Return of the Emblem Chapter Seven: Reunion

[Mercakete]

"Lets get th' wagon unstuck n' get goin'!" Gytha rallied, excited to see Amon's hometown.

Light, loose and bright. Well, I guess what I'm wearing is pretty dark and it's medium-weight, I guess. It's sort of loose, too, for the mostpart, but... Norbert sighed as he surveyed what he was wearing. Not near good enough. Rizen's not doing great either... "Hey, whoever's in charge of the wagon, would any of you mind if I store Rizen's armor in the wagon?" he asked those around in general.

[Acacia Sgt]

<So it's most likely a trip to Sanctuary huh?> John thought. <Well, it'd certainly be interesting going there if we do.> On the other hand, another issue popped up. <Hm? The wagon is stuck?> ''Come on Gil, let's give a hand. Or in your case, a claw.'' He said with a laugh and giving the wyvern a pat, who merely grunted.

''I guess using the wyverns isn't a bad idea.'' Sophia commented. ''It doesn't look like it's that stuck.'' Then again, it may be looking like it isn't enough I guess.

[Snowy_One]

Robin coughed and sputtered as Lilith pulled her free. That woman was strong! Very strong indeed! As Robin cleared her lungs of the sand, the rest of the group seemed to go about getting ready to leave. To be exact, freeing the carriage and changing to light and loose clothes... Light and loose... something her deer-hide clothes could not be described as. She had been already slightly warm throughout the trip, not to the point of complaining or paying any real notice, but now with the added desert heat...

"I... Do not have any clothes other than these though. I can already feel the heat." she quickly reached down, rolling up the bottom of her shirt. A fresh wave of heat hit her belly, though it was more tolerable than what had already started to become trapped. "<It's too hot here!>" she quickly muttered to herself before looking over at her bow in worry. It was made of organic material. All this sunlight and heat could easily make it break!

[Phoenix]

Near Lilith

Amon looked away. "Well ..." I have to go wherever Raquel goes for the time being, but that's part of the problem. What if ... what if they try to take us into custody or something? What if Lady Aisha wants the emblem bad enough to hurt the party? Lilith's here so I don't even know which side would win anymore, and I don't want to have to pick a side if it comes down to that. I haven't even had time to figure out what I'm going to do, and now things are so much worse. It could all just blow up in my face in the next couple of days .... "I don't really have anywhere else I'm obligated to be ...."

"I would go by myself and tell the Rexians where to find you if you didn't come along, Amon, so it's good that you did. You're saving us all some trouble. Well, then, I'll leave you to prepare yourselves for the journey. When you're ready, I'll be right here." Lilith announced. From there, she simply stood there with her arms crossed, and her gaze fixed in Sanctuary's apparent direction.

With that, Amon had little else to do but head over with Gytha to see what the situation with the wagon was.

Near Wagon

It wasn't pretty. Although the wagon wasn't truly stuck, both of its horses were receiving medical treatment, and the deflector pads weren't on, so the vehicle's extra weight left the wheels buried a few inches into the more heavily packed sand. It wasn't moving without those horses, and even then, they would likely need an extra ring or two activated to get the vehicle light enough to haul over the stubborn terrain.

"The wagon's made of metal too so taking shade in there would be almost suicidal. Maybe Krystal could use her power to keep it cool inside. Or maybe keep the horses cool so they can haul it longer. Wagon cooling is probably more important, though." Amon assessed. "And unless we're doing most of the walking ourselves, we'll need to keep them well watered. Out here that's going to strain the water supply ...."

