Character Dig Site

"I don't think," the largest suit said, "that you'd really want one of these. Not so much for the initial cost, you could probably swing that for an Able," a heavy hand gestured to the more humanoid suits, "but considering they're still prototype, cumulative maintenance would ruin you. And national intelligence agencies would descend upon you like a flock of crows."

al-Faddil was listening to the conversation about mages with one ear and quietly shook his head. Destroy a star. Genius. Except for how that'd get you Arc'd or Langsdorff Protocol'd in a hurry assuming nothing smaller got to you first.

A giant eagle like bird is approaching from the horizon, flying high. On it's back was a fourteen year old girl with black low pigtails and bright purple eyes and a grim looking boy of the same age, but slightly smaller with blue wavy hair and deep red eyes.

As they flew across the desert with the bird they borrowed from Rachel back at the Occult Society, a valley with barely dug up buildings and tents surrounding it came into view. They can guess it's the Valley of the Kings and the Theban Necropolis.

"Garuda! Can you just stop for a moment?" Rina called loudly through the strong wind for the bird to hear.

"And why would he do that?" Prisha rolled his eyes at Rina. Then commanded Garuda, "Now encircle the Valley for a moment, but take it slowly!"

"Sorry Prisha, I thought seeing such a strange giant bird can shock people too much," Rina said, still a little confused.

"Rina you fool! From up here, Garuda can at least be mistaken for an ordinary one and what you're doing in fact, is what raises suspicion," Prisha corrected her while looking for a good place to land. "How often do you see birds just hover in one place?"

"Ehehehehe... right. Guess I need to get more used to flying around giant birds," Rina chuckled a little nervously. Then saw one of the bigger hills, "Hey Prisha! Would you say it's okay to land behind that hill?"

It's one of the options he was considering, Prisha thought. But looking around for a little more he decided it is the best option. So he nodded and they got Garuda to land. Then they jumped off.

"Thanks Garuda," Rina smiled at the giant bird who squawked back, alarming the two kids, hoping it wasn't too loud. After taking a deep breath, Rina smiled again and patted Garuda, sending him off, "Give my thanks to Rachel as well!"

Well that was that, seeing the bird fly away. Rachel told Garuda to only follow our orders until we reached the valley. It was fun flying an awesome bird like him around.

"So you have planned a return trip right?" Prisha inquired resulting in Rina's nervous chuckle once again.

"Let's leave that for later! We got a dig site to get to!" Rina pointed to the direction of the valley and marched. Prisha rolled his eyes again, but all he could do now was follow.

It took a while, but the two of them soon reached the set of tents and where the the excavation crew are getting prepared.

edited 13th Oct '12 8:20:03 PM by PsychoFreaX

"I'll give heiroglyphs a shot. I'll also cook for the camp, if you want." He approached Marion, with Mori left to trail behind. "Vinicio Acquati. Vince, if you'd like. My friend here's Mori."

By now, Mori found the name a little juvenile, but he was going to get called that no matter what, so what could he do? Rikos was always a little eccentric, but... wow, he really hadn't changed at all. What were they even going to do here? Yes, they were uncovering someone's ancestors, but... he still didn't know. Maybe he could help cook or something; it was strange for a nobleman like Rikos to be cooking, but he couldn't argue after tasting it.

edited 13th Oct '12 10:09:51 PM by CrystalGlacia

Marion looked up at the sun and smirked. "Oh, sure. Turn off the sun. It's not like it's sustaining all life on the planet or keeping us from freezing to death or anything. No, just because it's a little hot here is perfect reason to halt thermonuclear fusion." Not that the heat bothered Marion; in fact, it was hot enough that she hadn't needed to eat in over a day. Sometimes, exothermy was a wonderful thing. Is he actually capable of it, or simply unaware of where he is? Need to look into it more, short of asking about it.

"In any case," said Marion, looking back to Delth, "I'm glad you can read at least some hieroglyphics. I'm still not sure how we managed to avoid getting word out to any linguists. Or if they all got scared away for some reason."

She turned to the larger suit of armor. True AI? Interesting. Very interesting. And, unfortunately, probably self-defensive; very hard to get a copy of it from there, even if she had the right equipment. "Oh, you'd be surprised how easy it is to avoid national intelligence agencies, in the right circumstances." She smirked slightly to herself. "And I can bear maintenance. Although you-" I wonder if he/it has a name or designation? "-probably know better. So no battle suits for me today."

