]

Overall, this section of the temple has survived in fair condition; the decay has not been so severe as other areas. Unfortunately, there is still an abundance of cave-ins, and the group will be unable to enter some of the rooms. An entire section to the left has collapsed into rubble, forcing them to explore to the right.

For the most part, the halls are quiet save for the party’s voices and footsteps. But if they are silent for a moment and listen carefully, there is what sounds like an erratic grinding and scraping of stone. It's faint, carried only by echoes in the buried stone halls, and far off… for now.

Ursula's observation is correct at first glance: the area is cleared of anything valuable. What contents there are have long fallen to time: collapsed furniture, a scrap of leather that may have bound paper once, the metal wall sconces without wood or candles, and so on.

Entering a room off a main hallway, the group will have to step with care so as not to trip over a rusted sword in the doorway. Weaponry and armor languish here, edges long dulled and too brittle for further adventures. A few tables still stand, some clearly on their last legs. Shining a light higher shows mostly bare walls… and a map of the world of Vaikuntha.

Brushing aside the grime, the party can see their current location at the northern end of the western continent. But it is not the Crystal Temple – it is marked as The Temple of Bahamut. Glancing down to where the Great McGard Library was built, the Temple of Alexander is in its place. Where Mad'ni Shrine is, the Temple of Phoenix is written. Farther to the east is the Temple of Asura where the I.B. Magitek Tower currently stands. Finally, a studied map reader may find an island that is on none of the modern maps, with the label of The Temple of Zodiark. It is in the general area where Cloud City is today.

[modelcivilian]

Moving his keytar back onto his back, Adrien took up towards the back of the group, allowing the light they provided to fill the room first. The left portion of the room might be gone, but at least they had some of it still to the right.

That grinding... he doesn't think it's still from Knock...

Though momentarily distracted by the old weaponry and armor around, a hard thwap from Blanc made him look at the wall. He'll raise a hand to clear it off, and then blink. "... Huh, this is Vaikuntha, but the Temples marked..." There's certainly an advantage to working in the library - time to look over books when he had the time, but it does take him a moment to consider the weird islands that aren't on most of the maps in Lavode. "... This is... Cloud City should be right here."

[regisrex]

"Or close to it, at any rate." Regis's attention is on the map, easily. He will focus on the weapons... eventually, but this is a source of information that probably will be very important.

"'tis information that will need to be shared, for information is likely to be learned at each location." Taking. Pictures. With. His slate. Because even the unknown island's map might cold clues.

"It might be possible that what used to be an island was elevated later to what is now Cloud City. Has anyone spent much time there, this far?"

Bahamut is the only name among these that Regis knows from Eos. But he also knows a little of Alexander from Hope, while the youth was with them, too. The others he only knows from the child poem that was shared a while back.

[hatejakku]

Finn is captivated by the map, trying to memorize it as well as he can. There was no telling how old this thing was.

"I spent some time there when I first arrived," he admits, squinting at the Temple of Zodiark. "There's not much there except a few guilds and the observatory... but I don't know how it floats. And I've never bothered to look under it." Now that was an idea. But maybe this is why it floats, because of an Eidolon.

"We need to check all of these out."

[beariot]

Ursula also started to record the map, not just on her Slate but on an actual piece of parchment she'd brought with her, duplicating the entire image, or as much as her flames could highlight of it.

"Cloud City is where the Astrologian's guild is. I'm still a neophyte, but I could ask around and see if they know anything at all about Zodiark's Temple, or where it might be these days."

[neverbeamemory]

Sephiroth stepped carefully over the rusted sword in the doorway and off to the side; not to obstruct but at the same time so that he can take one of his usual long sweeping looks over the entire room before focusing in on any one detail.

What had been the function of his room, he wondered, some sort of an armory? He wasn't sure that there was nearly enough in terms of remnants of weapons or equipment for that theory to lend much weight though; that said much of this section that they've walked through had essentially been cleaned out for the most part before it had been sealed shut.

The map on that wall, however...perhaps some sort of command room? The presence of a map in such a way, mounted on a wall, suggested some sort of purpose here at least. Sephiroth strode closer then, lingering behind the group still but positioning himself so he could at least see overheads or between others. Quickly but carefully running his attention from one marked temple to the next. He didn't yet know so much about all the different locations on Vaikuntha, but the features are pretty much exactly matching what one could easily pull up on their Slate. Aside from Asura and Zodiark, he knew these other names well enough.

He offered a curt nod in Ursula's direction.

"I might also be able to ask at the Illusionist Guild. Levitation is one of the primary skills." Sephiroth slowly swept his head to one side, just to shift a few strands of his silver hair that had ended up in his vision once more.

"What about these other locations, for Asura and Alexander? Is anyone familiar?"

In the meantime, it was Sephiroth's turn to also take out his Slate and try to attempt to take a few photos in the lantern light.

[modelcivilian]

Adrien would snap a photo, but he thinks Blanc was doing that... or just not giving him his slate again. Looks like he might be stuck as Spellbinder for a bit...

"Huh? Oh yeah... The Temple of Asura is where the I.B. Magitek Tower is now. And the Temple of Alexander is... right, that should be the Grand McGard Library." Which was interesting because if he remembered right, another Eidolon was actually in the Library. Sounded like some real disconnect between the Eidolons and the Legendary ones... weird.

