Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[ReformBlade]

"Hmm... that may very well be." Taking a look at the crumbling scenery around her, there was definitely another area or room just beyond the, but she couldn't make much out unfortunately. "Pressing on will be our only option, unless you think we can outlive a crumbling building and hope it erodes, but who knows what rules still apply in this place..." On that note, the woman pinched her arm, "Yup, figured that'd still happen. Oh well..." Suddenly a tremor shook the place, mushirah bracing herself against the wall for it, visibly shook up by it but still in control. Well, at least he felt it too so it's not just some weird mind trickery.. or maybe it is and we're both subject to it. Either way, I suppose since we're alone, this'd be the best time. "Hey uh, while I've got the chance to talk to you by myself, I just wanted to apologize for that... outburst I had, back at the camp. I don't know if it matters to you at this point but it's not a thing I'm used to and I don't want it to be a constant thing that happens." Looking at the man, she smiled, "But I'd like you to know that I've only really gotten... 'heated' like that when it comes to people I actually care about. but enough of that, I think I heard voices... perhaps some of the other group is nearby? Or we're rushing into danger here." Mushirah made mental notes of their current location, confident she'd be able to retrace their steps if needed.

"Oh! OOOH! OH REALLY!?" Aneda was getting a little pissed, but mostly for show, "You think this is your dream, eh? I'm just a figment of your imagination? Well for starters you've got a keen eye for detail, somehow imagining me up to be my natural haircolor!" she swished her hair back and forth (fuck you I did it). "But hey, if this is your dream, I've gotta say that you've got some awesome imagination. This place is pretty damn freaky but not... scary, as it were. Maybe I should be scared or something. but..." Walking over to Kat, a smirk on her face. "You know, if this is really your dream, I'm wondering what you're going to think of this..." Pulling herself on top of Kat very slowly, "Remember, your dream... right?" Inching her face closer, her hair falling down onto the girl, "Let's see what happens here!" Bam, hooly shit, she brought her lips to Kat's, enjoying the scene and perhaps even blushing at it. Who knows?

[Eail]

Zach gave a nod back to Marella, before beginning to move towards the location he'd seen the Wyverns. 'Point man huh, never though I'd ever be the guy for this job. But one it comes to having no weapons I suppose I'm the only choice we really have. I probably have enough in me to get off a good shot or two before I'm spent, but something about this place is... wrong, with my aura. But what is it?'

With his internal monologue over with Zach simply trecked forward, trying to keep an eye out for any trouble that could pop up

[GoD]

In the Dream World

"Well this is a fantastic mess I've landed myself in. And I don't even have my mount here. Wrathdamnit!"- the troubadour cursed her luck as she took a look at her surroundings in this... whatever the hell this place was supposed to be. With clouds going downwards, a constant sense of acceleration and a barren place with an ugly arena at the center, this place was quite frankly a gigantic mess. Chelsea had woken up alone without anyone besides her, and after a few minutes of freaking the fuck out, she sighed and made her way around the area trying to find someone.

Suddenly Chelsea stopped in her tracks, looked over at the freaky coliseum, and placed the palm of her hand on her forehead, resulting in a resounding *smack* sound. "Of course, no one would gather here because it's too big. Everyone else must be at the arena!! I must be out of it today, to not connect the dots earlier."

As Chelsea made her way inside the arena, she saw the figure of a man, presumably one of her comrades, and ran to catch up with him. Unfortunately as she arrived, her lips curved into a frown, and her eyes just stared at the person in question, no longer hating him, but just mildly annoyed that she had to run into Colin of all people. Sighing, the troubadour slowed down her pace, walked over to him, and greeted the man.

"Hey, are you lost here too?"

Edited March 18, 2013 by GoD

[Phoenix]

The Stuff of Nightmares

The phoenix eventually found herself cornered. Unsure of her own abilities, particularly those concerning wall jumping, she turned to face the approaching ooze. Chip shrieked at it angrily since that was all he could do, but it kept on coming, only inches at a time, but quickly enough to panic them. She eventually reached for a piece of rubble just small enough for her to lift with her own strength. Throwing a stone at the ooze probably wasn't the best strategy, but she didn't know what else to do. She gave the stone a great heave hoping to slow the ooze down, but something utterly terrifying happened instead. A solid right hand with rending claws jutted out from the ooze to catch the stone in an instant.

