2017-07-16: A Moment of Silence

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DG: That's not a valid party leader.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

ADVENTURER'S GUILD AD

PRIORITY: urgent

CLIENT: Church of Granas, Lacour cathedral

We are sorry to impose, but one of our loyal devouts recently learned the family member he had lost contact with for the last several months was in Lahan at the time of the great disaster that struck it. He has asked to visit the site, but this was deemed unsafe by all involved. The Church instead volunteered a songstress to visit the location and perform basic funeral rites to facilitate the passing of the poor soul. We would request able-bodied Drifters to accompny our songstress and ensure nothing happens to her. Please visit the Granas cathedral in Lacour to collect payment after the job. Please return our songstress in one piece, regardless of her... demeanor.

- Father Kalal

-------

Answering the call was the easy part. There were no horses, no caravans. The party first had to gather outside Lacour and take up the daunting task of walking all the way to Lahan. Elena awaits past the checkpoint of the tournament city; the blonde would be hard-pressed to hide her title, given her clothing and polite, lady-like posture. She wasn't thrilled with working with mercenaries, and tried to insist she could do this alone, but they wouldn't hear a word of it, and so the father put an ad out.

Elena

Elena is a 5'2", 17 years old young woman with a frail-looking frame and dull brown eyes. Her slightly dark blonde hair is usually braided behind her head and she wears not one trace of makeup. She has a beautiful voice, and it's not hard to accept she's a Songstress with just a short conversation.

Elena is currently wearing the colors of Granas, that is blue and white. A one-piece dress with poofy shoulders, adorned with large red spheres, decorated with black sashes engraved with symbols from the Church of Granas, ending in a short frilly skirt. A pair of baggy blue shorts that reach down to her knees. Lacy pink ribbons tied behind her waist, free-flowing to either of her sides, almost to her feet, ending with red spheres identical to the ones on her shoulder. Brown leather boots, solid, meant for travel, and matching wristguards to go with them. White socks, barely visible past the boots. And a strange white and blue bonnet, which looks more like she tied a scarf or a long-sleeved shirt around her head, leaving the top of her hair exposed.

https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/grandia/images/5/5b/Elena_General.jpg

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

For the most part, Neriah has stayed out of the business of the Church. She's not the sort of person who trusts priests, mostly because of her... little problem. This time, however, she feels better about it. She's gone a couple of weeks without feeling the usual tug of her powers.

So she decided to give this a try. She signed up and went along. Now, she strolls up to the checkpoint at a relaxed pace. Her excavator's outfit needs some work; she's switched over to a pair of black slacks, a set of modestly-heeled ankle-boots, and a vest in a pearl-grey colour with a few maroon elements woven through its pattern. It fits her fairly closely and is buttoned up snugly. Over her shoulder, she's carrying a pack, from which hangs her shovel. Her gun belt holds a slim, silvery pistol of a curious make - an ARM, but not a common one, though even common ones tend to be looked at askance.

"Hello," Neriah calls out to the young woman waiting ahead, waving broadly and casting a polite smile. "Are you the songstress from the Cathedral? I'm Neriah Parringer and I'm here to make sure nobody eats you while we're out doing this thing."

She slows as she says that much, coming to a halt within conversation distance. Her free hand migrates to her belt, thumb hooked into one of the loops. Lips moued, she looks up to the sky a moment, then off into the distance. "You know... I actually don't mind walking. It's not like I've got any tournament matches to catch."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


One of the mercenaries in question doesn't seem that bothered to be working for, well anyone. In fact one of the reasions that Morgan Newkirk took this specific job is that last line of Father Kalal's request. Before that amused the hell out of the fox.

Enough that he had to see this songstress for himself.

So joining this little gathering is a fox. The Drifter ambling up the road past the checkpoint. Ears perked up and tail waving faintly behind him. The tall gunslinger seems perfectly at home walking. There is a chuckle though as he hears Neriah's greetings, his smile ticking up. Its an easy smile, full of humor and good cheer as he reaches up to touch fingers to the brim of a hat that has long ago been eaten by an owlbear.

...seriously. It was. Morgan nearly didn't get out of that one.

"Miss," He drawls. "Adventurer's Guild is always happy to help out. Name's Morgan." He adds with a grin. "Morgan Newkirk." A glance towards Neriah as well before he looks back towards the employer. "And I'm free from tournament promises too, so...the walk will let me stretch my legs."

Which he seems to enjoy.

Morgan Newkirk

The man before you seems to be one of a generally cheerful demeanor. Topping just at six feet even, a smile is usually worked into his expression and curiosity hides behind his bright green eyes. His long sandy-colored hair is streaked with hints of cream in places and is usually drawn back in a ponytail. His strong jaw and slightly aristocratic nose round out features that people would call finely chiseled. Of course the rough usually day worth of stubble that covers those features doesnt usually lead itself to people noticing.

His athletic frame is broad shouldered well proportioned. He obviously keeps himself in shape, mostly due to the fact that Diggers that get out of shape dont stay Diggers very long. There is obvious strength in the corded muscles that wrap his frame and he moves is a fluid and precise manner. He doesnt move quickly all the time, but he moves with a purpose.

His clothes seem to be bought from Kislev, serviceable but not that of nobility or the wealthy. Black denim trousers circled by a wide belt of dark leather. A slightly faded dark red shirt worn under a tooled leather vest. A long coat of dark leather worn over that is more function than fashion but it seems kept out of some sentimental value. Markings on the coat where patches of some kind were dot the arms. Usually a pair of revolvers ride low in holsters on either hip. Well maintained and heavily customised they are a familiar pair of weapons.

His right arm is the most spectacular piece of his attire. From fingers to elbow it seems to be encased in a flexible metallic gauntlet of some kind. Gunmetal in color with black fittings around where the joints would be, and etched with odd silver engravings it's a unique piece. Flexible enough that the man seems to have no trouble manipulating things while wearing it.

He could even pass entirely for a human, if it wasnt for three things. Four if youre looking close. The pair of long and tapering ears covered in a sandy fur sprout from the tops of his head, fox like in nature. He wears a tail of the same color quite proudly usually with the tip peaking out from under the edge of the jacket. The eyes are also oddly slit, not very human in nature at all, but intelligent without a doubt.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida declined payment on this one. Between the funds she had sent over and the money she's made off other jobs, she can afford to take the hit. She'd probably decline payment even if she couldn't, because it does not feel right asking for money from the Church when she's one of the faithful.

Ida brought her horse. A grey-coated mare trots along behind her, and between the horse, the hat, and the poncho, Ida is already three-fourths of the way to looking like a Badlands Drifter. "Sister Elena," she says, doffing her hat and bowing respectfully to the priestess. "It's good to see you again." She puts her hat back on, and nods to her other comrades. "You as well, Morgan, Neriah."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong looks at the posting. He snaps it off and scrunches it between his hands. "...Funeral rites, huh...?" He closes his eyes for a moment. Is this something he's really allowed to help with? He hasn't been back to Lahan since he left it. He hadn't wanted to see it. He hadn't wanted to see it at all.

But maybe what he wants isn't what's important here. Maybe what's important is what's right. He has to try and make ammends. Someone needs their funeral rites respected? He can do that, at least. The rest of the villagers are gone by now. He can do this. Can't he?

Fei Fong Wong does the easy part. Neriah is around, whom he instantly recognizes because she's horrifying. Ida--he also recognizes. He gives her a small smile. "Hey," He tells Ida. "If I go a little nuts, uh. I'm counting on you."

He then looks towards Elena. He gives a long look at her. He approaches.

"Hey, I'm from Lahan." He says to her. "So I just wanted to thank you for going out there and doing what needs to be done. I won't take money from your people to do this job. I'm just here to help." He offers her his hand.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Uggggggh the Church of Granas.

Uggggggghhhhh a podunk town in the middle of nowhere.

UUUUUUGGGH IT'S A PILE OF RUBBLE.

Cyre grins as he steps out from Lacour's great gates. He looks like he's seen better days. His chest and arm appear to have been bandaged recently, and he seems maybe just a little bit more pale than usual, as if he's just fought off a pretty nasty cold. But he also seems to be in high spirits! "Heeeey there people. Fei--" Cyre bobs his head to that martial artist with the weirdly broad forehead. "I for one am pretty glad we're not going anywhere full of horrible monsters today. Hey--"

He draws a bottle of Johnny Appleseed Cider out of his pack, "Anyone want a sip?"

DG: A party led by Elena is now entering Ruins of Lahan.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Washed out Road *>=========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Normally one would expect the roads to be well maintained in this area, but   
 with Lahan's destruction no one has been putting in orders for repairs. The   
 road has been washed away in some manner, possibly leaving a morass of mud    
 along the only path, or perhaps another massive sandstorm out of the          
 expanding Aveh desert has buried this area, leaving only a shifting mass of   
 sand that swirls and flows treacherously, threatening to undo any gains up    
 the path in a tumbling cascade of fine grit.                                  
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"Hello!" Elena replies, chipper, bowing politely to Neriah, then Morgan. "Yes! My name is Elena, I am a Songstress of Granas. I too hope I do not end up eaten!" She's also pretty sure she can handle herself! Keep telling yourself that, princess.

"Some walking is good for your health! I have never been to Lahan, but I feel obligated to help its souls along if any of them are still prisoners of the cataclysm. I have faith that Lord Granas' light will allow me to lead them on!"

A bit more friendly and less formal demeanor towards Ida, with Elena waving. "Miss Everstead! I am happy to see you as well! How have you been?"

Then there's Fei. Elena grabs his hand with both of hers, seemingly very sorry all of a sudden. "You do not need to thank me! It is I who should thank you! Not everyone would wish to brave the ruins of their hometown in this manner! Are there... are there people I should pray for for you, while we are there?" If only she knew.

Cyre's arrival causes Elena to turn, first looking friendly, until he produces... alcohol?! Elena frowns, putting her hands on her hips. "T-That is not a proper drink for adventuring! Please, if you must consume such things at least wait until we are back from the trip!" Oh she's THAT kind of priestess. Isn't it going to be fun, Cyre?

-----

It's time to go! The road to Lahan is quite the trek, but after some awkward discussion and travel the party finally sees the ruins in the distance, the small barely standing houses, the crater. There are few signs of life, but to make up for it, it's the road that attacks the party first, even the ground harboring terrible feelings of hatred after that disaster. Or maybe it's just quickstand from the nearby desert? Really it could be either.

With Fei's luck this is Lahan striking back, though.

"I did not know Lahan was located in a desert!" Elena says as she slogs through the sand carefully, revealing she has no idea how to walk through sand correctly.

DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Washed out Road.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Speaking of legs, Neriah's wearing pants today. Turns out it's easier to dig when you have slacks on.

As Morgan approaches, Neriah smiles at him easily in return, tilting the brim of her newsboy hat. She's not sure she recognizes him but she greets him with good cheer nevertheless. "I didn't sign up! I have an ARM but I'm not all that interested in tests of strength. I guess we're in the same boat, then." She tilts her head a little to one side, holding that smile and flashing Fei much the same as the man trots up. "Hi again, Mr. Fei!"

A surprised flicker dances behind her eyes. She hadn't realized Fei was from Lahan.

Then Ida arrives, and Neriah's eyes widen a little. She recognizes that woman, that's for sure. She was there during the big fight at Old Petra.

