Scene #4145: Hippos Are Deadly

Owner	Pose
Anne Blakely	The Society for the Preservation of Preunified Culture is not actually a Union organization, but it's pretty closely affiliated. It's also one that has its own protection, though usually at the 'low Elite' level at best, so there's rarely a need to call for help. Rarely, but it does happen! The waters from the nearby ocean have receded a bit recently, making exploration of the ruins here more viable. It was supposedly the typical legendary civilization with ancient magics and the like, with a mysterious fall. Nothing odd there. They did, earlier today, put out a call for aid citing that their protection had largely vanished. The encampment is actually pretty nice, with sturdy tents that look to be enchanted against poor weather, and a few technological devices as well. A real mixed grouping. The two guards still here are able to greet anyone who shows up. They look competent, but nothing special. They're bearing swords and pistols both, in fact!
Anne Blakely	The first guard is already here to explain for anyone who shows up. "Hey, thanks for coming." He'll glance over the group, then launch right into an explanation. "We had an elite guard with us, but two days ago, he went out on patrol with two others, and they never came back. Yesterday we sent a scout out to see if she could track them down, but we found her mauled. It looks like the mount of our friend has... gotten violent. He's a hippogriff, you see, and he's a strong one. Clawed her up pretty badly. She's dead I'm afraid, and I don't think Samuel and I can take care of this. We think we know where he's holed up though, unless you want to check out the attack site first."
Sigrun Stem	The masked sharpshooter arrived quickly and quietly upon request, her presence far from hidden, but the way she moved strongly suggests that if she didn't want to be seen it would take skill and care to see her. The guard's talking seems to keep her attention. "I'd like to look at the attack site. The better to know what we're dealing with." She keeps her voice low, and her tone neutral. Sticking to familiar patterns to obscure the nerves of being in a strange and unfamiliar world, with problems that are unlike any she's ever heard of before. "Is the chimeric beast still alive?"
Sakura Haruno	Among those responding to what is a relatively low-level call is Flowers, who's here in her best professional investigator getup, rather than in her usual role as team medic. This means she's actually broken out one of the suits that Psyber had given her once upon a time, and she manages to look at least semi-professional as she moves to greet the guards. "Well, I can take a look at the attack site, but if you know where the mount is we can try to handle that first." It sounds like the monster had contracted some form of rabidness, or possibly it was simply a case of hippogriffs gonna hippogriff. She didn't know enough about them to really make a guess. She'll glance towards Sigrun, shrugging slightly. Seeing the attack site first worked just as well; there didn't seem likely to be a big rush.
Ariel	The little clipclop is hurried, as Ariel has to meet the others here! So right at the tail end, huffing lightly, comes a silver-haired young girl in a lavender dress. The girl is riding atop a petite unicorn... of sorts. Green chitinous plating makes a replacement for hide, and the eyes are glimmering topaz. The silver mane and tail are fluttering in the breeze as the equine and rider approach... And then it's the unicorn that speaks, "If it's not hurting anyone right this second, maybe we can find out what made it get angry at people and calm it down. It'd be a shame to rush in and hurt it if it's sick or in pain." The girl riding atop just drapes over boredly. "Hi, Haruno." Sigrun gets a lazy wave.
