Ruins of the Steppe -- Fuuma Kotaro

## Summary

Kotaro investigated the ruins in the Steppe and determined it to have been, at some point, some sort of unassuming village now overgrown by plant life. In a pile of rubble, he found human bones, indicating that this was not simply an abandoned village.

## Transcript

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PANDOR.

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Exploration commenced.

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Kotaro

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Kotaro begins to walk to the southeast. He has heard rumors about the mysterious ruins that lie there, though the purpose for its existence and its history is unknown even to the residents of Epoche. He treads with his natural soundless steps, cautious as he approaches the overgrown shadow looming ahead. He eventually crosses the threshold into the ruins' shadow and proceeds closer to touch the wall covered with foliage.

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PANDOR.

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You see several ruined buildings, scattered and sparse, crumbled and broken, some seemingly buried beneath twisting vines or being crushed by the trunk of a tree. The closest one, that you reach out and touch, seems to be made of some sort of cobblestone, moss heavy in the grout between the stones. There doesn't seem to be any nearby danger.

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Kotaro

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He hums quietly to himself and follows the wall with his hand grazing against alternating stone and moss. He applies small pressure every now and then to find any weakness in the structure, since the building looks decrepit to forcibly make some points of entry. Several steps later, he feels a stone push inward at his prodding. Ah, he thinks. He pushes the stone further in until the stone brick falls through the other side. Now is it just this one or...? It doesn't take him long after to begin prodding at the adjacent bricks, also picking off the weaker bricks until a sizeable hole as long as his waist forms. He's used to slipping through tight places, after all. Sucking in a breath, he crawls through.

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PANDOR.

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Luckily, the structural integrity of the building is already compromised. As you push your way through the hole, it's more difficult than you intended. Having loosened some of the rocks already, you have to be careful where you place your weight -- one wrong slip and the building could collapse on you. It's a fairly exhausting endeavor, but you manage to squirm through and see...

...An open area, with several broken pieces of furniture and other objects strewn across the grass.

The building that this once was has crumbled beyond the wall, though it was hard to see from the point of view on the other side of the wall. But hey, at least you got some exercise in!

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Kotaro

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Very roundabout, but sometimes that's how it is in his line of work. He approaches the pieces with the same amount of caution, just to see what could have happened to make them broken. And, of course, if there were any valuable items of note, whether in history or in mystery. Perhaps if he finds something small, he could take it back with him and ask around for information. Surely there are archives back in Epoche, right? Kotaro examines the furniture piece by piece with a trained eye. He is no craftsman, but he is an expert on how to destroy necessary things to hide evidences.

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PANDOR.

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The most remarkable thing about the furniture, you note, is how unremarkable it is. The leg of a table, the tattered cloth remains of a rug, an odd bit of cutlery or two sticking out from mossy patches on the ground, tattered pages from books peeking out beneath a cracked bookshelf. From what you can tell, this was no remarkable landmark, nor any divine building of great importance. It was... just a house.

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Kotaro

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A residency. A home. Kotaro wonders what manner of person or people had lived here. The furnishings were comely, the books were fanciful enough to be mildly entertaining. He wonders what befell its residents. The disheveled appearance notes some sort of unnatural wear. But he's stayed too long, nearly forgetting the training drilled into his bones. He needs to stay moving, always moving. So Kotaro leaves the broken home behind and moves further into the ruins, deeper into the southeast, trying to keep to the darkest and shadiest areas.

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PANDOR.

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Leaving the ruins of the house, it doesn't take long for you to reach another building. There's something that looks almost like a plant covered log alongside it, though you can't quite discern exactly what it was beneath the heavy leaves and seeming decay of time. Though similar in design and materials, this building is far worse off, little more than rubble and splintered wood scattered around the base of a large tree.

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Kotaro

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After the first time, he was hesitant on going through the piles of rubbish that greeted him. The house previous didn't hold anything of much worth, and this plot of disrepair seemed to be of about the same size as the last. Another house, probably. One that had obviously seen much more than the one preceding it. The tree looked unassuming enough, but it's never in a ninja's best interest to merely assume. It's best to give it a cursory investigation rather than just leave it be. Just in case. As he goes to the large tree and feels around for anything suspicious or even generally off, Kotaro wonders what this place could have been in its original state. Since there had been residencies, it hardly seemed like a normal military stronghold and the probability of any spiritual or religious affiliate were equally low. Could it have been a castle-town, then? Had it befallen siege? ...And why was it so quiet that he could even hear the internal harmonic of his ears?

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PANDOR.

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As you investigate the bit of plant life, it is, by all accounts, a normal-looking, fully grown tree. The only thing out of place that you can discern about the tree is its placement. It grows oddly close to the wall on what would have been the interior side of the building, but you cannot tell what happened first: the building being destroyed or the tree itself growing in this exact location.

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Kotaro

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"...Mm..." Strange, but he can't afford to ruminate over something that might not bear fruit. He'll keep it in the back of his mind. Kotaro leaves the tree and presses onwards. He knows that it's the mountain range that has a host of dangerous creatures, but there's the ever-present thrum of adrenaline in him as he continues at the prospect of being watched, being ambushed. Either way, he is ready. His footsteps are light. His breathing is soundless. He keeps going, staying in the cover of shadow.

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PANDOR.

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Listening carefully, you cannot hear any creatures in the immediate vicinity. As far as you can tell, you're the only living being in the area.

As you walk, you can discern an overgrown cobblestone path occasionally broken by a sapling or some twisting, thorned blossom here and there. At some point it looks like a building may have collapsed into the path, leaving a pile of cobblestone rubble in the way.

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Kotaro

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Alone. Completely, utterly alone. Kotaro nearly tries to wrap his head around it, but he knows that this place by its very nature is something that can't be explained right now. Not with what little knowledge he brings into it. There's no use trying to make heads or tails of what's around him in the grander scale. He sizes down, chooses what's in front of him rather than the bigger picture for now. The remnants of buildings are clear. Fallen things, ruined things, but it all points to things once being here--things once thriving here. He goes through the rubble briskly but with deft fingers, not expecting to find anything but not wanting to overlook a small chance either.

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PANDOR.

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It takes some effort, and tires you out quite a bit as some of the rocks are on the heavier side for someone less accustomed to feats of strength, but you do manage to dislodge enough of the stone to get a little further down towards the bottom of the pile.

Something sticks out as different among the slate grey of the rocks and the verdant moss that has grown over time, you assume. It's white, and definitely does not seem to fit in with the rubble and dust. So you dig in deeper to uncover what it is, pulling away the smaller rocks and shifting the larger ones. You don't uncover the entire thing, but you manage to unveil enough of it to tell what it is.

Bones.

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Kotaro

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It's undeniable. Bones, and substantially pieced ones. Kotaro doesn't dare try to retrieve it in an attempt at trying to preserve what little he uncovered. His fingers touch the smooth surface, minimal cracks etching the expanse of whiteness if any at all. Something --someone--had been crushed underneath this pile of building. Signs point to natural disaster rather than a siege of some sort. Earthquake is his immediate guess. The surrounding area is relatively flat so it could hardly have been a landslide. A storm would have to be divinely powerful to break through stones of this caliber. Then again. "Divinely" could hardly be out of question. Kotaro leaves the pile behind and keeps going forward. He hasn't done very much aside from moving rocks and walking, so he can persist for a bit more. Finding remains is already a good discovery on its own, considering the lack of anything else in the ruins, but he still holds out hope that the next little while will bring something else.

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PANDOR.

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Everything you've looked at has allowed you to deduce that this was a small, simple village, perhaps previously inhabited by farmers or artisans or more simple folk. The cracked bones crushed under cobblestone rubble is really the only thing that sticks out to you, and without that, you may have even assumed this place was just abandoned by its inhabitants and left to crumble of its own accord.

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Kotaro

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Nothing else. Even as he pushed further, there's not really much other than what he's already discovered. But at least it gave the information that there had been life this far out, aside from the wild. Something that had wiped them out, burying them with nearly no remains. Kotaro wants to find out more--wants to discover the how and the why--but he can feel himself starting to run empty. He hadn't been built for lengthy pursuits, for such sustained movement over an extended duration. He needs to unfortunately head back now before he can't even reach the city. He treads back with care, conserving energy. He'll try again another time. This time, maybe he'll have better luck.

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PANDOR.

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Exploration ended.