Slithers Beneath the Surface [JOB/Minerva]

"Yeah, here we are!" After his night out with some interesting characters, Yushin found himself grinning admirably upon the grand structure in front of him. "The 'Temple of Ra' ...wow, looks nicer than I imagined." He was obviously in a good mood, and for a good reason too. Earlier before he had arrived to Heliohapt, Yushin had met a very entrancing woman within the walls of Reim. She was the intelligent type, the one that possessed wits and charm, and immediately he knew that he would meet her again...well after all, he DID invite her.

They had planned to meet after they arrived at this very spot, outside the Temple of Ra. Well, more so he didn't really specify, he just told her to spot him outside one of the most famous buildings and cross her fingers to to hope she was right. It was another case where Yushin threw his dice at fate, however, this was most likely unnerving to a woman such as Minerva who opposed the flow of fate. Well, it was no matter. Yushin was quite confident that she would find her way to him here, after all, other than the palace itself, there was no other real place of significant grandeur that could attract the likes of a sophisticated woman such as the female magician.

"There's no need to worry, but just in case..." He decided to stick around for a little longer. If Minerva HAD chosen to meet him outside the palace, she would quickly realize that she wouldn't find her there and head over to the temple. She was smart enough to deduce that he assumed, if she wasn't, he would have been poorly disappointed.

The young man took in his surrounding with youthful curiosity. Generally, he would survey the area himself with his eyes, and then he would proceed with interactions. Noticing the patterned slits in the walls, he quickly deduced that the temple was laid out and built with blocks of stone, and they were somehow ingeniously lathered with some concoction to meld the pieces together. "Marvelous..." He exhaled but forgot to inhale. His breath was thoroughly taken from him. The colors, the designs, the intricate use of stone carving and paint left him easily astonished.

Sliding his hands gently across the building exterior, Yushin could feel the delicacy with which it were handled. Obviously, the 'Temple of Ra' was no joke to the natives.

"Come to pay homage to Ra I suppose?" A slighly older than middle aged man approached the white haired Sangju man with courtesy and curiosity. With a smile, Yushin shook his head to indicate 'no' and explained himself. "No no I'm afraid. As you can tell, I am merely a foreigner passing through." He took his hand off of the exterior and rubbed his fingers together. To his amusement, the paint didn't stain. "I'm here to meet a friend, however, the professional build of this temple astounds me. Might I take a banter at its process?" The man, although slightly thrown off from the answered, recovered quickly and smiled an approval. "Of course, go right ahead."

With witted gleam in his eyes, Yushin proceeded to access the temple.

559/1000

To Minerva, the structure that Yushin had spoken of only held one option, the Temple of Ra. The towering structure was wreathed in the masterful work of a myriad of talented individuals, and the sheer magnitude of the temple had Minerva's curiosity piqued. The temple seemed to gleam in the morning light as she set foot inside the beauteous place, the sacred aura seeming to emanate from the very stones of the temple walls. Minerva could sense something about the place most others could not as well. A flooding of the rukh as it gathered around the temple. This was indeed a far more spiritual place than many would give it credit for.

Minerva would, out of respect for Heliohaptan culture, pay her respects to Ra, silently focusing herself on the rukh that fluttered around the place she was in. Something about said rukh seemed off. Minerva stood slowly, her staff at the ready as she let her limbs stretched out to accommodate the soreness of her muscles. She'd spent a lot of time helping out some of the poorer areas around town, and although her magic was of little use, she had worked with her hands and moved parts of their market around.

She rolled her shoulders back, the subtle pop of her bones indicating the stress she had put herself under. The pulled her circlet back on, the feather restoring her even stranger appearance as she moved out of the sanctuary, only to find herself observing the very man she had come to meet. Her expression remained placid, although this creature interested her greatly. He defined fate as something different, and believed in what it held for him, regardless of whether or not it was his making or his undoing.

She admired his faith in that, and it made him an interesting piece of conversation, but that wasn't the goal of their meeting today. Yushin had become privy to some form of information, and Minerva was intent on learning what matter of knowledge he had come into possession of. Her form seemed to glide into place along side his, following his eyes up the pillars. "Marvelous, is it not? Different from the Reiman pillars that are hewn from a singular slab." She taps the heel of her staff on the ground, sending a knowing look Yushin's way. "You're far later than I expected you, Yushin," she chides. "I would have thought a man of your caliber early to everything."

She rolls her staff about her hand, part of her restless for what was to come, the other worried it was in relation to the unease with the rukh around this place. "So why are we here this beautiful morning, instead of enjoying a simple meal with a welcoming family?"

[WC 461/1000]

"Yes yes! Quite correct! Splendid!" The elder man exclaimed with glee to know that a young man such as this one had any knowledge of the sacred temple. Clearly the boy knew what he was talking about; he must have studied Heliohaptian architecture. "No, I'm afraid I haven't." Yushin responded with the utmost respect to the statement. "Rather, might I say, I am quite adept in observing what is in front of me." He slid his hand gently across the fine wall wall of the exterior and smiled as he did so. "Ah, limestone I see. It is coupled with sandstone as well and may I assume that granite is also used is smaller amounts? This feel quite exuberantly screams out to be obelisk." The elder man by this point had been amazed. All of that from merely touching the walls?