"Hello again," she greets politely, eyes watching Ida's expression as though to gauge how the woman reacts to her. "I'm glad you're well."

Her heel scrapes the turf as she turns back to Elena and tips her hat once more. "We'll do our best to make sure you're not. And I was there once. I met a spooky ghost."

Let's be real: She met Ragnell.

Speaking of cool people, she blushes a little as Cyre appears, nodding to him with a quiet, warm smile.

-------- LATER THAT DAY....

Neriah tells a few stories along the trip there. They're mostly spooky ghost stories.

The rough roads cause her a bit of a problem. Grimacing, she gingerly tiptoes past a mucky puddle in the middle of the roadway, trying not to fall into it. "I guess it's been left like this with no one here to fix it, huh," she grumbles, hopping over another puddle as deftly as she can.

Neriah grimaces bitterly. "If I fall into one of these, I'm going to be pretty furious."

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Washed out Road.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Pffffft," Cyre grins, shoving his bottle back into his pack. "Well, fine, okay! I'll just have to drink it while you're not looking, and then you'll have to deal with the guilt of not being able to keep a traveller from imbibing on the road." Oh no, he's THAT kind of priest.

THIS ADVENTURE'S GONNA BE A THING, SURE SHOOTIN'.

----

Cyre's gone.

No, wait, there he is. He's holding a parachute open with an ingenius, if complicated, series of ropes. He also appears to be surfing on a plank of wood. The parachute is filled with a hell of a gust of wind.

"Wooooo!" Cyre yells as he skims gracefully over the sands, heading swiftly in the direction of the bombed out ruins in the distance.

In his free hand, he's...

Got a mostly-empty bottle of cider.

Welp.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Washed out Road.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah pauses as she touches down on the edge of a puddle. She gasps as Cyre goes sailing overhead.

"Waaaait for us!" she yelps, hopping a couple of times and grasping for Cyre. As he sails over her, she manages to wrap her arms around one of his legs.

"Cyyyyyre, don't let me faaaaall~"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Oh no." Fei shakes his head. "We'll definitely have to be careful heading into the ruins. There's monsters all around there. As if something...is calling them there." He examines Cyre carefully and he gives him a few quick pats on the arm. "But don't worry, we shouldn't have trouble with a group thise size. I mean, unless we run into a dinosaur."

He pauses. "Or the wolves." He shudders, faintly. "We also have to watch out for Gebler."

Oh but Elena. Poor sweet Elena. Fei's eyes widen in horror. "I... I don't WANT to." He pauses for a moment before saying, "...I don't got any right to ask you to do anything for them, but if you could say a few words for Timothy and Alice--they were my best friends in the village--I'd appreciate it." He pauses for a moment bad adds, "Oh, and uh, maybe play a game of rock paper scissors with someone? I think that'd make another friend I had there pretty happy."

More like rival. Fei grips the RPS badge tightly. He will need its strength today as the one reminder he has of his homeland.

To Neriah, he tries to be friendly. "Uh--hi...Neria. Nice to see you too. Ahah... Just Fei's okay, you know? I'm only eighteen." And then TRAVELING.

He walks along the sands, possibly using the parachute, possibly not. He seems to have gone this way before as he seems familiar. "These sands aren't from Lahan. Normally the road would be sweeped and takne care off but now the sandstorms from Aveh, they just blow right on in and make it even harder to find the town. I'm guessing soon it will be as if it was never there."

He rubs at his eyes, looking haunted.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Washed out Road.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"W-wha--" Cyre's makeshift sand-surfer suddenly skiffs this way and that! BECAUSE THERE'S SOMETHING LATCHED TO HIS LEG. A VERY TOPHEAVY SOMETHING. "H-hey! Wait! Hold on! Get up on here properly if you're going to ride, or you're going to get sand all in your everything!"

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"Well I'm gonna say its a good boat then!" The fox replies with a laugh towards Neriah as he starts to match pace with the others.

Morgan's smile only grows as he sees Ida there and he waves a hand lazily towards her. "Hey, Ida! Good ta see ya again." Fei gets a friendly enough nod, the fox doesn't know him well but thats no reason they can't be friends.

Then comes Cyre.

"...hellfire, just what ran you over?" He asks as the man ambles on. "And don't worry." He grins towards Elnea. "Don't worry. That bottle is medicinal. I'm sure."

Of course Fei's words about going crazy and then his horrified look and...the fox just slowly looks towards Ida with a questioningly raised eyebrow.

The 'Is this gonna be ok' look.

But its too late to do anything really as the traveling already began. And then quickly ended by the washed up road.

A sigh as Crye goes flying past and the Fox decides on a slightly less glamorous route. A gleaming lasso of blue-white energy appearing from his gauntlet that he hurls across the trecherous way to hold fast to the other side. Giving himself and others something to hold on to as they make their way across.


DG: Morgan Newkirk has used his Tool Force Lash toward his party's challenge, Washed out Road.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"Well enough, thank you," Ida says, with a smile. This is largely thanks to the heal berry tonics she bought after thieving asshole goblins stole all her medicine and bandages. Fei's appearance surprises her a little--as does his statement to her. "I'll do my best," she says to him, and she means it. It's a solemn little moment that Elena immediately ruins.

This is not the first time Ida has gone to Lahan, but the last time involved fighting K.K. and some sort of abomination conjured up using Malevolence. The sight of the bombed-out houses still hits her like a punch in the gut. She takes a moment to take it in, and then presses a hand to Grey Lady's muzzle. "I trust you to stay here," she says to her horse. She doesn't want to leave her tied in the event the local wildlife shows up.

Ida takes the cheatsy route. As Morgan engages his ARM--once again causing Ida's eyes to widen ever-so-slightly--she takes a step back, letting him secure it and cross over. "It's safe to touch," she says to Elena, before demonstrating by grabbing hold of it herself. It feels... weird, but sturdy. Ida starts to cross, stepping lightly and holding on tight.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Washed out Road.
DG: The party led by Elena has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management
commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah squeezes her eyes closed and clutches Cyre's leg for dear life. As the skiff rattles, she squeaks and pulls herself up with some effort, grabbing ahold of his belt in the process, but soon pulling herself onto the board on her knees. One of her legs dangles off Cyre's sand-scooter.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

About halfway across, Ida takes a step, only to find the ground shifting downwards, as if trying to suck her in. She goes rigid, clinging to Morgan's grapple line even as her scarred-up shoulder takes this moment to remind her it exists. Ida works her leg a little, finally managing to get it unstuck. It is kind of unpleasant, but she manages to not lose her boot in the process. She makes it to the other side without incident, and brushes sand off herself.

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"I will be sure to include their names in the prayer!" Elena answers Fei, before looking a bit confused at the call for a rock paper scissors game. Well, Fei would know better than her what would make these restless souls less restless, so she isn't about to argue with him.

Busy as she is trying to advance in sand, she doesn't notice that Cyre has been sneaking a sip from his VALMAR JUICE every once in a while. She's too absorbed by the sudden geography lesson from Fei, and then Morgan uses his fancy energy-lasso that Ida needs to reassure Elena about. She still seems uncertain as she grabs onto the energy and attempts crossing the sand.

A nasty gust of wind knocks her right off. Just as Cyre and Neriah glide by. Elena does what anyone else would and attempts to grab onto Neriah so as to not end up two feet in the sand. This might not go great for everyone involved, but at least she's not screaming at him about that empty bottle, distracted as she is?

DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Ruined Buildings *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 It is difficult to tell how many buildings used to stand in this stretch of   
 town, because they have all been blasted into pieces. Now only battered       
 skeletons remain to testify to the presence of people's homes and lives in    
 this area, some parts burned and others raked with gunfire and marred by      
 explosions. However there are bits of treasure to be round - valued           
 possessions hidden under rubble, or weapons and other military equipment      
 abandoned or buried among the detritus - for those who are agile enough to    
 reach them without causing the wrecked buildings to collapse.                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Fortunately Neriah's leg isn't the part of her that feels bad.

Gasping, she looks down with wide eyes as she realizes Elena's latched on to her.

She tightens her arms around Cyre's leg and holds on tight, her face pressed against the side of his thigh for a moment. Finally, she opens her eyes, staring past the catboy glutes in front of her at what's ahead - and the course the sand skiff is taking.

It is far less funny than the human chain hanging off of Cyre H. Lorentz, and in turn hanging off Neriah's leg. Ahead, there's no clear landing zone. Ruined buildings stand toppling into the mucky turf; a few bodies can be seen here and there, along with a couple relatively recent burials. More to the point, almost everything is covered by tumbled, jagged chunks of masonry, or chunks of broken wood, or twisted bodies, or worse. Neriah sucks in a breath and grips Cyre's leg all the tighter, her pale eyes darting about as she tries to find --

"Mr. Cyre, go right!!" she calls, even as she disengages one arm from Cyre's leg to grab ahold of Elena's wrist -

And she swings both her arm and her leg out, swinging Elena off to one side of the skiff but keeping ahold of her. "Sorry!" she calls as she attempts to use the songstress as an air anchor to steer Cyre's parachute towards a landing zone in the middle of what used to be a small shop - with a big pile of carpet rolls showing through a hole in the roof!

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Oh God, oh God," Cyre yelps as the SUDDEN HUMAN DAISY CHAIN makes him outright faceplant onto his wooden plank. It's only by a sudden bolt of ingenuity/Cyre using his drained bottle as a handlebar that they don't all go suddenly tumbling into the sand. Or into the progressively less pleasant terrain. One does not want to trip and get a shard of broken building shoved right into their eye.

"Go... Right!?" Cyre banks right. The human chain turns, jarring suddenly towards what looks like it used to be a shop. "Hold on tight! This is gonna be roooouuugh!"

But maybe it'll b worth it.

...Maybe the carpets will break their landing.

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, HE'S HEADING THAT WAY.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"EEEEK!" is the best Elena can manage now that she actually sees what's happening. She's never flown before! I mean, really, who can say to have besides Gear pilots and insane people like Cyre? She evidently isn't a fan. At least not of his particular method of flight.

"I wish to go down! I wish to go down!"

Used like an air anchor, she can only watch as Cyre and Neriah try to best to steer the parachute towards... is that a building? That cannot possibly be the correct way down! What are they trying to do, damage the town even more?!

"I do not think we should be partaking in any kind of activity that further damages the town!!" Elena attempts to argue. Sadly, she doesn't get a choice.

DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


Morgan's more mundane way accross seems to be working even as Crye gains more and more passangers. His eyebrows creep up even as he reaches out to help steady Ida on his way across.

"...yup. Perfectly safe..." He adds as he can't keep himself from smiling. At least until Crye and the whole contraption starts to angle towards the ground.

"...pretty sure its not supposed to do that." He adds towards Ida as the Drifter makes it to solid land and snaps his Gauntlet out again. The energy lasso reconfigures itself as it snaps though the air, forming into a glowing net to at least help to try to slow the others...

...well fall is a generous term.

Lets go with crash.

"...this seems ta be shapin' up like a typical Dig, don't it Ida?"


