The First Ordeal

The First Ordeal
Date of Scene:	23 May 2013
Location:	Mist Plains
Synopsis:	The Alexander Academy cast has received word of a World Shard that might be present.. but first, a dungeon crawl! It's required.
Cast of Characters:	Seloria Delacreaux, Annia Leradine, Myla Mason, Kyra Hyral, Kamon Lionward, Soan Sagittarius, Arkham Fisher, Alma Hyral, Karth Mason

---

Alma Hyral has posed:
It was a simple call, put out over Mognet to the academy students and more vaguely to the world at large.

Alma had determined what appeared to be a semi-reliable way of tracking world shards and treasures of other worlds. The details only stated that they were to meet at the Mist gate of Lindblum just before Twilight.

Once they had gathered, she had briefly described her method, of using astronomy to locate the original location of the world where Cornelia came from, then tracking potential trajectories through the void of the heavens and the darkness to the World of Ruin on the day it fell, in respect to the rotation of the world. She used the briefest explanation possible given that she didn't want to bore everyone with the details until she'd proved her theories correct.

It was twilight over the Mist plains.

As the sun's light faded over the Western horizon, an eerie calm settled over the beleaguered land. Lindblum, for all of its technology that relied upon the magic imbued within the Mist, had its outskirts constantly beset by monsters as a result. The fog was unnatural thick, and cloying tonight.

Alma assured them that it wasn't far from the city gates, but as they moved along at an increasingly languid pace, it became obvious that the areas they were journeying into weren't often travelled. The mist grew so thick that the group had to remain within a few yards of each other, at any given time.

Eventually they came to a hillside, or at least, it was what appeared to be a hillside given that it was difficult to behold it in it's entirety. Inside of the butte was what appeared to be a the threshold of some structure that had been damaged by the merger of the world of ruin. Its stonework was a few centuries old at least, and had become merged with the butte in a way that made it look even worse for wear.

Staring at the device on her wrist, she'd look ahead, then at it again as if to double check it. After a while of fretting over it, she spoke up timidly, "I-It's either i-inside, or on t-top of the h-hillside based on our position."

Which way do you want to go?

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Way to go Alma!

Though not exactly too interested in restoring her /own/ world, Kyra was a terribly curious individual. She enjoyed serious study and there was nothing else that could use serious study now any more than the process of restoring a world. To Kyra's knowledge so far, there wasn't exactly a reliable way to seek a /specific/ World Shard as much as /a/ world shard. So a shard they happened to find wouldn't necessarily belong to their own world.

Fully prepared for an adventure, Kyra arrives before the Mist gate of Lindblum with no less than twenty pounds of extra gear on her. Due to her slight frame, she's certainly moving a lot slower than normal. She'd be alright with this as long as she didn't have to run very much. Aside from her bulky bandoliers hidden beneath her hoodie, she also has a shoulder bag with her dragging her down.

It's likely filled with explosives.

Alma even received a brief hug from Kyra when she arrived, followed by a concerned, if mildly annoyed look. It's pretty clear to Alma: Kyra is worried. Maybe the younger white mage shouldn't have said anything earlier?

Rather than looking at the hillside, Kyra is peering over at the device on Alma's wrist, "So where did you get it?"

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine decided to come along for the fun. And to make sure none of her precious little targets would get seriously hurt. Yeah, but she'll never admit to that. Instead, its just 'for fun' that she's here, and travelling on the back of her chocobo, 'Amour the Glace' as she called it. Annia has a some talent in languages, so for her its not that odd. Others might wonder, but not like she ever cared for what other people think. Not when they are not upperclass anyway.

She kicks her chocobo forward along the plains, her notepad out as she manages to write things in it even while riding. She's taking notes "I never been in these parts, but I heard stories about the mist. Apparently, prolonged exposure to the mist creates monsters, or turn people into monsters. But we're talking more than just an hour or two here, we're talking very LONG exposure." She uses what knowledge she gathered around in her travels. "Although I didn't hear any actual stories, it could just be myth about the people turning to monsters. But mist does attract them unusually well." She might have said that just to scare Alma too, who knows.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth was a...interesting fellow to stay the least. He was tall, lean, looked like a guy who did his share of hard work and physical labor than any real adventuring. A shovel is tied to his back with a piece of rope, and a straw hat fits on his head. He gives it a tip as he walks up to Alma, "I dun heard that yer got a job find'in a here shard thing, rite?" He says, with a thick accent. Karth sits back as other guys arrive, and she goes onto a long winded explanation...

Karth yawns...

His eyes go dull after a few more moments..

Finally he's caught dozing after a few moments, probably bumped awake by someone after Alma was done explaining.

"Ohright, lets get on, show us that there way little missy." He says, finally.

Karth is pretty easy going as they walk towards the place, finally they stop and he looks around. Hmm...

"Well, one thing I done learned when adventurin' is that nothin' ain't ever easy, little missie, so that darn thing is inside the hill, eyup." he says, stretching and pulling out the shovel.

Even though he has a sword on his hip.

"Lets get in there and fish that shard out, maybe we can get back by breakfast time."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
This is not Soan's first exposure to the so called 'Myst'. He's not quite fully aware of what it's supposed to do to someone, but he took his precautions. Failing to find a gas mask, the thief instead bring along several scarves that he ties around his face. He doubt that it does anything, but there is always a neat for a good scarf in exploration missions.

At Kyra's sides, Soan Sagittarius presses onward, giving the be-moogle hoodied lady a look as they travel, occassionaly flicking glances over at Alma's device. So, that's what her 'research' has produced, hm. Hopefully, it'll work. Even more hopefully, it wont send them into a deadly trap of some sort. He's worried as well -- if for some other reasons.

"Well said, sir." The young rogue says, reaching out for his sword and drawing it up. It glows briefly through the mist, as bright as a torch. "Everyone stays on your guard. I'll go in first, to check where the entrance is."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Arkham has some experience with the Lindblum countryside, although she's not going to volunteer that information. This is another treasure hunt, though, that put out a recruitment call, and she maintains her certainty that everyone needs another medic as a religious tenet. She's come geared for field work, rather heavily for a putative white mage, even.

Her robes resemble their fearless leader's, though more drab, of a coarser cloth, and with the cross of Glabados emblazoned across back and front. She travels at the heart of the group, mostly watching her companions. "They're right, right about exposure, you know. But they're right about 'months', too. " She looks from Soan to Alma, and back, waiting for and order, perhaps. She thought, at least, that the white mage was heading this expedition. "Will you send, send him alone?"

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
After a bit of a search, Soan frowns, evidently disturbed. "That's strange." He mumbles, poking at the ground as he walks around, giving out the results of his thoughts out loud. "I'm not seeing anything. There /has/ to be something here. Keep searching, people."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason had got the call over the Mognet easily enough as she'd kept up n such thing it hadn't taken Myla too long. She jhad grouped up with the other students from the school and anyone else. Also Swimmer is pawing along wioth her a she tells her creation/pet to start scanning. "Nothing yet i'm afraid Soan but your right we can't just stop looking here now can we?"

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"Right, what I'm saying, keep your eyes open. Don't rely on me." Soan says, motioning the group to keep moving foward, frowning.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon's around.

"I'll cover you," he offers to Soan. He draws the wooden pole off his back, with a floppy mass of grey things attached. It looks remarkably like a mop. (It is totally a mop.) He holds it like he was wielding a spear, and fully intends to follow Soan around and club things that jump out at him. He might have what looks like a sword on his back, but really, Kamon's just carrying it for a keepsake. It got mangled a while ago, so he's sort of out a weapon.

He does not comment upon the shovel. He's been there, bro.

Alma Hyral has posed:
The passage into the hillside doesn't so much as descend, but it does take you deeper within. Above, the stonework is missing in certain places, as some of it didn't survive the merge, and instead clods of soil hang precariously overhead, as if ready to bury them with but a single nudge, and their passage within. Eventually they come to a darkened foyer... except there doesn't appear to be any adjoining chambers. In the middle of the room, is a crumbling statue of what once appeared to be a proud wyrm. It sits there decapitated, it's head now a mess of rubble at it's feet, one taloned foot is in similar shape, and it's balanced precariously upon its foundation.