Marion glanced over to Vince and nodded. He feels... odd. "Good. Could always use some more help with that." Very... something. But what? "And a cook, too? Handy." I don't know, maybe it's just me. "If you ever think we don't have the food or seasonings or whatever you need, feel free to take a truck to Luxor for what you want. I'll pay." And I hope I'm not suddenly swamped with linguists.

We should head over to that structure in the wall soon, find out what it is. Don't want to spend too much time fraternizing, no matter how good it may be to camaraderie.

The voice was first, coming from an empty and oddly flattened area of the nearby desert.

"Look, Krajn, I'm not trying to tell you that you can't get excited."

A young man of about thirty, dressed in an eclectic mismatch of anachronistic fashions - an early twentieth-century aviator's jacket, a 2120s longshirt tucked through a belt, and pre-Contact sneakers and baggy pants - stepped out of thin air onto the sands. He turned his head and spoke as if there was someone behind him.

"It's just that... well... I wouldn't expect you to be."

He moved aside as a female qrtxian stepped out of the air next to him, body held in a stiff posture. She was as tall as her human companion, but otherwise bore a close (and not-coincidental) resemblance to the famous 'greys' of twentieth-century UFO lore, though her eyes were red and obviously reptilian and her skin, at a close glance, was actually tiny scales. She wore loose-fitting black-and-silver clothes, and, to anyone who could detect it, was giving off an unusual amount of heat.

She turned to the human and made a slight fluting noise. "I am not excited. You are apathetic. Nothing connected to the Earth Gate network has functioned in four centuries - now it activates twice in one year. We find that very interesting, but I suppose I was too hasty in assuming you'd do likewise."

"It's just a dig site. And not even the kind that gets bad horror entertainment made about it."

"Harry Carter, the fact that you continue to call yourself a reporter is a gross misuse of that term. Particularly given the 'nature' of your particular network."

Exchanging irritated glances, they wandered towards the tents. Imperceptible to the naked eye, a dozen nanocams flaked off of Krajn's sleeves and fanned out around the camp.

They've just walked out of a camouflaged spaceship - if anybody with senses that go beyond normal human level was paying attention, they may have noticed it. Bring it up in the discussion thread if so.

Also, while I couldn't find a good way to work it into the description, Harry doesn't exactly fit any modern human ethnicity, but looks vaguely Chinese.

edited 13th Oct '12 8:51:32 PM by nrjxll

Okul, getting no response from the lizard-woman, shrugged and made his way into the ruins to see if there was anything obvious worth investigating. The ruins were alien to him — closer to Elasane than Yoth, but beyond that, a mystery. Still, it was as good a way to start this day as any.

As he considered his next move, he leaned against the wall.

Nothing specifically planned for this myself. We'll see what happens.

edited 13th Oct '12 9:41:23 PM by KillerClowns

Deep beneath the rolling dunes, an ancient presence stirred. A thought flickered through its dormant mind.

Is it time to wake up?

Unseen tendrils of eldritch influence wormed their way up through sand and stone, curious. They struck something. Something white and burning, something that made them shrink back, relating the sensation of pain back to their origin. It was an alien sensation, one that the slumbering presence almost failed to recognize entirely.

No! No, not yet. Not yet. But soon...

Soaring high above the grand desert at blinding speed, a being clutched a large paper map in it's clawed hands, struggling to keep sand from flying into its face as it inspected the map, looking down occasionally to check that it was going in the right direction.

Humming to itself as it spotted the dig site below, the being slowly began to descend a few feet away from the site. Softly on the sand below, a clearer view of the being was given.

The being was humanoid, and stood at a good six feet, with a relatively average build. It had four arms with three clawed fingers and an opposable thumb on each one. The wings it had previously been flying with had shrunken down, folding behind it's back into a neat fit. It had three eyes, which were dark yellow in their entirety, with the third positioned at its forehead. Its head was very similar to a a cross between an octopus and a human, with extra tentacles in the back, serving as hair. A forked tail tapered below, swaying back and forth as it walked. It wore a simple pair of light tan cargo shorts, a four-sleeved light green button up shirt with a stylized eye on the breast pocket, and a black backpack, which covered its wings.

The being looked toward the dig site and began to approach, walking at a rather relaxed pace, in comparison to the blinding speed it had been flying at earlier. It called out, it's speech rather guttural and strange, but still discernible "Excuse me, but is this the dig site that the add was talking about?"

"Oh, um... thank you," he said, nodding and trying to be sociable. Vince turned around, practically stopping because he thought he caught something. He scanned the dunes, but except for a faint circle of disturbed sand that wasn't there before, his search was fruitless. Whatever, he didn't care.

Mori looked up at him as Vince headed past. "That's weird; it always used to be me having to point stuff out to you."

He sort of looked off, really at nothing in particular as if deep in thought. "I... guess there's something here. I'm not sure that you would even be able to sense it, or not, just..." He gave up. "I dunno." As he said this, that was when he felt something lash at his feet. It honestly felt much worse, but there wasn't much he could do about that, either, so he walked on to the hole where digging had commenced before his arrival, where a wall of something lay staid.

"Sir," he said, addressing Okul, "I wouldn't lean on that if I were you."

Night.

edited 13th Oct '12 10:58:44 PM by CrystalGlacia

Okul jumped forward a bit as he realized his mistake, then said, "ah, I suppose not. Amu has always been better with this sort of place than I." Studying the newcomer, he decided to strike up a casual conversation and added, "I shall never understand why anybody would desire to be buried with so many treasures... care to tell me what leap of logic I am missing?"

G'night.

Marion twitched and looked around. She had felt... something. Again. Unfortunately, nothing really substantial. Almost like it was muted by something. But whatever it was, it was big. Really big. Potentially catastrophically so.

Note to self: be ready to turn the entire operation off and/or notify the right people if the shit hits the fan. Or if the fan turns out to be made of shit.

The being that had just landed certainly was interesting. "If by 'ad'," said Marion, "you mean the one set up by Marion Rakivata, then yes. There are plenty of ads out there, so clarification is always nice. I'm Marion, the sponsor of the dig. And you are?"

Hmm. Semi-aquatic? Might need a lot of water.

Seeing how everyone didn't get hit by the shards, Jackson sighed with relief. "Alrighty then. Now that we know that they work, let's dig."

"Wait." Adam said, "Don't you think we should ask the sponsor if these are okay?"

"I'm pretty sure we already got their attention by flying here." Nick said, looking at the others, "Besides, they were probably looking for something like that."

"Well, we can at least ask them where we can start digging." Restarting his shoes, the red head flew over to the other group. "I'll be right back!"

Sighing, Nick ran after him, not bothering to start his shoes. "Adam! You don't have to fly! They're five feet from you! Slow down!"

God damn it. Jackson thought, following the other two, Why do they do these things everywhere we go...?

edited 14th Oct '12 7:56:40 AM by Masterofchaos

"Yes, I do mean that ad," It approached Marion, "My name is Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft, and I assume that you are Marion Rakivata? I was hoping to get some information on this dig, it's been years since I've last been in Egypt and I wanted to know how much it's changed since I was last here."

He looked around for a bit, "So any progress so far? I was wondering with what I could help with."

When he means years, he means many, many, many years

No, I'm not Marion Rakivata, even though I said I was the sponsor and my name was Marion. Why won't anyone pay attention to anything anymore? And, geez, with a mouthful of a name like that, couldn't you give me an abbreviation or something?

"Well, for starters," said Marion, "it would help to know what, exactly, you can do. I can't send you anywhere if I don't know what you can do."

Something landed next to her. Marion turned to see one of the rocket-shoed kids from earlier landing near her. Red-headed. There better be a good reason for bringing kids along. If they think this place is just tourist attraction, I'm gonna... She wasn't sure what, exactly, she'd do. But she certainly wouldn't just let them waltz around the dig without a care in the world. "And you are?"

Already, Marion was having some doubts about the dig. The crew she was collecting was too motley, and motley crews rarely worked well (with one or two exceptions). Some of them would almost certainly eventually be at another's throat, and no one could work well in an atmosphere like that. But she had spent too much money to bug out now.

edited 14th Oct '12 5:23:50 PM by TeraChimera

Adam landed safely on the ground, trying not to hurt Marion or anybody nearby. "I'm Adam. Are you the sponsor for this place?"

Just then, Nick finally caught up with him, trying to catch his breath. "You...just...couldn't...slow d-down, could you?"

"I'm sorry Nick; I just wanted to know where to start digging and..."

Jackson finally caught up with the two, before stepping to Marion. He was amazed at just how much they kept running off after getting here. He prayed they wouldn't cause too much trouble for the sponsor.