DG: Morgan Newkirk has used his Tool Force Lash toward his party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong feels the sands trying to pull him under. It's almost as if they're trying to claim revenge for Lahan!!! Or at least that's what Fei thinks. Elena grabs ahold of Neriah and Fei, stumbling along through the sands, grabs ahold of Neriah so he doesn't drown in the stuff but he's still like neck deep in it as they walk along through the sandy road. Eventually, well, the team does sort of SORT OF manage to not drown in sand which it should be noted is probably one of the worst possible ways to die! So you know--the adventure is already coming to a great start.

Fei Fong Wong seems only slower as they pass towards a small shop and land inside. Hopefully.

He straightens up and looks around. "Aw geeze..." Fei says. AS A NOTE, they didn't sell weapons in Lahan so every weapon here? Probably belonged to a soldier from one empire or another. There are Aquasols and Rosesols, though, even some survival tents that might still be functional but there just aren't really any weapons in Lahan that belonged to Lahan. "Bill's...oh god..."

He sees a skeleton that was trying in vain to take cover under the store counter. He takes a long look at it. "Oh god that wasn't Bill, was he?"

He ducks down. "Oh my god... Bill..." He punches the floor repeatedly with his fist. The song of his heart when he lived here. He can still feel it. He can still hear it. "They didn't even have time to take you with them..."

He keeps punching the ground. His fists are starting to bleed. It's like he's trying to punch himself rather than express his own frustrations.

"I ... I'm trying, I...I know. I know!!"

He swings his hand and sweeps a whole slew of bottles off the counter in a sudden fit of rage and he stalks back out. He takes in several deep breaths. "Where are we going, exactly? Where do we gotta go for this?"

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Ruined Buildings *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 It is difficult to tell how many buildings used to stand in this stretch of   
 town, because they have all been blasted into pieces. Now only battered       
 skeletons remain to testify to the presence of people's homes and lives in    
 this area, some parts burned and others raked with gunfire and marred by      
 explosions. However there are bits of treasure to be round - valued           
 possessions hidden under rubble, or weapons and other military equipment      
 abandoned or buried among the detritus - for those who are agile enough to    
 reach them without causing the wrecked buildings to collapse.                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida's eyes widen as the improvised sled goes skidding past, looking very much like it's out of control. "Careful--!" she says to Morgan, as he deploys the lash again. Fortunately, the wreckage of the shop isn't that far, but aside from the hole in the roof, there's no way inside that doesn't involve getting lacerated by broken glass. Ida grips what's left of a gutter, and hauls herself up, hand over hand, as the sled goes skidding in. Hopefully she can get to the roof, and then get inside. Though considering the anguished howl Fei lets out, part of her doesn't want to.

"Fei?" Ida says. "Fei, please, focus. Focus on my voice."

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ruined Buildings.
DG: The party led by Elena has failed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management
commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"AAAAA WE'RE GOING DO---" Cyre's contraption lands everything-first into a whole bunch of rugs.

The rugs teeter, totter, then fall over the lip of the ruined wall.

One rug sort of... wiggles, twists, and then a distinctly fluffy head of white hair pops out of one side. "Owwww," Cyre groans.

And because of Cutscene Power, he doesn't even get to loot any medicine.

GEE THANKS FEI.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Now two of them are holding on to her. Neriah squeaks and clutches Cyre all the more tightly as Fei latches on, too. "Oh nooooo~," she wails as her hand begins to slip away from Cyre's belt. She holds on by her fingertips--!!

Then Fei drops off and starts punching the ground. Neriah's eyes go wide - but she's still slipping off of Cyre's boogie-board. Elena's weight drags her down inch by inch. Her hips strain as she struggles to hold Elena's weight with her leg.

And then there's a sound of something going riiiiiip. Neriah goes pale. "Ohhhhh no."

Elena's weight takes its toll. The seam of Neriah's pants rips out with a tearing sound as one entire leg comes peeling off. Elena is left to tumble towards a spot beside the ruined shop, holding Neriah's pant leg.

Then the contraption crashes. Neriah lands on top of him. Her ruined pants land on top of her.

Blessedly she was wearing a pair of black shorts beneath them, but her legs twitch in the air nevertheless. "Ow," she groans from within the pile of Cyre and carpet rolls.

Cyre pops up from the carpets. Neriah topples off of him and lands on her back.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre looks up as a pants-leg flops over his face.

"Oh," Cyre says to the sky. "Fengalon, you're looking out for me today, aren't you? Thanks buddy."

DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Buried Supplies *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A collapsed wall rests to the side of the road. While normally this sort of   
 damage does not stand out from the rest of the town, a faint flash of metal   
 catches the party's attention. Examination reveals that the fallen wall is    
 covering some sort of cache of supplies, buried in the fighting. It could be  
 a map of the town, canteens of water and food, or perhaps rope or tools that  
 make traversing the ruined town easier, if only they can be uncovered.        
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong probably already had scuffed hands from the crash but then aggravated it by punching hard objects repeatedly. He leads the group (before you truly get control back of your characters) to an entirely new area of the city. There actually WAS a well in the town but it's now this muddy schism in the ground that Fei has to navigate around in order to reach it. He seems to be looking for a particular area in particular but before he can reach it, he comes to a stop near a shattered wall just blocking the way around. Unless you want to try jumping into the wall five times to get past it, it's may be easier to just go straight through the wall.

Fei should be able to hear Ida's words, and he pauses, stopping. He pushes into the wall but can't seem to shove it over, probably trying to cover the well to make it a bit easier to move across the large hole in the ground.

He looks back over to Ida. "I did this. I did this and it ruined everything!" He tells her. "I'm just tired, Ida..." He sighs. "i'm tired of being constantly reminded of this place. I just want to forget. But I can't forget. Nothing lets me forget."

In sudden frustration he clobbers the wall. Poorly, but it may be a good idea to shove it over anyway. Someone seems to have left a handy dandy map over there. And rope.

And tailoring supplies to fix up your pants!! WOW!

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Fengalon is definitely not looking out for Neriah, but her loss may be Cyre's gain.

Pushing to her feet, she groans and looks down at herself, blushing. "So glad I wore shorts," she mutters as she looks down towards Cyre, offering him a hand up if he needs it.

Soon enough, though, she's hopping down from the wreckage, rubbing at a sore spot just abive her hip. As Fei vents, she presses her lips together, moving over to him as he pounds on the wall like that.

Gently, she brings her left hand - the ungloved one - up to his shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. "Hey," she says quietly, offering up a quiet smile. "Listen... whatever other people might say, I don't think you're a bad guy, Fei. Even though I've only gone with you a couple of times, I can tell you're a pretty okay person. We'll get through this together and then we can just focus on the future, okay? On nothing but nice things."

The girl squeezes Fei's shoulder once more before settling in to work beside him. She draws the shovel from her pack and digs it into a crack in the wall, working to pry one of the stones off of the little treasure trove below. As she works, she breathes more heavily with exertion, but manages to keep talking anyway. "'Sides! You're not the only one who's done stuff they're not proud of to their hometown. It never... really goes away. But you eventually...." She puffs and lugs a brick to the side. "...get numb to it. Like a scar telling us how far we've come and how far we still have to go."

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

You know what they say about being careful what you wish for and all. Elena certainly gets what she wanted when Neriah's pants decide they're done being heroes today. She tumbles down with half of the pants, rolling on the ground and bumping into a wall. She whines, managing eventually to rise. This priestess might not be as sturdy and adventure-ready as she tried to claim she was.

She doesn't seek any loot, of course. Elena is far too respectful for that. At Fei's question, after dusting herself, she answers: "I... I do not know. But, it would not do any good to assume where the body of his person is, and we may never find it... therefore, the idea location for song and prayer would be the village center, where Lord Granas' light has the highest chance of bathing the whole village!" This actually makes sense, for a change.

She doesn't, through luck and placement, hear the context of what Fei just said. She heard some bottles break and now he's blaming himself? Elena feels sad. Survivor's guilt is a terrible thing to live with, and this is clearly what it is.

As a wall blocks their advance, Elena produces... yep, that's a bomb. That's a bomb the priestess just pulled out of her dress. "Everyone, please! Take a step back, I will clear our way forward!"

This might be worrying if Elena didn't seem to take several moments to inspect the wall and figure out the exact spot to place that bomb so it tips over without anything else breaking, and with the tipped over portion of wall being conductive to going forward.

Once the bomb is set, she withdraws behind cover, (presumably) near Fei. "Please, do not falter! You are brave to be here at all, surely that must count for something! Lord Granas would surely approve of your actions, and he will bless your path going forward to reward your strength!"

Just don't listen to the people who want you to kill God, Fei. God is, clearly, on your side. This priestess said so!

DG: Elena has used her Tool Impact Bomb toward her party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida's gut reaction is to reassure Fei that none of this was his fault, but she doesn't go with it. She remembers bits and pieces here and there--the way Fei just flat-out ran when 'Doc' showed up with that Gear, and the way he's seemed to have a cloud hanging over him, constantly. At the time, Ida thought that he'd simply been dealing with survivor's guilt, but...

"Breathe," Ida says. "It's all right to be weary. Anyone would feel weary if they were in your place." She glances aside at Neriah, curiosity carefully kept under control. She busies herself with the huge hole Fei just put in the wall, pulling bits of plaster and wood away. Eventually she can see a big, hand-painted map of the town in its prime, and the sight of it kind of punches her in the gut again. She steps aside as Elena approaches, thinking she wants to take a peek, but that is definitely a bomb. Ida blinks, and backs away, discreetly.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"Yup, defintally a crash." Comes Morgan's drawl as he pulls himself up onto the roof and glances down at the mess inside. "Y'all all right down there?" He calls as he hops down, turning just slightly as he sees movement that means well...no one is likely dead.

Fei is shouting and punching things. So defintally not dead.

There is a pause though from the fox as he sees Neriah. A slight tilt of his head before he coughs slightly. "...wern't ya wearin' slacks when this little trip started?"

But too late for regrets here as Fei is leading them on. Morgan is slowly starting to realise this is more than a little personal to the young fighter. Though the words cause him to look slightly suprised. The destruction of a whole town on his head? Just what happened here.

Slowly though the fox nods as he looks down, helping shoulder rubble aside so the diggers can bring their tools to bear more easily.

"Sometimes all ya can do is jus' keep movin forward, else ya just drown in the past. And that ain' that good for anyone..." The fox murmurs as he notes...

...yes. Defintally a bomb.

And so he sloowly backs away, calling up his Guantlet's shields on standby. Just in case.

DG: Morgan Newkirk has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

God is an asshole. You should totally punch him in the face. Just, you know, not Cyre's god. Cyre's god is nice and kind and lets him see all kinds of beautiful things in the world, like sunsets, and flowers, and ladies.

For which, today, Cyre is incredibly grateful.

But right now, that's on the backburner. He can tell when someone is suffering; no matter what else Cyre is, he is, first and foremost, a priest. To see someone suffering so severely, with no clear recourse to soothe that pain, it's... Hard.

"Hey," Cyre says as he approaches the building and the martial artist beating his bleeding fists against it. "Hey, hold on there friend. That's not helping anyone; the only thing you're doing is hurting yourself."

He's... Produced a censer. A thing of dark metal, billowing fragrant, soothing smoke. The scent relaxes aching muscles, brings calm to tumultuous spirits. Also, it might be mildly intoxicating. Baskar still gonna Baskar. "Look. I know it probably doesn't compare to... All of this, but I want to think that I kind of know what you're going through. I know this is hard, I know I wouldn't want to go home either, and being reminded of it just makes it harder, but..."

"For now," he clasps a hand around the man's shoulder. "For now, you're here, and you need to face it. And you need to ask yourself if this is going to haunt you for the rest of your life, or if you can... Accept whatever happened here, accept that what is done can never be undone, but also that the future is open, and nothing further has been decided. If this really was all your fault, then resolve to never let something like this happen again. Fight against it with all your strength. If you want to atone, then that's what you must do."

"I know my words won't find root after just one day, but for now... Breathe deep, it'll help. It might not let you forget, but it might help calm you down. For now, we need you in your right mind. We need you to be strong, at least until we can leave this place behind."

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Buried Supplies.
DG: The party led by Elena has passed this challenge! The party gained 27 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management
commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong takes Ida's advice and breathes. He seems to calm down, somewhat. This is pretty difficult for him but he did literally ask to come along. He isn't even taking money for it. So he felt it important that he visit this place. He might not be able to visit the ruins for a very long time once they head off towards the Guardians, or the Badlands--or both. He really doesn't know what those places mean, exactly, except that they mean 'trouble'.

He says, to Elena. "You can't take back what you do." glumly. Maybe some part of him hoped it would somehow be intact once more with Timothy, Alice, and everyone telling him it was just a bad dream. A very confusing bad dream but a bad dream.

But he steps away from the rubble because he doesn't want to explode. That's still a key character trait of Fei's. Exploding = Bad. He kind of gives elena a few looks because he really can't quite believe that, you know, that the Granas have bomb carrying priestesses. At least the etones he can understand. That's sort of their schtick but.

He looks to Neriah for a long while. Did she---he wonders, but he stops himself from going there. Cyre and Morgan also suggest that he just keep moving for now.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" He manages. Despite the gruff tone, he does seem calmer, more focused, more towards a positiv mindset. "Let's keep goin'. Might as well make use of those supplies. They'll be worthless in a few months if they aren't taken care of and it might be a lot longer than that before folks come by this way again."

He wobbles a bit from Cyre's, uh, censer, but at least his hands stop shaking.

DG: There are no challenges pending.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Giant Scavenger Birds *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The mountains close to Lahan are home to a species of giant birds which       
 produce delicious eggs. However the razing of the town has left rotting food  
 and the occasional body exposed to the sun, and the impressively sized        
 scavengers will occasionally descend into town to feast. They aren't          
 particularly picky about if their prey is alive or not, and the first         
 warning of attack is a shadow of a ten foot wingspan from above and the       
 screeching of the beasts as they go on the attack.                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


The fox seems to relax as whatever is pushing Fei towards violence seems to settle down enough to allow the young man some form of focus. The echo of the bomb dies away as the rubble is removent, the supplies found.

Though there is a frown on the beastman's face as he tilts his head back. His ears swivel back and forth. "...y'all hear that..." He murmurs as he pulls out a simple gunsmoke ARM that rests at one hip. "...I think that blast woke somethin' up..."

There is a sudden squaaaaaaaaaaaak that breaks the silence after the blast as one large carrion buzzard glares balefully at the little group.

"We should be ok...they only will attack in g--"

There is a sudden flurry as a dozen more of the birbs drop out of the sun to land on creeking roof tiles and bits or rubble all around the gathered Drifters.

"...spoke too soon..." Morgan calls as he engages his gauntlet, bright blue shields springing to life around him, angled to protect others. "...we got company!"

And then all is drowned out as the biggest of the beasts screaches its challenge and dives towards them.


DG: Morgan Newkirk has used his Tool Shield Gauntlet toward his party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Yeah, don't worry," Cyre pats the martial artist one last time. "We're all here for you. Let's just keep moving, he--"

  • CRA-KA-KAAWWWWW*

"Wait," Cyre mutters. He squints. His ears... Wiggle. "I... Know that sound. That sound can only belong to the Desert Rot-Buzzard." Named so because they eat rot. Also because they smell like rot, because of what they eat.

And sure enough. There they are.

"Augh! Why are there so many of them!" Cyre growls as his hands tighten around his bottle and his censer. "Shoo! SHOO YOU DAMN VULTURES!" The wind is picking up.

No. The wind is howling...!

Cyre is conjuring... A small cyclone!!

"I don't even want to eat you!" Cyre yells, the wind nearly drowning out his voice. "You stink THAT BAD!" At least the wind is keeping the reek away, right?

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"N... no, indeed, you cannot take back what you have done. But that does not mean you cannot make things right! A sin... does not have to remain a sin forever. A good person can turn a sin into a chance for redemption! A good person should not have to live with guilt of any kind their entire life!" Elena argues with Fei, making a lot of assumptions. Like Fei being a good person! What a terrible assumption. There's probably some truth in what she said at least.

"Please, do not let such an event dictate the rest of your life. Your... your friends, Timothy and Alice, they would not wish to see you like this!" Playing that card can't possibly end poorly.

They are rudely interrupted by birds.

Elena ohnos and EEEEEKs again in a way that can only indicate someone who has less combat experience than she might want to admit. She stumbles back, behind Morgan and his helpful shield.

"T-These poor birds, they must be starving!"

Yes, Elena, that's what you should be worried about.

She reaches into her dress, producing another b-- no wait this sphere is shimmering, blue, like a jewel, to size of a fist. This, is a Mana Egg! It's covered in Symbology runes, and people might have seen other Granas officials or even Ethos members carrying them before. It shimmers as Elena's voice raises, like she's singing. A soft hum, invigorating. "Lord Granas, send your rain of life!"

Then there's light, bright blue and white light. It shimmers around everyone, healing their fatigue, removing conditions, empowering them for a few moments. Fei, haven't you seen this kind of healing magic before..? Oh, but surely it mustn't be the same, Elena is using a shiny jewel to cast it.

And while she spares Cyre disapproval for his choice of gods, rest assured she will remember. Maybe not today, but it will matter. Eventually.

DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre reaches over as Elena keeps yapping about Fei's dead friend.

And slaps her upside the head.

"What do they even teach you people in Granas Nun School!?" Cyre complains as he directs another gust towards yet another buzzard. "Jeez!"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah smiles encouragingly back at Fei, seemingly just as concerned with his emotional state as she is with the job. She doesn't say anything.

Then Morgan inquires after her trousers, and she gasps. "Well, I was," Neriah frumps as she glances over at the fox-man, blushing slightly. "Until they had to hold someone up and the stitching gave up."

Elena approaches with a bomb. Neriah gasps and leaps back, making room for the songstress to blast away the debris at her leisure. The rubble gives way, and Neriah grabs the sewing kit contained within. She won't have time to sew her pants up just yet, though, given the sudden shriek of crrion birds above.

Huge carrion birds. More of them come swooping in. They're here in numbers. Neriah draws her pistol and takes aim, but one of the birds swoops at her from the side; she lets out a yelp as she's thrown to the ground, rolling away to avoid getting her face clawed off.

Switching the pistol to her left hand, Neriah closes her right one into a fist. She looks up towards Elena for a moment, briefly paralyzed by doubt.

"Everyone," she finally says, her tone grim. "I'm gonna do something. Please don't freak out."

She focuses for a moment, bracing herself for what she knows is coming. As more birds swoop in, Neriah takes a steadying breath. Her fingers unclench, curled into claws. A power begins to build. Even those without a sensitivity to magic can feel what's happening. Something profoundly wrong.

Neriah levels her hand towards the sky, and releases that power in a massive wave. Black light, vibrating with a blood-curdling roar of sound that is not sound, erupts from Neriah's body in writhing tendrils. The streamers of unlight rip through the sky, rumbling towards those swooping birds, each coil of magic writhing and flowing disturbingly, as though trying to form themselves into claws but not quite finding enough cohesion to do it. Any bird that crosses their path will be torn asunder - more than torn, but decayed and withered away, as if just touching that magic were enough to end life.

At the apex of it all, Neriah winces, clenching her teeth... but soon blinks.

(It doesn't hurt that bad,) she realizes with a sudden shock. (It's always felt like dying but... it doesn't feel like I want to die anymore.)

(Is this...?)

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Manifestation toward her party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Fei seems to have found peace in this moment. Perhaps that's all anyone can ever ask for.

Ida hangs back as the others move in to collect the supplies. Her eyes narrow at the screech, as if trying to identify it from description alone. "Probably," she says to Cyre, "there's enough carnage in this place to--" Whatever Ida was going to say next dies horribly, as more birds swarm in. She ducks behind Morgan's shield, letting him take point as she draws something out of a holster at the small of her back. "Sister Elena," she says evenly, and then "Cyre!" a bit less evenly, as he just straight-up whacks a priestess upside the head. "Now is not the time!" Ida levels Devil's Due at the center of the flock, and fires, sending a plume of flame racing at them.

Moments later, Neriah tells Ida not to freak out, and Ida nods, chambering another round. Strange not-light flares around the young woman, and this is in itself not unusual--Lily does that. The horrible, crawling, scraping wrongness hits Ida simultaneously, though, and she almost drops her gun at the sensation of it. She doubles over, pressing a hand to her temple as if trying to ward it off. Malevolence? No. No it's not.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

SLAP.

Elena flips around to stare at Cyre.

"H-How dare you lay a hand on me! I have been taught to respect others, to mend their wounds and heal their souls! I have been taught that Lord Granas put himself into an eternal sleep so that mankind could have a second chance after giving in to Valmar's dark whispers! What have YOU been taught worshipping these... these... SPIRITS?!"

Oh this is happening now.

You would think her significantly more distracted by Neriah's display (and she is, quite so), but poor Elena isn't good enough as a priestess to know that sudden, clutching feeling is Bad News. She just knows it's bad! No capital letters. Which is still pretty bad considering the situation.

"W-What is she doing?" she finally asks.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei reasons, to himself, as he sees Neriah summon writhing tendrils of what's probably evil magic--that he will probably have nightmares about this. But! The important thing, he realizes, is that they'll at least be different nightmares--not the same old nightmares! Life improves.

"Well," Fei says. "I don't know what they'd think. After all, I'm the one who killed them." He keeps it short. USually after his bursts of rage he kind of enters a sullen depression and he's kind of angling in that direction.

Luckily life threatening situations tends to jar Fei out of such situations. He draws out his RPS Badge. This is where he EARNED that RPS badge and he flicks it into the air.

He rears back with his arms and then unleashes a large pure chi blast right out from his body right for the giant bird.

He catches the badge later and adds, "Maybe we can eat it." He adds to Elena.

He pauses as he looks at Elena's egg. "Be careful with ether," He suggests. "It can cause trouble."

He seems confused by Cyre's assault of the poor girl. "Hey." He says. "I appreciate your concern, but don't hit her for me, alright? She's a nice lady."

Kind of a DORKY nice lady but a nice lady.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"And she might be a bit racist," Fei adds shortly after Elena's outburst. "But she's doing her best." Pause. "Or if it's just the religion, maybe it's just-- well nevermind."

