Fantasy Ruine Chasseurs Main Thread

[Cross]

Ruine Chasseurs

The world of Paprika is packed with mystery. Old structures called ruins, but sometimes shaped like castles or towers or fortresses, dot the landscape. They suggest a once prominent civilization smudged out of history. Little is known about them but certain objects inside the ruins allow people to wield supernatural abilities.

The ruins are full of treasure and old books, carvings and art. The insides of one ruin can sell for hundreds of millions, and even more on the black market.

There is a prevailing theory of how the ancient civilization went extinct. The same threat to people now. Old creatures roam Paprika. Monsters. Beasts. Giant beings which sometimes attack humans and other times simply live separately from them.

The monsters have made it impossible for regular people to immigrate and travel. The known world is small and ends at the edge of the continent of Paprika. Ruin hunters aren't just part of the wealthiest 1%, they're also explorers and discoveries of uncharted lands.

Men and women with extraordinary abilities make a living looting ruins and slaying monsters. It's the fastest way to become rich. Some people want to explore the ruins for the excitement or to find out how the ancient civilization lived, others want to discover and walk on land no one else has touched before.

A gigantic ruin--a castle under a mountain--was discovered 20 years ago. It lies between Juniper and Chervil. The ruin doesn't have a door or windows or any visible opening. Ruin Hunters were baffled about how to enter it. To make matters worse, the area is littered with monsters. Most people gave up and returned home after a few weeks, while some died looking for a way inside the ruin. Finally, an answer was put forth by sticking the pages of different journals together. A wealth of knowledge passed on from ruin hunters past. Hunters have to do something to break the lock which they're known to detest, working together. Edward Coriander is recruiting a group to break the seal on the ruin and excavate it. The castle has a special mechanism on the door which can only be opened by a group and not an individual. To make matters worse, there is an active volcano sitting above the ruin. It's due for an eruption. If the hunters want the valuables inside the ruin, they have to get them now.

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[Cross]

The castle was exquisite. A wonderland. A bone-white structure without any doors or windows. The ancients carved into the mountain to build inside it. It was beautiful. The mystery had always been how to break the seal on the ruin.

The archeologist in Edward wanted to investigate every inch of the castle. Hunters gradually developed an intuition for which ruins carried the most phenomenal things inside. This one looked like a powerful and ominous place. Which were the best kind.

Too bad about the volcano. There was no time to lose fawning over the architecture.

Edward excavated the journal from his bag. Luckily, the professor of Juniper’s most prominent University translated the map for him, explained the symbols and illustrations. The old man’s lecture had been on repeat in Edward’s head ever since.

Along with his warning. Overdue for an eruption. . .

“We can do this without getting in each other’s way,” Edward said. A sentiment he more or less believed. “All we have to do is stand at different doors to unlock the mechanism.” Edward consulted the map to tell him where each door, camouflaged by decades of flourishing mother nature, was. “Boone ( Dover ) and Mildred ( Alteras ) , can you two handle the switches at the front door?” Edward gestured to the wide doorless entrance.

“Via ( Life. ) and Nunciata ( PeanutLemur ), the castle has a servants entrance,” Edward said. “There's a staircase leading down to a small door. There should be a switch of some kind.”

As far as looting went, it was first come first serve. It wasn’t a perfect situation but better than all the ruin’s insides melting when Mt. Basil finally erupted and no one getting the treasure.

“Blaire ( Susanoo ), Mikhail ( Aughto von realname ), and I will handle the trap door on the cliffside,” Edward said. The pressure plates would all click together at the same time and. . . do something. In theory. Hopefully.

A little earthquake shifted the ground underneath them all. It wasn’t, Edward sensed, from the volcano. He fought enough monsters to recognize a roar.

Edward snorted as he went through a bout of laughter. “Sounds like a big one.” He said. The monsters inside the castle must have had hay fever from being locked in for so long.

 

[Alteras]

Mildred Desrocher

Mildred raised her hand in a salute. "Aye Aye Captain" She was leaning on her cannon, which was sitting upwards on the ground. As the ground shook, Mildred grabbed onto her cannon instinctively. Recovering herself, she lifted the cannon up and strapped it onto her shoulder, saying, "We better give them a good ole fight then." She was quite eager for the raid to begin. It has been some time since her last one, and it wasn't very satisfying. Hopefully this one would be a challenge, especially considering there was a whole team of ruin hunters with her.