Anne Blakely	The first guard nods to Sigrun, "Yes, as far as we can tell. We haven't gotten very close to where it's lairing. We think the rider might be injured and he's just taking care of him... getting really protective. He's usually a very well-behaved beast, though." He glances at Sigrun and nods, thinking those words are pretty wise, though he has doubts about Ariel's idealism. Well, unicorn, what do you expect? "Sure. It's about seven or eight hundred meters outside of the encampment actually." Both guards turn and head toward the site. It is, unfortunately, about what you would expect. A splintered tree that looks to have been struck by a claw, dried blood, the look of a scuffle. A very violent, short scuffle. The hoofprints are, of course, shod, and it was apparently damp at the time as there are one or two very clear imprints.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun nods to both of the others coming by, "Sigrun Stem. Monster Exterminator." The introduction is short, and with the mask to hide her face, it's hard to read what she thinks of those who joined her in this task. "The chimeric beast is also worth looking into." Still keeping her voice neutral. When they get to the site of the battle, she reaches out with her left hand, the red gemstone lighting up and a complex swirl of runes and patterns circles out of it into the air, energy coursing through it in what to the eye would seem like erratic patterns. When that's done, the magic happens. A white bubble emits out of Sigrun's glove, passing through everything in the vicinity until it has covered the entire site of the battle, then returns the other way. The magic is scanning for less obvious clues, magical signatures and a rough analysis of the dried up blood. Just how many different sources of blood there are, essentially.
Ariel	Cheerily, Ariel introduces herself, "Kuklos ka Ariel Schmendrick-Fortuna. No relation to Duet Fortuna. Just call me Ariel!" That's the unicorn talking, of course. She glances back. "Al..." As if startled into good manners, the girl on Ariel's back looks up. "Oh. Al Azif, I'm Ariel's Grimoire." She doesn't explain much more, because she's kind of distracted in thought. "I usually don't deal with things like Hippogriffs. You're on your own for this one." When the site is approached, Ariel peers around, but then it's Sigrun who starts to cast a spell. Curiously, Ariel backs away swiftly when that happens, but Al actually perks up and pays more attention. She nudges at the unicorn's sides, "That looks like a useful spell. You should learn that one sometime." Ariel flicks an ear uncertainly. "We have a backlog of spells I'm supposed to learn already, but I like this one better than most."
Sakura Haruno	"Oh, hello." Sakura will reply to the girl. "And hi to you, too, Ariel." She'll add, before following after the guards towards the attack site. It's rather obviously bad, but Sakura's not going to be able to do too much in the way of investigative work other than looking at and inspecting the blood rather more closely than the hoofmarks. "Just what do you deal with, anyway?" She'll look up to as Al Azif, in what's clearly meant to be teasing. She's not all that great at it, though, and will look back down at the blood once it grows to be awkward, trying to see just how many different sources there might be. She reaches one conclusion, though. "...Sure looks like an animal attack."
Anne Blakely	The magical sight does reveal more of the blood... which all appears to be human. In fact, Sakura's inspection can also confirm that there's no foreign animal material in the blood, as well... but a strange hint of something else, some kind of contaminant. Doesn't seem to be poison though. The spell reveals a lot, in fact, in what it DOESN'T reveal. No sign of feathers, no fur, no dander. Everything here is human, as if the human just ended up slaughtered by an invisible beast. Yet those are definitely talon marks DEEP in the soil, just as the hoofprints are incredibly deep.
Ariel	Al Azif pokes her tongue out, more interested in watching the new girl work than spending much time bantering... even if she likes Haruno more than most. "Anyway, what do we have? I don't think Ariel or I am sensing any great supernatural evil, so it's kind of out of our ballpark until we can soothe or defeat it." "Nope," Ariel agrees. "No evil here. Though it is looking pretty violent. That worries me. I hope the rider is okay."
Sigrun Stem	"A pleasure to be working with you." Sigrun says softly as the spell does its job in analysing the area for clues. "That's weird." She points at one of the talon marks, "Those and the hoofprints are the only signs of any nonhuman presence. The blood is all human, and you'd expect there to be some kind of feathers or fur on a site like this." "I think we need to look at the chimeric creature. This doesn't look like an animal going feral." The monster exterminator says dispassionately, balling up her left fist to initiate another spell. This one has a simpler, but still complex, pattern of swirling runes and lines, and finishes more quickly. Afterwards, a series of three concentric red rings appear in front of one of the mask's eyes. They function much like an adjustable scope. "This little gem is my grimoire."