Behind it lay a crumbling column covered with runes in an archaic script. The runes would glow faintly as they came near it..

There are no obvious passages out of this room. What do you do?

For her part, Alma just smiles at Kyra, trying to give her a brave look regardless of whatever is bothering her. "It's j-just a global p-positioning program I i-invented with my r-research. It only works at n-night since we d-don't have s-s-sattellites. It d-doesn't track shards on it's o-own. I just u-upload the d-data into it for e-each h-hunt b-based on our c-calculations."

Then a sidelong glance is given to Arkham, "O-Oh, no, we f-follow him, but let S-Soan go on a-ahead. He's a g-genius rogue. He knows w-what he's d-doing."

As Annia tries to frighten her with tales of monsters, she sort of shrinks away, letting out a muffled gasp and ranging closer to Kyra, Soan, and Kamon.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine moves off her chocobo, following the rest of the group down into the hillside. She hmms, and reaches into her chocobo saddles before leaving it there, tied to a tree. She pulls out a few torches, just in case its needed, along with a flint to light it up. She comes prepared, as you can see. She hands out a few of the torches to those wanting one, before it gest too dark to even see.

"So there could be a shard here? Well, honestly, that you even found a cave here is a good side." She decides to put some faith into it for now. Even if there wasn't any shard there could be other treasures, a cave like this is rather odd.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth didn't care much about shards...he really didn't get what they were? Pieces of worlds? Crazy!

He'd have to talk about that to his priest, maybe that they dun know more about that smart person stuff.

He nods once to Kamon, he seems like a guy who knows his head from a hole in the ground. He's willing to back up that guy. He walks forward until they find a hole in the side, and a cave. "Dun be holes everywhere in these dun hills. Hollow hills they say." he says, shakin' his head, "I dun properly get why they just dun build things on decent ground, yeah?" he says, "A properly build house will last you generations, so says my pa. He get real sick of caves after the wars." A simple nod.

There is a statue with a pillar behind it. Soan seems to be the specialist here, "One thing pa used to say, if you see a guy who is good with daggers, you let that dun boy go first, he know what he doin'."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra knows exactly what is bothering Alma. Mostly. Much to her dismay, Alma isn't exactly letting onto any further details. It's almost enough to make Kyra go do some investigating on her own, despite Alma's protestations. She can't help it.

She is distracted by Kamon's appearance, almost laughing aloud at his weapon. Kyra does not laugh though because she knows Kamon and she knows a mop turns into a devistating force in the Odinyar's hands.

"Nothing, Soan?" Kyra's a little concerned since the thief is generally far more observant, especially in obvious dungeon settings like these. "-oh, I see, so it works off of...the stars." Or more specifically, her magic, but Kyra doesn't mention that aloud, knowing that it wasn't something she wanted to spread word of here-especially with people like Annia around.

Slipping an arm around her little sister's shoulders, she guides them both to the safest place here. Behind Kamon.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan's attention remains on most of the surroundings, eyes squinting into the darkness by the meager light given to him by his magic sword. The Wyrm gets his attention, the thief giving the crumble dstatue a long, hard look, before letting out a sigh and shaking his head. Could've sworn... but no, nothing special about it that he can see. Not yet, anyway.

"Yeah, nothing so far." His eyes are rivetted toward the glowing runes, looking back at the group. "Except that, anyway. I'll go give it a loot, altought magical traps aren't my specialty."

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth nods, once. That is what pa taught him. This is exactly what pa taught him.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
That leaves Arkham with the rearguard, which is sound tactics so far as she's concerned. Letting the blades do their jobs (peering into corners and telling eachother all the nasty stuff that isn't lurking in them) she does a bit of examining herself. That mouldering statue and glowing column are starting to remind her of her last expedition; those runes, at least, are magical, clear enough. From here she can't tell any more.

Arkie drops her hood, gathering it instead around her neck and over her mouth. She tugs it down again to suggest. "I don't like the, the, the look of this. Someone, ah," she waves in Karth's direction with her free hand. "Back him up." That free hand now drops to the hilt of the shortsword she wears.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan keeps his distance away from the runes, squinting down at them from his location. After a moment, he lets out a frustrated grunt. "Please, a genius would find out what these rune are." The Thief replies, a little annoyed sounding as he push himself back to his feet, still rattling his brain. "Could be a trap. Could be an alarm. Could be anything."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Well. Perhaps he is a genius. "Let me take, take a look," Arkham offers, and approaches the column from the other side; hands clasped behind her to avoid poking anything untoward, she scrutinizes the runework, comparing it mentally against what the Archadean expedition found in those ruins.

Not even remotely alike, of course; those were a pictographic epic, these are just a wall of words. She glances in Soan's direction, and gives an expressive shrug.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon's mop-fu is superior. If he had a real weapon, it'd be unfair for everyone involved.

He shoots a glance over his shoulder and gives a reassuring smile to Kyra and Alma. Then, he turns back around and marches on forward. The stonework isn't terribly unusual, insofar as ruins tend to have a similar sort of look to them in that respect. The runes, however, are. He frowns when Soan can't figure it out. "So, uh, they could be a trap, or just... writing. If it's a magical trap..."

Kamon has triggered magical traps with his face before. Usually it's comical, but not terribly dangerous.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Partway, even, through that shrug, Arkham blinks at a clause on the column. Her hand shoots up. "Teleportation. Don't, don't, don't--" This is frustrating. She tries again after a moment. "Stay back."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"Yeah, that sums it up." Soan mumbles, nodding without looking at Kamon, still staring at the runes.

He pauses, blinking, turning to pointedly look at Kamon... and Arkham Fisher. Who's she, again? Huh. "Oh? Teleportation runes? Do you know to where?"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason is keeping with the group and she looks over heaind o get closer to Alma, Soan and Kamon herself but she's not shopwing up any real luck with her searching she's got to wonder about this it could be a trap. "Your right Kamon it could or humm a magical trap? Humm maybe we should have swimmer try to check it..." Then Soan along with Arkham shatter that idea and the pirate lass takes a step back.

"Those can always be ... tricky. Could send us where we need to go, or right into a kill box."

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth shakes his head...

He grabs his hat, pulls it up, and drops a sandwich out of it onto his head.

With sandvich in hand, he takes a bite, "Could just trigger it.." He takes a bite, "maybe takes us deeper inside."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"I don't see any other way out, personally." Soan says, giving a look around,. "It could be our way in, for all we know. Let's give it a shot?"

Karth Mason has posed:
"Alright it be dun decided then." He says, standing up sandwich in hand still and touches the column.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra smiles back at Kamon, then happily follows after him. She seems equally clueless about what the runes do until Arkham mentions that they belong to teleportation. Teleportation? Really? "I've never seen ones like that where I'm from." Kyra remarks.

Karth vanishes. Kyra nudges Kamon toward the runes before reaching out to touch them herself!

Arkham Fisher has posed:
"I haven't, haven't gotten that far." Arkham does take a step further back from the column, though, not particularly eager to do so. "The destination is sometimes, is sometimes only coded there, do you know?" She gives her companions a wary look, as the heavy starts discussing divin-- "Eff!" He's done it.

"Does anyone have a line on h--" More of them! Madmen. Despairing, she looks to Alma for guidance. "At least /find/ them first!"

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon looks a little startled. He glances back again, and when Kyra reaches out for the TERRIBLE RUNES, he does the same. He shrugs helplessly back at Arkham when there's a protest to this method. When in Ramuh...

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Karth appears. Shortly after them, Kyra, Alma, and Kamon all clump together. Seloria, who is currently sitting in the middle of the room eating a sandwich, looks up.

"Oh." She says.

"Hi."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan watches them go. He glances over at Arkham Fisher, he shurgs. "We might as well follow them, lady."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma gratefully hides behind the Odynar at Kyra's urging, knowing just how formidable he is by reputation, and followed him and Kyra when they touched the column.