 

[Aughto von realname]

Mikhail waved Edward off as he fiddled with the settings of his artificial eye before joining the group.

"Yes, yes... Also I suggest we all enter through one entrance rather than split ourselves up." Mikhail spoke in a smooth and pleasant tone as a plan, which in his mind Edward seemed to lack, took form in his mind. he picked up his rifle, which he left by Mildred's cannon, and began drawing a rough representation of the ruin's walls then marking the inside of the ruin with an X.

"Seeing as we don't know what's inside, we don't know how the ruins are laid out, and a relatively small time frame to explore and excavate this Ruin. It would be best that we stick together as assuming this laid out like most ruins." Mikhail made a circle within a circle withing a circle within the walls of the ruins.

"The more valuable items will be deeper into the ruins which means the quicker we get here." He pointed at the middle of the ruins.

"The more valuable loot we will get." Mikhail pointed his rifle at the outer circles.

"But this merely a suggestion, you need not follow it as I'm not the one in charge here." Mikhail shrugged and and awaited his companions' response.

 

[Susanoo]

Drinking the last amount of juice he had in his cup while the others were talking about the plan. Well mainly Edward was, then came mikhali suggesting we should all stick together. Blaire placed his sheathed sword on brown, bare skin of the right shoulder. He took the straw out of the cup he was drinking from with his mouth, and tossed the cup as a sudden shake occurred.

He look at Mikhail with a smirk coming from his mouth. "You seem to be paranoid. Sticking together in a good looking ruin, don't know what is beneath it would be a something a paranoid person would suggest.

He says, as he walked placing a hand on his shoulder. "What can go wrong? I think ed's plan seems legit enough. I'll spot out the booby traps, since this is a ruin, and it is ancient. Kind of like your classic indiana jones film"

Blaire winked at mikhali as he passed him up while twirling his sword from different angles with his left.

 

[Cross]

Edward stepped forward with the journal in hand. He fluttered through the same few pages again and again. "Okay, so I just need to--" He spotted a blue platform on the top of the cliff. It favored the square drawn in the journal. Yep, there it was. Or else the ancient ones liked stoney welcome mats.

"Just because you decide something doesn't mean the mystical castle is going to agree," Edward responded to Mikhail. "The ruin is full of switches. There are three pathways. To get further into the ruin, switches from all three pathways have to be pulled." Or else they'd all be trapped inside and die--that was usually how it went. Edward stopped short of relaying that's why he brought them in the first place.

"So, are you going to pull the switch on your door or give up and go home?" Edward asked. It a sentiment he was asking all of them not just Mikhail.

Aughto von realname Susanoo Life. Alteras Dover PeanutLemur

 

[Dover]

Boone Abernathy

The ground rumbled under Boone’s feet and he had to force himself not to bounce on his toes excitedly. He’d never been in a ruin before where the time constraint was quite so short or so dire. He loved it.

“Front door switches, yessir,” Boone said to confirm Edward’s request.

He secured his bow over one shoulder and good-naturedly patted Mikhail on the back as he passed. “Come on, old man. Where’s the fun without a bit of unpredictability?” With a wild grin on his face, Boone raced ahead to go flip one of the switches at the front entrance.


interacting with: Cross Aughto von realname

 

[PeanutLemur]

Nunciata Roslyn

The thrill of adventure was not, in actuality, Nunciata's draw to the ancient and undiscovered. Her pull came from a different part of herself: the innate desire to learn and the promise of adherence to a sense of duty carried like a shield. When the voices died around her, she cast a glance towards the company with dubious intrigue. Across her back her polearm bumped, the shifting of her feet stirring its movement. There was hesitance in her blood and alacrity in her bones. While the former may not be in her nature, this inclination towards indecision, the blonde would be lying if she said she didn't feel it now. The anticipation in the air, a thick weight on the back of her tongue, was palpable after all.

And so was the uncertainty.

Breathe leaving her nose in a steady stream, Nunciata reached back to secure her ponytail at the back of her head. The action was habitual, a custom designed to ground her mind and gather her spirit. With each tug and pull, each sweet spike of residual pain along her scalp, she cleared away her doubts. Here, where time wasn't on their side and the unknown was as much a stranger as ever, it was all the blonde could do to cement her nerve.