"Eek!"

The hand remained there frozen for a moment, but then began exerting tremendous force on the stone until it was crushed in one explosive burst, sending out pebbles and dust. The hand then slowly melted back into the spreading ooze and disappeared. The phoenix responded by turning around and beating desperately against the wall for about ten seconds. That plan didn't work either, so she turned back around and with her back against the wall, began to choke up.

"We have to help them," Raquel repeated with more urgency in her voice. "You must know where the dragon is, you're from here, aren't you?"

"That's ... a difficult question to answer. But don't count her out just yet."

"She's cornered, though!"

"WAAAAAAAAHAAA-"

"Raquel looked back fearing the worse, but what she actually saw was her look alike blasting a path through the oozing darkness with fire magic. She wasn't going to complain about how ineffective that should have normally been, not in a situation like this.

"AAAAAAAAA-" She kept on running and kept a constant burst of flames going, assaulting the ground just in front of her. Neither she nor Chip were harmed by the blazing inferno, but the spreading darkness wasn't either, it was merely pushed around, and it eventually retook all of the ground she had cleared with her flames. For now the escape plan was working and she made her way back toward Raquel and the man in black as quickly as she could while Chip held onto her by her neck.

"Come on, you can make it ... you can make ..." Raquel said over and over again.

Wyvern Airways

"Yeah two wyverns should do it ... if Gar can keep Kat's cooperating, I suppose." Gar's explanation for his lack of clothes was exactly what Gabbie was expecting with a little extra something that she wasn't expecting. Bacon apples ... hmm." Well that would have Gabbie musing for a bit, but later. Right now she wanted to deal with the more pressing matter of investigating this place. And the pressing matter was dividing up the remaining foot goers, Luka and Arietta. One of them was going with Gar and the other with her. More or less the plan she mentioned a moment ago. Of course Luka had to go and ask whether wyverns were different from pegasi. "Pegasi don't do barrel rolls. Anything else is best to learn first hand," Gabbie answered before moving onto the question that actually mattered. "I guess you can roide with me. I'm not real particular roight now ..."

The Chestnut Knight

Another female from the herd. That should have been a good thing, but it wasn't Nadya, and like most females that weren't Nadya, no apples, no gold, no love. Luca resigned himself to following the two anyway on the off chance they would eventually lead him to her. He was no longer willing to mask his frustration behind hopefulness though and took on a grumpy posture.

Are You Not Entertained?

"Ah shit, that does look like Raquel," Reign realized. "Either she got a makeover on the way here or ... oh what does it matter, she's in trouble, whoever she is." Reign began taking note of the surroundings, the uncomfortably long fall down into the arena, the ever expanding dark ooze that was overtaking the arena, and most importantly, their lack of weapons and other equipment. "Urgh, nothing we can do for her like this ..."

Before long, the arena was almost completely covered in darkness and the girl who looked like Raquel was cornered. That was when she began blasting her way out with powerful fire magic. Reign was dumbfounded. "That's not Raquel ..."

Covering All the Bases

Well that left Shadrak with some things to think about, but Mushirah was right, they had more pressing matters to worry about. If an enemy appeared, they would have to fight or run, and without tomes, running was the best option, and yet, they had no idea where they were or where they would go. Shadrak began looking around until he found a small rock big enough to fit in the palm of his hand, but too big for him to conceal with just that hand. He brought it to Mushirah. "Whoever's coming, we can't count on them being friendly. Do you think you can use this? I mean we don't have tomes, but you can probably still hurl a few rocks easily enough, right? It's not huge but it shouldn't have to be. You can probably still take someone out with one shot I bet, heheh. Me on the other hand ... well I guess at best, I can conjure up one good spell, but after that ... I guess after that I'll be throwing rocks too, just not as far or fast."

Wrong Rendezvous

"Oh ... hi, Chelsea," Colin greeted, somewhat distractedly at first. "You haven't seen any barely visible blobs around here have you? Don't ask, it's not important." Giving her his full attention, he smiled and said, "You're better company than a blob anyway. But yeah ... no, I'm not lost. Or at least, there's no place I'd rather be in this messed up plane."

Edited March 18, 2013 by Phoenix

[roymbrog]

So there they were walking along when lo and behold a cowboy appeared in their path. He was a friendly, thank goodness, but Synthia was a bit incensed when she saw the horse. “So the dragon allowed animals in here, but not our tomes?” she muttered. Then, speaking in hearing range, “This is a dream; it’s just not our dream. Unless Raquel’s friend has the power to transport us to purgatory, anyway. But wherever he is, I just hope it’s not down there,” she said, pointing towards the arena floor. Knowing their luck though, he probably was…

-----

“Giant rat?” Valter asked skeptically in the same whispered tone. This was supposed to be a dream, wasn’t it? Everything here was imaginary. Anyway, the horseman wasn’t scared of rats. “You can wait here if you like, but I’m going to go check. There has to be someone else around here.”

And so he walked further down the hallway, opening his mouth to ask who was there but cut off before he could even say the first word.

-----

“Uh… what?” was all Kat had managed to get out during Aneda’s outburst. She really had no clue what the girl was going on about. If this wasn’t her dream, then whose was it anyway? And then midway through the spiel she remembered the memo she’d gotten over a week ago about dream training and something clicked. By then though, it was too late to stop whatever was happening and Aneda was pulling herself on top of the other girl.

“Aneda, what are you- mmph!” Dammit. Eyes wide, Katrina was blushing like a really really confused tomato and desperately hoping that no one else was witnessing this weirdness. She tried to push the other girl off but only managed to separate their lips. Aneda was larger than her by at least a third. “Holy shit, Aneda, I get it! That is a very unique way to make a point but pleeeaase get off of me thankyou,” she said hurriedly.

-----

Volga just kinda sat and glanced around curiously. Where was she, anyway?

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"So by not giving us our weapons and a common enemy to fight, you think the dragon head is trying to get us to cooperate better outside of combat? That's insightful, and sounds as probable as anything else," she replied to Gytha. "Unfortunately for us, I always preferred swordplay to riddles...I wonder if this horse is some sort of clue," she said, tilting her head at Luca quizzically.

[Ether]

"Well that's... different." Faatina noted, not really sure how else to describe what they were witnessing.

"It looks like she's gonna make it out though... now as for us..." Faatina began, as she looked around the area before reaching down and picking up a sizeable piece of rubble that had appeared to have broken off from the surroundings... at some point or another. Spotting another similarly sized one nearby, she passed the one in her hand off to Reign.

"Here, Reign. Take this... worst comes to worst it'll be better at cracking a skull open than your fists will." She noted, before grabbing the other one for herself.

**********

"A'ight then, I'll go with this'n then." Arietta replied, moving towards Gar and Volga.

**********

And so Raquel clone torched her way out of the black pool. Kit wondered how much of an effect she might be able to have on the ooze, but she felt as though her magical stores were limited in this place... best not to be wasteful in that case.

[Script]

Dreams of Gar in Flight

"She followed the other one, I suppose with some bacon apples and a bit of luck it'll keep on track," Gar replied. Pink boy was going with lance-woman, so, that meant the foul-mouthed new-woman was with him. "Oh yeah, don't go landing on the arena floor, there's some sort of gunk covering it and best let all our crazy surprises wait for us. Also the place is crumbling yadda yadda."

[Snike]

Alright, they were on the first floor above the actual arena, but still no sign of the others. That didn't bode well. Blake took a moment to scan the upper levels, turned around, and stopped cold. The ground below him, where there should've been plain ground, or even an ally or an enemy, was mostly covered in black. The sole exception was a moving stream of flame, channeled by... Raquel?

The woman certainly looked like the merchant from a distance, aside from the orange hair color and almost completely dark clothing. And the fact that they were able to use fire magic, but that was hardly notable given that this is a whole dream scenario. Regardless, that person was heading towards one of the arena entrances. Maybe if he was quick enough, the Ursian could catch the fire magic user near that entrance, and see if that actually was some altered version of his employer. And so, Blake broke into a sprint, trying to go around the ring of the arena as fast as he could.

***

"Huh, someone's down there, incidentally," Grant said, spotting a figure in the mostly-darkened arena. He couldn't quite make out who it was, but, whoever they were, they were proficient in fire magic, given they just pushed through the black... stuff with a stream of flames. "I get this feeling I haven't met whoever it is, though."

[Mercakete]

There was a little more whispering, then he heard footsteps. Though the footsteps weren't fading as he'd expected. Instead, they were getting louder. Whoever it was was coming closer. In an instant, Norbert's plans changed. No use sneaking after people if they were coming towards you. Once it sounded like whoever it was was close by, Norbert sprung out of his hiding place with a furious cry, slamming his weight into the nearby person and landing on whoever it was. Already he was pushing down on the guy's shoulder with one arm and had his fist balled and his arm back ready to slam it into the person's face, his red eyes blazing.

However, he never threw the punch. Instead, he froze right then and there. After all, the face he was about to sock turned out to be one he recognized and, quite frankly, that'd surprised him. "Valter?" Remembering himself, Norbert got up off his friend and took hold of his arm to help pull him up off of the ground. "Sorry about that. What're you doing here?"

And then, for the first time, Norbert realized he hadn't thought about where "here" was. Wait a minute. Where am I in the first place? His eyes began to bolt around with new questions besides the simple wondering as to where his maces had gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha shrugged. "Maybe." She really had no idea how that horse could possibly be any sort of clue, but she did try to consider how that might be.

"Think we should follow it? If we're supposed t' work t'gether t' find th' others, maybe this'un's our guide," she asked with a shrug. She really had no confidence in this particular plan of action, but it was the best she could come up with if the horse really was a clue of some sort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, this wasn't working. The stuff had yet to be acquired. This human was broken. He was now running down towards something that looked dangerous. ... Wait, was that where the stuff was? It looked dangerous, though... Was the stuff really worth it? Thinking it over, Rizen decided she could just fly away if things got too terrible. So, she, too, began running, but didn't stay grounded long. Soon she was diving right towards the female human thing with the fire and the monkey. ... Well that wasn't weird.

[ReformBlade]

"I can, probably... never been the greatest shot but if I can get the jump, I can definitely do it. Worst comes to worst, you've got the right idea, haha!" she responded, acknowledging the ability to throw objects of questionable origin and solidity at unknown targets. Grabbing the presented rock, she nodded and made her way down the oddly lit hallway. "Where is the light coming from...?" she mumbled to herself, just now registering that there wasn't a set light source, at least none visible to her at her location.

"Awww, you look like you're gonna explode!" Aneda exclaimed, rolling off and laughing. "I'm sorry Kat, just seemed like it was gonna be funny, and I had a good laugh... God that was hilarious, and your face! Seriously, I didn't think your face could get so red!" A small sense of urgency returned to Aneda, the silly adrenaline rush wearing off and common sense (somewhat) taking initiative. going back over to the embarassed girl, Aneda held out her hand, "Come on, girl, if we're in that exersize thing, we oughtta... Wait, where are we exactly? Is part of the mission that we gotta find the rest of the group? OH NO! What if we've gotta rescue them, and we're the only ones capable of it?! What if we're the last survivors?! Aaaaaaah!" feigning hysteria, aneda turned it into laughter, still holding that hand out. "Seriously, lets skedaddle, girl."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Little jumpy there, Bert?" Nadya asked. "Anyway, guess ya were the source of the noise we were lookin' for."

Veronika

"Yes, let's wait for the horse to lead us- sounds better than wandering around anyway," Veronika replied to Gytha, having a staredown with Luca. Following a horse for directions...what's become of my life? she wondered to herself.

[Snowy_One]

"You may want to rethink that. Zach is not a skilled hunter or tracker. I am. If something is coming I will be the one to spot it first and likely alert everyone. It does not matter though. We just need to get moving now and find Raquel and the others." said Robin as she fell into formation. It really was not worth making yet ANOTHER fight over at this point. She already had to deal with the woman in waking life. Having to fight her in her dreams as well was simply too far.

"I'm fine being in the center. Without a tome, I can't really offer much in the way of fighting anyways. Maybe throw some water at the enemy or see if I can dream up a boulder crushing them, but that's about it." said Tia as she moved to the center, ready to go and perfectly willing to accept the order. "Robin, why are you so mad? You're a very angry woman, I've noticed."

"Tia. Even if you are right about everything, we are in a dream-scape, separated from others, and weaponless right now. Now is not a good time to ask that question."

"Alright. Fine. I'll just bug you about it when you wake up."

[scorri]

Marella grinned slightly. "You're right that you might spot something from slightly further off, but, as you just pointed out, most of us are weaponless. Zach can at least use some lightning magic right now, which means he's the best equipped to deal with any surprises that might take us from straight on. You and Rook are on the sides to be keeping an eye out for any dangers as well as anyone else from our group. With how close we are, you being in the front versus being on the side won't make a huge difference, but having Zach up there might mean the difference between life and death with a frontal assault. And since we're heading straight towards what may or may not be a hostile wyvern... It makes more sense to have the power up front."

[Snowy_One]

"Interesting plan Marella." said Tia with a smile.

"But what if-" started Robin.

"But nothing. Look, Robin. I know you well enough even though I've known you less than a day. You're like those mages who practiced a single element all their lives and got good at it, but then hated it when new discoveries changed how you handled your tome. You're a skilled hunter. I know that. I can see it in your clothes. Having Marella give you orders about how to handle your 'hunting' sucks, and maybe she shouldn't. But this isn't a personal blow against you. She's not trying to upset some balance between you and her or belittle your skill. She's trying to help us win. Maybe she made a bad call, maybe she didn't, but I ALSO know mages with your personality are the most damned stubborn mages around... and they're also really good when told what to do. So get your act together and do what you do best! If Marella screws up, she screws up, but don't let it be because of some petty grudge!" said Tia, a hit of annoyance and pain in her voice.

"... Shut up Tia." said Robin, backing down and into her position. "Let us go."

[Phoenix]

Beckoning

The phoenix kept running and all Raquel could do for the moment was watch and pray for her and Chip's safe return. That was when the pegasus showed up and Raquel wasn't sure what to make of that at first. What she didn't see just yet was Blake making his way around the outer edge of the arena at high speed. "Where did that pegasus come from? Is that Rizen?"

The man in black shrugged. "Hard to imagine animals being barred from this place. Chip is here after all, right?"

"Right ... so Bert's definitely here too then, but where? They must have gotten separated-" Raquel cut herself off with a gasp as another more solid form began to emerge out of the ooze a short distance away from them. It took the shape of another massive hand, a left one, and began beckoning them with its index finger while an eerie, barely audible cackle rang out from somewhere within.

Raquel took several steps back, shaking her head at the hand, only to see it beckon some more.

"Yeah, that's none too encouraging," the man in black agreed with her reaction.

Meanwhile, the phoenix noticed Rizen getting closer and focused on maintaining her flames with one hand while waving for help with the other. If the pegasus could just come a little closer, maybe she could leap onto its back and fly to safety.

We Will Rock You

Reign accepted the rock, making a mental comparison between it and a dodgeball to try and figure out how much more or less accurate and damaging he might be with it. He had some doubts, but for some different reasons. "All we've seen so far is that strange magic down there; are you sure there's anyone we can actually use these effectively on that isn't an ally?"

Flight of the Ringo

"So we're landing in the stands?" Gabbie asked, somewhat rhetorically. "Huh, okay ... this could be a tricky landing but I think we can handle it." With that, she had Ringo take off. It took a few moments to climb above the top of the coliseum, but once she did, she realized what Gar was getting at. The ground floor was filling with some black liquid, or at least that was her first impression. "Yoikes .. I wonder if the dragon head melted himself into that stuff to scare the crap out of everyone."

Ringo didn't know what the black stuff was, nor care, as long as it didn't get close.

Troll Physics

"I'm not really sure. I've been wondering about that for awhile myself," Shadrak admitted to Mushirah as they walked along, checking his shadows every so often. Once he pinpointed where the light sources should have been coming from, he became even more disturbed. "There was no sky in Purgatory, so the lighting there didn't make any sense either. Maybe this place is similar. Raquel did say her dreams were usually in a dull lifeless inexplicably well lit place like Purgatory and this certainly qualifies. Though if that's the case, I really have to wonder what the dragon head's obsession with Purgatory is in the first place. It seems like there might be a connection there."

The Human Whisperer

Luca stood by for awhile waiting for the females to lead him to Nadya or at least to someone willing to share an apple with him, but he eventually noticed something bizarre. They were both paying full attention to him instead of trying to navigate this place. He didn't sense any negativity coming from either of them, so they didn't want him to go away necessarily. What could it mean ...? Maybe they were lost and wanted him to lead them? That was the sense he was getting from the two of them, strange as it seemed. Female horses he could understand, but he always assumed female humans led this herd. Luca didn't know where he was going either, but he wasn't going to let the two down. He lifted his head up high, trying to convey that he was taking charge, and then broke into a trot down the hall, looking back every so often to make sure they were following.

[Ether]

"I dunno, but I'd rather have this than nothing at all." Faatina replied, before some more oddities occurred. Firstly, a pegasus began flying over the black pool towards the Raquel lookalike, and second, said black pool began shaping itself into the form of a hand, which appeared to be beckoning... something over.

"Reign, can you see into that corridor there? It almost looks like that... stuff is telling something in there to come out."

*********

"What in the bloody hell is that?" Arietta's reaction was unlikely to surprise anyone, but there it was. The center of the arena was filling with some weird black shit.

*********

"Well, that's new." Kit noted, not really having anything to add on the matter.

[roymbrog]

There was someone in the arena according to Grant, and Synthia looked down to see the display of fire magic. “Do you think they’re an ally?” If they had a tome, maybe they’d be willing to share… Of course, there was only one way to check. The unknown figure was clearing a path towards one of the arena entrances below them to the right. “If we hurry, we can see who it is,” the mage said and without waiting for assent started bounding down the steps.

-----

Valter hit the ground with a thud and grunt of pain as his glasses flew off and raised an arm to block the incoming punch. Bert caught himself, and to his utterance of recognition the horseman responded with a mumbled, “Ow.” The impact with the ground was making his head spin. After being helped to his feet, albeit slightly dizzy, he began squinting around the room for his missing eyewear while he answered Bert's question. “We heard something, turned out it was you. Can one of you help me find my glasses?”

-----

Kat still lay on the ground, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. “Well, as long as I made you laugh…” She stared up at Aneda’s offered hand a moment before accepting the help up. “I want to find Volga, if she’s here. And… Maybe Zach or Shadrak. Uh, it looks like we’re on some sort of giant ruin.” Now that she was standing up, looking around gave her a decent view of the surrounding scenery. The thing that first caught her attention was the black circle below them with flashes of orange burning across part of it. “…We are really high up.”

-----

Even if Volga didn't understand what was going on, she knew they were going somewhere when the brown haired girl climbed on her back and Ringo took off. Now with two passengers, she took off to follow the other wyvern.

[Mercakete]

It seemed the horse had decided to lead them. Well, maybe the horse really was meant to lead them, then. There wasn't any reason not to follow, so Gytha did just that. She'd never really followed a horse guide before, but there was a first time for everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hand thing that formed out of the ominous black stuff on the ground was definitely a surprise to Rizen and she immediately had her doubts about this course of action. Flying down there was not safe, most likely, and she was struggling between instincts. One told her to keep the heck away from whatever that stuff was. The other reminded her of her failed task to keep the things entrusted to her safe. There was something down there, too. She could see it. Maybe the female...human? Maybe the last human showed her to this one because this one would know where the things were. If that was the case...

Rizen dove full speed towards the phoenix lady and Chip. She would rectify her mistake! She would rescue those below! It would be glorious. In one, long swoop, Rizen dove low enough that it would be easy for the phoenix lady to climb into her saddle, but she was also flying at high speed and intended on pulling up and getting the heck out of there as soon as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeah, sure," Norbert replied to Valter as he began looking for the man's glasses. As his eyes scanned the floor for them, he replied to Nadya, "I'm not jumpy, I just didn't think there'd be anyone I knew around here. Ah, there they are."

The pegasus rider picked up the horseman's glasses and handed them to him, continuing irritably as he did so, "Someone stole my maces. I don't know where we are either, so I figured it was a hostile environment."

His irritated expression shifted to a bit more of a regretful one, "I guess I didn't consider anything else until just now. We're in that dream training thing, aren't we?"

Edited March 18, 2013 by Mercakete

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"None of us have our weapons- maybe this dream trainin' is tryin' to get us to learn punchin' techniques or somethin'? Ain't my cup of tea, that's for sure," Nadya said dubiously.

Veronika

Well the horse seemed to know where to go...perhaps she had a point in following it? She kept her fists ready in case some sort of dream enemy popped out of nowhere.

[Eail]

While the ladies were currently arguing about the placement of people yet again Zach had taken note of the action that was happening down in the arena. It was.... Raquel? No, not Raquel, it was someone who looked like the girl but the colors were all off. She had run into the place, picked something up, and was now shooting fire in an attempt to ward off the black substance that was closing in, failing miserably it seemed though.

'Dammit, if I had a tome I'd try to help! But I'm useless right now... I could only get a single shot off and then I'd be spent, and that wouldn't help us at all.'

He could see the pegasus swooping down near the girl though so maybe at the very least that situation wouldn't end badly.

Turning around to the others Zach snapped "We need to find the dragon head, now! It's the key to all of this and the master of this realm so much as we know, and I want answers."

[roymbrog]

“Thanks.” Valter took his glasses and put them back on. Glorious non-blurry sight returned to him. “Whatever we’re intended to do, it would probably be best to find the others first. There were no splits in the hall the way we came, so there’s no reason to check back that way. So, we should check the other entrance unless Bert already has,” he said, looking pointedly at Bert.

[Mercakete]

Norbert shook his head. "I've just been walking around this hall. You two are the first interesting thing that's happened since I found out my maces are gone," he replied, "I don't really know what to do aside from look for things and it sounds like you two know a bit more about this place than I do. I'll go ahead and just follow, then. I can fight without my weapons, so if something attacks us I can help out with that, I guess. I just can't fight as well without my weapons."

That said, Norbert shifted to a related subject. "Speaking of which...is it really our first priority to find the others? I know I'd feel more comfortable looking for them if I had my maces on me first. Besides that, if we all get together and no one has any weapons, we've just made ourselves easy to wipe out all at once. I don't know how many people can fight without weapons, after all, so those who can would have to protect those who can't."

[roymbrog]

Valter shrugged. “Everything here is a creation of that disembodied head, right? He probably had a reason for taking our things, even if it were just to irritate us. We don’t know if our weapons are even in here. Considering I found the two of you, I know that people are. I don’t mind if we look for your maces on the way but I think we should focus on what we know exists in the dream. Whatever we're looking for though we should probably check that hall next,” the horseman said, starting to walk off towards the doorway.

[Script]

Gar Dreamed of Gar

"I think it's actually increasing," Gar commented as the others commented on the black stuff. "Don't think I see anyone in the stands though? Or maybe my eyesights going. Maybe we should make a pass around, we're at least more visible than anyone on the ground." Gar plainly suggested.