"I apologize for my friends over there." He said, "I saw your invitation, and thought this would be the perfect place to test out my inventions. I invited them to help support me. I'm Jackson Ruth." He pointed at Nick and Adam. "The redhead's Adam, the youngest, and the guy is Nick, a year younger than me."

Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft thought for a quick second, "I could probably remove some of the larger rocks and clear out some of the debris if that's what's needed."

He looked at the kids of a second, Great, just when I thought I could take a break from children.

sorry clicked send too soon

edited 14th Oct '12 6:56:30 PM by PsychoFreaX

I hate being sick.

"These people viewed the afterlife as an extension of life, almost akin to moving in to a new house," he began, starting to head towards the wall itself rather than kneel by the hole, lest he get his cloak too dirty. "Thus, they buried their dead with everything they could need as though they were still alive." Vince adjusted his hood in an attempt to keep the sun off his head. "What brings you here, anyways?"

Off in another part of the camp, Mori watched the youths work with confusion. He had only heard of flight methods from Rikos, and how the machinists had so much trouble making the assassin's wings stay stable, and he knew that the one kid's frivolous use of his flight shoes would piss Rikos off if he was here. Why were they even here? Why did they feel the need to shatter a rock? What were they trying to achieve? At a loss, Mori shook his head.

edited 14th Oct '12 6:57:37 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Inventions," said Marion flatly. "You came here to test your inventions." She sighed and her wings went a little slack. "Do you think this is some kind of testing ground? Do you do this on college campuses or in the Large Hadron Collider as well? Tell me, what the hell made you think that an archaeological dig was a good place to bring untested equipment, as opposed to a controlled environment?" She didn't even particularly care what the inventions were.

Marion turned back to Mr. Incomprehensible. "And you. So you can lift stuff. Can you do, oh, I don't know..." She flared her wings. "...anything else?" She waved a hand over the people at the dig. "Look at all the hands we have. I think we're perfectly fine in the 'moving stuff' department."

She looked over the ridge and saw two figures: one dressed in a weird mishmash of outfits that included an aviator's jacket, of all things, and an alien that looked surprisingly stereotypical. "Hey!" she yelled out. "You two! I hope you aren't redundant or using this place as your own personal romping grounds!"

Goddammit. Goddammit goddammit goddammit. What is with people these days?

edited 14th Oct '12 7:39:06 PM by TeraChimera

Okul considered this. Perhaps the Elasane had once believed likewise: this would explain the treasure filled tombs they'd left behind in that era before the rise of the Red Kings. But how the dead intended to reclaim their treasures was a mystery to him. Still, he'd puzzle on this later.

"Me and Amu were returning from trying to strike a bargain with a Transcendent known as the Lightbringer. Times have been hard, and we desperately need gold and silver to refill our coffers, but the city states and caravans have been stingy with their tribute. Willing to let their soldiers bleed over sums they would once not consider worth retrieving if they fell down a sewer." He scoffed in disgust. "It seems their fortunes are as ill as our own." Or perhaps they know we are not as deadly as we once were.

He then smiled a bitter, ironic smile as he said, "but as I said: the Lightbringer simply told us we would find opportunity, treasure, and glory... and asked for no payment for this service." His eyes narrowed. "Those are perhaps the most terrifying words a Transcendent can utter, for it is rare they are not on the winning end of a bargain."

"Wow! You think these people may just be almost as weird as we are?" Rina commented, looking around at all the talking suits and lizard. Now that they're done unpacking and setting up their tent though, the next thing to do is to look for work. So Rina walked over to the lizard lady Marion and asked, "Hey! So is there anything you really want done right now? We're good at all kinds of things!"

"Rina the Booby Trap tester, fitting," muttered Prisha, who had followed Rina. Glaring around at everyone like usual.

Harry and Krajn both spoke at the same time.

"No, we're - "

"Of course not! I - "

They paused and exchanged glances again, followed by exchanging messages.

Harry.

Krajn.

It's my assumption that I'm to 'do the talking' in on-the-job situations.

Fine. Go ahead. Knock yourself out.

Krajn stepped forward and inclined her head slightly at an angle of polite meeting. "Marion Rakivata? I am Krajn, of the Qvn Jxilkr, and this is my... partner Harry Carter, FII. Our third cohort, Cecelia, is currently occupied with shipboard maintenance but can contact you if required. We are here to respond to your advertisement for assistance with the excavation. I should be able to provide security duties, as well as assisting with scientific, medical, and translational needs, among other possibilities depending on your specific technological capabilities."

She stepped back and lifted her head to a normal position, not glancing at Harry. Her nanocams began to feed information into her systems, but she ignored it for the moment. Harry, for his part, remained quiet.

edited 14th Oct '12 8:45:09 PM by nrjxll

al-Faddil paused in what he was doing, just looking around. Not a technological civilization. Instinctive, or laborious, use of magic. If nothing else it wouldn't be too hard to finesse most of what was done here, then. He materialized a blade, one-handed with a hint of a curve, and made for the ruins. Might as well get started.

"This isn't the best place to be flying about on those things," the large suit observed to Jackson. "Somebody puts their head into a wall and it'll be really awkward." There was a hint of something, perhaps a "I really don't want to have to bury a kid today". The suit's visor slid open, revealing half a face, bright blue eyes, blonde hair. "So please be careful."

Very sorry at taking a long time to post. I couldn't use the library.

A page worth of posts earlier.

"Magical ability at an early age is mostly in the form of 'potential'. Control of your Gift at that stage is unconscious—it's only once you're older that it begins to break out and you need to learn how to control your powers," Cain explained. Of course, it was over simplifying it a lot, but a suitable explanation enough to—hopefully—appease Amu.

Kaidza shrugged, and said, "I brought a bunch of texts that can help translate hieroglyphics, along with books about the Ancient Egyptian civilization that can help us.. We didn't just come here with guns and tents you know."

The pair of them lingered for a few moments before helping their company set up tents and arrange the equipment they brought.

edited 15th Oct '12 12:59:23 AM by Tehpillowstar

“This could just as easily be a trap,” Herakleios said to Kalogeros, as the latter packed the last of his things in his knapsack, “Your machine picking up a message from another world seems far too convenient.”

“And I’m telling you for the last time,” Kalogeros said “the shear amount of effort it would take to successfully pull it off far outweighs any profit derived from killing just the two of us. Externally controlling my machines is something even I haven’t managed to do, but even if it’s possible, enriching ink with chi from another dimension is beyond even an Oracle’s pay grade.” As he zipped his knapsack and slung it on his back, he added, “So, bottom line – I don’t care how “convenient” this is, we’re doing this. So can we just go?”

Herakleios opened his mouth to continue, but checked himself before he started. He was going to bring Kalogeros’ attention to the possibility that the message being genuine didn’t exactly stop enemies from taking advantage of it, but telling him about the enemies within Neo Aima wouldn’t help either of them. Besides, it didn’t seem like he would listen anyway. Kalogeros seemed almost excited to leave his workshop, something which brought his emotional state into question. So reluctantly, he nodded. He brought out his Teleportation potion, as did Kalogeros, which they both threw at the ground.

They arrived at the designated site, where a number of other sorcerers were already waiting with the rune already drawn on the ground. “Oh no, take your time,” said one of them in annoyance, “it’s not like we have jobs to do.”

Kalogeros flipped the guy off as he said, “Blowing oracles isn’t a job, Aurelius. Now hurry up and open the portal.” He walked onto the rune, with Herakleios close behind, and when they reached the centre, the other sorcerers placed their hands on the rune. A black circle opened up above Kalogeros and Herakleios’ head, after which the two of them started fading until they’d fully disappeared.

“Son of a bitch,” Kalogeros said, after the two of them fully materialized in Egypt, raising his hand to shield his face from the sun. He was a lanky young man of 26-years, with black hair that looked perpetually uncombed. Years of confining himself to his workshop had left him with pale skin and dull brown eyes. He was wearing a black coat with red lining that ran along the cuffs and a red inverted-L design on the chest area, coupled with black pants and shoes.

His companion was a 17-year old boy with a short yet athletic build. He had stringy brown hair that covered his forehead and shifty brown eyes constantly surveying his surroundings. The dark circles around his eyes told of his sleep deprived lifestyle. He was wearing the same clothes as Kalogeros, since it was a uniform, however the red lines were replaced by blue ones, symbolizing that he was a Caster class sorcerer.

“How the hell did they forget to mention it was in the middle of a bloody desert?” Kalogeros continued, finding the brightness and heat not to his liking. He quickly looked around and, spotting a bunch of workers digging, said, “You, over there…Yes, you. Where can I find your employer?”

The worker answered back in a language neither of the two understood. “Oh well, that’s just great,” Kalogeros said, “Guess we have a bit of walking around to do. Let’s go.”

To that, Herakleios grunted affirmation, and the two of them walked in search of this Marion Rakivata.