Swift glanced back at the others for a moment.
"Are we all one though?" she asked in a low voice.  Then she shook her head and hastily added: "Sorry, forget I said that!"

She looked towards the axe and shrugged lightly.
"It's ok.  You hang onto it if you like.  I'm not as good with that type of weapon.  And besides, it may be better to keep any magical weaponry divided among ourselves, in case we come up against something that is less vulnerable to normal weapons."

A slightly distant look came over her for a moment.
"I always liked the forests actually" she said in a lower voice, almost a whisper.  "I would sometimes go there when I needed to be alone.  It was a good place to hide out in, to get away from things for a while.  It's not like the city, nothing at all like the city..."
Her voice trailed off there, leaving the thought unfinished, if it had even been going anywhere at all.


OOC: Maybe we can craft new "Spiderman" style weapons for ourselves? :)  hehe.

Sun Snake did not seemed saddened by the comment from Swift Fox. Whether it was from the after effects of the axe, or if he had resigned himself to what Swift Fox said was unclear.

"Perhaps the forest is a poor place to go to get away from oneself. And a city is not a place to go if you fear what happens when others are around."

Sun Snake gave another small, sad smile to Swift Fox. "It was good to see you stay with the group. You would think our instincts would have been reversed." Sun Snake then looked to the forest. "And I am glad, despite the reason, to remember what it was like to lose myself in a place like this. Or find myself."

Sun Snake shrugged, and looked to the axe. "Thank you," he said simply to Swift Fox, briefly looking around to what Water Hornet and the others were doing.


"If we can burn the body without signalling any Kraan outside, that seems a good idea. We may need to make our own way back from the fortress too, and not risk the Skyrider."


Spider weapons, spider weapons, do whatever a spider weapons can!

Hornet, also an important add-on to the new rule - you need to specify what substance you're trying to harvest with each roll. And keep in mind, making potions requires a Lorecircle you don't have, so whatever you recover, you'll only be able to use it as what substance it is, not as part of a compound - unless you can comlete the Lorecirlce of Light, that is.

Dawn Sword seemed to wake up at the sound the people around her were making; the young woman's eyes drifted to the younger Kai Lday in front of her for a moemnt before identifying Sun Snake and focusing firmly on him.

"Master? What... what happened?"

Swift looked mildly surprised at the comment on her staying with the group, but then grinned slightly as if only just realising that herself.
"Maybe" she replied.  Her expression quickly lapsed to a more saddened look though.  "I was always used to acting alone before.  It was how I had always worked best, and in a way I think I preferred not having anyone relying on me.  I never wanted to be leader of a group, because I couldn't handle having the lives of others hanging on my decisions.  It always felt easier to take necessary risks when it was only my own life at risk if I made a single wrong move.
When I told the others about me, I wasn't sure how they would react.  Silver Raven was the only one I ever told willingly before then.  I thought he'd earned the right to know at least, he was always there to talk to whenever I was close to breaking.
I always thought the others might see me as being tainted by the same darkness we were supposed to fight against.  They seem to have accepted me though.  The least I can do now is stand by them."


OOC: Do Dawn Sword and Renora have any visible injuries?  If so, I'll try to heal them back to full if I can :)

OOC: Cool that you allowed it! But after very careful consideration (taking in account the DC, WP expenditure and possible gains...versus future WP need) I decided not to try and extract anything from Skryza.
The vial I would get from Satchwort - I just used it, so had a free vial from there. :)

Water Hornet was slightly confused, not sure whether he annoyed the other Magnakai; then he just disregarded the matter with a shrug - if Raven said he took care of the matter, that meant he really did.

OOC: As far as Hornet is concerned, Sun Fox can burn the corpse.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:10, Wed 25 Mar 2015.

"Working alone is easier," agreed Sun Snake, "the benefits of working as one would not be so great if it were otherwise. There is a balance in the world."

Sun Snake seemed relieved when Dawn Sword woke up. "The creature caught you and Renora unawares in an attack and knocked you both unconscious. It was my fault, but the creature is dead now. We have secured the path."

Sun Snake sighed, as if realising something but reluctant to broach it with his student. "It was my fault, but in future I need to know you will be thinking of the group first. I felt your attention waiver when I disappeared. You cannot do that. If I have fallen, I need to know you are working for the group in my stead without hesitation."

Dawn Sword lowered her head and answered abashed:

"I... I am sorry of having disappointed you, Master.. I'll try to do better in the future."

Meanwhile, Sun Fox seemed satisfied with the result of her digging work, for she turned toward the Skryza and gestured with both hands; suddenly, the small wisps of flame that were still rising from the cauterized wound where she had beheaded it rose in intensity, wrapping the entire beast in bedazzling silver fire. Even as she directed the fire with one hand, Sun Fox used the other to collect all the smoke that was rising from the burning to her hand, making it concentrate in there in a twirling globe that seemed to grow slowly darker and bigger as the minutes passed by.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 09:17, Wed 25 Mar 2015.

Hopefully Sabre didn't want a trophy like the head to wear from his belt :p

"You haven't disappointed me," said to Dawn Sword. "As I said, what happened was my fault. Not just the attack that knocked you unconscious. I have not as your teacher made it clear why I need you to focus. You chose to come out here when you could have stayed. You should not be passive if your instinct was you could help. You are still learning the gift of the Kai. Its voice is still quiet compared to your active thoughts. If you are worrying about what you can do, you will not feel what you can do. And if you are trying to focus on an individual rather than on the group, on the whole situation, you will miss the small voice of your skills. You have the potential for Sixth Sense. It should have let you know I was in no danger, indeed it might have screamed a warning of who was in danger. Hunting may have let you act on instinct a moment before another. The dangers we face will make these gifts come to focus, but you need to let them. I am not disappointed in you for being who you are. As you teacher though, it is my task to let you see who you could be, and the means to achieve this."

twirling his swords in a display of victory, fox had meanwhile settled himself onto a petrified log to rest while the others were busy. however he did speak to sun fox

"beheading something that i already killed doesnt count" he sniggered. "you owe me that drink" he said with a wink

Withdrawing to allow Sun Snake and Dawn Sword to talk, Swift moved back towards Silver Raven and sat down on the ground, watching the remains of the Skryza burn.

"Thanks for that" she said quietly, looking up at him with a weary smile.  "Keeping me from being turned into a pincushion back there, I mean" she added, gesturing in the direction they had come from.
"We make a good team, eh?"


OOC: I love it when Sun Snake goes all "wise mentor" :)
Now he just needs to catch flies with chopsticks...

With everyone engaged in different conversations, Water Hornet moved some distance forward along the path. Turning away from the fire, he took two items from his backpack and studied them with interest.

OOC: Shadow, since Raven was able to 'summon' water (I assume he used Summon Water spell), does that mean we're now in the area where Water Summoning Chalice will start working again?

Not really. The spell exerts a much greater amount of focus than the chalice - it collect moisture from a much, much larger area. Andif you noticed, the effect was minimal - Raven wanted t create a full on mud swamp for the Skryza to be entrapped by, and he only managed to hit a small area to one of the sides.

If you want Raven to summon the water for you, he can, but the chalice will only work again once you're no longer exposed to the dry air of the Darklands, like inside a buiding or some such.

Sun Fox grinned back at Sabre's comment.

"I will, don't worry. Now, let's get a move, shall we?"

And with that, she gestured for the group to head back to the path they'd left to confront the Skryza in the woods.

Meanwhile, Dawn Sword had nodded at Sun Snake's words and, after accepting his help to get up, she answered to him, her voice low:

"I will endeavour to try, master. You won't regret trusting me, I promise."

Sun Snake gave a reassuring smile and nod to Dawn Sword, then moved off to the front of the group with the others.

Swift had apparently lost interest in the burning remains of the Skryza after a short time and had turned to examining the ragged tear in her vest, as if pondering whether to try repairing it or not.

Shrugging lightly, she looked up as Sun Fox began to move the group on.
Hopping back to her feet, she slipped the mirrored shield back onto her left arm, while taking up the Jade Spike in her right hand and moved to follow the others, glancing warily into the surrounding trees, back on alert for any potential dangers or traps lurking nearby...


OOC: I thought that might not have worked in dry air, like deserts and stuff, although I couldn't figure a way around that limitation.
The Transmutation Mug should still work with any liquid you can put in it.  Even blood :)
Actually, I'm wondering if some of that corrosive venom from the Skryza would have worked, or would that just have eaten a hole in it?

Anyways, moving on, and looking out for anything nasty in our immediate vicinity...

The digestive acids would have been capable of melting and burning through anything organic they were poured over, but would't count as a liquid for the purpose of the mug, nor would have armed either of the two containers, since neither ceramic nor gold are organic materials. :)

Even as he followed after Swift Fox, Silver Raven seemed thoughtful, as he'd been since the girl's comment about the end of their fight. Eventually though, he seemed to reach some kind of resolution, for he leaned over and wishpered smeting to Swift Fox, although it was so low a tone, nobody could overhear.

Sun Snake gestured to the forest as they walked. "I can detect many minds in the whole of Gazad Helkona. There seems to be three giak settlements in this woods, each having a few hundred giaks in them. The closest one - five hundred giaks strong - we will get close to at about halfway along this path - after around three hours of travel. It will be an hour detour to our right then. Hopefully at those sort of distances, and with the ferociousness of the creature we have fought, we should be safe enough on the path to the fortress."

A hint of a smile crossed Swift's face and she leaned towards Raven and whispered something back before returning to watching the forest around them.

At Sun Snake's comment, she looked towards him.
"If they're supposed to be guarding this way to the fortress, they may have set traps along the way.  Either for intruders or simply for hunting other creatures here for food" she said in a low voice.


OOC: Giaks be sneaky!

Water Hornet walked besides others at the head of the group - there was no need to show the way, though. He had remained silent since their encounter with the predator and it was obvious Hornet was paying attention to their surroundings.

Upon Snake and Swift's exchange he looked at the two thoughtfully. "On the other hand, if these Giaks are not outcasts, perhaps they can help us get inside the fortress...?"

OOC: Giaks be our entrance ticket...? Or our doom. ^_^

Sun Fox seemed thoughtful for a moment, then commented:

"Do you truly believe the giaks would venture on thispath to trap it, considering the risk they'd run to face the giant spider? Or that there could be any use in making our way to wherever they live?"

Basically, this is me asking if you want to head for the giaks, or make straight for the forest; feel free to discuss it among yourself in character, since you all will need to agree on which path you want to take.

And if you could reach a consensus before we hit the 1000 post threadmark, it'd be really, really cool. :D

Water Hornet turned his head to Sun Fox and even smiled as he answered: "I also don't think Giaks would venture near the dwelling of the predator...at least not willingly. Thus, I don't think we need to take any extra precautions; except for staying alert - like we all surely already are."

"Regarding the second part of your question...," said Hornet thoughtfully, "I'm not sure. But I imagined that, for example, if we managed to track a Giak party on its way into the fortress, we could learn something useful that would help us penetrate fortress' defenses."

The young Magnakai looked at the others inquisitively. "So, I say let's head straight to the walls, but keep our eyes open for Giaks' presence or tracks." Hornet peered through the canopy of petrified branches above their heads, trying to catch a glimpse of the dark sky. "It already took us too long to just get here...," he mumbled to himself. Inwardly, he thought: 'I hope we won't be regretting not risking a more direct route with the Skyrider.'

OOC: I say let's not take the detour to the Giak settlement, but if a chance of running into a smaller group of Giaks presents itself (i.e. something that doesn't mean losing a whole hour and venturing too close to the settlement), let's go for it.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:44, Fri 27 Mar 2015.

OOC: I'd meant more as we were leaving the giant spider's territory, since I'd assume they didn't settle too close to it.
As long as we don't trip on anything nasty though, it's all good :)

My understanding is that this whole path of of the forest is the creature's own trap to pull things in to its lair, and basically no one around would touch it with a deathstaff :)


"I personally wished to avoid any of the creature's around here, but my skills are yours if you have a plan," stated Sun Snake.

He considered the matter of using the giaks. "I am not sure how feasable it will be to await a group of giaks, and also have to disguise all of us to observe them then move in to the fortress after them. However, perhaps if we can capture a rogue giak, there might be others ways. It might be focus intensive, but perhaps with the help of others observing the fortress for real, I can put the images of it travelling to the place in its mind. Perhaps create an illusion in its mind enough that it will then recall the ways to enter the fortress and the specifics of the path beyond."


Does that seem feasable? I am worried any intricate mental trickery involves psi-surge improvements.

OOC: I don't think Swift will have a preference one way or another.  She'd prefer the quickest path, although she knows there are others in the team who aren't as stealthy as her, so will probably be happy with the path of least resistance this time...

"I think the last thing we need is altering a Giak camp to our prescence" Fox said speaking up. "I think we should avoid them and try and keep a low profile as much as possible. Since we shouldnt have to worry about them coming along the path of the predator for a few days, we have a decent escape route"

So that's everybody against stopping to look for Giaks and in favour of reaching the fortress as soon as possible, it seems to me. :)

Sun Fox nodded.

"Alright then, we'll head sraight toward the fortress, but keep our eyes open for any giak who might be wandering the path and make sure to take advantage shoulc the situation arise."

And with that, the group moved onward; it ws a long walk in the dark, under the ppressive cover of the petrified trees, the silence heavier on the group as nobody and nothing showed up to bother them.

Eventually, after many hours of nightly walk, they reached the border of the forest; the trees were less numerous there, and in front of them was the completely clear area where, straight in the center of what was alost a bowl in the ground, stood the fortress of Gazad Helkona.

And with that, we're done for now - you'll be able to plan more about how to enter the place in the next thread, which I'll be posting later today. You might want to start making plans on how to get inside, for this is the last leg of the main story, and I will be doing my best to challenge you all! ^_^

Thread closed.