Chp. 7: Artifacts
Mistral Swamp
August 15, 2020
A couple days had passed as the sun had just set at the swamp where the initiation of Haven's new students had taken part in. Teams SLAA and HDAA were wandering through the swamps as they were all carrying flashlights and backpacks.
"Remind us again why you brought us out here again, Deriko," Atar said with annoyance.
"We're out here because I want samples and specimens to bring back for study! They are essential for my experiments and studies!" Deriko explained.
"I still don't know how he managed to convince us all to join him," Athena said.
"My scientific mind will go down in history one day! It will be looked back upon as it will become essential for mankind!" Deriko said as he swung his hands away in a dramatic fashion.
"Yeah, okay. Whatever, moron," Atar said. "
"Really? Is that what you're really concerned about?" Athena asked.
"Hey! I'm lonely here! Give me a break!" Atar replied.
"I should be helping Lloyd figure out what his semblance is," Mitra said
"I hope it's useful," Lloyd said.
"I've got to continue reading the Harry Potter series," Amethyst said. "By the way, no spoilers!"
"It gets good throughout. That's all I can tell you," Lloyd said.
"Guys, I know we all have our own stuff to do, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all go back," Siavash said.
"Yeah, this place is pretty creepy at night, and I really don't want to stay out here long," Mitra said.
The two teams continue to travel through the swamp, gathering more samples for Deriko's studies. They soon come across the temple from their initiation. Teams SLAA and HDAA approached the temple's entrance and looked up at it for a moment.
"You think we could find anything inside the temple?"
"Ancient places are hotspots for study," Deriko answered.
"Let's hurry this up and get this over with," Yasu said.
They all stepped inside the temple through it's entrance. They all spread out and began their search through the temple for anything that would gain Deriko's attention. Several minutes had passed as they hadn't found anything of use for Deriko. Atar approaches the wall behind the displays where the relics for the initiation were placed and gives out a look of frustration.
"This is stupid! We shouldn't even be out here!" he shouted as he pounded his fist against the wall.
The wall starts to crack and then begins to break and fall apart, creating a large hole in the wall in a large cloud of dust. The others all ran up to see the damage that had been made.
"Atar, what did you do?!" Siavash asked in panic.
"It was an accident! I didn't know it was gonna-" before Atar could finish, Mitra cut him off.
"Guys! Look at this!" Mitra said, pointing at the newly made hole in the wall.
When the dust settled they were able to see what was passed through the hole. They all saw a stairway leading straight downwards to another entryway.
"What is it?" Lloyd asked.
"A hidden stairway. Is there something down there?" Amethyst asked.
"Only one way to find out," Siavash said.
"How exciting!" Deriko said with a gleeful chuckle.
Teams SLAA and HDAA stepped through the hole in the wall and then started to make their way down the stairs. They all soon reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped through the entrance and saw what was on the other side. It was a large empty stone room with the exception of a large metal chest on the other end of the room.
"What is that supposed to be? Treasure?" Yasu asked.
"Maybe. Can't hurt to take a look inside it," Athena answered.
The two teams all approached the chest as Siavash then knelt down to it. He flips the chest's lid back, opening it as everyone in the room all looked inside to see. Inside were four different objects: a silver gauntlet, a golden leaf crown, a bronze lantern, a necklace with a silver amulet with a red ruby in the middle of it, and a large book with a brown leather cover.
"Weird looking treasure," Mitra said as she pulled out the lantern.
"The crown and necklace look to be of something of value," Athena said as she pulled out the necklace.
"I wonder what's in this book," Deriko said as he pulled the book out of the chest.
"Let me get a hold of whatever's in that chest," Lloyd said as he reached his hand out into the chest and grabbed and pulled out the leaf crown.
Siavash pulled out the gauntlet from the chest and examined it for a moment before he looked back up to the others.
"Let's take this stuff back to Haven and figure this out," he said.
As Team SLAA and Deriko's stuffed the items in their backpacks, everyone turned around and started exiting out of the room. They all made their way up the stairs and once they made it up the stairs, they all stepped out of the hole in the wall and are now back into the relics display room.
"Well what do we have here?" a new voice spoke from the temple's entrance.
The two teams looked up at the entrance to see who was speaking to them, not expecting someone to arrive. They all saw four people standing at the entryway staring back at them.
The first was a short, light-skinned man with black hair with long bangs that almost covers the right side of his face, light blue eyes, and polished black wears a pair of black leather boots with six straps and silver buckles on each boot, dark jeans, a black leather jacket with a strap wrapped around his left shoulder down to his right side, a white collared shirt, a pair of light gray fingerless gloves, and a pair of black wrist bands. This was the gothic leader of the group, Sil.
The second was a tall heavy-set, dark-skinned man with long dirty blonde hair. He wears a pair of black gold lensed goggles over his eyes, a dirty white dress shirt, a maroon coat beneath a dark brown shoulder cape, a black fingerless glove on his right hand and a matching wrist band on his left wrist, a pair of black pants that was held up with a tan belt with a black buckle, and a pair of black steel-toed boots with yellow laces. This is the heavy hitter of the group, Marton.
The third is a tall and spindly woman who wears a silver helmet that covers her face. She is spider Faunus and has a pair of long elongated spider fangs as her trait, hidden under her helmet. She has black hair and wears a long purple coat, a violet turtleneck sweatshirt, a pair black of elbow length gloves with silver armor on the wrists and fingers, a set of armored plates on her hypes that were held up with a pair of black belts, a pair of violet pants, and a pair of calve high, steel-toed boots with armor around her ankles. This is Faunus of the group, Mina Lavender.
The last person is a woman with light skin, long black hair with a small bun tied in the back of her head. She wears a fur-trimmed aviator jacket, a black and gray shirt, a pair of black gloves, tan cargo pants with a brown belt and gold buckle, and a pair of gray calf high, zip-up, steel-toed boots. This is skilled assassin of the team, Khaki.
Together they were known as Team SMMK (Smoke).
"Who are you people?" Mitra asked.
"We are known as Team SMMK, kids. And you kids have something that belongs to us," Sil answered as he flipped his hair away from his face.
"Yours?" Siavash asked.
"You mean this stuff we've found?" Lloyd asked.
"Yep. Those artifacts are really valuable in the black market," Marton answered.
"Black market?" Mitra asked with a raised eyebrow.
"So why don't you children hand those over to use?" Mina asked.
"We'll take good care of them for you," Khaki said.
"We wouldn't want anything bad to happen now would we?" Marton said.
Teams SLAA and HDAA all looked at each other for a moment, sensing bad intentions from Team SMMK. The two teams turned their heads back to Team SMMK.
"Yeah, something tells us not to listen to you people," Siavash said as he and the others pulled out their weapons.
"You people give off bad vibes," Lloyd added.
"Let the blood of our enemies spill!" Deriko exclaimed and gave out a cackle.
"Well... how disappointing," Sil said, flipping his hair away.
In response, Team SMMK pulls out their weapons. Sil pulls out a pair of black and white hatchets with long pistol barrels as the handles. Marton pulled out a black cub laced with spiked Dust. Mina draws out a shotgun with an axe blade beneath the barrel. Khaki draws out a blue sword.
Author's Note: Sil and Khaki's weapons were never brought up in RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, so I just gave them some. If the Dungeons & Dragons themed show does reveal their weapons at some point (though I'm not sure if that show will continue) I'll just say their original weapons had been destroyed at some point in the past.
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