Edited September 28, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

No one seemed to be answering his question immediately, so, Norbert directed Rizen over to Raquel, who was basicly lying on the beach. "Come on, get up. You have the emblem so you should be able to do at least that much," Norbert grumbled to their apparent leader before asking his question, "Do you mind if I store Rizen's armor in the wagon while we're here in Rex-Avaz? She's used to much colder temperature so I won't want her having to deal with any more heat than necessary." He didn't want to either, but that was why he was riding Rizen at the moment, too. He was tempted to remove his tunic and store it with Rizen's leather armor, but he just didn't feel comfortable about the idea. For now, at least, he'd keep it on. Though he wasn't presently connecting the reason why the idea made him uneasy, some social ediquete had managed to be hammered into him.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Hmm?" Raquel opened her eyes and looked up to see Bert. There seemed to be a lot of survivors from the sounds of things. Had anyone died at all post warp? As curious as she was, she didn't bother to look. Bert wanted to know if he could use the wagon for storage, and that was what she chose to address. She nodded saying "Yeah, go'head ... just don't, get your stuff mixed up with the merchandise." Her voice was full of fatigue. Then she began to wonder. If the wagon was in good enough condition for use, and not at the bottom of the ocean, perhaps Sandrock and Riley were about as lucky. "Are my horses okay? Did they make it?" Uuuuugh, so hungry and thirsty ....

[Mercakete]

"Yeah, they're fine, I think. Think I saw a couple of the healers going over to have a look at them," he answered, a bit less adgitatedly than before. A sigh a moment later and he reached down, offering her a hand up. "Grab my hand before I change my mind."

[Acacia Sgt]

John eyed the situation the wagon was in. <Yeah, this will need some force applied to get it out of the sand. I guess we'll have a slow road ahead of us huh. Well, we'll wait until we actually get to moving it out.> And then came Amon's words. <Oh yeah, this is a desert after all, the heat would certainly be a bother.>

''Well,'' he decided to speak up. ''Since there's bound to be stuff inside that would do well staying away from the heat, cooling the inside is an ideal move. And it can used to stay in the shade, since I doubt we'll just abandon the wagon here.'' He let out a small laugh. ''And also... I wonder if we could use that ice as a source of water.'' <Although it's magic generated, I wonder if even so it would be suitable to be drunk.>

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"I'm fine. Just let me lie here until it's time to go." she trailed off, closing her eyes, again. Her stomach finally decided to speak up and give some clue as to what was wrong with a strong growl. She winced at the sound, bringing her hand to her abdomen, and then relaxing again as the pains subsided. "... and before you ask, I haven't had a bite to eat or drink since before I was kidnapped." she noted, still about half asleep.

Wagon

"It won't work." Amon stated, starting to sweat a little, partly from the heat, and partly from the prospect of work getting his energy up. "Ice magic just cools things really fast. If there's moisture around, it snap freezes, so it could work in humid areas like back up north. Out here, though, it's only going to help us stay cool ... us or the animals ...." Amon explained a bit dejectedly.

[Rothene]

Obsessed with digging the grave, Ranyin was caught completely off guard when the warping occurred. The next thing he realised was himself falling through the air. It was something like flying on Riz back...which was comforting. The difference though, was how the ground seemed to keep coming closer and closer.

Fearing for his life, Ranyin barely remembered he was a wind mage, thus had some way of softening his landing on ground below. Whipping out his tome in time, the Kigenese mage unleashed a large swirl of wind around him to let him glide slightly, a technique had been secretly practicing once in a while. The capabilities of the dynamic tome never ceased to fail him in the wealth of techniques it presented for use in and out of combat.

Gliding a short distance, Ranyin let go of the magic to let him crash less fatally into the sands. It was not as soft as he hoped for, and the scratches were unpleasant. But even so, the mage allowed himself a smile. He had succeeded in casting that spell when he needed it. It was a possible first step to using the spell to fly.

Lying down, he looked at the tome as it flipped to a random page near the back. There, Ranyin spotted the headings for a technique to use one's magical energy, and for a small temporary price in life force, the mage may instead allow their magic to spread out like a mist, empowering their allies instead of themselves. Curious, Ranyin started reading as everyone else got their bearing.

The magic to help others reminded Ranyin of how he had failed to protect Sammy. Tears falling onto the pages, Ranyin hugged the tome tightly. This is the kind of magic I should have been using, the type to strengthen others instead of myself.

***

Mireille had chosen to stay in the wagon as the warping occured. it seemed to not have been much better than staying outside, and possibly worse due to the hard surface to fall on. Nevertheless, she was glad that no one apparently died in the warp.