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Giant Scavenger Birds.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Giant Scavenger Birds *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The mountains close to Lahan are home to a species of giant birds which       
 produce delicious eggs. However the razing of the town has left rotting food  
 and the occasional body exposed to the sun, and the impressively sized        
 scavengers will occasionally descend into town to feast. They aren't          
 particularly picky about if their prey is alive or not, and the first         
 warning of attack is a shadow of a ten foot wingspan from above and the       
 screeching of the beasts as they go on the attack.                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
DG: The party led by Elena has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management
commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Oh, you know," Cyre grouses right up in Elena's face even as VULTURES RAIN DOWN ON THEM FROM ABOVE LIKE JERKS. "How NOT to poke at a guy's obvious trauma switches while he's wandering through the ruins of his home town! You know, you don't pull off a scab before the wound's healed. That's just basic! I mean, man, it's a good thing Granas is apparently asleep, or wow he would be SUPER UPSET with the things CERTAIN PRIESTESSES are doing to CERTAIN PEOPLE in his name!"

Yeah, this is happening now.

"AND!" Cyre wiggles his finger as another wind blade scythes through the air. "FENGALON IS A REALLY COOL GUY. WE TALK SOMETIMES--"

Wait.

What the hell is that Neriah is doing?

"Uh." Cyre stares at the ribbons of darkness sweeping through the air like they were some kind of horrible unidentifiable monster. "Shit, I don't know. Something not good."

Beat.

"Aww, Fei, alright, gosh." He sighs, shoving his hands back into his pockets, "I'll lay off."

FOR NOW.

UNLESS SHE CONTINUES TO ESCALATE.

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


The birds swirl down on the knot of drifters and are met with wind, chi, bullets, loud noises, sharp sticks, and more importantly a wave of dark magic.

The burds were not prepared.

Dead vulture rainds down on the square as the flock is torn into as with their cries of battle turned to cries of fright the remaining flock makes for safer pastures, where the meals don't shoot back.

The fox breathes in a short breath, due mostly to the smell, as they retrest. His shields don't fade though, he doesn't think thats the last of things. One however does sort of thunk itself down between Cyre and Elena.

...compleatly on accident.

His glance though goes towards Neriah with a slight tilt to his head, curious look in his eyes. "I have no idea what that was, lil' darlin'. But it scared tha' hell out of tha' vultures and made mah fur stand on end." Again that amused smile. "But after the month I've had, pretty sure it ain't gonna freak me out."

Then again a pause. "So, Priestess. Where too now?"

...maybe a distraction will work.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

It is not Malevolence. Whatever Neriah is doing is something else.

The shuddering unlight pulls itself back into a single column once its work is done. It retracts back into Neriah with a shocking suddenness; the young woman twitches violently, her eyes momentarily going blank as she lets out a little choking sound. Staggering, she catches herself, and her pupils come back into view as she draws in a shaking breath.

At first she doesn't say anything. She grapples, internally, with a wave of something. Pain, yes - but behind it, an odd kind of euphoric high. A feeling like she could do anything she wanted.

When she does lift her head again, she smiles a wan smile, intended to be reassuring. "No... no, it's alright," she manages. "It's a... a type of Symbology. That's all."

Unless she's hiding it under her vest or her shorts - or her glove - Neriah doesn't seem to have symbols anywhere on her body.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

'Ah yes,' Cyre observes with a nod. 'The legendary Evil Symbology Tramp Stamp.'

DG: Elena has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shattered Cliffside *>=====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The path through Lahan's ruins has been difficult, and getting to the center  
 of town doesn't seem possible along this route. This doesn't mean that all    
 hope is lost, however - because along the north edge of the town lies a       
 cliff face that appears to have been broken and shattered by the fighting.    
 Large craters pocket its face, with strange glass-like ribbons of rock        
 running down to pool at the bottom of the cliff - testament to the power      
 that had launched several Gears into the cliff side. Their shattered forms    
 protrude from the rocks, while another lies atop the cliff, seemingly in      
 better shape than the others. It is a formidable climb, but rewards await     
 those who can assail the cliff and succeed.                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"He appears to be completely fine with it!" Elena retorts, as Fei actually answers her, and in the cacophony of her arguing with Cyre she manages to miss Fei saying it's his fault, or rather, the fact doesn't register. "It is not wise to bury the past and attempt to ignore it! Perhaps your spirits would have something to say about that, seeing what happened to their people?!" Okay that one was kind of mean even for Elena.

She actually takes a step back, then a deep breath, especially as Ida had attempted to calm her down a bit. Also Neriah's darkness isn't helping staying focused in the slightest.

She finally turns to Fei, bowing. "I am sorry. This was disrespectful to the poor people who have died here. They have suffered enough without hearing us bicker amongst ourselves." And we're right back to making Fei feel awful!

She looks at Morgan, then ahead. "I... I believe it is this way. We require a vantage point, so that my song can reach all in the area!"

And so ahead they go. Past the dead birds, which Fei could certainly loot to cook later. The center of the village is hard to reach, sadly; cracks and craters make crossing on foot almost impossible, and so the party must go the long way around. A cliff.

The limbs of Gears litter the cliffside, providing not only a glimpse of the power that was at play here, but also climbing aids. The large metallic arms and legs make for great holds, and reaching the top of the cliff would provide this vantage point Elena was seeking. As well as, presumably, access to some of those Gear carcasses, if anyone's in need of parts.

Elena tests the hold of a massive metallic hand, before climbing atop it to start scaling the arm up. "It is hard to imagine what kind of power could have done this... are Gears not the apex of technology? The strongest, most durable machines we can build?"

DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

It takes Neriah about a minute to replace her divot and steady herself again. When she does, she reaches up to adjust her hat.

With the magic no longer "out," so to speak, the feeling of incredible wrongness gradually abates; before long Neriah has no real spiritual presence whatsoever. She just winces and steps back, rubbing the back of her neck. "Hey... hey, let's not fight. We've got a job to do, remember? We can argue about religion when we're done. Though," and here she glances at Cyre, "usually slapping your friends is a bad idea. They might set you on fire, or chop off your legs."

The girl presses on. The shattered cliff face ahead leaves her craning her neck to look up to the top. "Wow," she murmurs. "I'd never seen this part." Then Elena begins to muse about what might've caused this.

Neriah has no way to know what the connection is. "...I've seen some scary Gears before," she murmurs. The Red Gear at Old Petra is centered in her mind. It felt wrong, too. Yet right.

With a quick huff, Neriah boosts herself up onto a ruined Gear leg, perched at an angle leading up to the cliff. She sprints along it, jumping off to catch a metal spar jutting from the cliff. Wincing, the girl begins to pull herself laboriously up the cliff, grabbing onto various Gear components as she goes.

As she climbs, she pauses, looking down with some worry towards Fei. Didn't he say he did this...?

Neriah buries the thought. Fei doesn't deserve to be judged, she decides. He must be a good man at heart.

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Welp.

That was a thing that Elena said that Elena probably should not have said.

"Oh, you mean like the guy talking to you right now? If you're going to bad-talk the Baskars, you better damn well make sure that there isn't one standing right in front of you," Cyre growls, his lips pulling back in a snarl that shows of exactly just how much the Tiger Spirit has invested in him. Those are very, very sharp teeth.

Almost... Predatorially sharp.

"Besides, at least my gods survived their war," he adds, suddenly hooking his arms underneath Elena's, locking around her waist as something big and expansive suddenly spreads out behind them both. Something that... Suddenly catches a whole lot of wind.

And starts... Rapidly ascending the cliff face.

"SEE!? MY GOD'S RIGHT HERE!" Cyre laughs as the wind howls around him. "You better start praying fast, or his wind MIGHT JUST GIVE OUT before my arms do!"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"EXCUSE ME, NICE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE," Neriah shouts down the cliff face, cupping a hand near her mouth to amplify her voice. "CAN WE STOP ARGUING ABOUT WHOSE GOD IS BIGGER AND START CLIMBING THIS THING?!"

She sighs and turns back to the cliff, banging her forehead lightly against the rock.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"MY GOD IS DEFINITELY BIGGER," Cyre yells back up the cliff. "ON ACCOUNT OF NOT BEING DEAD."

Beat.

"ALSO YOUR LEGS ARE LOOKING VERY NICE TODAY NERIAH."

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"LORD GRANAS IS NOT DEAD, HE IS ASLEEP!" Elena barks back up the cliff, having evidently not learned that screaming at cliffs is bad and might cause bad things. There were probably better points to make, but that's the one she chose.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah touches a hand to her cheek and waits for Cyre to come floating past.

"I'm going to start keeping detailed notes on how many women you do this to, and I bet it's gonna be 'all of them,'" she quips.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida never thought she'd see the day when a Priestess was making her look angelic, but welp, here we are.

The birds fly off--what's left of them, anyway--leaving only Cyre and Elena, still at each others' throats. Ida takes a moment to still herself, to calm herself down from that moment of panic. She has no idea what the hell Neriah just did, but it felt absolutely awful. She gives the excavator what she hopes is a reassuring look, but she hasn't quite gotten the wariness out of her eyes.

"Sister Elena," Ida says, but it's too late. Cyre's taken grave offense, and honestly, Ida doesn't blame him. "This is unseemly!" Did Ida just sort-of yell at a priest? She presses a hand to her forehead, and then decides that climbing will at least give her something to do that doesn't involve listening to two people who should know better bickering like children.

Ida clambers over to a mostly-intact Gear arm, and starts to climb.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"All of them except for annoying blonde priestesses who are obviously hiding their bounty underneath way-too-frumpy robes," Cyre quips back at Neriah as he and Elena go floating past.

====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shattered Cliffside *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The path through Lahan's ruins has been difficult, and getting to the center  
 of town doesn't seem possible along this route. This doesn't mean that all    
 hope is lost, however - because along the north edge of the town lies a       
 cliff face that appears to have been broken and shattered by the fighting.    
 Large craters pocket its face, with strange glass-like ribbons of rock        
 running down to pool at the bottom of the cliff - testament to the power      
 that had launched several Gears into the cliff side. Their shattered forms    
 protrude from the rocks, while another lies atop the cliff, seemingly in      
 better shape than the others. It is a formidable climb, but rewards await     
 those who can assail the cliff and succeed.                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"Gears are pretty advanced, but they have levels." Morgan replies as he looks towards the wreckage. "There are always bigger and better ones out there. Espicially on this world." He adds with a shake of his head. "That one there...thats Kislevite." He nods to one of the wrecks. "Not quite as advanced...that one?"

He nods to the second. "Gebler tech I'd say, judgin from the armor pieces that survived." He adds as he starts towards the cliff wall. "Which is pretty damn advanced, so whatever did this is even older and better."

He has to grin though as Cyre goes shooting up the cliff and shakes his head. "Well..." Comes the drawl from the fox, his words angled towards Neriah. "...all of them or no, man's got a point." His grin is wide and roguish. "About the legs, not about the gods. I don't get into religion much. Mostly because it always starts arguments."

With that though the fox snaps his Gauntlet up. The line of energy unspools, tingly but soild to the touch as he flings it up the cliff for an anchor point for others to clamber up.

A twitch of a smile before he calls back after Cyre. "If this was a story that kind of banter would mean ya and yer priestess there are the main love intrests ya know!"

He's totally helping.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Meanwhile, in Fei's mind, a tiny child version of himself is gleefully strangling both Elena and Cyre with one hand each. yeah he's probably at 20 percent psycho meter now but Lahan pushes has slammed against his SAN score enough it doesn't get an ANSI warning. You know what's going on here.

He does rapidly think more highly of Morgan, who seems to have his head screwed on right, and Neriah, whose dark humor he's starting to appreciate even if it's kind of gross sometimes. Whose god is bigger, Fei can't help but cuhckle a little bit. It's very small, but definitely present. He doesn't seem to have noticed Neriah's legs. He has his type in that regard--or perhaps more accurately, an anti-type in that regard doh ho ho.

Gears, he thinks. It's funny how...common they seem to him these days.

He gets to climbing--this is largely to get to the city center as Elena asked for. He does intend to go back for the birds.

"My gear did it." Fei says. "Weltall. It's called Weltall." He pauses. "Well I mean, I did it, but I did it with Weltall."

He sounds kind of embarrassed more than sorrowful at this point. It's hard to get a decent angstfest going with people talking about whose god is bigger.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used his Tool Force Lash toward his party's challenge, The Shattered Cliffside.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"I-I would never fall for such an uncultured, empty-headed... savage!!!" Elena suddenly shouts, at Morgan this time, in protest of his claim. Then she looks towards Ida and bows her head in shame.

"I... I am sorry, you are right. I will hold my tongue going forward. I am not... used to these adventures, the blood must be rushing to my head as we run and climb." Yep, that's what it is.

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


Morgan sagenods as Elena shouts at him. "Yup. Totally a couple."

====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shattered Cliffside *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The path through Lahan's ruins has been difficult, and getting to the center  
 of town doesn't seem possible along this route. This doesn't mean that all    
 hope is lost, however - because along the north edge of the town lies a       
 cliff face that appears to have been broken and shattered by the fighting.    
 Large craters pocket its face, with strange glass-like ribbons of rock        
 running down to pool at the bottom of the cliff - testament to the power      
 that had launched several Gears into the cliff side. Their shattered forms    
 protrude from the rocks, while another lies atop the cliff, seemingly in      
 better shape than the others. It is a formidable climb, but rewards await     
 those who can assail the cliff and succeed.                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Elena has successfully explored Ruins of Lahan!
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Intact Slave Generator *>=====================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 This is the jackpot for anyone who is looking for a major find among the      
 ruins of Lahan. One of the Gears that was damaged in the battle still has     
 its Slave Generator intact - and while the rest of the frame is utterly       
 ruined, a working Gear class Slave Generator is an extremely valuable find.   
 Sold on the black market it will raise a fair amount of Gella, enough to      
 keep the party well supplied and able to live comfortably for several         
 months. Just don't get caught by Aveh or Kislev when selling it.              
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

...

...!

"Oh?" Cyre leans in close to whisper into Elena's ear. "I'm sure I could show you," he literally purrs, "How 'savage' I am~<3"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"It's alright." Fei says. "This isn't worth fighting over.

...And then after a moment, "It's not like the gods are really gods after all."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah cocks her head a couple of degrees to one side as Cyre flits past her. She reaches again, grasping for the crest of the cliff.

"Y'know, Cyre," she says as she gets into earshot of him, "I didn't think priests were allowed to be out and proud about being lewd, but you've certainly opened my eyes."

Then Morgan comes climbing up too. She touches a hand to her cheek and blinks twice, beginning to blush. "If I'd known people liked my legs that much, I'd have probably taken a much different path in life," she muses mildly as she pulls herself over the top of the cliff.

She blinks towards Fei, then inclines her head quietly. "I like to think that if the gods really existed, they'd have had enough mercy that I would never have been born," she says in the most casual tone possible.

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

The climb up goes... actually, very smoothly. Not only do people have a decent-enough way to climb via Gear parts and even Morgan's fancy energy lasso, but Cyre's trusty parachute is no laughing matter. After a few moments the party is up, and there sits a broken Gear with highly valuable parts glistening. Inviting you to step closer and press X to loot them, unlike every other element of the terrain which doesn't glisten.

As they reach the top, and Cyre whispers in Elena's ears, she flails, breaking free and facing the somewhat harsh fall rather than stay another moment in the beastman's arms. Through sheer anger alone she takes that fall correctly and doesn't break anything.

She stomps her foot... but does not reply to Cyre.

She will stay true to her word to Ida.

Instead, it's Fei she waits for, and when he shows her face softens and she smiles to him. "Mister Fei, you do not seem like a bad man. I know hearing these words will not be enough, but I forgive you for your mistake, as I am sure most people would. Life is difficult and not every trial laid before us makes sense, but that you are here today to help make things better speaks a hundred times more about your character than the disaster does."

She still cannot imagine how one man and one Gear could cause this, but she doesn't want to ask for details and make things worse. Instead, she starts inspecting the area, having no interest in the loot. "I believe this will do! I will just need a moment to prepare and then I will sing my song to Lord Granas."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Boring priests aren't allowed to be out and proud about being lewd," Cyre says... triumphantly!? As he sets Elena down on the top of the cliffside. He hops down himself as his parachute shuts, tucking and rolling safely towards the... broken-down gear. Well. Mostly broken down. Inexplicably, its generator looks like it might still be intact...?

"Hmph, well. The gods are as they are, but that doesn't mean that they're all-powerful. The Guardians don't exactly guide the lives of everyone on Filgaia, you know? They've... Got other things that they do. Like keep the wind blowing, the waters flowing, the seas fertile with life. For individual lives... they only intervene every so often. But, don't you ever regret you were born. Because you were here, we've had this conversation, and that's a good thing."

"Also, we got to see your legs. So that's good too."

Beat.

"Well, anyway, I'm going to go set up a shrine and maybe help put some of these ghosts to rest. Or at least, give them some kind of monument, more than just all these broken machines." Cyre shrugs, not mentioning that he MAY OR MAY NOT also sing his OWN song, with BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS and LITERAL TIGER GODS."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Yeah, Fei." As she reaches the top, Neriah slides her shovel out of the loop on her belt, sending the man a quiet smile. "I'm not really a religious person or anything... but I think I'd forgive you, too. If you were a bad man, you wouldn't feel any remorse at all. But you do. That's how you know you're still good at heart."

As Cyre steps in to try and inspire her, she tilts her head to the sides and smiles a mellow smile. "...You're not a bad guy either, I guess. Even if you are obsessed with my legs!"

Patting her shovel against her palm, she sets to work overturning earth, beginning to dig out a series of holes in neat rows. "Okay. You prepare the religious part," she says with a nod towards Cyre, then Elena. "I'll dig some graves and we'll give everyone a proper burial."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"I for one am glad you didn't," Morgan calls towards Neriah with a laugh as he hauls himself up. The fox is agile as one might expect, pulling himeself up as he talks. Swining along his energy line he zips over the top to land. "If ya did I might not have gotten a chance to meet you, and that would be a true shame."

The foxes ears twitch once again at the other words, and his smile gentles somewhat. Still more than a bit of a rogue. "Once again, I'm with the Beskar on this one." A flash of a grin. "Sometimes he actually sounds wise." His eyes dance with mischief as he grins at the other beastman.

"I know its a rare thing but..." A smirk. "...enjoy it when you can."

His eyes slide across the top of the platau. Checking for threats first, because getting jumped while digging graves is just a bad time all round.

But then his eyes fall on the ruined gear.

...and the faint life coming from the generator.

Those eyes widen in suprise, and then in pleasure. "...oh. OH. I am so damn happy I came along now." A beatpause. "...even more than I was before. Which I didn't think was possible..."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"The Guardians kind of suck at their job," Fei says. "Considering Filgaia's dying and all. But I guess that's just as much on us as it is them. I wouldn't say they're Gods though I do believe they exist." He pauses. "And I'm sure Granas exists too, though I don't really know what Granas is."

He whistles at the gear ruins here. "Geeze, this is a fortune. This generator is completely undamaged."

He pauses and looks over to Elena and adds, "It doesn't matter what I believe. There's someone here who believed in your God. You should help them rest."

He smiles. "And that you're willing to help them, th'both of you, really--" He considers. "Well, I won't say it makes me believe in Gods but it makes me believe in you. So--thank you, again. You're good folks."

Neriah says awful things. She forgives him, but that's not really what he focuses on.

"Neriah," Fei says. "I don't know what you went through--it sounds pretty awful--but if you ever need to share what happened with you, I'll listen just as you have. I might be speaking out of ignorance here, but I'm glad you were born."

He seems to mean it. "Oh--yeah, it's a lot of cash here. Could probably upgrade a frame even." He's a pirate so he's ok with selling to the black market because that's what keeps him fed.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida reaches the top, largely thanks to Morgan's fancy energy lasso. Once she has both feet on solid ground again, she brushes dirt off herself and takes stock of things. This... isn't the center of town, but if Elena thinks it'll do, Ida won't gainsay her. "Is there anything else you require, Sister Elena?" She glances back at Cyre, making a mental note to never include these two in the same excavation, ever again. If she were any less-disciplined she'd say something about wanting to knock their heads together, and then maybe knock Cyre's against a sturdy rock until he stops being such a louse.

But this is Fei and Elena's show, now. As the preparations start, Ida starts inspecting the wreckage... and when Morgan perks up, Ida walks over to see what he's found. "Is that an engine?" she says.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah's shovel blade bites through the turf with ease. For all that she may have secret dark powers, she's still an excavator by trade, and she's making surprisingly quick work of the holes. It takes her thoughts away from more grim things. She does look up as Morgan flirts with her, sending him a quiet smile. "Don't get me wrong. Most men don't flirt with me once I've used my magic. They usually run the other way. So this right now? It's kind of nice. But." She blushes just a touch, but Fei speaks to her before she can finish the thought.

The girl lets her shovel touch to the ground, buried halfway in for the next shovel-load. She doesn't finish the job yet, though. Her silence hangs there like a cloud.

When she looks up to Fei, it's with a quiet smile. "...Maybe we should get something to drink sometime," she invites shyly. "But... thank you."

Moistening her lips, she continues to dig out a neat little row of graves. She's quick about it; before long she's six feet deep in one, then clambering out with help from a couple of footholds to finish the last foot or so of the next one. "Fei," she calls up from one of the graves, "I don't know any of their names, so if you want them to all have headstones...."

GAME> Fei Fong Wong looked at you.

Neriah Parringer(#809PenACc)

At a glance this is a smartly-dressed young woman, perhaps eighteen years old, with an alert but otherwise unassuming demeanor. She comes in at about five foot four, though she adds a couple of inches to this by virtue of wearing heels at the moment. Her dark hair peeks out in a short, feathered scruff from beneath the brim of a big floppy newsboy hat done up in a subtle charcoal-grey plaid, set with a silver sigil which pins a pair of crow's feathers to the right of the brim. Loose bangs drift into pale blue eyes, clear as a frozen lake and set apart by dark liner and shadow, and across somewhat large ears set with large, dangling silver earrings; the locks go down no further than the top of her neck. Her complexion is strikingly pale, giving little colour to a face that's almost doll-like in its prettiness, with a smallish nose and rounded cheeks. A deep red lipstick colours her lips, the lower one full and slightly pouty.