Then Alma's eyes widen as she notices that Seloria is already here, "But h-how, h-how did you, and y-you're already...w-what?"

Alma.exe has encountered an error and must reboot.

Each of you touch the column.

As your vision clears, you find yourself in a much larger chamber. On a pedestal, are the remnants of four statues. They're in even worse shape, as only their legs have survived the fall of whatever world they came from. Two appear to have been carved with robes in mind, which gently taper down to their feet. Another has what appears to have been carved with greaves. The last has been carved with what appear to be leather boots.

All along the walls are images of sinewy wyrms, giving praise to what appear to be four figures, each holding something bestowing off rays of light. Given how they were carved, no further features of those honored in the murals can be uncovered.

There are two methods of egress from the room. One to the left, and one to the right. Which do you choose?

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Left in the antechamber, Arkie mutters darkly to herself for a moment, staring at the column. She has no choice now, though, she'll go in. Before she does, though, she draws a knife from her belt, and scribes, perhaps more emphatically than necessary, a small ward on the wall behind her. She'll at least know where she was when she gets there.

She nods to Soan, then. "Alright. We go." She lays a hand on the column, and joins the squad on the far side, blinking.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth blinks at the young lady after his own heart.

"Howdy." he says, eating his own sandwich. He waits for the others, "How long it dun take you to figure out that there column puzzle missie?" He asks, with that super thick accept. Karth is still the red neck adventurer.

He scratches himself and looks at the various broken statues, and murals.

... "Huh...four people dun use light..." he says, "Like sum warriors of light?" He asks, "Nah, that sounds dumb. My brother dun come up with the good names of thing, maybe someone here who is a thinkin' guy could come up with a better name."

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine looks around as she appears in the new room. She hmms, looking around at the different icons. "Ropes, greaves and leather boobs... how odd." She considers this. "I'd like to think this is some kind of riddle, but I can't make head or tails of what it might be, or how that would help us in whichever direction." She holds her torch up as she approaches the right path "... I'm partial to going 'right' first, I dunno about you all." She shrugs, checking which statues are closest to the right path before advancing there.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan appears in the new room, giving a look around. "That wasn't so bad." He lets out, pleasently, dusting himself off as he stands back up, walking to go peer at the statue. "Howdy!" He replies pleasantly at Karth, making a quick mental count on who's here. Alright. Everyone's here. All is fine. Good.

The Rogue makes his way to peer at the statue, peering at them, before touching them to get a good feel if they are, truly, made of stone, starting with the leather-footed one. "Let's go right first, I agree." He mumbles, observing the statues closer.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"Well it wasn't precisely a /puzzle/." Kyra says, recognizing that accent as something she's heard amongst those of Titan in the past. It doesn't really grate on her like it might some people because those she has met from Titan have all been pretty nice. As this guy keeps talking, Kyra's bright green eyes start to glaze over. Clearly this is the stupidest thing of them all.

While he rambles, she pulls out her Ma Belle and holds it up, filming a short video of the murals and broken statues inside the chamber. Once she's done enough to her liking, she follows after Soan (behind Kamon of course).

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Arkham might be used to teleportation, but the decorations in here give her a tremendously bad feeling. She tightens her makeshift mask, and joins the somehow expanded expeditionary force in the center of the chamber.

"We split up? There are, are like nine of us." From her medic bag she extracts a roll of suture cord, and holds it out.

Alma Hyral has posed:
In this room to the right are walls covered in the same motifs.

In the center of it is a fallen tablet, covered in an ancient script. None of you are able to decipher it, or the language it comes from, despite being wholly intact.

There are no obvious exits from the room, except back the way they came.

Around the room are piles of rubble...

Alma has now rebooted and is hugging Seloria. Then she ushers her over to hide behind Kamon too. "N-No let's not split up.."

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth looks RIGHT at Arkham.

"Dun ever make that there dumb suggestion again, little lady." he says, "YOu never split up."

"Ever. Pa told me some bad stories of what happens when you split."

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Seloria motions with her sandwich. "Not long when I have a resident goddess of wisdom in my head." She mumbles happily around her bit of food, probably referring to the Divine Sylph. "Hi, Alma, dear." Hug.

"Kyra, Soan, Annia, Kamon, Myla. And you others. I'm Seloria." She says, getting dragged behind Kamon. "Why are we hiding behind Kamon?" She asks, quietly.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon provides hard cover for the squishy and/or the cute.

He gathers his party before venturing forth.

He does not question Seloria's presence here.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Seloria notices a stone coffer peaking out from beneath one of the piles of rubble on the southern side of the room... It has a heavy stone slab as a lid.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"Because he's wider and stronger than she is." Soan calmy replies to Seloria, grinning at her. He don't seem to see a problem with her being suddenly here. Stepping up to not quite take point, but... well, being second in line is almost being in point, Soan is still in the front lines.

"I agree, splitting up is a bad idea. No good comes out of it." He says, brandishing his torch sword.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra spots this stone and ventures over to look at it. She reaches out, about to touch it, but quickly brings her hand back with her eyes narrowed. "Hey Soan, you might want to take a look at this. I get the feeling that it might be trapped."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Arkham meets Karth's eye, from probably about a foot lower. "My father always told me not to dive through unknown teleporters, me." Her stammer is absent for some reason.

The order is in, though, they're all going right. Swords are out, now, and Arkham takes a moment to secure her shield and draw hers, before she takes up a post with the rearguard.

She /still/ doesn't like the look of those statues.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan is having a feeling that this scarf is getting in the way of his entire mojo as Kyra, out of all people, points up that somehting might be trapped. The rogue removes it, calmly shoving it back into the bag as he approaches the trap carefully, with his usual methodology on handling traps. Immediatedly, when he inspects the chest, he can feel his things coming back.

"Good catch." Soan says, reaching out behind at the bottom, pulling on something with a loud snap. "That was an high explosive trap." He says, starting to dismantle the whole thing to pocket in his numberous pouches, then unlocking the chest and opening it.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth moves to help Soan MOVE it when it is not trapped.

Karth gives no <GOOSEHONK>s about Arkham starting at him. He's serious, and he's just tryin' to be a decent fellow to a lady who thinks that splitting up is a good idea. That is the second rule of adventurin' cordin' to his pa.

SHOOOOVE.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Inside the chest is what appears to be an ornate spear head forged out of Adamantine with the image of an austere Wyrm carved upon it.. The haft... has unfortunately rotted away from ages of disuse.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan's eyes widens at what's inside, letting out a whistle of appreciation as he picks up the ornate spear head. "Now, /that/ I didn't expect to see." He says, lifting it up and showing it at the group. "Do you guys know what that is? That's Adamantine. That's rare. That's /precious/." He says, looking again over the tablet inscription. He gets an idea. He reach into his pouches, taking out some carbon paper, handing it out. "Someone get an imprint of what's written on that, we might find translators later."

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine lifts her shoulders "Want me to take a look at it?" One of her aptitutes is languages of all kinds. She can often find the pattern to the meaning behind it through observation, after having looked at any kinds of languages "It won't hurt trying anyway." She moves over to Soan, taking a closer look, bringing the torch over for more light.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason is a treature hunter to be sure but she's also kning others are far better. "Trap checking and Kamon is the most durable of us!" It's an honest answer he's from Odin he can take things that could kill someone else and laugh it off. He is of the metal after all, right?

"SPlitting up always ends in disaster...in my experiance."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
There's something Arkham can probably do competently. She edges forward to accept a rubbing kit, lays her sword down, and sets to work, cautiously. She gives the runestone a thorough inspection while she does, but however thorough her education there's not much chance it included these. Oh well. "The church has, has some experts. When we leave. If I may.

She doesn't give the spearhead much of a glance; it's a pretty nice spearhead, sure, but. As Annia arrives, she moves aside, and lifts her partial rubbing away to give her a clearer look.