Recovering from his awe, the elder man began to ask for the boy's name when he was interrupted gracefully by a feminine voice. "Uh wha- yes?" Now, who was this peculiar character? A female? An....ahem...interestingly dressed female. Whoever this woman was, he knew too that she was also well versed and brimmed with some wisdom. He could sense it with the use of her vernacular.

Yushin gave no indication of surprise, he merely kept his smooth expression static as Minerva approached. He didn't ever bother to look at her when he replied. "Quite so. It is truly a beautiful piece of work." His grin grew wider as the momentous reunion began to sweep over him. He gleefully turned, careful not to appear too excited, and he tilted his head.

"Late? Now what possibly could you mean by that?" An obvious sarcastic tone expelled itself from Yushin's lips, and his eyes became likewise to that of a curious cat than that of a serious man. His first encounter with Minerva had been too serious. Was it too bad to relax now and greet her like a friend?

Shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, Yushin rested his chin on the palm of his right hand as he crossed his arms. "A welcoming family would be warmfully inviting indeed. But as of right now, we have other pressing matters to attend to now don't we?" He slyfully indicated to the elder man as if this were some cue, and truly this caught the man off guard.

"Pressing matters-?" Without allowing the man to continue, Yushin withdrew a piece of paper and handed it to the old man. "Ah." The elder man's face grew gloomy. "Pressing matters."

(Sorry for the late post! Finals are now done! Feel free to take over this NPC as well.)

WC: 1000+/1000

(Due to inactivity, I will be undergoing this mission SOLO)


"It's happened again I'm afraid." A group of many men huddled together in the corner of the underground tavern with drinks in their hands. With his intruding eyes, Yushin could delicately see the strained veins squeezing onto the cup's handle as the sweat trickled down the largest man's forehead. A smaller man, lighter skinned in complexion, gritted his teeth in frustration by the revelation of this news. "Again?! That's....that's... He never got around to finishing his words. The larger man closed his eyes, obviously feeling the heavy atmosphere around the table. "Well...what do we do?!" Another man hissed. "How many does it make it now?! Those, whatever Cultists have us cornered and we're out of leads! The temple is getting frantic and honestly, SO AMI I!" The temperamental man slammed his left fist onto the wooden table and caused a many drinks to almost spill over.

The largest man at this point had opened his eyes. "We'll get them...I-I won't allow these crazy dogs to continue any further." Although his words were increasingly calmer than they had been before, the young Sangju man could easily tell that this large man was lost. The blue veins that bulged under the dark skin was only a tell of his suspicions.

He hadn't been here very long. In fact, you could just say that Yushin had just arrived. The country had been pleasant...for the most part, but as he traversed through it's many streets, unsettling news kept reaching into his day. Cultists. Apparently there had been sightings of a crazed cultist group around the place, and "coincidentally", missing citizens reports had begun to sprung up almost simultaneously. Now, judging from the garments of the men huddled together, Yushin gathered that they must have been part of a hastily assembled militia. It made sense. When strange occurrences such as these came about, a secure and safe presence helped the local populace out at least psychologically speaking.

With a flip of a couple coins, Yushin payed for his hot meal and drink and exited the tavern. The cultists had eluded this militia for quite some time now he had taken. The very fact that the group of men inside had received intel of sightings in the western quadrant of town led him to believe that something was awry. If they had eluded this militia for so long, the information presented to these men must have been skewed. "It's about time that I check this eastern side of town."

...

(My delicate post was deleted for some reason beyond this point, so...this half may look like crap because I'm in a hurry.)

Why this was quite odd. At this time of night...where was everyone? It was getting dark, yes, but it had not become dark enough for the streets to be so deserted. The stores had appeared to have closed shop as well. With each gentle footstep, Yushin scanned the area vigorously. His guard was up, and his hand was firmly hovering over his geom by his side if he were needed to use it.

*A Rustle Nearby*

What was that?! Immediately, his senses heightened as the young man assessed the origins of that noise. With his peripheral vision, Yushin noticed from the corner of his eye a slight flickering movement that came from behind a corner wall. Now now...why would a hooded figure be lurking around so carefully in the dark? Well, it could be reasonable. By his foreign attire, Yushin could easily have come off as some crazy and peculiar cultusts. Yes, this was a possibility.

"Hello! I won't hurt you I promise you! I'll be approaching now so sit tight okay?" As an immediate reactions to his voice, the hooded figure entered into a full sprint away from the young white haired man. Well that about clipped the issue. At the last moment, Yushin could figure out the muffled cries of a child desperately gasping for help. Strike two. This man was the real deal.

Without even a verbal warning, Yushin dashed ahead to catch up to the man. Now, it would be stupid to try and capture and interrogate this cultist as of now. From previous encounters, Yushin just knew the amount of devotion these men carried. No matter how much he tried, he would not retrieve the optimal amount of information through interrogation. No...no. He would have to be more craft than that.