Sakura Haruno	"...It appears to be politer than most of the grimoires I know." Sakura will state, looking up and over at the new girl. "...Hmm. I'm not actually seeing anything off of the hippogriff. Could be some kind of illusionary summons or something like that?" Of course illusions can cut through things. Why wouldn't they? "Well, you said you had a good idea where the beast was holed up at. Where is that? No good just looking here without trying to handle it in person, I guess, after all."
Ariel	Ariel cheerily notes, "Yours is definitely a lot quieter than mine!" This gets Al to grab Ariel's mane and give a little tug, scowling. "Why you little..." A soft giggle, and then Ariel grows more serious, her ears flattening. "If it isn't just going feral, then we'll have to be careful. Maybe it fell into a curse or something. That, I think I can help with. But no fur or feathers at all...? That's pretty strange. Even I'd leave some trace material."
Anne Blakely	"You know that is pretty strange," Samuel notes. "Silvertail's feathers used to get everywhere any time he fought. We didn't even think of that..." He looks a little disturbed that such an obvious clue was overlooked. The other guard points out, "We were too busy trying to save her." Straightening his jacket, he gestures up westward. "Pretty sure it's this way." 'This way' proves to be a path that leads out of the forest proper, and into the ruins. At first there is a lot of overgrowth, but it rapidly clears up as the descent begins down into the 'city' below. It's actually pretty easy to see why they think they've found the lair... some distance away is a crumbling building with an opening that isn't clogged with rubble, and there are still a few feathers clinging to the side of the ledge.
Sigrun Stem	"Easy to miss if you've got other things on your mind." Sigrun agrees with the second guard, reassuring the first gently. This is probably hard enough on them even without beating themselves over the head for failing to notice a detail like that. Sigrun otherwise remains quiet, and as they approach the site in question draws her bow. The bow's strange extra branch reaches into her quiver, in that same motion, pulling out one of the arrows with red feathered fletching. Barely more than a whisper, Sigrun offers a tactical recommendation. "I'll stay back here, if you get attacked in there, try to draw the threat out in the open." The three rings of magic in front of her left eye are already starting to focus on the opening. At the same time, she makes a swift hand movement, and another swirl of magical circuitry appears in the sky. This time, a bunch of little blue balls appear, and they move out to float at all the feasible ways to approach. Once in a spot, they vanish from sight. "If anything comes close to those, they'll alert me." The monster hunter explains, "Basic alarum spell."
Ariel	Al watches Sigrun, and says to Ariel, "You'd use a ward for that." Ariel rolls her eyes, "I know THAT much. MOM taught me that spell. This isn't a field trip, Al." She trots toward the ruin, but pauses to glance at the two guards. "You two stay here, it might be dangerous. Auntie Flowers, do you think this will be a problem for you? I know you're good at... earth stuff. Stone buildings count, right?" For her part, the unicorn starts to jump, leaping up from rocky point to point, with a nimbleness that shows no trouble carrying Al at the same time... not that it stops Al from making a squawk and grabbing hold tightly! "Gah! You could have waited to bring out your wings!"
Sakura Haruno	Flowers won't bother to pull out any weapons, or to seem particularly weary as they approach the area. "It's fine. I'm more close quarters if I'm being the frontline sort." This wasn't a way she'd worked in years, of coruse, but it's hard to really argue. She'll make her way towards the crumbling building, moving with something in her step that resembles someone trying to be stealthy. It doesn't really work with the hair and all, but she's making the effort, before trying to take a look through the opening to the building. "Don't worry, Ariel. I'll be fine here. I'll be careful, too." Careful to remember that not everyone can tunnel through the ground. This time.