Alma Hyral has posed:
With spearhead in hand, and partial rubbing of the tablet made, you return to the main room and head left instead. Inside this room to the left is a mural, the plaster having cracked and faded to the point where it's almost entirely lost to the ages. From what you can see upon it are the images of four people vaguely human features.. presenting a tail, to a Wyrm who sits upon a throne.

Yes, a tail.

On either side of the room are two wholly intact statues of guardian wyrms, with their mouths opened.

Alma would just whisper to Seloria, "B-Because A-Annia says that there are an i-increase in m-monster attacks out t-there."

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon wanders into the other room. He provides a wall of flesh and iron against anything particularly untowards that could appear in the rooms ahead. Given that there's a big mural and a couple of guardian things, he's pretty sure this is a dead end -- or maybe...

"Huh." He nudges Soan with his elbow and points at the tail. The suspiciously intact tail, jutting out just a little. "D'you see that?" He gives Soan a sidelong glance. "Remember that secret passage in Professor Deepline's excavation classroom?"

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine looks over to Alma at that. She's given up trying to decypher that spearhear, its just beyond what she can understand, sadly. That frustrates her more than anyone else, really. "I didn't say that to scare you, its just the truth. And quite honestly I don't want to hang around to prove it either." She shakes her head, moving over to the next room, holding the torch higher to check on the wyvern statue "What do you make of this one?"

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan enters the place, giving a look around the new room. His eyes flashes over to the four statues, then to the ... tail, sitting on the throne room. The thief tilts his head.

Then he's nudged.

That makes his memory race, giving him a brief nod. "Yeah, now that you mention it..." Soan says, slowly approaching the throne to give a closer look to the tail in question, giving the guardian wyrms a look. "Didn't we see some of them back at the entrance?"

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth follows behind...

This is a job for smart people, he isn't stupid...he's just not smart in THESE ways. If they were growing crops...raising stuff..

Whatever.

He enters the room, and for a moment the LIGHT catches something just right...

A story his dad told him once comes to mind, and he grabs Soan.

"Hey dun tail looks suspicious...but the tile beneath it.." he says, "I think somethin's up. Pa told me about a trap once." he says, with a serious nod, "About a trap being under something legit."

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"All yours, Soan." Seloria offers helpfully.

Then, to Alma: "I ain't afraid of no monsters. Or ghosts. Or scary crawly things." She's just terrified of angry Helena's and Souji in general.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan stop in his approach, looking over his shoulder at Karth. "A trap?" He says, peering closer for one of such.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Not one peep out of Arkham; she's busy folding that rubbing away in a waxed envelope, and tucking it into her medic bag, for safekeeping. That would be treasure enough for her, it seems. That and her life.

She manages to keep herself from falling entirely behind, but comes to a halt before the mural. She is just not a fan of ancient murals, it seems. She tries to stay out of the line of sight of either of the guardian statues, and waits while the professionals sort this out. She'll have the bandages ready, just.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"An /explosive/ trap?" Kyra's suddenly very interested, "You'll have to show me how it worked later." Her eyes light up even more when they see the Adamatine spearhead within-she wants to reach out and touch it, having never actually handled this metal herself. Sure, she's seen plenty of samples secured behind glass before, but never held a metal so rare.

They stick together, though Kyra seems vaguely disappointed by this, denied whatever mischief she might had planned if their group was rendered a bit smaller.

Presented the mural in the new room, Kyra is quick to get out her phone again so she can film it in its entirety as well, giving them something for her to review later.

She stops, turning to watch Karth for a long moment. "Hmm."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan observes the trap in question, the thief looking over at the tile. "This thing sinks into the ground." He commonets, falling into his more analytical modes as he stands back up, eyeing the two wyrm statues, pointing at them. "Probably connected to those twos. Everyone get out of the direct line of fire of their mouth, alright? I'm going to take the tail, see what happens."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason pauses looking at the statures at this point she's not got her weapons out but the holsters flaps are unfastened if they end up being neexed for now she's checking out the room and shw pauses for a moment as she looks at Kamon as he talks to oan. "...Wait you guys found that too?" She seems suprised about Kamon but not about Soan knowing. "Hummm I think I see where your going with this."

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth nods, and moves to the side, avoiding the front of the mouth of the Dragons.

"Good here." he says, in his drawl.

Alma Hyral has posed:
As Soan presses the switch. ..

You hear a rumbling in the room behind you. Returning to the main room, you find that the platform with the four intact sets of legs has moved, revealing a staircase, leading below...

After heading down three flights of stairs, you come to another large room. As you descend, you hear heavy breathing. As you get closer, you smell the air becomes stale, and more fetid with each exhalation.

Once you enter into the room, you see it. An undead wyrm. What little skin remains on its frame hangs freely, rotted away by the ages.

A bulbous eye exuding its humours whirls around to face the group, and the mindless creature charges.. sweeping it's talons forward to try and catch the group while they're together. Its jaws would lunge in for a quick snap at the group, it's maw dripping with the smell of something so rank that even Kyra would be unhinged by it.. It's worse than the cake she baked last week.

Even being close to the Wyrm is.. extraordinarily uncomfortable, as a feeling of dread seeps freely into them.

Optional Sidequest Failed: A Wyrm of Her Own(Helena Celba is not present)

Alma Hyral has posed:
As the Wyrm advances on Alma, she freezes, right behind Kamon. A radiant yellow aura begins to lim her body, and as the wyrm descends upon them, there's suddenly a blur of movement as a yellow orb makes way for the left side of the room. But when the movement stops, she's doubled over in agony, her dowdy white robes slick with blood, as she fights back a shriek.

The aura surrounding her suddenly grows brighter, and Kamon finds himself surrounded by a bright white glow, which begins to mend his wounds.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Right away, the smell of a tomb hits her. Though there was something even wrong about this picture, even to Kyra. Rot in a sealed room shouldn't smell this bad...this fresh, unless that sudden air within was that fast-acting. Though more likely there was a vent or hole somewhere that enabled circulation and thus nasty rot.

Kyra hangs close to the likes of Kamon and slowly reaches for one of her guns. It's moreso the injector/tube launcher gun than a proper firearm (which Kyra will not use in enclosed spaces). The eye peers out of the darkness and Kyra's quick to back up-ALL the way up, far out of range of the wyrm's wrath.

"Alma, stay close to me and behind Kamon at all times!" The exact opposite happens and Kyra's eyes widen as she stares at Alma from the other side of the room. "Alma!" Digging through her shirt, she pulls out a dark brown material carefully contained in a test tube.

She chucks the coffee at the undead wyrm. The glass breaks and the liquid immediately begins to dissolve anything it comes in contact with. The smell becomes even worse.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth follows...the shovel was still out...

Then...

"Oh god, what st-.." he looks up...

"That be a really rotten dragon." he says, awestruck and horrified. The monster comes in, swinging it's claw, but...

Karth jumps up, narrowly avoiding the claw and smacking it across the face with the Shovel!

Karth is apparently pretty GOOD at Shovel! And then he swings it again...and again...and again...

"I ain't lettin' no overgone rotting lizard tell me what for!" Repeatedly shoveling it.

WHAM! WHAM!

"GO DOWN QUIET LIKE, AND I'LL BURRY YOU WHEN WE KILL YOU! I DID BRING MY TRUSTY SHOVEL!" he says, the thing nigh unbreakable. Right?

It had to be right?

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Despite her makeshift mask, Arkham smells the dragon coming from yards away; first, deal with that. "Veter!" Her free hand summons up a gust, to the foul beast's entry point.

The breeze clears the air, a bit, maybe, but it does nothing about the creature itself, which strides forth unhindered. Retching, as she sees her companions doing, she makes a second attempt. You can't fight if you can't breathe, after all.

Another refreshing breeze swirls up from around the hired medic, enveloping nearer companions in some briefly tolerable air.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason watches Soan go for the switch she pauses turns and sees something cioming for them it's some sort of creature wait it's undead and she takes a bit of a step back. The smell is overpowering she's no looking too good as things are even worse for her. She can't even attack at this point as she attemps tp do something about whatever it is she's got to purge it from her. She summons upon the waters to drive this toxin or plauge from her body.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan takes the tail, pocketing it then pressing on the tile. He eyes the wyrms in the room. Nothing. THe noise in the main room, however, makes him worry. The smell of rot and evil, the chaos and darkness hits his nostrils full bore, wringing a wince out of the rogue as they get back in. The Undead wyrm advances on them, Soan staring up at them.