[Mercakete]

"Merz, Raquel..." sighed Norbert before he dismounted Rizen, picked Raquel up and sat her on his pegasus' back. "What kind of leader are you?" he half-heartedly complained as he began leading Rizen towards the wagon, holding the mount's reigns as he led her, "We have some food, if it made it with the warp. You need to eat. I had something before we left Ursium and if I've had something to eat that recently, you darn well should too. If you give up and die, then what are we all doing out here? At least try to show us you're doing what you can."

It was around that time that they made it to the wagon. So, Norbert turned to face Raquel and said, "Alright, I took you this far. Get up and ask someone where the food is. I need to untack Riz."

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well, so much for that idea then.'' John shrugged. ''Anyway, I still stand by using it on the wagon. There's bound to be stuff in there like food that would definitely need it as well.'' <In any case,> he thought. <I'm not getting in there anyway, but I guess that's no excuse to just ignore the situation.>

He looked over at the desert beyond, where the sun was shining up in the sky. <Hopefully there is a port or village not far away, this does seem to be the eastern shores of the desert at least. It sure has been a while...>

There, that should do the job for now. Sophia thought stopping using her staff and then unhinged Sandrock as well, seeing how Nadya had done it with Riley. Now with this done, she went over to where the rest were gathering. I guess we'll be staying here for a while before moving to... were exactly are we going from here again?

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Alriiiight. Stop biting my head off like an army instructor." Raquel protested. She then collapsed forward onto Rizen, her stomach giving off another noticeable growl. She winced through that too, but then just resumed leaning against Rizen like a ragdoll. "We're in the desert, aren't we ...?" The horizon to the west wasn't a good sign. Did they even have a destination in mind?

[ReformBlade]

Discussion. Lots of it happened all around her, various amounts of complaining and movement as well. Only thing missing was, "...Hannah? Where di-" Sitting up just in time for a nudge from a horse made Aneda yelp slightly and then laugh as she realized who it was, "Awww... I shoulda known better than to get all worried for ya, shouldn't I?" Patting her partner's head, she stood up to her full height, stretching and groaning. The breeze seemed to chill her easily, but when it stopped the heat would warm her right back up again. Wet, covered in sand and still not satisfied with the burial, she thought it couldn't get much worse until she saw her hair and huffed. What...? I-I guess there are worse things. Hell, maybe Ranyin won't puke on me now. Hooray for a silver goddamn lining... She knew there were more important things than her hair at the moment, but the gods be damned if she was denied her right to be pissed about it.

[Mercakete]

"I am not--" Norbert started before biting his tongue then taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it. Much more calmly, he answered, "Yes, according to the others, we're in Rex-Avaz. Apparently we're going to Sanctuary as soon as everyone and everything is ready. Those of us with mounts should take care of them first, though." With another, lighter sigh, Norbert picked Raquel up off of Rizen again and set her down on the shore, then he began to untack his pegasus. If Valter's still not feeling well, I should take care of Phyllis too. She has to walk just as far as the rest of us and if she's wearing all that tack, it won't be so good for her. I'm pretty sure she doesn't need to be led, but it'd be best if someone was keeping an eye on her... Looks like I won't be flying for a while. "If you're thirsty, there's an ocean full of water right there," he mentioned to the pink-haired merchant, still undoing various buckles on Rizen's tack.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Sea water ...? That's just ... so wrong! Everything, and I mean literally everything has been in there. Why don't you just ask me to drink out of a horse trough? At least it would be an insult without the health risks." Raquel seemed more cranky than upset on the outside because of how tired she was, but she was genuinely mad, now.

[Mercakete]

"You have a point, I guess, but I think we're low on water and the mounts will need to be taken care of. Sorry -- I didn't think about all that regarding the ocean. I guess I just supposed water is water," the pegasus rider replied as he began unloading Rizen. He didn't seem bothered at all by Raquel's yelling and was actually pretty nonchalant and calm about the whole exchange at this point, possibly because he was working on something else at the same time.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

Bert seemed finished, so Raquel let her head back down and closed her eyes. As hungry as she was, she just wanted to sleep. A little water could get her through the rest, she figured. "I don't want Sandrock and Riley to go without. Just a little water and I'll be fine." she explained. "I have a canteen of my own somewhere around the driver se- ..." she paused. That was the driver seat on the old wagon. She had no idea where her water would be now; she didn't even know if it was brought along. "I don't know where the water is, now, sorry ...." she said simply, giving up and deciding to just try passing out instead.

[Mercakete]

"I'll get you something when I'm done here," Norbert found himself saying as he finished up untacking his pegasus. I shoud probably ride bareback while we're travelling through the desert. It'll make things easier on Riz. I'll just stow my poleaxe with her and Phyllis' tack. It won't be a big deal since I can just keep Splinter and Crunch on me so I'm not disarmed. That means those elixers will be in the wagon, too. That's fine. Don't think I'll need them for now.

Free of her armor, tack and everything else she was carrying, Rizen spread and fanned her wings, glad for the freedom and happy to use her wings to help cool herself off. They were uncomfortable when tucked against her sides, too, at least in heat like this. Looking over, Norbert saw that the wagon was still wading. So, sighing a little, the pegasus rider sat down, took off his boots and socks and rolled up his pants to his knees before hefting about half of what he'd removed from Rizen and wading over to the back of the wagon. Then, he climbed aboard and stored what he was carrying. One more trip and Rizen's gear was taken care of. The next part would be a bit more difficult since Phyllis wasn't his horse. Still, the pegasus rider didn't want her to suffer through all this heat and so he carefully approchaed the mare.

[Phoenix]

Lift Off

With Krystal dug out, Gabbie decided to see how the wagon issues were coming along. Arriving at the scene, she figured they were about halfway done at best. The horses weren't even attached. "Well this is goin' pretty slow." She then spotted Lilith, about a hundred feet up the beach and just standing around doing nothing. She took another glimpse at the wagon, and then back to Lilith. She'd come to a conclusion of sorts and sighed. "She probably wants us to do this ourselves. This desert is gonna be such a noightmare." She headed over to the wagon and took a closer look. "So she's minus two horses and all four deflectors ... basically a small mountain on wheels." Even with the deflectors on, I'm pretty positive a wyvern can't carry this thing. Though that's just with the normal amount. Since Lilith over there isn't going to help out on her own, may as well use the opportunity to experiment a little.

Gabbie headed underneath the wagon, even though that meant coming up to her chin in the constantly shifting waters. Once she was no longer on all fours, it only reached up to her stomach. The deflectors would likely change all that, though. She flipped on one ring, and braced herself for the raging wind that would follow. Immediately the ring began blasting the water underneath the wagon. She flipped on another deflector's ring, and another, and then the last one. Now all four deflector pads had a single ring activated, and Gabbie was stuck under the wagon, giggling and being both splashed and assailed by the wind. She noticed the wagon still only seemed light enough for the detached horses to move, though, and so ... "Let's make you just loight enough for one of the wyverns to haul you to dry land."

She quickly braved the intense splashing and wind to activate four more rings. That was when she noticed that the vehicle was much closer to being an easy lift. She also found that after a few moments, much of the water wasn't even reaching her. She was kneeling down on mud with occasional squirts of water getting through to her. "Oh man, Weyland tech is freaky up close, hahahah! Four more and I'm sure we could lift it easily." she said, fighting hard against the excess wind coming off of the ground to reach the rings. The wagon was digging four very deep holes into the mud, and little water was getting through to its bottom. Gabbie's entire figure was heavily obscured by the flying mud and gusts, though. "One ring!" she announced, flipping one, and then quickly moving to activate another. "Two rings!" "Three!" she said as she flipped the third. "And that's four!" she added upon activating the last one. "Actually wait that's twelve rings altogether ..." and then she looked up at the shift in light and saw the wagon's bottom lifting away from her. "... hahahahah ... oops."

There wasn't much time, so Gabbie grabbed onto the bottom of the wagon and was lifted out of the water along with it. "Oh no, Gabbie!" Amon called out, seeing the wagon come hovering out of the water.

