Secrets of Toran [Job/Altair, Sloth]

The Sands of Knowledge:

The desert of forgotten souls is a mysterious place. Even with the best equipment, one can easily find themselves lost forever in the shifting dunes. So of course, of all the places Altair wanted to explore, it was here. He remebered from talking to Yakuroro that the dungeons had some kind of connection to the Toran language. And from talking to some of the people in town, it was said that the ruins out in the desert could hold a key to decoding it.

Altair walked for a long time. From sun-up to sun-down he walked, and still no sign of the ruins. Then the wind started to pick up. Sand started blowing in every direction. Altair knew what this meant. Sandstorm. He quickly pulled out his tent, and got inside. He would have to wait out the storm in here.

Hours passed, and still there was no sign of the storm letting up. Altair sighed, knowing that he would have to start his search all over again since the dunes have shifted. Suddenly, a rather large rock whistled through the tent, causing it to rip and tear to shreds in the howling wind. Altair quickly got up, and ran for the nearest cover. He only had to run for a moment before seeing some kind of building in the distance. It appeared rugged and broken, but Altair didn't care. He only needed to get out of the storm. Altair slid down the dune and rushed into the darkness of the ruins. He pulled a torch out of his backpack, and lit it, revealing the inside of the ruins. "Whoa." He said. It was apparent that he had come to the right place. strange markings covered the walls, all of them pictographs accompanied by words in the Toran language. Altair couldn't understand any of them, but maybe if he were to travel farther inside...

~314/1000~

Dynatos yawned loudly as he flew in his magic carpet. Ares was laying down next to him sleeping. The sun was high as usual and it was hotter than Hades. Dynatos however had become used to the to the heat as well as Ares, who drunk a lot more water and who had gotten bigger has of late. Dynatos and Ares both were relaxed, heading to do another job that was posted on the Heliohapt job board. It was something dealing with the secrets of the Toran language which had been lost, or so it was thought. Suddenly the winds began to pick up, as Dynatos looked into the distance he noticed a cloud; this cloud look like it was some sort of brown smoke, but considering the time he had spent in Heliohapt Dynatos knew it was a sandstorm and by the looks of it this storm was going to be a monster.

The winds blew so hard it caused the sleeping Ares to promtly wake up, not only that but they caused the carpet to become unstable. Dynatos frowned as he has to land, but before it could the carpet would flip over. Dynatos frowned and Ares stuck himself to his Fanalis Master. Dynatos held the carpet with one hand and using his free hand would slam his fist into the ground when they landed. Dynatos thought that they would simply hit the sand and cause a slight crater, but in the contrary they pulnneted into a underground cavern with strange markings on the ground. Dynatos looked around and smirkedd. "This must be the place."

261/1000

Just as Altair was getting his bearings, the ceiling of the ruins collapsed in a circle in front of him. Fearing the storm, Altair ducked behind some fallen pillars. When he was sure the storm was just blowing over the top, he peeked out from his hiding place to see a large man, clad in red, pulling his fist out of the ground. Curious, Altair came around and looked the man over. He looked to be of average build, but very tall. And, despite his imposing height, he had an aura of calmness around him. But the most striking thing about the man was his red hair. In fact, it was so red it could only have belonged to a particular race. “What were they called again? Fanatics? No wait, Fanalis.” That race was feared for their immense strength and fighting ability, and in order to pacify them, they were often bought and sold as slaves. This struck a particular cord with Altair. He had only ever seen a few Fanalis before, but they all seemed kind enough. His mind made up, Altair approached and asked, ”Are you ok? You must have fallen from pretty high to have busted through the ceiling like that. Even a Fanalis like yourself might be hurt.” He looked to the ceiling, to see that it had been plugged with sand. “Good. That way the storm won’t get in and rip the flesh from our bones.” Altair thought to himself. Turning his attention back to the Fanalis he said, ”My name is Altair. I’m here researching the ruins for some kind of codex of the Toran language. I remember this being on the job board, so could that be why you are here as well?”

~504/1000~

Ares yelped when Dynatos landed, not only that but the poor pup seemingly turned pale and lifeless. What Dynatos had done was to much for him to handle. Dynaots laughed at Ares reaction to what had just transpired. Remembering that there was a vicious sandstorm on top of him, Dynatos looked up only to see that the hole he created had been promtly plugged up by sand. Dynatos felt like something was watching him, but it wasn't a malicious kind of vibe he was getting. Before he could even move a man came up to him checking to see if he was ok. The man was small comapred to Dynatos. Once Dynatos had registered the man was no threat he paused before returning the man's words with words of his own. "A small fall like that is nothing. It'll take way more than that to hurt to seriously." Ares who had regained his composure barked in agreement. Dynatos analyzed the man and noticed his clothes seemed a tad bit more tattered than they should have been if he knew where this place was, so this man obviously stumbled across it much like Dynatos. Dynatos himself though did not bring this up. "I'm Dynatos and that little guy is Ares." Little guy was  a bit of a stretch as Ares was larger than a wolf and was still a puppy. Dynatos nodded to Altair's question. "Yeah, I'm here cause of the job." Ares suddenly began to growl low. Dynatos knew what this meant; something was coming and from how Ares was acting that something was somethings. The job descrition did say that there would be creatures here. They were obviously guardians that were put here, or at least that was what Dynatos believed. He did not know exactly what to expect, so he prepared himself ofr any and everything.