Caught about her neck loosely, she wears a silk scarf coloured in a rich, deep red, a subtle pattern of silver coiling through it like waves. The scarf comes up as high as her chin, the lower edge of it tracing her collarbone and across the lapels of her blazer, a crosshatched grey affair that matches her cap. The jacket's sleeves are broad and cuffed in white - well, the left one is, anyway. The right one bunches up just below the elbow, seemingly cut off and tucked into the edge of an elbow-length glove, a layered affair of hard black leather plates and heavy straps. The glove on her left hand is also black but it's much more snug and fits below the sleeve, not over it. The jacket is worn open to expose a darker vest and a white undertunic, cut just low enough to leave a bit of a window visible below the edge of her scarf. From beneath the lower hem of the vest comes a short black skirt with darker charcoal panels on either side; it's short enough to expose her long, shapely legs from the edge of the skirt to just below the knee, where they're bound up tightly in a pair of snugly-laced black doeskin boots with heels that skirt the edge of practical.

More often than not, she carries a shovel with her, slung over one shoulder along with a pack full of equipment.

GAME> Neriah Parringer looked at you.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Hey. The atmosphere's still here, and the ocean's still churning. So, you know, they're not doing a BAD job. It's just that maybe the slow death of a planet is kind of hard to stop all alone! That's why there are priests, and why we all need to do our part to protect Filgaia."

Environmentally friendly aesop: Delivered.

But now Cyre goes off to start doing his own heathen rituals. He starts building a little shrine, lights a few sticks of incense, and--

"Wait! Did someone say drink!" Cyre holds up... Two bottles of cider. "I've still got a few of these!"

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"Oh! Making graves is a good idea! Fei, I am sorry to ask this of you, but could you try to recall the names of all those who have not gotten a proper burial after the disaster? Since we are here, there would be no sense honoring the passing of only a handful of people. Perhaps the area can heal of its wounds this way, and one day people can live here again...?"

Wishful thinking, Elena, but giving everyone graves was a great idea alright.

She turns to look at Ida afterwards, shaking her head. "I only require my voice, but if you wish to recite the prayers to Lord Granas alongside me, another voice in the chorus is never unwelcome!" The Church does like its songs, after all.

There is a sharp glare towards Cyre as he produces more alcohol, and in pure defiance, Elena reaches forward and snaps a bottle out of his hands. As in, she grabs it, opens it with her teeth, and then gulps down.

Spoiler warning: she's never had a lot of alcohol before. Luckily, this is just cider, so she's not going to fall over. Not unless she finishes the bottle just to spite Cyre.

Someone should take it from her.

"You have had enough of that! I will drink it myself if I must to stop you!" That's... what kind of reasoning is that even.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre just stares at Elena as she starts chugging down one of his bottles.

And his lips slowly curl up into a devious little catsmile.

Like, just straight up >:3.

"Oh no," Cyre gasps, "What shall I ever do without my heathen devil-water? Oh no." He squeeshes his cheeks with both hands. "If you drink it all, I'll have none left for my Guardian rituals, oh noooo."

Oh noooo

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"But not the time or place," Morgan finishes with a nod towards Neriah before he nods once. "So true, so...lets get to work...then..." A glance back towards the gears. "...then you can let me handle the sale of that beauty. I know people." His own people. "...did I mention I was a bit of a merchant?"

By merchant, at least one or two there would know he means smuggler.

A glance towards Ida as he works, the grin on his face almost impossible to conceal. "...working engine. Thats the one part I needed that I couldn't get easy myself. With that and the scrap around here, should be able to upgrade the Laughing Fox. I might not even be as slow the next time I need her."

The fact that Fei not only has a Gear, but its the Gear that did that isn't lost on Morgan either. The name though, now that name is familiar. There is a lady he knows that was asking about a gear like that. "...Weltall..." He pauses a moment. "...powerful Gear then. Must be ancient...but I'm sorry, friend. No one should have to go though this." And for once he sounds serious.

He finishes digging in silence, for the dead and departed.

...at least until Elena starts shouting and guzzling cider.

"...oh yeah." He sees what you're doing there Cyre. "...this won't end badly at all."


<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida peers into the machine, focusing on the fascinating device in front of her instead of the dumb argument simmering in the background. "It certainly does need a new one," she says, which is perhaps the understatement of the month. She glances at Fei, and another block falls into place. She can see it now--a young man desperate to protect his home, who instead unwittingly unleashes ruin upon it.

Once the initial inspection of the Gear is done, she joins in the digging, in mournful, almost meditative silence. She never imagined she'd have to dig graves, but the world had strange plans for her. It's the least she can do.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah's head pops out of a grave. "Cyre," she sighs, but doesn't otherwise protest. She has to hide a smile at Elena's predicament.

She boosts herself up out of the hole; her limbs and cheeks are smudged in places with sweat and dirt. Slipping her hat off, she fans herself with it, then tosses it over the pack she's left near the edge of one of the graves.

As Ida digs, she looks down at the woman with a quiet, sad smile. The woman's gravity seems to draw her in, too. Taking a momentary break, she just oversees the digging, letting Ida work.

After a moment, she leans forward, her voice quiet. "It's a sad world sometimes, Miss Ida," she murmurs.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Sure thing, I'm still pretty new to drinking so go easy on me," Fei quips to Neriah, smiling. Evil energy tendrils aren't going to make him fret too much because it's one of those things he assumes he has no room to talk.

Fei Fong Wong steps away from the gear. He says, "Well, I'll see who I can remember." The thought that he might have difficulties here, well, it sickens him. He keeps in mind that Morgan Newkirk is a merchant.

He kind of NEEDS a merchant that he can form a relationship with, he thinks, you know--in order to hawk goods.

"Yeah," He adds to Morgan. "Well, I don't know. It came from Kislev but it blew up my town so it's mine now."

He seems to think this makes sense as logic. "But I'd like to talk to you later, maybe set up a working relationship, if you're a merchant."

He then heads off towards Elena to help with the gravestones like he suggested. He doesn't comment on Elena drinking all the alcohol. This is about what he expected at the end of the day for himself too.

"Alright," He says. "I think I remember everyone I met at least, few people I heard of."

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Maybe it's because she doesn't want to be outdone by a savage, or maybe it's the fact Cyre apparently needed these for his rituals? Either way, Elena isn't stopping. It's still very lucky that this is "just" cider, if it was anything stronger she might not last the bottle. Instead she's "just" kind of tipsy and red-faced. And wobbly. Her voice is still (when not screaming) so the song shouldn't suffer too much from it.

... worst-case they could just spend the night here and do the ceremony in the morning? It's a nice view from the cliff and surely one of them has a tent or something.

Once the graves have been dug (by people other than her, because she's a noodly priest and you don't want her using her bombs to do it), she helps Fei and the others engrave the names of Lahan's residents onto chunks of wood and metal. There's no shortage of those lying around, and they'll make good grave markers. She's predictably sloppy.

"Did you ever..." She almost hiccups. She covers her mouth with her hand and tries to pass it off silently. "Find out what their busisness in your village was? Are you not worried they will want their Gear back?"

Is she ignoring Cyre now?

You get the silent treatment, tiger!

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

It's okay. The deep dark secret is:

This is actually Johnny Appleseed Wine.

(Cyre drank the cider earlier, you see)

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


There is a chuckle from Morgan. "That Metal Demon pulled the entire drive core out and melted it down. Defintally needs a new one." There is a touch of amusement in the fox's words as he finishes his digging to return to the look on the Gear. "I wouldn't mind that, Fei. Though..." A flash of a grin. "...merchant. Smuggler. Six of one, half dozen of the other. I know people though, and thats what counts right?"

There is a pause though, a slight frown before he looks back towards the tormented young man. "...it wasn't from Kislev. Kislev might have had it, but it wasn't from them. I know every Gear they field, hell I helped test pilot a good half-dozen of them. They don't have anything this powerful out there."

Then back at the wreck of the guild. "...if I saw yours I might can tell ya more, but if its old enough I'd be just as much in the dark as most people."


<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"I'm a pirate at the moment," Fei says. "So no judgement here."

Fei Fong Wong works to help the town. It's actually, even in spite of having the weirdest spiritual leaders present, very rewarding. It helps Fei feel like he's helping bring peace to Lahan with his own hands rather than just hearing about awful things happening in the village that other people had to deal with. He hopes this helps the spirits. At least a little bit. Or, okay, at least he hopes it doens't make them angry. And it doesn't seem like it does. The people of Lahan are good people, you know. They weren't neccessarily heroic or anything, but they were decent and kind folks.

For a moment, he thinks he can see it, the town bustling once more. Quiet, but noisy, peaceful, but full of every day conflicts that amounted to nothing. So many beautiful lives were cut short here. Those that remained will never be the same.

"Yes." He says to answer Elena. "A man named Grahf The Seeker of Power manipulated events so that Weltall, a test gear developed by Kislev, would land in this very spot." He shakes his head. "They started a fight in the village. He did all of this for my sake. He wanted to unlock a power deep within me. And he wasn't unsuccessful."

Fei shakes his head a second time, trying to clear this faint buzzing that keeps running through his head.

"That power destroyed this town. My power did this. I don't know how I did it, and I don't want to know. He wanted me to kill 'Mother God'." He looks at the sky for a while.

Before looking back to Elena, "Well, wants me to kill Mother God. Kind of a crazy thing to ask of a man whose home you just destroyed, right?"

He smiles. It's very faint. "It's not really about whether they want their gear back. It's going to stick with me no matter what. But they're definitely gonna hound me. And he's definitely gonna hound me. And they won't stop until they get what they want, or I'm dead."

Again.

DC: Elena switches forms to Demon Maiden Millenia!
DC: Elena switches forms to Songstress Elena!
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Fei says some pretty heavy things! Most of which Elena cannot relate or identify with. She doesn't know what it's like having a weird crazy obsessed stalker, or some hidden power, or even having killed a lot of people. Or destroyed her home village. Or having to live with that every day while safekeeping the Gear that made it all happen.

She can't relate, and that might be the problem.

She can feel sad though! She nails that part right, looking rather down on behalf of Fei. "I... I am sorry. I did not mean to make you remember such things. S-Still, I admire your ability to be here with us despite all that! I do not know why anyone would wish to kill God, whether Lord Granas or any other one, but I am sure it is trouble," she manages, not quite slurred up from the cider yet.

"If there is anything I can do to help, please, let me know! I do not know how helpful I can be in a story such as yours, but, I also cannot accept being a simple bystander."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei doesn't have much to say about killing God. It sounds, to be totally honest, stupid as hell. Gods are PROBABLY harder to kill than villages, you know, what with being Gods? But that's what Grahf said and people seem to want to know why people are after him. He is okay with sharing this because it helps him cope with his insane life.

"You already helped," Fei says. "If it wasn't for you, I'd have never come back here. I wouldn't be able to make peace. I would have said goodbye with it weighing on my mind, probably until the day I died."

It's going to get easier, Fei tells himself. It might never wholly go away, but it will get easier. Today it just got a little easier today. Think about today, when you want to tear everything apart.

"The Ethos helped my friend Xantia too. I can't ask for any more. But I'll keep you in mind if something comes up. The metal demons will be going after the Guardians soon. You want to help? I suggest you get ready for whatever they're planning."