"Don't worry man! I'm okay-wait ... there's just no way anybody can hear me through these air jets. Damn." She gave a simple wave with one hand and then resumed holding on. "Gabbie!" Amon called out again. Gabbie's casual behavior wasn't going to convince him that she was alright, not while she was hanging from the bottom of a wagon being pushed up into the air by four powerful wind generators which she could no longer reach to turn off. In his mind, they were going to end up needing saving at this point. He looked over at Lilith to see if she was witnessing what was going on, and whether or not she would do anything. Lilith herself took a glance. The era wasn't as archaic as she'd first concluded. The ensuing shenanigans were almost worth a giggle to her, but she quickly lost interest and returned to scene gazing.

"Welp, I can't tell'em a thing from up here." she said, letting go and falling about fifteen feet into the shallow water. "Aaaand I was almost dry too .... Hey John! Hurry up and move it to some better terrain. Then Shadrak, you can shut off the rings. Trust me, you do not want to have to turn those things off up close." she instructed, already beginning to try and fix her hair a bit. All the while, the wagon began a slow but steady ascent upwards, already about twenty five feet above the shallows.

Hearing all the commotion, Raquel opened her eyes and looked around for the source. "... the wagon's floating away? Lilith ... you jerk ..." Not linking the deflectors to all the noise, she pinned the phenomenon on Lilith, and then returned to her light dozing.

[Snowy_One]

Robin watched helplessly as the wagon started to float away. She wasn't sure why it was floating to be honest, could the deflector dishes really operate over water? Not that she cared. What was more important was doing something.

"Hold on!" She said, quickly tying a small stretch of rope onto one of her arrows and firing it off, hoping it would catch and at least slow the drift down.

[Rothene]

Mireille had gotten off the wagon into the sea water and waded a fair bit away from it by the time Gabbie had approached it to make it 'fly'. Seeing the wagon hover away, Mireille shook her head and sighed. She had no idea what to do about it for she had no mount nor strength to pull it.

[Acacia Sgt]

John watched as the wagon began to raise from the ground. <Those deflectors sure are strong.> He noted. ''Come on Gil, it's almost time.'' He said mounting on the wyvern. And then once Gabbie said so... ''And let's go!'' The wyvern grunted before taking into the air to catch up with the wagon.

They positioned themselves in line with the wagon from it's behind. <Alright, this will be easier since it's not grounded, but even so...> ''Now, go forward!'' He ordered. The wyvern complied heading over, then turning slightly just before contact. The resulting force was enough the wagon began moving forward, and quickly no longer had water below. <I think this should be enough.> ''Now, release!'' The wyvern now moved backwards, releasing contact from the wagon. <Now it's just a matter of turning off those deflectors.>

[Phoenix]

Phase One Complete: Begin Phase Two

Robin's arrow was disturbed by the warring winds, and even though only a small amount reached the arrow, it lost much of its power and struck lightly against its side, embedding part of the obsidian into the wood, and breaking off the rest that was attached to the shaft of the arrow. The moment the arrow fell into the jetstream it was flung to the ground and immediately buried in the mud.

Now it was John's turn. Grabbing on from either side had its risks, but he still managed to get it away from the shallows. "Alroight, noice, noice." Gabbie said while observing. Once he let it go, it was time for Phase Two of her plan, get Shadrak to turn off the deflectors at range. Any mage might have done, but Shadrak had a knack for it and hadn't been very useful lately. "Alroight, just don't turn'em off all at once, and don't turn off more on one soide than another. Four rings at a time and let'er down gently." she instructed.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika noticed people were helping to lift the wagon, but she figured there wasn't much she could do to help so she examined her surroundings instead. She noticed a shallow grave, recently dug. That must be Sammy...he didn't get up after that coffin hit him. How many more lives will this journey take? That could have easily been me instead... she thought to herself gravely.

Nadya

"The hell was that?" Nadya asked Robin, watching her shoot the wagon for apparently no reason.

Connor

Connor hopped out of the wagon before liftoff procedures began, receiving a small shock on impact and getting a little wet, but not much else.

"Right, the wagon really shouldn't be taking any harsh drops. There are a number of fragile items in there..." he said, reinforcing what Gabbie said.