Anne Blakely	The guards are all too happy to stay here, though they're brave enough to not go AWAY! They will edge apart from Sigrun though, figuring the professional might not want them in her way if she has to shoot. Besides... "We can watch your flanks." Getting UP to the roost is not all that hard, though for less skilled climbers it'd be a longer, more fatigueing journey. Sakura's earth affinity and Ariel's double jump make it fairly simple though, allowing the two to come up to the top... where the faint scent of charred flesh greets them. The entrance goes much deeper in, that's pretty obvious. It's also obvious to both, even without tracking, that something has been dragged deeper into the building, which sports a very intact stairwell further down. Of most interest is the hippogriff. Or rather, the hippogriff skeleton, charred and crumbling. It looks to have been dead a few days already, from how cool the bones are. The shape of something else further in, stalking on the other side of the stairwell, looks like another hippogriff... but stepping further into the light shows a beak of sharpened steel, along with talons of the same, and a body of whrring, clicking brass and copper struts, gears turning as the clockwork abomination turns. It doesn't appear to have 'seen' them yet, but is investigating.
Ariel	Oh. Oh that's not expected. And given that her clockwork aunt is kind of a nigh-unstoppable killing machine who could probably murder all three of them with relative ease, Ariel isn't going to take anything for granted about this. She yelps, and spins around without any hesitation. "Hold on, Al!" She does have the presence of mind to flash a bright blast of light, trying to draw attention... while leaping out of the doorway and into the open air. Naturally she IS a unicorn, so a quick slam of hooves in midair has her double-jumping across the way to a crumbling pillar, before the summon of her wings completes, whirling pages sifting about her to solidify into dark green wings. Al winces at the jarring jump, but she isn't idle. The gestures of a summoning are going through her hands, though she hasn't had enough time to COMPLETE it yet.
Sakura Haruno	The medic is enjoying the climb a bit less; she doesn't enjoy hieghts, after all, and they look rather horrific. She's going to examine the skeleton from a bit of a distance, not wanting to get too terribly close.. But Ariel will make the first move, and Flowers is slightly slow to react. She'll see where the plan is going, and letting Ariel be the distraction, Sakura will try to sink down into the ground for a moment. That'll keep the monstrosity from focusing on her, because Sakura can't actually fly and Ariel's plan seems a bit foolhardy. If it looks like it might catch her, though, Flowers will be the first to go leaping suicidally in.
Anne Blakely	And there Ariel goes! The distraction is actually pretty effective, and the hippogriff's programming/orders very simple. The automata charges forward with a thundering clatter on the stonework, moving right past Sakura's blending into the stonework in favor of the obvious threat. Or what it perceives as such. Simple orders mean simple actions. The clockwork beast has absolutely no hesitation or concept of a trap, leaping out into the open as well. Somehow, the heavy beast of metal can spread wings to flap after Ariel, beak snapping as it lashes out with claws. Unless Sigrun shoots it first.
Sigrun Stem	Reports of a threat inside made Sigrun prepare for this, a swift spell imbued the nocked arrow with the wind. Then it was just a matter of waiting, the sharpshooter has sat and waited for a target to come out in the open more times than she can remember. So when the clockwork beast comes into her vision, she's ready. The wind and distance have already been taken into account, and the motion of her target appears predictable enough. The arrow is loosed, there's a loud noise when it's about halfway in between Sigrun and the mechanical hippogryph as the arrow pierces the sound barrier.
Anne Blakely	The arrow streaks through the air, some rubble crumbling from the sonic boom. It's powerful all right... but so is the automata. It isn't a single hit kill. What it does do is pierce the side and go clean through, shearing through several struts and mechanisms. This locks up a wing, causing the hippogriff to careen down into the pillar and crash through it, smashing into a far wall. Incredibly, while dented and damaged heavily, it's still moving. Levering itself up is laborious though. That strike was pretty crippling, and now it has to reorient itself toward Sigrun.
Sakura Haruno	The ninja will emerge from the ground once the clockwork beast is past, rather alarmed by just how quickly it could move. She hadn't expected that speed, and she's worried it'll catch up to Ariel, which would make for all sorts of problems for her. She's just getting into motion when the arrow strike true at the beast, throwing her off of her chase. This is going to lead her to try something she's secretly always wanted to do, in spite of how lame it actually is. Jumping down from the pillar, enhanced strength in her feet, she'll yell at the beast. "Dynamic entrance!" This is, of course, slightly wrong in several regards, but it's close enough to hopefully keep the thing from attacking either of the others.
Ariel	Oops. Ariel bleats, the unicorn leaping again as the pillar starts to crumble. This time she has wings though, which unfold and carry her down in a gentle glide, rather than tumbling to the ground. "O-oh..." She was lucky. She knows it. That thing can still move after that, which means it could certainly hurt her if she isn't careful. Ariel lands nimbly nearby, but she's immediately tossing her head. A crackling arc of electricity leaps out from her horn, forming into a spiderlike being that leaps toward the hippogriff, trying to latch on and perhaps fuse some parts together from the heat. Al has finished her summon, but not in a way she'd like. The sputtering lurch of the sudden drop has thrown her off, and the spell fizzles to summon... an itty bitty foot tall winged black figure. Not particularly useful.
Sigrun Stem	When it's not one shot, one kill... things always get a little riskier. Sigrun makes sure to take advantage of the ruins to provide herself with partial cover, even as she nocks up a second arrow. Unlike the last one, which had red fletching, this one has blue. A quick, almost instantaneous spell activates the magic imbued in this arrow. It doesn't quite go supersonic, instead this one is guided, using the impact of the previous arrow as a place to home in on. It's a spinning arrow with a broad head, designed to inflict a lot of damage to a target with either little to no armour, or of which the armour is already compromised.
Anne Blakely	It's true, things just aren't as clean when two shots are needed. Fortunately, this group has an archer, and the hippogriff seems to be largely melee based... if very fast. Well, normally very fast. With a grinding noise it tries to turn to face Ariel, starting toward the unicorn when... Sakura snaps its head toward her. A wing comes up, showing that it has some ranged ability when several metal feathers are flung toward the ninja. It's slightly off though, and what would be a deadly barrage is much easier to avoid in this case. This is somewhat helped when the electrical construct latches onto a leg and starts to hiss and bubble around it, causing the gears to fuse and lock up. Now it's much more immobile, letting out a rattling 'SKREE' before the second arrow is launched into its side, piercing through and shattering more innards. It is, technically, still 'moving' even after all that. But the clicking whrrs and the shuddering attempts to move aren't really getting it anywhere fast, more like a slow crawl toward its quarry. It's pretty much defeated, if not completely destroyed.
Sakura Haruno	Sakura manages to largely avoid the feathers, primarily thanks to flinging herself at the ground. She's going to stay there for a few seconds until it shorts out, gasping for breath as she climbs back to her feet and dusts herself off. "...Don't know why I can't just fight against a normal monster these days, it's got to be some kind of awful robot monster. Nice shot." She'll add, to the new girl, before starting to look over the hippogriff. "...Only problem with this is... If this was the mount, what happened to the rider?"
Ariel	Ariel rises to her feet... and in the process she's shifted to her humanoid form. Al Azif hops onto her shoulder, now a tiny little figurine-sized girl, with Ariel clad in a dark green suit with wings instead. The unicorn frowns at the mess of the hippogriff, then looks upward. "That's... a good question," she agrees. "Should we check out the stairs? I hope there aren't more of them." In fact, she's not the type to stop if someone is in trouble! She's already flapping wings, lifting herself up toward the top. "Does anyone need help getting up?"
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun fires another arrow, this one aimed squarely for the creature's head, in an attempt to put it out of its misery before walking up closer. Bow still drawn, with an arrow ready to nock. She overheards what Sakura and Ariel are talking about, and glances towards the guards in response. "Didn't you say the victim you recovered was the one to whom the hippogriff belonged?"
Anne Blakely	The guard shakes his head, "No, the rider vanished. That... thing... killed one of our scouts." If that wasn't clear then maybe the GM goofed up. Whoops. Ariel is right though. There's a stairwell downward in the room. It looks a bit shaky, but is useable.
Sakura Haruno	Sakura will follow along behind Ariel, able to make it back up on her own even if it looks a lot more like effort than flying there would have. "...Why don't I go first?" Sakura will ask, some hint of familiarity nagging at the back of her subconcious. Going downstairs from some clockwork abominations can't be something she's done too often before, right? ...Just twice, actually!
Ariel	"If you like," Ariel says, politely. She doesn't mind if her aunt wants to be protective... but she's going to follow close behind. Her wings draw about her, forming a protective shield for herself and the tiny Al. She only stops to look back. "Miss Stem, are you coming with us? It might be nothing, but if it isn't..." There's a hopeful tone in there.
Sigrun Stem	"Coming." Sigrun agrees, after the guard corrects her on the matter. She's not the best climber, but she's no stranger to it. She seems to know what to look for, just lacking in enough practice to make it quite as smooth as would be ideal. She almost falls once, but recovers, before getting in the opening. Once in there, she casts another spell. It's a lot like the first one, but it's faster, wider area, and green instead of white. It's looking for signs of life, any life, in the area.
Anne Blakely	The stairs have a few flights going down, but fortunately there is forewarning. Sigrun's s pell detects... one and a half life signs. That is, one definite, the other is alive but seems a little off for some reason. And then... voices! Well, a voice. "Oh stop being such a baby," the female voice says. A gas lamp is nearby, while she's holding aloft her own light, a magical one in her palm. She's been using that to examine a large door under the crumbling basement, one that various mechanical spiderlike beings are trying to pry open. It appears to be solid steel though, and enchanted as well. No wonder she's frustrated. Anne is standing next to a pit, and well... across from it is a tired-looking, gagged man with long black hair. He struggles a little, but he's also rather tied up, mumbling around the gag. Anne speaks again, "I know you defeated my guardian. I suppose this means you've won. I'm not really the sort to fight my battles myself, I'm afraid." She doesn't SEE the trio yet... or maybe she does and is pretending not to. She can certainly speak TO them though.
Sakura Haruno	That voice'll bring Sakura up short, because she'd run into it once before. It also manages to get her to move a hand into her pouch, coming out with a wicked looking knife, something she hadn't bothered with against the 'guardian'. "...You moved quickly out of that city." Sakura will say, trying to keep herself between Ariel and Anne. Sigrun will end up guarded as well, likely. "I don't suppose since we've won that you'll be coming quietly to be tried for all of those murders?"
Sigrun Stem	"I'd call you a coward, but fighting other people's battles is kind of what I do." Sigrun responds to Anne, the thrill of victory has pretty much calmed her nerves, and now she's cracking wise. "So instead I'll judge you on your taste in champions. Making automatons to mimic other people's rides? That's just tacky."
Ariel	Ariel doesn't need protection! Maybe. Well, she isn't arguing, she's used to people being protective of her. She doesn't know who Anne is though, looking puzzled for a moment... but she has priorities. "Hm..." Whispering to herself, she steps back out of the area of danger, letting Sigrun and Sakura handle that... While she summons an oozing slime, which she directs to slip around behind and try to undo the hostage's binds.
Anne Blakely	Hmm. Anne considers the words. "No, I don't think so. They were in the way, and I saved the best of them. He could be useful. But... I know how you types are, and it would be... difficult, at best, to deal with all of you." She sighs, twirling a finger in around some of the scarlet locks. "Don't be daft," she murmurs to Sigrun. "That was a convenient replica I had on hand. It would take even me longer to build one of those than the time I've had here. I just knew a hippogriff was about so I brought one with me. That's going to take weeks to replace! That's quite a magical bow you have there. If you even need some work on it, come see me." She doesn't even try to stop the summon from creeping around, if she even knows it's there. Clever girl. Anne does clap her hands together.... and emit a bright flash of light. In that instant, she's gone. Though if someone can shield their eyes from it, they'll know she can't teleport or anything. She just stepped back into the pit, and let herself fall. Since she doesn't seem to be able to fly, that may not be a good idea.