It's not really for HIS sake but for stakes far greater than that, in his mind.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Once she's done with the digging, Neriah ends up sitting on her backpack, her shovel between her thighs as she leans back with her weight on her palms. She lets the breeze play across her sweat-dappled skin. Her chest rises and falls rhythmically as she tries to catch her breath.

Quietly, she listens to the conversation, watching Fei out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes lower for a moment; she sighs quietly.

"It takes a lot of courage to come back here," she says, voice quiet. "In a way I admire you, Fei... being able to come back here and face the past. In some ways I wish I could, but I know I wouldn't be able to. Maybe that makes you more brave than I am. Either way... you're doing something important."

She flashes the adventurer a smile. There's something vaguely shy about it, but friendly nevertheless. "I don't know anything about Metal Demons or Guardians, but...."

She trails off and looks down at herself. (No... no, I do know a Guardian, don't I,) she realizes.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Once the digging is done, Ida sets the shovel aside, sits, and just... listens. On its face, Fei's story sounds crazy, but there is absolutely no reason that Fei would lie about it--lying about that sort of thing would be ludicrous, and Fei doesn't seem like the sort to lie, anyway. Ida watches him, finally speaking up when he mentions the Metal Demons. "...The Guardians themselves?" she says.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"I figure it meant the Baskar tribes, their places of worship." Fei says. Hopefully Cyre hears that at least. He looks over to Neriah with wide eyes, he laughs, and says, "Nah. I'm not." Why does everyone call him courageous.

"I'm a coward." Just not over Lahan anymore.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Fei." Neriah closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, she rises from her pack and moves closer to the little conversation circles. Sinking to a crouch, she rests her shovel blade in the turf, smiling faintly back at Fei. "In that case, both of us can be cowards together."

She lowers her eyes, then, and presses her lips together. "I don't think the Guardians would want my help. I'm not really...." She trails off, grasping for the right words and failing to find them.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"The Guardians will accept help from anyone who is willing to protect Filgaia," says Cyre from where he's apparently built a nice little shrine to the Wind God. "Mostly, anyway. There are some exceptions, but I don't think they would reject you if you came to help them."

There's a beat.

"I'm probably going to have to write a few letters when we get back to town," Cyre sighs. "People... Should know. About that threat. Thanks, Fei."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Yeah," Fei admits. "Sorry for not mentioning earlier. We caught a bit of intel from the mines."

To Neriah he only murmurs, half to himself, "Maybe if the Guardians stopped being picky we'd be getting somewhere."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah curls her lips slightly. "I don't know how I feel about the Guardians... maybe they just don't like me for dabbling in, uh. My... symbology." She remembers at the last second what her lie is, scratching self-consciously at her right palm.

"The Metal Demon I met at Old Petra didn't seem so bad. She could've thrown me off the wall, but she didn't. Maybe they're not all awful beings."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"They're not really THAT picky," Cyre mutters, brushing his pants off. "Fengalon's been alright with me, after all."

Beat.

"Well, I don't know about Metal Demons, but the Guardians don't seem to like them much. Regardless of anything else though, we need to protect our world and our people, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida is silent on the issue. She's listening, though, and she looks thoughtful. "From the mines?" she says to Fei, after a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I don't think the Guardians are all that keen on me either," Neriah mutters, digging her nails into her palm and scratching fitfully. "Or maybe that's just me thinking that, I don't know."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Filgaia won't accept them," Fei murmurs. "Even the ones that just want to live. Is a world like that permissable?" He is borrowing a turn of phrase from the doc there but he is troubled all the same.

"Yeah, after we chased the Tainted out, we went into the base and it said they were making plans against the Baskar, their places of worship."

He does admit, "Well," to Cyre. "We gotta try anyway. What else can we do?"

He nods to Neriah. "I dunno. If I run into the guardians, I'll, uh..."

He trails off uncertainly. "Well if they try to hurt you I'll punch 'em in the snout." Some guardians have snouts ok??

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

(The world won't accept the Metal Demons,) Neriah thinks, lowering her eyes to her lap. (The world won't accept me, either. If all of these people knew the truth, they'd want to crucify me, too.)

(Maybe I have more in common with Metal Demons than with people.)

She moistens her lips briefly. "Why would anyone want to go after the Baskar? They don't really bother anybody. It just seems like... such an unlikely thing to do."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"'Cause we're the closest ones to the Guardians, by and large," Cyre explains, utterly unaware of the angst brewing deep in Neriah's soul. "So it'd make sense that people who want to go after the Guardians would go after us first."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


Morgan's been messing with the Gear most of this time. But his voice comes out of the top of the wreckage as he looks back towards teh conversation.

"This is a time of unlikely things." The fox-eared man calls out as he turns to smile down at the little group. "Why I've even heard of Metal Demons that don't want to kill me. Wonders will never sense." A shake of his head though. "But it would make sense. A sick kind of sense. But sense."


<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I guess I'm not sure why people would want to fight the Guardians in the first place. But... who knows." Neriah cups her cheek in her palm and sighs. "If I'd known I was going to get mixed up in matters of life and death like this, I'd have stayed home and focused on y own problems."

Then Morgan returns. Neriah lifts her eyes to him, smiling up to the fellow in the Gear. "I like simpler times better. It'd be nice, just once, to be able to spend a few days without worrying about who I am or what's happening in the world, and just be happy."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Yeeeeah, that's one of the reasons I'm out here instead of back home," Cyre says with a long sigh, emptying a bottle... full of water. He's thirsty. It's been a long day and it's hot. "'Course, seems like destiny's got another idea in mind. As it always done. Destiny's a jerk."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Well, their places of worship," Fei says. "But it amounts to the same."

He considers for a long moment. "Morgan's right though. The Metal Demons as a whole are being punished and they don't deserve to be." He looks over to Neriah and looks to Neriah with intense sympathy.

"Sorry," He says. "I'll shut up." He has intense sympathy for just wanting to be happy for a few days in a row, maybe get a chain bonus going.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Yeah... yeah, I know they are," Neriah murmurs as she buries her chin in one palm, though there's a sadness in her voice.

As Fei looks at her like that, her cheeks colour slightly. "No... no, it's alright. It's actually been... kind of nice, talking to all of you like this," she says a little more freely. "Most people just get scared of me and either run away or try to shoot me. I think even Lunie's scared of me, and Lunie's basically an elemental being of pure love." She doesn't know about Ge Ramda yet, apparently. "Like, it's almost like I have some actual friends for once instead of just people who tolerate me for a little while before they start building big wooden crosses and getting out nails, so. I'm fine with it."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"Oh they deserve to have somethin happen to them for what they did to the city, I'm just more than a bit curious about just why that all happened." Morgan adds with a smirk.

A shrug though. "And I don't think I've ever lived in simpler times, so maybe I'm just used to the chaos." He doesn't seem worse for wear for it though.

"But anyway, we arn't gonna be scared of ya." A smirk at that. "At least not like most people. Diggers are all crazy didn't you know." A wide and teasing grin. "Else we would do something simple."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Lunata," Fei says. "Eats souls or life energy or something. Maybe she's just projecting."

He still needs to get to her on that and find out what the heck is up with that. He is starting to wish Elena hadn't drunk all of Cyre's 'cider'. This feels like a nice talk for getting gradually wasted. For once he could wake up in ruins and know why.

"She's got a time cube that wants her to fight or something?" Fei wrinkles his nose. "I don't get it but--maybe her attitude changed."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"She's got a little box of Death," Cyre explains, "And her Guardian is yanking her around to teach her how to fight. I'm guessing it's to prepare her for the Metal Demon thing that's been happening." To Fei's (probable) delight, Cyre... fishes out yet another bottle of booze. Cheaper booze, but still booze. How many did he bring along?

Enough to deal with a Priestess of Granas, apparently.

"Well, anyway, she's a nice girl. I want to make sure she grows into her abilities properly."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah frowns and rubs at the back of her neck. "What, she does? I didn't realize... I haven't run into Lunie in awhile. I hope she's handling it okay. Maybe I should talk to her."

She moistens her lips with a brief pass of her tongue, then looks up to Morgan with a mellow smile. "I guess that's true. And you've all been really nice to travel with, and to talk to." Her smile grows just the slightest bit lopsided. "I hope I've also been a decent companion. Aside from your admiring my legs, anyway."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Also your chest," Cyre says with a sip of wine. "That vest really does not leave much to the imagination."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Oh thank god--specifically," He looks up to the sky in defiance. "--the god that someone wants me to assasinate."

He looks back to Cyre. "I've had a day. Mind if I catch a swig or two? I won't finish it off like a certain someone."

He doesn't comment on Neriah's excellent attributes.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Sure," he passes the bottle down. It's red! "Part of the adventure is the cool-down, after all. And you can't properly do that without something to wet the whistle, right?"

"Don't worry about our little priestess. I sort of expected this would happen, so it's fine!"

(What kind of person expects a priest to go through an entire bottle of booze?)

(If they're cool, they'll do it and have fun. If they're uncool, they'll do it, crash, and sleep while everyone else has fun.)

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah looks down at her vest with a blink. "Well, it is a nice vest," she murmurs.

As Cyre suggests wetting her whistle, Neriah waggles a hand at him. "I'd love something, if you've got more."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"It's a full bottle," Cyre shrugs, "Go nuts. It's my last one before going into the REAL pricy stuff though. I keep those back in Lacour."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei takes a pretty long swig but he doesn't take two and there's plenty left for Neriah as Fei passes it over.

"Last dig we went on," He says. "We were trapped in a closet for a whole evening." He is already feeling better.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Yeah, I haven't had even one ceiling collapse on me yet today. And there weren't any horrible toxic death butterflies. I'm going to call today a job pretty well done."

Beat.

"Plus we're getting paid!"

They're getting paid, right?

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah tilts the bottle back and takes a long drag from it. She wipes her mouth with the back of her left hand. It's the one without the glove on it.

"I thought you and Moustache were gonna go at each other there for a minute," she says with a crooked smile for Fei. "I gather he's one of those Althena guys.... I don't really understand them."

She grimaces. "The toxic death butterflies. I've never felt so scared as I did in there. They felt awful."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


"Those Althena guys arn't hard to understand." Morgan pauses a moment. "If its fun, its outlawed." He finishes with a grin as he reaches a hand down and waggles fingers at the bottle.

Gimmmeeeee.

"Being trapped in a closet isn't bad, though it depends on the company." A smirk. "I've been stuck in some pretty comfy closets at times."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Maybe we're getting paid in free sermons, Fei reflects grimly, though he requested no payment so.--Anything made from the gear though? Yeah he wants a cut. That's a different matter altogether considering he needs places to sleep periodically and mouths to feed.

Mouth to feed. Because it's Xantia's. And Fei is always concerned she's not eating enough because her appetite is--notable.

"They're not even from here," Fei says. "So I don't see how they get off being judgemental and telling us how to live our lives. At least Hiro's group are good to people."

Fei listens to Morgan and says, "I'm happy for you," after deep thought.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"That Leo does seem like a really noble guy, and kind of inspiring. I fought in the tournament with him once." Neriah shrugs and passes the bottle to Morgan. "But Moustache there just seemed like a real jerk. And I don't like people who go around dictating to others, anyway. I'd rather people just treat me nice or leave me alone."

She lifts an inquisitive gaze to Morgan, smiling a little impish smile. "Tell us one of your fun closet stories," she urges him.