"... What if Zodiark's Temple isn't in Cloud City at all, but in the water now?" And if it was raised up in Cloud City, why wasn't it mentioned anywhere?

[einspine]

Papyrus, like the others, keeps his attention on the map. He's even pulled out a clipboard to take notes. As he writes, however, he nods at the others' remarks. This is all very valid.

"PERHAPS WE COULD INVESTIGATE BOTH CLOUD CITY AND THE SEA? THOUGH WE'D NEED ADEQUATE EQUIPMENT. A SUBMARINE, PERHAPS?"

Hmm. Something worth checking into, at least.

"THE MAGITEK TOWER, THOUGH... I DO WONDER HOW WE'D SWAY THEM TO LET US ACCESS IT. IT'S SUCH A CRUCIAL LOCATION..."

But surely their cause is worth it, right?

[princeandscholar]

Should the party examine the weapons and pieces of armor, they are nothing particularly special in make or design. Antiques, certainly, but age has rendered the durability so low they would break in a single hit. (Alas, Team B has all the fun.)

The faint grating sounds continue to reverberate through the chambers, no closer and no further. It seems to be originating from deeper in where the party has yet to travel.

[beariot]

Ursula finished up her notes quickly enough, but she couldn't ignore that noise coming from the deeper parts of the temple. What the hell was that? It sounded like a mechanism of some sort...

"Does anyone else hear that noise?"

[regisrex]

"Aye." Putting his tablet away, Regis turned away from the map, peering into the dimness beyond the current chamber. "It seems our journey is not over, yet. Shall we?"

[einspine]

"YES! LET'S CONTINUE FORTH!!! WE CAN ALWAYS SPECULATE ON THESE TEMPLES FURTHER... PERHAPS OVER THE MOGNET?"

But for now, he turns toward the direction of the sound, eager to continue. Of course, he'll wait until the others are ready before proceeding. It's only fair!

[modelcivilian]

"Yeah, we should do that. Inform everyone else that way too..."

Meanwhile, as they began to march, Adrien would softly begin checking the tuning of his instrument... just in case. Though, that sound going on could just be Knock still...

[neverbeamemory]

Somewhere during Sephiroth's pondering and snapshotting, the faint grinding had faded into a background noise much like the otherwise deafening silence behind the footfalls and dialogue of the party. It's presence noted but not otherwise considered much since it changed neither in pitch nor volume so far; though it did seem odd now that thoughts went in that direction. Everything had been picked clean down here for the most part so why there would be something left running?

True to form, though, Sephiroth will not be the one to lead the way out of the room even if Jennifer did try to indicate for him to by hovering her lantern near to the doorway. At the very least no one might trip up on the rusted sword on the floor.

[princeandscholar]

Out of the map room and down a passage, the team enters a spacious hall that reverberates with echoes. Stone pillars support a high ceiling, yet the flagstones are covered in dirt and rocks. Directing a light towards the heaviest of the damage, it appears the upper half of a wall tumbled down. Near the ceiling, they can just make out a broad, deep breach in the exposed earth and stone. Strange that the air in here isn’t as stale as one might expect… perhaps the tunnel connects to the cavern or another area.

Fortunately, there's very little guessing about how to proceed; two corridors are blocked by rubble and only the third is clear. There's debris on the path, but most of it is cleared against the walls as if something passed before.

The rumbling grows, filling the air to drown out voices and footfalls. It doesn't pause for long before starting again, in shorter bursts now, then a longer stretch. There is no set rhythm, only a steady grinding underlaying a cacophony of rocks being broken and shifted.

Ahead, the din issues from a wide archway leading into a dark chamber at the end of the hall.

[hatejakku]

The sound was ominous and enough to set him on edge, but the destruction around them was starting to make him wary. It's the cleared path that really gets Finn's attention before he listens a little closer to the sound. No rhythm, but-

"I'm not sure we're alone down here," he finally says, resting one hand on the gun at his side. "Something's definitely been in this place since its been wrecked."

[beariot]

Ursula kept the floating lanterns out, but made sure to draw them closer to the group as the moved along. She couldn't help but agree with Finn's assessment.

"There are a few possibilities, but not all of them suggest something living or even active. The sound is arrhythmic, but that doesn't rule out a mechanism of some sort. Either way, everyone should definitely be on guard..."

[einspine]

"AGREED. JUST SAY THE WORD, AND I CAN START MIXING ITEMS- JUST AS PRECAUTION. WE MAY END UP NEEDING THEM..."

Though for now, he'd follow, look, and listen. Could it be the wind? Some other natural phenomena? One could hope, at any rate. But, knowing this world and their track record, a dangerous encounter remained just as likely.

[neverbeamemory]

Somewhere along the route that was available to them, Sephiroth felt on the inside of his trench-coat a bit to make sure the weight of his Slate was still present. There was no reason it shouldn't be, but the louder the rumbling got the clearer it became -just as Finn said- that they might not actually be alone down here. Somehow.

Machinery or monster; it didn't matter. It felt that he was going to need to switch Swordmaster into his active job slot in order to be better prepared. After all in Illusionist, he only had the initial skill in at this point. Sephiroth didn't yet take the Slate out of his pocket though, instead focusing on keeping his perception sharp as they proceeded, and listening to what he could make of others' comments over the growing din.