Return of the Emblem Chapter Seven: Reunion

[Snowy_One]

Robin shrugged as if disinterested by the present conversation. Her choice was simple enough. "I go where Raquel goes."

[Snike]

"As I said, I know both locations," Blake replied, as Robin decided to ignore the question. "Shall we?"

[roymbrog]

Valter allowed Bert to help him halfway to the fire before insisting he could make it on his own. He arrived without incident and sat in the sand next to Synthia.

----

Synthia did stuff that did not include volunteering for the seemingly dangerous and illegal museum break in. She would’ve joined in the conversation about weapons, but her RPer didn’t have time to write that.

OoC: Don’t look at me like that. I had like five minutes and I dun wanna be behind. >_>

[Phoenix]

Night Decisions

"Very well, come along, then ..." Lilith replied, and immediately she floated right up into the air, with Blake not far behind.

"Wait, are you seriously going to rob the museum?! They'll think you're some kind of ... I dunno super avian come to wreak havoc!" Raquel pleaded.

"Is that really so far from the truth?" Gabbie asked Raquel, giving her an almost genuine questioning glance.

"Lilith! Just think about this! If you go to Ursium and steal your sword back, no one from there is going to listen to you about the god of wrath! You're going to hurt your own cause ..." she trailed off, losing hope the farther up Lilith flew. She would be out of earshot soon enough.

"... how many Wrathites are in Ursium, Raquel? You don't have to answer that; just think about it. No one is going to die by my hands, tonight; that should be good enough for you."

"B-but ..."

And they were gone ... or rather too high up for anything discernible to reach them. "Alroight ... I'm just gonna say it." Gabbie began. "Why is she havin' us walk this desert instead of just badassing us to Sanctuary? Is she seriously gonna wait for us to give up or have someone collapse first? Speakin' of badass, I loike how she never flaps'er wings, loike ever. She just floats around, heheh."

"It's not that far, we're just ... having a harder time with the supplies problem." Amon clarified. Oh who am I kidding? We would never make it to Sanctuary before someone dies. We still won't without some more help. he thought, donning a sad expression.

Night Ops

Once Lilith had risen high enough to get a good view of the surrounding lands, she came to a stop, and so did Blake. Looking to him directly, she said "I'll only need you to point us toward Ursium and then once we reach it, let me know. From there, we'll slow down so you can spot other landmarks, roads, or settlements. We need to go to Ursentius first, however ..."

[Acacia Sgt]

<And there they go.> John thought. <I wonder how long will it take them. Well, it'd probably be a few hours more or less. Anyway...> ''I guess she doesn't want us to rely on her for everything.'' He commented. ''It's not like we're the first to cross this desert to reach Sanctuary.''

[Snike]

Lilith asked for Blake to come along, and suddenly he was weightless. The experience was... odd to say the least. There was no pressure, or anything. Instead, he was just pushed by some invisible force up into the air, after the Vasilus. Telekinetic powers were amazing. But on to the task. The man glanced up to the stars, found the northern one, then returned to eye level, several hundred feet in the air.

"This way," he said, pointing towards the north. "We'll have to cross Kigen and the coast on our way, so it won't be too difficult to figure out."

[Mercakete]

Valter was a bit fussy -- and understandably so -- but in the end he was safely brought to the fire and Lilith took Blake up into the sky with her to retrieve her sword and to tell Weyland that they were all well-ish. As he watched Blake float into the sky, the only thing to cross his mind for the moment was simply this: At least I'm not the one weird magic is being used on this time.

[-Cynthia-]

Stuff

"She's already helped us quite a bit, I think we mostly have to stand on our own from here on out. I have a feeling she won't be accompanying us as we leave Rex-Avaz- she seems to be a busy woman," Veronika noted.

"We can restock on supplies once we reach Sanctuary at least...they probably have to import stuff, right Amon? I don't think much food would grow naturally here," Nadya noted.

"She'll probably get into a lot of trouble for stealing Ascension from the museum, but it's not like anyone can arrest a vasilus anyway," Connor said, shrugging.

[Phoenix]

Northward Bound

Lilith looked to where Blake directed and then nodded. Now that she knew the general direction, there was no point in just floating around. "There isn't really anything to grab hold of so ..." She quickly leaned forward, and her entire body became horizontal. "Lean forward." she instructed. After that, the two sped off into the distance, gaining speed and altitude for quite some time. The more speed they gained, the more violent the winds became, and eventually Lilith grew impatient, again. As fast as they were going, she suspected it wasn't fast enough to meet the timeline she had given the party. They needed to travel far faster than what Blake's body could normally survive in order to reach their destination in 'Lilith's' time. That meant he would have to be freed from the violent wind resistance. "Keep your eyes at attention. It won't take us too long to reach the lands up north. I won't be able to hear your or vice versa soon, so wave, and I'll slow us down." she instructed. Then their speed began to pick up dramatically, but instead of the winds becoming more and more hostile, they eventually stopped blasting the both of them altogether. In front of both Lilith and Blake were nearly invisible cone shaped barriers that were keeping the wind off of their bodies. The faster they traveled, the more easily they could be spotted. Their destinations were still a thousand miles away, but not for very long it seemed ....

OoC:

New Record:

Blake now holds the record for fastest traveling Party Member, clocking in at around 3,700 kph/2,300 mph, also known as Mach 3.

Thank you for choosing Lilith. We hope you enjoy your flight.

Camp

"Well there are some things that grow in Sanctuary. The city isn't like the rest of the desert. What we can't grow ourselves gets imported, and those sort of things are heavily watched over by the military. Preventing returning caravans from being followed to the city is one reason, the other is to make sure people aren't being smuggled in the food crates or things like that. It's happened before ..." Amon explained with his head down.

"A caravan's not particularly hard to tail ... especially out here." Gabbie noted, not seeing the point of having the military oversee it so closely.

"It's hard to follow closely with the military nearby, and it's just downright impossible to follow them when a sandstorm suddenly springs up and blinds the whole area for miles." Amon clarified.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

More Stuff

"Oh, does Aisha whip up banana trees in the middle of town or somethin'? Must be an interestin' place," Nadya remarked.

"I'd like to see if we can stock up on weapons here as well, if Sanctuary has any sort of weapons market. I imagine since there is a military presence here they should have some weapons at least...though the weapons permit you got back in Europa might not be much use here. Maybe you can get something from bartering," Veronika suggested to Raquel.

Edited December 31, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Camp

"Well I only applied for it. They would have let me know within a couple of days whether or not they would give me one, but now that we're on the other side of the world it doesn't even matter ..." Raquel's voice trailed off. "Even if I got approved, I still vanished without a trace. I'm not sure what they do in situations like that. I just hope I don't have to reapply ... or get killed way out here." she added gloomily.

Amon returned a slightly annoyed glance to Nadya. "Farming, Nadya. Lady Aisha doesn't fingersnap all of our problems away, she just makes it a lot easier for us. Sanctuary's really close to the mountains, pretty much at the edges of the desert. It's not as difficult to grow food out there. Magic isn't a foreign thing, either, so the field workers and magicians put a lot of work in to the 'desert farms' I guess is what you'd call them ..." he explained. "There are more of them elsewhere too. They're just not as successful."

"You mean not as likely to be protected from those sandstorms and the loike?" Gabbie chimed in, verbally poking Amon a bit.

"Urgh." Amon muttered something else, but it wasn't loud enough to catch.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

Robin watched as Lilith shot into the air at speeds that would likely shatter and liquify human bone, wincing in pain as she watched her vanish away. She was sure she had some sort of magic shielding or something to keep her passenger safe. Otherwise she would have a very shocking revelation the moment she tried to get the man to do something.

Trusting Lilith's magic, she returned her attention to the ice-breaker thingy, trying to come up with a new question. "Okay... What is the one thing you will never do." she asked, keeping it simple and straight forwards. "I will never submit to a person who tries to force their way of life on me. I am who I am, and I will defend that to the death. My body may die, but my spirit will never break. I was raised to be a strong person who could stand up for herself, and I will honor that to the death."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"It might be tough explaining this whole thing to everyone...things have been weird ever since we arrived at that fortress. We're going to make it through this, all right?" she said to Raquel, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Just get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning," she advised.

Nadya

"Must be nice, havin' someone look out for ya all the time. I'm beginnin' to see why ya like this Aisha lady. Magic farms though, that's an idea. Some kinda anima magic I assume? Would be a handy thing to know..." she said to Amon.

[Phoenix]

Dos and Do Nots

"I want to believe that, really. It just feels so ... wrong, now. I mean we started off banding together hoping to chase down some shady people who wanted my piece of the emblem, but now Lilith's overshadowing all of that with this rebellion stuff and couldn't care less about our problems. I'm worried that as soon as she's done learning about the way the world is today she'll distract us from our real mission in order to rally against the god of wrath or something. Or worse, take my emblem piece away from me and leave us for dead when those people come back for us." Raquel explained. "How am I supposed to wield the energy in this piece anyway? It doesn't ... it doesn't feel like something you can control to me. It feels like ... I don't know ... it's hard to describe ..." she trailed off yet again.

Nadya's comment about Aisha got an atypical response from Amon. Instead of blushing or quickly trying to change the subject, he went a different course saying "Well ... certainly nicer than Lilith." Overhearing some of what Raquel said, got him to grimace again, though. Lilith's using us for emblem protection, and Lady Aisha wants the emblem. If I could just ... if I could just talk to someone before this all goes down ... urgh. I can't. The only people I could tell would either freak out or not take it seriously.

Robin continued the campfire questions by asking what anyone would never do, and answered first by saying she would never submit to others, at least not those who would have her do things their way. To someone like Gabbie, this prompted an immediate response. "Sorry, Robin, but there's nothin' I would never do. That's loike sayin' I'm immune to moind control or memory alteration. I knew this one guy some toime ago who was completely owned by a dark druid. Killed his whole family, and they were a noice family too, so it's not loike he was just 'giving in'. But I know, I know ..." she paused to put her hands up defensively. "'What would I never willingly do?' That's bit less absolute but I'm still not sure. Probably wouldn't drink liquid iron under ANY circumstances, hahahah!"

"I wouldn't ... attack my friends." Amon shyly added. That was about as obvious a preemptive peace accord as he could make before the impending chaos.

"Right, right! All these things! No submitting to bigots or despots! No attacking allies! No drinking molten metals! Very good philosophies to live by!" Asad jumped into the conversation, seeming like he was trying to get a group cheer going, almost.

"Heheh, no lie." Gabbie commented.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"I wouldn't try and use it if I were you, trying to use something ancient and powerful that you don't understand is bound to end in disaster. As for Lilith's rebellion...I'd leave that to her business for now and try to focus on dealing with the organization. We do owe her a favor for saving our lives though, so I don't think we can ignore a request for help completely," she admitted to Raquel.

Nadya

"Bird lady seems pretty nice to me, she saved our lives and is guidin' us to Sanctuary," Nadya said, shrugging. She raised an eyebrow at Asad "Uh, good advice I guess. I'll add in 'never refuse charity'. If someone's givin' stuff for free might as well take it."

Connor

"Dark magic can make you kill your family? That's terrible...remind me not to get on Shadrak's bad side," Connor said apprehensively.

[Snowy_One]

"Shade drake can do that?" asked Robin upon hearing about the possibility of mind control. A quiver went down her spine as she thought of him cackling like a maniac while controlling a horde of minions and telling them to go out and destroy her... who was for some reason being accompanied down a gold road by a furry, gay metal-man, and a straw idiot. "Do you think he would ever do that? Do you think he would ever mind control someone if... they said 'no' to him?"

[Acacia Sgt]

Raquel seemed concerned regarding Lilith and the Emblem. Well, it was understandable. ''Well, if anything,'' John commented. ''Since she is against the Emblem becoming whole again, and that is what that Organization is after, at least we'd have her moral support when we next fight them.'' He laughed. <That's right, would she still held to her creed of not helping unless necessary? After the events at the fortress I guess only if we don't manage to first.>

Meanwhile, regarding another topic... ''Mind control?'' Sophia said. It sure doesn't sound nice. ''Wouldn't you still need a lot of power to be able to do something like that? More so since any resistance would vary as well per individual.''

[Mercakete]

The topics shifted a couple times. The first was to the pros and cons of Aisha and Lilith. I agree with Lilith on a lot of things, at least from what time our group's spent with her. And it sounds like I won't like Aisha too much. "I don't think Lilith would force us to do anything. Most likely, she'll just get us to Sanctuary, talk to Aisha for a bit, then leave us to whatever before she goes off and does what she wants to do," he put in before the topic shifted again, this time to Raquel's application while the resident Rexain and the resident Nomad talked about farming.

The process Raquel already had to go through had been enough. What would reapplying be like? "That's stupid. If Connor's message gets to Weyland, though, I don't think you'll have to worry about reapplying. Weyland can just send us your lisense, right? Or do you have to recieve it in person?" he asked Raquel. Then Robin asked a question of the group and answered it immediately. Wait, are they playing a "get to know each other" game? The topic shifted again to dark magic and mind-control. If someone tried to control my mind, I'd break their spine in half...once I came to my senses.

"Eh, I've said 'no' t' Shadrak b'fore n' I'm still thinkin' fer meself. Guess that's more just th' powerful ones," Gytha shrugged as she responded to Robin's question about if Shadrak would ever control their minds. Then, she went on to ponder the question of what she'd never willingly do. "Hmm ther're a lot o' things I'd never willingla do. Obvious ones, mostla, like bein' killed 'r robbed 'r taken advanatge of, though... Some people willingla rush inta close r'lationships, so I guess that's one thing I'd not willingla do," she answered, trying to figure out how to word it as she did, "I'm not one t' b'tray me allies, either. N' I don't steal 'r get drunk... Hard t' choose just one thing I'd never do willingla."

One thing we'd never willingly do, huh? He'd never really given it much thought. There's a lot I don't do willingly, I guess. As long as I can remember I've been "difficult." I guess I'd never...kill Riz? That's definately one thing. But thinking about it, I guess the list of things I wouldn't normally do has changed since I've been travelling with Raquel's group... There used to be a lot more I'd do without remorse, I think. I used to think I'd never travel with a group like this. I thought I'd just stay in Ursium, just barely scraping by with Riz, Splinter and Crunch, robbing bandits, free of the obligations that came with living with a bunch of people without being a menace. I...guess a turn of fate can really change someone... How can I even answer this question if things can change so easily? Not the most comforting thought... Can we even really know ourselves or predict what we would or wouldn't do? Maybe, I guess, if you have a strong, simple enough personality... Bah, this deep thinking is giving me a headache. I'll just ignore the question.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Well we know the organization is after the emblem- but why? Maybe she would agree with them instead of us- it's hard to say given the information we have now. We don't really know who they are, where they are, or why they exist in the first place. Makes them difficult to fight," she said, crossing her arms.

Connor

"I guess if every dark magic user could do it the army would be a lot more afraid of them. Still, it's something to think about I guess. What if every criminal or enemy soldier or whatever isn't fighting you out of their free will but is just being controlled instead? It'd make it difficult to fight I think...makes me glad I just supply the weapons."

[Phoenix]

Mastery

"Eh, moind magicians are wimps." Gabbie told Connor. "And there's one less in the world since that family incident. Can't even take a spear to the chest." she added, winking at the young Weyland.

Good Advice

"I guess she's okay ... for a completely apathetic and disinterested rescuer." Amon replied to Nadya.

"Ah, but should she do something charitable, you wouldn't refuse, would you?" Asad chimed back in, immediately testing Amon with Nadya's own advice.

"Well ..." Amon paused to think. "She did fix my knife. I just ... I don't know. Maybe if she was nicer."

"Maybe if she was Ais-" Gabbie cut herself off to gauge Amon's reaction, and sure enough he looked her way with a glare and she returned a ... feline face ...?

Purposes

"It feels like they're just here to make our lives miserable." Raquel commented. "If she ever sides with them, we're ... we're just ... in serious trouble. They could send their strongest people after us and we wouldn't have a chance."

"Or maybe they'll sick mind control druids on us." Gabbie jokingly added.

[Mercakete]

"Just because she's not 'friendly' doesn't mean she isn't good," Norbert mentioned to Amon with a shrug, "You do sound pretty ungrateful. I, for one, think it's refreshing for someone to state things as plainly as she does. You don't have to guess at alterior motives that way." We think alike, so maybe I'm being a little biased because of that, but it still is nice for someone to be helpful, honest and sensible without much emotion attached. And I get that he worships Aisha but Amon could be more thankful. Lilith probably doesn't care either way, but he's being pretty defensive and it's getting annoying.

Norbert's vision blurred a little. He blinked a little and rubbed one of his eyes, thinking nothing of it at first. Then he began to feel a little tired. Oh right, I've been awake for a while now... I forgot about that. How have I been...? Right, right, Erica gave me that...stuff... Whatever it was... He suppressed a yawn. It's night, so it's not a bad time for sleep. Maybe I should go lie down... The fatigue was increasing exponentially. If Amon -- or anyone else -- had replied, he didn't notice. "I'm going to go to sleep now.. Night," he mentioned to the others as he somewhat clumsily walked over towards where the horses and pegasi were standing around, swaying sleepily as he did so. I'm so tired... He basicly collapsed right near the horses and pegasi, laying on his side in the sand, instantly in a deep sleep. Quite frankly, his body had had enough and no longer tolerated his wakefulness, revolting against conciousness and tearing the tyrant down.

Gytha had watched as he left, wondering if he suddenly felt sick based on how his way of speaking had suddenly shifted from when he was talking to Amon to when he mentioned he was going to sleep. When he collapsed, she didn't really think much of it, just thinking he was a strange fellow.

[Acacia Sgt]

<Hm, it is kinda late.> John thought, watching as Bert left. <I guess it won't be long before the rest follow. Anyway...>

''Speaking of,'' John said. ''How long you think until those two back there realize we already left?'' He asked. ''Whatever they had in store for us, it seemed it would take a while before returning. But I wouldn't discard the possibility they could find out earlier.'' He shrugged.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"That would depend on what they were planning to do with us. They might not know for several weeks if they weren't going to check up on us until we died of dehydration. I'm guessing they didn't plan on us meeting Lilith- but why send us to Purgatory just to die anyway? That armored man seemed prepared to and then changed his mind suddenly...perhaps he's just insane," she surmised.

Nadya

"Well, why does Aisha help the people of Sanctuary anyway? Maybe it's from the kindness of her heart, maybe she likes people singin' her praises every few seconds, maybe she draws some kinda...weird vasilus power from the people of Sanctuary or somethin'," Nadya asked no one in particular.

Connor

"Uh, that's good I guess," Connor said to Gabbie. "Can these mind control druids take stuff from your memories too? Like...extract information?" he asked her.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"He's definitely insane ... and homicidal ... and just ... creepy." Raquel added holding her arms and shivering a bit at the thought of him. "We're going to have to fight him eventually, though, aren't we? I mean ... what if it's him? What if Sardis handed my father over to him and we've got to go through him and that girl to reach him?" Raquel's worries were perfectly accented by the fear in her voice. "What if that psycho's been torturing him or something ... oh please, don't let this be happening ..." she finally trailed off and slumped down somewhat.

Amon

"I don't know all of Rexian history but the natives here actually came from somewhere else. The country was founded by Aisha. She made a promise to the people that she would one day be able to grant them eternal life and even resurrect the dead." Amon explained.

"That was thousands of years ago. It's ... a very old promise." Asad commented. "I will just be blunt; few believe such things. Why would they follow someone who makes such grand promises but does nothing to bring them about?"

Maybe it has something to do with the emblem ... could my mission be about helping her to fulfill that promise? Amon thought to himself. "It ... may not be time for that promise to be fulfilled but ... she still does so much for the people living in Sanctuary. She keeps things as well managed as possible."

"Just how well managed ..." Asad inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you ever been to a city without any badly decayed buildings or slums? About the worst place I'd ever been while living there were the low quarters. They're a bit like shelters, except huge and well maintained. People from the outside have to live in the low quarters until they've gained enough trust with the higher ups to move into the inner city." Amon explained.

"So the new arrivals ... like all of us. We would be living in the low quarters for some time, yes? How long, exactly?" Asad inquired further.

Amon shrugged. "It depends. Kids usually stay until they're teenagers but sometimes they get lucky and someone from the inner city will adopt them ... assuming they don't have any parents. Adults could end up in the low quarters for their whole lives if they're dumb enough to openly oppose any of Lady Aisha's policies."

"I see. So the low quarters are not very luxurious ..."

"They aren't rundown, either. The people who stay there have to work for their food, so anyone living there usually has the job of helping other workers from the city maintain it. There are other jobs like the one I had, delivering messages."

"So ... there are no homeless. Nooo ... hopeless individuals trying desperately to scrape out a living in the Sanctuary?" Asad asked, becoming a bit astounded by what he was hearing.

"Aisha's the supreme ruler of Sanctuary and she wouldn't allow things like that to go on." Amon replied, getting slightly defensive.

"Well ... not inside the walls of Sanctuary. Outside, one is more or less on their own, yes?" came Asad's rhetorical response.

"You don't have to live out here ..." Amon shot right back, making sure to look away from the man.

Gabbie

"Well ... I haven't seen anything quite loike what Lilith did, but probably? Let's hope they don't have any of those ..." Gabbie replied, a little more serious about the mind control magics, now. "But loike I said, they're wimps. A good stab to the chest, and they'll back down ... or doie. Whichever comes first."

Edited January 1, 2012 by Phoenix

[Acacia Sgt]

''I agree.'' John said. ''He only stood there watching as we fought that girl and her coffins. And then wasn't too happy that we struck her down that quickly.'' He noted. ''Well, eventual battle or not, we have the advantage they won't find us out right away. We'll just have to take this opportunity to prepare ourselves.''