When Boone bound away to handle his portion of the task, all previous discussions brushed aside, she turned to face her assigned partner. Via had yet to speak out, and Nunciata took the fact as a good sign. She wasn't for needless chatter. "Shall we?" Her voice posed the statement as a question, but the way the blonde moved her body towards the servant entrance made it anything but. If time was their enemy, she wouldn't waste any more of it standing around.

Interacting with: Life.

 

[Alteras]

Mildred ran after Boone toward the switches. Her cannon bumped up and down behind her, slowing her down slightly. She made it to where Boone and bent over her knees for a bit catching her breath. She got up and walked up to another switch and prepared to flick it as she watched the others go to their respective places. "Any idea what might be inside?"

Dover

 

[Life.]

Via Alistair
Another excavation, another job. But for some reason the current client was paying quite a hefty price for Via to find the treasures of this ruin. Later the Vixen discovered that this ruin was one that was found years ago but no one has been able to enter the mysterious castle. Other than those details the job did not capture much of Via's interest aside from the price her client was paying.

The raven-haired woman with flaring red tips stood a distance away from the hodgepodge of Ruin Hunters. Did she trust any of them? Hardly. Did she enjoy the idea of sharing the spoils? Nope, but her client specifically outlined that in order for her to enter the ruin she needed to work with others, specifically Edward Coriander, the Ruin Hunter who supposedly held the instructions to enter the castle. Via watched as the others talked amongst themselves on whether to follow with Edward's plan or proceeded to their assigned positions. From what Edward said Via was to work with Nunciata. The blonde hair woman seemed just about the same age as Via but held a more..."innocent" air around her. It was then that she spoke to Via. "Sure," the raven-haired woman answered as she followed after her partner.

Via ran a hand over her belt to ensure herself that she had shadow orb secured and readied. It was her favorite orb from the two since it was her first and only orb until she recently found her regenerative orb. Her blue eyes glanced over to Nunciata who seemed ready as well. She released a small breath as well, hoping that things go smoothly for the Ruin Hunters.

PeanutLemur

 

[Cross]

Edward answered the chitter-chatter of the other hunters with a grin. "That's the stuff, Boone!" He called and whistled sharply after the fact. The builders of the castle chose a weird way of sealing it off from outsiders. The loot it held was probably pretty impressive.

Edward hopped onto the platform. His new expensive boots were bulky where his pant leg cut off at his ankle. Mildred and Boone worked well together, efficiently, it made Edward pay attention. It wouldn't do for another team to get all the treasure due to being functional and well-rounded.

May the best hunter win, Edward thought. Which would be himself in his mind. Edward stuck his tongue out briefly in their direction.

Dover Alteras

His gaze shifted to the team of two ladies. They were a force to be reckoned with but he didn't trust Val. Edward doubted she was unkind, he had no basis for that, but she seemed like a troublemaker. While Nunciata came off as a little too serious.

Edward signaled them with a thumbs-up. They looked prepared.

PeanutLemur Life.

"Blaire, get up here." Edward insisted. Blaire seemed like the easier of his teammates to respond to encouragement. "You might as well too old guy, the ruin won't explore itself."

If Edward had to guess, the blue tile was a pressure plate leading underground to a basement or tunnels. Three different entrances, three different routes. Edward wasn't phased. He'd been through too many life or death situations for that or really to register when he should cautious.

Susanoo Aughto von realname

 

[Dover]

Boone Abernathy

Boone skidded to a stop next to one of the front door switches and waited for Mildred to join him at the other. He found her quite impressive. If he tried to run around with a cannon on his back, he was pretty sure he’d fall face first on the ground after the first step. Maybe before that.

He mused Mildred’s question. “For a place like this? It has to be something incredible. Traps, puzzles, even a volcano? Whoever hid treasure here either has a flair for the grandiose or they were hiding something special. Personally, I’m hoping for more gold and gems than I can fit in my bag.” It would have to be to pay off that debt he’d racked up. And to pay off that bounty hunter that was after him.

“Should we wait for a signal or…?” He raised his hand up to the switch and wiggled his fingers, ready to flip it at a moment’s indication that he could.

Interacting with: Alteras