Day 229 [EVENT]: Search the Skyway

[bastionpc]

Who: Nathaniel, Zahi, and everyone who wants to participate
Open: Open
When: Day 229
Where: Burstone Quarry
What: The Bastion needs a core. Badly. So what better place would there be to search than the place cores were mined from before the Calamity?
Format:any
Warnings:here be monsters

[After a few days of rest and organization, Nathaniel and Zahi finally lead a good portion of the Bastion residents to the quarry to look for a core. Fortunately, it doesn't take long to reach the quarry, thanks to the extended reach of the Skyway. Unfortunately, the quarry is very large, which means that everyone has to split up into small groups to cover more ground. But is the risk worth it for the reward?]

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OOC:

Due to the nature of this post, there will be several threads happening at once. When your group is ready for some more NPC/setting interaction, put a note in the subject line of your comment, and a mod will jump in to further the thread.

Also, several groups can be at one location within the quarry, but each group will still have their own thread in that location.

Finally, if you did not sign up for a group, you can still participate. Any group of 2-4 participants can start a thread in here. If you need to find someone to make a last-minute group with, jump in on the most recent plurk on the mod plurk, or on the OOC post here.

Comments

[tophgirl]

Yeah, it is. And it's big. Get ready!

[Toph doesn't have a weapon on her — she isn't trained well enough in the sword to bring it with her for this venture. But she's got a few ideas for how to use her limited bending. She calls up some earth to form gloves to give her punches more umph.]

[chosenbylife]

So this is essentially top quality monster bait then?

[ Calem pauses as he grabs a pick for himself as well, his shoulders slumping a little. It figured everything had a catch. ]

If we're going fast enough though... perhaps it won't be a problem? We can load it into the cart, and then I can hitch up the cart to my Gogoat with some rope. When he gets up to speed he can really barrel along.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko brings her pick down several times, chipping away at the earth as she listens to the others. Then she stops and looks over at the cart.]

I'm going to clear those rocks out of the cart, make it as light as possible. The faster we're able to plow through, the better.

Once we're past them, I'll do what I can to keep them from following. Most animals won't walk into fire.

[amphibian]

Ah, that sounds like it'll be perfect! Let's hurry up and dig the out, then, so we can get outta here!

[Grinning, looking as energetic as ever, Aoi goes back to digging as quickly as she can.]

[croceamors]

[Well, with only him and Roxas, someone has to fill up the Organization's "did something stupid and nearly died for it" quota. Saix glances over the large shiny and and then glances at the rest of the tunnel. Does it to any farther? May as well make sure they find everything before they mess with the unstable walls.]

[He suddenly misses Lexaeus if only for his elemental aspect. An earth user would have been good to have in this situation.]

Feel like courting death right now?

[aprettyred]

"Mikoto breathes fire." Anna informs Anya, still picking up the photos. "And I read minds. I know when creatures are about, because I pick up their thoughts."

... Actually she's not sure if she's told Colin that second bit, she just wanted to see the Skyway a bit more in person.

[notduchess]

... More birds. [ Duke sort of recognizes these ones - Zulf has a bunch, the knight thinks.

But on the other hand, the last time Duke got close to birds, there was a plague caught from them.

.... Duke isn't looking to see if there's a corpse near by or anything, not at all. ]

... does that look like a big shard to anyone else? [ Please say that its just the knight's vision being wonky... Duke would sort of like to not have to deal with more skyway birds on the first trip out since the plague. ]

[stormsinbraids]

... I'd prefer we take the open one first, and at least as a pair. [ And Chime doesn't really count as a person for this- ]

I'd rather be wary about that free way in.

[doctor_dragoon]

[Yukio wants to move back or try and wave the bird away, but he manages to suppress those initial instincts. Just gonna... let the Rattle-Tail tug at his boot laces for now. Maybe he can keep it distracted long enough for his teammates to finish down below.

... And then maybe let it have his boot when it comes time to get everyone up top again.]

He's just after my boot now.

[Much safer than dynamite.]

[freedom_engineer]

Colin blinks as Mikoto lands on his head. "You know, not everyone would be so comfortable having a giant insect leap at them, And you're getting a little chubby." he tells Mikoto in a friendly tone, and he grins over at Anya.

"I drink, but not often," Colin tells her. "Caffeine is my vice of choice. And Mikoto's a helpful bug."

He reaches up and tickles Mikoto's head lightly before picking him off and setting him down near Anna. He's not terribly worried whatsoever about Anna's mindreading talents, and if she's ever brought it up, he's never thought twice about it. It probably helps that he's grown up around telepaths.

[dontyoujustwish]

"Well, that might have been nice to know. I usually don't bother to keep my thoughts to myself, but most people would tell me they aren't suitable for children. If you're going to hear them anyway, then forget that."

She's not nearly a private enough person to be upset about the mindreading, but she is bothered that her rare attempt at being tactful was apparently entirely pointless. Jeez.

She'll just shove that bottle of alcohol into her bag with all the money.

"Are we done here?"

[dontyoujustwish]

Anya divides her attention between watching Colin's handiwork and eyeing those birds suspiciously. She's not concerned exactly, but she's not thrilled with the idea of fighting them. She might get pecked.

"If we find enough of those cores, do we get to keep those big shards for ourselves? That other one should rightfully belong to me, since I found it, but I'm willing to let it be used for the common good since that includes me."

[chosenbylife]

We'll be flying out of here!

[ Once it looks like the core is revealed enough to move he releases Gogoat, aka the giant leafy mountain goat, from his pokeball. He hunts around in the piles of abandoned equipment until he comes across a few lengths of sturdy enough looking rope. Then it's easy enough to knot up the ropes to the connector link you'd normally use to hook it up to other carts. The other ends of the ropes he secured around his pokemon's saddle. ]

I'm just about done here...

[ He yanks and tugs at the ropes until he's satisfied everything's stable and won't be coming undone any time soon. The rigging wouldn't last too long under the abuse he intended to put it though... but it should be enough to get them out. ]

There! Now shall we load our prize up?

[daughterofursa]

[After the animate key ring, the giant leafy goat seems practically normal. Zuko doesn't need any time to take that one in.

She nods to the others as she returns to grab the core.]

Give me a hand with this.

[coffeewithmysugar]

I've never seen them before. What are they?

[Edea eyes the rattle-tails with one brow hitched, unsure what to think. They haven't outright attacked the party but she's in no mood to start a fight if it can be avoided. She wonders if there's something they can do to ward the strange birds away (even if it's only temporarily).

Duke's question prompts her to peer closer at the nest.]

It does look pretty big... Think we can scare them off?

[amphibian]

Aaaaww, he's so cute! [Aoi even scratches behind Gogoat's ears before it's back to business. She scurries over to the core and bends beside it. She waits until everyone's present and appearing to have a good grip before sue starts to yell.] Everyone ready? On three, we lift it! All together! One! Two! Three! [And, with a grunt and all the effort she can muster, up we go!]

[coolerthansora]

I dunno... They look more like they wanna scare us off.

[Roxas frowns. He doesn't like the idea of picking a fight either, but he's pretty sure they need that big shard more than the birds do. It's too bad they can't exactly talk it out.]

Maybe- if one of us upsets them, they might leave the nest to chase us away?

[notachickenhawk]

<Okay, good. And that doesn't look big enough to be a core... I'll look for other things, but we should get that back up, at least. Let me know when you're ready to get pulled, Nanaki, and I'll tell you when, okay Yukio?>

[He can be the radio. He doesn't mind.]

[chosenbylife]

[ Gogoat stamps his front hooves and bleats at the attention. Calem meanwhile, just grunts very inelegantly as they finally manage to heave the core into the cart. He takes a brief moment to catch his breath before bowing. ]

Mademoiselles, your carriage awaits. I believe we must make haste now.

[ He scrambles over to Gogoat and climbs up into his saddle. ]

I'll be staring out steady to gain momentum, but hold on tight, I'll be increasing speed quite shortly.

[bastionpc]

[Aww, look at all this teamwork and cooperation! It'd be a shame if anything bad were to happen.

Like, oh, a bunch of Rattle-Tails showing up. Not just the family from before, either, but many, many more. See, birds like shinies, and that is the ultimate shiny, so they are going to dive-bomb the group to try to scare them off.]

[findsrisks]

Let's try looking around a bit more, I can carry more than just this.

[It's big, but not so unwieldy that she can only handle that. So she shifts the shard to stick it under one arm while carefully moving along the cliff wall with her feet + the other arm.]

[bastionpc]

[The Rattle-Tail doesn't want the boot, just the shoelace. Unfortunately, birds cannot unthread shoes that well, so it get frustrated, and it squaks loudly. Then it will let go and fly up high.

Yeah, it's going to try meteoring Yukio to get the shoelace free. This bird is not a smart one.

Down below, there are a couple more big-looking shards, though none look as large as a core. Nanaki could probably carry two, provided she has help pulling herself back up.]

[daughterofursa]

[What is a madamoiselle.

Zuko stays in the cart with the core and looks ahead -- that... is a lot more birds than she was anticipating. Far too many to be concerned for the birds' safety when their own and their goal are at risk.

She was saving her firebending for something, and this is it. She forms a fire shield over as much of the cart as she can. It's not exactly impenetrable, but it should prove a deterrent.

It should also provide a lot more light than before for Calem to see just how many of these things they have to get past.]

[amphibian]

[WOW GUESS WHO TOTALLY DIDN'T SIGN UP TO STAR IN AN ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOVIE TODAY

Aoi shrieks as the birds descend, but doesn't get much of a chance to do anything before the fire shield goes up, and there's nothing at all she can do once it's there (aside from gape at Zuko a little because wow, fire shield). For now, she holds onto the edge of the cart with one hand and wraps her other arm around the core, hoping to keep it and her secure.]

[doctor_dragoon]

[Today is just not his day. Sorry, bird, but you've just lost your shoelace privileges.

Yukio's seen that move before and he knows exactly what's coming when the Rattle-Tail doesn't just flutter away. He's got the sense to move away from the cliff's edge, hoping to draw fire away from his teammates' rather precarious position.]

Meteor's incoming! Hold on!

[Even with the warning out, he's going to pull both of his weapons and try for a shot at the Rattle-Tail. If he can't kill it before the meteors start flying, he'll have to try and knock the rocks out of the sky as they fall.]