It's his quick reflexes that saves him from most of the initial onslaught, evading the snap of it's jaws at least. The smell, the smell still stings, thought. THe smell still clouds his mind as he stands back up, drawing back his blade and his buckler.

"Battle formations, people! Spread out! Flank that thing!" Soan Sagittarius yells out as he reach into his pouches to take out some small runed-like tiles, two of them deploying into small traps-like mines, the last one exploding immediatedly upon contact.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon descends. It's a familiar thing, delving into dungeons with Soan and Co.; the boss fight at the end was almost guaranteed.

He did not expect the zombie dragon, though, truth be told.

The wyrm leans out and snaps at them. Kamon parries the jaws with the handle of the mop, swatting it aside enough that he gets grazed by the teeth instead of full-on bitten in half. The viscious fluid that seeps off of it starts burning immediately in his wounds. He twirls the improvised weapon in his hands, bringing it up and around --

WHAM! The wyrm hits him with the talon. Kamon gets sent for a loop, knocked off his feet and sent backwards. He jams the soft end of the mop downwards about five feet into his flight, arresting his momentum and spinning around the haft. He rotates once almost all the way around it and swings his feet to the floor, coming to a neat landing with the mop held low in a spearfighting stance that Soan might find a bit familiar.

Kamon glances between Kyra and Alma. He smiles at the littler Hyral for just a second, his wounds knitting shut, but doesn't say anything. He inhales through his nose, smelling the sickly-sweet scent of death and decay that is soon washed away by Arkham's efforts. He feels fine. Better than fine, actually.

A deeper breath. Then, he rushes it, charging straight in with a shout of, "KYAAHHHH!!" and immediately jabbing the mop at its nose. He stabs at the wyrm once, then again, and then twirls the 'weapon' in his hands, turning on his heel and swinging it like a bat at the side of the thing's head. At some point, he flipped the mop all the way around to hit it with the blunt end.

Apparently, he doesn't /need/ a real weapon.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"Alma!" Seloria doesn't even think twice - Kamon has enough Hyrals' to cover. Alma is hers.

The girl twists as she moves to stand close too if not directly in front of Alma, her hands coming together as her head bows, and over her shoulder, in a bloom of light, a ancient, older woman hovers there, a representation of the divine, Sylph. "Now." She whispers, and in the air around them, wind and lightning suddenly burst towards the enemy.

Gotta make it easier for Kamon.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine aughs with the wyrm's appearance. Great, not just the looks, but the stench too, as if a wyrm wasn't a big enough problem on its own either. The claws move too fast even for her, as she's taken by surprise, and it rends a thick gash across her arm. She reels back, holding the wound with her hand "Oh, is that all, a wyrm." She grumbles, and then toss the torch to the side, reaching behind her to pull out the twin daggers she uses. "I guess its time to dance." She's none to happy about them either.

She tosses the daggers straight at the wyrm... but it looks like they miss. But no, tugging on ribbons that are wrapped to them, a quick tug makes them change directly, and wrap the twin ribbons around the wyrm, as an attempt to slow it down some for everyone else to strike it. "Sell Alma, THIS is the kind of festering that happens with the mist, but who knows how many years this one took."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Kyra's application of coffee actually causes the flesh of one the Zombie Dragon's forelegs to.. melt right off. WHAT DOES SHE PUT IN THAT VILE BREW? Seriously folks.

Kamon's Strike snaps part of its snout clean off with a mop.

Soan's leg traps cause the same foreleg Kyra had already to hang precariously, and then.. Karth's shovel strike snaps it clean off. The Wyrm moans as that leg collapses, and it's forced to move about on three rotted legs.

Whatever resistance the Wyrm had in life to magic.. still seems to persist, as Sylph's lightning harmlessly fizzles against it.

Annia's daggers.. glance right off its ribs, so the ribbons don't even get a chance to work their magic.

Whipping it's tail around in a wide sweep to give it some distance, the Wyrm inhales deeply.. and breathes out poisonous fumes.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma rises shakily to her feet after a time, the yellow aura still present around her. Despite the gouges in her robe, the bleeding appears to have stopped entirely.

Triaging the room with her eyes, and murmuring something to herself, that white glow now spreads to Seloria and Annia... bringing renewal to them both.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Curious. Even with so many body parts missing, it still persists! "Break its head off, Kamon!" Kyra cries out, completely unsurprised that he is absolutely deadly with a mop. It's Kamon, she expects that!

Seems their 'wise' friend Karth is preetty good with a shovel himself. To each their own, right?

Suddenly, the swinging tail sweeps Kyra off her feet and she hits the ground on her hands and knees, hard. This leaves her completely vulnerable to the putrid mist that the wyrm breathes out afterwards and she...promptly vomits on the floor involuntarily. "Urrrgh this...I can..." she squints her eyes shut and her hands start to glow a bright white. Inwardly, she struggles to take charge of her own magical power, focus wavering amongst her pain-so the power is focused inward, first to help herself. Then, as she staggers to her feet, she stumbles over to Karth and puts her hands upon him.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Seloria steps towards Alma, and a protective aura emanates from her as she covers Alma fearlessly, her green eyes burning. The follow up restul light helps, although there is a hiss of pain from the summoners' lips, "T-thank you, Alma." She mumbles, frowning.

"Okay. Let's try this." The Wise Sylph fades away, only for Siren to reappear, the gorgeous, seductive divine-goddess hanging over Seloria's head as the pair start singing together, the music wrapping around their enemy, before Siren pushes a finger to her lips, and silence abruptly *drops* around the enemy. This is followed by.. fire.

A /lot/ of fire.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Battle is underway, Kamon going off to do his thing, pulling his own when he get into a fight. Against monsters like theses, it's easy to get him to go all out. It's with intelligent people that it's a bit harder. Despite his apperance, Soan knows, the guy don't like fights. He likes combat, but he don't like fights.

"Keep it up!" The Rogue snaps out as he hops above the tail sweep, tumbling along with it and keeping himself grounded to evade the noxious fumes that the zombie drake breaths out. He, too, continue to do his part, pushing himself back to his feet as he dashes toward the massively undead creature, diving his sword into it's flesh.

That is, however, mostly a setup for what comes next, doing what any good Thief should do and search for anything valuable that comes on the monster -- and do definetively what most thief DON'T do and leave SOMETHING THERE.

Something that beeps, then explode.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
The beast's tail whips round, and Arkham makes the singularly unwise choice to attempt a deflection rather than an outright evasion. Neither would have succeeded, likely. Though she catches it well with her shield, it merely knocks her to the ground, where the zombie's horrid breath can roll over her all the better. She can't really get any sicker than she is, though.

Hauling herself to her feet, stubbornly, then, she again scans the field for friends in need. The front-liners, for one, and she's closer to them than Alma is. Arkie wipes the dust and possibly blood from her brow, and this time attempts to summon up some cool air and refreshment for the farmer.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth was caught by the dragons FOUL breath. He tries to not breath in...

But he fails, coughing a whole lot and turning temporarily green. He looses his snack, before the golden aura of Kyra's healing spell restores his stamina. He nods a thanks to her, not wanting to talk until the gas passes.

He grabs the sword for a brief moment...no...not yet.

Instead he charges again, Swinging the shovel with everything he can, trying to repeatedly SMASH the Dragon across the skull repeatedly. Then...

He tries to suplex the dragon.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon knocks a chunk off, and then immediately darts to the side when the cloud of poison gas billows out of it. He can't do anything about that -- even if he'd like to keep Kyra and Alma both out of the radius, it would take magic he can't do -- so he moves to get into a better position to destroy it instead. The Odynar skirts around the side of the wyrm, turning the mop over in his hands and looking for a good position to attack it from.

He spots Soan, doing his own thing. Soan's good at traps, Kamon thinks. He's not bad with a short sword, either, but he's /really/ good at traps. He just has to wait for an opening... and Soan totally delivers.

"There!" Kamon exclaims. He lunges forward, hot on the heels of the explosion, diving right past the wyrm's neck. He brings his mop up in a two-handed swing, trying to catch it in the side of the neck and drag it down to the ground on the other side. He chokes up his grip on the mop right after, flipping it in his hand and pole-vaulting over the wyrm, near its tail instead of its head. He starts attacking tailbones, trying to shatter the more fragile, aged skeleton of the undead dragon, attacking weak points like every good fighter is taught to.

Coincidentally, he is on the exact opposite side of it as the thief.

Myla Mason has posed:
things just keep getting worse and worse. She's at least not so badly off this time that she can't do anything she does however open up with her pistols now letting lose a pray of elemental shots as she tries to close in so she can us somethign more effetive. She does however shift her shots to try to cover Kamon as he moves in.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Soan pickpockets.. a rotting spleen, right before his trap explodes, causing the creature to rear back as several of its ribs crack right off. It's entrails begin to hang more loosely from its underside.

Siren's fire blossoms over the dragon, and is quenched.

They don't make dragons like they used to. Especially undead ones. It's undead nature must have knocked off an extra ton or two from its weight class as Karth suplexes it after bashing its skull in repeatedly. Once the dragon gets back up, they can almost swear they see little stars and birdies around its head as it staggers around. Kamon strikes. Vertebrae pop and snap as he brings the head of the beast down low, before he repeatedly strikes at the tail.. and the final tail segment just snaps clean off. Myla's covering fire takes out yet another portion of its chest wall.

Maimed terribly, the Dragon just lets out an earsplitting roar that shakes the room. Pieces of stone drop from the ceiling, possibly crushing those below... And then, out of every pore comes a sort of liquid darkness, which rapidly expands into a deluge of it, covering each of them in turn, seeping into them, before it retracts all of a sudden. The wyrm drops to its knees. Although it does not seem to require.. breathing, it appears as if it is winded, nevertheless, and requires rest.

Alma Hyral has posed:
And in a flash, Alma is off... a yellow orb zips upwards, then curves down, landing right behind Annia, who appears to be on her last legs.

She takes her time, focusing, allowing her mind to slip into that realm of serenity...

And then she just pours the light of creation straight into Annia. Erythropoietin receptors stimulate her creating new blood to replace that which was lost from the trauma. Flesh, bone, and sinew knit back together. And then she just states in a calm voice to Annia,

"She loves you."

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine has been rather unlucky. Maybe its the darkness, or a stench slowing her down, but she can't seem to find the right tempo against this beast. Poison, tail swipes, claws, everything is finding their mark, and she's sent flying backward, back first into a stone wall, which nearly cracks with the impact. That... really can't be good.

She manages to move to her knees though, and then back up to her feet, very shakily. Rejoice Alma, your bully is on her last leg it seems. Well, if she's inclined to that kind of half-revenge at least, which she probably isn't, since she cured her before. That's the only reason she's still up right now.

She grunts "Well, not going down without giving it a piece of my daggers." She knows she might not have enough energy for another attack, so she'll put everything she has left in this one. She puts her feet off the wall behind her, using it as a cornerstone to kick herself off toward the wyrm. She jumps up at the last moment, flipping over the wyrm's head, and moves right back down on top of it, daggers first, planting them deeply. Leaving them planted, she literally KICKs the dagger to plant them even more while standing on top of its head.

And then grabbing the handles, leaving them planted there, she DRAGS them in a X pattern, leaving deep gashs (if she can actually cut through that skin), and then sends a rapid fire of stabs straight into the wound she opened up. She then jumps away, revigorated by Alma's healing. Yeah, she's on her side after all, it seems.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Maybe she enjoys this. Maybe she's suicidal. Perhaps Arkham just isn't a very good medic; good medics don't hang out in the vanguard, they stay in the rear, like Alma has. Trapped between a rockfall and a hard place, Arkham takes a battering, wedged again against the wall where she has no room to avoid the dragon's latest foul exudate.

Though she looks like she should be dead, she apparently isn't willing to stop moving, yet. Arkie raises a hand, in her tormentor's direction, no longer interested in rendering aid. A faint wind blows through, from behind the beast, oddly, and she says to the field in general, "Take warning."

Above the Zombie Dragon, perhaps unseen in the gloom, a dark cloud forms, red on black, and with a crack of thunder, unleashes a deluge of hail and wind.

Karth Mason has posed:
The sword is drawn...

As the Dragon comes for more pain, darkness saturating the room...

'Karth...where you need a light, this sword will guide you..'

Something cuts through the darkness as the darkness seeps into them. A burning undying flame, the sword, a Flametongue, cuts through it. It bursts through it, cutting into the dragon itself and attempting to burn through his ressistances.

Karth's blade seems to glow, before once more igniting into flames.

He dives towards the dragon, the blade lighting the way as he repeatedly drives it into the dragon. Powerful blows litterally aiming to THROW it off the ground, and he swings...repeatedly again and again, before he aims to smash it back into the ground with a double headed slash...

And then he rises up, driving in with a powerful thrust to try and shoot THROUGH the dragon, aming on the otherside of it as he turns...

And appears on the otherside, being trailed by with explosions of flame as he lifts the blade up...

And swings the weapon ONCE...

Flames trailing...

TWICE!

The flames start to engulf Karth...

THRICE!

The blade stabs forward, trying to ignite the dragon from the inside out. For a moment, those who look into the flames can see the figure of a bird...but it is quickly gone.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"Siren, Sylph, grant me your powers, your blessings..."

The two Summons swirl around, one appearing then disappearing, thne the other one appearing, even as Sylph grants the group another chance, and Siren sings a beautiful, wordless song.

Myla Mason has posed:
There's a pain there's a lot of pain she's hurt bad she's clearly bleeding she's hur and she's just managed to get both pistols up again and she unlads she doesn't stop shooting as she unlaods every ouce of magic in the two weapon's clips into the dragon and that's a heck of a lto of shots it's not back in the ground so she's intending to send it back there as she keeps on shooting.

"I hope you guys got an idea I'm almost spent!"

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon strikes more and more pieces of the dragon off its rotting frame. It comes apart so easily if you know where to hit it, he thinks. He just needs to hit it there /more/. He skips backwards when the tail comes off, taking care to avoid it falling on him in the meantime.

Then, shit gets real. The dragon roars, and the entire chamber shakes. Kamon rocks on his feet, looking all around and finally upwards. Chunks of stone fall from the ceiling, the entire place starting to come down from the roar alone. It doesn't even faze him -- he's a child of Odin, a native of the most dangerous place on Galianda. Loud noise ain't nothin'.

Barely thinking about it, Kamon nimbly evades a rock the size of him, and then leaps across the chamber. He clears the top of the dragon while it pulls itself inward, spinning his mop and slamming into another falling stone. He spikes it straight down into the ground, cracking the chamber floor and changing his approach. Kamon falls towards a second stone, and he grabs onto it with one hand, swinging himself onto the top and shouting a wordless battle-cry from it. A peal of thunder answers him, and it propels it downward with him atop it.

"Down!" he barks. The Odynar sweeps his rust-colored eyes down from the top of the makeshift barricade, looking between Soan and the Hyrals, and turns back to the dragon. The darkness gathers, and Kamon clutches the mop in response, taking up a guard position. "Might of Odin!" he cries. "Fury of Ramuh!" He thrusts the mop straight at the oncoming liquid darkness, a pale radiance flickering around him. There's another thunderclap, and a surge of lightning splits the wave, parting it like a curtain around the Parivir and his charges.

Then, it withdraws. The stuff goes back to the dragon, and Kamon slumps for a second, visibly fatigued by the effort. He draws himself up, looking at his weapon of choice -- and finding the head of the mop burned off of it, leaving him with a blackened wooden pole. He can fight with a stick, but against a zombie --

Suddenly, an idea strikes him. "Soan!" he calls. "Spear!!" He sticks out a hand.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Hey, look, Kamon is right behind the fell Zombie Dragon. A large part of Soan's feelings are rather divided. How can a Dragon have fell like this? What has happened to it? /Why/ is it not resting? It's rather distressing to him, but... well, he has no time to be distressed. Not only that, but Soan Sagittarius wouldn't be any more distressed than toward any other undead.

Still, Kamon is behind the thing -- and that spells bad news when you have a profecient rogue on the other side of the large man made half-way of metal with a ... well, mop, but he KNOW how to use THAT mop!

Theses thoughts, however, don't save him from the Zombie's attack. HIs presence and fear, he couldn't care less. He couldn't be afraid of it even if he /tried/. It's a perk of Dragoon training. The other part, thought...

Kamon gets in the way, deflecting it. Gritting his teeth, he looks up. He blinks.

The spearhead! "What? Oh! Yes! Right! Here!" The Thief lets out, fishing out the beautiful adamantite spearhead, tossing it at Kamon while his other hand, abandoning his blade, reach for other traps. One of them are small spiked balls, held together with two ropes, which he flings at the resting Dragon. They expand in mid-air, into horrifing spiked bolos that seeks to ensare the remains of it's wings and legs. Twisting his wrist to the side, Soan's hand crossbow springs from his sleeves, quickly unloading a bolt in the creature, one that was already loaded into his weapon. Soan is prepared like that -- he has no reasons to NOT keep it loaded most of the time when he gets into explorations like this.

"This is it! Finish it off, Kamon!" The Rogue shouts out as the bolts sails through the air. This one is not an ordinary bolt, with the tip containing a strong acid meant to be able to eat through stone in moments. He can't poison it, sure, but he sure as heck can melt it off.

With practiced ease, Soan reloads his hand crossbow with another bolt, cranking up the small weapon in one, smooth dry motion, immediatedly unloading another bolt into the zombie dragon. Whatever happened to you, he thinks, I'll lay you to rest. That's the least he can do, as a Dragoon.

The second bolt has smaller ropes stuck into it, which splinters into more webs to tie the thing down. Soan knows his role. He knows how to be vicious against monsters. He have to be, sometimes.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra's hands continue to glow, the light becoming nearly blinding. She herself has to look away, leaving herself in a potentially vulnerable position as the darkness surges forth. Only someone gets before her.

Kamon, atop a barricade he tore from the floor. Kyra unsquints just a little so she can see this and sighs quietly in relief. She waits.

Magical energy builds inside of her rapidly-even Alma will notice, as this may seem quite familiar now! There's a brief look of panic on her face before she brings her hands together, forcing the wild magical energy between her palms, trying to contain it for just a little bit longer until she can line up a shot as she sidesteps.

Shuffling, she manages to align herself at the wyrm's flank and lets her hands unfold. A massive beam of energy is unleashed, searing through the room with barely shaped holy power. Even if it doesn't hit the undead dragon, the blast drills a several-foot in diameter hole through the wall behind it. Mana rapidly drains from the white mage and the spell ceases when she has none left.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon snatches the spearhead out of the air. "Thanks!" He shouts. He flips the former mop in his hand, and jams the pole into the hollow beneath the spearhead. It's very slightly too big for the spearhead -- which means, right now, it's perfect. He forces it on, jabbing it against the stone blocks he's standing on.

The tip of the adamantite spear pierces the stone.

Kamon stares at it, dumbfounded, for a full three seconds.

He shakes it off. Later. Kamon charges right behind Soan, adjusting his grip on his newly-assembled spear as he rushes the dragon. He recalls his lessons with a certain Dragoon, and loosens up, lowering his stance and his center of gravity. "One, two," he recites, counting his steps. "And --" He takes a deep breath, and /pushes/.

"JUMP!"

The Odynar leaves the ground in a rush of air and a plume of tomb-dust. He reaches the top of the cavernous chamber, front-flipping before he reaches it, and slides the soles of his shoes against the roof. "And -- JUMP!" he shouts again, repeating the process and catapulting himself straight down at the dragon on the ground.

Kamon screams through the air. He aims straight for the dragon's probably-now-flaming center mass, bracing himself for the impact. He plans to slam into it at full speed, a three-hundred-pound flesh-and-iron weight hitting it in the back -- and then to keep /going/, fully intending to ride it down to the ground and pin it to the earth like a bug on a board.

This spear, Kamon reflects, is a very expensive push-pin.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Annia's acrobatics with her daggers gouge the Wyrm as she plunges them straight through the eyes, and into the brain cage. She flips off just in time for Karth to...

He dropped the shovel, now you know he's serious. Flames wreath him, and he shoots through the dragon like a missile, setting it on fire. The dragon is immolated... and it appears that this might be its funeral pyre..

Because Kamon, after fending off the attacks finds his current 'weapon' has its limits. The spearhead is tossed to him... and Kamon emulates the legendary Bahamuti Dragoons. While he's screaming through the air, the one two combination of Kyra's torrent of wild holy magic and Soan's acidic bolts cause two more of the Undead Wyrm's legs to be blasted off of it. It lunges it's head forward it's maw snapping in one last attempt to try and consume Kyra... now the closest person to what's left of its body.

And then Kamon's jump carries him right down through it's head, which just shatters. What's left of the body spasms... then is still.

Alma walks forward towards Kyra in that moment. She doesn't speak, perhaps sensing that it might cause her embarassment, but still she appears extremely concerned. She presses her hands against Kyra's palms trying to heal whatever damage the uncontrolled release of magical energy might have wreaked upon her form.

At the back of the room, behind where the Wyrm laired... a giant stone vault door lay precariously on its hinges, a rusted iron chain extending upwards into the ceiling being all that keeps it fastened to the ancient stonework. It would be quite easy to slip past it now.. into whatever lay beyond.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth takes a breath, the Flametongue slowly sliding back into the sheath, and he picks the shovel back up. His eyes focus on Kamon and the others...

"That ain't too bad." he says, nodding to Kyra and Arkham, "Thank ya ladies." he says, tiping his hat. and looking towards the door.

"So Mr. rogue, think you got a few more doors in you." and then looks at Kamon. He offers a hand, fighters represent, yo.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Some might say that a Dragoon would be proud of Kamon's ability. At least, one particular Dragoon is. These lessons are paying off, it seems. Soan allows himself to smirk proudly at the display. Rest in peace in Cosma's light, Unnamed Dragon. Hopefully you can rest, now.

The Rogue snaps his crossbow back into his sleeves by twisting his wrist the other way, sheathing his blade and taking in a deep breath. "Good work, all of you. Is everyone alright?" He asks, loudly, moving onward to where the Dragon lies, now dead, then beyond that, to give a look at the giant stone vault. He give a peek ahead, then behind to look at the crowd, giving them time to catch their breath. He's fine, himself, but some of them took one heck of a beating.

"This one's clean." He replies to Karth, dusting himself off as he makes his way into it, drawing his bright blade again. "We're nearly there, I can feel it."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason just kinda goes a bit on the limpt sid e as she's pretty hurt, her weapons as holsterd and she calls back to Soan. "I'll live but hate myself in the orning. Did we get ... ah good." She's not sure how much longer she could go on all things considered.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra's hands are burned, the skin bubbling and blistering. She looks down at her hands, cringing in pain, only to have this interrupted as the undead dragon makes one final lunge at her. A shriek escapes her lips and she throws her hands up in front of her...!

Kamon drops down at the right moment and vanquishes the beast. Another sigh of relief escapes her and Alma takes her hands, healing the damage from her own wild magic. "W..well, let's keep going, then."

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine pretty much slumps to her knees. She's still alive though, thanks to the healing that Alma and Seloria sent her way. As soon as she can catch her breath at least, because she's out of it right now, and panting after those last acrobatics. Her wounds don't look too serious, and it looks like the poison in her blood dissipated too, so she'll be okay.

She would mind for whatever was behind the Wyrm if she was in better shape, but right now, there's just one thing on her mind. She stands up, and walks over to Alma, sheathing her daggers back behind her. Her arms come up highly... and then lightly pats Alma on both shounders "Thanks for the heals." Then she looks at Seloria "You two are the reason I'm still standing after all." She gives her bit, and then moves over to grab her torch that she tossed earlier, relighting it. Now we can get to the last part of this...

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Limping, annoyed, Seloria watches Kamon murderize the enemy with help. Heh. Annia gets a wide-eyed stare from the summoner. Oh. Uh. Eh. She gives a almost shy little shrug of her shoulders, before she silently follows Soan down the rest of the way.

Alma Hyral has posed:
And what would be kept in this vault? Untold riches? Legendary weapons? Ancient spell texts with forbidden knowledge on how to defeat Chaos in a single invocation? Manuals of knowledge on engineering and architecture from lost civilizations?

You'd be correct on all counts.

Except that the center of the vault is now a crater. Whatever secrets lay within were laid to waste by the merger of the worlds..and then the fall of a world shard finished off the rest

For inside the crater lay a single crystalline shard, glowing with a quiet luminescence. The top of the vault had been blasted away, leading to a foggy skylight above, thick wisps of Mist blocking out much of the light of the moon and the stars. Around the room lay scattered many pieces of molten rock that came with the shard fall.. and have cooled ever since.

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Paler than her robe, still wound tight from the combat, Arkham stows her sword and shield and checks her kit over briefly for breakage. Most of it seems in order, though. The party appears to be moving under its own power, so she'd better get to that as well.

She'll be among the last to reach the Shard chamber, no doubt looking for a hunk of basalt to lean on while it's decided what to do with the thing. She gives Seloria and Alma nods, as they pass, at least.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth looks up...

Looks at the shard...

Looks up again.

"I don't feel right to say what I am about to say infron't o the womenfolk but.."

Karth lets out the largest GOOSEHONK in existance. Not only is he not getting paid, but they could have just walked in from the surface.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"But if we circumvented that path completely...we would have missed all those fantastic murals and the spear head." Kyra points out, though she too is disappointed by the destruction of the LOOT. "And I wouldn't have been able to blow up a dracolich."

Karth Mason has posed:
"...Well, to be fair little missie..." Karth sighs, "I got a ailing mother to take care of, and brothers and sisters to support." he rubs his head...man...

He sighs again.. "Oh well...I dun guess we stopped the dracolich.."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"It's true." Soan replies, rubbing his forhead as they look at things, approaching the shard in the middle of the crater. He kneels down, looking at it, carefully reaching out a hand. At the swearing man, he says, not looking at him. "That's something I can understand, sir -- you'll get a pay."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral walks into the chamber. Normally she would be.. gleeful, enthusiastic. This proves her theories correct. It means she has a semi-reliable way of tracking down world shards. But she seems preternaturally depressed today, like the weight of the world has just crushed all of the joy right out of her. As she hears Karth speak, she walks up to him, removes a good amount of gil from her satchel, and hands it to him with a wan smile.

She then walks forward, and picks up the shard with one of her hands. She looks it over briefly, then hands it over to Soan, speaking to him in a quiet, yet calm voice, "You should keep this Soan. See that it's restored to it's proper place, for me please?"

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon belatedly high-fives Karth on the way out of the corpse. Fighters, yo.

Kamon crawls his way out of the dragon, and follows along. He's kind of winded, and kind of wobbly. His legs hurt. Maybe he should sit down soon. He staggers a few steps, and down into the vault, and...

"Huh," he exhales. "So... huh."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
"We lived. I'm happy." That was the extent of Arkham's responsibilities, however poorly she may have discharged them. She won't bring up pay. "And we re, recovered the shard," now that Alma's handed it to Soan. Arkham approaches the cleric herself, pulling the rubbing in its envelope from her bag. "This as well." She almost seems more interested in it than anything else.

"You'll want it, I suppose?"

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Soan pushes to his feet when Alma beats him on taking the shard, carefully taking the crystal in his hand, nodding firmly. "I'll find a way to do that." The Thief replies, smiling, turning around to face Kamon, Kyra, Annia and Myla, carefully lifting it up to be seen. It's rare to see the rogue smiling /this/ brightly, but apparently he's capable of it.

"We can do this, guys. This is just the start."

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Seloria discreetly points wobbly Kamon out to Kyra.

Then she looks around, and looks at Alma, before frowning, one hand on her hip, and suddenly Alma gets attacked by a fierce case of the hugs. Seloria hugs, too. She doesn't know what the significance of the shard thing is.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra 'discreetely' moves over to help Wobbly Kamon. She supports him the best she can even though he outweighs her by what is probably her own body weight. For a few seconds she considers trying her magic again, though given how it had ended with the burned hands and the lack of control...she decides against it.

A potion is worked free from her belt and passed to Kamon.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma is attacked by Seloria and the fierce case of hugs.

At first she seems to just accept it stoically, but then she's returning the hug, the tears flowing freely. She's restraining herself from breaking down into uncontrolled sobbing, but only just barely.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason is just resting now recovering from her injusries as best she can she'll leave it to her friend while she reocvers for the oment. "There should be some reward in it for you." She notes to Karth.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine pats Alma on the shoulder again as she walks past her, toward the 'prize' "Well, we did it. At least, one part of it. I heard some worlds might have more than one shard to reunite. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there though. For now... I think we need to go rest..." She certainly loosk tired.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Everyone's tired from all this, Soan thinks. He, himself, is a little winded. "Yes, yes we do. Let's get a good dinner, then let's rest up. We earned it all, here, today." He says. Yeah. Kamon's wobbling, Kyra's not much better... Alma's crying, for some reason. He gives her a look, being hugged by Seloria. Why is she crying, anyway? Her thing /worked/. He shakes his head. He'll figure it out later.

He takes out a container, a small little velveted box in which Soan places it carefully into.

Karth Mason has posed:
Karth nods...well, that'll do...

"Well, yall are pretty strong. If yall need more help in the future, let me know.." he pauses...

Oh wait they're payin' him..

"Well, that's mighty kind of ya'll...and it be gettin' kinda late and ya'll might need some rest...why don't ya'll come down to the farm with me, and we get'all all dressed up, and get a real country dinner in yall?"

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"I like this offer." Kyra's quick to pipe up, looking over to Seloria fiercely hugging Alma. Again, her thoughts drift back to Alma's earlier words and she sighs. "I think a good home-cooked meal would do us all well right about now."

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon takes the potion. His legs hurt less. He smiles at Kyra and murmurs a quiet, "Thanks." He glances at Seloria and Alma, but looks away quickly. It feels like he's intruding on something private. He looks to Soan. "So, we're done here?"

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"C'mon, Alma." Seloria whispers. "Let's go --" She looks over. "Home?? You can show me your mad cooking skills. You realize, I haven't cooked in months? I'm liable to be as bad as Kyra, or Minette, now." She is gently encouraging.

Alma Hyral has posed:
After a while, Alma draws away from Seloria.. wiping her eyes briefly on her sleeve, before offering in a quiet tone, "If y-you'd like, s-sir. I c-could cook for us once we g-get there."

And then, remembering Arkham's earlier offer... "P-Please g-give it to K-Kyra.. it'll be.. s-safe with her."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"Yeah, I think we are." Soan replies, securing the box with something that is not quite a key, putting it back carefully in a compartment where he knows it is now. "We all need some rest." Then, the farmer adventurer offers them a place to rest at. Hmm, sure. Why not. The Rogue bows faintly. "That'd be appreciated, sir, thanks you very much."

Arkham Fisher has posed:
Arkham, patient, nods to Alma, and stows the packet away again. They'll discuss it after dinner, perhaps. "A meal would be, be wonderful," she agrees, meaning every word. She can worry about her return to Fluorgis later.

Karth Mason has posed:
"Alright then, it's decided." he says with a nod. "I'll lead ya'll back." And hopefully there won't be any zombies.