568/1000

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Altair said to the pair. He was about to ask if maybe they should search together, when Ares started growling. Growing up around animals, Altair immediately knew what this meant. They weren't alone. Altair drew his rod and waited to see where the threat would be coming from. For a long moment there was nothing. Altair searched furtively with his eyes for any signs of movement, only to jump backwards yelling, "Get back!" to Dynatos as his eyes landed on the four giant scorpions on the ceiling. They dropped down just as Altair got away. Two of the Scorpions came at Altair, just as another pair went towards Dynatos and Ares.

Altair parried a few stabs of the tail with his rod, noting the venom that dribbled down it's length. They were poisonous, and likely deadly if they stabbed you. Altair shook the venom off of his rod, and Quivered to get behind the scorpions. He then delivered two quick blows to their tails, squashing them and making them useless. With their biggest threat nullified, Altair got in close, and ended the pair with blows to the head. He then turned to see how Dynatos fared, his rod in hand and ready should they need his help.

Quiver:

Stamina/Magoi: 190/200

~720/1000~

The head of Dynatos shot up when Ares looked up and began to bark aggressively. When Dynatos would look up he would see four creatures on the ceiling. Just as soon as he looked up the came crashing down. As two went for the man named Altair the remaining two came after Dynatos and Ares. Dynatos remained calm and began to get a feel for the beasts. They were strong, but nothing for him to handle; hell even Ares could fight on of these massive scorpions by himself. A true Fanalis smile spread across the face of Dynatos as he analysed the scorpions. They thought themselves to be the predators, but in fact had become the prey of Dynatos."I got this Ares, go help Altair." Ares barked in agreement and dashed off towards the man who had managed to take out the scorpions stingers. One of the scorpions tried to attack Ares, but when it attempted to do so Dynatos grabbed its tail and flung it into the body of the other scorpion. They both flew and slammed into a pillar causing it to fall on them both. Dynatos stood standing still with his arms by his side giving off a truly terrifying aura. The scorpions burst from the downed pillars and approached Dynatos. One stepped forward in fornt of the other and raised its stinger into the air. Dynatos smiled and swiftly sent a powerful punch directly to the head of the beast. His fist went straight through the hardened shell of the scorpion as it fell limp to the ground. He then jumped into the air and landed on the still standing scorpion. He grabbed onto its tail and ripped it off then stabbed it; with the second scorpion down he turned to see how Altair was fairing. Ares had gotten behind on the the scorpions and let out a stream of fire that engulfed it leaving only one scorpion left to deal with. Dynatos was impressed at how strong Ares had become, but less impressed by how weak these 'Guardians' were.

906/1000

With the scorpions now dead, Altair turns to Dynatos and says, "Nicely done, and thanks for your help." He then begins to examine the ceiling where the scorpions once held tight. "Interesting. It appears that they left scratch marks in a line from where they originated. Maybe if we follow it, we can find something. It's better than just wandering around blindly anyways." Now thoroughly curious, Altair nearly forgets about Dynatos and begins to follow the markings on the ceiling left there by the scorpions.

The markings on the ceiling lead down a couple of nondescript corridors and then into a large chamber. This chamber is similar to the first, in that there are pictographs and Toran script all over the walls, but the main difference is that in this room, there is a pair of rather large stone tablets. "Could this be it? Dynatos, come have a look, i think i found something." He said, without looking to see where Dynatos was. Altair walked up to the tablets and noticed immediately that it was the same script copied in two different languages. The first, written in the common tongue, shows how to read the second tablet, which is written entirely in Toran. Altair studies the tablets for a long while, trying to memorize the various characters and their meanings. It took him a good while of just sitting there and reading the text over and over again, but eventually he felt as though he could read it proficiently. He decided to try out one of the pictographs and text on the various walls. He walked over to one, and brushed the dirt away so that he could better see it. He shouldn’t have. The brick pushed into the wall, and a loud *click* could be heard throughout the cavern. Then everything started shaking. Altair shouted to Dynatos ”Run!” and bolted for the entrance. Hopefully the storm was finished raging outside. Altair exited just in time to see the ruins collapse behind him, and be swallowed up by the desert sand. Altair allowed himself a mere second to breathe before realizing that Dynatos might not have made it out. He searched the sand shouting his name.

~1146/1000~

Ares came running up to Dynatos and barked and jumped onto him. Dynatos patted the head of Ares and smiled. "Good job. Same to you Altair." Dynatos looked up and noticed the markings the same as Altair. He noticed that the young man began to follow them; Dynatos followed close behind him. Eventually the reached a massive room with two stone tablets which Dynatos could only figure was their true destination. Dynatos approached the tablets at the same time as Altair and quickly managed to memorize the language that was known as Toran. Suddenly a rumbling swept over them. Before Dynatos could think his body acted on instinct and as it did Altair had yelled the word 'Run'. As Dynatos ran Ares was hit by a rock and fell to the ground. Dynatos stopped and ran back for Ares, but when he turned to see where Altair was he vanished. Dynatos quickly pulled out the magic carpet and hoped on. He put the throttle on as they flew through the collapsing building. Dynatos could see the exit ahead of him and it was slowly closing. They would not be able to make it out it Dynatos did not do something, so he quickly opened his mouth and let out a massive roar that ripped through the rock and allowed him and Ares to escape. When Dynatos was free of the building Altair was nowhere to be seen. He could only assume that the man made it to saftey.

1000+/1000

Magoi Stuff: