Closed Antique's Society Dig - Excavation

[Magpie]

Timestamp: 16th of Summer 513AV
Participants: Dust, Daekos, Myya, and Nailah

Lysel adjusted his hat compulsively as he once again looked back at the city gates. The hat seemed unnecessary in the bare, early morning sunlight, but Lysel had experience on his side and knew it’d be a blessing to have on his head soon enough. He had a mallet and chisel in his hand, with an assortment of brushes tucked into an apron tied around his waist. Biting a lip, he looked back once more. He could vaguely see a group of people being led by a pair of massive Kuvay’nas guards towards the dig site.

He’d had the moment of introduction planned perfectly – when the guards brought everyone around the last corner, he’d turn with just the right amount of swagger and tuck the mallet into his belt with a little flourish… and wow the whole lot of them. He’d played the scene on rerun in his mind’s eye the whole morning, doing his best to plan every detail. He’d even arrived before dawn to rearrange the dig site to look excitingly haphazard amongst the boulders and pale clay bed that had settled on top of the ruins. The excavated Olmec Selae that had spurred the entire dig was on a pedestal to the far right of the ruins, much more worn and dirty than the one that stood outside the city.

The Antique’s Society had only received one new member in the past year, leaving Lysel and the old guard to carry on the search through Riverfall’s past. Membership numbers were not dwindling…but they weren’t growing much either. Lysel had put the idea of calling for volunteers to the board, and so had received the honor of leading the volunteer team on their section of the dig site. Lysel wasn’t a physically impressive man, in fact he was exceptionally thin for an Akalak; a young injury to his knee had relegated him to a profession far from warrior, but he’d grown up in the Society and was easily one of its most enthusiastic members. Lidris, his darker half, was less than hopeful that anyone would be impressed by the mundanities of glorified digging, but then, Lidris was less than hopeful about a lot of things.

He heard the scrape of footsteps from behind the corner, and anxiously tapped the chisel against the half-unearthed wall, trying to remember what he normally looked like when h excavated. When the group stopped moving, he straightened and put on his best self-assured smile and turned around. Unfortunately, his foot stepped on a small stone, and of all times, his bad knee decided to give out. He stumbled awkwardly, letting out a small cry of surprise, and dropped his mallet to grab his knee. He saved himself from falling, but could only smile up at the accumulated group with a fraction of his self-assurance. The perfect first impression, ruined. In the corner of his mind, Lidris whispered a satisfied, ‘I told you so.’

“Sorry folks, ah, bad knee.” He straightened with effort, and leaned down again carefully to retrieve his mallet. “So, you must be the volunteers?” He tried desperately to maintain a calm, non-mortified demeanor. “Well, first off thanks for helping us out! It’s not too often we get the rest of the city involved on a dig, so this is pretty exciting. How about we go around the group, introduce ourselves, and maybe say why we signed up. I’m Lysel,” he indicated himself and smiled around the group. “And I’m one of the Antique’s Society’s top excavators. We at the Society are always looking for evidence of Riverfall’s past, back when things were still settling down after the Valterrian, and maybe written records weren’t high on many people’s lists.” It was a practiced pitch, modified from the one he used on Akalak children. Indicating a member of the group, he swung his mallet away with a swing, getting slowly back on track. “What about you?”

[Myya]

Myya tried not to fiddle with her pants or shirt. She was unused to wearing pants so her clothed legs felt over heated. The sun wasn't at it's hottest so she left her hat fall back on her neck. She felt that she looked the part but inside she was nervous. It helped that she wasn't the only female there, actually there looked to be more females than males.

Myya kept a smile on her face as the group neared the sight. Their guards were overly tall and to be honest... intimidating. As Myya looked around again she noticed that not only did she look like the youngest but also she was definitely the shortest. While it might not pull attention in some places, Myya wasn't sure when it came to a small group of people.

When they finally arrived she found herself looking at the smallest Akalak she had ever laid eyes on. Rubbing them to make sure she didn't have anything in her eye Myya held back a laugh. It wasn't polite. When the man stood and addressed the group Myya got her act together.

The man continued to talk and Myya found herself looking around. Getting lost looking at the area around her that might uncover something Myya barley registered that it had gotten quiet. Looking back she found herself staring down a mallet. Looking above the mallet she found herself looking into the face of.... Lysel. Yes, that was his name.

Giving a small smile Myya spoke up, loud enough for her small self to be heard, "I'm Myya. Spelled with two y's." Thinking over what else the man had been dragging on about while she explored Myya continued, "I'm here because I've been looking for an excuse to get out of the city and do something different. Finding pieces of the past would be.... nice."

Myya smiled and waited for the man to stop pointing the tool at her face, even though it was his arm height. Myya was starting to feel sweat at the back of her neck and couldn't decide if it was nerves or the heat starting to get to her. She decided to go with the latter.

[Dust]

Dust craned her head to peer around the Akalak she followed towards the dig site -- not that she could see much at all around his very large frame. Still, she was excited and eager and showed it in the spring to her steps, the way she avidly looked around at everything... be it the people she walked with, the wall they walked past, or the rather skinny-looking Akalak in view once they passed the corner, obviously waiting. Dust wore a shirt which hung rather loose on her small frame, seeming like it had originally been tailored for a man's build. Her trousers were about as brown as the dust, and her floppy-brimmed hat had obviously seen better days. When they came to a halt, she sidled over for a clear view past the guard, stopping just short of running into the even more dainty dark-haired woman in the group. She cast an apologetic, though chipper, smile at the other woman -- then had her attention drawn back to the front by the archaeologist's cry. He seemed a little bothered by his stumble, or something -- or maybe not, from the way he spoke. Dust wasn't very sure, but she still offered the man a bright and supportive smile. It surely couldn't hurt! He went on to introduce himself as Lysel, and prompt them for introductions in return. The dark-haired woman spoke up first, being pointed at by Lysel's mallet. She went next. "I'm Dust!" the Kelvic supplied. "...I'm here 'cause it sounded like it'd be fun to do. I haven't done anything like this before!"

[Daekos Volundur]

OOC Note :

Apologies for taking this long! Been a busy two weeks...

Daekos had opted to go without his shirt that day - Summer was becoming a tad unbearable, especially towards noon, and he would prefer not to wear a sweat-drenched shirt for the rest of the day. The temperature was still alright in the morning though, and he hoped it would last - at least until the dig was completed.

Hundwin was bouncing about as usual, happy to be anywhere near Daekos. His dog couldn't resist a walk outside his apartment at Atri's Place, after all.

The Kuvay'nas seem awfully huge today. As always.

It need not be said that the relatively short Isur was about to develop a Napoleon complex just by being beside the Akalaks towering over him. The Isur took a glance around, viewing his temporary team members (who were, to his surprise, all females). All of whom appeared to be younger than he was.

Females? No Akalaks - what am I thinking, there aren't any female Akalaks! Except a few, but that's another story.

Daekos grinned as the guards left the small group as the latter approached another Akalak, this time one of a smaller stature.

At least this one's around my height. A little taller, but who cares? Isur have far better things to make up for height.

Daekos' grin widened as the Akalak - Lysel - stumbled. The knee problem he had was a good reason, but it always delighted Daekos to see any Akalak, normally extremely fit, sturdy and tending not to do anything stupid, do anything in a clumsy manner. The irony was quite delicious, but it couldn't compete with other more mature forms of humour.

Hundwin went up to Lysel, sniffing his ankles after the excavator extraordinaire had recovered from his near-fall and introduced himself.

"I'm Daekos Volundur- you may call me Daekos, since my full name's quite a mouthful to say every time you need me. I've been working at the Smithy for quite some time, but I'm not a very good blacksmith compared to some of my people. I'm here because..."

Daekos muttered a few indistinct words in Isur, kneeling to pull the ever-enthusiastic Hundwin away from going a little too far with Lysel. It would not do to have his dog - the dog of an Isur - to be urinating everywhere, especially on people. Though if he urinated on people he disliked...

Daekos pushed that thought away.

Another day, another day...

"Yes, I'm here because I have an interest in old history. And I'm here to take Hundwin out of my apartment for a walk - Petch you, Hundwin. You do not tug on my shorts! You'll tear them."

Sufficiently chastened, Hundwin sat on top of a boulder, looking as innocent as can be.

Daekos sighed uncharacteristically.

Only ten days or so, and I think I'm starting to go insane. Good thing he can behave when I really want him to, or I'd be locking him up in the apartment - not a very nice thing to do, though.

[Magpie]

OOCAlright! I’ve let this puppy languish a little longer than it should have. Onward!

The group was a bit more limited than Lysel had hoped, but it was something. Better than the complete lack of interest a few of his colleagues had predicted. He wished someone had told him there’d be a dog around, though it seemed the little guy didn’t mean much harm. He thought he saw the littler man, an Isur unless he was mistaken, smirk at his expense, but it was hard to tell and he wanted to hope he’d gotten all decent people in his group.

“Wonderful to meet you all. Oh!” He put on an awkward smile as the dog came closer, and he fought valiantly not to appear intimidated. “Hudwin, eh? Nice to… meet you too…” As the dog retreated to atop a boulder, Lysel pocketed his mallet and crossed his arms, striving for composure. “Let’s get to it then! We’ll be working over here, where some very exciting pottery was unearthed just this morning.” Waving at the group to follow him, he led them around Hudwin’s boulder to a set of unearthed stairs on the other side. It was only five steps down, but Lysel took them carefully, minding his knee and praying another kick-back didn’t happen.

He made it down without incident though, and spread his arms to indicate the wall of earth behind him. “This is where we’ll be working. You’ll see a pack of tools every few feet here; please pick out one to claim your station along the wall.” He kept his smile pleasant as the participants meandered over to their stations, and when everyone had been aligned along the wall, he continued, hand reaching out to rest on the bank of dirt next to him. “This is what we’ll be excavating, ladies and gentleman. It’s a bit slow, but wonderfully rewarding. We’ve had seven pots unearthed in this area alone! One of them just this morning!"

He pulled the mallet back out of his pocket and a chisel from the other. "I’m not sure how many of you have any excavating experience, but we’ll do a quick run through of using the tools to make sure we’re all on the same page. You’ll find, among other things, a mallet and chisel inside your packs. Take them out, and place the pointy end of the chisel against the wall – preferably in some manner of crack or depression in the stone.” He demonstrated against the section of dirt behind him, wedging the chisel in a small crack. “Give it a nice little tap with the mallet,” which he also demonstrated with an excited flourish. “And you’ll see some bits start to crumble out. Don’t go too hard though! Any questions?” Lysel grinned out at the participants, hoping he wasn’t moving too fast for anyone.

He’d lovingly packed the excavation packs himself the day before, putting in a mallet, chisel, and two size brushes into each one. While some may not have considered pots to be exciting finds, he’d chosen this particular area for the volunteers in the hopes that they’d stumble across something to get their attentions piqued.

[Dust]

In another circumstance, Dust would've promptly invited the dog to play. But they were here to work, and while that wasn't always distinguishable from play in the Kelvic's approach to life... for the moment, she needed to pay attention to Lysel. He beckoned them forward, and with the rest of the group, Dust padded around the boulder to a short flight of stairs in his wake. There was a wall of dirt, and packs of tools; the Kelvic picked one nearly at random -- only nearly, because she gravitated to a close one -- and promptly investigated its contents. Brushes, mallet, chisel, and of course the canvas of the bag containing them, which Dust turned inside-out as if to be sure there was nothing else in it: there wasn't. She didn't seem disappointed by that fact, however, just picked up the tools Lysel mentioned. He demonstrated how to use them properly, and the raven Kelvic set about mimicking his action. Chisel to the wall, a little tap with the mallet. ...well, maybe a bit more of a tap than her first attempt. The second go actually flaked away dirt. Not much of it. But he'd also said not to hit too hard... so maybe it was supposed to be 'not much'. Then went on cutting into her section of wall, one little bit at a time. It didn't take her long to figure out she could make designs in the dirt, shaving away pieces in a line, slowly working deeper until it formed a groove. Then she crossed it with another, making a great big X. Hmm... Dust peered at the people around her to see what they were doing... Oh, there was the guy with the dog. She'd been so intent on the tools and the dirt, she'd almost forgotten the rest! "Hi, I'm Dust," she said, following the form of introductions and forgetting she'd already announced her name to the whole group. "Um... Why is your arm all black?" Tactless, but she was sincerely curious...

[Magpie]

Things seemed to be going well, in Lysel's eyes. Chit chat had broken out among the volunteers, and while some - ok, maybe many - looked bored, it was only a matter of time before a discovery was made and everyone got excited again.

It was almost three quarters of a bell later when Lysel had to admit his hope was starting to flag. He'd taken to walking up and down the line, chiming in with his own chisel and words of encouragment. This had somewhat backfired when he'd gotten quite excited over what turned out to be only an odd shaped rock. Despite his best efforts to turn it into a lesson on how excavations really went, the sun was beating down hard and people were losing interest.

Then, when all seemed lost, providence struck. Optimistic smile stuck firmly in place, Lysel was passing behind Dust when he stopped and leaned in over her shoulder. A thin, jagged line had appeared just above where she was digging.

"Why Miss Dust, we may have a winner here! Everyone, gather round." Waving his hands for everyone to come closer. He replayed in his mind the hundred times he'd seen cracks like that and prayed Semele hadn't sent them another stone. "This crack here? That usually happens when there's a pocket of air behind it, and the excavation has allowed the dirt in front of it to start crumbling. We've probably just hit a piece of pottery that's managed to keep a bubble of air inside."

Pulling out his mallet and chisel, he smiled at Dust. "Allow me to demonstrate, and Miss Dust here can unearth her very first-" The crack of his mallet against the chisel seemed to echo much louder than expected, and he paused as the rock tumbled away from what was now a fist-size hole. The hole was pitch black, almost like there was a much larger space on the other side of it, but that didn't make much sense. "Hmm, we may have-"

The crack that echoed from the hole trembled the ground at their feet, and Lysel, realizing a moment too late what was happening, wrapped a fist in the back of Dust's shirt and attempted to jump with her away from the hole. It was too late however, and the pair of them vanished underground with the crumbled remains of the floor they'd just stood on.

On instinct, Lysel pulled the thin young woman to him, bracing for the collision with the floor. He vaguely saw the man who had been next to Dust - the one with the dog - also falling through the darkness. There was the sound of splintering wood and a blinding pain in his right arm, and all went dark.

[Daekos Volundur]

"Perhaps you did not know, but I am an Isur. We are each born with an arm that is a different colour, depending on... who we are born to. Our arms are gifts of Lord Izurdin, and they are strong. Stronger than most, anyway. They cannot be harmed by any mundane means." He plunged his left hand into the stone wall, feeling it give way; he grasped a particularly-stubborn rock and removed it from the wall, placing it down beside him. A deep hand-shaped impression could be clearly seen. "We shape metal, wood and stone with this arm. I could crush this rock with nary a thought... But such destructive methods are... distasteful. Unnecessary, for the most part." It was quite a calming, albeit warm, experience, Daekos mused, even as he slowly removed bits and pieces with his chisel and hand. Excavation offered the possibility of actually finding something that could be interesting. He was in the shade provided by the wall, offering some respite from the heat. The Isur methodically went through the part of the wall in immediate proximity to him, alternating between the his hand and the mallet, just to add some variety to the mostly monotonous routine - not entirely, for Daekos did find some nondescript pieces of pottery. He would brush at them with the brushes found in his pack, but there was a disappointing lack of patterns, colours or anything that could have made it more interesting. Still, he placed them by his side, reassuring himself that he could at least use them as evidence - slightly unreliable, though - that there was something here in the distant past. He observed that Lysel was attempting to cheer everyone up, trying as hard as he could to stave off their boredom. It was actually quite sad. And pathetic. Yes, he may be passionate about this, but there isn't really much he can do to keep this going. There needs to be some discovery made, something interesting found such that everyone gets encouraged. He should have hidden something in the ground, perhaps a piece of pottery found earlier, and let someone find it. Lysel made the announcement in a rather enthusiastic manner. Or so Daekos thought. Excellent. Something to keep them interested. Perhaps I underestimated this Akalak, Lysel... Or it was all luck. Oh dear, that's quite a large hole. Daekos frowned, moving closer to the hole so that he could inspect it more thoroughly. The echo signifies an open space. Perhaps an underground chamber of some sort? Might be natural though - I've seen many a promising cave like that in the mountains near Sultros. Such a pity I did not choose Fire as my second element - I could have lit up the- The Isur fell with Dust and Lysel into the expanding hole. "Oh, Semele damn it! Hundwin, stay!" He frantically waved at his dog to stay put, afraid that he would willingly follow his master into the gaping abyss-like hole. Daekos angled himself such that his left arm would break his fall, but not that he would dislocate it. It would not hurt much, but at least it would be better than falling on his head.

[Dust]

An Isur. Dust was pretty sure she hadn't met that race before -- certainly not anyone with such a differently colored arm! She was more intrigued by the difference between it and the rest of his body... though sticking his hand straight into the earth was a neat trick, and the young woman reacted accordingly. "Oh wow!" But he went back to his digging, after that... which left her with only her own task for entertainment. Dust returned to chipping away dirt with a quiet huff. Dirt, dirt, dirt... dirt... dirt... and more dirt! It wasn't very long before she became liberally coated in her namesake, just because there was so much of it being released into the air. To entertain herself, the Kelvic carried on making designs with the process of digging -- adding waves and curlicues and intersections, until the wall in front of her looked like nothing so much as ant-riddled wood. Or the inside of a piece of shed bark, the way those could be covered with squiggly little bug trails. Dust got excited the first time she hit a rock, just because it was something different -- and the second and third times, too. Pulling those out left great big -- okay, noticeable -- dimples in the earthen wall, and she found it easier to chisel outwards from their edges. Then they became great big dimples. And then the wall started cracking, just a little bit, which brought the slender Akalak over beside her. "Really?" Dust said, when he called her a winner, perking up with cheer. She stepped back as Lysel applied his own tools to the crack, seeming perfectly amenable to sharing the supposed find. She looked on intently while he turned the crack into a hole, hesitated... ...and then the floor fell away! Dust gave an entirely unelegant squawk as she tried to jump, or scramble, or something -- anything except fall, but her feet had no purchase... and this was the wrong form for flying. She felt a funny tightness to her shirt; being the one she'd gotten from Van, it was usually quite loose. Then something snagged her close against something else; she didn't have the time to quite register what. Struck with sudden constriction and sudden drop, the Kelvic's instincts said small and winged was the way to be; yet shifting only left her caught in the shirt still clutched close to Lysel, huddled against his chest and still unable to fly. They went down together, striking something with a heavy thud and splintering noises which Dust found rather unnerving. She didn't want to go falling again! Now that they were still, though, she could squirm around to the neck of the shirt and wriggle out through it. Once free, the raven hesitated -- the Akalak whose chest she stood on was maybe too still. He breathed, obviously, but he didn't speak or turn or even ask if she was okay. That didn't seem good at all... Was whatever they'd landed on stable, or would it give way too? That would be bad, if he was already hurt. And -- where had they wound up, anyway? There wasn't really much light coming through the hole above, but Dust craned her head around to see what she could discern of their surroundings, regardless.

[Magpie]

Lysel became slowly aware of pain, as though watching it from a distance. It moved steadily closer until it passed through him, centering on his right shoulder. Somewhere, someone was calling his name. He winced, and attempted to turn over. He didn't want to get out of bed yet. The pain intensified massively and he gasped in a breath of dusty air, sending him into painful convulsions as he coughed.

"Lysel! LYSEL! By the gods, if you're dead-"

"I'm not - gah!" There was a fluttering creature in his arms, caught in what appeared to be a bundle of clothing. Panicking, he shoved it away, generating another bolt of pain in his shoulder.

"Thank Akajia," The voice from above sighed, their voice echoing around the dark chamber they were currently in.

Just barely through the sunlight streaming in, Lysel could make out the outline of a head. Sitting up abruptly, he waved his good arm furiously. "Get back from the hole, you petching idiot! You'll collapse more of it!" The head immediately disappeared."Go find a ladder!" He added, yelling back up as he looked around in the dark. The dust lit up in the sun caught most of the light, but he could make out a single bulky figure as well as some manner of bird standing on what had apparently been some manner of tabele before they'd landed on it. Sliding off the wood, he waved an awkward greeting to the Isur.

"Aaah, Master Daekos. I hope you're unhurt?" His own arm was tucked into his side, praying his shoulder was only jarred and not fully dislocated. It hurt terribly, but not enough that he thought there was permanent damage. He coughed once in the dust and looked around. "I can't believe our reimancers didn't come across this chamber first. Let's have a quick look around." Taking small steps, he moved out of the sunlight, stumbling slightly on some debris.

The room was painfully dark, but as Lysel's eyes adjusted, he saw a faint green glow some feet away. "What's...what's that?" He stumbled again as he moved closer.

Lysel, who had no experience with Glyphing, has no idea he was staring at a simple glyph to activate a light source.