Halfway through the chase, Yushin feigned a muscle spasm and rolled onto the floor, mimicking false acts of frustration. [color=gold]"No! NO!"[color] Once the hooded man had turned a corner, he quickly sprung to his feet and climbed into the roof of the nearby building and began to trail the cultist quietly like this.

With every great care, the Uncrowned Prince made triply sure as to make no sounds as he followed the masked and hooded man to what he assumed would be the cultist lair. "Now now...take me to your leader."

1000+/1000

Several minutes of continuous stalking brought Yushin to the folds of a peculiar dead end. Strange, the hooded figure was cautious in every way reasonable, but extended silent trailing led Yushin to believe that this man was no professional. The quiet movements were...not so quiet and with the child squirming and kicking the target's movements became sluggish. Any experienced kidnapper would know to bound a child or knock them unconscious if they meant to travel carefully. The young trailer would tread carefully in the meanwhile as he had yet to find the destination of this stranger.

...

For gruesomely uneventful minutes, Yushin hid his presence well behind an adjacent building roof and lied low as he observed the actions of the kidnapper. Minutes passed as the cautious stranger checked his surroundings whilst subduing the child into submission. For a horrifying moment, the thought of child rape flashed through the mind of the young Uncrowned Prince and in a quick state of panic, Yushin almost revealed himself to deal with the issue. However, his worries were dispelled momentarily as the stranger knocked on the dead end wall 5 times. Once in the upper left, once in the upper right, another in the bottom right and left, and then finally in the center.

For a silent moment, nothing came about from these actions. Holding his breath, Yushin watched intensely as he focused wholly on the spectacle before him. What's going on? Suddenly, the man grabbed the child and flung the child into the wall. Before the child made contact, however, the wall opened up to reveal a descending staircase and the child tumbled down it's depths as the man followed.

Taking this chance, Yushin jumped from his position and hid behind the wall preceding the dead end and waited for the man and the child to become unseen. Timing his approach carefully, he patiently watched the wall close slowly before sprinting inside the last moment. With an almost inaudible thud, the wall behind him closed and Yushin found himself inside the strange location. He could barely hear footsteps descending below him and as the staircase was spiraling, the ones below would not be able to notice him. With silent steps, Yushin grabbed a torch hung up on the right side and cautiously followed the spiraling staircase down to wherever it led. He made special effort as to evade the target and any other possible hostilities along the way.

Upon reaching the base of the stairs, Yushin quickly slid behind a stack of what appeared to be cargo and observed his surroundings. He found himself looking at a vastly large singular room. The white hooded man threw the child into a side jailed room before retiring to a table positioned to guard the prison. Squinting his eyes, Yushin counted a total of 9 captured individuals bound inside the guarded prison.

"This looks bad. So the rumors were definitely true." He gritted his teeth as he surveyed the white hooded cultists within the space. He counted 3 in total, but with the sluggishness of the man sitting down, he deduced that they would not be terribly tough to deal with. What now? Should he dispatch this head on and provide the evidence to the proper authorities? Yushin couldn't quite muster up another appropriate scheme and therefore...he decided to wing it.

Kicking a barrel towards the hooded man sitting down, Yushin forced the man to fall flat onto his back as he fell from his chair. This action, obviously attracted the attention of the other cultists within the room and they converged upon the gathering of cargo. Unfortunately for them, Yushin had already fled by this point and he took the opportunity of the distraction to drive his geom into the heart of the fallen cultist. One down, two to go.

With a flurry of speed, Yushin closed the distance between he and the two cultist and he promptly kicked them both into two opposite directions. One of the cultists flew into a pile of boxes while the other hit the floor with a thud.

"Wha-?! WHO ARE YOU! I'M GOING TO-" The Cultist didn't finish his sentence as he was too busy parrying the incoming slash from Yushin's geom. With a grunt of annoyance, the cultist raised his club. This was a mistake. The club was heavy and slow, far slower than Yushin's quick geom and with a welp the cultist fell from the young man's Saggam.

The commotion from the scuffle grabbed the attention of the captured individuals who began to cheer for the mysterious savior. At this point, the Crazed Cultist had rose to his feet with furious blood veining in his eyes. Yushin swung his geom to vertically at the enemy however he found his attack Deflected by the hooded man.

"Humph so you have some skill then?"] The cultist grunted. What was it about these cultists and grunting? Could they not speak? The man charged at the white haired youth with his blade to Slice his foe but the steel merely met air as Yushin narrowly sidestepped away from attack. "You've done enough to anger me already. Perish." Yushin swiftly drew his hwando and delivered a Cross Blade attack promptly in the center of the robed man. With a splurt of visible blood, Yushin watched as the hooded man fell with a thud.

...

"So..." The elder priest appeared shaken by the accounting of the events and read the piece of parchment with visibly distraught eyes. With a truly sorrowful gaze, Yushin bowed towards the elder respectfully. "Yes. These were my findings. Any specifics should be contained within that piece of parchment that I have written. I apologize." With a nod of thanks, the elder priest retreated back within the temple walls to discuss these matters with his colleagues and left Yushin to ponder these events.

"Just...what is happening in this country?"

WC: 1000+/1000
Stamina: 220/250

Abilities Used: