The city of Ajdanen lay in ruins, burnt to the ground by a mysterious and powerful figure, now, the party finds itself without guidance or a clue of what they should do next, whatever is it that they were involved in, it has grown beyond their control. Now, two paths are displayed to them, to find Helii who left towards the north as they departed to Adjanen, two days ago, or two find their former master, Ari'ael, and hope that with the Spire King's insight, she might have some answrds for them.
The group leaves Ajdanen, searching for Helii, who claims to be one of the Nai'ithar, they follow a vague lead which points towards an old Planetarii tower North of the desert, between Tyla, Ravilla and the Fell woods. They plan on arriving first to the city of Abahir, a former Nervan and now Ravillan military enclave, from where it should be a short way to the Tower. After riding all night, the group comes to an area commonly known as The Anthill, a hellish section of the Tyla desert. Enormous mountains of sand dot the landscale and every now and then the desert sand seems to move as if alive. The dooners slowly begin showing clear signs of fear and stress. As the sun peeks behind the horizon, the cool of the night fades away and the temperature rises, though it is still tolerable.
Time - 6:00 AM
Mela slowed down her doomer, seeing that the creature is becoming more and more aroused. She looked around to see such untamed force of wind and sand. The place showed no welcome, only antagonism.
Maura palms started to get a little sweaty. Soon she realized what was making her nervous. the dooner's fear seemed to flow in waves over Maura. "I think we should stop now." Maura said suddenly stopping her dooner and dismounted. "something's not right."
Tyza was squinting away from the Sun as he heard Maura, but had to agree. Whatever was causing the Dooner to behave in such a fashion was most likely not good for the party. Then again, dooners might get a little skittish when they were out of the city for too long, he wouldn't know.
"Uhm... I am not familiar with this part of the desert... I've never been north before..." admitted
Sana in a low voice hoping one of her companions would know more. She quickly wrapped herself in a dark cloth, she would be extremely hot later on, but at least the sun would not burn her eyes and skin.
"Do we want to stop and take a look around?"
Celena asked the group. "If someone can take my Dooner then I'll fly up overhead to see if I can spot anything."
In one quick motion,
Ryoko had hurried her dooner to the side of Celena's and halted it, swiftly throwing herself onto the back of Celena's and reaching around her to halt hers as well. With a slight smirk and apology to taking Celena's dooner's reins, she agreed it might be best to see where they were headed. "Though it's not wise to stop in the middle of the desert and better to continue as far as possible until nightfall, without completely knowing where we are headed, we could stray off and get lost. I second the motion for Celena to go up and see where we are headed." She had one hand on Celena's shoulder and the other gripping her dooner's reins so she could leave it and not have it wander off.
Recovering from being jarred when Ryoko grabed the Dooner's reins;
Celena threw Ryoko a look of thanks and then climbed off the mount. She addressed the group, "If you want to keep moving I can catch up with you. Once it gets to hot though we might want to stop and rest. Traveling only at night when it's cooler might be the best idea." Celena then took off and once she was high enough looked around below her to see if she could spot what was frightening the Dooner's.(Spot)
Up in the sky, the rising sun was even more excrutiating, almost half an hour had passed and the temperature was rising. Celena looked around the area, it was a flat extension of desert with large, mound-like dunes every now and then. To the right and left Celena could notice rock formations that could offer some shade and protection from the sand. And all the way north, she thought she saw some greenery, maybe an Oasis. At this point, the sun was too bright and the air had grown too thin, so Celena started feeling sick and flew down once more.
Mela slowly rode to Celena, not wanting to stand in one position, still feeling strange fear transmitted from the animals. "Well, did you see anything that could help us?" she asked Celena.
"There are some rocks over there and I think an oasis up ahead but in this heat I couldn't be absolutly sure,"
Celena replied hunching over untill the sick feeling passed. "I feel that we should find some shelter from the heat or else we all won't make it," she added with a glance at Sana feeling sorry for the Dah'kin girl having to travel in this sun and heat.
Mela understood the hint and felt little worried for Sana. The heat would only get bigger. And Dak'hin didn't tolerate well sun or heat. "Yeah, at least until this heat wears out.!"
Ryoko nodded and mounted back up onto her own dooner with Tyza. She squinted against the sun and tried to see anything. "Lead the way Celena."
Celena nodded and once again took to the air being careful to stay a little bit lower this time. She looked for the nearest shelter that everyone plus the animals could find some reprieve from the sun. "Over this way," she called down to the others as she landed back on the ground and headed off towards shelter.
Maura remounted her dooner and went towards Celena.
Mela lessened the pressure on the curbs that lied around the doomers neck and caught him with her legs to give him teh notice to start walking. Than she turned him in the direction where Celena was.
The group slowly made its way towards one of the rock formations where they could catch some shade. As they moved forward the dooners seemed unaffected by the heat so far, but Sana was beggining to loose her balance on the dooner´s back every now and then, she had covered herself so the burn on the sun would not harm her, but that had made her hotter than the others in the group. Before reaching the first rock formation, the group came to a large depression, like a sinkhole in the sand, and had to decide whether to go through it or around it.
Considering the obstacle in front of them
Celena then came up with an idea. "Do we have anything to spare that we could toss into the pit?" She questioned the group.
"Hmmm, only myself. I will die. This heat is awful." said
Mela. "How are you coping, Sana?"
Tyza pulled a gold piece from his pocket, flicking it into the air and watching the Sunlight glance off it, "Does anyone want me to throw this into it? I'm sure we can spare a single gold piece. We don't have much in the way of spare equipment."
Ryoko nodded and turned to Tyza. "He's right. We're pretty tight on what supplies and such we have. I say give it a try, we have no idea how stable it is." She shifted on the Dooner's back, panting, and waited.
Nodding her head
Celena agreed, "I think that would work. Why don't you try it Tyza."
Tyza nodded to both, standing as best he could behind Ryoko and flicking the gold coin into the sand pit. The small coin flashed through the air in a graceful arc, coming to rest with a dull thud somewhere close to twenty yards away.
Mela stood still for a moment, waiting for a sign that the coin reaced the bottom of the pit. She expected that it wouldn't reverberate loudly, the sand would mute the sound.
Ryoko cocked her head as her tail twitched nervously back and forth. The coin glimmered back at her in the light. "I think it's safe to say it can support at least
some weight. Take the rope I carry from my Dooner's neck and let me wrap it around my waist and hold on. We can see if it can take
real weight. I'd rather not have to do this alone nor go all the way around." She suggested and waited for anyone to lend a hand.
Tyza eyed up the coin nervously, but dismounted from the Dooner and started to uncoil the rope from the Dooner's neck, "Are you sure you want to go out there? If you're too heavy we're going to have a hard time pulling you back, the sand will drag you down."
"Celena, you can't fly over it? If not, than Ryoko, like she suggested, can go. We shall hold the rope. And it is probably a good idea to tie it to Dooners back as well.", said
Mela.
"I like that idea."
Maura said. "what can i do?"
"I'm ok... thanks" replied
Sana, quite obviously not ok, as the group tried to think of a way to get past the sand depression.
"I could fly over it if you wanted but I'm not sure what I would do once I'm up there."
Celena replied. "Sending one of us makes me kind of nervous if someething is under there then we very well could loose that member of the party. Of course I could just be over cautious but whatever we do we might want to hurry. Sana doesn't look like she's doing so well."
"Well, motion people. It is getting hotter and hotter." said
Mela.
Ryoko ran to her dooner and wrapped the rope a few times around it's waist and threw more to Tyza. She then ran to the edge of the depression and turned back. With her head held high and arms outstretched, she stepped forward in the depression.
Mela run to Tyza and the Dooner and caught the rope in the place where it was wrapped around Dooner, just in case Tyza couldn't hold it.
Celena took flight and tried to hover above the depression while Ryoko stepped in. She watched the depression very carefully looking for any signs of something living beneath the sand. (spot) Once the heat was to much for her she quickly moved to one side of the depression and set her feet down on land.
As soon as Ryoko places a foot on the depression and exerts some pressure, a large blast of sand comes forth and a large insect digs out from under the sand in the very middle, rushing towards Ryoko!
Battle has started!
Turns and positions are as following!
Exhorian Digger (J12)(*_*)
Celena (J5)(Flying)
Ryoko (K12)
Tyza (J13)(Paralyzed!)
Mela (D10)
San'aran (H12)
Maura (B14)
The Exhorian digger ran towards the prey that had set its trap, moving to J10, it tried to bite Ryoko's leg off!
Ryoko leapt to the right to try and dodge the digger's bite.
The Digger quickly grabbed Ryoko's leg and attempted to bring her under the sand, clenching her teeth in pain, the Tigress leapt out of the way, pulling her leg off and causing the teeth to tear two large gashes through the flesh, dealng 9 damage!
Celena's turn! -
Celena knocks an arrow and prepares to attack the digger.
Ryoko's turn! -
Ryoko gripped her two scimitars and plunged with the speed she could muster at the digger's hopeful head.
Ryoko lifted her scimitar and slashed down at the Digger, striking the insects head, unfortunately, the blade failed to penetrate the exhorian's hard shell!
Tyza's turn! -
Noting the armour on the Digger's body,
Tyza did the only thing he could think of. Rushing forward, he tried to stab at the beast from underneath with his katana, hoping for a soft underbelly.
Tyza slashed upwards, but the underbelly of the exhorian was armored as well, making his katana glance to the side harmlessly!
Mela's turn! -
Seeing that no one sucessfully injured the animal,
Mela tried to attack it with her scimitar.
Mela slashed at the digger, but her scimitar failed to penetrate the creature's shell as well!
San'aran's turn! -
Sana, struggling against the heat and the sun, placed her hands together and chanted a dark hymn, casting Blink upon herself, just in case, as she knew she was not in the best conditions to avoid an attack.
Maura's turn! -
Maura took aim at the digger trying not to harm anyone else and uses explosion.
Maura lifted her hand, closed her eyes and concentrated, suddenly, a fiery blast enveloped the digger for a fraction of a second, dealing 8 damage. Unfortunately, the blast blew away everyone adjacent to the exhorian, tossing Tyza, Mela and Ryoko away as if they were rag dolls
The exhorian, after waiting for an instant for his charred shell to cool down, the exhorian scurried to J12 and tried to grapple bite Tyza before he got back up after flying a 2 meter distance.
Cursing,
Tyza tried to defend himself by batting the Exhorian's mandibles away with his katana.
Unfortunately for Tyza, the Exhorian bypassed his defense and grapple bit both his arms, paralyzing him!
Celena's turn! -
Seeing her companions have no luck
Celena aims at the Digger's eye and prepares to loose her arrow.
The arrow flew towards the digger, but the distance caused it to deviate, added to Celena's less than perfect aim made the arrow strike the exhorian's back, dealing 7 damage!
Ryoko's turn! -
Ryoko grit her teeth from the pain in her leg and swung her scimitars down at the digger.
With a two powerful slashes, Ryoko pierced the sides of the digger's armor, dealing 16 damage and causing a foul smelling, darkish goo to come out from the side!
Tyza is unable to move due to the digger's grapple!
Mela's turn! -
Mela attacked one more time with her Rapier, trying to find the place where the enemy was exposed the most, and give the final blow.
Mela tried to pierce the Exhorian's side with her blade, but she barely managed to scratch its hard shell, dealing 1 damage!
San'aran's turn! -
Mela attacked one more time with her Rapier, trying to find the place where the enemy was exposed the most, and give the final blow.
Mela tried to pierce the Exhorian's side with her blade, but she barely managed to scratch its hard shell, dealing 1 damage!
San'aran's turn! -
Even though she could barely stand up from the merciless heat,
Sana rushed to help her friends, she ran next to the exhorian, almost tripping in the sand more than once, and then twirled once with her dragon fan in hand, trying to cut the insect's stomach!
Unfortunately for Sana, he Dragon fan was not exactly the best weapon to try to pierce armor with, and the blades bounced off the exhorian's shell harmlessly!
Maura's turn! -
This time aiming extra carefully
Maura aimed a heat beam straight at the exhorian.
Maura aimed both her hands at the Exhorian digger and released a super concentrated beam of heat, which struk the creature in the head and burnt it to ashes, dealing 8 damage and killing the beast!
Battle has ended!
Everyone receives 240 XP!
Exhuasted from battle, heat and the strain of being in the air
Celena let's herself slowly drop to the ground near the digger's pit. "So do you think that there might be anything worth taking?" She asked the group giving the charred body a weary look over.
Ryoko thought for a moment and nodded. "I'm pretty sure we could salvage a few things from it...at least use the shell for some good, almost as tough as dragon scales. If it's innards are any good for consumption we could pack it up into some sacks." She walked around it looking it over.
Mela took a deep breath to regain her senses. She waited a moment and walked to the animal to test Ryoko's statement. (search)
Tyza took this opportunity to try and soothe his arms. He felt utterly useless, but hid the feeling beneath a veneer of impassivity. He looked into the Digger's pit, searching for anything important or valuable. (Search)
Mela and Tyza began to search amongst the remains, but they did not find anything that could be deemed usable. Anything that might've remained from other adventurers the digger could've caught was by now under several feet of sand, and it would be nightmarish to dig for it under the heat.
Sana, who was trying to get a grip, panting under the ruthless sun, eventually couldn't bear it anymore and collapsed, falling on her knees on the sand. Her head was hurting horribly, and all around her the landscape shifted and twisted, making her very nauseous.
Ryoko limped over to Sana and carefully wrapped one of Sana's arms over her shoulders. "We need to rest. Finally we can get to the shade of that rock with no threat. We all need time to heal. Traveling can wait until we're better off." Ryoko tore a piece of cloth from her attire and hesitantly poured some of their precious water onto it. They were now in the welcoming shade. She folded it and carefully placed it onto Sana's forehead. Ryoko was now sitting on her knees, she had tried to lay Sana down and rest her head in Ri's lap. "Hopefully this will help a little. You've got some bad heat exhaustion, rest." She moved a bit and repeated the tearing of a bit of cloth. With a wince she tied it tightly around the major wounds of her leg and applied constant pressure. "What say we rest?"
Celena Astyrial
Maura
Mela RaaTyalangan
Ryoko Lunari
Tyza Kiruthianasis
San'aran Afiza
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